OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Only minutes after being sworn in, the new Ottawa County Board of Commissioners made several consequential and controversial changes, including the ouster of their current county administrator, replacing him with conservative third district congressional candidate John Gibbs.
Gibbs, who lives in Kent County, lost his race to Hillary Scholten in November by 13-points. Only a small portion of the third district includes Ottawa County.
That vote to elevate Gibbs to county administrator was 6-3 on a motion that wasn’t even listed on the official agenda. The motion and vote came immediately after the 11-person board saw eight new members sworn in on Tuesday, most affiliated with the far-right conservative group Ottawa Impact.
Ottawa Impact, which says on their website that they’re committed to “defending the constitutionally protected rights of parents” and a “the nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage” railed against public COVID health mandates and diversity efforts in the fastest growing county in West Michigan.
Minutes after a new slate of commissioners were sworn in, Commissioner & Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea (R) introduced the motion:
“I motion to terminate the employment of the current county administrator and approve and authorize the board chairperson and clerk register to sign a resolution to appoint John Gibbs as county administrator, effective immediately.”
The motion was met with cheers from the crowd.
Watch the vote here, followed by Gibbs's acceptance speech:
Gibbs’ appointment is effective immediately and he was listed as the administrator on the county’s website just hours after the vote. On Tuesday, he took a seat at the commissioner’s table after the vote was final.
“First of all, congratulations to all of you on the board for your wonderful election,” he said. “It shows that the people are still in charge. The founding fathers are looking down right now and are very proud of what’s happening right now, so just make sure you know that.”
“We have to remember that those of us in government are accountable to the people and accountable to elected officials,” Gibbs continued. “That means that, even though I am the administrator, I’m not in charge, the board is in charge.”
Gibbs bested incumbent Republican Rep. Peter Meijer in the primary, taking advantage of Meijer’s controversial and party-breaking decision to impeach former President Donald Trump over the events of January 6th, 2021.
But Gibbs was the recipient of backlash after moving to Byron Center in Kent County shortly before the election after having lived out of state and out of country for many years prior. Gibbs has never been a resident of Ottawa County.
READ MORE: Democrat Hillary Scholten defeats John Gibbs, wins MI’s 3rd Congressional District
Among the ‘yes’ votes were Commission Chair Joe Moss and Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea – the co-founders of Ottawa Impact – and commissioners Allison Miedema and Roger Belknap, Gretchen Cosby, and Lucy Ebel. Republican Commissioners Robert Bergman and Rebekah Curran, and Democrat commissioner Doug Zylstra voted ‘no.’
“John comes to us way overqualified and also much loved by our county,” said Rhodea. “He won both the primary and the general in the portion of Ottawa County that he was running in by great margins. The people have come to know and love him, he’s not a new person to Ottawa County.”
The board also voted on Tuesday to replace the county’s legal counsel and health department director. They also dismantled the county’s diversity and inclusion program, and changed the county’s slogan from “Where you Belong” to “Where Freedom Rings.”
For existing commissioners like Bergman, whose been on the board for a decade, it was a shocking set of votes.
“My feeling is they didn’t even give John Shay an opportunity to prove himself and just pulled the rug from under his feet today,” he said. “It was shocking, and [they] replaced him with John Gibbs, who has no experience in Ottawa County. Zero.”
Bergman said his phone had been lighting up all afternoon with disappointed messages from fellow public servants and constituents. Bergman, himself a Republican who led the search for Shay, is concerned about what the new slate of Ottawa Impact Republicans will do in the future.
“This is not who Ottawa County is,” he said. “What happened today is not right.”
As listed in an online bio, Shay became the county’s deputy administrator in 2018 and became the full-time administrator in 2021. Prior to that, he was the Ludington City Manager for 15 years.
