Efforts to dissolve the Village of Applegate took a formal step forward as a local resident filed a petition to place the issue on the ballot.
The petition was filed with Washington Township on Friday, May 29, and was deemed sufficient on Tuesday, June 2, following review and verification of the petition’s signatures. According to Sanilac County Commissioner Bill Sarkella, Applegate’s village council focused their Monday night discussion around the petition and the village’s next steps. It is currently unclear how involved, if at all, the county will be in the matter.
The petition was circulated by a resident of the Village of Applegate, and signed by at least 15 percent of the village’s residents.
Legal counsel for the Village of Applegate was present at Monday night’s meeting, with discussion centered on what options the village has in responding to the petition.
According to Michigan’s General Law Village Act, Section 74.23, the village has until their next council meeting on Monday, July 6, to decide how to proceed. If they wish, state statutes allow the council to select a disincorporation commission, made up of three residents of Washington Township and three residents representing the village, to determine and adopt a disincorporation plan.
The disincorporation plan would have to address multiple issues, including interim land use plans and property zoning; provisions for paying all of the village’s debt; the disposition of property and other assets the village had owned; the transfer or termination of the village’s public utilities and services; and how disincorporating could affect property values, public service levels and costs, and local property tax rates.
Should that disincorporation plan be approved and ratified by the village council and township board, the matter would go on the ballot of the next general, primary or special election to be held. For the disincorporation plan to be approved at that stage, a majority of voters from both the village and the township would have to be in favor of the dissolution.
Should the village council choose not to form the disincorporation commission, MCL 74.18a dictates that the disincorporation issue will go on the ballot for the next general or state primary election. For the matter to be approved this way, two-thirds of electors must approve the disincorporation.
Regardless of the method, the act of dissolving a village is extremely rare in Michigan, with the most recent attempt happening just this past May, when voters rejected Kent County’s village of Sand Lake disincorporating to consolidate into Nelson Township.
Washington Township officials declined to comment on the matter at this time.
