RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Water has been the talk of the City in Riviera Beach this week and it’s not a new topic, according to current council member KaShamba Miller-Anderson and former Mayor Bishop Tom Masters.
Miller-Anderson has served on the Riviera Beach City Council for nearly nine years.
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In that time she knows just because water quality and testing isn’t on the council agenda, doesn’t mean it’s not going to pop up.
"Rightfully so I understand sometimes when information is put out there without all of the facts, it definitely heightens residents' concerns," Miller-Anderson said.
The facts are trickling out for residents.
Testing in June 2023 showed positive readings for E. coli with no notification until January emails WPTV requested show that Utility Special District Director Michael Low didn’t think the notice was necessary because of a false positive reading.
On Monday, Mayor Ronnie Felder revealed after a meeting with the State Health Department in Palm Beach County that fecal matter did come into contact with the drinking water supply last year.
Miller Anderson said she got notice of the news conference moments before it happened.
"A lot of the information that I discovered was on the news,” she added.
It’s not the first time water issues have bubbled up in the city, In 2016 Miller-Anderson was on the City Council led by Masters.
"Well you know the whole thing is history repeats itself,” Masters said. "Things happen and it comes up and being the bishop I’m reminded of two sins. One is omission, the other one is commission. And here it can be an omission or a commission."
With memories still fresh from 2016, he had his own thoughts of a course of action. "Hopefully it won’t take long," he said. "The mayor or the city manager of whoever will take the necessary steps and take action, whether that’s suspension or firing. They’ll figure that out."
Miller-Anderson said moving forward, she would like to see full transparency on what happened, when it happened and how.
"If it’s something we did not follow through on we have to be open and transparent and that has always been the expectation," she said. "If there is something that we did not do, most definitely own up to it and I do believe that’s what was shared initially."
