Board of Water Commissioners

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Follow along at 2 or read through all of today’s bills of discussion here:
https://dwsd.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=951397&GUID=F93CC0C5-0CAC-4D2E-8F37-C455FD43B449&Options=info%7C&Search=

Here’s the agenda (the PDF might automatically download on a computer but you should be able to just view it from your phone)

https://dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=951397&GUID=F93CC0C5-0CAC-4D2E-8F37-C455FD43B449

In case you need a recap, here’s last month’s meeting curtesy of @williams_ashsue ! https://twitter.com/williams_ashsue/status/1521923699179458560

Multiple things will come up in today’s meeting, including:

Approving a new chair, vice chair, and board secretary, along with the Sewer Disposal System (SDS) Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2023-2027.

They’ll also be voting on different legislation, including (1 of 3):

A three year contract with Lakeshore Global Corporation for “sewer & catch basin cleaning, inspections, and maintenance services” in Detroit. https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5693080&GUID=6AB8A256-2179-4D77-B498-F63AF68A368A&FullText=1 https://t.co/VvFAFsWbdb

An agreement between the Detroit Water and Sewage Department (DWSD), Lakeshore Distribution LLC, and Great Lakes Water Authority to construct and maintain a 36” underground storm water drainage outlet pipe to discharge storm water directly to the Conner Creek Canal (🔗 below) https://t.co/HjVNz847f7

https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5687143&GUID=D834BEAF-9D44-4819-AC02-9C4F41D0FCA5&FullText=1

Note it states Lakeshore Distribution will fund the construction of the pipe https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1537128779478351877

Stay tuned for decisions and more legislation! See y’all at 2

And we’re starting!

We have a quorum present. I might have trouble identifying speakers for a minute, please bear with me

We’re moving to election and approval of officers! Kinloch is nominating Michael Eisenhower and Mary Blackmon as vice chair. The audio is poor and I hear someone crinkling paper. They voted and there were no oppositions.

Okay! Michael Eisenhower has been the chair for 6 years. I am starting to learn names 😌

Kinloch is Jonathan C. Kinloch BTW! I was typing fast https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1537134225765310467

John Henry Davis has been nominated (not sure by who, possibly Mary E. Blackman?) and elected with no opposition as board secretary.

On to public comment! A speaker is speaking about lead detection in the residential water on the west side and around the city, and even in the school system. He has come to a meeting a few months ago, and the board promised him a memo answering his questions about how the city

handles lead and lead testing in the city. Sam Smalley from DWSD said the memo has been delayed due to supply issues with their materials to begin the lead service line replacements, I think including copper. He anticipates it to still happen this summer.

@Water4Detroit is here speaking on multiple concerns: Multiple residents are saying they are not getting notice when their water is shut off or pressure is low due to maintenance. He says there is a strong distrust between residents and the department. Thanks for your work Meeko!

Gary Brown, director, is responding saying the concerns around how water advocates and BOWC can work together. He says they are trying to get as much input from the community as possible. He also acknowledges they are working on improving communications with residents

Tiffany Jones is explaining the process for how virtual users can make public comment. You can call in and press *6 or raise your hand in zoom!

A representative from WTP Detroit is saying that we do not need to start from the ground with water affordability. She says we need a long term and stable water affordability program with fixed rates. She says the state of Michigan increased by 100% while Detroit rates have

increased by 285%-possibly even 400% (I did not catch from what year). WTP= We the People

Chairman Einheuser, in response, is asking people to read the Bolt V Lansing, a supreme court document, and another document I didn’t catch, to have a conversation about water affordability

A resident is expressing their grievances around the complications they’ve had to deal with after buying a house from the Detroit Land Bank. They have been to the board multiple times, for 3 years trying to get this figured out. They felt dismissed and rejected after making +

their comment at a past meeting.

Another board member is apologizing and clarifying a possible misunderstanding. Last time the resident made the comment, the board member said “get this off the table”. He said meant that this should be an urgent issue, but understands how it was misunderstood as dismissal.

Here’s an article from @media_outlier about the land bank and water hook up issue: https://outliermedia.org/if-youre-sold-a-detroit-land-bank-house-without-water-whos-responsible/

A resident says she has 3 children who have been hospitalized due to mold in her basement as a result of continuous flooding. She has already called two plumbers on her expense and is asking for a resolution for the issue.

