LANSING, MI -- Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson Brad Wurfel has joined director Dan Wyant in resigning after a task force cited department failures in addressing the Flint water crisis.
Wurfel in an email to contacts on Tuesday night said he had been honored to serve under Wyant and was joining his boss in resigning.
"I have greatly appreciated my time as Communications Director at the DEQ, but I am looking forward to pursuing new opportunities in the new year. I tendered my resignation today as well," Wurfel said.
What that email didn't mention was Flint water. Wurfel said in an interview with MLive that the people of Flint were front and center while the DEQ worked on the water issue, but that got lost in a mix of technical communications and what the media picked up.
"The human element got lost in the press account, even if it was there personally," Wurfel said.
Wurfel said he and his wife, former Gov. Rick Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel, have a 3-year-old son. Brad Wurfel has spent a lot of time in Flint over the past few months and knows the Flint parents have genuine fears and concerns over the water's effect on their children.
"I'm a person. I'm a parent. You can't not pick that up," Wurfel said.
But, he said, maybe that concern didn't come across in departmental communications.
In a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder, the Flint Water Advisory Task Force pegged the "substance and tone" of the department's communications as one of three failures, along with failing to correctly interpret lead and copper rule and a regulatory failure.
"Throughout 2015, as the public raised concerns and as independent studies and testing were conducted and brought to the attention of MDEQ, the agency's response was often one of aggressive dismissal, belittlement, and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved," noted the task force's letter. "We find both the tone and substance of many MDEQ public statements to be completely unacceptable."
Wurfel said he hadn't seen the task force's work but acknowledged that he'd do many things differently if going back were an option.
"There's no denying it, the Department of Communications could have been better," Wurfel said.
He said the department was doing its best with highly technical information that frequently changed. When the department realized it looked like it had made a mistake, it admitted that. But he apologized to the people of Flint.
"They didn't feel like we cared. I care a lot. It's been on the front on my mind for months now ... the human aspect of this isn't lost on me," Wurfel said.
Emily Lawler is a Capitol/Business reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.