Evaluating the Relationships Between Local Gov'ts.

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: What is the hierarchical relationship between local governments

MCF Benchmark: Evaluate how effectively the federal government is serving the purposes for which it was created.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include:

  • Determine, evaluate, and use resources that are most appropriate and readily available for investigating a particular question or topic.
  • Examples include knowledgeable people, field trips, prefaces, appendices, icons/headings, hypertext, menus and addresses, Internet and electronic mail, CD-ROM/laser disks, microfiche, and library and interlibrary catalogue databases.
  • Gather and synthesize information from books and other sources of information. (Key concepts: Scientific periodicals, reference books, trade books. Real-world contexts: Libraries, technical reference books.)

Materials needed:

  • Internet access for groups of 3-4 students.
  • Lesson packet (Michigan Local Government Structure, Services and Practices) discussing the history, structure, function, and services of local governments in Michigan. Can be downloaded below.
  • The Constitution of the State of Michigan of 1963, available in print through your state representative or state senator or online (see Michigan Constitution link below).
  • Fake Money (I like to use my own creation called "McBucks"), or items such as candy to represent the communities' monetary resources.

Methodological procedure:

The lesson, "What are the kinds of local governments in Michigan?" must be taught prior to this lesson.

DAY 1

1. Students will be an given article from The Grand Rapids Press titled "No Stink, But Still No Support" (weblink provided below) and asked to write a brief explanation of their opinion on the placement and funding of the waste water treatment plant discussed in the article. This article provides a good example of how and why local governments must communicate to effectively and efficiently resolve problems. Any other article regarding similar issues in your community will also work.

2. Students will be selected to share and discuss their ideas on how they might resolve this problem. During this discussion the teacher will identify and discuss the different types of local government stressing how they might communicate both formally and informally and pointing out reasons for their relationships in the first place.

3. The class will be divided into 5 groups of equal size. Each group is then assigned to play the role of one of the following simulated governmental bodies: 4 different township boards, and a city council. (Note: This could be modified to model any number and type of communities bordering each other, e.g., 2 cities, 2 townships, and a village; or a county, 2 city, 2 townships.)

4. Once the students are in their groups and are now "running things," the students will be assigned the problem explained below, that can only be resolved through the cooperation of all of these governmental bodies. Each group is also given a handout that provides statistics and information of each community, which will be needed in decision-making. (See Community Information Download below). The groups will be given the amount of play money stated on the handout (You may use candy or other items to represent this). You may use denominations of money (or candy, etc.) as large or as small as you wish to facilitate easy management of the money. I will use money in form of $100,000 and $50,000 bills.

The Problem is:

The South County Waste Treatment Plant will treat the waste for Townships A, B, C, and D and for Red City as well. (The teacher may choose to use real communities in their vicinity). The plant is needed because current facilities (which treat waste for the entire county) will be beyond their capacity within 5 years. Each community would prefer its own plant but that would be very expensive and inefficient. The Proposed Treatment Plant will cost $15 million and must be located in one of the five communities. These five communities must come to agreement on the following issues:

  1. Where will the Treatment Plant be located? (Should it be central to other communities? Should it be in the middle of nowhere, away from people? If your community gives land for the project should it be given a break in financing it? Remember, there will be concerns of odor. etc.)
  2. How will the communities decide to fund it? (Should each community pay equally? Or should they use a formula based on # of households or population? etc.)
  3. What will our communities do to provide staffing and security of the plant? Who will pay for this and how?

DAY 2

5. In their groups students must: a) discuss the four topics above and decide what they will contribute to the project (land, money, personnel) and how much of each; and b) choose someone from their group to be a part of the South County Waste Treatment Commission (SCWTC).

6. Upon completion of step #5, the SCWTC meets in front of the class and discusses the plan (limit discussion to 3 minutes per committee member). The rest of the class must listen and take notes on the SCWTC's discussions. Each SCWTC member must keep in mind his/her community's desires and resources.

7. Reconvene the groups to allow discussion of the SCWTC meeting (limit this to 5 minutes). Students must decide at this point what they are willing to contribute to the project so that the SCWTC can meet again to see if and how the project can be carried out.

8. Reconvene the SCWTC (again the rest of the class must observe and take notes of these proceedings). The SCWTC must now come to some agreement on building the Plant or it may not be built at all, which will end up costing more in the long run.

9. Assign final assessment (See Evaluation Rubric Download below).

Author's notes:

Assessment strategies:

Final Assessment:

Students must write an essay that:

  1. describes the final treatment plant proposal, its location and, what each government is contributing and planning for the future.
  2. summarizes the process of communication between local governments.
  3. Explains the need for communication and cooperation between local governments and gives 2-3 examples of this.
  4. Describes 3 ways this process could be improved to provide more fairness between communities and to make the process more efficient/effective.

Available downloads:

Suggested web sites:

  • No Stink, but still no support
    This Grand Rapids Press article details the battle over a waste treatment facility that several local governments in Kent County will use, but no community wants within its boundaries due to odor.
    *To get the article, search for "Still no Support" with the quotation marks. Make sure to select the All dates option. You may need to purchase the full document.
  • Michigan Legislature
    REGIONAL PLANNING
    Act 281 of 1945
    AN ACT to provide for regional planning; the creation, organization, powers and duties of regional planning commissions; the provision of funds for the use of regional planning commissions; and the supervision of the activities of regional planning commissions under the provisions of this act.
  • Michigan Constitution of 1963
    This text of the Michigan Constitution includes amendments and additions through December 1998. This will be useful in understanding the powers granted to the local entities by the state.
  • Highest Wire
    This site will offer students a way to get ideas of important issues and a way for them to communicate their thoughts for resolution of various local issues.
  • A Bird's Eye View of Michigan Local Government at the End of the Twentieth Century
    This site provides background information on the structures of local government in Michigan.
  • Census 2000 Profiles
    From this site you may access demographic data such as: median household income, total number of households, total population, etc.