Thanks @willkmis and @aighes – I see the examples and read up on those tags and it all makes sense about border_type=* vs place=*.
I was thinking place=* since Nominatim uses admin_level=* and place=* but not border_type=*, but your explanations make sense.
I also appreciate your guys’ willingness here and Stevea’s willingness on the wiki talk page to explain the tagging and encourage my efforts to contribute to OSM, even if it appears I’ve made some initial missteps. I’m admittedly new and inexperienced with OSM, but I’m also plenty enthusiastic about learning and contributing.
And I also appreciate @ZeLonewolf for somewhat taking me to task about not coordinating on some of the changes I’ve made 
I was following the Wikipedia mantra of “Be bold” but I had no idea there was a robust community policing the data in that way. However I’m glad to know I can post here for guidance and be corralled back in bounds when needed!
Ok, back to CCCs – it should be border_type=* instead of place=* and place=* isn’t really appropriate for boundaries anyway.
I’m looking forward to more thoughts and how this resolves