Hearing for health officer’s removal to resume for day 6
OLIVE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The hearing for the removal of Ottawa County Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley is expected to resume this afternoon for its sixth day.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building in West Olive. It will stream live on woodtv.com.
The hearing started more than a month ago and has slogged on across several nonconsecutive days. County commissioners spent two of those days in closed session, negotiating with Hambley’s attorney about the possibility of a settlement to end her lawsuit against them and render the removal hearing moot.
Hearing over Ottawa County health officer’s $4 million settlement delayed
Hambley’s lawyer, Sarah Howard, has filed a motion asking a judge to force the county into a $4 million payout to her client. Howard argued she and her client believed the deal had been reached but that county leaders tried to back out because of negative backlash to details of the settlement that were published in the press. The county’s attorney David Kallman said nobody ever agreed to anything. He said emails that Howard pointed to as proof of a deal were tentative only and didn’t go to the board.
A hearing on the motion was supposed to happen Monday, but was delayed until next week because the judge needed time to review additional motions.
Ottawa health officer asks court to enforce $4 million settlement
Conservative county commissioners backed by political action committee Ottawa Impact have been trying to oust Hambley all year. They voted in their first meeting in January to remove her from her job and put her in an interim role. She sued, saying that was illegal. Commissioners countered that she was never properly appointed by their predecessors. The Michigan Court of Appeals finally ruled that Hambley was rightfully appointed, but also that the board could fire her if it could prove cause under state law.
A September document signed by Ottawa Impact co-founder and Commission Chair Joe Moss that prompted the removal hearing laid out a case for cause, alleging misconduct in the way she handled this year’s budgeting process.
The hearing got underway Oct. 24 and included two days of testimony in which Hambley’s lawyer tried to show her client simply wanted to ensure the Ottawa County Department of Public Health could operate properly. Hambley testified she went to the press with her concerns because she believed the general fund dollars to the agency would be limited to $2.5 million, which she said would cause it to close. Commissioners ultimately decided the health department would get about $4.8 million from the general fund. Its total allocation for the fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, was less than the previous year.
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Commissioners debated for a while after the second day of testimony, but held off voting. The following Monday, Oct. 30, they pushed the vote back another week. On Nov. 6, they spent hours in closed session before voting to accept their lawyer’s recommendations on “litigation and settlement activities.” Kallman told News 8 that motion was meant to indicate discussions would continue. On Nov. 14, the fifth day of the hearing, commissioners spent several more hours in closed-door negotiations before recessing again.
Hambley’s attorney’s motion to bind the board to the $4 million agreement was filed on Nov. 16. It says that under the settlement, Hambley would leave her position by Dec. 15 in exchange for $4 million. Deputy Health Officer Marcia Mansaray would resign in exchange for a severance of one year’s pay.
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