Oakland County, Michigan, July 10, 2008 -- Ruth Johnson, the Oakland County Clerk and Register of Deeds, announced today that her office has earned three prestigious 2008 Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACO). The Achievement Awards recognized:

• COURT EXPLORER, which improved access to Circuit Court records, allowing residents and businesses to order court documents online, saving them time and a trip to the county courthouse.
• FRAUDCHECK, a free online service to help homeowners fight property fraud, an increasing white-collar crime that often targets seniors. Residents can go online, for free, to see whether any unauthorized documents have been recorded against their name in the Register of Deeds Office. The service, available at www.landaccess.com, was created at no-cost to the county as part of a private-public partnership.
• PROJECT V.O.T.E., which recycled voting machines for use by kids in local schools. Today, equipment once used to elect U.S. presidents has been put to work electing student body presidents and homecoming courts, providing a valuable hands-on lesson in Democracy to kids.

"Our office may be devoted to paperwork, but we know our job is people," Johnson said. "We want to help our citizens in any way we can. It means so much that NACO recognized our efforts to put technology to work in meaningful ways to help our residents."

NACO President Eric Coleman, who also serves as an Oakland County Commissioner (D-Southfield) presented the awards to Johnson this week in Southfield.

"The National Association of Counties Achievement Awards recognize some of the most innovative, creative programs in the nation," Coleman said. "Ruth Johnson has done a wonderful job putting technology to work and I'm very pleased that some of the successful programs created in our own backyard will be used as models throughout the United States."

Steve Hagar, former president of the Michigan Mortgage Brokers Association, said the FRAUDCHECK service, believed to be the first of its kind in the country, was deserving of the NACO award. "Congratulations to Ruth Johnson - this is an invaluable tool for consumers to identify and address property fraud," Hagar said.

Johnson, completing her first four-year term as Clerk/Register of Deeds, congratulated her staff, the county's IT Division and local clerks for their hard work in implementing and promoting the new services.  She said Project V.O.T.E, for example, wouldn't have been possible without the help of local clerks and teachers.  Recycled voting machines are in use in more than a dozen districts across Oakland County.

"I congratulate Ruth Johnson and her fine staff on earning this prestigious recognition for innovative programs," said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. "They are part of a strong team that has made Oakland County a leader among governmental units across the nation."

Embekka Thompson, a teacher with Francis Scott Key Elementary in Oak Park who uses the machines for student elections, once commented on Project V.O.T.E. "Sometimes voters in lower socioeconomic groups are   less represented in voting. I wanted the kids to get started early and learn how important it is. They can think, 'My vote did make a difference, I voiced what I wanted.' They learn that you don't get everything you want, but you still have a voice. I heard one student say, 'I want to vote in a real election.' You know, we had always planned Field Day for them and never asked them (what events they wanted). Now we do. How often do kids get a say?"

In more good news, the Oakland County Clerk and Register of Deeds Office was notified recently that its e-Filing program was also named a finalist for the 2008 Justice Achievement Award by the National Association for Court Management. E-Filing is a joint project of the Clerk's Office, Oakland County's Information Technology and the Oakland Circuit Court.