County Government at Work
DOWNLOADJuly 2, 2025 - Brad Neumann, Eric Walcott, and Mark Skidmore, Michigan State University Extension
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Email"County Government at Work" provides a basic overview of the roles and responsibilities of the departments, agencies, and commissions that carry out the health, safety, and welfare functions of county government in Michigan. A functional grouping of county agencies and departments, this 18th edition of County Government at Work is a substantially revised version of a reference guide for county officials initially authored by MSU professors Al House and Garland Wood in 1976.
The reference has been updated and expanded over the years to reflect changes in county government, notably by retired MSU professors Lynn Harvey and Kenneth VerBurg, former Extension specialists Gary Taylor, Beth Moore, and Claire Layman, and more recently by members of the MSU Extension Government and Community Vitality Team: Eric Scorsone, Ph.D., Mark Skidmore, Ph.D., Kurt Schindler, John Amrhein, Brad Neumann, and Eric Walcott.
For a more comprehensive resource, readers are referred to the "Guide to Michigan County Government, Fifth Edition," by John Amrhein, Brad Neumann, Kurt Schindler, Mary Schulz, and Eric Walcott, which can be ordered through the MSU Extension bookstore at shop.msu.edu.
County Government at Work is organized around four functional groupings:
- County Administration and Finance
- Health and Human Services
- Public Safety and Courts
- Physical and Economic Development
