To begin the guest speaker portion of our luncheon program, we were honored to first welcome Macomb County Treasurer Lawrence Rocca to the podium.

 

Rocca and CEO John Johnson have been close friends for quite some time and Johnson was quick to point out Rocca's status as a U.S. Veteran who served in Vietnam after Rocca honored all Veterans in attendance in observance of Memorial Day which would be the following Monday.

 

Rocca spoke often about the openness of the department to go to great lengths to assist homeowners in Macomb struggling to keep up with their payments or property taxes. The priority of the Treasury is to make sure people stay in their homes. Rocca stated that as long as you contribute to an established payment plan, even if it is as little as $50 a month, you can rest assured that you will keep your home.

 

He offered pride in the following statistic: less than 3% of homes have been foreclosed on in 2023. Even more, during the pandemic the department froze foreclosures and he iterated how many citizens were able to stay safe and housed because of it.

 

Rocca also provided details about the investments of the Treasury. Over $800M is invested in across 12 different banks. Less than 5% of capital is invested in each bank to ensure financial security in the event of a regional bank collapse, which have become more prevalent. The investments are safe ones that build steady interest for Macomb; mostly CDs, treasures and bonds.

 

After Rocca was joined onstage by Johnson to offer comments of mutual respect, the next guest speaker was brought to the stage: Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini.

 

Johnson met Forlini a few years back and was immediately struck by how universally well-liked he was. You can imagine how rare and important this is for the county election official in a time of mistrust in election integrity nationwide.

 

In fact, Forlini backed up this reputation with detailed evidence in a slideshow presentation packed with photo and statistical content. When he took office, the previous officeholders and staff had very important records stacked indiscriminately in musty, unfit environments -- unable to be located properly and at great risk of damage. He led an effort to reclaim, file and organize those records and they are now secure and awaiting the finalization of finding a new climate-controlled location for permanent housing.

 

Forlini comes from the private sector and believed his office could run with the efficiency of a private business. He empowered his tech wiz employee Jennifer Walker to modernize the office with a digital-first mindset. This led to a remarkable increase in efficiency across all services provided. Examples include:

 

Deeds

Requests turned around within 24 hours

150,000 transactions per year

 

CPLs

Before: 1-2 weeks just to get an appointment

Now: Same day issuing and fingerprinting

50 CPLs issued per day on average by 2 employees

 

Marriage Licenses

Acquired within 5 minutes at a self-service portal