RICHMOND, Va — A little more than a week after a series of failures at Richmond's water treatment plant left the city and surrounding localities without drinkable water for six days, Richmond's Public Utilities Director April Bingham resigned Wednesday.
During an interview with Richmond Mayor Danny Avula on Wednesday, CBS 6 was given eight minutes to ask questions. Reporter Tyler Layne pressed Avula about what led to Bingham's resignation and whether Avula believed the water crisis was preventable.
Here is a transcript of their conversation:
Tyler Layne: Did you ask for Ms. Bingham to resign?
Danny Avula: You know, we have been, obviously, in deep response mode for the last two weeks. And then as we've started a restore service and figure out how we get the operation stabilized, starting to look at, okay, what skill sets do we really need moving forward? And I think in those ongoing conversations, yeah, April decided to step down.
In the past couple of days, and really longer than that, of just bringing regional and state resources into the fold, getting to see who could help support the operation, we were really pleased to have met [Scott Morris] in that process. Scott brings a tremendous amount of experience as a professional engineer, as somebody who, right now, is serving as the Director of Water Programs at the Department of Environmental Quality at the state level. But he brings both the local perspective as well. Right? He spent four years working in wastewater here in Richmond City, and then he spent a decade at Chesterfield, really climbing the ranks, growing in expertise, growing in leadership, and so he has both the local experience in water operation and the state regulatory experience and the leadership experience and professional certifications behind that.
So yeah, we feel really lucky to have found somebody on such short notice to be willing to step into an acting role for us and help us continue to move out of the crisis that we've been in for the last week and a half.
And when you say that Ms. Bingham decided to step down, that was her own decision, without you going to her and asking her to do that?
You know, we've been having conversations, and ultimately, I can't get into the HR details of the conversation, but it was an amicable separation. She did ultimately decide to step down. And again, we're thrilled that, on such short notice, we were able to find somebody to step into the role.
It was mentioned that the interim director has an engineering background. That was something that Ms. Bingham did not have. Was that a distinction that you wanted to make in finding this next leader?
You know, I think, as we have been just in the initial phases of response, and looking at what kind of expertise would help us move forward, I think, ensuring that we had somebody who was a professional engineer — and we have several who are on-site in the plant — but you know, in quickly looking to find a replacement for April, finding somebody who could bring that expertise in the next phase of plant operations was a priority.
That was important, that they were an engineer?
That's right.
Do you think the previous administration put the wrong person into the role as DPU director?
I don't want to comment on that. I mean, I think there are so many things that April did so well, and even in the midst of our response — I mean, she was incredibly responsive, attentive, a really positive presence in our response.
I think when we do our after-action report, we can sort of look into the last couple of years of how the plant has been run and kept up, and then make some hindsight-20/20 decisions about what could have and should have happened.
But I do think moving forward, having that expertise on site will give us our best chance of really shoring up the operation and paving the path forward.
The Department of Health has said this crisis was completely preventable, that it should not have happened. To my knowledge, I don't think you have said that on the record yet. Can you answer that? Do you believe that this was completely avoidable?
Yeah, I don't know that to be true. You know, again, I presented, what I understand is the sequence of events to City Council on Monday night. That continues to be the bulk of the story that we understand. When we — and we're very close to bringing the third-party independent consultant in, who will do the deep dive into the blow-by-blow of what happened, and where did systems fail, and where did human response — could, where could that have been different?
And I think at that point I will be able to say with more certainty, could this have been avoided, or could it not have? But I am not there now.
So why do you think the state can be so confident about that, and you are not? Because I'm sure you guys have, probably, a lot of the same information.
Yeah, I don't know the answer to that.
You know, I've had several conversations with our colleagues over at [VDH's Office of Drinking Water]. I mean, part of it is that they just have more expertise in water treatment plants than I do, but I also think that there is a void, or, like, some lack of clarity about the events, you know, that started early Monday morning, and ultimately how we got to where we are. As I understand, I don't think VDH was actually on site until later on Monday, and then started shifts overnight Monday.
So yeah, I don't know why they can say that with such certainty. And I feel like once I've got a full, clear picture after the after-action report, I'll be able to say something with clarity about what could have been avoided.
And looking at the information that you have so far, you know the fact that there were three operators on staff. We're not sure if all of the batteries were working. We're not sure if all the backup systems were tested. The state says that the workers didn't know to manually turn off the valves. When you look at everything we've learned so far, I mean, is there anything you can identify that you wish would have happened differently?
Yeah, you know, I think that any response like this is going to be a combination — I mean, clearly there were act of God issues here with a storm and a power outage. There do appear, again, as I understand it, to be infrastructure failures with the switch gear that didn't switch over. But then there's, there's always going to be an element of human response. And I think really understanding the depth of that human response, and, you know, what could have been avoided, what should have been done differently? I mean, I think that's what the next couple weeks of investigation will yield for us.
But, yeah, I think I can absolutely say that whatever comes out of this will be a combination of infrastructure, process, and, you know, did the right people do the right thing in the right time?
And speaking on the infrastructure concerns, there are procurement documents that date back many years. As far back as 2012, there was a study that was done that identified the electrical equipment as not reliable. It talked about the switch gear component that needed to be replaced. Solicitations for that work went out in 2016. It wasn't until many years later, I believe in late 2022, that a contract was ever issued. Do you feel like the previous administration maybe didn't act with urgency to address such a critical issue like that?
I think what I understand at this point is that, in 2016, they put an RFP out, and nobody came within the appropriate budget, and so then they re-issued it. And I don't know the exact timeline, but in 2022 they actually did issue a contract where there was kind of a step-wise look and replacement. So it sounds like we've had ongoing work upgrading machinery, upgrading infrastructure since 2022, and so it's hard for me to speculate on, you know, did they do — did they not do what they should have done, or not?
I think that, you know, again, the more in-depth after-action will look at that entire period and like, where were we responsive? Where should we have moved more quickly? I think that's all to come in the coming weeks.
And then moving forward, we've talked about this need for regional and state collaboration. Do you feel like the city is getting enough help from surrounding localities, especially the counties that use our systems for their own people and then, as well as the state?
Yeah, without a doubt, our counties have been phenomenal partners. I mean, really, from Monday, the sixth on we have just had tremendous support, on-site presence, a willingness to bring engineers and expertise. So it has been a really great regional collaboration. We have also brought in independent, contracted engineers to help support the operation, and the county has been involved in those conversations, and the state has been a tremendous partner as well. I mean, really, since the beginning, VDH has been present with us and helping us make sure that, you know — obviously, getting through the testing procedures, the boil water advisory, all of it. I mean, I think the response has been a really great regional and state level collaboration.
After eight minutes went by, a spokesperson for the mayor said no additional questions could be asked.
CBS 6 also reached out to a campaign manager for Former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who is running for lieutenant governor, for an interview to ask whether he still stood by his appointment of Bingham. His campaign manager said an interview was not possible and has not yet provided a written statement.
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