Oakland Co. roundtable hopes region copies cooperative plan
By Kathleen Gray Free Press Staff Writer
A one-stop-shop for county investment, Chinese language classes in Oakland County school districts, and a recently signed bill that allows private businesses to pay for infrastructure projects and get repaid by the government — all evolved from Oakland County Business Roundtable recommendations adopted by the county.
And this year, the roundtable members told Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson on Friday, they hope their kind of open relationship between business and government can be adapted on a regional basis.
The roundtable was created in 1993 by Patter-son, who wanted to gather businesspeople in the county to provide suggestions on practices that could be translated from the corporate world to county government. More than 150 businesses have participated over the years.
The recommendations have ranged from offering support for a second bridge across the Detroit River connecting Windsor and Detroit; to creating the one-stop-shop at the county, which provides a single office for people interested in getting information about investing in Oakland County.
In all, Patterson has adopted 88% of the suggestions the roundtable has offered in the past 19 years.
At the annual roundtable breakfast Friday, committee member James Clarke, president of Robertson Brothers, a Bloomfield Hills home building company, recommended encouraging the county to help establish a region-wide business roundtable, citing similar groups in west Michigan.
He also said a wise economic development tool for the county would be to create a single site of information on what broadband services are available throughout the county. It’s something the county has been contemplating.
“We should be treating broadband accessibility like electricity,” said deputy county executive Phil Bertolini. “We believe that would be a good economic development tool. It’s going to take some work, but that is something definitely worth trying.”
! CONTACT KATHLEEN GRAY: 313-223-4407 OR KGRAY99@FREEPRESS.COM
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