OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — It was a packed house at Ottawa County's Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday night.
Crowds and controversy largely honed in on two agenda items.
The first was the invocation for the night, which was given by the Satanic Temple of West Michigan.
"Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of one or of all," the temple's representative said during the invocation.
Toward the beginning of the year, the board put in place a new rule that allowed individuals to give the invocation at the start of a meeting if they followed the process of signing up to do so via their local commissioner.
Among roughly 50 people who spoke during the first round of public comment, some pushed back against allowing the temple to give Tuesday's invocation.
"You have, out of respect for a flawed custom of men, allowed worship not only to a false idol of man's creation, but to the greatest enemy of the all-good God, who has allowed you to fill these positions," one commenter told commissioners.
Others believed it was right to allow them to do so.
"The debate of freedom of religion aside, this issue illustrates the inclusion of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which gives this man the right to speak," Donna Mooney of Georgetown Township said, referring to the temple's representative. "While I might not like what he has to say, or I might find his speech to be hateful, barring any threats of harm or violence against others, I will defend his right to say it."
On top of this was a resolution regarding abortion, labeled the "Resolution to Promote Life."
While the resolution included in the public packet in the days leading up to the meeting sought to bar county resources and employees from providing abortions or transportation to abortions, the resolution language read by Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea was different.
Where such a prohibition was in the initial packet language, Rhodea instead read that "county staff and resources support women who make a choice for life for their preborn children and for counseling through existing resources throughout the county."
"And be it further resolved the board recognizes that the Ottawa County Department of Public Health does not provide abortions or transportation to abortion services, and the board encourages this practice to continue," Rhodea also read from the amended language.
Sometime Tuesday, the public packet on the county's website was updated to reflect the amended language which Rhodea was reading.
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