Michigan Township Association

2017 Township Focus Archive

January

This month’s cover story: Building trust

Additional articles include:

  • Elections trigger new beginnings for township boards (Local View)
  • Welcome to township government
  • Infrastructure plan creates ‘road map for Michigan’ (Feature)
  • Ethical conduct (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Depositing township funds (Financial Forum)

February

This month’s cover story: Clearing the haze on medical marijuana

Additional articles include:
  • MTA: This is who we are (Local View)
  • MTA’s Member Information Services, offer answers, advice (MTA Services Spotlight)
  • Is your township a ‘Green Community’? (Feature)
  • 425 agreements (Financial Forum)
  • Certified assessors (Hello, MTA…?)

March

This month’s cover story: What you need to know about the Open Meetings Act

Additional articles include:

  • Township officials ‘Come Together’ to learn, work and grow (Local View)
  • MTA’s 2017 Proposed Legislative Policy Platform
  • Conference keynoter helps others celebrate differences, not be divided by them (Feature)
  • Renting the township hall (Financial Forum)
  • Use of township credit cards, medical marijuana (Hello, MTA…?)

April-May

This month’s cover story: Making the most of your meetings

Additional articles include:

  • MTA Legislative Policy Platform is direct democracy in action (Local View)
  • Specific rules for township board meetings (Feature)
  • Love of community, politics motivates newly elected teen treasurer (Feature)
  • Property Tax Administration Fee (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Sales tax on township purchases (Financial Forum)

June

This month’s cover story: Meet 2017 MTA President Diane Randall

Additional articles include:

  • Michigan’s economy is recovering–why aren’t local government budgets? (Local View)
  • Meet MTA’s newly elected Board of Directors
  • Kalamazoo Charter Township is a ‘Township of Excellence’ (Feature)
  • Meeting notes and recordings (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Signatures on township checks (Financial Forum)

July

This month’s cover story: Lack of broadband access harms Michigan communities, economies

Additional articles include:

  • Striking a balance between state and local control (Local View)
  • Taking the township message to Washington, D.C. (Feature)
  • Bringing back Idlewild (Feature)
  • Controversial board decisions (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Social security benefits (Financial Forum)

aUGUST

This month’s cover story: Water Trails: Michigan’s emerging trail trend

Additional articles include:

  • Annexation continues to divide communities (Local View)
  • Interns help townships turn visions into reality (Feature)
  • Bills would end local control over short-term rentals (Feature)
  • Public comments at board meetings (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Bounced checks (Financial Forum)

September

This month’s cover story: Funding capital improvements

Additional articles include:

  • Think tank sees financial storm clouds on the horizon (Local View)
  • Crowdfunding can help accomplish township projects, create assets (Feature)
  • Benefits of compatible vegetation under power transmission lines (Business solutions)
  • Cash contributions (Financial Forum)
  • Committees and commissions (Hello, MTA…?)

October

This month’s cover story: Home sweet home Inside Michigan’s housing crisis

  • When facts don’t matter (Local View)
  • Township treasure goes bump in the night (Feature)
  • Inspiring tomorrow’s local leaders (Feature)
  • Medical marijuana (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Internal controls for cash receipts and disbursements (Financial Forum)

November

This month’s cover story: Telling your township’s story

Additional articles include:

  • Members open up about MTA (Local View)
  • Township ‘exchange zones’ help keep e-commerce transactions safe (Feature)
  • Residents approve first-ever township millage for public broadband (Feature)
  • Competitive bidding (Hello, MTA…?)
  • Retirement and pension plans (Financial Forum)

December

This month’s cover story: Cultivating an engaged community

Additional articles include:

  • Michigan needs to repurpose statutory revenue sharing (Local View)
  • Most diverse community is proud of its past, present—and future (Feature)
  • Helping make the holidays merry and bright for Michiganders (Feature)
  • Employee dishonesty coverage form in insurance (Hello, MTA … ?)
  • State of Uniform Chart of Accounts (Financial Forum)