OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners is moving forward with a plan to hire a new county administrator after the board fired administrator John Gibbs in February.
John Gibbs previously ran for Congress and lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten. He then took over the county administrator role in January 2023. He was only the county administrator for about a year.
The board accused Gibbs of committing "gross misconduct and being dishonest." Gibbs denied those accusations, calling them "false" and "defamatory." He has since filed a lawsuit against the county.
After an hours-long meeting Tuesday, the Board of Commissioners voted in favor of creating a committee to begin the process of hiring a new administrator.
The committee only includes commissioners backed by the controversial group Ottawa Impact, including Chairman Joe Moss, Sylvia Rhodea, Gretchen Cosby, Allison Miedema and Roger Belknap.
"I don't expect a simple thing like being able to participate on this five-member all-Ottawa Impact commission board. That's like asking a leopard to change its spots. You're not going to do that," said Commissioner Jacob Bonnema. "What I'm asking for is to be able to at least see the process taking place as a commissioner. And not just me, but all commissioners have access to see that process take place."
Despite the contention, the resolution to form this Executive Transition Committee did pass with a 6 to 4 vote.
Two members of the committee are running for re-election, but they will not be on your November ballots. Both Roger Belknap and Gretchen Cosby lost their re-election bids to Republican challengers during the August primary.
They have filed to be write-in candidates.
Since March, Jon Anderson has been filling in as the interim administrator. He was expected to step down next week, but Tuesday's resolution extended his employment with Ottawa County through Dec. 31.
