Most of us have heard of “too big to fail.” Well, I am adding a new buzz phrase to the dictionary — “too small to succeed.”

We encountered “too big to fail” a lot during the Great Recession of 2007-09. The theory goes that some corporations, especially big banks, are so large and economically interconnected that if they were allowed to fail it would be disastrous to the global economy, so the government must intervene to save them.

My “too small to succeed” concept involves municipalities in Pennsylvania which have so few residents that it is difficult to conduct business, and, in some cases, even get people interested in holding office.

Take Mount Carbon, the small borough contiguous to the city of Pottsville in Schuylkill County, which has not had a functioning borough council since 2017. Mount Carbon has about 90 residents, according to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Its governing body is supposed to consist of a five-member council and a mayor.

Going back to 2016, the borough had difficulty getting a quorum to conduct business and petitioned the state to allow a three-member council. Almost all borough councils in the state consist of either seven or five members.

With the reduction secured, two council members were appointed but soon resigned. Donna Porter, who won the mayor’s seat in 2015, resigned shortly after taking office, because she moved from the borough.

In February 2016, 22-year-old Brandon Wentz was appointed mayor. He died on Nov. 10, 2017, at the age of 23 from a drug overdose, medical officials said.

In last November’s general election, one resident won the mayor’s job, and two other residents won council seats, all with write-in votes. At this week’s reorganization meeting, only one of the candidates, John Raess, showed up. He received write-in votes for both mayor and council, but he said he was not interested in the mayor’s job but would take a council seat. The problem is that neither of the other two residents who received write-ins for council showed up, so there is still no functioning government.

Mount Carbon is one of nine municipalities in Schuylkill County with fewer than 500 residents. Among them are Middleport (400), Tremont (276) and New Ringgold (274). Getting qualified candidates to run for mayor, council and other elected positions is a never-ending struggle.

There are small communities in three of the other four counties served by the Times News.

Carbon has three under 500: Lehigh Township, 481; East Side Borough, 313; and Lausanne Township, 234, according to 2018 statewide figures.

Monroe’s smallest municipality is Delaware Water Gap borough with 732 residents. Northampton’s is Chapman borough with 199.

Only Lehigh’s smallest — the borough of Alburtis with 2,383 — can be considered a viably sized community to operate effectively in the modern era.

The range of population of the state’s 2,560 incorporated municipalities, including cities, boroughs, townships and one town (Bloomsburg), is from 1.6 million in Philadelphia to 10 in the borough of Centralia. In addition to Centralia, and Port Carbon, there are 32 other incorporated municipalities with fewer than 100 residents.

Many residents cherish the concept of grassroots governance. They feel as if they have a more direct say, more control and access to their local officials than they do with state and federal legislators.

While this is certainly true, residents in these smaller communities must face the reality of leadership vacuums in a 21st century society. Small municipalities rarely have much political power and generally have less experienced officials who are able to deal with complicated issues in an ever complex world. And, let’s face it, many qualified residents choose not to subject themselves to second-guessing and social media bashing that is so prevalent today.

Some see consolidation as a possible solution, but this has proven to be unpopular and a tough sell in Pennsylvania. Some state officials, for example, have suggested that Mount Carbon would fare better if it cast its lot with the city of Pottsville, but local residents fear that this would eliminate their identity as a small, friendly, tight-knit community.

The last municipal merger in Pennsylvania was more than a decade ago when Donegal took in West Alexander, a one-street borough on the western edge of Washington County, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com