FLINT, MI -- Another former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality official charged with Flint water crisis crimes has struck a plea deal.

Liane Shekter-Smith, former chief of the DEQ Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, pleaded no contest to disturbance of a lawful meeting, a misdemeanor, in exchange for the dismissal of other charges.

Shekter-Smith’s misdemeanor charge will be dismissed provided she keeps up her agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. Special prosecutor Todd Flood said Monday, Jan. 7, that "her candor and truthfulness to date has been refreshing.”

Shekter-Smith had been facing a potential charge of involuntary manslaughter and charges of misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty.

Flood outlined the deal before Genesee District Court Judge Jennifer Manley on Monday, the date Shekter-Smith and Patrick Cook, the last two DEQ officials facing charges, were in court for continuations of their preliminary examinations.

The Shekter-Smith deal is similar to those prosecutors struck with Stephen Busch, a DEQ environmental supervisor, and Michael Prysby, a DEQ engineer who reported to Busch, just two weeks ago.

The new deal includes a provision for Shekter-Smith to plead no contest to misconduct in office, a felony, if she is found to have “knowingly and intentionally” misled either the special prosecutor or Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office.

Cook, a specialist for the DEQ’s Community Drinking Water Unit, could still reach a plea deal. He is charged with willful neglect of duty, misconduct in office and conspiracy, but his preliminary exam continued briefly Monday.

The Shekter-Smith plea deal comes just days after Attorney General Dana Nessel said she wants to replace Flood as special prosecutor in the criminal water crisis cases.

Flood would not comment on his future or on any conversations he’s had with the new attorney general.

Nessel said in a statement Friday, Jan. 4, that she has asked Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to take over the water prosecutions.

Worthy said she’s expecting to only review the pending criminal cases. There are eight cases now that Shekter-Smith has taken a plea deal.

In brief testimony Monday, Shekter-Smith told Manley that she became aware of an “uptick” in cases of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County in October 2014, the same time the city of Flint was using the Flint River as its water source.

She said she told others in the DEQ, including former Director Dan Wyant, about the increase in cases of Legionnaires' at the same time.

In January 2015, she said, staff members in the Office of Drinking Water reported to her that they participated in a conference call about the Legionnaires' issue in the Flint area and that state Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon participated in the call.

Lyon is facing charges, including involuntary manslaughter, that are related to the water crisis in Genesee Circuit Court.

Wyant has not been charged with any crime.

He resigned from his cabinet position in December 2015 after a state task force laid most of the blame for the city’s water crisis at the feet of his agency.