This list will be updated as the reasons continue to grow.
Fired long term county administrator and attorney leading to severance costs of $300,221.08, not including benefits
Hired John Gibbs via a secret process without considering other applicants, resulting in a lawsuit alleging violations of the Open Meetings Act. Later fired Gibbs in a potentially problematic manner, which has led to a lawsuit by Gibbs against the County and Joe Moss
Hired Kallman Legal Group, who has no experience in municipal law, again via a secret process without considering other firms with more experience, also resulting in a lawsuit alleging violations of the Open Meetings Act
Illegally attempted to fire the Executive Health Administrator and replace her with someone who does not meet the basic qualifications for the job. This led to litigation against the county which so far has cost the county over $178,000 and will likely cost more
Dissolved DEI Department, angering local business leaders and making segments of our citizenry feel unwelcome
Have exhibited such poor governance that the County now has several lawsuits pending against it
Incurred increased costs to the point that the County’s contingency fund, which had $750,000-800,000 in it at the beginning of the year, had only $36,000 in it as of July, 2023
Has endangered the County’s triple A bond rating, which would make it more difficult and expensive for the County and other municipalities to take out loans, likely resulting in increased taxes
Cut the Health Department’s budget significantly, jeopardizing services to County residents, including relationship with Ottawa Food, which provides food to children and the elderly
Censured Jacob Bonnema because he complained when Gibbs told him to, “Get out of my face!”
Removed opportunity for Commissioner comments during meetings, removing opportunity for Commissioners to bring up issues
Implemented a new Veterans’ Department at a cost of at least $246,000 without assessing the effectiveness of the existing department. This led to the resignation of the top four employees of the Veterans’ Department, leading to the loss of years of knowledge and experience
Gibbs hired 23 year old Jordan Epperson as his assistant, a new position which has not been needed by previous administrators and involved an increase of $20,000 in salary. Mr. Epperson met only one of the many qualifications for the position, leading to an age discrimination lawsuit from an older applicant who met or exceeded all of the qualifications
Hired Benjamin Wetmore as Deputy Administrator when the previous administrator resigned due to difficulties working with Gibbs. Wetmore is a far right activist who has been accused of authoring a plan to pretend to seduce a CNN reporter on camera
Threatened to withdraw money from The Momentum Center because they support DEI and LGBTQ causes. This money was approved for this purpose directly by the voters of Ottawa County through a millage
Threatened to withdraw money from The Childrens’ Assessment Center, which evaluates and treats children who are suspected or confirmed victims of sexual abuse, because they helped sponsor Grand Haven’s Pride Festival and had rainbow stickers in their office
Refused a grant (free money) because it required disclosure of County COVID vaccine numbers and they didn’t want to “do anything that would encourage higher vaccination rates.”
Moved nearly $2.5 million dollars from the Department of Public Health and Child Care Funds to the county’s general fund. This may make it more difficult for the Health Department to access the funds in case of an emergency
Refused more than $2 million in grants for ideological reasons
$235,000 plus benefits for severance pay
$20,000 Communications director upgrade
$37,300 Hiring of Jordan Epperson, Mr. Gibbs assistant
$224,000 Veterans’ Department
$2 million refused grants
Contingency fund was $750,000 in January of 2023; was $36,000 in July of 2023
$120,000 plus — Hambley legal costs
$730,000 to Kallman as of March, 2024
The BOC has refused more than $2 million in grants for ideological reasons.
Decreased the Health Department’s budget by $1.6 million under what was requested.
Reduced funding for health education by 48%, leading to:
Loss of Ottawa Food coordinator position. Ottawa food provides food to low income seniors and children
Significant cuts to health education and nutrition programs and staff
Denied a grant for $10,000 to make Health Department doorways ADA compliant because a stipulation of the grant was provision of numbers of COVID vaccines given. The OI BOC didn’t “want to do anything that would increase vaccinations.” They promised to find funds to make those improvements themselves, but this has still not happened (July, 2023). Our buildings are not ADA-compliant.
Denied an $8000 grant to a website that aims to prevent suicide in men because it included a link to a website that aims to decrease suicide in LGBTQ+ youth.
Cut some substance use disorder grants because COVID was in the title.
Delaying approval of an Advancing Healthy Births grant. Have refused to put it on the Finance Committee agendas for March and April; grant expires in September.
Food inspections in schools down from twice a year to once a year.
Delays in inspections for well and sewer permits.
Hudsonville Health Department hours cut back to just one-half day per month.
Have delayed approval of a $1 million grant for an environmental sustainability site in Allendale. We have the grant; we can’t use it.
Cut funding for the Pathways to Better Health Program, which helps people navigate community services.
Cut the Vaccine Equity Grant, which aims to increase adult vaccination rates.
Denied contract for strategic planning for the Community Health Advisory Panel, citing the company’s offering of equity training as the reason.
Cut funding for a third epidemiologist, which could hamper the Department’s ability to track and manage disease.
The Health Department was working on applying for a grant for their first Child and Adolescent Health Center with Ottawa Area ISD. OAISD backed out, not wanting the OI negative attention and division.
Removed Health Department’s access to tools for communicating health information to the community. All communications must be approved by the administrator. This makes it difficult for the HD to communicate to the public in case of an emergency.
There has been an unprecedented loss of staff from the Health Department. Very short staffed in Family Planning and STD clinics. Morale extremely low.
Health Department staff are hesitant to even apply for many grants because they know they will not be approved. The Health Department was working on applying for a grant for their first Child and Adolescent Health Center with Ottawa Area ISD. OAISD backed out, not wanting the OI negative attention and division.
Time wasted trying to get people the services they need, figure out how not to rock the boat, and addressing many dead-end requests and requirements by the OI board members takes away from time to do actual public health work.
Paid for by the Organize Ottawa District 9 Political Action Committee. 101 Washington #174. Grand Haven MI 49417
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