Ottawa County votes to 'develop new policy' for online comments

OTTAWA COUNTY — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners directed the county administrator and corporate counsel to develop new policy regarding online comments from the community.

More:Ottawa County remains a community divided in most recent board meeting

During a planning and policy committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 7, commissioners voted to form a policy on how to handle comments received online through the county website. Once created, the policy will be brought to the board’s rules committee for review.

A memo from County Administrator John Gibbs in the board packet from Tuesday’s meeting states the board began allowing online comments in late 2021. It says comments submitted this way are “distinct from public comments” because they are “not tied to a particular meeting.”

It goes on to say the manner of making these comments public is “different than that of standard public comments” at board meetings.

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said the current wording regarding online comments is confusing and wants to see better indication of what information — such as names and addresses — will be made public.

He said, going forward, that information should be clear to those submitting comments.

Between Jan. 3-9, more than 500 comments were submitted through the system. More than 300 of those were submitted Jan. 6, the same day Gibbs sent out his first email from his new position, which included a link to the comment portal.

Those comments, including names and municipalities of residence for the commenters, were initially available publicly, but were later taken down. They haven't been reposted by the county, but were obtained by the community through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Gibbs said during the board’s Jan. 10 meeting there was a “technical problem” with the comments document and it was being addressed. He said “many comments” were from before the listed time period and there were “a few privacy issues” to look at.

On Tuesday, commissioner Doug Zylstra attempted to amend the motion to see Gibbs and counsel form a policy with “the presupposition that public e-comments will be made public online.”

Several commissioners — including Joe Moss, Sylvia Rhodea and Gretchen Cosby — said they were voting no to allow corporate counsel and Gibbs the ability to “go through the process” of reviewing the policy.

The amendment failed by a 2-7 vote, with Zylstra and Rebekah Curran the only commissioners supporting the measure.

Curran said she supports the community having the ability to share what they think, and those thoughts should be made available.

“Regardless of how anyone feels, regardless of what their political ideation is, I think suppressing comments of any sort is not a great idea,” she said. “All of those people should have the ability to share what they think in a public forum. I think that is crucial to this republic and to the board.”

Gibbs said no comments are being suppressed and that's not being proposed. He said even if online comments aren’t posted publicly, they would still be sent to board members and administration.

Commissioners voice concerns about Campbell Power Plant

Later in the same meeting, some commissioners expressed concerns over the plan to close the Consumers Energy J.H. Campbell Generating Plant in Port Sheldon Township in 2025.

The plant is the power company's largest coal plant, with a nameplate capacity of 1,579 megawatts across its three units. It's also the largest taxpayer in Port Sheldon Township, accounting for 23 percent of the township’s tax base.

A proposal to close the plant in 2025, 15 years ahead of schedule, was approved by state regulators in June 2022. Closing the plant is part of Consumers' plans to transition away from fossil fuel-derived energy.

More:State regulators approve plan to close Port Sheldon power plant in 2025

Cosby, who represents Port Sheldon Township on the board, said she’s concerned about energy availability moving forward and that she’s against closing the plant.

“As I campaigned, and it’s my own personal concern as well, is energy security,” Cosby said. “We are going to a single source energy. I think right now, diversity of energy resources works well for us.

“I’m definitely not in favor of decommissioning this plant. My constituents were very concerned about this particular issue.”

Bonnema and Roger Belknap, who chairs the committee, said they'd spoken with a representative of Consumers, who expressed interest in having the board visit the plant in the near future.

Grant-funded mental health positions delayed

During a finance and administration meeting also held Tuesday, the committee voted to delay a vote approving eight grant-funded positions for Community Mental Health. The proposed positions would be funded through grants from Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (six) and Medicaid (two).

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Cosby, who chairs the finance committee, asked several questions of CMH Director Lynn Doyle, and said she'd vote no on approving the positions. Bonnema motioned to delay the vote so commissioners could have more time to review.

That motion passed, with Zylstra voting against it.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County votes to 'develop new policy' for online comments