LANSING, MI -- Michigan activists looking to legalize or decriminalize marijuana in at least a dozen communities this fall will spark up the effort Tuesday morning in Oak Park.

Organizers are expected to turn in some 1,600 signatures for a citywide ballot proposal that would remove criminal and civil penalties for adults who use or possess less than one ounce of marijuana on private property.

If the signatures are approved, the Oak Park legalization proposal would be the first of its kind certified for the August primary. Activists are looking to put a similar question on the primary ballot in Hazel Park.

The Safer Michigan Coalition is also working to put additional marijuana proposals on November general election ballots in at least nine other cities, and the group anticipates local action by officials in Benzie County.

Tim Beck, who helped spearhead Michigan's successful medical marijuana petition drive in 2008, said the coalition is intentionally choosing local communities with dedicated activists and a voter-base that is likely to approve the proposals.

Beyond public policy, the larger goal is to send a message to the Michigan Legislature, where bipartisan statewide decriminalization legislation was introduced last year that would make marijuana possession punishable by a fine rather than arrest.

"You don't have to spend any money to win an election when people are already convinced," Beck said, explaining that it could cost upwards of $1 million just to collect signatures for a statewide ballot proposal. "The only thing we have in our power right now is to liberate one community after another."

Ann Arbor decriminalized marijuana possession decades ago and seven other cities have followed suit in recent years. But the actual impact has varied by community as some law enforcement agencies have continued to enforce state laws that trump local ordinances.

In Flint, for instance, city officials said that voter approval of a 2012 proposal was "symbolic in nature" and did not actually decriminalize the drug.

"We're still police officers and we're still empowered to enforce the laws of the state of Michigan and the United States," Flint police chief Alvern Lock said just hours after the election. "We're still going to enforce the laws as we’ve been enforcing them."

Public safety officials in Oak Park and Oakland County did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

The Safer Michigan Coalition argues that law enforcement officials would provide a greater public service if they focused on other types of crime, and Beck suggested that cities like Grand Rapids have seen positive returns by embracing decriminalization.

"We've kept a lot of people in those communities safe and kept people from getting a criminal record," he said. "Each town has to make their own choice, but we're going to keep doing it until they cry uncle."

In addition to Oak Park and Hazel Park, the coalition is working on general election ballot proposals in Saginaw, Mt. Pleasant, East Lansing, Lapeer, Utica, Port Huron, Clare, Onaway and Harrison. Beck said there could be others in the works as well.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.