OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The morning after a large number of concerned citizens swarmed outside the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting, the chair shared his reaction to the commotion.
Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Chair Roger Bergman said in statement he was impressed with the large number of folks who showed up to make their voices heard but was "very disappointed by the organized effort to bully and intimidate anyone who dared to speak in favor of a mask mandate in schools."
The sentiment is in refence to the public comment section of the meeting, when a handful of people spoke both for and against the mandate. Those who spoke in favor were booed and had to be escorted out of the crowd by sheriff’s office deputies.
The lobby outside the meeting was filled with people chanting, singing and praying, all in an effort to rally against the school mask mandate for pre-K through 6th grade.
Bergman continued to say that county-wide epidemic orders are rare and that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners does not have the power to overturn the mandate. Here is his full statement:
"I was impressed with the number of citizens who showed up yesterday to express themselves, but very disappointed by the organized effort to bully and intimidate anyone who dared to speak in favor of a mask mandate in schools. County-wide epidemic orders are extremely rare and typically generate intense controversy, which is why our state legislature has insured that those decisions are made by the county health officers exclusively. There is no question that the Board of Commissioners cannot make this decision and cannot reverse this decision. Legally, the Board cannot fire the health officer for making this decision nor can it use its power of the purse to bully her into rescinding the decision. There were some legitimate issues that the Board will ask the County's health officer to address such as the timing of her decision, the type of masks that will be available to children, and how students with legitimate medical reasons can more easily obtain exemptions. I wish to remind everyone that most of the students in the United States will be in school with masks, as they were last year. The temporary area local health orders this year only apply to K-6 and, unlike last year, will not apply outdoors. The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners sincerely hope that the order will expire during the fall semester by its own terms, that we can keep the schools open this year, and that we can return to complete normalcy by the spring semester."
During the meeting, Bergman said the mandate "has divided our community like no other issue in my lifetime."
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