Since being elected, one of the most common questions I have received is ‘exactly what is a county commissioner and what do you do?? As this is the first Commissioner’s Corner editorial, I thought answering these questions would be a good start in fulfilling the purpose of making county government more transparent to the community.
Oakland County is organized under the Optional Unified Form of County Government, Public Act 139 of 1973 (as amended by Public Act 100 of 1980). This means we have an elected county executive (L. Brooks Patterson) and an elected board of commissioners that serve as the administrative and governing bodies.
The board of commissioners is made up of 25 members. Each commissioner represents an equally populated geographic district that contains approximately 48,000 citizens. Each commissioner is elected by their constituents and serves a 2-year term.
The board of commissioners is the governing body of the county. The powers and responsibilities of the board include:
– Formulating and establishing county policies
– Establishing the annual county property tax millage rate
– Adopting county ordinances and rules
– Adopting the annual county budget and long-range capital improvement plan
– Adopting the county development plan
– Adopting and enforcing the rules that establish the authority, duties and responsibilities of county departments and offices
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The board of commissioners operates under a committee system and there are five standing committees:
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee’s responsibilities include developing a plan to finance county activities, recommending a 5-year capital improvement plan, preparing and presenting the county budget, examining assessments of local taxing units, determining the County Equalized Value as required by the General Property Tax Law, reviewing and approving federal and state grants and providing oversight for all internal and external audit functions.
Personnel Committee
The Personnel Committee’s responsibilities include developing policies of personnel matters (i.e. wages, benefits, employment classification), reviewing annual affirmative action program reports, setting policies related to the county merit system and working in conjunction with the County Retirement Commission on pension matters and retiree healthcare benefits.
General Government Committee
The General Government Committee’s responsibilities include managing and recommending revisions to the Board of Commissioners rules, reviewing all public transportation policies that impact Oakland County residents, making recommendations to the full board regarding committee chairpersons and members, as well as appointments to other county related boards, commissions, authorities and committees, acting as the liaison to federal, state, regional and local agencies and governments and reviewing and recommending action to the board regarding any proposed legislation and county ordinances.
Planning & Building Committee
The Planning & Building Committee’s responsibilities include developing a 5-year capital improvement plan for county facilities, acting as the County Coordinating Zoning Committee, inspecting county building and facilities, providing maintenance and improvements to county buildings and facilities, reviewing county owned buildings and facilities in order to recommend retention or disposal and overseeing the purchase, sale, lease, construction or maintenance of county buildings and facilities.
Public Services Committee
The Public Services Committee’s responsibilities include the oversight of matters related to the county administration, Animal Control, the MSU Cooperative Extensions, Veteran’s Services and Circuit Court Probation. In addition, this committee is responsible for making recommendations to the Board of Commissioners regarding law enforcement matters, emergency management, the Medical Examiner, the Prosecuting Attorney and all courts.
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The purpose of the above committees is to facilitate the careful consideration of issues, in a bi-partisan manner, that the Board of Commissioners is responsible for governing. The committees debate the issues and develop recommendations, which are ultimately brought back to the full board for consideration.
The Board of Commissioners meetings and the committee meetings are held at the Commissioner’s Auditorium, 1200 N. Telegraph and are open to the public. Future board meeting dates and Committee meeting dates can be found on the county website (www.oakgov.com).
As you can see, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, while performing various duties, is not the same as the Oakland County Road Commission or the Oakland County Drain Commission. These two entities are independent of the Board of Commissioners. Information on these two organizations can be found at www.rcocweb.org and www.oakgov.com/drain respectively.
As previously stated, the purpose of this editorial is to help inform the community on issues within county government and to make county government more accessible to the citizens of Orion Township and the Village of Lake Orion. I hope this editorial has achieved that goal.
Please stay tuned for upcoming issues of the Commissioner’s Corner. If you have an issue that you would like to discuss with me or if you have an item that you would like to see included in future Commissioner’s Corner editorials, please contact me at the county at (248)858-0100 or gingellm@oakgov.com.