Press Release

Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Launches Online Services

Pontiac, Michigan (May 14, 2003) -- To the average citizen, obtaining a copy of a birth certificate sometimes seems like a daunting task. Where do you go? How do you get the document?

After a few phone calls, you find out that you need to go to the County's Clerk/Register of Deeds Office. For many, especially those living in the southern part of Oakland County, this likely means taking the afternoon off work and driving to the Campus in Waterford. Of course, it also means finding the right building, and then the right office. Once there, you stand in line, fill-out a form and pay the required fee. All total, several hours have been spent and precious time lost from work.

What if instead you could do it all from your computer? Whether at work or at home, citizens can now visit the Oakland County Web site's "Online Services" section and conduct the entire transaction online any time of the day, any day of the week. Your birth certificate will be on its way to your house with a click of a button.

This scenario is no longer rhetoric but reality. Today, Oakland County announced that key Vital Records services are now available online at http://www.oakgov.com. People can now click on "Online Services" from the home page and find they can order copies of birth, death and marriage records for a small fee. This new application employs shopping cart technology (developed in-house) and secure credit card payment processing to deliver Vital Records services to our citizens via "eGovernment" under Oakland County's @ccess Oakland brand. @ccess Oakland currently delivers key land and tax information over the Internet, and has been a popular tool for regional citizens and businesses.

"Online ordering is yet another example of the our office's commitment to improved services. We are extremely pleased that our customers may now order vital records from anywhere in the world, be it their home, office, or wherever they may have Internet access", said G. William Caddell, Clerk/Register of Deeds of Oakland County.

This is just one example of how eGovernment is improving the services Oakland County provides. If you haven't heard about eGovernment yet, you soon will.

eGovernment is a collaborative initiative within Oakland County government to use technology to share information and resources in a way that reduces redundancy and improves quality. Key information and services are delivered electronically to citizens, businesses, governments and County employees via the Oakland County Web site. eGovernment is being employed in governments all across the country (and world) to help electronically facilitate some of the most routine transactions conducted by governments. This will help reduce workloads and allow employees to focus more on face-to-face service and troubleshooting.

"With these new online services, Oakland County has enhanced its growing reputation as a technological leader among local units of government across the nation," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson." When it comes to developing and implementing new technology for the benefit of its citizens, Oakland County has few rivals."

As more people gain access to the Internet, studies show that they prefer to conduct these types of transactions online. Today, more than half of all Michigan households have computers, according to a Michigan Cyber-State report. And this number is steadily increasing. (Cyber-State is a statewide think tank for information technology in the public sector.)

In addition to the Vital Records project, more eGovernment services will be offered in the coming months. Oakland County is working to deliver an online application that will allow you to search for assumed names, pay your taxes and traffic tickets, order vehicle permits for Oakland County parks, and more.

Find out more about eGovernment and access Oakland County's eGovernment Strategic Plan online at http://www.oakgov.com/egov. For more information, contact Phil Bertolini, Director, Department of Information Technology at 248-858-0814; or G. William Caddell, Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds at 248-858-0560.