Financially strapped Flint agreed to pay a former employee $105,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 1999, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Chris Davenport, the former economic development deputy, claimed in a lawsuit that he was fired because he accused former Mayor Woodrow Stanley of using federal funds to help his political supporters. In addition, Davenport complained that the city ignored claims that there were high levels of arsenic in soil in certain parts of the city, according to local news reports.
Flint has been under the watch of a state emergency fiscal manager since 2001. The emergency manager Ed Kurtz told local news reporters that the city would not admit responsibility in the lawsuit, but settled to avoid escalating legal costs.
In addition, Kurtz told reporters, that the city's case was hurt when Davenport's former boss died before he could testify. The city claimed that Davenport was fired because the city lacked the funds to keep him on staff.
