Chief: Flint, MI, Firefighters in Dire Need of New Breathing Apparatus

FLINT, MI — Mayor Sheldon Neeley has called on the Flint City Council to approve a spending package for the Flint Fire Department, including new breathing apparatus equipment, saying a faction of the council is to blame for two months of delays.

“I consider this a full attack upon the residents of this community,” Neeley said during a news conference with Fire Chief Theron Wiggins Wednesday, Dec. 11.

“We’ve all seen the chicanery that’s been going on in city council meetings,” he said. “Some of this ... is pre-meditated delaying of city services.”

The Flint City Council has been divided in a 4-4 deadlock since the death of 3rd Ward Councilman Quincy Murphy, who died more than 10 weeks ago but who has yet to be replaced by the council.

As disputes over who will be appointed to replace Murphy and who will serve as the next council president have lingered, the council has struggled to maintain a quorum and to vote on several resolutions Neeley has sent to the council.

Wiggins said the department is using some equipment that should have already been replaced and warned the department is “in critical status” without the purchase of new breathing devices, a new air compressor system used to refill the devices, additional generators for four fire stations, and other equipment.

“We can’t send anyone into a fire to save anyone” when the devices have been taken out of service, Wiggins said.

Neeley was joined by council members Ladel Lewis ( Ward 2), Judy Priestley ( Ward 4), and Candice Mushatt ( Ward 7) on Wednesday.

But while the mayor praised those council members and 1st Ward Councilman Leon El-Alamin, he criticized other council members for intentionally failing to attend some council meetings and causing delays in city government operations.

The mayor called the delays pre-meditated “petty politics,” but 6th Ward Councilwoman Tonya Burns said Neeley himself is contributing to dysfunction inside Flint City Hall.

Burns is among four council members who have objected to Lewis continuing to serve as council president despite her term having expired in mid-November.

Council has been unable to elect a new president and Lewis has continued to serve in the post, leading other council members to boycott meetings in which she presides.

Council members have voted more than 400 times in two separate meetings in an attempt to choose a presidential successor but four members supported by Neeley have broken quorum by leaving those meetings before agreeing on a new president.

A legal opinion released by the council on Monday concluded Lewis should continue to serve as president unless other members muster the five votes needed to replace her because of a council rule that calls for the president to serve until a successor is chosen.

Burns said Wednesday city officials waited weeks to release the opinion, unnecessarily leaving the issue unresolved.

The councilwoman said Neeley could have included the spending of federal stimulus funds for the fire department as recently as a meeting on Monday, Dec. 9, and said neither he nor his staff have contacted her to make the case that the proposed purchases were critical.

The council met on Monday, handling a handful of resolutions requested by the mayor, including the sale of Oak Park to the Flint Commerce Center, which is redeveloping the old Buick City site.

“This falls squarely on the mayor and his administration,” Burns said.

Lewis said she wants to move the city’s business forward and called firefighters “public safety heroes.”

“We need to ensure our heroes are in a position to save lives,” Lewis said. “We need to make sure they ... have the appropriate gear needed to jump into action. ... We shouldn’t send anyone to work unprepared.”

In total, Neeley has requested the council approve more than $711,000 in equipment for the fire department, using American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to the city.

The resolution supporting the purchases first appeared on a council agenda more than two months ago.

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