FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) -- Decades before the people of Flint could not trust the safety of the water flowing from their tap, the Vehicle City was a thriving metropolis. People were coming in droves, looking for good paying jobs in the automotive industry. By 1978, GM employed 80,000 people in Flint. But that would be as good as it would ever get for Flint. By the 1980s, the handwriting was on the wall. GM started a series of plant closures, and Flint became its target.
The final vehicles, two special edition LeSabres, rolled off the line just after noon on June 29, 1999. By 2000, there were 30,000 fewer GM jobs in the city. Flint was in a downward spiral with a dwindling tax base, declining population and abandoned neighborhoods. In 2002, the city had a $30 million budget deficit. Then-Gov. John Engler declared a financial emergency. Engler used Public Act 72, a controversial law giving the state authority to appoint an emergency financial manager in financially struggling cities.
"I'm going to appoint someone who's going to serve as the mayor and the city council," said former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling of the governor. "So the 10 of you elected officials are now going to become one person. And, by the way, that one person doesn't answer to the city of Flint. It answers to the Treasurer, to me in Lansing."
Walling, who served the city from 2009 to 2015, tells ABC12 the law goes against the core values of our democracy, essentially taxation without representation.
"This idea that someone gets appointed, and then they can make these better decisions. It is not based in evidence or history," Walling said. "It's really about political power and control. And it distorts."
The role of the EM is to balance the budget without regard for community impact. EM's have been mainly deployed in cities and systems that are mostly black and poor.
"When we look back on everything that's happened, systemic racism was at work," Walling said.
That claim is backed up in a 2017 report from a government-appointed Civil Rights Commission that concluded systemic racism helped to cause the Flint water crisis.
Flint has had four EM's: Ed Kurtz, Mike Brown, Darnell Earley, and Jerry Ambrose.
"Each of those individuals moved that plan along during their time in office," Walling said. "Not always officially, because a budget wasn't adopted until June 2013. That set the stage for the switch in April 2014."
Walling flipped the switch on April 25, 2014, changing Flint's water source from Detroit to the Flint River.
"I was surprised that the city got to that point in April 2014. I thought it would take longer. But when the MDEQ is reviewing the testing and says it's ready for distribution, then I decided as mayor that I would be at that ceremony. With the assurance from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality... I didn't have any reason to question that."
Walling says there was a "secret double standard" that wasn't transparent to him or the community.
"I look back on (the water switch) today with just an awful lot of shame," Walling said. "I regret that I was there, that it happened. I know why I did what I did. But I think about that all the time. And I'm always going to be ashamed of it."
Walling says almost immediately, he started getting complaints from residents about smelly and discolored water pouring from their taps. He says he brought it to the attention of the state.
"The explanation was, we just had this horrible winter and the pipes froze, and we had more main breaks than anyone could ever remember. And that creates the discoloration and the odor."
"Then we get the notice that there's been too much chlorine in the system. And we've got the TTHM byproduct."
It was more than a year after the switch, the summer of 2015, before Walling realized the true impact of the crisis.
"When I get word from Dr. Marc Edwards in August about the water testing that him and these courageous Flint citizens are out doing, that prompts Dr. Mona (Hanna-Attisha) to take a look at the health data. Not the pipe data, but what's actually happening to our babies, and (she) sees the spike and lead poisoning."
"I had to get on the phone with the governor and the state Department of Treasury and the MDEQ and say 'we're going to violate this emergency manager order. We don't have the $10 million, but we have no choice. We have got to get reconnected to this Detroit system.'"
Flint was successfully reconnected to Detroit water in October 2015. The following month, Walling lost his reelection bid to Dr. Karen Weaver. Walling left office with some victories to his credit, but he tells ABC12 what stand out the most was what the water crisis taught him.
"When democracy is undermined and it's distorted, truly catastrophic and horrible things happen. And we experienced that suffering here in Flint."
