[7] On May 3, 2005, Earley was appointed to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission by Governor Jennifer Granholm, for a term expiring on December 31, 2008.
[8] On September 30, 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder appointed a state eight-member review team for City of Flint including Earley.
[9] Earley remained with the City of Saginaw served until he was appointed emergency manager (EM) for Flint in October 2013, succeeding Michael Brown.
The decision to join the KWA was made under then-Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz, and approved by then-State Treasurer Andy Dillon.
[14] At the time of Earley's appointment, the school system had a budget deficit of almost $170 million and faced rapidly declining enrollment.
[14] The state Democratic Party called for Earley to be fired from this post in October 2015, citing his tenure in Flint and that city's water crisis.
In December 2015 and January 2016, a series of organized teacher sickouts (which Earley condemned as "misguided" and illegal strikes) took place in the school system.
[18] Jim Ananich, Democrat representing Flint, and the state Senate minority leader, said: "For the sake of the kids, Earley needed to go.
"[20] In November 2015, Earley was one of fourteen officials named as defendants in a class action lawsuit brought in federal court by Flint residents.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that "Defendants' conduct in exposing Flint residents to toxic water was so egregious and so outrageous that it shocks the conscience" and that "For more than 18 months, state and local government officials ignored irrefutable evidence that the water pumped from the Flint River exposed (users) to extreme toxicity."
[24] On June 14, 2017, Michigan's attorney general Bill Schuette announced a further charge of involuntary manslaughter due to the events that took place under his watch in the Flint Water Crisis.
[2] Earley received the Western Michigan University School of Public Affairs and Administration's Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.