Should GR, Kent County govts merge?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - For the past year-and-a-half, the One Kent Coalition has been talking amongst themselves about changing local government as we know it.

Many of the names involved with this plan are synonymous with past private-public projects. Names like DeVos, Secchia, Wege and Fry. They've changed the face of downtown.

Now they want to change the face of government.

Thursday, they went public.

"We believe that it's time to update some of our governmental structure. It's time to consider some new initiatives," Coalition member and one-time East Grand Rapids Mayor Nyal Deems told Kent County commissioners.

The idea is to combine the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County into one unified government.

Backers claim a unified government would move the area up in national metropolitan rankings, as one elected body would control both the city and the county. That could result in attracting more businesses to the area.

"Business activity would increase as the region moves up national site selection rankings," Deems said, "achieve new efficiencies by eliminating the duplication of serves."

Local parks are a good example of how such a government might solve a number of problems.

Grand Rapids has cut its parks and recreation budget to the bone in recent years. Kent County has had its own funding issues. Unify the two governments and you eliminate duplication, and, theoretically, save taxpayers money while improving service.

It's the theoretic part that Kent County commissioners questioned when One Kent pitched the idea Thursday.

"There's about 100 red flags that need lot be worked out and worked through with this," said Roger Morgan (R-Rockford.)

Among the red flags: tax rates, representation and the cost of moving to one government.

And what about the suburbs?

There are five other cities and 21 townships in Kent County. But unlike some other unified governments throughout the country, smaller communities would have the option of coming under the new combined umbrella.

County Commissioner Stan Postein questioned whether a merger could be truly effective if other cities and township aren't part of the combination.

"I think the plan is ill-advised. It's either all in or not. I mean if you're going to be truly efficient you've got to have the other five cities on board, also."

And at this point, backers can't say exactly how much money would be saved and how long it would take to see savings.

They do have a timetable. Get Lansing lawmakers to approve legislation this year, then put it on the ballot for voters next year.

But will voters support an idea worked up by a non-elected group who've kept the plan under wraps for a year-and-a-half?

Deems said they simply didn't go public until they had a plan.

"Instead of just declaring, 'Here's an idea, everybody talks about it,' I said we wanted to find something to give some coherency to the structure to talk about," Deems told the commissioners.

But the plan could face one major political hurdle before reaching voters.

Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell is backing the idea, but only if any future council or commission are elected on a non-partisan ballot.

Current county commissioners are elected as Republicans or Democrats. City Commissioners run on a non-partisan ballot. Heartwell said it's important members of future boards not be affiliated with a party.

Among other things, Heartwell said it helps commissioners reach across both sides of the aisle in Lansing.