Flint task force member: 'It's like pulling teeth to get information'

FLINT, Mich. (WJBK) - Gov. Rick Snyder was in Flint meeting with his special water task force, but there appears to be trouble away from the table. One member of the task force telling the governor "it's like pulling teeth to get information."

Snyder says putting the well-being of Michiganders first needs to be the top priority for all state employees.  Anything less is not acceptable and that lead to firing the former supervisor of DEQ. 

The newly uncovered emails released on Thursday confirms a top aide in the Snyder administration was aware of the Legionnaires Disease outbreak back in March of 2015.

Snyder says he didn't learn about the outbreak until a few days prior to alerting the public Jan. 13 of this year. In the last two years, 87 cases were reported and nine people died.

The governor sat in on Friday's committee meeting in Flint to address the water crisis.

"There's got to be urgency to everything we do," Snyder said.

But that may actually be one of the road blocks in solving the problem.

Dr. Lawrence Reynolds is a local pediatrician who is part of Snyder’s Flint water task force.

He would not point out  which, but says not all departments are doing what needs to be done in releasing information.

"Some agencies have been very forthcoming; other agencies, it's like pulling teeth to get information," Reynolds said.

That's only making residents in Flint even more uneasy.

"You tend to think about it," said resident Daniel Hernandez. "What aren't they telling us? What really aren't they telling us, and what little bit do we know about what's really going on."

The former supervisor Liane Shekter-Smith was fired Friday after a disciplinary conference regarding performance.  A department review of the actions of a second employee who was suspended last month continues.