Brooks has initiated numerous regional programs that are impacting the lives of residents throughout southeast Michigan.
Brooks created and Oakland County manages the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System (CLEMIS) – a crime data information sharing system among local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies in southeast Michigan. It is the largest such organization in the United States. Police in southeast Michigan depend on CLEMIS daily to help solve crimes and combat trends that affect your public safety.
A few years ago, Brooks’ risk manager brought to his attention that Michigan lacked an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team that could rescue people from collapsed buildings – the kind of team composed of brave men and women like we saw at the site of the World Trade Center in the days and months after 9/11. With Brooks’ tacit support, Oakland County helped stand up Michigan’s first USAR teams, which will serve not only the City of Detroit and the counties of Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Saint Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne, but other communities throughout the state.
Brooks realizes Oakland County must grow with the region. With that in mind, he founded Automation Alley – a consortium of high tech companies – to compete directly with Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128 and North Carolina’s Research Triangle. Today, it has grown to more than 1,000 companies across eight counties and the City of Detroit. It is the largest business development organization in Michigan, one that has been honored by both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
In 2009, Brooks founded the Economic Growth Alliance (EGA) to leverage both the human and capital resources of the region in order to create more jobs. Today, the EGA includes Oakland, Livingston, Genesee, Lapeer, Saint Clair and Macomb counties, representing 3 million people.
Oakland County continues to garner recognition for its rolling three-year line-item budget and prudent fiscal management. Brooks believes in sharing his best practices with others. He holds annual Budget Symposiums that draw about 250 public officials from local governments around southeast Michigan including the City of Detroit, as well as from outside the region, in order to demonstrate the latest ways his Budget Task Force is trimming the costs of government without impacting the delivery of service.
In his 2011 State of the County speech, Brooks announced that he would make Oakland County’s award-winning software available to governments throughout Michigan via cloud computing. His IT Department will position the county’s nationally-recognized eHealth software and other applications out in cyberspace so others may use them for a nominal fee. It is a budget saver for other units of government because they can provide efficient and enhanced services to their residents without having to pay the costs of a mainframe or licensing software. It is a budget enhancer for the county because local units of government will pay a nominal per use fee for access to Oakland County’s applications.
Brooks has founded some great quality of life events that draw people from throughout southeast Michigan and the state: Arts, Beats & Eats, the Woodward Dream Cruise, The Brooksie Half Marathon and 5k Race and Quake on the Lake are a few examples of events that have truly attained regional or greater status.
Join my #Elite40, Charles DeVries, at @AutomationAlley's Annual Golf Outing 6/25 at The Inn at St. John's in Plymouth. 
