WEST OLIVE, Mich. — The attorneys representing Ottawa County Health Officer Adeline Hambley released hundreds of emails detailing what led up to the effort to remove Hambley from her position.
"A critical piece of the story here is all the email traffic that the public hasn't been able to see," Pinsky Smith Attorney Sarah Howard told FOX 17.
Howard is Ottawa County Health Officer Adeline Hambley's attorney. She released 500 pages of emails of her client's discussion around Ottawa County's fiscal year 2024 budget surrounding Public Health.
"My client fully participated in that and explained all of the aspects of programming and state-mandated budgeting and Title X grant funding for the family planning clinic. And then had this budget ambush in August," Howard said.
The emails go as far back as May, but the majority of them pick up after August 16. Not long after, we see a discussion between Hambley and County Administrator John Gibbs about the Public Health budget.
Gibbs said he would like Hambley to work with fiscal services to get the department's general fund contributions levels near $2.5 million, down from Hambley's initial request of $6.7 million. Hambley warned Gibbs against these cuts on the 22nd.
Two days later, on August 24, the health officer went public and discussed how these potential cuts could lead to the closure of her department.
"In August, and still tried to work with these commissioners. And well, really tried to work with (County Chairperson and Commissioner) Moss, and Administrator Gibbs, who were it appears the only two really working on this topic. And was cut out of the process pretty quickly when she would not do exactly what they wanted to do and told them what the consequences were," Howard added.
On August 25, Gibbs sent an email to the fiscal services director to draft the Public Health budget.
1) The change was to use $2.5 million in general fund contributions and $1.3 million of the Public Health savings to better fund programs.
2) Removing all COVID-19 grant positions, which were a half dozen employees.
3) Move the rest of the Public Health savings into the county's contingency fund unless they have parameters to prevent it.
"I think it's pretty clear, given her work with fiscal services and other people involved in this process, that she did everything she could to try and work this out.
Five days later, on August 30, Hambley emailed Gibbs saying she never heard back from him and explained these cuts could fail to meet state requirements. That same day, Hambley told FOX17 she's been left out of budget discussions with the county administrator.
"She offered multiple times to sit down and talk about it, answer any questions, explain things further, but didn't get very far," Howard explained.
These newly released emails come almost two weeks after Moss set a public hearing to potentially remove Hambley from Ottawa County's top health position.
"I think they've wanted her out since day one, which is what they did on day one. But they're saying that the issue that they have is that she went public, but she has every right under the law to talk to the public about these issues," Howard said.
FOX17 did reach out to commissioners and county attorneys but hasn't heard back.
The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners filed a public hearing notice on September 27.
The notice listed several charges against Hambley related to her handling of the health department's budget.
The charges claim "Ms. Hambley demonstrated incompetence, misconduct and neglect of duty" by doing the following:
- Making false public representations about budgetary scenarios.
- Falsely claiming that she was not included in the budget process.
- Failing to cooperate in the budget process.
- Making false claims that encouraged and caused confusion, anxiety, fear and panic in the community.
Howard and her legal group representing Hambley, gave us the emails in the PDF below:
Communications on Public Health Budget August Sept 2023 by WXMI on Scribd
We were also given this correspondence of the changes to Ottawa County's media communications and approvals needed for web, social media, press releases and newsletters in this PDF:
Press Contact Policy Emails by WXMI on Scribd
How we got here:
Hambley released a proposal at the end of August claiming the Ottawa County Health Department would likely shut down if county administrators enacted a draft of their proposed FY24 budget.
County leaders fired back quickly. County Administrator John Gibbs and Chairperson Joe Moss said Hambley's claims were false, and her public disclosure of a budget proposal was "inappropriate and unprofessional."
The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners approved the FY24 budget at the end of September.
County Administrator Gibbs released the following statement about the budget and the process county officials took to finalize it:
"Ottawa County concludes the most transparent budget process in history— incorporating for the first time an easier-to-understand format, information on grants and payments and additional work sessions for commissioners and the public to engage in the process. The fiscally responsible budget includes the smallest year-over-year increase in general funding spending in more than half a decade, and fully funds critical programs— such as Ottawa Food— by giving the Department of Public Health the second-highest budget in its history."
What comes next:
Planned oral arguments are scheduled for October 11. That's when county officials will get the chance to voice whether they want Hambley to keep her position as health officer.
Hambley's attorneys previously filed an emergency stay asking the court to delay the removal hearing until further notice; however, the court of appeals denied that request.
The removal hearing is scheduled for October 23 at 8 a.m.
READ MORE: Ottawa County Commission to hold removal hearing for health officer
