Kristina Drake running to represent District 8 on county commission

The Hamburg Township woman who successfully mounted a campaign in 2017 to bring the popular ride-share program Lyft to the community is running for a seat on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners.

Kristina Drake of Hamburg Township, who ran unsuccessfully for the commission seat in 2016, said she is making a second run because she still believes that District 8 deserves a more active and progressive representation on the county board.

“The way the county board does business hasn’t changed,” she said in a release. “This county is still far behind surrounding areas in technology, addiction programs, corrections, and environmental protections. Only in the last couple years have we had the technology to accept credit cards at the clerk’s office.”

District 8 includes most of Hamburg Township and the western edge of Green Oak Township and includes two of Livingston County’s most beautiful assets: the chain of lakes and the Lakeland Trail.

Last summer, Drake went on a mission to bring Lyft to Livingston County as an option for those needing a ride home late at night.

“There was a lot of talk about increased DUI arrests in this county without anyone trying to create a solution, so I decided to find one,” she said.

Other very real problems also have been left to residents to solve with fundraisers and special assessments so that the same commissioners can brag about the lowest tax rate in the state, Drake said.

Homeowners in Hamburg Township have had to band together and tax themselves through a special assessment to fix a road in terrible disrepair. When the opioid epidemic reached this county, it was the families, teachers, and peers who were proactive amidst their grief, and who struggled to create a plan of action.

County inaction often costs money in the long run, Drake noted, pointing to the new jail.

“Our county tried to arrest our way out of an addiction epidemic until the jail holding cells were full enough for a photo op.” Drake said. “Suddenly, in a county rated one of the safest in the state, it made sense to invest $17 million dollars in a jail expansion? That decision never went to a vote, despite the sizable financial ramifications.”

Expenses have gone up substantially for the jail, and the local correctional officers have now been tasked with securing rented federal inmates.

Drake, a Democrat, also spent the last year volunteering with the Michigan Democratic Party’s Project 83, canvassing neighborhoods in the county to listen to voters about what issues are important to them.

Drake has lived in Hamburg Township for nearly 20 years. She has two children, both graduates of Pinckney Community Schools.

Drake has an associate’s degree in corrections and has earned the Correctional Officer Certification from the State of Michigan. She is currently attending Eastern Michigan University, studying criminal justice and political science.

To find out more about Drake’s campaign, visit her website  or email her.

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The Livingston Post is the only locally owned, all-digital information and opinion site in Livingston County, Mich. It was launched by award-winning journalists who were laid off from the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus by Gannett Co. Inc. in 2009.