OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — It was a story you first saw on FOX 17 with Ottawa County's ballooning legal budget.
Last week, the finance committee approved a plan to dip into its general fund to cover the added costs.
Kallman Legal Group was hired as the commission's corporate council in January.
The agreed to pay rate was $225 an hour.
Now, seven months out, commissioners voted 10-1 to reallocate $110,000 to the corporate council budget.
The one-sided vote comes just moments after County Commissioner Doug Zylstra made a motion to lower the payment to $98,000 but lost by two votes.
According to the finance director, the county initially budgeted $210,000 to cover all legal fees in regard to county work up until September.
That budget averages out to just over $23,000 a month. According to the finance department, the Kallman Legal Group bills $35,000 a month.
During last week's finance meeting, Commission Chair Joe Moss pointed to the increased number of Freedom of Information Requests for the increased cost.
"We go to a lot of meetings, and here I am at a meeting. There have been meetings that have lasted until two o'clock in the morning," Corporate Council Attorney Jack Jordan told commissioners at Tuesday's board meeting. "I don't waste time. In fact, often I'm working through my lunch. I eat my lunch at my desk. We don't only represent this board. We represent all of the departments. Employees. Can we also more importantly, we represent all of the citizens of Ottawa County."
Now it was split among people here when it came to the added costs to the budget.
"And the year is not over. When questioned about this expense, you Joe brought up the increase in FOIA requests. I want to put this in perspective. First, for a group that uses the word freedom at every opportunity, you should grumble a lot about your constituents making freedom of information requests," Elizabeth Brubaker said during public comment.
"These new commissioners are fulfilling their campaign promises to their voters, and it should make us all angry that they must defend against that. They also had to defend themselves in a case involving the Open Meetings Act in which a very progressive Attorney General had already concluded they did not violate," Donna Mooney said during public comment.
The county is going through the 2024 budget process. Jordan has told FOX 17 he plans to ask for more funding but didn't say how much.
