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Meeting Held To Decide Control Of Detroit Water System

DETROIT (WWJ) - A federal judge is meeting with a number of county and city leaders connected to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. 

Judge Sean Cox, Thursday, disbanded a group that had been meeting about water issues for the past seven years.  Cox has to decide on a motion that would regionalize the department by court order.  A state lawmaker has also introduced legislation that would create a regional board to oversee the water department.

Attorneys from the city of Detroit along with those who run water departments in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties are in federal court Friday to discuss the issue of who will control the Detroit Water Department. 

Detroit has been working on a plan to turn around the system that was mismanaged by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick stands accused of steering water contracts to his friend, Bobby Ferguson, in a federal indictment in December.  Former Detroit Water Department Director Victor Mercado is charged in that same indictment.

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