Ottawa County meets again Tuesday. Here's what to expect after bombshell changes

WEST OLIVE — Led by an Ottawa Impact majority, the new Ottawa County Board of Commissioners wasted no time last week making broad, sweeping changes to how county government operates.

More:Ottawa County Board abruptly fires administrator, hires former GOP candidate John Gibbs

Several of the controversial changes, however, remain under scrutiny — including shifts in four high-profile positions, eliminating an entire department, incurring severance costs expected to total several hundred thousand dollars and prompting an investigation from the Michigan Attorney General's Office amid claims the commission violated the state's Open Meetings Act.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office didn't respond to a request for comment by publication deadline.

The board's next meeting is 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Ottawa County Fillmore Street Complex in WestOlive. Here's what to expect:

Administrator fired, former GOP candidate John Gibbs hired

Under state law, governmental bodies are required to post advance notice of meetings and make agendas — listing items the body plans to address, discuss or decide — available to the public for potential comment, but municipalities have their own rules about when items can be added last-minute.

Until now, Ottawa County required a two-thirds majority. That's been changed to a simple majority, allowing eight new members from the far-right Ottawa Impact organization to vote on a slew of major changes shortly after being sworn-in without providing public notice.

The most significant of those changes was the abrupt firing of County Administrator John Shay and the hiring of former Republican congressional candidate John Gibbs in his place.

Gibbs, who lives in Byron Center, is best known as the Donald Trump-backed candidate who defeated former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, in a narrow primary last August for Michigan's 3rd Congressional District.

Shay was made the official county administrator in March 2022 after serving as interim administrator for seven months after former longtime administrator Al Vanderberg left to become Kent County's administrator.

Per the three-year contract Shay signed with the county last year, his employment was set to run through May 23, 2025. The contract states that, in the event Shay is terminated without cause, he will receive 12 months of severance pay and 12 months of health insurance benefits. Shay’s base annual salary was $210,000, meaning the county still must pay him that amount, even though Gibbs will be added to the payroll.

Perhaps problematic is the manner in which Gibbs' hiring took place, which may have violated the county's own hiring practices. Because a county administrator is a publicly funded position, in all previous searches for that and similar positions, an application process has been conducted and interviews with candidates held publicly to ensure governmental transparency.

The county's own bylaws and human resources department describe a formal hiring process not followed Jan. 3. It's not clear if the board opened the application pool to candidates in addition to Gibbs. He wasn't formally interviewed, either, and terms of his contract weren't made available to the public.

The Sentinel has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain that information.

Gibbs attended the Jan. 3 meeting, indicating he had advanced knowledge of his inevitable hiring — a potential violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Michigan's Open Meetings Act (1976 PA 267, MCL 15.261) requires municipalities to hold public meetings if a quorum of the board is present. In addition, any decisions or discussions on matters that could pertain to a decision must be conducted in a public meeting — a rule possibly exploited when Ottawa Impact members communicated about decisions prior to being sworn-in.

Elimination of the DEI Office

Another significant shift included the dissolution of the county’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office.

The department, which had unanimous approval upon creation, launched in late 2018 to help local businesses attract a diverse pool of employees and to partner with local governments to help eliminate implicit bias in policies, procedures and practices.

More:Commissioners approve severance for DEI director ahead of Ottawa Impact takeover

Knowing the likelihood an Ottawa Impact-majority board would fire DEI Director Robyn Afrik, as candidates ran on the issue, the former board approved a three-month severance package in October. Afrik was hired in June 2019.

Part of the “contract” Ottawa Impact required all its endorsed candidates to sign stated they must support removing Ottawa County from the Government Alliance on Race and Equity and discontinuing promotions of things such as racial equity, privilege, oppression and implicit bias, which the group refers to as “divisive teachings.”

Afrik's severance agreement states, if she were terminated, she'd receive wage and benefit continuation for three months. Afrik's wages for three months total just over $25,000. Per the agreement, "termination" includes a direct firing or indirect firing through salary or benefit reduction, hostile work environment or elimination of funding for the position.

By agreeing to the severance, Afrik agreed not to sue the county if terminated. There is no "sunset clause" in the agreement, meaning it's valid indefinitely instead of through a specified date.

