Paul Egan and Matthew Dolan

Detroit Free Press

LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver — already at odds over how quickly Flint's lead service lines that carry drinking water to homes should be replaced — are also split over Snyder's choice of an engineering firm that a state document says helped prepare the city before its botched switch to using Flint River water.

On Tuesday, Snyder announced the state had signed a no-bid contract worth up to $500,000 with Flint-based Rowe Professional Services to study Flint’s water distribution system and replace 30 lead service lines as a pilot project.

Records the state released Feb.12 say Rowe was involved in preparing Flint’s water treatment process for the city’s switch to the Flint River as its source of drinking water in April 2014.

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The water treatment plant went into operation without the use of corrosion-control chemicals. As a result, officials say they believe unsafe levels of lead leached from pipes, joints and fixtures into the drinking water in an unknown number of Flint households, resulting in state and federal declarations of an emergency and public health crisis. Rowe says its involvement in preparing for the switch to the Flint River was a peripheral one, but it is still raising questions from some in the city about whether the company is suitable to work on the lead pipe issue.

Jody Wright, an unemployed research analyst who grew up in Flint, lives on the Flint River in Flushing Township and criticized the choice of Rowe on social media. She said Rowe should "absolutely not" be chosen to assess the city's water system and lead pipes. Given Rowe's work in preparing for Flint to switch its drinking source to the Flint River, plus the company's work on behalf of the new Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline to Lake Huron that was a major factor in Flint splitting with the Detroit water system, "the trust issue is not there," Wright said in an interview.

In a brief prepared for Snyder in September 2014, under the subhead, "Recent History of City of Flint Water System," the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality told the governor that in August 2013, Rowe “completed an engineering proposal for improvements to the City of Flint WTP (water treatment plant) that would allow continuous operation … using the Flint River” until the new KWA pipeline to Lake Huron, which was expected to serve Flint starting this year, was completed.

A Rowe official said Friday the description of Rowe's role does not sound accurate. "We really have had little involvement in preparing the treatment plant," said James Redding, Rowe's director of engineering, who confirmed Rowe has done considerable work on behalf of the KWA.

The Free Press has requested from the MDEQ a copy of the August 2013 Rowe report referenced in the briefing sent to the governor, but the state agency said Friday it has not been able to locate it. Mike Prysby, the MDEQ district engineer whose e-mails included a copy of the briefing, could not be reached for comment. Ari Adler, a state spokesman, said it's possible the report was completed for the city and the MDEQ does not have a copy. The Free Press has also requested a copy of the report from the city.

Redding said the only August 2013 document Rowe could locate Friday related to the water plant is a work order from another engineering firm — Houston-based Lockwood, Andrews & Newman (LAN) — authorizing Rowe to "perform a survey of the elevations of certain structures and water levels at the plant."

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Snyder said Rowe was selected without calling for bids because part of its task will be to upgrade city water-service reliability and asset management studies that it completed in years past.

Snyder's news release announcing the contract with Rowe said Snyder and his aide Rich Baird "met with Mayor Weaver and Gen. Mike McDaniel, head of Flint’s Fast Start program, on Feb. 8, where all parties agreed to move forward on the contract with Rowe to complete an infrastructure study before replacing lines." The plans to hire Rowe were also discussed at a meeting involving state officials and Weaver on Feb. 7, the release said.

But in response to that statement, Kristin Moore, a spokeswoman for Weaver, said, “Mayor Weaver did not agree to hire Rowe,” but “it was a foregone conclusion that the governor was going to move forward with that firm, despite her concerns.”

Moore would not elaborate on Weaver's concerns, except to say Weaver "feels the city should have more input in the selection of its own contractors for the work."

The mayor's team "will be monitoring Rowe's work every step of the way," Moore said.

Adler pointed out that McDaniel, who works for Weaver, was quoted in Tuesday's news release announcing the Rowe contract. He questioned why McDaniel would be quoted in the release if Weaver did not support the move.

McDaniel, in a written statement, said, "The mayor speaks for the city," but added: "At this point, the city and state are moving forward together with the primary goal of getting the lead service lines in Flint removed as soon as possible."

Today, Weaver and a University of Michigan-Flint researcher are expected to discuss new findings on how best to determine the location of all known lead pipes in the city, a challenge the state's environmental protection chief last week called problematic. Around the same time, but separately, Snyder is to lead reporters on a tour of the state's new emergency operation headquarters and discuss the latest monitoring of Flint drinking water at 400 city sites.

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The city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager when the decision to begin drawing drinking water from the Flint River was made. Flint is now in transition back to self-government.

Snyder's release said, "The state continues to work closely with the city of Flint on a comprehensive approach to identify lead service lines and replace them, beginning with the highest priority homes – ones with very high lead levels and those with young children or pregnant women in the home."

On Wednesday, Snyder reiterated that the state may still suffer from broken trust with the city over the best way to fix the water contamination and whether the state’s strategy to attempt to recoat lead pipes to stop suspected leaching is appropriate.

“We may have a confidence issue with the community and I acknowledge that,” the governor said. “But again, experts have told us that that is possible and we’re doing scientific testing with 400 sites to see if that’s taken place.”

Redding told the Free Press that Rowe was a subcontractor to LAN on work related to the switch to using the Flint River as an interim drinking water source. Prior to April 2014, Flint received treated Lake Huron water, piped from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

But Redding said Rowe was not directly involved in work performed inside the plant, which he said was LAN's responsibility. Instead, Rowe's work involved preparations for off-site storage for sludge that would be produced as a result of the lime-softening treatment performed at the plant, Redding said.

Rowe had no involvement in the decision whether or not to use corrosion-control chemicals as part of the treatment process, said Redding, who added he was surprised to learn Flint had opted to draw from the Flint River as an interim source instead of staying on Detroit water until the KWA was completed. Redding said he was not aware corrosion-control chemicals were not being used when the drinking water switch took place.

Redding said he doesn't know why Weaver opposes Rowe's involvement in the latest project, but he wants to find out.

Rowe has done extensive work for the city over the years, and it's because of Rowe's involvement in those earlier studies that the state felt it would be quicker and more cost-effective to select Rowe for the latest study than call for bids or proposals, Redding said.

The firm has also done extensive work for Genesee County, and KWA, including a 2011 report that rejected, as not cost-effective, use of the Flint River as a permanent source for Flint's drinking water, he said. Rowe also wrote a rebuttal to a 2013 report from Tucker, Young, Jackson, Tull report, prepared for the Michigan Department of Treasury, that said it would be more cost-effective for Flint to stay with Detroit water than to switch to the KWA, Redding confirmed.

Howard Croft, Flint's former public works superintendent, said in a Sept. 3 e-mail, obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, that corrosion controls as part of the treatment process were "addressed and discussed with the engineering firm and with the DEQ,” but officials decided to hold off on adding the chemicals because of concerns they would increase bacteria counts in the water.

A LAN spokesman has acknowledged the company's role in preparing the plant to accept water from the Flint river, but told the Free Press that decisions about corrosion control "were made by the City of Flint and the Michigan DEQ, not LAN."

LAN, which has an office in Flint, “was asked to provide a limited scope of engineering services to address specific components of the existing water treatment plant, not the overall water quality,” Wentz said.

“The systems we provided services on are operating without issue, and it is clear that LAN provided these specific services in a responsible and appropriate manner in accordance with industry standards."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660, pegan@freepress.com or on Twitter @paulegan4