How can Kalamazoo citizens become more involved in their government? The issue is certainly complicated. Two of the main considerations are:

1. To what degree do you want to be involved?
2. From the perspective of government officials, does your concern affect the whole township, or is it more of an individual concern?

Keeping these 2 things in mind, here are some thoughts about how citizens can be involved most effectively.

Probably the most effective things would be for you to become involved in a community association. Most communities have such associations and if you're trying to stay with something long-term, the community association, from my perspective, seems to be the best way to do that. They sustain themselves, they seem to continually be in touch with the government, and when issues that are of critical importance to them come up, they step to the forefront to share their concerns. So, involvement with the community organization to whatever degree the most effective.

There are many other ways you can become involved with your government or just touch base with your government by imparting thoughts and concerns. The latest is the e-mail system. Periodically, I get e-mails from citizens in the community sharing their thoughts and concerns, and I try to stay in touch with them that way. Another would be a letter. Certainly citizens have the right to write letters to their governmental units with their thoughts and concerns. Another is a phone call, although this is the least effective because it's frequently difficult to touch base with individuals and make connections at the phone call level.

Also, you can certainly talk with individual board members or commissioners about your concern. Try to catch them at some point out in the community to have some discussions with them, or call and schedule an appointment to speak with someone at the municipality. If it's something critical that seems to be of real importance to you, that is a reliable alternative.

If you really wants to become involved, you can ask to be appointed to one of the committees. Some governments have several committees that they fill with volunteers, and if you want to have your voice heard at a continual, critical level, asking to be involved in one of the committees would certainly be a way to do that.

Last, but certainly not least, would be attending meetings of the board or commission, which are open to the public. Citizens certainly have the right to attend one of these meetings and address the organization with thoughts that you may have.

These are a number of ways that citizens in the community can get involved with individual municipalities. As I stated at the beginning, it is important to think about the level of involvement that you want have. It is also important that your concern be understood by government officials as one that affects the whole township. If the concern relates to a larger number of individuals in the township, it's more likely to be addressed sooner.

I wish you all the best.