When the department was created, its estimated cost for the first five years was $630,000, with funding pulled from a combination of public, private and nonprofit contributions. According to the funding plan approved by commissioners, which accounted for fiscal years 2019-2024, the county was to contribute 57 percent of the cost, or $72,000 per year.

Replacing the county's new health officer

Reversing course in public health policy, the new board offered its health officer position to Nathaniel Kelly, of Hudsonville.

Kelly was most recently employed as the health and safety manager of a Wyoming-based HVAC company. He's not a medical doctor, nor does he hold any state licenses through the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

According to Michigan Administrative Code R. 325.13003, candidates under consideration for a county’s administrative health officer must hold the following qualifications:

• Have an M.P.H. or M.S.P.H. degree and three years of full-time public health administrative experience

• Have a related graduate degree and five years of full-time public health administrative experience

• Have a bachelor's degree and eight years of full-time public health experience, five years of which shall have been in the administration of a broad range of public health programs

According to his resume, Kelly has a Master of Science in Public Health degree from online school Columbia Southern University, based in Orange Beach, Alabama. His resume also says he has a Master of Science in Occupational Health, plus certificates in Environmental Management and Industrial Hygiene Management — all from Columbia Southern.

Prior to his most recent position, Kelly has approximately five years of experience as an occupational safety or health safety officer for West Michigan manufacturers, according to his LinkedIn page.

More:Ottawa County board picks internal candidate as new health officer

Kelly's hiring could also be problematic because the former board already offered the position to internal candidate Adeline Hambley in December. The state health department must approve county health officers, an approval Hambley already secured Dec. 20.

It's unclear if the state health department can review Kelly's eligibility; the board didn't fire Hambley, but named her the "interim" health officer at the Jan. 3 meeting until Kelly received state approval. Because Hambley currently occupies the position, there technically isn't a vacancy within the county for the state to review.

Lynn Sutfin, public information officer at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said the county would need to submit evidence of Kelly's qualifications, including his resume and transcripts.

"MDHHS reviews a candidate’s experience in public health altogether, and experience with management or administration of a broad range of public health programs," Sutfin said.

She confirmed the county has not sent any of the required evidence regarding Kelly's appointment to the state.

"MDHHS typically requires 30-day notice to review qualifications and credentials," Sutfin said. "At the time of this response (Jan. 9), MDHHS has not received any additional requests regarding appointment of a different health officer from Ottawa County."

Kelly has appeared in several videos on social media dating back as far as July 2021 where he called mask mandates "gaslighting" at a Hudsonville School Board meeting. He demanded an apology from the board to the public and said people of color were brought from third-world countries to the United States and that mask mandates were victimizing them.

Kelly also spoke publicly he would recommend treating COVID-19 positive cases by sending households a kit with vitamins and minerals, ivermectin and a neti pot. He also said he would recommend COVID-positive patients not to remain in their home or go to a hospital.

Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication for animals. It is approved for human use to treat infections caused by some parasitic worms and head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. The Federal Drug Administration has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals.

Kelly also does not support COVID-19 vaccines.

Similarly to the hiring of Gibbs, no public interviews took place before the board voted Kelly in as its new health officer. Kelly was also present Jan. 3 and spoke during public comment, thanking the board for the appointment, implying he knew in advance what the board intended to do, even though there'd been no public discussion beforehand.

Legal counsel fired, potential conflict of interest hired

The new board also fired longtime corporate legal counsel Doug Van Essen at its Jan. 3 meeting. It hired as new council Lansing-based Kallman Legal Group — best known for representing an Owosso barber when legal action was brought against him for operating his haircutting business during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic against statewide orders.

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Once again, the board didn't open up the bidding/application process to other firms to compete. And, perhaps more problematic, the two primary attorneys of Kallman Legal Group — David A. Kallman and Stephen P. Kallman — are related to board chair Joe Moss' business partner, Joel Kallman.

Joel Kallman is listed on LinkedIn as an employee or proprietor of Moss' three businesses: Freshphone, Eclarian and Afterburner. He's the nephew and cousin, respectively, of the lawyers at Kallman Legal Group.

Van Essen has since joined the Grand Rapids office of Butzel Long.

— Sarah Leach is editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarahleach@hollandsentinel.com. Find her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County meets again Tuesday. Here's what to expect after bombshell changes