WEST OLIVE, Mich. — Ottawa County is dipping into its reserves to pay for its lawyers— County leaders approved a plan Tuesday to move more than $100,000 to pay the Kallman Legal Group.
Finance Director Karen Karasinski said at the Finance and Administration Committee meeting that the Kallman Legal Group is billing the county, on average, $35,000 a month.
FOX 17 has been closely following the county board's financial activity. We asked for five minutes with County Commissioner Joe Moss, who would not answer our questions.
"Did you see the article on Simply American about Sarah Leach and the Holland Sentinel and her 87 articles?" Moss asked us. We responded with our own question: "Don't you own that website?"
Moss continued to plug his website, which shares articles about the county board and its decisions.
Transparency. Here’s the entire interaction I had with @RealJoeMoss I’ve tried to interview him on multiple occasions for other stories. So, when it came to budget issues with the Kallman Legal Group, I couldn’t wait for a no response. pic.twitter.com/9OnO0dzXZr
— Matt Witkos Reporter (@matt_witkos) July 19, 2023
"It's my understanding that the needs of the county have changed since last year. This year is a little different," Moss said during Tuesday's meeting.
A majority of the board approved moving the $110,000 from the county's general fund to pay for the added corporate council costs.
"I understand, maybe three or four years ago, in the first five months of the year, there were about 35 FOIA requests, and that need has increased," Moss explained.
According to itemized receipts from January to March, Kallman Legal Group spent more than 21 hours on FOIA requests.
"Hopefully, we can revisit that, that the rules committee, that we can have more public information available on the front end, so we see less FOIA requests on the back end," Commission Doug Zylstra.
A majority of the board members are part of a group called Ottawa Impact. In January, they awarded the Kallman Legal Group a no-bid contract.
The finance director explained that, because of the board's decision, the county budgeted $210,000— an amount meant to last from January to September.
“What we charge is a very reasonable rate for the services that we render,” Kallman Legal Group Attorney Jack Jordan told FOX 17.
That rate is $225 an hour— $295 when the group deals with lawsuits.
“What we have done up to this point, we have done good work. Excellent work,” Jordan added.
According to the bill, there was a $31,000 tab at no charge to the county in March.
“We have a number of attorneys that may be working on the same thing. We do not bill for every attorney that is working on that particular item,” Jordan explained.
Ottawa County is entering the budget season. Departments will present potential costs and services to the county for final approval.
“We're looking at, in our contract, there is going to be an increase, not a large increase, but there will be an increase in the next budget cycle,” Jordan said.
With the finance committee's recommendation, this $110,000 transfer now heads to the board for final approval.
Through a Freedom of Information Act request, FOX 17 learned the Kallman Legal Group separately bills the Ottawa County Insurance Authority to pay for its litigation costs. The OCIA fund handles risk management for the county— lawsuits.
The OCIA paid the Kallman legal group $88,000 from February to May.
The biggest cost is Health Officer Adeline Hambley's case. In January, the majority of the board voted to demote her. Since then, Hambley is suing the county, and several commissioners over her title change and what she believes are efforts to terminate her.
