OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County officials settled another lawsuit, this time with a reverend who accused the Board of Commissioners of religious discrimination.
Grand Haven St. John's Episcopal Church Rev. Jared Cramer filed a lawsuit in 2023 claiming the board placed limits on who could deliver the invocation during meetings.
The county is set to pay $100,000, most of which will go to three local nonprofits.
"Each of them will get about $24,600 and some change to do the good work they do, which is actually the healing work our county so desperately needs," Reverend Cramer said.
Recipients include:
- Children’s Advocacy Center
- Kenzie's Be Cafe
- Momentum Center
The reverend explained that these organizations didn't know this was happening until the Board of Commissioners signed the agreement.
"I chose these organizations because, in my mind, either they have been discriminated against in some way by this board or they serve marginalized communities who are harmed whenever there's discrimination of any sort," Cramer added.
A closed-session conversation was held Tuesday, after which commissioners voted 9 to 2 in favor of settling the lawsuit.
Cramer's attorney, Sarah Howard, was awarded $22,000 of the agreed-upon settlement.
ECF 47 - Motion to Approve Consent Judgment by WXMI on Scribd
HOW WE GOT HERE:
Cramer tells FOX 17 that not long after the newly elected Board of Commissioners came into power, he asked Chairperson and Ottawa Impact Founder Joe Moss if he could give an invocation.
"In my own belief, an invocation would be inviting God's grace to be present in a space in a very real and particular way," Cramer said. "Over and over again, one very specific perspective of Christianity is what's offered that's painful for you as a religious person."
Cramer claims he sent multiple emails to Moss, other commissioners and the previous county administrator. The reverend took it a step further by sending letters through the U.S. mail. Despite multiple attempts, he never heard back.
So, the Grand Haven pastor sued the county and Moss.
Months after the lawsuit was filed, Cramer delivered the invocation on Feb. 13 of this year.
During his almost three-minute prayer, Cramer was met with silent opposition by one of the commissioners. Commissioner and Ottawa Impact member Roger Belknap placed a sign on his personal laptop. The message said "War on Children dot com."
Belknap spoke with reporters following the meeting and explained why he placed the message so people could see it.
"I don't know, maybe because we had a minister that attended today that was a sponsor of that event (Grand Haven Pride Fest)," Belknap explained in February.
The commissioners created a committee to help in the discussion of settling this lawsuit not long after this meeting.
Moss, named in the lawsuit, was part of the small group.
Commissioner Jacob Bonnema and Doug Zylstra weren't part of the ongoing discussions leading up to this settlement. They were also the only two people who voted no in Tuesday's meeting.
I supported resolving this suit by paying legal expenses associated with it. I do not agree that the taxpayers should be on the hook to pay for anything more than that. My desire is that Pastor Cramer will take this into consideration and not use our taxpayers to fund his favorite charities this way. To me, this is forcing an innocent party to pay financially for others poor decisions. I’m not sure that Pastor Cramer realizes that many in this community will view his actions this way.
I voted no on the Settlement Agreement because I am unsure whether this is the best agreement possible for Ottawa County taxpayers. There may very well have been other options that would have reduced or even eliminated the amount that taxpayers would have been obliged to make.
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