By Reid Forgrave
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLERAIN TOWNSHIP -- Townships, formed by our forefathers as a simple, grass-roots form of government, now are some of the biggest entities in Greater Cincinnati. And the trustee races to be decided next Tuesday will affect much of the region's population.

Some township residents who've lived in cities say it's better local government.

"I like the township thing," said Phyllis Clemons, 45, who moved to West Chester Township from Roselawn in May 2002. "With all the trouble we had in Cincinnati, all the complications, when you have a township and it's smaller, it tends to be more intimate and hands-on."

But the rise of "urban townships" has changed government focus from the agrarian roots of pre-statehood Ohio.

Originally, townships had three elected trustees and an elected clerk. They had barebones responsibilities. Trustees took care of roads and ensured local cemeteries were maintained. Townships kept two "keepers of the poor," responsible for caring for the bodies of and burying the poor and indigent.

Townships maintained a local watering hole - a place where horses passing through would have a place to drink. Township governments often had to settle disputes about fences. Among responsibilities of the original township government was reimbursing farmers for sheep who were killed by wolves or wild dogs.

Today in Ohio, where the township government form still flourishes with more than 1,300 townships statewide, small rural townships remain. But the modern form of township government has taken a turn for the bigger in the "urban townships" which have exploded with growth.

Greater Cincinnati, according to the 2000 census, has eight of the state's 20 most populated townships. That includes the three most heavily populated townships in Ohio - Colerain and Green in Hamilton County and West Chester in Butler County. Only two cities in southwest Ohio - Cincinnati and Hamilton - are larger than the three biggest townships.

Townships, cities differ

The legal difference between an urban township and a city is simple: cities are self-governing; townships are not.

Townships are always fighting for more power, but for them to get it, the Ohio General Assembly must grant it.

A common sentiment among leaders in these urban townships is that you often have to govern with creativity.

"Sometimes it's sort of like driving a nail with a rock," said Dave Gulley, administrator of West Chester Township and former administrator of Colerain Township. "Sometimes township government works; sometimes it doesn't. The success or failure of a township dealing with urban issues goes with the creativity of the elected officials in going beyond their authority.

"If any given urban township stayed strictly within their authority," Gulley continued, "the community would grind to a halt."

Gulley and others cite transportation, noise and curfews, water and stormwater, as places township officials must get creative.

"We're usually out there on the edge, trying to make good with what we have," Gulley said.

In Colerain Township, for example, trustees have tried to reduce flooding in parts of the township by buying houses in those areas and tearing them down.

Sticking with townships

Although some large townships have considered incorporation, there are strong advocates of the status quo.

"Why would we want to change?" said Russ Jackson, president of the Anderson Township trustees. "There's no reason to. We don't have payroll taxes. Once you change form you build a bureaucracy and then your taxes go up."

Said Michael Cochran, executive director of the Ohio Township Association in Columbus: "I often wonder why some of these cities don't become townships."

Keith Corman, a trustee in Colerain Township and a resident there since 1975, says you see more local pride in the township, not the neighborhoods.

"There's always been local pride, but I've seen the pride shift, from local communities like Bevis, Groesbeck or White Oak, to one big community," he said. "People live in Colerain now, and they're proud of it."

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E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com