| Due to a 55 year law in our State's books, the Treasurers of Oakland and Wayne counties can't take office under July 1st, more than half a year after they get elected.
Still, Andy Meisner, Oakland's new Treasurer, is worth the wait.
Meisner wants the treasurer's office to play an expanded role in helping combat the foreclosure crisis. He wants a county-run land bank that uses federal money to rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed properties.
"The land bank is a tool that the county could add to its already impressive repertoire to protect property values," Meisner said.
Wayne and Genesee counties have used them successfully to turn around foreclosed properties, Meisner said. Oakland County can do the same, though he acknowledged it wouldn't be identical to those counties, where property values are lower.
"We're not similarly situated to Detroit or Flint," Meisner said. "But there are a lot of places that we are like that are using land banks successfully."
He said some higher-end homes could be rented for executive housing or used to lodge, for a month or so, executives considering moving their companies to the county. Some could be used to preserve green space, but Meisner doesn't plan on holding them long-term.
"I have no intention of being a landlord," Meisner said. "The focus has to be on timely disposition of the properties."
Meisner's supporters said that kind of innovative thinking has been a hallmark of his career.
While this means that I'm going to have to get a new house ASAP (property values are low here-good neighborhoods have houses as low as $15,000), it'll be good to see our property values going up and hopefully taking our economy with it:).
Another significant role that Meisner is going to play is the redistricting of County Commissioner Districts in 2010. The redistricting board consists of a judge, the County Treasurer, the County Prosecutor, and chairs of both political parties. With Jessica Cooper as our new Prosecutor, that gives the Dems a much needed edge in redistricting the seats to stop the Republican gerrymandering that has made the Board of Commissioners stay under control of the Repugs, despite the best efforts of former OCDP chair Dave Woodward (under whose leadership had doubled the number of Democratic County Commissioners to 12, one shy of a majority).
If you're in the area and want to watch Meisner getting sworn in, it's happening Wednesday at the Oakland County Commissioner's Auditorium at 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Waterford at 11:30 a.m. |
