We oversee the most critical public services residents depend on every day. This project ensures we have the facility needed to protect essential infrastructure for decades to come — while minimizing long-term costs to ratepayers. We are proposing a new operations facility in the City of Pontiac. Our goal is to better serve residents and communities across Oakland County.

Funding Plan

This facility will not be funded by the County General Fund. Funding includes a Drain Equipment Fund contribution, County-issued bond financing, and labor reimbursement rates. Customer impacts are as follows:

• $1 estimated per month for water and sewer customers
• 0.8% average increase for wholesale communities and drain customers
• Post construction efficiencies should offset the proposed increase over time

$5 Million Estimated Annual Operational Savings

This facility will reduce long-term costs while improving service reliability.

• $1.5 million in shared equipment, staffing efficiencies, and cross-training
• $1.5 million in longer equipment life through indoor storage
• $1 million lower utilities and avoided maintenance on aging buildings
• $840,000 on-site fueling and water plus reduced travel time

Why This Matters

Every day we work to protect public health and deliver reliable drinking water and wastewater services to hundreds of thousands of residents. But the facilities supporting these critical services were built for a much smaller operation. Our workforce has nearly doubled — from 200 employees to 380 — while our facilities have not grown to match the demand. Our growth has been driven by

• Increased state and federal regulatory requirements
• Overseeing construction for aging infrastructure
• New customer communities
• Operation of major infrastructure including the
  • Oakland-Macomb Interceptor Drain (wastewater services for more than 830,000 residents)
  • City of Pontiac drinking water and wastewater systems (serves more than 61,000 residents)
  • Clinton River Water Resource Recovery Facility (serves 14 municipalities for wastewater services)

Today, six undersized facilities house staff and equipment needed to maintain countywide services. Current challenges include operations spread across multiple inefficient buildings, inefficiencies that increase long-term operating costs, and 123 employees working in space built for 85.

The Vision

The proposed operations facility will allow us to serve Oakland County for the next 50 plus years. It will increase efficiency and shared use of equipment, bring teams together to improve coordination, increase emergency response times, support capacity for current employees, and allow for future growth.

The project will cost an estimated $154 million with contingencies and will be built on 38 acres of county-owned land — saving $10 million. The proposed facility will include an indoor garage to house 180 vehicles and 58 pieces of heavy equipment. It will also include administration and field operations workspaces for current and future employees.

Project Timeline

2022: Preliminary plan created

2023: Explored expansion of existing facilities

2024: Property search began

2025: Bicentennial Oaks Park property secured

2026: Schematic design and community outreach underway

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources

Download project materials:

• New Facility Project Flyer
• Community Meeting Presentation

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