By the numbers alone, the good folks of the village and township of Onekama in Manistee County are doing the right thing — taking steps to merge into a single government.
Like some other states, Michigan is swarming with small governmental units from villages to townships to cities and counties, all of which cost taxpayers something to run and most of which have their own rules and regulations.
Some have a police force of some kind, many have their own zoning, most have an enforcement system to uphold those myriad ordinances and regulations.
It is, in short, a nightmare of sometimes-conflicting, sometimes-confusing, often-ignored rules, ordinances, boards, commissions, committees and more, all aimed at keeping the peace and keeping things the way the citizens (supposedly) want — and it all costs money.
Right now, Michigan has 276 cities, 257 villages, 1,240 townships and numerous unincorporated communities in 83 counties. That's 1,856 governments of assorted sizes; townships alone vary widely in population, from 10 to 95,648 people.
In the Greater Onekama area, the village has about 400 people and the township about 1,300. But they both have offices, they both have elected officials and a few paid staff, they both hold elections and both somehow enforce local ordinances.
All that costs money, and local residents — many of them, anyway — are ready to save some bucks and streamline the whole thing. Despite reluctance by some village residents, the village is working on a plan to dismantle village government, and recently got a $355,000 state grant to help do the job.
Onekama village and township officials have worked since October to disincorporate the village and merge services under a single township government
Yes, it's a pain. But it's the kind of pain more Michigan governments need to undergo to remove one of the state's biggest roadblocks to prosperity — its complex and daunting array of governments, each with its own rules and agendas.
Imagine being a business owner trying to set up shop in a place like Onekama, where a good-sized industrial site may straddle township and village boundaries. So you'd have to talk to the village, the township and at least touch bases with the county and the state to perform the due diligence most good business folks would require of themselves.
It's a time- and energy-consuming morass that costs taxpayers and businesses alike; it has to go.
Not unexpectedly, there is reluctance to give up the village identity and make such a basic change after so many years. But the crazy-quilt of competing governments has got to go.
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