Northern Michigan could see a historic milestone next week, depending on how residents of the Village of Fife Lake vote on a proposal to disincorporate their village. Should the August 4 ballot initiative pass, the Village of Fife Lake would cease to exist as a legal government entity. Such an outcome would then have notable implications for other local units of government, which would be expected to take over ownership or management of the village’s assets and responsibilities.

The proposal itself is short and sweet, asking voters: “Shall incorporation of the Village of Fife Lake be vacated?” Michigan law allows voters to “initiate the disincorporation of a village” by way of a petition “signed by not less than 15% of the registered electors of the village.” Such a petition circulated in Fife Lake earlier this year and garnered enough support among the village’s 403 registered voters to land it on the August 4 ballot. Per state law, the proposal must pass by a two-thirds margin (of ballots cast, not of the total electorate) to trigger disincorporation.

An affirmative vote would immediately be one of the bigger political stories in Michigan history.

“It is my understanding – and our attorney also confirmed this – that there has not been a village in Michigan that has disincorporated under a citizen-led ballot initiative that passed with a two-thirds vote,” says Fife Lake Township Administrator Lisa Radtke. “There have been others that have disincorporated based on a different process, but I'm not totally clear on what that process is. There have been a few others that had a majority vote in favor of disincorporation, but not the supermajority that's required.”

Radtke, who previously served for four years as Fife Lake’s village president, says the disincorporation discussion is “the most involved and engaged I’ve seen village citizens in a very long time.” Proponents of the initiative have argued that the Village of Fife Lake is too small, without a big enough tax base to shoulder expenses like road repairs. Opponents say disincorporation would cost the village some of its local autonomy and strike a blow to its identity and history. Fife Lake incorporated as a village all the way back in 1889, 137 years ago.

If successful, the disincorporation initiative would dissolve village boards and offices, nullify the roles of elected village officials, and eliminate village property taxes – though taxes would still be due for the past year. It would also scupper the village’s in-progress master plan and dissolve Fife Lake’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which would in turn cause TIF (tax increment financing) revenues funding the DDA to be returned to their respective taxing entities.

As for assets – including the village’s financials, buildings, and parks – Radtke says those would pass to the township. The township would also “become responsible for the streetlights, because the three core services that the village offers right now are streetlights, parks, and roads.”

Speaking of roads, Radtke says the village has 1.76 miles of “major streets” and “just under five miles of local streets that are Act 51 eligible,” meaning their upkeep is funded by the Michigan Transportation Fund. All Act 51 eligible roads would now “fall under the jurisdiction of the Grand Traverse County Road Commission (GTCRC).”

Dan Watkins, manager of GTCRC, could not be reached for comment on this story.

According to Radtke, the village also maintains two miles of “flex” roads (alleys, stub roads, and other “little, short” roads that “may not necessarily qualify for Act 51”) and five miles of “paper roads” (or “undeveloped roads” that are “included as part of the original village plat, but there isn’t a physical road there”).

“If the village goes away, I assume the rules around changing the plat would change,” Radtke tells The Ticker, noting a potential scenario where “some people might want to try to petition to acquire” the land currently designated as paper roads.

Other question marks include how the disincorporation would affect things like village employees, debts, or zoning. Radtke and attorney Catherine Kaufman sorted through these and other queries at a June 10 special township board meeting that doubled as a Q&A session.

The township would inherit the village’s employees and labor contracts, and would need to decide whether to retain any village employees. In the event of employee dismissals, the township would be responsible for any unemployment costs. The township would also inherit the village’s debts, and would have up to one year “to make a special assessment to anyone who was a Village resident to cover that debt.”

On the topic of zoning, Radtke and Kaufman noted that the differences in zoning between the village and township could necessitate a moratorium on new development, “until zoning is aligned” between the two entities.

A yes vote on disincorporation would also involve the Grand Traverse County clerk’s office, which would be expected to hold “all assets, property, keys, passwords, and documents” from the Village of Fife Lake during the post-election canvassing and certification process. County commissioners would also need to adopt a resolution acknowledging the disincorporation, which would then go to the Office of the Great Seal for final acceptance and stamping. Only then could the county clerk pass everything along to the township.

While County Clerk Samuel Gedman says his role in the process would amount to “small procedural matters that won’t have any real significant impact to our office,” he admits he’ll still be keeping an eye on the Fife Lake election next week.

“There’s not a lot of precedent for this, so it’s very interesting,” Gedman says. “We’re watching it, for sure.”