WEST OLIVE, Mich. — Several people who live in Ottawa County filed a civil lawsuit against county commissioners. The suit claims Ottawa Impact-backed commissioners violated the Open Meetings Act and the Michigan Constitution.
The lawsuit cites certain actions discussed and decided on before several new members were officially sworn in at their first board meeting on January 3, 2023.
At that meeting, commissioners made sweeping changes, including ousting the county administrator and replacing him with former congressional candidate John Gibbs, demoting the county's top health officer Adeline Hambley and dropping the county's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office.
“We discovered additional information that showed, essentially, that the Ottawa Impact commissioners had been acting behind closed doors to make public decisions and directing county employees to execute those decisions, but behind closed doors,” Progress Michigan Deputy Director Sam Inglot told FOX 17 Wednesday.
Progress Michigan, which is a progressive advocacy organization, complied a list of emails within the complaint through a Freedom of Information Act.
The group's focus is on actions made by the so-called “Ottawa 9," which is a group of commissioners backed by the conservative action group "Ottawa Impact."
Among other things, Ottawa Impact has rallied against public COVID-19 health mandates, along with efforts toward diversity.
“The Ottawa County commissioners that make up Ottawa Impact were essentially in their early meetings prior to January 3, were essentially acting as what, legally, is called a 'de facto' public body,” Inglot explained. “We were very taken aback by some of the decisions that were made by the Ottawa Impact members on the Ottawa County commission. But not only that, we were very concerned about the way in that it was done."
Court documents show now-Board Chair Joe Moss sent an email on December 28 to all commissioners for review like “2023 board rules, standing committee assignments, board meeting schedules."
“They were deliberating and making decisions around public policy and public matters. They were also communicating directly with county staff and asking them to take certain actions to help fulfill those decisions that we made,” Inglot told FOX 17.
According to the documents in late November, now-Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea sent an email to the former county administrator, John Shay, showing her setting up a meeting with Moss, Shay and the deputy administrator.
Documents show her asking: “have the severance agreements for the health officer and the DEI director been fully executed by all parties at this time?”
“They were members elect, they knew they were taking office, they met in a way that constituted not only a quorum, but a majority of the commission,“ Ingot said.
Attorney General Dana Nessel and her team spent a month investigating to see if the commissioners did violate the open meetings act. Ultimately, Nessel's office said they did not.
“While we certainly agree with the Attorney General, that what was happening was unethical, lacking transparency, and things like that. We believe that this is a legal argument that deserves to be explored more fully,” he added.
Progress Michigan, along with a handful of community members, hope this recently-introduced email evidence will shed new light on the situation.
“[What] we’re hoping to do is undo those decisions because they weren't proper because they weren't done in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. They weren't done in the public purview, and if the Ottawa County commissioners want to make those same, same decisions that's on them, but they need to do it in a public venue, they need to do it in a with the spirit of openness and transparency that they promised the people of Ottawa County,” he said.
FOX 17 did try to connect with the commissioners to hear their arguments on the latest lawsuit, but we have not heard back.
UPDATE:
(3/9)
Ottawa County Commissioner Rebekah Curran said "Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately I'm not able to comment on an active lawsuit."
