WEST OLIVE, Mich. — The Ottawa County Department of Public Health is being asked to cut its budget for fiscal year 2024 by nearly 50%, according to Health Officer Adeline Hambley.
In a letter posted to social media, Hambley claims County Administrator John Gibbs asked her to propose a new, significantly smaller budget, by the close of business on Thursday.
— Ottawa County Health (@miOCDPH) August 22, 2023
Hambley sat down exclusively with FOX 17 and explained that Public Health is requesting $6.4 million in contributions from the general fund in FY 2024. She says she received an email from Gibbs Tuesday, asking her to reduce the amount to $2.5 million.
In the letter posted to social media, Hambley wrote: "Proposed budget reductions of this size will significantly impair, and likely eliminate, various public health services and the Health Department's ability to maintain public health and safety."
She claims Gibbs also asked her to eliminate any COVID-19 grants, which she says total $2.2 million.
Hambley says the commission is proposing giving up the significant amount of grant money, "allegedly because of various political considerations."
She says the grant money is used a number of ways, including preventing the spread of communicable diseases and health risks other than COVID-19. Hambley believes giving up grant money will hurt Ottawa County taxpayers.
Hambley, who has been with the health department for 20 years, sat down one-on-one with FOX 17 Tuesday evening for an exclusive interview.
"It has been stressful and unpredictable and a challenge," she said. "There's been parts that have been very sad— that there are members of our community that feel less than accepted or welcome or able to access, or in some ways, being told they don't deserve the same sort of level of services that others do."
The alleged request to cut the Public Health budget comes just a day after the Finance Committee met, and commissioners discussed reducing the overall county budget by five percent.
During that meeting, Gibbs noted that likely wasn't possible until 2025.
Hambley references that discussion in her letter, writing: "It was stated the [budget reduction] process was complex, and it was recommended an external consultant be hired to identify efficiencies without sacrificing services. Public Health is being asked to cut more than ten times that in just two days— with no consultant assisting."
"I think that we have an amazing staff of people that are, very much care about the community they live in. They care about serving the folks that live here and protecting our community, protecting the people that live here," Hambley told FOX 17. "I think that in my role as health officer, it's my duty to ensure that our community gets the services they need so that we can continue to be the healthiest, or one of the healthiest, counties in Michigan."
County Commissioner Rebekah Curran did ask Gibbs about the process for these cuts and the timeline.
Gibbs explained that this proposal came from a discussion at the previous Finance Committee.
"If you look at the health department's budget from about 2009, and 2019, it was relatively stable at a certain level throughout that time period. And the idea is to return it as much as possible to about that level," Gibbs said. "So I do think it's reasonable to kind of step back and take a look at what's going on there. So that's the deal with that, kind of out of respect and wanting to let the Health Department have a say in the matter. We did. Let them give us some scenarios on how they could accomplish that. And I think we'll be getting those in very short order. So I'm excited to look at the scenarios they come back with."
FOX 17 did request a comment from Gibbs and Moss about these suggested cuts, but both said "no comment."
In January, the newly-elected Board of Commissioners voted to demote Hambley from Health Officer to an interim position. Hambley sued, and has been fighting in court since.
READ MORE: 'Interim' Ottawa County health officer sues commissioners over demotion, alleged interference
In her letter, Hambley writes: "If the commission moves forward with this level of budget-slashing, I believe it will be a clear act of unlawful retaliation against me for bringing a wrongful termination suit for attempting to remove me as the appointed Administrative Health Officer, and for the trial court's decision to grant me a judgment on that claim."
Additionally, at Tuesday night's meeting, commissioners passed a resolution supporting an existing policy to allow vaccine waivers for kids at schools and childcare centers.
