Has it only been 8 months of OI?

Has it only been 8 months of OI?

Ottawa County residents have long taken good governance for granted. We’re accustomed to transparency, equity, efficiency, and accountability from our county commission. Enter Ottawa Impact and their Christian Nationalistic Contract with Ottawa, and we now find ourselves living a master class in government malfeasance.

Joe Moss and the OI majority are playing a toxic game of dominos. Each toppled domino triggers more damage:

• Their abrupt dismissal of a respected county administrator and hiring of John Gibbs, an inept manager with no county government experience, have caused an exodus of experienced employees and abysmal morale among those remaining.

• Their demotion and micromanagement of Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley and attempts to appoint anti-masker Nathaniel Kelly have spurred ongoing litigation on the taxpayers' dime.

• Their replacement of corporate counsel Doug Van Essen with Moss-allied Kallman Group brought fiscal repercussions, drawing $110,000 from our contingency fund as Kallman consistently exceeds its budget.

• Lawsuits and severance packages have reduced our contingency fund from $750,000 to $36,000 in just seven months.

• And now the OI majority and Gibbs are embroiled in a crisis fueled by revenge politics over pandemic mandates. They demanded Ms. Hambley cut general fund contributions to the Public Health Operational Fund by 63% with two days’ notice and discontinue all COVID-related grants.

These irresponsible actions will cut deeply into state-mandated services to residents, particularly the underserved. When Ms. Hambley shared the long-term moral, fiscal, legal and health risks, Moss and Gibbs quickly shut down her access to the department’s social media accounts. Our health department can no longer communicate directly with the community in a public health emergency. This is unprecedented and unacceptable.

We stand firmly with OCDPH and firmly against OI’s mismanagement of Ottawa County. We urge the community to do the same.

Diane Kennedy

Secretary, Progressive Lakeshore

There is no such thing as 'pre-COVID' in a post-COVID world

Much of Joe Moss’ communications recently regarding the Ottawa County Department of Health budget use words like “pre-COVID” and “back to normal.”

It’s no secret he’s salty about the mask mandate and blah, blah, blah. But now I see it. He wants to pretend that COVID-19 never existed at all. And a surprising number of people believe that it didn’t (a topic for another time).

But we can’t do that. COVID drew a line in history like many other events in history: Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam Conflict, 9/11, COVID-19. We will never go back to “pre-9/11,” so why should we expect to go back to “pre-COVID”? 9/11 spawned an entirely new permanent federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration, with a current $9.7 billion budget.

Now that there are vaccines available, hospitals are not overwhelmed and people are not dying by the thousands every day; the emergency is over, I can agree to that. But COVID-19 still exists. Two of my family members had it this month. People still have questions about it. Education still needs to be provided about it. Just like the flu or shingles or hepatitis. It is a thing that exists.

So either Joe Moss is a Q-based denier or he’s using the budget cuts as a personal vendetta. Maybe both. But he doesn’t get to decide what “public health” means ... it is what it is: Keeping people healthy and protecting us from whatever nature decides to throw at us.

Melanie Scholten

Park Township

Moss leaves out several inconvenient truths

In recent public statements, Ottawa County Commissioner Joe Moss has made several claims about the health department's budget. However, he has left out some important context, which is not fair to voters who want to be informed. Here is additional context from my perspective of watching this board’s actions.

Claim 1: Moss claims cutting the health department's budget could save taxpayers over $4 million. This is misleading. We would not see a reduction in taxes. The money is proposed to go into the county’s contingency funds, where the board would have full control over how it gets spent. Furthermore, fees for some services may increase.

Claim 2: Moss reminds citizens the health department has a current fund balance of $3 million, however, $1.7 million is earmarked for specific programs. The remainder is set aside for unexpected events. The board is proposing to use the emergency portion to fund the health department in FY24, but they have not explained how the county would pay for unexpected emergencies. Past events they have responded to include: PFAS in an elementary school, bird flu outbreaks impacting farmers, food-borne illnesses at restaurants, a chemical leak in downtown Zeeland …

Claim 3: Moss claims Hambley "refuses to participate in a normal operating budget process." However, Administrator John Gibbs has changed the budgeting process, and Hambley was given two days to present a budget with a 60% reduction. The health department has now been cut out of the budget process altogether.

These are just a few facts Moss has left out of his public statements. I urge you to stay informed and contact your county commissioners to let them know what you think of the proposed budget for FY24.

Adrea Hill

Holland Township

None of Ottawa Impact's decisions are normal

When are we going to stop thinking the actions of the Ottawa Board of Commissioners are normal? As I see it, there have been no substantive issues dealt with affecting their constituents. All I read about are stories of petty infighting among board members who are acting like a group of petulant children who are mad because someone made them wear a mask during a global pandemic.

They arbitrarily eliminated the DEI department with no public input so much for transparency. Now they want to defund the health department because the director dared to challenge their authority. And who will suffer as a result? Those already marginalized residents of Ottawa County, that’s who. I know there are groups organized for the purpose of pushing back but we are on the proverbial slippery slope here.

Donald Inman

Holland

Meerman's support of OI extremely disappointing

Dear Rep. Meerman,

I cannot adequately express how disappointed I was upon reading your letter. It failed to justify the revenge Ottawa County commissioners are imposing upon the Ottawa County Health Department. If you believe their rationale is fiscal responsibility and not vengeance, you need to do some homework. Perhaps you have not noticed the chaos that has reigned in our county since they took office Jan. 3.

When the board had almost burned through the nearly $800,000 contingency fund in little more than six months, where was your concern about the county’s financial health? Where were you when they hired incompetent people for county positions based only upon extreme political beliefs, when they then approved adding positions not previously needed because those they hired were not qualified?

They fired competent, long-serving administrators, only to have other municipalities profit from our losses when they promptly snatched them away from us. Where will you be when it comes time to clean up the mess, to find qualified, experienced individuals to rectify the shortage of competent staff who continue to leave rather than work in a county ruled by these incompetent, dictatorial commissioners?

Perhaps you believe you are representing the best interests of the citizens of Ottawa County, but you are not. There are sane, normal Republicans as well as Democrats who are working to see that their tenure will end next year. It is time for you to become better informed as to the mess they have made, especially embarrassing Ottawa County residents on the national stage.

Because in January 2025, they will be leaving office — and your constituents — with a county government that is a veritable empty shell of what it once was, and without the wonderful county leadership we used to have. What responsibility will you bear, if you continue to support these incompetent tyrants?

Gail Perna

Allendale

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Has it only been 8 months of OI?