Nancy Quarles, a familiar face among public servants in Oakland County, has been named the new member of the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) Board.
Quarles, a former state legislator and county commissioner, was officially appointed to the Road Commission Board by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners yesterday, Wednesday, Jan. 6, at the County Board’s regular meeting.
“I am excited to continue to serve the residents of Oakland County in this new capacity,” Quarles stated. “I am honored that my former colleagues on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners chose me for this position, and I look forward to learning more about roads, road maintenance and road funding.”
The three Oakland County road commissioners are appointed for staggered six-year terms. While the road commissioners are appointed by the County Board of Commissioners, the Road Commission is a separate unit of government and is not funded by the County Board. Rather, RCOC receives the bulk of its funding from the state in the form of fuel-tax and vehicle-registration-fee revenues as well as state income-tax revenues.
Quarles attended her first RCOC Board meeting today, Thursday, Jan. 7. Also at that meeting, the RCOC Board elected Andrea LaLonde as the Board chairperson and Quarles as the vice chairperson, which are both one-year terms.
Quarles has a PhD in public administration and public affairs from Western Michigan University. She served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1996 to 2002 and on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners from 1995 to 1996 and again from 2011 to 2020.
She is also a professor at Central Michigan University and a resident of Southfield.
Chairperson LaLonde is a resident of Clawson. She is an employee of the Operating Engineers Local 324 of Michigan, where she has worked for 13 years, and is a graduate of Kalamazoo College. She joined the RCOC Board in January 2019.
The third member of the Road Commission Board is Ron Fowkes who has served on the RCOC Board since 2011. A resident of the Village of Milford, he has frequently advocated for better roads and highways in Oakland County and served on the Milford Village Council from 1999 through 2006, including serving as its president in 2003.
Road Commissioner Quarles replaces Greg Jamian, who served on the RCOC Board for 12 years.
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RCOC maintains the largest county road system in the state, with more than 2,700 miles of roads. It is a national leader in both road safety and the application of advanced technology to road and traffic management. For more information about RCOC, visit the RCOC website at www.rcocweb.org.
Editor’s Note: Photos of Chairperson LaLonde, Vice Chairperson Quarles and Commissioner Fowkes are attached.
