Learning how your area is structured can be overwhelming. Even at the local level, there are layers of administration, institutions, designations, etc. that define our neighborhood. Naturally, Macomb County is no exception. If you’ve ever tried to read more about your township, city, or village, as well as its place within the county, it can feel confusing—to say the least! However, there is great value in understanding your local government because it is the closest and most accessible to you!

This article is a short and easy guide to understanding how Macomb County is divided up, how its different governmental institutions function, and how they relate to one another. Read on for some basic civics and even a little political science!

Overview:

Macomb County covers 571 square miles in total area, 92 square miles of which are water. As of the 2020 Census, its population was over 881,000!

As you will see from the map below, Macomb County is divided into 27 communities, all of which vary greatly in population size, development, and their unit of government. Municipalities in Macomb County are townships, cities, or villages, and all are distinct and have their own ordinances and responsibilities (more on that in the sections below).

The communities in the north of the county include Bruce Township, Romeo, Armada Township, the Village of Armada, Richmond Township, the City of Richmond, Washington Township, Ray Township, Lenox Township, New Haven, and a portion of Memphis.

The central communities include Shelby Township, Utica, Macomb Township, Chesterfield Township, New Baltimore, Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, Mount Clemens, and Harrison Township.

The communities in the southern portion of the county include Warren, Center Line, Fraser, Roseville, Eastpointe, St. Clair Shores, and a small portion of Grosse Pointe Shores.

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Administrative Divisions:

Cities and townships and villages—oh my! It can certainly become confusing very quickly when you start trying to wrap your head around it, and as you will see below, some municipalities are even located inside another one! Before jumping into more specifics, let’s talk a bit about Macomb County itself, and the nature of local government in general.

Macomb County

Macomb is a charter county, meaning that it operates under its own version of a constitution with explicitly defined powers. It has its own executive and its own legislative bodies that exercise the authority to provide services, such as roads and public works, and coordinate them among the smaller governments. The county operates the jail, major local courts, etc. As you will see below, while the county has significant authority, the scale of it varies based on the power of the smaller municipalities. However, should a conflict between a local ordinance and a county ordinance arise, the county’s would typically always take precedence.

For a further bit of a civics lesson, while many will remember the principle of federalism from their grade school classes, that is not the structure that relates to county or other local government. While under federalism, power is shared between the U.S. government and the states, municipal governments have no such shared power. Their authority is only what is granted to them by their state law. In fact, state governments can place whatever restrictions they choose on their municipalities (including merging them, controlling them directly, or abolishing them outright), as long as such rules do not violate the state’s constitution. So, as we cover the powers of local government, keep that in mind!

The State of Michigan is divided into counties, and those are further divided into cities, townships, and villages. There are no towns or boroughs or other designations.

Cities

Cities are an incorporated form of government, meaning that they exist because they also have been granted a charter. The city, therefore, not only has their own elected officials, but also can exercise most other governmental powers. They are the most independent local municipality. Likewise, cities have the most responsibilities when it comes to the services and duties they must carry out on behalf of their residents. Cities must perform state-required duties as well as their own services.

Cities can do most things autonomously, exercising authority over most policy areas as long as they aren’t prohibited to the city by law. This concept is referred to as “home rule.” However, this does not mean that the city has separate authority from the state or county. Rather, it means that the city can exercise the state’s power of governance in its own administrative area. As was stated above, their power is still technically only granted by the state (the state gives them home rule). Cities cannot create laws that supersede the State of Michigan’s laws—or, generally speaking, Macomb County’s—and must enforce all Michigan/county laws accordingly. Cities simply can customize the enforcement of those laws to better fit their area, and can create additional ordinances more specific to a local area. Furthermore, all cities still pay county taxes and participate in county elections.

The types of executive power in a city can vary, but there are two forms in Macomb County. One is a mayor-council system, where a mayor is directly elected as chief executive and a city council/commission serves as the legislative body. This form has two variations, the “strong” mayor and “weak” mayor systems, which depend on whether the mayor is part of the council. The strong mayor is a separate, full chief executive with centralized authority and veto power. The weak mayor is “first among equals,” acting as the chair of the council with little-to-no legislative authority themselves.

The second form of executive power is a council-manager system, whereby an elected city council appoints a city manager/administrator. The city manager’s job is to effectively—and impartially—run the daily operations of government and enforce policy made by the council. This system is more common. Most cities that use this system do also have a mayor (e.g. Mount Clemens), but the mayor is an elected member and leader/chairman of the city council. While that last part may sound confusable with the “weak” mayor system, the difference is that the “weak” mayor system does not have a city manager who oversees daily city operations.

Cities report to the State of Michigan through Macomb County, but the County’s oversight on them is primarily only concerned with coordinating services and broad county-wide issues, such as roadwork or public health. Additionally, not all cities exercise every authority available to them, and the county government connects the missing links. A practical example of that is the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department. While cities have the ability to form and maintain their own police department, some do not because it is either impractical or simply not necessary. Mount Clemens is such an example of an administration that could have its own police department (and did until 2005), but does not because of the operational cost.

Altogether, cities are the strongest form of local government. All were formed on the basis of needing much greater authority to handle the logistics of their area, or because their residents wished to have a separate authority from neighboring municipalities. While lines on the map can often seem confusing, it is easy to remember that cities are their own division. So, don’t be confused by the fact that the City of Center Line is completely surrounded by the City of Warren. While they are good friends, they are entirely separate from one another! However, they are not separate from the county, despite their broader powers.

