OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Ottawa County moves forward with settling a lawsuit brought by its former county administrator.
In an unusual turn Tuesday night, the Board of Commissioners failed to go into closed session to discuss John Gibbs’ settlement. Instead, they voted 6-5 to bring it into open discussion.
The county is set to pay Gibbs a total of $190,000, of which one-third will go toward his attorney's legal fees. This deal will also remove any reference to his termination from his employee file.
Gibbs, in turn, will release all claims against the county and against Commissioner Joe Moss.
“I think it's a bad deal and we shouldn't do it,” Moss said.
In February, the board voted 10-1 to fire Gibbs, not long after he was put on paid administrative leave. Moss, the former County Chairperson and Ottawa Impact Founder, released a number of allegations to the public, brought on by two county employees hired by Gibbs. He has pushed back against those claims.
“We're in this bad deal because of you, how you hired John Gibbs, and also how you fired John Gibbs. So we're in this situation because of you,” Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said.
Gibbs was hired in January of 2023, immediately after the former board fired the previous county administrator.
“This process was very painful for this board, and it was not desired. Many of us cared very much for the administrator. He was a friend, and this is not something that any of us wanted to happen,” Commissioner and Ottawa Impact Founder Sylvia Rhodea said.
Vice Chairperson Commissioner Joshua Brugger, a newly elected commissioner, explains the need to move the county forward.
“This board is trying to fix the mistakes of a prior board and save taxpayer dollars. It's not pretty for anybody. Nobody likes this situation,” Brugger said.
According to his contract, Gibbs would have been paid a salary of $210,000 if the board had moved to fire him with cause. Instead, with his termination, Gibbs wasn't paid a severance.
Gibbs had initially started with a much larger amount of $630,000. Chairperson John Teeples, a newly elected commissioner, explained they got to where they are today because both attorneys worked toward this deal.
“Our attorney has suggested it could cost up to $300,000 for ourselves and our own attorney fees going forward. If we lose on any of the federal claims, we're not only losing the damages that he's incurred for defamation, loss of reputation. But we're also subject to his paying his attorney fees,” Teeples said.
Rhodea voted against this settlement after discussing where the legal matter stood.
“Basically, we’ll be rewarding bad behavior if that's the decision of this board, and that is very offensive to people who he has hurt by his behavior. So, there is some risk as well,” Rhodea added.
Gibbs still needs to approve this settlement. FOX 17 contacted the former county administrator and his attorney, but we haven’t heard back.
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