FLINT, MI - Flint Mayor Karen Weaver is calling her meeting with White House officials this week "a good first step" in addressing the city's water infrastructure needs.

In Washington D.C. on Thursday, Oct. 20, Weaver met with representatives from the Office of Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Housing and Urban Development, the Director of Urban Affairs and Revitalization Policy, Domestic Policy Council, Congressman Dan Kildee, and staff members of Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, according to a release from the city.

Discussing the "critical infrastructure needs in urban communities," the meeting particularly focused on the distribution of safe, reliable and affordable water, according to the release.

"We know that keeping lines of communication open with the White House is critical to addressing the needs that still exist in Flint," Weaver said in a statement. "We are still recovering from the water crisis and are still on bottled and filtered water. We need our leaders in Washington to know that we need their help in fortifying our failing U.S. urban infrastructures. We cannot continue to fund this through rate increases passed on to our residents, but we can use this rebuilding as an opportunity to train and employ them."

The next steps, the mayor said, involve more meetings over the next month between city representatives and White House Intergovernmental Affairs officials representing each of the federal agencies relevant to Flint's health, infrastructure, environmental and economic development needs.

Weaver was extended the White House invitation after penning an open letter of solidarity to Carmen Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, commiserating over Flint and San Juan's lack of clean water and treatment from the government, according to the city.

The mayor previously met with President Donald Trump during his visit to Ypsilanti in March, and a year prior with former President Barack Obama when he flew to Flint in 2016.