Meet the Candidates: Larry Brown

Larry Brown

Education

I attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in accounting.

Professional background

• Certified Public Accountant for 39 years
• Retired Managing Director of Burnstein, Morris & Brown, P.C., C.P.A.s
• Member of the Michigan Association of CPAs and serving as a current member and past chairperson of its Membership Task Force.
• Serving as an Ambassador of the Michigan Association of CPAs
• Member of the American Institute of CPAs.
• Retired member of the Accountants' Guild.

Residence

As of July 1, 2012 I will have been a resident of West Bloomfield for 26 years.

Family

• Married to wife Marcia for 41 years
• Son Adam Brown married to Jordana Morse with five children in St. Louis Park, MN
• Daughter Deborah Rones with two children and residents of West Bloomfield
• Father in law Jack Caminker also a resident of West Bloomfield. Past President of of West Bloomfield.

Activities or key endorsements you'd like to mention?

• Past President and current member of the Temple Israel Brotherhood
• Past President and current member of the B'nai B'rith Zager Stone Lodge and the B'nai B'rith Accountants' Unit
• Past Board Member of JDRF, Temple Israel, Metro Detroit B'nai B'rith Council, Aish Ha Torah and Wayne State University's National Alumni  Association
• Ambassador for Wayne State University, Detroit
• Member of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce
• Member of the
• Founding member, Past President and current member of The Friends of
• Member of the Friends of
• Member of the League of Women Voters of Oakland County
• President of the Hills of Powder Horn Association
• Actively involved with enhancing our cable production and new studio.

Endorsements (Just to mention a few):

• Denise D. Hammond retired West Bloomfield Treasurer
• Debbie Macon former West Bloomfield Trustee
• Dr. Gary Faber retired West Bloomfield School Superintendent
• Barry Howard, Retired Oakland County Circuit Court Judge
• Larry and Shane Pliska of
• Cyril and Lois Levenson
• Bernard and Charlotte Beigel
• David and Andrea Lewiston.

Why are you running for trustee?

 I am the only CPA on the Township Board and want to continue to watch the spending at and investigate where we might be able to further streamline township services. There is grant money available and we need to apply for these funds to improve our facilities and saving our residents money by applying for these funds.

West Bloomfield is in a change mode with its aging population and new residents looking for redevelopment to enhance their quality of life and I am willing to face that challenge in the coming years.

Do you have new ideas you’d like to suggest for the position or township?

The job description of a Trustee is spelled out but over the past three and one half years we have expanded the roles of the Trustees into the roles at times of reviewing the investments and handling the labor negotiations to mention two new functions.

What do you think are the biggest issues facing the township? How would you handle them?

• Controlling our expenses so that they do not increase at a rate that would erode our reserves and put our Township into a budget crunch and lowering our credit rating
• Continuing to improve our roads and getting the boulevard completed on Orchard Lake Road from 14 Mile Road to Maple Road
• Redevelopment of our commercial base to better serve our population so that they don't have to travel outside our borders if they choose not to. The increase in this base would help to bring our tax base up thereby providing more revenue to the Township
• Continue to develop community programming through the use of our cable channels to reach that group of home bound residents
• Try to streamline further the public safety and other departments to be even more efficient while keeping a safe level of services to the community
• Attempt to bring back respect to our Township Board through communicating and working together as a group and remove the divisiveness that currently exists.

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Who else is running? Meet the candidates for the West Bloomfield Township Board Patch has interviewed so far: