FLINT, MI -- Former Flint emergency manager Gerald Ambrose, who defended the quality of city water even after testing showed rising lead levels, told a congressional committee he never talked to Gov. Rick Snyder about water issues -- or about anything else.

In a closed-door, transcribed interview with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March 2016, Ambrose said he never directly approached the man who appointed him to run Flint about the defining issue he faced on the job.

Instead, the former emergency manager said he dealt primarily with employees in the Michigan Department of Treasury during his four months on the job, the same office that the Flint Water Advisory Task Force blamed for making decisions in the best interest of the budget rather than city residents.

In his brief time on the job, Ambrose became the chief defender of water pulled from the Flint River, a practice that was expected to give the city a one-time financial boost but that ended after 17 months because of elevated levels of lead and other safety questions.

Critics have pointed to the narrow focus of Michigan's emergency manager system on finances as a core weakness, including two reports by government task forces in 2016.

An October report by the Joint Select Committee on the Flint Water Emergency included 36 proposals and recommendations for changes in state government, including five specific changes to how emergency managers operate in Michigan.

Ambrose, 67, who faces charges of criminal wrongdoing for his role in the water crisis, was one of three witnesses who gave transcribed statements to Congress' Oversight Committee.

MLive-The Flint Journal requested excerpts from the testimony from the committee, which suspended its investigation of Flint water last month -- a decision Democrats on the committee have objected to.

In the transcript, Ambrose appeared to surprise his questioners when he told them, "I've never really met Governor Snyder."

"You've never met Governor Snyder?" he was asked again.

"No," Ambrose answered.

"Have you ever had any conversations with him?" he was asked.

"No," he answered.

The committee also took transcribed testimony from former state Department of Environmental Quality director Dan Wyant and Ed Kurtz, another former Flint emergency manager.

Flint is one of just 13 financial emergencies declared since Snyder took office in 2011 and one of the largest municipalities to suffer that fate.

In April 2015, the governor declared the financial emergency in Flint was over and he appointed a Receivership Transition Advisory Board to continue working with the city mayor and council.

But even during the 41 months of direct state control, Snyder has maintained that while some of his top advisors were aware of possible ties between Flint's use of the Flint River and lead as well as a suspected connection between the water and a deadly outbreak of Legionnaries' disease, he didn't learn so serious the problems were for 17 months -- until October 2015.

Anna Heaton, Snyder's press secretary, said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal that Ambrose is correct -- the governor never met the man he appointed to turn around Flint's financial fortunes.

"Emergency managers report to the Treasury Department while they function as part of the local government," Heaton's statement says.

That arrangement clearly didn't work, said State Sen. Jim Ananich, D-Flint.

Ambrose was "an appointee of the governor -- not the treasurer," Ananich said. "It's unfortunate but it kind of makes sense (considering) the indifference this administration showed to Flint."

Ambrose faces criminal charges of false pretenses, conspiracy to commit false pretenses, willful neglect of duty and misconduct in office.

Prosecutors from the Attorney General's Office claim Ambrose was involved in a scheme to enter into a contract based on false pretenses and was aware that Flint's treatment plant was not able to produce safe water.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His attorney -- William Swor of Detroit -- declined to comment on Ambrose's testimony before the Oversight Committee.

In addition to his comments about his relationship with Snyder, Ambrose told congressional investigators that former emergency manager Darnell Earley "had some communications with Harvey Hollins" about water-related complaints "from different folks in Flint" before Ambrose was appointed to the job.

Before he was named to succeed Earley, who has also been charged with crimes related to the water crisis, Ambrose served as Flint's finance director.

"Toward late (2014) there were clearly complaints about the discoloration of the water and they had come not only to the mayor and the emergency manager and been looked at by the city, but there were folks that were having conversations with the Governor's Office, and I think that they were -- you know, as one might expect, if that happens there would be calls from, you know, Mr. Hollins to Mr. Earley to say, 'What's going on?' Ambrose told committee investigators.

Hollins, who works inside the Governor's Office as director of the Office of Urban initiatives, remains directly involved in the recovery efforts in Flint.

He told the Detroit Free Press in February 2016 that he was aware of reports of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area in March 2015, but did not report it to Snyder until January 2016.

In addition to never having spoken to Snyder, Ambrose told the Oversight Committee he was never evaluated as finance director or emergency manager of the city.

Ambrose said Flint leaders were told by "water quality experts" that the Flint River could safely be used for drinking water.

"You know, the long and shot of it is, they came back and said, yes, we can make this work for a short period of time ... We realized that that would generate some financial savings for us over the next couple years ... And so we said, I mean, why would we not try it?"

Snyder eventually recognized the Flint water crisis later in 2015 after DEQ officials acknowledged they should have required Flint to treat river water to make it less corrosive to lead in pipes and home plumbing.

Since that time, local, state and federal officials have advised Flint residents not to drink city water unless it is filtered.

Thirteen former and current local and state officials, including Ambrose and Earley, have since been charged with criminal wrongdoing in relation to the water crisis.

Just this month, Elijah Cummings, ranking Democratic member of the Oversight Committee, suggested the committee refer Ambrose, Earley and Kurtz to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential federal criminal prosecution for potentially having misled the committee.

Heaton said Snyder is "open to working with the Legislature on possible reforms to the emergency management law."