Alger County’s smallest municipality by population, Grand Island Township, may be coming to an end.
The Grand Island Township Board met with the Munising Township Board on Thursday, Sept. 9 at the Munising Township Hall, with only one item on the agenda: discussing the consolidation between the two municipalities.
Officials from both townships though are wary of the term “consolidation”. While it is the legally-correct term based on state law for the dissolution of a municipality, it is not the term that best fits the situation. Instead, elected officials from both townships preferred the term “absorption” as most of the discussion is focused on Grand Island Township responsibilities being taken over by Munising Township.
“Personally, I look at it that way,” Grand Island Trustee Tammy Lindeblad said. “We’re not going to come in and tell you you have to do this or do that. We’re smaller and we’re asking to join (Munising Township).”
With an aging population, an increased amount of property owners not listed as permanent residents of the township and increased responsibilities with election security, Grand Island officials are not in a position where they feel like they can run the township appropriately. With Township Clerk Dave Kronk retiring from the role later this year, the township is limited in what they can and cannot do moving forward.
According to Munising Township Supervisor Lisa Howard, paying attention to good governance is the first step in absorption discussion so Munising Township officials can make sure that there would not be a negative impact for citizens already in the municipality.
“Looking at the pros and cons for Munising Township, there are not a lot of pros here except for being neighborly,” Howard said. “The only reason I would entertain it is to be a good neighbor. If this is where you want to go instead of the city or Au Train Township, then we can work on it to help you out, not to expand the township or anything like that.”
While both township officials wanted to stay far away from the term “annexing”, it was called the “A-word” multiple times in the meeting, Munising Township officials stated that this was going to be a hard situation for Grand Island residents. Concerns over whether or not someone later would step up for the clerk position were brought up, but also due to the cultural significance of losing a township of residency. Things like logos, township names and board representation may be easy to handle in the consolidation process, but would take a toll on emotions.
“To give up your identity, that’s a big decision to make,” Munising Township Treasure Carmon Decet said.
The two townships share a border through water, so Munising and Grand Island Township have already created a shared Board of Review. They also have hired the same tax assessor, so some of the regulatory affairs of an absorption would have a minimal impact to citizens. Munising Township officials thought adopting the two zones in Grand Island Township would be an easy process and elections would move to the township precinct without any extra complications.
Other concerns about Grand Island Township’s contract with Au Train for fire services and existing fiscal issues like bonds and millages were expressed. Based on financial disclosures from Grand Island officials at the meeting, the tax rate between the two townships are comparable while Grand Island property owners would see their taxes more than double if the township consolidated with Au Train Township or the City of Munising.
Both townships have discussed the possibility individually, but the Sept. 9 meeting was the first time both municipal boards met together. No votes and no decisions were made at the meeting, with both Munising and Grand Island Townships looking to conduct business at their regularly- scheduled meetings.
According to Grand Island Township attorney Bill Carmody, the process for consolidating the townships will require petitions and elections. Some interaction will take place with the county after initial signatures from “freeholders”, registered voters that own property in both townships. The procedures will only start after both township boards approve the idea of consolidating the townships.
Grand Island Township had its regular meeting of the quarter on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at Alger Parks and Recreation, with the results of the meeting happening after deadlines of this week’s Munising Beacon. Further information about the meeting will be available on The Munising Beacon’s Facebook page and included in next week’s edition. Munising Township will address the issue at its next regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 2.
