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The city of Highland Park has gotten a badly needed reprieve.
Wayne County Circuit Judge John Murphy issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday blocking the city of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department from cutting off water and services to residents and commercial customers in the city of Highland Park as it threatened to do this Friday for non-payment of millions of dollars in delinquent bills, Todd Perkins, the attorney for Highland Park, said.
Residents and commercial customers pay Highland Park, which then turns the money over to the city of Detroit.
Perkins said the judge also set aside for now his $20 million judgment against the city of Highland Park on behalf of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, which says Highland Park owes the money for delinquent water bills and services. That ruling came last Friday.
"I'm happy residents don't have to have the fear they have," Perkins said of Wednesday's ruling. "As an attorney, I've had a lot of sleepless nights over this."
Perkins said the judge has set a status conference hearing on the matter for June 4.
Highland Park has had an issue with getting out accurate water bills to customers, and therefore, some customers have not been paying. Perkins said the city is working to correct the problem.
Last Friday, the city of Detroit issued a statement on the case:
While DWSD cannot comment specifically on this case because of pending litigation, the department has been working diligently to improve its financial operations to ensure safe, reliable and accessible water and sewerage services for all its customers."
