Deadlines were set and deadline were missed. I admit to
that, right. Some, some could be contributed to me and
some could be contributed to other pieces. Right Those
words by Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely were aired in a
Scripps news investigation in M and some of them are
now being cited in court documents asking a federa
judge to find the city and its mayor in contempt of
court after they say the city missed yet another
deadline. The court motion also asks the judge to issue
a daily fine of $500 paid jointly by the city and its
mayor in his official capacity until Flint complies
with its court order, deadlines to identify the full
scope of its remaining work to replace lead drinking
water pipes across the city. Scripps news reported thi
past May how nearly a decade after the Flint water
crisis began, thousands of residents may still need
their drinking water pipes inspected for toxic lead and
other health hazards. So what's the number overall that
needs to still be completed Well, those numbers a
you know, Sive to say, you know, I don't wanna be uh
nailed down to actually giving a particular number
April interview with Scripps News Flint mayor Sheldon
Neely, who took over the city 3.5 years ago, repeatedly
declined to share how many homes still need to be
inspected for potentially toxic water pipes. You want
me to give you a number 1000, 2000, 8000. I give you
percentages. More than 90% of this process has been
completed. More than 90% complete is also exactly where
the city said it stood in this press release that we
found from August of 2020. Nearly three years ago, our
own Scripps news analysis showed the work on Flint's
pipes in recent years has slowed to a crawl. Now that
we're getting down to the last few lines, they're very,
they're very difficult to, to find those lines because
we're so close to the finishing point. But we told
nearly about seven different Flint residents who we
discovered had repeatedly conta the city but are
still waiting to get contractors out to their homes.
After all these years, includin a Dia Mala. She told
us that her seven year old son, Robbie has had to drink
bottled water his entire life while they wait for the
city to dig underground and inspect their water lines.
They came and spray painted the pipeline and they put
little flags and then they left and they never did the
work. It feels like you don't matter. Feels like the
world just keeps going on and you keep going on. But
like everyone here is not important enough. This
woman's name is a after we told the mayor about Aa and
gave the city her address and phone number in late
April, he pledged to do something about it. Now, I know
her name. Now that you're bringing it to me, I will
send a team out. We asked the mayor how long reside
like AA should have to wait for a team to assess their
homes going forward from today. How long should they
have to wait before someone from the city either shows
up at their house or actually starts excavation.
once that call comes in and then we catalog that call,
I would assume no more than two weeks before they can
see some level of action. And thank you on behalf of uh
that you brought to our attention. Um And definitely we
will be reaching out to her. But more than a month
later, we went back to Flint and visited AA on her
front porch. No action still has the city called you to
set up an appointment. No, you've seen no action. None.
And as Flint residents like AA remain in limbo, we
found another issue on our visit. This past April, the
main phone line, the city tells residents to use to
call to get the let out was not working is not
available at this time when we told the city, a
spokesperson promised a permane fix. But a month
later when we sat with Tanya Burns, the Flint city
council member who represents the Dia Macula
neighborhood. We watched what happened when she tried
to call. The user's mailbox is not available at this
time. This is the one line. If no other line works at
City Hall, that line should be working. There's no
excuse for that. There's none council member burns told
us she's become skeptical of the mayor's ability to get
the job done and worries. His leadership is alie
key members of the Flint city government, includin
Department of Public Works or D P W which oversees the
water system. There's a lot of water pipes that need to
get looked at in this city. Does the city have someon
in charge of the Department of Public Works We
currently do not have ad P W director. What happened to
him He quit He left March 17th. Mayor Neely has yet to
fill that position. The mayor initially offered a
follow up interview with Scripps News, but after we
raised what we'd learned since our last visit, a
spokesperson emailed a statement instead writing the
city is trying to hire a new public works director and
is inquiring as to why the phone line is not working
consistently. The city also committed to finishing all
of its remaining work by the latest court order
deadline of August 1st. Thank you. Meanwhile, residents
like Aa mccullough continue to use bottled water each
day as her skepticism about more promises coming from
the city grows honestly, I don't even have words for it
anymore. Someone that's comfortable with letting people
live like this, they're not going to hear someone like
me anyway, their lives are ok. They're succeeding.
They're safe. What about everybody else Now, just this
evening, the city responded in federal court telling
that judge that this request to hold the city and the
mayor in contempt of court is wholly without merit. And
they said that singling out Sheldon Neely was
inappropriate. Now, I can tell you this though, in a
major twist, we went back to that mayor Sheldon Neely
and said one more time. What's up with Aa's case What
are you doing about her And good news, Adia tells us
that just yesterday, contractor showed up finally on
her front door with an emergency order to finally fix
her water pipe. So for that one resident of Flint help
is now finally arriving. Yeah, and her son, thank God,
thanks Mark. But also thinking of how many other
families might be in the situation by the way, that
court filing, what is the status Could the mayor
actually be held in content It's, it's entirely
possible you have one deadline after the next, after
the next being, being ignored, being missed by the city.
So the judge could decide to take, to take some real
action here. One of the big challenges is who's going
to pay for this $500 a day fine. And everybody is
saying they don't want the city and the residents to
suffer for this. So ultimately, what needs to happen is
they need to get the job done. Chance. Mhm. I gotta say
a guy who always gets the job done here at Sri News.