DETROIT -- Lansing Republican lawmakers want to control the Detroit Water Board, and are accusing the water system of unfair rates against suburban consumers.
Livonia Republican Sen. Laura Toy plans to introduce a bill that would create a regional authority of eight counties to run the board. But the board would be dominated by members from Macomb and Oakland counties.
Bloomfield Hills Republican Rep. Shelley Taub plans to bring a similar measure in the House.
The bill calls for a 13-member board and would give Oakland and Macomb counties two seats, while Detroit, Monroe, St Clair, Genesee, Lapeer and Washtenaw would each get one.
"Today, suburban customers continue to be at the mercy of DWSD [Detroit Water and Sewerage Department]. This is intolerable," Toy told the Gonwer News Service, a political Web site. "In light of rising costs, the department's ability to demonstrate reliability and accountability is critical to regaining the public's trust."
Republicans say the suburbs need to control management of the water system because they are being charged unfair rates.
"The suburbs want to pimp the city," former veteran Detroit City Councilman Clyde Cleveland said. "I have been to about 35 states and never seen such a hostility against a major city like Detroit."
Cleveland said he hopes the bill would not survive and that Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, would veto it. The governor did veto a similar bill two years ago, saying it would create more animosity between the city and the suburbs.
Cleveland however said he is not surprised by the move.
"They took our schools [and] Recorders Court. The city is just a creature of the state," he said.
Toy said the new bill she will introduce addresses technical flaws in the previous bill Granholm vetoed. It is unclear what those flaws are.
"What [Granholm] has to do is veto this bill," Cleveland said. "When she ran for governor, she did not win in Oakland and Macomb counties."
He added: "She won in Detroit, a solid Democratic base."
Anthony Adams, Detroit's deputy mayor, said of the bill: "This is an attempt by racist suburban interests to control the Water Department and its assets."
Rep. Mary Waters (D-Detroit), the House minority floor leader, said she has started galvanizing support among her colleagues but is unsure whether other Democrats would rally against the bill.
"I have started talking to my colleagues," Waters said. "Some are saying they have to go back and check with their constituencies."
However, she added, "We would make sure the governor has what she needs to veto it."
Another Detroit legislator, George Cushingberry Jr., said it makes no sense to put management of the water into the hands of outsiders.
"That's ridiculous," he said.
Cushingberry said GOP lawmakers could better spend their time by meeting with the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., to discuss more funding for better sewerage and water systems in Michigan.