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Suburbs Consider Oversight For Water Dept.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is pushing for increased suburban oversight of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. This comes on the heels of federal indictments of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the former chief of the Water Department.

"I'm upset because, frankly, they were ripping off taxpayers and not only Wayne county but the tri-county areas. It's the kick-backs and the bribes and so-forth, it was all an added cost of doing business in Detroit." Patterson said to WWJ.

Patterson may  have some push back on his hands. Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano says he believes the current mayor, Dave Bing, is doing a good job running the department.

"What I'm proposing is that the city (Detroit) maintain and retain ownership of the Detroit Water and Sewer Bureau but do what we did at the DIA, the zoo, and we did at Cobo, we have one authority come in and manage the day-to-day responsibilities."

Patterson will meet with other county officials to gauge their support for going to the Legislature to push for regional governance of the system.

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