OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County Administrator John Gibbs was absent from a board meeting Tuesday evening when commissioners stripped him of his hiring powers.
Despite not occupying a chair, Gibbs was the center of attention at the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting; being mentioned in public comment and being the subject of three motion votes.
The first such vote was to hire additional legal counsel to respond to a letter penned by Gibbs' attorney to the board in January. The motion passed unanimously to hire the services of Brook Bisonet and his firm.
Bisonet's bio says that "the primary focus of his litigation practice is representing clients in labor and employment disputes."
The contents of the letter were not discussed during the meeting, but the discussion of county employees being involved in ongoing litigation was brought up.
And while Gibbs was not named directly, it was implied that an age discrimination lawsuit against Gibbs was the subject of the discussion.
Just moments later a motion to implement a hiring and transfer freeze on Gibbs was put forth by commission chair Joe Moss.
The motion brought questions as to where Gibbs was and if he'd be attending the session.
"Is there a reason why he's not occupying his chair right now?," questioned Commissioner Jacob Bonnema.
"I don't know. But feel free to go, you know, leave the board meeting and go check if you'd like," Moss responded.
The motion then went to a vote, which passed with a vote of 10-1, with only Commissioner Doug Zylstra voting no.
Shortly after the vote, Bonnema did go looking for Gibbs.
"I just had multiple questions on this topic for administrator Gibbs. At your suggestion. I did walk back there I spoke to staff. Staff has not been aware of his made aware of his whereabouts. He's not in the building. Has not been in the building today. So I think we should table this until we can ask our questions, get some answers," Bonnema told Moss.
When asked for comment on Wednesday, Bonnema said in a statement to 13 ON YOUR SIDE:
"While it is the role of the entire commission to hire and manage the county administrator, I have not been involved in conversations regarding Mr. Gibbs."
The topic he was referring to was the next motion on the agenda, to approve up to $100,000 to hire a vendor to assist with the county's strategic plan.
A move to table the motion was made by Bonnema until Gibbs could answer questions about the motion.
Commissioner Roger Bergman also had an objection to the motion.
"In the past, our boards had a once-a-year strategic planning session that was led by the administrator who did it because it was his job. We did it that way because it worked. The administrator and the staff, in consultation with the board, worked very efficiently together," Bergman explained.
"Now the board is proposing that we hire someone, or should I say that the administrator is proposing that we hire someone, to do what he should do. Doing so will add $100,000 to our budget. For what? Isn't that John Gibbs' job? If so, why do we need Mr Gibbs at all?," Bergman questioned.
Commissioner Allison Miedema disagreed with Bergman and supported the hiring of a vendor.
"I think that's doing a disservice by just saying that by going outward and trying to get an outside vendor saying that we are thinking negatively of our staff. I don't I don't agree with that at all," Miedema said.
The move to table the motion then went to a vote where it failed.
After several more minutes of discussion the motion to approve the $100,000 passed by a vote of 6-5.
13 ON YOUR SIDE also reached out to Gibbs and Moss for comment, but we have not received a response at this time.
Gibbs never appeared at the meeting. You can watch the entire board meeting here:
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