Commissioner fights for ‘forgotten’ township

Key Takeaways

Yolanda Smith Charles received a gift she didn’t ask for, or expect, when she won a seat in 2020 on the Oakland County, Mich. Board of Commissioners.  Soon after taking office, reapportionment shifted her district’s boundaries around, and she found herself representing Royal Oak Township. 

If she could talk to her predecessors in local government in the 19th century, they’d likely be impressed that she represented a 36-square mile area. She would then explain that Royal Oak Township — distinct from the larger City of Royal Oak — had dwindled to just 2% of its original size since its founding in 1833. But she has taken up the mantle of advocating for the community.

“It’s kind of like the Haiti of Oakland County,” she said. “It’s little, it’s forgotten, it’s predominantly Black people.”

Over the years, 10 municipalities have split off from Royal Oak, taking with them commercial properties that fund municipal coffers. It’s now the second smallest township in the state, with roughly 2,400 residents.

“It doesn’t have any of its own city services like fire, police or EMS,” Charles said. “It doesn’t get the attention, resources and help that Pontiac has. But it’s been a point of pride that I’ve been able to work to restore Royal Oak Township in a lot of ways.” 

Now in her sixth year on the Board of Commissioners, she’s not shy about angling for county resources, like $20,000 for feasibility studies for parks and recreation projects in the township to apply for state grants.

“Somewhere along the line, decades ago, other cities got the grocery stores and restaurants on the border,” Charles said. 

Fighting for a community’s sense of identity is nothing new to Charles. While serving on the Southfield Public Schools District Board of Education, her first role in elected office, she was the deciding vote to close her alma mater- Southfield High School and merge it with rival Southfield-Lathrup High School in the face of declining enrollment.

“To this day, it was the hardest vote I’ve ever taken,” she said. “I tried to represent the alumni, our history and identity in the process so they weren’t all forgotten.”

She ran for the school board after being laid off as a substitute teacher. After completing a leadership development program, when someone asked her what office she’d want to run for, she reflexively responded “county commissioner.” 

The deadline for filing for the school board election had passed, but she mounted an Election Day write-in campaign for school board and won.

“It was just flyers I printed out at Kinko’s,” she said. “It was a humble campaign.”

She entered the school board as an advocate for the teachers, having been one herself recently, but in her first professional development class, she turned on a dime, and hanged the way she looked at representation.

“It turned everything on its head,” she said. “I’m not there for the teachers, or for the parents or for the union, I had to be laser-focused on what’s best for the students.”

She considered running for the Board of Commissioners before withdrawing to focus on the school district’s superintendent search, then made a last-minute attempt in 2018 before breaking through in 2020.

“The second hardest thing I did was resign from the school board,” Charles said. “At another time I could have done both, but with all of the pandemic relief money coming through the county, it would have been a conflict of interest.”

She made the transition with some unexpected relief. On the school board, she limited her communication with district staff to the superintendent. As a commissioner, she was not only allowed but encouraged to interact with any and all county employees — from the county executive to the custodian and everyone in between.

Though her district includes larger communities, including her native Southfield, once represented by former NACo President Eric Coleman, Charles hopes her efforts continue to pay off for Royal Oak Township. 

Though her outdoor hobbies had previously stopped at golf, she’s taken an increasing interest in park amenities, particularly trails, where she walks her Boston terrier, Bella Amo, and as she saw open space options mitigate community challenges during the pandemic.

“We end up having a lot of ‘cement parks’ in southern Oakland County, so I’d like to see more mobile resources where we are,” she said. “Archery, climbing walls…some options that don’t involve people driving an hour to the northern part of the county to enjoy them. That’s an easy way we can increase the quality of life for a community like Royal Oak Township that doesn’t have many resources.”