OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners held their first meeting Tuesday since its Jan. 3 meeting in which major shake ups in county government took place and concerns over public transparency arose from some residents.
After replacing multiple top officials last week without notifying the public through its agenda before the meeting, members moved on to business this week, including county contracts.
One of those contracts was with the Board's incoming corporate counsel, Kallman Legal Group.
The majority-Republican Board voted six to five during the meeting to authorize the legal services agreement with the firm, officially contracting its services.
The group was tapped for the role last week and has been at the forefront of several high-profile legal battles in recent years, including on issues like public health mandates during COVID-19 as well as on religious liberty.
Members of the Board who voted against the move, including Republican Rebekah Curran who was endorsed during her election by the conservative political action group Ottawa Impact, said they believed the process wasn't transparent enough.
"I ran on a conservative platform," Curran said. "I want to fulfill every one of my campaign promises and I absolutely would. But, I believe that how we make decisions is as important as what decisions we're making. I don't feel like this process was an open process. It wasn't open to myself and it wasn't open to the public – and that's part of good governance."
Commissioners also addressed the events of its meeting on Jan. 3, in which several top officials were replaced and the county motto was altered from "Where You Belong" to "Where Freedom Rings."
Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea stood by the Board's decisions, believing they should not be cause for concern.
"Nobody is being excluded here in Ottawa County by these recent moves," Rhodea said. "We're simply changing the focus to focusing on freedom instead of focusing on critical race theory."
After the Board also dissolved the County's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department last week, Rhodea said it was not the government's role to foster such entities.
"It's not the place of the local government to change the ideology of its people," Rhodea said. "It simply does not belong in local government. And so, if our businesses feel that that ideology is important to them, they're welcome to pursue it through their own business departments but it does not have a place in government."
New Ottawa County Administrator John Gibbs, appointed during last week's meeting, dismissed claims that his appointment and others were abrupt or unusual.
"This kind of thing is not unusual," Gibbs said. "It happens in politics fairly frequently. When a new board gets elected, they pick new leaders. That's something that happens all the time all around the country. I understand that's a bit shocking and a bit jarring to folks who are not really looking at the political process but it's not something that's totally out of the ordinary."
Actions taken by the Board remain under review from Attorney General Dana Nessel as to whether they violated the Open Meetings Act.
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