Hambley: Newly proposed budget is better, but nowhere near enough
OTTAWA COUNTY — Health Officer Adeline Hambley says her department's proposed annual budget — that she didn’t help create — is larger than first suggested by Ottawa County Board Chair Joe Moss, but deep cuts to individual programs will still put services at risk.
Hambley is locked in litigation with the board as Moss and his handpicked administrator John Gibbs attempt to cut as much funding from the health department as the state will allow.
She sued commissioners in February, claiming the board's OI majority repeatedly interfered with her ability to do her job and overreached their authority by attempting to limit her state-authorized health duties.
More: Hambley fears board could attempt to fire her Tuesday, asks courts to step in
Last week, Hambley asked the Michigan Court of Appeals to intervene, saying Moss and Gibbs appeared to be making a strategic, albeit rushed, case to legally fire her. Gibbs ordered Hambley to attend Tuesday's finance and administration committee meeting, although he didn't say why.
The COA has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 11. Just after the finance meeting concluded, the COA issued an order denying Hambley's request, saying the request was already considered earlier. However, the court added, "All the parties are cautioned ... that they proceed at their own peril if they take substantial actions before this court hears oral arguments on Oct. 11, 2023, and subsequently issues an opinion resolving the issues presented in defendants' application for leave to appeal."
Hambley's attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, wrote in her filing to the court that Moss and Gibbs committed “new unlawful acts of retaliation,” including locking Hambley and her staff out of the health department’s social media accounts and cutting them out of the budget process, which is expected to be finalized later this month.
On Tuesday morning, David Kallman of Kallman Legal Group responded to Hambley's filing, saying he needed more time to respond and calling Hambley's new claim "meritless."
"We were served with this motion at 3:58 p.m. last Friday afternoon before the Labor Day weekend," Kallman wrote to the court clerk. "We have not even been given two business hours to respond to this frivolous, second attempt at the same motion previously denied by the court. Appellee’s ridiculous fears are completely unfounded as she is not being terminated from her job today as she falsely claims."
During Tuesday’s meeting, Gibbs provided an overview of the new proposed budget. A copy of the budget was not included in the meeting packet, nor was it provided to commissioners, according to Commissioner Doug Zylstra.
Zylstra said it was “lamentable” that the information was not provided and asked Gibbs when commissioners would see the budget. Gibbs declined to provide a specific date, only saying that commissioners would receive the budget “with time to review.”
Commissioners asked several questions of Hambley, but Chair Gretchen Cosby first swore Hambley in to give testimony under oath. Zylstra questioned the process, but Cosby cited Michigan law, claiming the board can have a department head give a report under oath.
Following a handful of questions, Howard, present at the meeting, asked for a recess to speak with Hambley about providing testimony under oath, as neither was aware that would be requested prior to the meeting.
During the questioning, Moss said that “by no means” had any budgets been finalized in recent weeks. Hambley responded by saying: “That’s good to hear, because it has not felt or seemed like a discussion to this point.”
Gibbs reported Tuesday the new proposed budget is a 22 percent increase in comparison to the 2019 budget, the last prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the initial budget from the health department was 53 percent higher than 2019.
In comparison to this year's budget, the new proposal is down about 9 percent, Gibbs said.
Gibbs said Ottawa County’s inflation rate is lower than the 22 percent budget increase and said the county’s population has grown 4.5 percent since 2019, referencing arguments that cutting the budget to 2019 levels doesn’t account for inflation and population growth.
Moss asked Hambley if she was aware of several pieces of this year’s budget timeline and process. He then asked why, in a thread about budget cuts posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the department tagged organizations such as MDHHS, the Michigan Attorney General and NACCHO.
After counseling with Howard, Hambley said those organizations have an interest in the department’s funding. Moss asked what Hambley was looking for those organizations to do, to which Hambley said she wanted them to be aware of the situation.