Macomb County’s cities are Center Line, Eastpointe, Fraser, Grosse Pointe Shores (mostly in Wayne County), Memphis (partially in St. Clair County), Mount Clemens, New Baltimore, Richmond (partially in St. Clair County), Roseville, St. Clair Shores, Sterling Heights, Utica, and Warren.

Townships

Townships are the most common form of local government in Michigan, and are the default administration. In fact, if you do not live in a city, you live in a township! Townships are statutory, meaning that unlike cities, their powers are explicitly defined. If that seems confusing, don’t worry! The difference is that a city’s power is defined only by what it can’t do… meaning that rather than list every power available to a city, the law simply says here’s what’s prohibited, and just about everything else is fair game. Townships, by comparison, can only exercise the set of powers that are explicitly defined for them. Cities have implied authority to do whatever else they need (home rule), townships do not.

So what are the defined powers of a township? At the fundamental level, Michigan mandates three functions for a township, and they include property assessment, tax collection, and elections administration. Townships can also perform other functions, such as planning and zoning, public safety, cemeteries, and parks and recreation. However, this depends on the wants and needs of the township.

Executive authority in a township is always the same basic structure, run by an elected board of trustees. This unit is both an executive and a legislative body, and is comprised of a township supervisor, clerk, treasurer, and either 2 or 4 trustees. The township supervisor is the presiding executive officer on the board, and is simply the “first among equals.” The procedures for the township’s administration are closely regulated by the state, and this includes finances (budgets, accounting, investments and deposits, etc.) as well as township meetings and records. There are other positions that a township may create beyond the board of trustees, and it depends on the status of the township.

The status of a township makes things a bit more complicated. There are actually two types of townships in Michigan, general law (civil) townships and charter townships. Charter township is a special designation that was created to provide some additional powers and streamlined administration. This status, as the name would suggest, is granted by charter. This allots certain home rule powers (like a city/village), but does not change it from still being a township. A charter township is simply a stronger variation, and its charter places it above a village (see below) but still far below a city in terms of authority. And, it is unique to Michigan!

A significant difference with charter townships is that they may appoint a township superintendent as the township’s chief, who is delegated specific duties similar to a city manager. Another significant advantage of a charter township is often its protection from land annexation by a city or village. It is not a coincidence, for example, that Mount Clemens is completely surrounded by Clinton Township and Harrison Township, and both are charter townships. Other privileges include creating a police force, fire department, and assessors, and charter townships can also borrow money, issue bonds, and levy more robust taxes with voter approval (a city does not need voter approval). Township authority is still contained within the county government, however. Regardless of charter status, you will notice on the map above that unlike cities, townships do not overlap into other counties, for example.

In summary, townships are the most common form of local government, and make up 96% of Michigan’s land area. There are two types, general law and charter townships, and these provide a variation in administrative authority. Townships are unique among the three systems of local government, in that they can be rural, suburban, or urban. It is the basic form of local government, capable of providing essential needs but only the ones desired by residents—and at much lower tax rates.

General law (or “civil”) townships in Macomb County include Armada Township, Bruce Township, Lenox Township, Macomb Township, Ray Township, and Richmond Township.

Charter townships include Chesterfield Township, Clinton Township, Harrison Township, Shelby Township, and Washington Township.

Villages

Like cities, villages are also an incorporated form of government. However, they have very significant distinctions from cities. The primary difference is that villages are part of a township, and are not fully autonomous. Being incorporated, they are formed by charter (just like a city) and have stronger home rule powers, but residents also additionally participate in township affairs and pay township taxes. Villages in Michigan are always located inside a township, or sometimes overlapping townships. The people of the village (not to be confused with The Village People) are also included in both their own population count as well as the township’s.

Villages are organized primarily to establish more specific ordinances and to provide local services, such as fire department or utilities. Certain duties required by the state are not demanded of the village (as they would be of a city), but are performed instead by the township, including assessing property, collecting taxes for counties and school districts, etc. However, villages do maintain home rule powers, but they are curtailed to a lower level than cities.

As far as executive power is concerned, all villages are required to have a “weak” mayor form of government (see Cities section above). They are governed by a village council, comprised of six trustees and a village president, who is the head of the council. All three villages in Macomb County are general law villages, which means that while they have home rule perks, their government framework is explicitly defined by Michigan law. These villages can make basic changes to their local laws and supersede township ordinances, but are prohibited from changing their form of government. However, villages can—given the necessary requirements—opt to re-incorporate into a city and become totally removed from the township. Likewise, villages can disincorporate—again, with requirements—and return to their surrounding township(s).

Now, you may wonder what exactly the purpose of this municipality is by comparison. A primary reason is that there is history behind the designation. The village at one point was the more common form of incorporated territory, typically being the developed and populated hub in the middle of an otherwise rural township. In Macomb County, all our cities except for Sterling Heights (which was a township) were previously a village, and opted to upgrade to the power and separation of a city as they became more urbanized, industrialized, and populated. However, in practical terms today, the remaining villages are areas that require more specific ordinances (e.g. the downtown layout of Romeo), but do not need the extent of a city’s governance and do not have the population or land area of a city.

The simplest way to remember all of that is villages are just a semi-independent administration within a township. They are not separate, but they do have an extra layer of local government and extra authority. The only three villages in Macomb County are Armada, New Haven, and Romeo. The Village of Armada is within Armada Township, the Village of New Haven is within Lenox Township, and the Village of Romeo is within both Bruce Township and Washington Township.

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Be sure to visit the individual community hubs here on the Community Resource Guide! All of Macomb County’s areas have their own space to explore, and link to the official websites where you can learn even more.

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Maps, Municipalities, and Methodology: A Quick Guide to Macomb County