In contentious meeting, Ottawa County approves budget with health department cuts

OTTAWA COUNTY — After two months of meetings, debates and changes, a pre-meeting protest and more than three hours of public comment, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners approved its fiscal year 2024 budget just after midnight Wednesday.

The board voted 7-3 — with one commissioner abstaining — to approve the budget, nearly six hours into a meeting that started Tuesday, Sept. 26.

Board Chair Joe Moss, Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea and Commissioners Gretchen Cosby, Lucy Ebel, Kyle Terpstra, Roger Belknap and Allison Miedema voted “yes,” while Commissioners Doug Zylstra, Jacob Bonnema and Roger Bergman voted “no."

Prior to the vote, Curran asked Corporate Counsel Jack Jordan and County Administrator John Gibbs if the budget covered all legally required services. Jordan said the budget is “legally sound” and Gibbs replied: “My answer is yes.” Curran, despite saying she was “comfortable” with the budget, abstained.

The board also unanimously approved an early voting agreement between the county and local jurisdictions. Several amendments were made to the agreement, including a provision to require watermarked ballots.

County Clerk Justin Roebuck said he felt “very comfortable” with the agreement and felt confident the local jurisdictions would, as well. Roebuck said townships, villages and cities in the county have until the end of October to approve the now-amended agreement.

Meanwhile, the Ottawa County Department of Public Health remained at the center of budget discussions. A group of residents gathered before the meeting to protest the proposed budget for OCDPH, which includes several deep cuts.

During public comment, which saw about 80 speakers, more than 50 spoke in favor of restoring the OCDPH budget to the initial request made by the department in May. About a dozen said they supported the reductions made by the board.

Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley was one of several OCDPH employees to speak during public comment. She said she’s been “shut out” of budget discussions and claimed the board’s words don’t match the cuts they're proposing.

“I was shut out ... when I communicated the consequences of what you’ve proposed to do to health department funding,” Hambley said. “Now it's being stated by Administrator Gibbs and some commissioners that there will be ‘no cuts to children’s programs.’ This is untrue."

Hambley went on to say that, under the proposed budget, the health education program — which includes programming for children and families like Ottawa Food, the Ottawa County Suicide Prevention Coalition, Meet Up and Eat Up, migrant farm worker health and other safe homes and substance abuse prevention programs — is cut by nearly 50 percent.

"As there are very little operational costs in this program line, voting ‘yes’ on the current budget will likely result in layoffs of three filled positions in a department of six," Hambley said. “At a time when inflation is up and more than 20,000 additional Ottawa residents have signed up for Medicaid since 2019, this is not the time to cut programs that assist with healthy food access, suicide prevention and substance abuse disorders.

"No budget can sustain a 50 percent funding (cut) and maintain services and programs at existing levels."

Zylstra, the board's lone Democrat, again offered a series of amendments to the budget, most related to OCDPH. They included amendments to:

• cancel the elimination of a pair of grants being used to fund an epidemiologist position

• fund communicable disease, immunization and sexually transmitted disease programs with general fund dollars instead of a state block grant

• fund a third epidemiologist position with a general fund transfer (to meet state-mandated levels)

• move $300,000 from the general fund to the health education line item budget (to fund Ottawa Food)

• move $200,000 from the general fund to the health education budget, specifically earmarked for Ottawa Food

• remove funding from the budget for the Ottawa Way newsletter

Each of the amendments failed. Bergman voted in favor of all, Bonnema supported four and Curran voted “yes” on the Ottawa Food-specific motion. Moss, Rhodea, Cosby, Ebel, Terpstra, Belknap and Miedema voted “no” to all.

Gibbs said funding for a third epidemiologist, which has been a source of confusion, is, in fact, in the budget. He said the position would be funded by “savings” the county will see by not accepting COVID-era grants.

Several commissioners asked for more information, including where specifically the funding is marked. Gibbs and Moss didn't elaborate.

Commissioners who supported the budget frequently referenced the county’s contingency fund — approved at over $1 million — arguing funds could be be drawn from that pool if needs arise.

Several speakers and commissioners spoke about Ottawa Food, one of many programs funded under health education. In the budget, health education and nutrition and wellness are combined — but the funding allotted, OCDPH officials said, isn't enough for both items.

Gibbs said “never once has anyone asked Ottawa Food to be cut." He’s previously said any cuts within the budget area would be a “programmatic decision.”

“I would not like the health department to cut this program," Moss said. "I don’t think anyone does.”

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Hambley released a statement Wednesday refuting several of the claims made by Gibbs and OI commissioners. She says assertions that programs like Ottawa Food and the county’s third epidemiologist position are fully funded simply aren't true.

“The county is not fully funding Ottawa Food (and other programs),” Hambley wrote. “It is using (state) block grant funds earmarked for the chronic underfunding of local public health to 'fully fund’ the communicable disease, immunizations, and STD programs. Ottawa Food is not fully funded because the health education and nutrition/wellness budgets were cut by 48 percent.”

She said the epidemiologist position is also funded through a block grant, the amount of which won’t be known for “several more weeks."

Hambley added she feels the cuts are “unlawful retaliation” against her and the OCDPH.

“I remain frustrated that other county departments are not being required to make cuts of any kind and are being funded with inflation and cost of living in mind,” Hambley wrote. “Although this approval was expected, I remain steadfast in my belief that these actions represent unlawful retaliation against me and the department.

“Our task now will be to identify exactly how these cuts will be passed along to Ottawa County residents. What is certain is that these reductions will affect the most marginalized in the community by eliminating necessary programs and resources.”

Several commissioners read prepared statements before the vote.

Bergman called the process a “Magical Mystery Tour,” in reference to a song by The Beatles.

“Some of us on this commission, as well as most of the public, have witnessed different numbers being pulled out of a hat as if by magic,” he said. “The mystery was that none of us knew where the numbers were going to be pulled from next. The tour was the past three months of changes on a weekly, as well as sometimes daily, basis.”

Cosby thanked the public for their input and said “we’ve been challenging the status quo together." She said the budget “sets the stage” for an “equitable future for all of us.”

“We don’t want to rely on outdated practices or assumptions,” Cosby said. “By embarking on this journey of financial introspection and public engagement, we’ve aimed to create a budget that reflects the collective will of our community.”

Zylstra wrote in a statement the budget is a “disservice” to residents who rely on health services.

“In a time of solid revenue growth, the idea that we would be defunding public health by more than $4 million dollars is a disservice to current residents who count on those services and an unnecessary disinvestment that, if not remedied, will affect the health of Ottawa County residents and have repercussions for the community for years to come,” he wrote.

Bonnema said, while he agreed with the direction of returning OCDPH to pre-COVID levels of funding, the proposed cuts “reek of revenge politics.”

“The people elected us to listen," he said. "They have clearly spoken that these cuts are too deep. And without performing a proper impact study, it’s also reckless and irresponsible.”

Moss several times told Bonnema he was out of order during discussions. At one point, Bonnema requested that Moss not characterize other’s thoughts as “silly." Moss said, “You are not recognized to criticize the chair."

The county’s fiscal year begins Sunday, Oct. 1.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: In contentious meeting, Ottawa County approves budget with health department cuts