Cosby mentioned a previous request for information on employees, program usage and visits that she claims she didn’t receive. Cosby said she requested that information in order to “defend the public health department.”
Hambley said she couldn’t provide the information in a timely manner because the budget cut requests received by Gibbs took priority.
Cosby also asked Hambley about statements provided to media outlets, including local TV affiliate FOX-17 and The Sentinel. She didn't indicate why she was asking, but had printed versions of articles submitted to the clerk for the record.
Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said he’s had several meetings with Hambley since being elected to discuss health department business and asked Hambley if other commissioners have done the same.
Hambley said she's offered, but none have come to visit the department.
“I think that speaks for itself,” Bonnema said.
There were no votes taken on the proposed health department budget during Tuesday’s meeting.
Tuesday was the culmination of a series of bizarre events between Hambley, Gibbs and Moss, who leads Ottawa Impact, a far-right fundamentalist group he created with now-Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea after they unsuccessfully challenged the previous board and county health officer over COVID-19 mitigation mandates in 2020 and 2021.
Hambley said in a Tuesday statement that, although the total general fund allocation from the county has increased over the past two weeks from Moss’ original target of $2.5 million — it’s now at $4.356 million — it's still a significant cut to the original $6.4 million budget Hambley proposed in May, which would've kept the budget at the same level as this year.
In the latest manifestation, 13 of 16 department programs would see their budgets cut — some by more than half, which Hambley said would “continue to put all public health services at risk.”
“To be clear, these proposed cuts reduce services to the most vulnerable residents in Ottawa County, including women and children, at a time when the county is collecting record tax revenue,” Hambley wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Among the programs slated to be cut:
Immunizations from $248,543 to $65,600*
Sexually transmitted disease prevention and treatment from $168,091 to $74,646*
Communicable disease control from $888,606 to $440,531*
Family planning from $712,774 to $455,292*
Health education, including state-mandated programs like suicide prevention, substance use disorder prevention, and food assistance, from $778,234 to $385,090*
Miles of Smiles dental assistance from $534,867 to $391,231
Medicaid outreach from $368,632 to 279,057
Mandated public health emergency preparedness and environmental health services*
* = essential local public health service or other state-mandated service
“These programs make our residents healthier and save money in the long run,” Hambley said. “In addition, the community at large is at increased risk because of reductions to basic disease prevention programs such as immunization services; communicable disease investigation, surveillance, and prevention; and sexually transmitted disease testing and prevention.”
Hambley said Gibbs and Moss continue not to recognize minimum standards.
The “maintenance of effort,” or federal regulations governing grant programs, stipulate the state or locality receiving a grant must maintain or contribute a certain level of financial effort in a specified area, which cannot include administrative costs, which totaled over $1.5 million last year.
In the 1992-93 fiscal year, Michigan set that funding level for health departments at $2,039,774. The county, in the proposed budget released today, has raised that amount to $2,040,000 — $226 above the minimal funding requirements set by the state.
More: Hambley: State consequences loom as Gibbs orders cuts
Hambley, however, said that isn’t the only consideration, as minimum service level requirements also need to be met for the county to comply with state law and receive funding from the state. She says the current budget could mean state intervention.
The state has the authority to take control of a local health department, under certain circumstances. That could mean combining Ottawa County's department with a neighboring county, such as Kent County, or taking over delivery of services directly.
Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told The Sentinel in February public health code authorizes MDHHS to step in.
"This has happened in limited instances in the past," she said. "These actions have been to add to local health department capacity and to support the ongoing provision of services."
Subscribe: Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage
Hambley also noted the insistence from Moss and Gibbs the health department eliminate all COVID-19-related grants, which accounted for $2.2 million in funding. Hambley said by removing any reference to the pandemic, Ottawa County taxpayers will be charged a total of $425,762 in services using general fund dollars instead of funding from grants that've been covering those expenses.
— Sarah Leach is executive editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her atsarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter@SentinelLeach.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hambley: Newly proposed budget is better, but nowhere near enough
