Last week, Indivisible Greater Grand Rapids sat down with Kent County Commissioner Kris Pachla to talk about something most of us don’t think much about—county government—and why that needs to change. Kris shed light on the often-invisible yet vital role counties play in our daily lives, how they’re funded, and what’s at stake as federal support faces steep cuts.
🏛️ What Does County Government Do?
County government acts as the connective tissue between local cities and the state. Some of its responsibilities are mandated—like running courts, the sheriff’s department, and the health department. Others are discretionary but deeply impactful: managing recycling, offering early childhood services, maintaining parks, and more.
And while you might only interact with the county when registering to vote or getting a dog license, its reach goes much deeper.
🔍 Why Is It So Important Right Now?
Because county government is largely funded through state and federal dollars, budget cuts from higher levels of government threaten critical services. Yet counties are still required to deliver their core mandates—meaning fewer resources to go around and bigger gaps for local communities to fill.
Kris emphasized that "if we're doing our job well, we're doing it quietly." But now, that quiet competence is being tested.
🌱 Programs You Should Know About
1. Early Childhood Millage
Kent County is one of the few in Michigan to invest in early childhood development via a voter-approved millage. Funds go to First Steps Kent, supporting free services like developmental screenings, parenting resources, and playgroups—not daycare, but tools to get kids kindergarten-ready. There is a very helpful tool, called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, which helps parents answer questions about the progress of their child and better understand if the child is doing something typical for their age or whether something is atypical and will need some help to address. First Steps Kent serves over 10,000 children countywide.
2. Public Works & Recycling
Kent County’s Department of Public Works is a state leader. From operating landfills and a waste-to-energy plant to maintaining a county-wide recycling system, it ensures that what we recycle actually gets recycled. Kris says, “We've all heard stories of places that you drop off your recycling and it just gets dumped right into the trash bin and then buried in the ground. We don't do that here in Kent County.” One innovative addition: a Styrofoam densifier, which compresses packaging foam into reusable material—something most counties can’t do.
3. Kent County Community Action (KCCA)
KCCA channels federal funds into programs like Meals on Wheels, home weatherization, and housing improvements for low-income residents. In FY2024, KCCA served 24,558 families, distributed 113,157 boxes of nutritious food, completed four infrastructure projects—including roads, sidewalks and parks—and finished 233 home rehabilitation and weatherization projects. These programs are now threatened by major proposed federal budget cuts, which could ripple through the entire community—not just those directly receiving aid. Kris likens cuts to these programs “to the Medicare cuts where we are identifying that the increased healthcare costs from folks not being able to afford medical care through Medicare are going to be passed along to the rest of us either by hospitals closing down because we're not going to be able to have them actually pay for the services that are being rendered or by us having issues with having to have much more reactive care than preventative care.”
4. Parks & The Grand River Greenway Project
The county also runs beautiful parks like Millennium Park and is spearheading the Grand River Greenway—a planned trail stretching from Lowell to Lake Michigan. It’s a $100M vision that’s already partially complete and aims to reconnect residents with the Grand River, regardless of whether they own a car, a bike, or kayak. Kris added, “The Grand River Greenway is also a part of the project that's looking at downtown, and as we look at the amphitheater and the revitalization of the riverbanks of Grand Rapids, we have an awesome opportunity to really create an interconnected pathway for everybody to get around on that doesn't rely on cars.”
💡 County Budgets = Community Values
Kris emphasized that counties don’t pass many laws—they shape policy by deciding where the money goes. Every line in the county budget reflects our collective values. That’s why public awareness and civic engagement matter so much, especially during election season. According to Kris, “It's really important that folks identify whether the budget priorities that we set forth as the county are aligning with what you have as your community priorities, and in some instances it's not.”
🗳️ What Can You Do?
Vote. Many county-level decisions—like millages—are made by voters.
Learn. Visit First Steps Kent, Kent County Recycling, Kent County Community Action, and Kent County Parks to explore local programs.
Speak Up. Contact your commissioners to weigh in on funding priorities.
Subscribe. Stay tuned here on Substack for updates and an upcoming webinar at 7:00pm on Thursday, August 28, where we’ll dive deeper into these programs and how you can help protect them.
Source: “Kent County Community Action Urges Congress to Reject Proposed Cuts to Vital Social Services”
