[nfbmi-talk] ADA Access to Genesee County Directory

joe harcz Comcast joeharcz at comcast.net
Thu Mar 20 18:01:17 UTC 2014


Flint Journal

March 20, 2014

 

 

Nicole Weddington | nwedding at mlive.com . FLINT, MI - Genesee County Clerk-Treasurer John Gleason says he wants the next county staff directory to be the

go-to template for other counties in Michigan. He announced at his office, 900 S. Saginaw St., on Tuesday, March 19, that he has formed a Blue Ribbon Citizens

Committee to help him with the compilation and publication of a more comprehensive and accurate county directory. The directory is an extension of his

efforts to modernize and make more inclusive the combined County Clerk and Register of Deeds Office, said Gleason. Joined by co-chairs Ken Thomas, civic

activist and owner of Thomas Appliance, as well as Dan Shriner, editor of The Lake Orion Review, Gleason put together a committee of community leaders

that he feels is a well-rounded representation of the county. "We think this is a public purpose instrument and we fully intend to have the public be involved

as much as possible with that process," said Gleason. Some of the committee's responsibilities will include making sure the directory is compliant with

the Americans with Disabilities Act with a larger font, taking the appropriate steps to make the directory accessible on the Internet, editing and compiling

data for accuracy and communicating with as many local businesses as possible to bid on publishing the document once it is compiled. Last August, there

was criticism from the Board of Commissioners about the 2013-2014 directory produced by Gleason's office. The 2013-2014 directory, which was sent out for

four bids, contained many errors including the names of dead people. "We asked professionals to compile and make this information available to our citizens,"

said Gleason, holding the 2013-2014 directory. "This was our first attempt, so we know we can do better and we intend to do that this year. Shriner said

he believes the new booklet has a lot of potential. "I can see this directory being the "go-to guide" for residents, public officials and everyone in this

county that wants to know about an event, wants to be able to contact an elected official on the local, state and even federal level. We also would like

to look at offering advertising in it. The publishers can sell them and, at that point, hopefully it can pay for itself. The Citizens Committee includes:

Linda Hoff, president of the League of Women Voters; Michael Kelly, executive director of marketing and public relations at Mott Community College; Bishop

Bernadel Jefferson of Faith Deliverance Center Church; Former Genesee County Clerk John Trecha; Alex Murray, vice president of the Greater Flint chapter

of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Mike Chaffee, chief financial officer of the Michigan Boy Scouts

of America; Attorney Dean Yeotis; Montrose Township Clerk Fred Domine; representatives from the Michigan School for the Deaf and Communications Access

Center, in addition to co-chairs Thomas and Shriner. The committee will organize the launch of a website that the public can use to offer suggestions,

thoughts or concerns, which they hope will be completed sometime in April. For more information, visit the County Clerk website here . 

 



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