This is why Flint water is brown! Councilman SNAPS during a meeting, tells the officer to "call his mama"

Despite legal warnings from the state and a press conference from Mayor Karen Weaver urging action, Flint City Council voted 5-3 Friday to postpone a decision on the future of Flint's drinking water.



The council committee meeting was held on Friday, June 23, three days before the deadline set by the state Department of Environmental Quality for Flint to approve a 30-year contract with the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) or face legal action.



But council, citing a need for more information and clarification on the long-term GLWA plan, voted 5-3 to delay the decision. Eric Mays, Herbert Winfrey and Monica Galloway - of the 1st, 6th and 7th Wards, respectively - cast the dissenting votes.



Mays and Winfrey pushed for the council to instead find an "alternative plan" to suggest before Monday, while Galloway said she "did not need any more time" to consider her vote of "no."



Fifth Ward Councilman Wantwaz Davis remains in the Genesee Council Jail on a probation violation and was absent from the meeting.



"Why the rush?" questioned Council Vice President Vicki VanBuren. "Does that mean everything else stops for us then, and we are on our own? I think (the state) wants us to vote on this and then walk away. Who is taking responsibility for the water we are drinking now? No one's talking about it, they're saying just sign this 30-year contract.



Projections provided to council and the public have only laid out costs for the first 20 years of the 30-year deal.



In May, the council requested to delay a vote on the contract to allow more time for public comment on the matter.



The city is in a short-term contract with GLWA, set to expire in July. Council previously voted to request an extension of the contract through November while it reviewed a long-term deal, but it's a decision that Weaver said she opposes as it will increase water rates by 4.7 percent and cost the city an extra $600,000 per month.



David Sabuda, Flint Interim Chief Financial Officer, said during the meeting that the 30-year contract with GLWA will allow the city to "fix the long-term deficit."



He said without going with GLWA, Flint residents may be looking a 42 to 48 percent increase in water rates.



GLWA was created from part of the old Detroit water system, which supplied Flint with pre-treated water from 1967 until 2014.



That water authority has also agreed to compensate Flint for its long-term debt tied to the construction of the new KWA pipeline in exchange for a 30-year contract.



Flint broke away from the Detroit water system while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014, choosing to treat Flint River water in the short term -- until the KWA pipeline was completed.