By Joshua M. Freeman
Let's not blame the victims for the errors of the state.
The facts are clear: At no time have the elected leaders of the city of Flint voted to use the Flint River as our primary drinking source. The documented facts show the decision to move to the Flint River was made solely by emergency managers sent to run the city on behalf of the state of Michigan.
The idea of using the river as our primary drinking source was firmly rejected in favor of joining the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA).
In March of 2013, the Flint City Council was finally presented with a resolution by the emergency manager to determine our primary drinking water source. Several options were debated and studied, including the Flint River. Many on council and the mayor had been pushing the emergency manager to move forward with the KWA option. The state refused to accept that option initially, instead requiring yet another study, this time by Detroit's own engineering firm, to confirm the projected long-term cost savings.
As Resolution 130165.2 shows, in a 7-1 vote the city council's clear intent was to rely on the KWA for our primary source of water. In the event that our daily usage exceeded 16 million gallons per day (MGD), which far exceeded our billings at the time, council wanted to have the option to blend KWA water with water from the Flint River in order to meet that excess demand.
With the only vote that local elected officials took to determine our long-term water source, KWA was endorsed as our primary source for drinking water.
Residents are left wondering who is really telling the truth surrounding these actions
Four days later, on March 29, 2013, the emergency manager enacted Resolution 2013EM041. This order restored our contracted amount from KWA to 18 MGD and removed any option for blending water from the Flint River.
...
Instead, on June 26, 2013, the emergency manager signed Resolution 2013EM140 that engaged an engineering firm to ready the Flint Water Treatment Plant to place it "into operation using the Flint River as a primary drinking water source." It was this resolution, enacted by the state emergency manager, which started us down the path of using the Flint River.
That is an undisputable fact.