County Executive L. Brooks Patterson Administration
County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has provided strong leadership and inspired stewardship that has resulted in a number of outstanding achievements for Oakland County during his term in office, including:
Business & Community
Since 1993 the Oakland County Business Roundtable has been instrumental in developing strategies to deal with such issues as economic development, business attraction, education and quality of life. One of the early successes of the Roundtable was the Oakland County One Stop Shop, designed to provide citizens and businesses with a central point of access to planning and economic development information. Each year approximately 5,000 citizens visit the One Stop Shop in search of maps, aerial photographs, property information and business assistance.
The growth in our Small Business Workshops defines a shift in the emphasis on existing businesses with more than 6,000 participants since 1998.
The Casual Day program has provided nearly a half million dollars to assist needy individuals in the community.
The addition of U.S. Customs service at Oakland County International Airport has made it easier for companies to conduct business on an international level.
The Mandarin Chinese language program, which Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson called for in his 2007 State of the County Address, has been implemented in 22 of Oakland Countys 28 school districts while Chinese culture and history are being taught in all 28.
Three of the top four communities on Michigans Entrepreneurial Cities Index are in Oakland County. They include: Auburn Hills, Troy and Wixom.
The college education level in Oakland County is 14.2% higher than the U.S. with 41.4% of residents possessing a 4 year degree or higher.
Economics
Oakland County is one of only 34 counties nationwide with a AAA bond rating which saves taxpayers $2 million - $3 million annually on drain and sewer projects since 1998.
Oaklands unemployment rate has maintained an average 1.9% below the State of Michigan since Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson took office in 1993.
Oakland Countys Business Finance Corporation (BFC) has funded 307 projects, generating $375 million in new investment and the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) has funded 63 projects totaling $494 million in investment since 1992.
Over 700 foreign parent firms, representing 33 countries have 910 business locations in Oakland County. The presence of foreign-owned business operations has grown from 394 in the late 1990s to over 700 today. Part of that is due to Oakland Countys focus on international business strategies.
Oakland County ranked seventh in per capita income in 2006 among counties with populations of at least one million people and 39th among all counties.
Retail sales in Oakland County totaled $25 billion in 2006, ranking 20th among all counties.
Only seven metro areas nationwide have a median Effective Buying Income (EBI) higher than Oakland Countys $54,804.
Public Safety
The 35-year old CLEMIS computer system and organization is unique in the nation. With its two dozen applications CLEMIS provides its members the ability to perform data sharing tasks for public safety that most other agencies cannot.
With over 225 public safety agencies that rely on CLEMIS in a six-county region on a 24x7 basis, it assists in providing the regions citizens the quality of life that they have come to expect. CLEMIS is believed to be the largest law enforcement support agency of its type in the nation.
The $17 million in federal COPS MORE grant dollars, matched by Oakland County General Fund resources of roughly $7.5 million, has funded applications that not only provide data access but also improve the efficiency of law enforcement officers on the street.
Recently, CLEMIS completed the installation of a combined mugshot / fingerprint system that is interfaced with the Michigan State Polices system allowing for law enforcement access to all arrest records in the State.
With the completion of a new public safety radio communications system, interoperable communications will be possible for the first time between all public safety agencies within the Countys borders.
OakVideo is just one of the CLEMIS applications, but is unique in the nation. It is a multi-point video conferencing system that connects all district courts, Circuit Court, police departments / Sheriffs office, Prosecutor, Community Corrections, State Probation Department, and others. The officer transport savings, increased security in the courtrooms and other benefits are significant. Additional modules are expected to be attached to OakVideo that would further increase its return on investment.
Health
The Count Your Steps pedometer walking program to fight childhood obesity has attracted 120,000 third and fourth grade students since its inception in 2004. These youngsters have walked a combined total of 12 billion steps. The program has taught children to engage in regular exercise and eat nutritionally.
The Health Divisions EHealth program continues to improve efficiency by using a web-based system to conduct food safety inspections and license the countys 4,500-plus restaurants, numerous vending machines and temporary food booths. EHealth also offers online services for customers needing onsite septic system and water well permits.
Every Fall, the Health Division tests their ability to quickly activate a medication dispensing clinic as part of their public health emergency preparedness plan. In 2007, over 12,000 Oakland County residents were vaccinated in a five-hour period at seven sites.
The Health Division received a 2008 NACO Award for implementation of their Crib Notes program. Crib Notes teaches adolescents about personal health and caring for infants such as siblings or other children. The program was developed as an intervention to reduce infant mortality in Oakland County.
