Mayors hope to limit state control of cities LANSING (AP) - Angered by a Legislature they say has eroded their authority, the mayors of Detroit, Lansing and other cities said yesterday that they are backing a petition drive to limit state control over local governments. The Michigan Municipal League, which represents 550 towns and cities, wants to change the Michigan Constitution and require a two-thirds vote in the Senate and House to pass any bill that intervenes in municipal matters. Since a change in the constitution requires voter approval, the Municipal League must collect 302,000 signatures to get the issue on this November's ballot. The group began circulating petitions yesterday. Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said the legislature's actions during the past two years have forced the need for the ballot drive. Archer was critical of laws which dismantled Detroit's Recorder's Court, reformed the city's school board and overturned the requirement that city employees live within the city they work for. Archer said he also is upset by a bill introduced in the Senate that would require Detroit to elect its City Council by district instead of a citywide vote. ''This is what we're saying to the Legislature. We understand you have a responsibility, but you've forgotten us,'' Archer said. Lansing Mayor David Hollister, Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon and Grandville Mayor Jim Buck also said they will support the petition drive, along with mayors from Flint, Mackinaw City, St. Ignace, Farmington Hills and other cities. ''We firmly believe that local votes count, that if it's a local issue, it should be determined at the local level,'' Sheldon said. ''Just as the state doesn't like (interference) from the federal level, we don't like it from the state," she added. Buck said he is particularly concerned about a bill introduced in the House that would prevent local governments from regulating business activities already regulated by the state or federal government. Hollister said he has seen ''more raids on local control'' in the past two years than he saw in the 20 previous years. ''We think we have the tools, and we know how to govern our cities,'' Hollister said. ''People think we're doing our job, and this presumption coming out of the Legislature says, 'We know better than out mayors,'" he said. Legislators yesterday denied that their measures have gone too far. State Sen. Dan DeGrow (R-Port Huron) predicted yesterday that the petition drive will flop, saying the state constitution already protects the rights of local governments. ''I think it's doomed to failure. I don't think we've gone too far,'' he said. Originally on page 3A in the 1-26-2000 issue of the Daily.