First settled in 1819 and later incorporated in 1855, the City of Flint is a municipal corporation. The City of Flint provides vital public services to citizens and business. The City of Flint provides fire, police, sewer and water among other services. The City of Flint mission statement emphasizes providing services in a customer friendly and fiscally responsible manner.
The city is administered by Sylvester Jones, Jr. Mr. Jones was appointed by Mayor Karen Weaver in March of 2016. The City Administrator is the most senior non-elected city official and is responsible for running the day to day operations of the city on behalf of the City Council. All other department heads directly report to the Citiy Administrator.
The City of Flint has recently made the news for
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Financial emergency management stripped City Council of many powers and included state financial oversight. Another issue the City Council has recently contended with is the water crisis. City Council is charged with the authority to make investigations into the affairs and operations of city departments by city charter. Investigations into the recent water crisis has involved considerable council …show more content…
According to the City of Flint 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) the City of Flint executive team consists of the City Administrator, City Attorney and City Clerk. The City Administrator, Sylvester Jones, Jr., is the most senior member of the City of Flint executive branch of government. The City Clerk, Inez Brown, is responsible for all transactions and business of the City of Flint legislative branch of government. The City Attorney provides legal representation and advice to both the executive and legislative branches of Flint City
The Flint Water Crisis: What went wrong, article was written by Ryan Felton in January 16, 2016. The story of the article takes place in Flint, Michigan. The city of Flint experienced a crisis that has not been experienced in any other city across the nation. The article states that what happen in flint should not have happened, a city with 100,000 residents should not have to worry about poisoned water running into their homes. The water issue started when Flint appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley, decided to switch Flint’s water source form the city of Detroit to a local Flint River. This switched was aim to find a cheap alternative water source for the residents. However, what the officials failed to do was to test the water and see
As Doidge et al. illustrate, the historical background of Flint City’s drinking water supply emanated from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. This was through a contractual basis for over three decades, and its main source of water was Lake Huron. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is an extensive system encompassing almost 1,080 square-miles, and provides to more than two fifths of the Michigan State population. In the year 2000 alone, the system covered 11,000 miles of water channels with a storage volume of about 360 million gallons. It supplied water to nearly four million people in Detroit and its metropolitan locale.
There are two sides to this story, the government of Flint, MI and the people who reside
To begin with, the problem was the water contained elevated levels of iron and lead. The problem was such a huge issue because it affected every resident in Flint. Water is a major essential to one’s daily life and dozens of families were using the water supply for several purposes such as showering, drinking, cooking, washing one’s car or home, and watering plants. Furthermore, worried parents are going to the doctor because of rashes and hair loss, it also affected children by dropping their IQ, affecting their behavior, and it has also been inked to criminality and has multigenerational impacts. As a result, the fault of the problem lies with the state DEQ. It was said that the state ignored federal law and didn’t use an anti-corrosive agent to treat the water.
The city of Flint is 70 miles away from the costs of the Great Lakes which hold the greatest sources of fresh water, yet there residents still can't get clean tap water. 15% of homes in Flint Michigan are boarded up ,40% of the people are in poverty , high unemployment rate, and consistently on a list for most dangerous places to live in the nation .In an attempt to cut budget cost in 2014 Flint stop getting pre treated water from the city of Detroit . Problems began when the city started using water from the Flint river .Flint River is 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron (Detroit water source) . City and state officials denied for months that there was a serious problem by that time, supply pipes had sustained major corrosion and lead
For Flint, it all began with debt. But you cannot blame a debt that has been developing over the years even though it led to major health concerns, hurt the already poor economy and left thousands with nothing but fear. Flint Michigan was an up incoming town back in the eighties. General Motors had its largest plant (at the time) in Flint and this plant brought much of the population while helping the economy grow. GM created many employment opportunities for Flint residents until they began to downsize in the late eighties. This is when the debt began to grow. GM held much of the economy at this time so the downsizing impacted everyone in Flint. As GM downsized the poverty rates increased, Flint’s government began looking for ways to make up the lost money. In 2011, Flint was 25 million dollars in debt and desperately looking for ways to reduce it (Dixon). The city of Flint was now under a state of emergency and people began asking questions. Governor Rick Snyder made the decision with his appointed members to switch Flint’s water supply from the Detroit Water System to Flint’s own river that ran through town. This switch was supposed to save the city of Flint nearly a hundred million dollars however, it did much more than that.
