Michigan Public Policy Survey of Local Government Leaders on COVID-19 (Spring 2020)

The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is a program of state-wide surveys of local government leaders in Michigan. The MPPS is designed to fill an important information gap in the policymaking process. While there are ongoing surveys of the business community and of the citizens of Michigan, before the MPPS there were no ongoing surveys of local government officials that were representative of all general purpose local governments in the state. Therefore, while we knew the policy priorities and views of the state's businesses and citizens, we knew very little about the views of the local officials who are so important to the economies and community life throughout Michigan.<br><br>The MPPS was launched in 2009 by the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the University of Michigan and is conducted in partnership with the Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Municipal League, and Michigan Townships Association. The associations provide CLOSUP with contact information for the survey's respondents, and consult on survey topics. CLOSUP makes all decisions on survey design, data analysis, and reporting, and receives no funding support from the associations.<br><br>The surveys investigate local officials' opinions and perspectives on a variety of important public policy issues and solicit factual information about their localities relevant to policymaking. Over time, the program has covered issues such as fiscal, budgetary and operational policy, fiscal health, public sector compensation, workforce development, local-state governmental relations, intergovernmental collaboration, economic development strategies and initiatives such as placemaking and economic gardening, the role of local government in environmental sustainability, energy topics, trust in government, views on state policymaker performance, and more. The program will investigate many other issues relevant to local and state policy in the future. <br><br>The Spring 2020 MPPS wave asked Michigan's local government leaders about the expected impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in their communities, how effectively various governments are coordinating efforts, what kinds of resources they need, how long they expect various impacts to last, and more. Additional questions on local government fiscal health, election administration, the 2020 U.S. Census, views on state policymaker performance, and more, were also asked. Responses to these questions will be available in a separate data collection available in 2021.