Statement from Mayor Sheldon Neeley regarding water lawsuit settlement

Mayor Sheldon Neeley issued the following statement regarding the settlement of the water lawsuit, which was announced today by the state of Michigan:

“As a resident of Flint, I would like to thank Gov. Whitmer. We appreciate her leadership with this issue that she inherited and we appreciate that she was able to come to an amicable settlement with attorneys representing the residents of the City of Flint. We look forward to seeing the actual terms of this settlement, and hope that it will provide a path to resolve this litigation. We urge all defendants to step up and take responsibility like the state of Michigan has done. This settlement will be an important step forward for our community. For years, we were victims — our voices and concerns ignored as lead continued to leech into our water. However, our community is resilient and we have persevered. Moving forward, with our strong spirit intact, we will be known as a community of victors.”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
• The City of Flint is more than 90 percent complete with its service line replacement project.
• Water lines have been excavated at almost 26,000 households. About 2,500 are remaining to be checked.
• After those excavations, approximately 9,700 lead or galvanized steel service lines were replaced. The others were safe, copper lines and were not replaced.
• Under Mayor Neeley (who took office in November 2019), the City of Flint also has launched a number of other projects to improve the city’s infrastructure including renovating and expanding its water reservoirs, building a backup water source, constructing a new chemical feed building, replacing water mains and installing new household water meters.

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