Water Emergencies please call Jake Cline - (231) 383-3731
Village of Bear Lake Council
Resident taxpayers elect the President and Trustees of the Village Council and task them with voting on how to spend taxpayers hard-earned money in ways that reflect how the taxpayers want the Village to operate in the present and how they want the Village to look in the future.
This Village Council is dedicated to transparency and soliciting taxpayer input to guide their voting. They want their decisions to reflect the interests of ALL taxpayers and to spend and save money in a responsible manner. We can’t vote for what you want unless you let us know what you want!
We need you to get involved and let your voice be heard. There are many ways to do this - by attending or calling in to listen to the monthly meetings, reading the posted Meeting Agendas and Minutes, sending emails or letters about your concerns and opinions to the Village Clerk at c[email protected] or calling a member of the Village Council who can voice your concerns at the next meeting. Periodically you may receive surveys or questionnaires asking for your opinion. Please complete and return them as we need to know how you want us to vote to reflect what you want.
All Village Council meeting agendas can be found within the details of the specific meeting on the 'Village Council Meeting Schedule' page located here. All meeting minutes can be found on the 'Village Council Meeting Minutes' page located here.
Meeting Schedule
The Village of Bear Lake Regular Meetings are held at the Village Hall on the 3rd Thursday of each month, beginning at 6:30pm ET.
Effective June 30, 2024 the Village Hall, including Offices, will be located in the DPW Building at the southwest corner of Potter Rd and Russell St.
All meetings have a call-in number if you are unable to attend in person.
To call in to the meetings, call (302) 202-1107, when requested enter meeting code 149002
Click the link below to navigate to the meeting schedule to see detailed information about each meeting
Village Act of 1895
The Village of Bear Lake operates as a statutory village under the "General Law of Village Act of 1895" and subsequently amended.
"In Michigan, villages function much like cities, but differ in that villages are not completely administratively autonomous of the township(s) in which they are located, reducing their home rule powers. Because of this, statistically, their population is also included in the population of the township in which they reside. Village governments are required to share some of the responsibilities to their residents with the township. As of January 2011, there are 256 villages in Michigan, of which 46 are designated home rule villages, and 210 designated as general law villages.[4]
General law villages are weak mayor-council forms of government. The mayor equivalent is the annually elected village president, who is a member of the village council and its presiding officer. The village's clerk and treasurer are elective offices unless changed to appointive offices. The village may establish additional officers of the village including the street administrator, who is appointed by the president with the council's consent. Besides the president, the council has either four or six trustees with six as the legal standard.
The village may either elect three trustees every two years with four year terms or all six every two-year term. Reducing the number of trustees to four, appointing the clerk and treasurer or to create the position of village manager takes an village ordinance approved by a two-thirds majority of the council subject to referendum. Additional village boards, both appointed and ex officio, can include the boards of registration, election commissioners, election inspectors and cemetery trustees.
Home rule villages (Home Rule Village Act) must have an elected president, clerk and legislative body and indicate the election or appointment of other essential officer and boards. The president may be selected by the village legislative body instead of being elected." from Wikipedia
The official General Law Village Act 3 of 1895 from the Michigan Legislature can be found here.
