Flint’s new mayor has laid out her priorities for her first hundred days in office. Not surprisingly, the plan largely reflects the issues she stressed in her campaign.
Karen Weaver defeated incumbent mayor Dayne Walling in last month’s election. She’s been on the job for nearly a month.
Even though roughly a quarter of her first hundred days have passed, the mayor says now was a good time to update people on her plans for her first 100 days.
A top priority for the mayor is having Flint’s problem plagued water system declared a federal disaster. The decision to switch the city from Detroit water to the Flint River lead to numerous problems, including high lead levels in the drinking water.
Mayor Weaver says she’s talked with Michigan U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters about the problem. She hopes to recruit other congressional and state lawmakers to help lobby for the designation.
Along with fixing Flint’s water, Weaver says during her first hundred days she wants to make progress toward returning the city to total local control.
Flint was run by an emergency manager, appointed by the governor, for much of the past four years. The last emergency manager left in April. But decisions by elected city officials can still be overruled by a transition advisory board. Weaver hopes to hasten the end of that last level of state oversight.
Weaver says there are other issues she wants to address during her first 100 days in the mayor’s office, including a review of Flint’s still wobbly city finances and the creation of programs for the city’s children.
Weaver admits not everything in her 100 day agenda will be completed in her first 100 days. She also admits she needs help.
"I’m not trying to do it by myself,” Weaver told a small audience at Flint city hall, “I need all of you, and the people that are out there, to help.”
