A dozen township supervisor boards. A half-dozen school boards. Mayors and city commissions. A county commission. Planning and zoning departments. Water authorities. An airport governance board. Library boards. And more.

There are literally dozens of boards and commissions that are the decision-makers for the local policies that impact our lives — and our pocketbooks. And the reality is that there just aren't enough people watching and documenting what those public bodies are up to.

Twenty years ago, the average local reporter might have been responsible for covering two or three local government entities. These days, because of drastic budget cuts and the crisis of local news, the few journalists who are left are on average responsible for covering 10 or more public bodies.

This has real impacts.

Research shows that, with fewer reporters watching city hall and asking how tax dollars are spent, municipal budgets go up and up.

When journalists aren't there to keep tabs on local government, its bond rating goes down, costing taxpayers more money when financing public works.

With fewer reporters watch-dogging local government, the studies show fewer candidates run for office and the incumbents — even the lousy ones — tend to stay in office.

Let's bring back the city hall reporter

NowKalamazoo has an ambitious plan to blanket our local government with coverage: Reporting that produces important insights into how our public bodies work and gets you the most relevant, critical information, for all of Kalamazoo County. We're going to train a whole new generation of observers to document meetings. We're going to develop technology systems that help us sift through all the agendas, meeting minutes and transcripts. And we're going to create new ways of packing this information for you to make use of.

We need your investment to make it happen.

Donate today to help us fund this reporting initiative.

The Good Governance Project

By Local Journalism Foundation Inc

The Good Governance Project

What's going on in the halls of local government? Let's find out.