Member Value

MTA is vitally important not only to 6,525 township officials, but also to another 11,000 township employees and over four million township residents.

Just as townships and township officials are forever being challenged to do more with less, MTA’s mission continues to expand. In times of fiscal scarcity, all elements of government come under scrutiny, and the value of township government in Michigan is no exception. MTA effectively represents how townships uniquely provide democracy at a grass roots level.

MTA: Defining Township Government
MTA must accurately define townships in the minds of Michigan’s citizens by emphasizing the unique positive values embodied by townships. In spite of our colonial origins, townships have been updated and retrofitted to provide a broad range of economical services and continue to provide a high level of public accountability.

 

MTA: Providing a Sense of Community
In many ways, the most important value MTA brings to its members is a sense of community that is found nowhere else. Townships have a culture, traditions and values that are distinctly different than those that predominate in other types of local government. At MTA, a township official is surrounded by others who speak the same language, face the same challenges, use the same tools, and who care about the same things.

MTA: Presenting a Unified Voice
Townships too have to make compelling arguments for the legislative changes they seek. For more than 50 years, MTA has provided a unified voice advocating for local authority that the broadest spectrum of township officials need to preserve, protect and enhance the quality of life for close to half of all Michigan residents.

MTA: Your Knowledge Safety Net
Many, many township officials tell us that we are their knowledge safety net. The laws with which township officials must confront daily are massive, sometimes contradictory, and not always easy to find or interpret how they apply to a particular situation. Doing things right—and doing the right things—are important to making the public happy, maintaining credibility, avoiding the cost and lost time defending a lawsuit, and, in some circumstances, avoiding legal sanctions. On a typical day MTA fields around 100 calls from township officials seeking information or advice on every topic from assessing to zoning.

MTA: Training Relevant to Today's Townships
Training township officials has grown to be MTA’s largest program area. Close to one out of every four township officials learn the finer points of township service at MTA's Annual Educational Conference. There, at MTA’s many seminars, they learn how to save money, supervise more effectively, use best management practices, keep their townships and themselves out of legal difficulty, and advocate for a policy with their fellow board members. And, it’s hard to find a township official who hasn’t picked up helpful pointers from the latest issue of Michigan Township News or from MTA’s other publications.