Director's Corner

Biography

James A. Jackson was appointed to the position of Director of Public Services by County Executive Robert A. Ficano on May 15, 2006.

A graduate of Knoxville College and Columbus State University, Mr. Jackson holds a Bachelors degree of Science in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Public Administration. Mr. Jackson is a former Marine, having served honorably as an non-commissioned officer and an officer from 1980 thru 1991. He is a member in good standing with the International City / County Managers Association (ICMA), the American Public works Association (APWA) and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA).

In his former role as Director of Public Works for the City of Detroit, Mr. Jackson was responsible for solid waste collection, winter operations, street maintenance, and city and traffic engineering, vehicle maintenance and the 3-1-1 Call Center enveloped in a $174 million budget.

Mr. Jackson was recruited from the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan in November 2003 to come to Detroit. While in Grand Rapids Mr. Jackson incorporated innovation and expertise to lead an $18 million budget which also included refuse and recycling collection, forestry, street sweeping and maintenance, and winter maintenance operations.

As director of Public Services, Mr. Jackson oversees a $166 million department budget for fiscal year FY2008-09. Mr. Jackson manages within his budget, six divisions including the Administration Division, the Buildings Division, the Engineering Division, the Equipment Division, the Parks Division and the Roads Division.

The Department of Public Services provides numerous county-wide services covering the entire 623 square miles which include: the maintenance of 23 county owned buildings; 1,440 miles of County primary and local roads; 462 miles of state highways and trunk lines; over 1,000 traffic signals and nearly 100,000 traffic signs; Over 1,100 permit applications, between 20 and 25 construction projects annually; An on-call maintenance operation to support winter maintenance operations for our fleet of 144 winter maintenance vehicles worth nearly $65 million in replacement costs; stores operations for supplies with over 4,500 items available to county units; Over 5,500 acres of park lands, 17 miles of bike paths, a 52-slip transient marina, 15 soccer fields, 27 baseball diamonds, 31 picnic areas, 14 play scapes, a water park and two highly acclaimed public golf courses.

James A. Jackson
M.P.A.
Director
Ph: (313) 224-7702

Hassan A. Saab
Ph.D., P.E.
Deputy Director
Ph: (313) 967-6481

For claims regarding property damage (i.e. damage to tires from pot holes) please contact Wayne County Risk Management at
(313) 224-0420

To replace a mailbox damaged by a Wayne County Road Crew please contact Wayne Roads at (734) 955-9920.

Administration Division
415 Clifford St., 8th Floor
Detroit, MI 48226   map

Engineering Division
415 Clifford St., 3rd Floor
Detroit, MI 48226   map

Building Division
640 Temple,
Detroit, MI 48201   map

Engineering Division
Field Office
33809 Michigan Avenue
Wayne, MI 48184   map

Road Maint. Division
Central Maint. Yard
29900 Goddard Extension
Romulus, MI 48242   map