He didn't require Snyder to surrender his passport but told him that he couldn't leave the state without the permission of the court. Odette set his bond at $10,000 for each of the two charges. The most high-profile among those charged Thursday, Snyder appeared before 67th District Judge Christopher Odette at about 9:40 a.m., pleading not guilty. The indictment also contends he failed to "declare a state of emergency and/or disaster when the governor had notice of a threat of a disaster and/or emergency in the city of Flint." Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint in January 2016 and, about a week later, asked the Obama administration for a major disaster declaration. Specifically, Snyder failed to "inquire into the performance, condition and administration of the public offices and officers that he appointed and was required to supervise," according to his indictment. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat elected in November 2018, threw out criminal cases against former government officials, arguing that her Republican predecessor undertook a "flawed" probe.Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud said Snyder's charges are a result of his willful neglect of "his mandatory legal duties under the Michigan Constitution and the Emergency Management Act, thereby failing to protect the health and safety of Flint's residents." Less clear is the status of criminal probes against top state officials who orchestrated the shift in water supply and downplayed or misled the public about the health implications. The settlement-which has been met with mixed reactions in Flint-resolves thousands of civil claims against Michigan.
"There's obviously distrust amongst my clients towards the government," Stern said. "I don't think there's any safety issues currently with the water," said Stern, who says he understands why people are skeptical. The Michigan state website stops short of calling Flint's water "safe to drink" but says the supply "meets very high standards," while city officials say the water quality has "stabilized" and shows low lead levels.Ī city spokeswoman said more than 90 percent of the service lines have been replaced as part of the push to "get the lead out."Ĭleophus Mooney of Flint, Michigan keeps his water in the basement and in the garageĪdditional defendants, including the EPA and private companies involved in the debacle, could join the settlement, potentially increasing the payouts, said Corey Stern, a parter at Levy Konigsberg, who helped negotiate the deal. Official statements from government bodies offer reassurance-up to a point. "Sometimes the water still smells like a sewer and sometimes it has flecks in it," said activist JoJo Freeman, whose daughter still breaks out in hives after a shower. "We'll still drink the bottled water until somebody high up says, 'It's okay to drink the water.'" "We're still leery of drinking the water," said Cleophus Mooney as he waited in his car to collect his week's supply.
These giveaways still happen three days a week, some six years after residents began complaining that a decision to supply the city from the Flint River was making them sick. On a Tuesday morning this month, blocks and blocks of cars waited near a church in the eastern part of the Midewestern city to receive value packs of bottled water.
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