What Does a Council of Governments Actually Do?
Read enough local news in east-central Michigan and you will run into the East Michigan Council of Governments, usually in a sentence about a plan or a grant. Councils of governments — COGs — are among the least understood pieces of how the region works, which is a shame, because they quietly shape which projects get funded.
The basic idea
A council of governments is a voluntary association of local governments — counties, cities, villages, townships — that agree to plan together on problems that cross their borders. No single township can plan a regional economy, a corridor-length road strategy, or a watershed. A COG gives its members a shared staff and a shared table for exactly those problems. Importantly, a COG is not another layer of government: it generally cannot tax you, zone your land, or pass ordinances. Its power is the softer kind — plans, data, coordination, and access to funding programs that require a regional plan to exist.
EMCOG plays this role for east-central Michigan, an area that takes in the Thumb and I-69 corridor counties along with neighbors to the west. Its work centers on regional planning and economic development coordination for its member governments.
Why plans matter: the funding connection
The practical reason COGs matter is that many federal and state funding programs will not consider a project unless it appears in, or aligns with, a regional plan. Economic development administration programs, for example, typically require a regional economic development strategy — a document that inventories the region's assets and problems and lists priority projects. Producing and maintaining that strategy is classic COG work, and EMCOG publishes its planning documents for the region.
This creates a quiet rule of thumb: if a community wants outside money for a project, the project usually needs to be in the plan first. Water systems, industrial parks, trail networks, broadband — the pipeline from idea to grant often runs through the COG's documents. State-level partners fit into the same picture: the Michigan Economic Development Corporation runs community development programs that interact with this regional planning layer, and transportation planning coordinates with MDOT's regional offices such as the Bay Region.
When you would actually encounter a COG
- As a local official or volunteer on a council, planning commission, or downtown board — you will see COG staff at the table when regional money is discussed.
- As a business owner whose expansion depends on infrastructure — the road, water, or broadband project you need may live or die by its place in a regional plan.
- As a curious resident — COG documents are public, and they are one of the few places you can read a candid, consolidated assessment of your region's economy in one place. Pair them with the official statistics described in our guide to finding regional data.
COGs are not glamorous, but if you want to understand why one town landed a grant and another did not, their plans are often where the answer is written down — years in advance.