FRESNO (KMJ) — An investigation into the City of Fresno’s internal communication regards discolored water in the north-east sector has been released.
The outside agency used to conduct the examination, issued their preliminary results earlier this week. It criticized the lack of reporting discolored water complaints from between 2004 and 2015, identified an effort made by mid-level managers to represent the problem as one affecting only a handful of homes, and a established a lack of understanding as to the requirements to report complaints to the state.
“No matter what there’s no excuse”, says Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin. “It likely however doesn’t change much in terms of where we are right now”.
The most recent complaints of tainted water came early 2016, when officials released information which stated that there were unwanted trace substances found in the water inside resident’s homes. The specimens taken by the City of Fresno showed a presence of iron, zinc, copper, and lead, and investigations stated that the issue was due to the internal plumbing.
But Ashley Swearengin is unsure what the City of Fresno’s response to what some consider to be a problem for the homeowners – will be.
“We want to be fair, and we want to do right, by the people we serve every day”, continues Mayor Swearengin. “So we want to have a complete record and complete legal and technical information before we make a recommendation to the City Council.
“It’s definitely a tug-of-war feeling we’ve got inside City Hall right now. We’ve got affected homeowners who are 100% convinced that it’s the city’s problem and fault”.
The Mayor also announced that the former Chief of Surface Water Operation, during the time the initial complaints were being received, was keeping correspondence away from the city’s databases. That now causes further problems for those trying to establish the timeline of events.
“We don’t know exactly how many complaints were coming in each year from 2004 until 2011, but those interviewed estimated those calls to be approximately 150 to 200 per year”.
It’s hoped that further interviews with other former city employees will help bridge that gap in information and establish with certainty what transpired regards the complaints procedure.
Meanwhile the investigation into the actual cause of discoloration is still ongoing.
“In every case we have identified so far, we have defective galvanized pipe and private plumbing systems. But I’m going to reserve judgement until we get the complete reports back”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
