Movement underway to make Sister Lakes a village

SISTER LAKES, Mich. - There’s a movement picking up steam in Sister Lakes. A group is aiming to turn the seven, small lake communities into a village.  

Sister Lakes is unincorporated and lies in both Cass and Van Buren Counties. Keeler Township and Silver Creek Township each provide a portion of services for Sister Lakes.

In December Sister Lakes lost public ambulance service after Keeler Township pulled funding.

“As a community we feel, we don’t feel, we are overlooked,” said Keith Pitcher. He said Sister Lakes losing its local ambulance service spurred the movement. “We would feel more like an actual community.”

Pitcher said the group is still determining the boundaries of a proposed village and said lawyers are putting together a petition. Creating a village would allow the area to bring back ambulance service, protect the volunteer fire department and add some police presence.

“When we lost our ambulance service that was very detrimental,” said Mary Kinney. Kinney lives on Little Crooked Lake and is running for Keeler Township Clerk. “We need the service right here instead of having (an ambulance that is) not close to us.”

Pitcher estimates that a few hundred signatures and a mil would be needed. Pitcher estimates the cost of a mil would be made up for with lower homeowner insurance costs. A discount would be achieved with heightened fire service response times.

 “As a community we feel it’s time for sister lakes to actually speak for itself,” Pitcher said.

The group said signatures could be collected in a few weeks. The entire process should take more than a year.