Local leaders give high marks to road commissions
By Greta Guest, Michigan News
Most local government leaders have good things to say about their road commissions that maintain county primary and township local roads upon which so many Michigan residents rely.
The Michigan Public Policy Survey at the University of Michigan found that road agencies received the highest praise for good relationships, timely communications, fairness and quality of work. Just over half of local leaders gave positive ratings on the fairness of the road agencies' financial matching requirements and transparent decision-making.
"Despite these high overall ratings, when breaking the data down further, important differences are found," said Thomas Ivacko, administrator and program manager of the Ford School of Public Policy's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. For instance, local leaders from cities and villages tend to be less satisfied with the road commissions when compared to leaders from townships, and especially from general purpose county governments.
The study, conducted Oct. 6-Dec. 11, 2014, involved surveys sent via hard copy and the Internet to top elected and appointed officials in all counties, cities, villages and townships in Michigan. A total of 1,356 jurisdictions returned valid surveys, resulting in a 73-percent response rate. The survey had a margin of error of 1.4 percentage points.
View and download the May 2015 Michigan Public Policy Survey report here.