The authority was created to help ease the cost of debt and operating the water system as part of Detroit's bankruptcy restructuring. A: As part of Detroit's bankruptcy, the process was handled in mediation, a court-monitored negotiation process. District Judge Sean Cox placed a gag order on the proceedings to promote candid discussions.
A: The money must be used on water and sewer system improvements within the city limits such as fixing leaking pipes and upgrading plants, including those which serve the entire system. The money cannot be diverted to the city's general fund for things like police, fire and ambulance service.
A fourth member appointed by the governor represents other counties that use the system like Genesee, Washtenaw and Monroe. Major decisions, such as setting the budget and issuing debt, require five out of six votes on the board. A: By separating from the cash-strapped city, the new authority expects to earn a better bond rating, which translates into lower borrowing costs.
But the Authority also has plenty of skeptics. As the metro area grew and sprawled, Detroit kept control of the central infrastructure even as more suburbs tapped in. But disagreements over money and politics kept getting in the way. Enter the Detroit bankruptcy—and federal judges determined to strike a water deal behind courtroom doors during the confidential mediation process. What resulted was a complicated agreement that passed muster from the judge who presided over the case.
Judge Cox knows the Detroit water and sewerage department well. He was more or less in charge of it until , when he released the Detroit water department from decades of federal oversight for continued wastewater violations. Jim Fausone chairs the current Detroit board of water commissioners. Detroit — A new report on Detroit's water system contends the city could be losing out on millions of dollars under a "flawed" year lease with a regional authority forged in secret during Detroit's landmark bankruptcy.
The report, authored by researchers from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California Berkeley, urges a reassessment of the city's lease agreements tied to the creation of the Great Lakes Water Authority, which operates the system.
It also lists seven broad actions that the researchers recommend should be taken to address disparities in water access and the system's governance in Metro Detroit. The institute and Detroit's Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength, a faith-based advocacy organization, came together to push for the study in partnership with a dozen other local groups based on concerns over water affordability and infrastructure dating back prior to the city's bankruptcy, organizers said.
At the center of water inequity in Metro Detroit, the researchers said, is the lack of a proper appraisal of the water system prior to the water authority being stood up as a component of the city's Chapter 9 filing. The majority of negotiations over the deal were conducted in mediation. The circumstances of the transaction — reached in the midst of a municipal bankruptcy and under emergency management — "gave rise to a transaction that would not have occurred under normal circumstances and is, correspondingly, blatantly inequitable.
A challenge, however, both when the leasing agreement was made and now, is a lack of comparable deals and details to set the terms. Michelle Zdrodowski, a spokeswoman for GLWA, said negotiations over the formation of the authority were "extremely complex" and "preserved local control and ownership, while addressing the deferred needs of the system.
The authors of the report, she said, put it together "without any known effort" to contact the authority to gain an understanding of its formation or the parameters of its operation. In addition to the lease, she said, the authority assumed billions in debt obligations across the water and sewer systems. GLWA has developed a solution to this issue that is planned to be implemented by Sunday, November 7, allowing crews to then complete the overall repair of the foot section of water main by late next week.
This timeframe includes pressure testing, disinfecting and flushing the main, as well as conducting water quality testing required after all repairs of this nature. Throughout this process, impacted communities will continue to have water flow.
However, it will continue to be at the lower level they have been experiencing since the main broke. It should also be noted that the results for both rounds of water quality testing came back clear and the boil water advisories have been lifted in Commerce Township, Novi and Walled Lake. GLWA will conduct a full analysis to determine the cause and any further assessments needed once all work is complete. GLWA is all about the movement of water from the environment, to our member partners, and back to the environment.
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