All Townships in Michigan must have an elected Treasurer. I would summarize their duties as:

• Collect the taxes

• Invest the money wisely in investments approved by state law

• Stick to a Board-approved budget

•  Use good accounting methods approved by the State

• Pay the bills.

• Don’t steal

Our current elected Treasurer is Jeanne Langlois elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. She is a former commercial loan officer.

By Michigan law, elected Treasurers must appoint a Deputy Treasurer as a back-up.

Townships boards do not get to select the Deputy, but do have the authority to set the pay / compensation for both the Treasurer and Deputy. This results in an infinite possibility of division of work duties. While the elected Treasurer is ultimately responsible, she can delegate tasks to the Deputy.

In Oakland Township, the Deputy works a normal 40 hour week, does all the day-to-day tasks and collects a higher salary ($67,000) than their boss the elected Treasurer ($9,000). To receive an equivalent hourly pay to her Deputy, Treasurer Langlois would have to restrict her hours to 5.4 per week. As a member of the Board of Trustees, the elected Treasurer Jeanne Langlois votes on all Board motions about a wide range of subjects. Based on how knowledgeable she is on issues that she must vote on, I suspect she spends far more than 5.4 hours per week.

Mr. Claeson has been Deputy Treasurer since 2014, and by all accounts did a great job. We just received a stellar audit report from outside auditors Plante-Moran; which in part reflects on him. We welcome Mr. Blessed, who comes from Sterling Heights with 30 years of experience.

More about Treasurer’s Department can be seen on the Township website

http://www.oaklandtownship.org/township_departments/treasurers_department/index.php