OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Nearly four weeks after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel determined the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners did not violate "standards set forth" in Michigan's Open Meetings Act, a new civil lawsuit has been filed in Ottawa County Circuit Court.
The four Ottawa County plaintiffs want decisions made by the new board of commissioners during their Jan. 3 meeting overturned.
Nine of 11 county commissioners are backed by conservative group Ottawa Impact, which was behind many of the major changes.
During that meeting on Jan. 3, the new board demoted their current administrative health officer Adeline Hambley and hired COVID-19 critic Nathaniel Kelly.
They also eliminated the County's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, fired the County Administrator John Shay and hired John Gibbs to replace him.
The complaint alleges the newly-elected board discussed these changes in private before taking offices.
Progress Michigan obtained almost 150 pages of emails and despite the AG's decision, believes the board did violate the open meetings act.
Sam Inlgot, Deputy Director of Progress Michigan, talked to 13 On Your Side about why they feel the lawsuit is so important.
"The thing that we should all be unified on is that when public bodies are making those decisions and making those policies, they need to do it in an honest, open and transparent way," said Inglot. "And it's very clear from the research that we've done that that did not happen in Ottawa County. That's why we're hoping that this complaint is successful and that the Ottawa County Commission is forced to go back and do the public's work, before the public, like they should have done in the first place."
While the Attorney General did not find any violations of the open meeting, she did call of the county to improve its transparency.
Progress Michigan's FOIA document requests from the Board can be found here.
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