Residents share concerns on executive aide hire

OTTAWA COUNTY — In the first Ottawa County board meeting since reports of Jordan Epperson’s hire as senior executive aide to county administrator John Gibbs, residents took to public comment to share their thoughts on the hire.

Nine people spoke during public comment during a meeting of the board’s talent and recruitment committee Tuesday, Aug. 15. Six shared concerns with Epperson’s hire and asked commissioners to intervene, while three shared their support for the hire.

Gibbs informed commissioners Aug. 8 that the position of senior executive aide, which was narrowly approved by the board in March, had been filled. He declined to share the hire’s name during the meeting to avoid “a public spectacle.”

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Sources later confirmed to The Sentinel that Epperson, 23, had been hired for the role.

Those speaking against Epperson’s hire mentioned concerns with posts on Epperson’s now-deleted Twitter account and that his credentials don’t meet requirements outlined in the job posting.

According to the job description posted by the county, requirements included a Master in Business Administration and two years of experience serving on a major board, among others. Of the five mandatory criteria listed, Epperson has one — a bachelor's degree.

“(Epperson) does not appear to meet the selection criteria,” Rebecca Patrick said. “The most obvious and important one being a master’s degree, since it was listed first on the position specs Mr. Gibbs developed and the board of commissioners approved.”

Epperson made his Facebook account private and deleted his Twitter account just days after his hiring was reported, but not before dozens of screenshots of his previous social media posts had been captured, including several controversial comments about women and immigrants, among other topics.

“From what I’ve seen of the social media posts attributed to Mr. Epperson, I believe each of you as county commissioners should be concerned about his fittedness for this position,” Karen Obits said. “At minimum, the content and tone of the posts I’ve seen indicate that Mr. Epperson lacks the maturity and circumspection required for the position.”

Others shared they were “dismayed” at the hire and urged the board to request Gibbs withdraw the job offer.

David Morren spoke in support of the hire, saying the choice is for Gibbs to make and that it will be “a great improvement” to have someone who wants to work with Gibbs and the board.

“Bottom line is Mr. Gibbs is the administrator, Mr. Gibbs has chosen this individual to be his man,” Morren said. “It’s always better to have somebody on your side that you can trust than somebody you know has a knife and they’re willing to stab it in your back.”

Theresa White said she’s excited about the hire and she likes “that he’s younger and (I) just like to see the change going forward.”

Following public comment, Commissioner Doug Zylstra made a motion to add a closed session to discuss Epperson’s hiring to the meeting’s agenda. The motion was not supported by another commissioner and therefore died without a vote.

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At the end of the meeting, committee Chair Allison Miedema shared why she chose not to include discussion on the hire at the meeting. She said the committee has been used to recommend appointments for various boards and committees, not to review county hires.

“I took the time to go back through meeting minutes of talent and recruitment since 2019,” Miedema said. “From all the meeting minutes I looked back on, this committee has never been used in routine hiring decisions in those four years, nor has it been used for discussing a county hire. This particular position is a county hire.

“Respectfully, those are the reasons I was not discussing it further in our talent and recruitment committee today.”

Epperson is expected to begin in his role Monday, Aug. 21, Gibbs said during the board’s Aug. 8 meeting.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Residents share concerns on executive aide hire