OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — After almost three hours of public comment Tuesday evening, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners voted 6-5 passing a motion that revises the hiring of health officer Adeline Hambley.
According to the county's meeting agenda, the written resolution that hired Hambley in December did not reflect that meeting's minutes, saying:
"... It improperly omitted the first contingency that Adeline Hambley will only be appointed as Ottawa County Administrative Health Officer “contingent upon 1) approval by the Board of Commissioners…”
The board's attorney said the December resolution, which was passed before a new Board of Commissioners took over in January, was not written accurately and Tuesday night's motion was simply to correct that error. The new board contends the hiring of Hambley never got approval by the Board of Commissioners, as required by law.
But some commissioners, including Roger Bergman and Doug Zylstra, spoke out against the motion saying no error was made in the resolution and the county is trying to rewrite history.
Bergman says the resolution in December was meant to be approval from the Board of Commissioners to hire Hambley, and they never intended to hold another vote.
Controversy involving the board and the health officer position came when the new board of county commissioners voted on Jan. 3 that they would make Hambley the Interim Health Officer while they worked to hire Nathaniel Kelly for that position. Kelly has been an outspoken critic of pandemic safety measures like masking and social distancing.
The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners says Kelly has two degrees from Columbia Southern University. They also say he has full-time experience in management and administrative work as well as experience in public health and safety. However, Kelly's paperwork still has not been submitted to the state.
According to the Pleune Service Company's website, Kelly is a safety manager for the company which specializes in HVAC and electrical services.
Some who spoke during Tuesday night's meeting said that Hambley has all of the right qualifications for the job.
"I learned a long time ago that certain positions require extensive experience in addition to appropriate educational credentials. Ms. Hambley has both of those," said an Ottawa County resident in support of Hambley.
Others thought that Kelly would be a good change for the county.
"I am here in favor of Nathan Kelly as the health director for Ottawa County," said a county resident. "We need someone who can think outside of the political box with truth and righteousness."
Hambley has filed a lawsuit against Ottawa County and seven out of the eight new commissioners who took office in January. The lawsuit states "the demotion of Hambley to 'Interim' Health officer was a constructive termination of her employment as the Health Officer for the County." The lawsuit asks a judge to remove the "Interim" designation, and award Hambley an unspecified amount of punitive damages.
The full lawsuit can be seen here:
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