Another WTP Detroit activist talked about water affordability. She suggested checking out their work and research: https://www.wethepeopleofdetroit.com/get-help

Chairman Einheuser said he is actually wanting to read a specific publication by WTP Detroit

Another resident is expressing her concern about a possible Flint situation in Detroit. She is asking if there are ant neighborhoods that are on the list for pipe replacements in the NEAR future. She has been told it can take up to 50 years, so not in her lifetime (her words).

Gary Brown is working with a company to identify areas of the city with the most densely populated lead service lines. He says their intent is to put 5 contracts out when they receive enough money. Each contract would be worth $10 million. He says they have not seen the money

yet from the “Build Back Better” bill. When they get to that point, they’ll post a map on their website.

Another WTP Detroit activist is asking about the lead situation. She is asking what the BOWP is doing to push the EPA to implement funding for repairs due to the environmental and health hazards from lead.

@Combsthepoet is here, speaking on water affordability. She’s optimistic to hear there will be an income based assessment by the board, but worries it will not actually solve the issue of water affordability. She calls for TRUE water affordability and assistance.

Another resident is saying she has had to manage constant sewer backups leading to continuous flooding at her block she lives at. She is understandability frustrated because she’s had to take responsibility for these issues which the city should be handling.

@WeThePeopleDet activists are on a roll today talking about water affordability!

There’s a specific event about water affordability held by the board which i’ll be posting about at the end of this meeting when I can get all the information about it together

Commissioner Garcia is asking if theres any way to figure communications between the water dept and fire dept regarding water that is coming out of the faucet brown. She later learned from the fire department that it was because of some work they did on the fire hydrants.

She’s asking if there’s a better way to extend these communications to residents as well, because people were understandably panicking and were asking the water department questions, who didn’t have an answer because the issue was caused by the fire dept.

Gary Brown agrees that the communications should be better. He said this month and in the summer, fire hydrants are going to be worked on so it sounds like this will become increasingly important

They’re currently checking on a possible mistake on the meeting calendar they’re looking to approve. A commissioner pointed out one of the days is a sunday. They will be checking on that, as it should be on a Wednesday.

The recommendations today are coming directly to the board because there was not a quorum two weeks ago.

First item has been passed! https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5664908&GUID=FE4006C4-C05F-49C3-BBAA-D2E57C1F5D7D https://t.co/jfDyNqME5V

Passed! https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5664909&GUID=E5D1F06B-EAD3-4D59-915D-9E2E78462792 https://t.co/6rRFa8e9vw

A roll call has been done on the Capital Improvement Plan I posted about earlier. Read more here: https://dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10922896&GUID=724A1AEC-1306-4CFC-8CE6-8C482D1ADA6F

This has been passed as well, I’m currently in a rush to catch other motions but I believe it’s of interest to many: https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5665074&GUID=D51D93A7-1197-42D4-BDA3-90D28B502126 https://t.co/sCS49DedAo

A commissioner made sure Human Fliers was a minority business. The board confirmed they are. It’s been passed. https://dwsd.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5687133&GUID=65A86A33-FAB2-4110-9F9B-C67CAF7820DD https://t.co/7BPY7cTlxB

The easement with the storm drainage pipe has been passed.

In regards to sewer and catch basin cleaning:
Sam Smalley, DWSD, said every district will be targeted for sewer and catch basin cleaning.Smalley said that there will be rotated maintenance cleanings. It was passed

I didn’t catch why, but they didn’t present directors metrics. Here’s the presentation: https://dwsd.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=10968979&GUID=1F7B6C0F-35C9-48AA-BACD-1C094E129337

Mr. Smiley said their water system is on average, 95 years old. He says they don’t have the ability to replace “mains” (spelling? think I missed something) without approval of the state’s environmental and energy department

Einheuser asked how many streets are caving as a result of the flooding. A few commissioners have said they see a lot of them around the city. Mr. Smalley said there is 300 sinkholes, but after the historic flooding last summer, over 300 appear just between june 26 and july 15th.

I didn’t catch his other numbers.

Meeting adjourned at 3:37 pm! I will be adding a thread of highlights which will include the event on friday shortly.

💡Highlights! 💡 https://twitter.com/mostlikelyalex/status/1537173552155267072

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