Talk:Dexter, Michigan

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	Dexter, Michigan is part of WikiProject Michigan, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Michigan.
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[edit] Dexter Village cf. Dexter Township

I removed misleading information from the first paragraph. Please do not revert it.

The misleading sentence indicated that Dexter Village is politically independent of Dexter Township. This implies that Dexter Village is an autonomous jurisdiction surrounded by Dexter Township.

In fact, Dexter Village is not even located in Dexter Township -- it is in Scio and Webster Township. Moreover, it is NOT independent of the township in which it is located - it's a village, not a city.

So, saying Dexter Village is politically independent of Dexter Village is politically independent of Dexter Township is doubly-misleading - first, because it sounds as though the village is located within Dexter Township, which it is not; second, because it sounds as though it were a fully autonomous municipality, which it is not.

Like most U.S. States and Canadian provinces, the State of Michigan employs a three-tiered system of decentralisation of the state sovereignty: Level 1 - Statewide level Level 2 - County level Level 3 - Township level

Counties are administrative divisions of a state. They allow state sovereignty and public policy to be localised to meet the needs of a particular area of the state's territory and population.

In Michigan, counties may be general law or charter counties. Both operate to localise application of state law and public policy to a particular section of the state. Charter counties simply have more control than general law counties in how they set about doing that. Of Michigan's 83 counties, 1 is a charter county (Wayne) and the rest are general law counties.

Townships are administrative divisions of a county. They further localise state sovereignty and public policy, providing specialised services within a particular area of the county (e.g., fire department).

Townships can also be general law or charter townships. A charter township is, in essence and effect, a cross between a township and a municipal corporation. It has certain of the rights associated with cities and villages, but does not necessarily have the responsibilities.

Michigan law recognises three types of landed corporate entity, with varying degrees of autonomy. Entity 1 - The State University (most autonomous) Entity 2 - The City Entity 3 - The Village (least autonomous)

Under Michigan's constitution, the 15 state universities (3 of them, campuses of the University of Michigan) are autonomous jurisdictions beyond the general control of the Legislature and the Governor - but they are not beyond the *complete* control; and they are not at all beyond the control of the judiciary. The object of this constitutional autonomy is to keep Michigan higher education free of the shifting winds and tides of partisan politics (at least in theory). State Universities interact directly with state government, like counties - but on completely different issues.

A city is an autonomous municipal corporation subject to the authority of the state, but NOT subject to the supervisory authority of either county or township. Cities thus may cross county lines. Cities and townships are mutually exclusive; that is, the land may be located within a city or within a township but it cannot be located in both. Counties, on the other hand, operate at a different level of service than either municipalities or townships. So, unlike Virginia - where all cities are "independent cities" that only interact directly with state government - cities in Michigan communicate directly with Lansing on issues that directly concern them (e.g., filing the city charter) but otherwise communicate with state government through the county (e.g., local property tax returns).

All Michigan cities are charter cities. The general law city is not recognised.

Villages are municipal corporations that operate within the context of the township(s) in which they are located. In general, whereas cities are completely separate from townships, villages are subject to township authority in certain respects. A village that crosses township lines is thus like a city that crosses county lines. When Chelsea was still a village, for example, different electoral rules applied on the east and west sides of the village, because the township's jurisdiction was superior to the village's jurisdiction. The change to city status eliminated that problem by extracting Chelsea out of both townships.

Michigan distinguishes between general law and home rule (charter) villages. As with charter counties, charter townships, and cities, a home rule village has a higher degree of local control over its affairs - but it's not removed from the hierarchy of superior jurisdictions, though the powers of superior jurisdictions will be limited by the village's charter powers, i.e., where the charter, duly filed with the State, says the village can do X in *this* way, the township government cannot step in and tell the village it must do X in *that* way.

And that, in a very large nutshell, is why the phrase "politically independent" should not be used to describe the absence of any relationship between Dexter Village and Dexter Township. They're just NOT related to each other at all, except for sharing the same name -- like "Mel Gibson" and "Vodka Gibson."

207.200.116.66 08:40, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Uncited information

Could be true. Don't know. No way to verify. Please provide a citation for the information below. older≠wiser 17:37, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

Also Dexter is the home of the largest fire pit in America. The outer sitting area dimensions are 16 x 16 feet. The fire pit dimensions are 5 x 5 feet. The most unique part of this enterprise is that the sitting area and the fire pit are 18 inches in the under ground. This project was all constructed by the hard working hands of many young teenage boys. It is great for parties.

[edit] Dexter Village is part of Scio and Webster Townships

Only a small portion of Dexter Village (one neighborhood, less than 300 homes) is in Webster Township. The majority of the Village (90%) is located in Scio Township. (reference the Village website: http://www.villageofdexter.org/Government%20Page.htm - "Our residents are also residents of one of two townships - Scio Township or Webster Township."