EPISODE 6 | SEPT. 17, 2026
How much local government does Michigan Need?
We started in Lake Orion, where residents are weighing the future of their village government. Then the conversation spread across Michigan — and became a bigger question about efficiency, local control and what gives a place value.
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Michigan has hundreds of cities and villages and more than 1,200 townships — layers of local government built around communities with their own histories, identities and expectations.
In Lake Orion, a debate over whether to dissolve the village government gave us a way into a larger question: What do we gain when local government becomes more efficient? And what might we lose when it gets farther away?
We heard from guests and callers across Michigan about taxes, services, annexation, cooperation between communities — and the value people place on having government close to home.
And then the mayor of Ionia happened to hear the conversation while driving home from a public meeting.
He called.