Democracy and the Inevitable Regional Water Authority

Insist on Electing Leaders of Regional Institutions

Let’s suppose that sometime in the not too distant future the state legislature enacts a framework for a regional water authority in southeast Michigan. That could be done with or without inclusion of the City of Detroit or even Wayne County, but preferably with both on board.

Before we get too much farther along the path of regional government by means of political appointments (for example, the present Board of Water Commissioners), we should insist on democracy in the form of regional elections.

The damage done to water services ratepayers in the region by some local officials in Detroit and political appointees is incalculable and unconscionable.

Every county served by a regional water authority should have at least one elected  representative on the authority’s board.  Under my plan, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties would have one representative for every 350,000 residents.  The City of Detroit would not be a segregated unit.  Its (declining) population would be included in Wayne County’s total.

I would require that each candidate for election be a resident of one of the municipalities served by the authority.  In Monroe County, for instance, candidates would have to reside in either the Village of South Rockwood or Ash Township.

Got a different idea?  We’d all like to hear it.

Free Press Editorial Misses the Mark

I can understand the urgency with which the Detroit Free Press and many Detroiters view the bankruptcy process in which the city is embroiled, but the paper’s editorial yesterday, “Detroit bankruptcy: Let’s get the deal done” seemed uncharacteristically hasty and ill-informed.

The portion of the editorial devoted to the city’s water department was particularly perplexing:

“The regional water deal is dead in the water, and Orr is soliciting requests from private

companies to operate and manage the department.”

“If Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties joined an authority — Wayne is willing, Oakland and Macomb aren’t — each would have made an annual $47-million lease payment that would have supported pension obligations for Detroit Water and Sewerage Department workers.”  [Each?  Really?]

“It’s difficult to understand by what logic Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel find private management preferable to a regional authority, which would include county-appointed members. Regional ratepayers will bear the costs of delinquent customers in Detroit and Highland Park, as well as increased rates to support investment in the system under private management just as surely as under an authority, but with no voice for residents.”

It seems to me that the logic that compels Mr. Patterson and Mr. Hackel but escapes the editorial writer is that, once committed to rebuilding the dilapidated infrastructure that would be inherited by a regional water authority (which would include Detroit), the suburbs would have abandoned all hope of building their own system, free of the burdens of supporting City of Detroit retirees and furnishing water to hundreds of thousands of city residents who can’t or won’t pay for it, not to mention the corruption and mismanagement that have plagued DWSD on and off for decades.

The editorial writer points out that Oakland and Macomb (and presumably Wayne, too) would have much desired representation on the board of a regional water authority.

Note, however, that the editorial overlooks the fact that a DWSD with a private operator would continue to be controlled by a board on which the three principal counties already have representatives, who benefit from by-laws that require supermajorities on important votes.

Perhaps a little more deliberation and review on the part of the Free Press editorial staff would be in order.

DWSD: Cooking the Books?

Or trashing the books?  Maybe it's no longer a question of cooking the books.  Maybe the books are beyond cooking.  Cooking the books means dissembling, hiding something under a false appearance, deceiving.  Maybe DWSD hasn't kept  records accurate enough to support an audit.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) didn’t publish its annual audit report last year and now refuses to furnish its wholesale customers in the suburbs with the financial information they need to assess a pending proposal for a regional water authority.  Omitting an annual audit is shirking a duty, dereliction of duty.  

Who's responsible?  DWSD's director is Sue McCormick.  But she may be no more than a puppet for Kevyn Orr, Detroit's emergency manager.

I googled "DWSD annual audit."  What appeared to be the most pertinent result was Detroit Water and Sewerage Department - Financials 

Didn't see any mention of a 2013 annual audit report.  It said, "The Financials page is a listing of annual report, bond and financial statements. This information is provided to show DWSD's overall performance. For a copy of DWSD's Annual Reports or other documents not listed below, please email your request to public.affairs@dwsd.org. "

So I sent an email request.  I'll update this post if and when I get a response.

In the meantime, those reading this post may want to make inquiries of their own.

UPDATE:  Received the following response from DWSD, "Thank you for your email.  The Water and Sewerage Department welcomes your comments and requests.  Please be advised the 2013 Annual Report has not been released by the City of Detroit. Unfortunately, a time frame is not available."

 

A New Plan for Water Services in Southeast Michigan

My view is that DWSD has broken the contracts with its wholesale customers in the suburbs.  The question becomes, what do we replace them with?  I haven’t thought this out completely, but I want to keep the discussion moving.  Here’s a general outline of my thoughts:

I.    Long range goals

         A.    Prop up Detroit.  Somebody has to do it.  It should be the State of Michigan or the federal government, not Detroit’s suburbs.  It’s too big a burden.  Gov. Snyder should be pressed for a solution. He wants to be re-elected.  Let him prove his mettle.

B.    Form a regional water authority.  Include participation by counties like Monroe, Washtenaw, Livingston and St. Clair.  Elect members of its governing board. Detroit should be included as part of Wayne County. There should be one elected board member for every 350,000 county residents.  Any counties with a smaller population would have one board member.

C.    The regional water authority would own and operate all water-related facilities in the region.  All existing facilities would be appraised and the net value, if any, reimbursed over time and debt thereon assumed by the new authority.

D.    Outmoded facilities would be phased out and replaced.  Federal revolving fund legislation needs to be updated and expanded to include a broader range of infrastructure.

1.  freshwater:  negotiate with KWA to expand into the northern suburbs.

2.  wastewater:  replace the central facility in Detroit with several smaller, state-of-the-art installations throughout the region and/or expand and modernize existing plants in Pontiac, Warren, Ann Arbor, etc.

II.    Strategies for implementation:  Stay tuned.