OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Last month, Ottawa County reached a settlement with its health officer. Adeline Hambley stays on the job and drops her lawsuit after over a year in court.
Tuesday was the first Health and Human Services meeting after that agreement. Things appeared to get contentious after talks turned to the vacant Ottawa Food coordinator role.
It was listed to discuss nonprofit coordination needs and Ottawa Food.
"Every day that we delay this is a day that there are people in our county who aren't accessing the services that we've been providing for years," Health Planning and Promotion Manager Lisa Uganski said.
The food assistance program has been without a coordinator nearly six months. Despite in December the health department asked for around $120,000 to pay for the position. Then, at Tuesday's meeting, they returned with a new request for around half of that original amount.
"We're likely not going to fill this action request. We're likely gonna go another direction. But we don't know that direction. That's all my question is," Commissioner Doug Zylstra said.
"Now I want to get it on the record that that is not what I'm saying. I just want more information," Commissioner Gretchen Cosby added.
Commissioners questioned why the role was eliminated in the first place. Uganski pointed to funding cuts during the budgeting process.
"Then why in fiscal year 2024 did you eliminate that role? We didn't you ask specifically to eliminate that role," Cosby explained.
"I stood up here in September and explained that if the cuts that were being proposed to health education, were essentially going to happen, that there would be no way that we couldn't, that we could keep out of a food coordinator going," Uganski explained.
The health planning and promotions manager also called back to a meeting last November, where she claims similar conversations were had but nothing has happened.
"The other question I had was, I was wondering who grilled you last year," Chairperson Joe Moss asked.
"When I stood up here for about 90 minutes and was questioned? It was by the commissioners, during the board meeting," Uganski answered.
"Was it just questions about program services, funding amounts, things like that," Moss replied.
"I stood up here for probably close to 90 minutes and repeated things over and over. Yeah, I will say I felt like I was grilled," Uganski explained.
"And it's your job to come answer questions. If the commissioners have questions," Moss said.
"Absolutely. That's why I'm proud to be standing here now," Uganski said.
"I would just note that you were not requested to come and talk to us today. And you've been fairly disrespectful to the commissioners standing here today. And so is the chair of this committee. I don't appreciate your approach," Vicechair Sylvia Rhodea said.
Nothing was decided on Tuesday.
"I don't know today's meeting. I just feel sad. I feel embarrassed for our county. This isn't how we should operate," Derrick Muilenburg said.
Muilenburg was watching the meeting at home but felt the need to show up in person for public comment.
"The decorum of today's meeting was interesting," Muilenburg added.
Cosby suggested meeting next week to talk about the specifics of the coordinator role.
Meanwhile, Health Officer Adeline Hambley tells FOX 17 she's not sure what Ottawa Food's upcoming season will look like.
"That planning hasn't happened over the winter. As we go into the growing season and making those connections between nonprofits and farmers and things like that, I'm not sure what that will look like. Hopefully, we won't see too many gaps for the community members," Hambley said.
FOX 17 contacted commissioners for comment on Tuesday's meeting but didn't hear back.
Some commissioners have previously said they need more information about Ottawa Food before taking action on the coordinator role. The program recently released its annual report.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