Beaumont Hospitals partnership with Oakland University to build a new medical school on the Rochester campus in 2010will generate 10,000 new jobs and pump $1 billion into the regional economy while providing new opportunities for emerging technologies in bioscience and medicine. It will also address the projected statewide shortage of 4,400 doctors by 2020.
Veterans
Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly began burials on October 17, 2005 and currently averages about six internments per day.
Technology
Oakland Countys website (www.oakgov.com) portal was voted second in a Best of the Web ranking by the Center for Digital Government out of more than 3,000 government websites nationwide.
The Oakland County Mobile Services pilot program was honored with a NACo Achievement Award and Digital Government Achievement Award from the National Center for Digital Government.
The Oakland County website has 24,000 individual pages of content and over 12,000 government publications, documents, forms and reports.
Oakland County offers 32 online services which allow citizens to access such things as birth, death and marriage certificates, pay local property taxes, pay tickets issued by the 52nd District Court, purchase park permits and apply for well and septic permits.
Government Technology Magazine named Mr. Patterson one of the Top 25 individuals in America using technology to improve services to citizens and create greater efficiencies in government operations.
Oakland County had only 200 computers in use when Mr. Patterson took office in 1992. Today there are over 4,000 personal computers across all county programs.
With the support of Automation Alley, Southeast Michigan has become a technology leader boasting 184 research and development centers, 330,000 technology workers, more than 50,000 engineers and 4,000 scientists. Automation Alley universities enrolled a total of 11,859 science and engineering grad students in 2005 77% of states total enrollment
Government Program
The Emerging Sectors program, which was formed to attract high-paying, sustainable, knowledge-based jobs of the future, has attracted 80 emerging sector companies since 2004, along with $1.05 billion in new investment, more than 12,000 new jobs, retained 3,384 other jobs and expanded the tax bases of local communities by almost $26 million. (June 2008).
Oakland County is one of only 34 counties nationwide out of 3,200 counties to have attained and maintained a coveted AAA Bond Rating saving taxpayers $2 million - $3 million annually on drain and sewer projects.
A continuing effort to improve efficiency and privatize county services over the years has resulted in savings of $6 million annually.
Two new county service centers were built to accommodate those living in western (1996) and southern (1999) Oakland County.
Since its founding in 1999, Automation Alley, Michigans premiere technology corridor, has grown to more than 900 member companies and brought more than $120 million in international business to Southeast Michigan. The Alley has received the Presidents E Award for Excellence in Exporting from President Bush.
A particularly important aspect of Automation Alley is its inclusion of intrapreneurship in their program thrust. As Michigan endures the pains felt by the struggling automotive industry, Automation Alley is helping businesses apply their solid technology expertise in new markets.
Since its inception in 1999, Main Street Oakland County has resulted in community investments totaling almost half a billion dollars; creating 344 new businesses and generating 2,782 new jobs.
Established in 2001, the Oakland County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has been awarded $495,000 for environmental assessment funding on 46 projects. Seven projects have resulted in $300 million in overall investment and over 180 acres of land being cleaned up.
Oakland County is the first county in America to fully fund employee and retiree healthcare through creative use of Trust Certificates, saving taxpayers about $150 million per year.
The Employee Suggestion Program has resulted in over $5 million savings to the County.
Oakland County has implemented a plan to allow county workers to switch to a four-day work week to save on commuting costs.
Quality of Life
Arts, Beats and Eats attracts more than one million people over Labor Day Weekend to downtown Pontiac. It is recognized as one of Americas top 20 premiere summertime events.
Quake on the Lake, beginning in 2008, is partnering with the Malibu Open, which is one of the worlds most popular ski jumping and water boarding tournaments. The family focused event, which has been expanded to three days, is held in July at the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area.
The Woodard Dream Cruise held in August, is arguably the biggest day-long automotive event in the world. This world class attracts more than one million vintage car enthusiasts to Woodward Avenue.
The Brooksie Way Half Marathon and 5K Race is slated for October at Oakland University in Rochester.
A Detroit News editorial (9/17/04) noted that Oakland Countys Environmental Stewardship program preserves woodland areas between subdivisions and roads that makes the view from any of Oaklands 200-mile system of trails downright rural.
During the Patterson Administration more than 1,700 acres of green space have been acquired or preserved throughout the five major watersheds.
