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Residents and organizers press Jackson council for water-affordability action
Summary
Detroit-area organizers and Jackson residents urged the council to support state and local measures to address unaffordable water bills, describing disconnections as a public-health crisis and asking the city to pass a supporting resolution and consider legislative language.
Several residents and visiting organizers urged the Jackson City Council on Oct. 28 to take action on water affordability and to support state legislation that would create programs to reduce household water-bill burdens.
Sylvia Ordino, a community organizer who attends local meetings across Michigan, said the problem of unaffordable water is statewide and urged the council to consider a resolution supporting a package pending in Lansing that would create a statewide fund to help residents. “We need a resolution from you locally,” she told the council, arguing a state program could reduce the burden on local governments.
Valerie Blakely, another organizer from Detroit, described unaffordable water as a “public health crisis” and said she has been speaking with Jackson residents who are struggling to pay bills. “Anytime people can’t afford their water, it puts them in crisis mode,” she said, and urged the council to back water-affordability legislation and to coordinate local action to prevent shutoffs.
Council members thanked the speakers and said they were open to reviewing the state bills cited and to having staff and organizers suggest language for a local resolution. Council Member Wood identified the bills as SB 248 through SB 256 and asked organizers to deliver suggested language for council consideration.
What’s next: Council members asked organizers to provide proposed resolution language and indicated staff would review the bills; no formal council resolution was adopted at this meeting.
