Featured photo: Clyde Edwards
By Tanya Terry
On October 10, Flint City Administrator Clyde Edwards made the following statement regarding the city council not holding a regular meeting on the second Monday of the month:
Last night, the Flint City Council broke quorum during its Special Affairs Meeting and failed to hold a regular meeting on the second Monday of the month as required by the Flint City Charter and the Rules Governing Meetings of the Flint City Council.
This charter violation has real consequences for our community. Flint residents stand to lose out on $4.3 million grant-funded recycling and trash carts if the council does not approve the extension of Priority Waste’s contract to manage the new cart program this month.
In addition, the Flint City Council has failed to allocate $30 million in ARPA funds to enhance city services for Flint residents. This spending plan was previously approved by the Flint City Council in October 2022, and the administration has presented it in a format that can be easily amended according to the council’s wishes. Still, the city council has not done the work to pass the allocation plan, with or without amendment.
This is the second time that this city council has violated the charter. Their first charter violation was failing to pass the city’s budget on time. This level of dysfunction has made it difficult to move the City of Flint forward.
Flint residents deserve stability and respect for the community’s time in conducting public meetings. Instead, the city council continues to recklessly squander time and resources that should be dedicated to improving quality of life for Flint residents.
On October 11, 2nd Councilwoman and Chairperson Ladel Lewis issued the following statement to the Courier:
Unfortunately, our Council does not prioritize following Council rules, nor the City Charter. Leadership is demonized for upholding the standards set forth for the body. As a result, quorum is consistently broken, and the city business is left on the table.
The ARPA ad-hoc committee is working tirelessly to ensure equity in the distribution of the COVID relief dollars.
