OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County hired its second interim county administrator on Wednesday night.
The Board of Commissioners voted 6-5 to appoint Deputy County Administrator Ben Wetmore to the role.
That same majority granted Wetmore power to hire and fire county employees.
"The Interim County Administrator shall direct the operations and supervise the performance of all County departments and department heads, and is the final authority for decisions related to employee behavior, discipline, selection, appointment, removal, and policy enforcement," according to the county documents.
This section differs from what the county has in the "Essential Job Functions" as the county searches for a permanent administrator.
"The County Administrator shall supervise the operations and performance of all County departments and department heads, except corporate counsel and elected officials and their officers, and, with the approval of the Board, appoint and remove all heads of departments, other than elected officials," according to the county job description.
This is an issue that Commissioner Doug Zylstra motioned to have removed but was voted down.
"The resolution gives the interim too much power. None of our permanent administrators have had that much control. All of our previous administrators had board oversight as part of the equation," Commissioner Doug Zylstra said.
According to emails obtained by FOX 17, Wetmore is trying to make key hires for the county, specifically the director of human resources and the public defender.
"I think we're going to have a busy time, and we've got a lot of great employees; we've got a lot of great commissioners, and we've got a great county," Wetmore said.
Wetmore is taking over for the previous interim county administrator, Jon Anderson. Anderson, who served on the role for several months, recently resigned. The board offered him a part-time role, which he accepted. However, not long after that, Anderson resigned for a second time.
County Chairperson and Ottawa Impact member Joe Moss was one of the six who approved of offering Wetmore the position.
"He has fulfilled every single task he's been asked to do. He's a loyal and valued employee. We really appreciate him working for Ottawa County," Moss added.
Many in the public and five Ottawa County commissioners have an issue with the hire.
"We need somebody that our employees want to follow. They do not want to follow Mr. Wetmore," Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said.
"He has been publicly associated with multiple events in which people attempted to publicly trick or embarrass others for personal gain while surreptitiously filming them," District 8 county commissioner candidate Becky Patrick said.
Bonnema also expressed a lack of trust in the county board’s majority decisions these past two years.
"It holds a lot of power and demands a lot of trust Mr. Wetmore, you have access to people's personal information. A lot of private content. A lot of people don't trust you to have access to it," Bonnema said.
Wetmore was hired by the previous county administrator, John Gibbs. Gibbs, hired by a board majority, was fired after a year on the job.
The county looked for an interim, and Wetmore’s name was on the list. In a public vote, no commissioners voted for him. Instead, they voted 5-4 to have Anderson for the role. The four other votes were for the current county finance director.
"I didn't write the resolution, so I don't know why [Karen's] name wasn't part of that. All I know is that the only name present was Ben Whitmore," Zylstra said.
Wetmore is also Project Veritas Board president, which is a conservative media organization.
It’s known for "hidden camera stings" targeting traditional news outlets and Democratic politicians, according to the Associated Press.
"I think it's because people don't trust journalists. And there's probably good reasons they don't trust journalists because it's not fair and accurate news all the time," Wetmore said.
Moss described Wetmore as the right person as the county is looking for a permanent candidate.
"This is a non-controversial thing. We have a deputy administrator who's going to perform an interim task and go back to deputy," Moss said.
Meanwhile, the county is looking to hire a permanent county administrator. Commissioners are considering bringing in an outside company to help with recruiting.
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