GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — The former head health officer of Ottawa County, now interim officer, has filed a lawsuit against several of the county commissioners involved in her demotion. Adeline Hambley also accuses commissioners, and newly hired County Administrator John Gibbs, with interfering in her ability to do her job.
Hambley has worked for Ottawa County for over 18 years.
She was demoted during a January 3 commission meeting, when the county's administrator and legal counsel were also replaced in an unexpected vote.
Commissioners and newly-appointed County Administrator John Gibbs indicated at the meeting that they wanted Nathaniel Kelly to replace her as the county's top health official.
Questions still remain over whether the commission has the power to replace Hambley.
In order for a county in Michigan to appoint a new health officer, they have to submit a resume to the state department of health and human services.
A spokesperson for MDHHS told FOX 17 on Monday that they have yet to receive anything from Ottawa County regarding Kelly.
In her lawsuit, Hambley argues her demotion to interim health officer has stripped her of the ability to make decisions essential to her position.
She says the demotion was a "constructive termination of her employment as the Health Officer for the County," and that her complete termination as an employee of the county is "imminent."
According to Michigan law, the position of Health Officer can not be terminated without just cause.
Hambley asserts in the lawsuit that her demotion was "philosophical and political", claiming the commissioners opposed "the exercise of many of the Health Officer's statutory powers under state law to initiate orders and other actions for protection of the public health."
The lawsuit says that commissioners and new county administrator John Gibbs interfered with her ability to do her job.
Hambley describes Gibbs' reaction after he learned that she had responded to a media request for comment regarding the county's involvement in sex ed-related events at Grand Valley State University.
An online publication made a post about the county health department's apparent involvement in the events, describing the GVSU events as "a series of raunchy lessons where students are being taught about polyamory, fetishes, and more."
Hambley alleges in the lawsuit that the county was not a "sponsor" of the event.
She claims that student organizers wanted to highlight that the events were taking place at the same time as the county's monthly Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) testing clinic.
When Gibbs found out about her comments to the media, she claims he was very upset, "reprimanded her for not obtaining prior approval from him to release a statement", and "ordered" that the statement be retracted.
She continues, saying Gibbs claimed her statement was "not truthful" and that there "would be consequences."
Hambley says she responded to him by saying she disagreed with retracting the statement and explained why she felt her statement was truthful.
She claims Gibbs responded by "accusing a Health Department employee of being involved with the GVSU student sexual health event and wanting an investigation conducted."
At this point, Hambley says she suggested that the employee may have gone on their own personal time.
Gibbs allegedly responded with, "I don't give a f—k if it was done in a personal capacity or not."
Hambley claims in the lawsuit that there have been multiple times where Gibbs and other commissioners have conveyed to her that she would "be required to name names, so to speak."
She is asking for the court to reinstate her as Health Officer, without the "interim" designation, and for them to define a set of criteria the county would need to meet in order to terminate her in the future.
She is also asking them to declare that Nathaniel Kelly is not the Health Officer for the county and that the county cannot appoint him to any position that would make him the "de facto Health Officer" for the county.
FOX 17 has reached out to the commissioners named in the lawsuit and John Gibbs for comment. We have yet to hear back.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Ottawa County's new pick for health officer made false COVID claims
