Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner took office in 2008, just as the financial crisis was hitting Pontiac and the nation. Meisner stopped by Metromode's Community Open Newsroom at the Alleycat Cafe in downtown Pontiac for a chat; we talked about new development in Pontiac and how what Meisner calls a "fragile momentum" of revitalization in the city can be sustained.

This conversation is edited for length and clarity,

Metromode: What do you see happening in Pontiac right now?

Meisner: I'm somebody that thinks Pontiac's health is essential to the health of the overall county and region. And there's a little bit of a resurgence that's happening in Pontiac.

I think it's an opportunity for us to examine the benefits of having a vibrant, urban environment to offer millennials, people just living their family life, empty nesters, anybody that wants to be in an environment like we're in right here at the Alleycat Cafe with beautiful exposed brick. This building is from like 1870.

Pontiac is surrounded by great wealth. And, I think that the more that we can do to help lift up Pontiac to achieve at a level commensurate with Oakland County standards, the better. And so, as county treasurer, we've devoted a lot of time and energy to Pontiac and tried to be a part of it.

Metromode: How has Oakland County differed from Wayne County in their approach to managing the foreclosure process and trying to work with people to keep them in their houses?

Meisner: We focus on prevention. My office has done 17,000 payment plans with people around the county. The highest proportion of those are people in Pontiac. We sit down with the family, figure out what's going on, triage their financial wellness, and determine what other factors are at work.

We've done 18,000 taxpayer assistance meetings over the last six years which we started during that crisis. We fill out a family budget. We look at revenues coming in and expenditures going out and then determine what the possibilities are. We'll do a monthly payment plan as low as $25. We try not to do that, but we want somebody to be able to demonstrate that they can step towards doing it.

Our team has been successful at keeping a lot of folks in their home. Now, there still have been far too many that have had mortgages foreclosed, and far too many that have been tax foreclosed. We're willing to be flexible. But, we need people to meet us halfway. There are some people that just, they're not going to do it under and circumstance and that's where the state law requires us to go to plan B which is the sale of the property, and it's pretty serious.

Metromode: How has your office worked to rehabilitate tax-foreclosed properties since 2008?

Meisner: The properties that are selling at our auction are selling for way higher prices. There's way higher demand. And we are in active search mode for partners that have the capacity to do renovations or to build new homes or to build the community garden or to contemplate another use.

If we find a suitable partner that we believe has in mind the highest and best use of a tax-foreclosed property, we enter into a contract with them with a development agreement associated with the purchase agreement. That puts specific requirements on them regarding the amount of money that's got to be invested, when it's going to be invested, how much local hiring they're going to do, and if they do not perform at any one of these milestones, then the property reverts to us.

Metromode: How many of these kinds of agreements have been executed in Pontiac?

Meisner: Very few. The city has some background of using development agreements, but they have not been used recently, which is a problem.

The Pontiac Silverdome is an example. The emergency manager decided to sell the Silverdome at auction. So, they sold it, and it ended up in the hands of this outfit from Canada, for $583,000 in 2009. After that transaction was consummated, the city of Pontiac was totally at the whims of these new purchasers. [Editor's note: The Silverdome continued to deteriorate; the City of Pontiac announced it would sue the owners in March 2017]. Contrast that with the [development agreement] approach that we use under the Treasurer's office as a quasi-land bank.

Metromode: What do you think needs to happen now and going forward to help sustain this new momentum in Pontiac?

Meisner: I believe it's a very fragile momentum right now. Some elements of it are strong. I like what I see in the neighborhoods. Increasing property values. I see a lot of neighbors seeing what's happening and then bringing out the can of paint, and bringing out the hammer and nails. And, there is a collateral effect of those investments that has an ability to proliferate. And so, I think there are waves of that that are going through most every neighborhood.

Regarding the Phoenix Center, I think the city has got to take its destiny into its own hands and try to engage the private and nonprofit sectors. You can do a request for proposals, a request for information, and see who is out there that is interested in turning that asset into something that's productive. The Z Garage that Dan Gilbert built in downtown off Library is a great example of what you can do. You can have a mixed use parking lot that is a destination, and he doesn't even have a musical venue.

There are some places within the footprints of the Phoenix Center that could be built out. And, there is one spot that could handle a pretty good sized mixed-use development with a retail component on the first floor and then residential going up. Those stairs are so foreboding, and they need to come down. I'd love to see a big fountain and a much more natural kind of blending of that element with the downtown.

But perhaps the most important thing that can have the broadest impact is the continuing strengthening of the school district, the continued drive to provide a world-class education to every kid that's a member of that school district.

And, finally, retrofitting The Loop [to connect downtown with the surrounding city.] It has just crushed the viability of the downtown, compounding with other elements. Reconstituting the downtown in a way where you get that Birmingham, Ferndale, Clarkston kind of element where there's a lot of people in the street. That's something I think could be a real game changer for the city long-term.

Metromode: How can the Oakland County Treasurer's office help make some of this happen?

Meisner: Well we've tried to be a partner with all of the positive efforts that have been happening in Pontiac. Working with the mayor and council, working with the downtown, working with the neighborhoods, working with the faith community, working with the non-profit community. So, we've been real blessed to enjoy an active partnership with a lot of different elements of the community in Pontiac and to be partners.

And so, we'd like to build on that. We would like to do more of it and have a more positive impact on the neighborhoods, the tax-base, the quality of life, trying to attract some philanthropic money. One of the things I've tried to focus on is to remind banks of their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act and say, "Hey, I've got a hundred million county dollars at your institution. I'm based in Pontiac. That obligates you under federal law."

I've taken local bank leaders on walking tours of the downtown to visit some of the projects that have been successful, some of them that are still opportunities, and as well as visiting some of the neighborhoods so that they're vested in what's happening here. We might not have Dan Gilbert, you know, and so what I think our civic leaders need to do is try to recruit our dream team. It's going to take some work, and it's going to be focused on what specific changes and outcomes we want to achieve.