DETROIT – Mayoral Candidate Anthony Adams announced the filing of a lawsuit to return control of the water system to the City of Detroit. Adams stood outside the downtown offices of the Great Lakes Water Authority and criticized the creation of the authority, Wednesday.
Adams remarks comes weeks after a June storm caused massive flooding and property destruction. He believes the GLWA was formed out of deceit and lies brought fourth by Mayor Mike Duggan and former State Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.
“This was a scheme perpetrated by the Duggan administration to fool the City Council into believing Kevyn Orr can privatize the water system,” said Anthony Adams. “What our lawsuit show is there was never a threat to privatize the water system, that it was in fact it was a part of his scheme and his (Duggan) plan to fool the City Council and ultimately fool the citizens of Detroit to allow for the creation of the Great Lakes Water Authority and to transfer control over our water system to suburban communities which have not protected our citizens in Detroit.”
Prior to an official lawsuit filing, Adams said his legal team has given the Duggan administration notice to not delete emails and asked for the preservation of evidence including communications between, Mayor Duggan, former Governor Rick Synder, and the former emergency manager as it relates to how the water entity was formed. Adams claims under law the citizens of Detroit had a right to vote on whether or not city assets should be transferred.
Alexis Wiley, Duggan’s campaign manager argues that the lease was a part of a federal court order in bankruptcy and says “these are the kinds of things you expect from a candidate who only got 7,000 votes”.
GLWA began operations as an independent regional water and wastewater authority, separate from the Detroit Water and Sewer Department (DWSD) in 2016. The formation was a two-year process started in 2014 when Detroit was under emergency management.
GLWA signed a 40-year lease for control over the DWSD treatment plants, major water transmission mains, sewage interceptors and related facilities for $50 million per year. The agreement called for funds to support capital improvement for the City of Detroit water system and to repair Detroit’s aging water infrastructure.
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