OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — As Ottawa County commissioners prepare to hold a hearing on Oct. 23 on whether to remove County Health Officer Adeline Hambley, Hambley's lawyers made public over 500 pages of emails from the weeks and months leading up to the latest attempt to remove her from her post.
In them, the law firm representing Hambley released information they say was left out of Moss's charges when he moved to convene next week's hearing.
"The communication included in Moss' Notice of Termination Hearing is highly cherry-picked and incomplete," Hambley lawyers said in their response.
Moss gave notice of the charges late last month after the board voted to approve the new county budget. He alleged that Hambley had demonstrated incompetence when she went to the press and the public regarding the ongoing budget process.
In his notice, Board Chair Joseph Moss said "...Ms. Hamley is incompetent, engaged in misconduct and habitual or willful neglect of duty. Ms. Hambley cannot be depended upon to act professionally and in good faith in one of the most crucial duties of the Board of Commissioners, the budget process."
Hambley has asserted that she did so in order to inform the public as to how proposed cuts to the health department's budget could force the department to close its doors - actions she believes were in line with her duties as health officer.
Moss also claimed Hambley did not cooperate in the budget process and that she made false claims that she was not involved in the budget process.
The emails show Hambley and department leaders were in contact with the Fiscal Services Department, giving them information to craft a budget. However, after County Administrator John Gibbs tasked Fiscal Services with making that budget themselves, no emails released by Hambley's lawyers show health leaders having further involvement in deciding what the budget numbers proposed to commissioners would be.
"Fiscal Services personnel asked Hambley questions and provided her information as they were implementing Administrator Gibbs’ demands," Hambley's attorneys wrote. "While Fiscal Services provided Hambley with updates and information that Hambley sought out, this is distinctly different from being 'actively involved in the budget process' in any ordinary understanding of the process."
A lawsuit from Hambley remains ongoing as she fights to keep her position.
A Court of Appeals hearing on that litigation is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.
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