There currently is a problem in the US with the government and how they cut corners with the water problem in Flint, Michigan. About two years ago, Michigan’s government decided they would save money by switching the water supply in Flint, Michigan. Before, Flint was getting their water from Lake Huron. Now, they are getting their water from the Flint River, known by it’s filth through the people of Flint. When reporters interviewed long-time residents of Flint they were shocked at the decision. The decision was supposed to be temporary, it wasn’t planned for it to go on for almost two years. Soon after the switch, the people of Flint saw the water didn’t look, smell, or taste right. It was almost as if the water was brown and you could see the dirt in it. Most people thought it was sewage but it turn out to be iron. The Flint River is highly contaminated, 19 times more so than Lake Huron. The state Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating the river so, the water was building up iron which caused the water to turn brown. The water was worse than it seemed, half the service line to homes in Flint are made of lead because the water wasn’t treated like it was supposed to be. The lead got into the water and mixed with the iron. The fire stations are helping with providing free bottled water and water filters for the homes. The fire stations also gave out lead testing kits
As to what these roles entail, the mayor may preside over the meetings of city council and has a variety of appointment powers. Those who make up the city council may pass laws for the area and keep a watchful eye on the executive departments. This government system can be both strong and weak. A strong form of this government allows for the mayor to have a concentrated amount of executive powers, while a weak form of this government limits these powers and results in them being split up between the mayor and other officials (Champagne and Harpham
In the initial report by the City of Flint, the city refers to the Flint Water Crisis as a “man-made disaster caused by the City switching to the Flint River as a water source in 2014.” Also, the report stated that Water Resource Centers, located around the city, would provide water filters, bottled water, and at-home water test kits free of charge to Flint residents. This statement shows the integrity, a characteristic of being ethical, of the City because the city took responsibility for the Crisis and followed through on the responsibility by providing goods and service free of cost to residents.
elected separately from the council, and is often a full-time and paid position with a significant administrative and budgetary authority. This form of government, the elected City Council sets policies for the operation of the City. The City Council enacts Ordinances, the laws of the City, adopts Resolutions authorizing actions on behalf of the City, reviews plan for development, and establishes the policies by which the City is governed. The City Council consists of seven members a Mayor and two Councilmember 's elected citywide and four additional Councilmember 's elected by individual districts. The administrative responsibility of the City rests with the City Manager, who is appointed by the City Council upon recommendation of the Mayor. Each Councilmember is
Clean drinking water is a necessity in everybody’s life. Many cities take for granted their seemingly infinite amount of water available to them but for Flint, Michigan residents, there is no such luxury. Many people in that area have been sickened or even killed with the water that is available to them. Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan should resign due to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan because his negligence may have long and short term effects on the health of the city’s residents. There is no excuse for how he is handling this; slowly, and ineffectively.
An attempt to save money by changing water sources by an indifferent government caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, negative health effects, and a total loss in faith in the government of Michigan. Although measures have been taken to mitigate these problems, their effects have already marred the city of Flint and its
The small “choice” made by Flint city council to save $1.5 million per year, has now turned into a situation with a bigger price tag. Some have estimated this disaster may cost up to, or over, $45 million to fix. Citizens throughout the city of Flint put their trust into their government. Now they have lead in their blood, and will lose community resources to make up for the costs of this outbreak. Abraham Lincoln once said “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.” The people of Flint are very upset and feel betrayed by the government. A large group of citizens are seeking arrests and other actions against government officials and agencies, including the governor himself.
Flint in Michigan is located 70 Miles away from the shores of large fresh water bodies, the Great Lakes. Despite this close proximity to the fresh water bodies, the residents have not been able to get the clean water. The water supply of Flint in Michigan in the United States has undergone serious water contamination crisis. The water crisis started in April 2014 (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, 2016). The contamination of drinking water began when the source of water was changed from the treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. This later led to a serious contamination of the water due to lead contamination hence creating more danger in the public health. The Flint River had a corrosive nature and caused lead from the old pipes to leach into the water supply. This caused heavy metals in the water supply. This posed serious health problems. For example, six thousand to twelve thousand children were exposed to the contaminated water. The blood-lead level in children increased. The alteration in the water source was the main reason behind the water crisis in Flint.
In the articles, “Feminist Bodybuilding” by Anne Balsamo and “#SheSquatsBro” by Lauren Jackson both have distinctive views on beauty perspectives and how women are involved in the fitness culture, Balsamo is more focused on how bodybuilding competitions expect women to look more feminine and Jackson goes in further by telling us how black women are criticized when they participate in “trends” such as the popular workouts within the fitness culture. Balsamo uses the film “Pumping Iron II” to show how bodybuilding is for women (Balsamo 346). While, Jackson uses social media and music videos to show how black women are emulated and judged when they participate in the top trends (Jackson 3). Both articles deal with an issue with women in the fitness