FLINT (WKZO) –Another head has rolled over the Flint water crisis.
One of the two DEQ supervisors who were suspended last month, has become the latest to lose their job and the first to be fired because of their role in the Flint water crisis.
Liane Shekter Smith had served as chief of DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water. Terminating a state employee involves several steps because of Civil Service rules, that begin with suspension, is followed by an investigation and then a recommendation.
The Governor’s office says the second person suspended remains under investigation.
DEQ Director Dan Wyant and communications director Brad Wurfel resigned, and so did Region 5 EPA director Susan Hedman.
Hillary Clinton says she will be taking a break from her campaign on Sunday, and will be traveling to Flint to get a first-hand look at the efforts underway to mitigate the water crisis.
She will be doing something that Governor Snyder has not done so far, and that’s actually meet with the people of Flint.
Friday Snyder attended a closed door meeting with local officials in Flint and avoided the media.
It was left to an aid to explain why Snyder aides were exchanging memos about an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in Flint last spring, when they didn’t inform the public until last month. He said they asked for more information but none was forthcoming, so they didn’t pursue the matter.
Governor Snyder has also declined an invitation from a group of Democratic Congressman to attend a hearing next Wednesday.
They sent the invitation to Snyder because the Republican controlled House Oversight Committee has failed to call him as a witness. The governor may have a valid excuse. He has been scheduled for some time to deliver his 2017 proposed budget to the legislature next Wednesday.
Congressman Fred Upton has announced his Energy and Commerce Committee will be looking into ways to prevent future Flints from happening when they hold a hearing next month. One would assume that after Flint, no one would make the same mistakes again.
Upton and Democrat Dan Kildee are co-sponsoring legislation that would require the EPA to publicly announce it immediately when they see a threat to public help.
