Pictured is Jason Emerine, the newest City Commissioner for the city of Birmingham.
By: Mary Genson | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published January 21, 2025
BIRMINGHAM — Jason Emerine was appointed to the City Commission last November.
His knowledge of the city, school districts and civil engineering are expected to be an asset to the commission.
Emerine has been a Birmingham resident since 2017, after he and his wife moved to the city to be closer to family.
Since the move, Emerine has become a father to two young children, Ruby, age 7, and Mabel, age 3.
For work, he is the president at Seiber Keast Lehner, Inc., a civil engineering and land surveying firm.
He also has affiliations with the Association of State Floodplain Managers, Michigan Stormwater Floodplain Association and Home Builders Association of Southeast Michigan.
“His background as a civil engineer is going to be really helpful as we review infrastructure projects and plans for improving parks,” Birmingham Mayor Therese Longe said.
At his first meeting, Longe said he used his knowledge as a civil engineer to share valuable insights on the plans for Booth Park.
Although Emerine is new to the City Commission, he is not new to working with Birmingham.
Emerine has worked on various boards in the city for years.
He was an alternate member of the Planning Board from 2018-2024 and on the Ad Hoc Unimproved Street Committee from 2018-2020.
He has also served on the Ad Hoc Senior/Recreation Center Committee.
“Once the vacancy became available on the City Commission, I was interested in it because I’ve been involved in Birmingham government now for six years, and there wasn’t a member of the Planning Board on the City Commission, so I thought my six years of knowledge with the Planning Board and my involvement with the Planning Board might be advantageous to the City Commission,” Emerine said.
Emerine said that Birmingham Plan 2040 is the primary document that’s going to drive what he hopes to do on the City Commission.
“He is very up-to-speed about projects that are going on in the city and about how the city does business,” Longe said. “His deep knowledge of the 2040 plan is going to be enormously helpful, as the Commission gets parts of that to start working our way through to review and look at how and when we want to implement recommendations.”
At the conclusion of his 11-month appointment, Emerine intends to run for a City Commission seat in November.