OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Two years ago voters in Ottawa County dramatically changed the makeup of the Board of Commissioners, with a majority of the seats going to candidates back by the group named Ottawa Impact. Since 2023, the board has taken a number of actions that have drawn criticism from inside and outside the county. Now voters will decide who can run for four-year terms on the Board of Commissioners. With more than 30 people in the running, many sitting commissioners face challengers in the August 2024 primary election.
We are conducting profiles of each candidate based on the seat they are running for. FOX 17 reached out to the candidates months before Election Day to set up time to ask them a series of the same questions. You can read their answers and watch the full interviews with the candidates in the article below.
District 11 represents several areas, including the city of Coopersville, Chester Township, Polkton Township, Crockery Township, Tallmadge Charter Township and Wright Township.
This is one of the largest races for county commissioner, with four candidates. Three Republicans, Allison Miedema (R), Sara Bajema (R) and Richard Van Dop (R) are looking to make it to the general election. The lone Democratic candidate Keith Courtade (D) will automatically go to the November ballot.
(R) Incumbent Allison Miedema
Miedema did agree to an interview, but she had to cancel due to the passing of a close family member.
(R) Sara Bajema
Why are you running?
I'm running, mostly because I grew up with parents that were very politically involved, very passionate about things and communities. I've done a lot of volunteer work in my lifetime, mostly in Kent County, which is where I've typically worked. I moved back to Ottawa County in 2011 when my kids were little so they could attend the school.
What are your priorities?
I think the number one priority for me, which seems small, but it's pretty important, if you ask me, is the collaboration. How do all of the commissioners work together? How do we create solutions that work for everybody in the community? Sometimes I think that this portion of our county, the northeast part, we get left out of things. ... The second piece is, as a former banker, I spent 20 years in banking; I taught people how they can manage their budgets, work on financing programs, and what makes sense and what doesn't make sense. I think really just focusing on how we're spending our money is very important as well.
Why should people vote for you?
I know the community. I know this area, and I'm somebody that will fight for things in our area. When I say "fight," I don't mean like arguing or things like that. But just really looking out for what's in the best interests over here, making sure that we're being included in all decisions that are being made about Ottawa County.
What are your thoughts for the past year and a half to two years when it comes to how the Ottawa County government has been run?
Everybody has opinions about what's happening and what's going on. I will say when the current board members first were running, I spoke with Allison [Miedema], who's our current commissioner here; for quite a while she came to my house. I think we talked for probably 45 minutes to an hour. [I] asked her a lot of questions, a lot of things; I really liked how they were passionate about something. Because I believe that's important. … So I appreciated that. I just don't know that all the decisions have a thought process with it.
Tell me about you personally?
I am a mom; I have four kids. I have a son who just graduated [and] a daughter who graduated a couple of years ago. I have another son that's going to be a senior this coming year. Then I have a middle... he's now a high schooler. They're very involved in sports, youth group at church. I've been in banking for 20 years; I work on a nonprofit that's very passionate to me; also, we support single mothers who are exiting addiction-recovery programs. We're actually the only house in the state of Michigan that is licensed for the children to live there as well, which helps keep them out of foster care. But not only that, we help these mothers through their process. So we help them with learning how to interview for jobs, how to build [their] resumes, how to get the job training so that they can be successful and move out on their own and not just create a cycle of dependency and how they worked through that.
(R) Richard Van Dop
Why are you running?
I appreciate the opportunity to explain why I'm running against Allison Miedema and, by extension, Ottawa Impact. ... It's because they've made a mess of things over the last year and a half. Now, they ran a very sharp campaign two years ago, no question about it. They took advantage of the political landscape. And they took 8 of the 11 seats. If you look at their website and read their statements, there is little in their words with which to disagree, as far as a conservative is concerned. What I do disagree with is not their words but their actions. My first major point is that they're they've hired the wrong people in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. They dismissed the previous county administrator right off the bat. … When Ottawa Impact hire John Gibbs as county administrator, there was no public announcement for the job. There were no applications, no interviews, [and] none of the policy behavior commonly expected of a governmental unit seeking an executive. It was simply a non-competitive hire. After a year, they had to fire the wrong guy. And now he's suing the county, more tax dollars down the drain paying attorneys, not to mention if there's some kind of settlement... In their second meeting, the OI-led board almost immediately hired a new law firm, the Kallman Legal Group. Now Kallman does not advertise on their website any particular expertise in municipal law; they are best known for their advocacy of right-wing causes. … My second major point is that the hiring of Gibbs and Kallman and the attempted hiring of Kelly demonstrates to me that Ottawa Impact is more interested in hiring political ideology than actual job expertise.
What are your priorities?
Open, honest communications with the public and doing as much county business as is reasonable in the public eye and ear.
Tell me about yourself?
We own a house in the Upper Peninsula. It's an older house north of Houghton, and we've been fixing it up. This fall my grandson is going up to Michigan Tech and he can live in that house and commute to school. It's only 11 miles. We enjoy it up there. We enjoy the lifestyle. We enjoy the neighbors. There's copper mines to visit. There are plenty of waterfalls to go see and if you want to sit and just chill out. It's a very quiet, gentle place to be. We'd like to go camping. … I enjoy reading. I enjoy quiet. I have enjoyed all three of my careers: my career in law enforcement, my career and navy intelligence doing counterterrorism work. And as strange as it seems, and as much of a change as I would appear to be, I've really enjoyed my time and ministry as well.
Why should people vote for you ?
First of all, my background. As I said, retired federal agent and retired Navy intelligence, semi-retired pastor; I served congregations in Grandville, Conklin and Grand Haven as well as several class positions. Earlier in my life, I served in churches, both as a deacon and elder; I served six years on the Kenowa Hills School Board, three of those as president. I have more public board service time than either of the other two Republican candidates for this position. My resume is loaded with actual leadership experience on the school board, leading three congregations and serving in the Navy, where I retired as a captain.
What are your thoughts for the past year and a half to two years when it comes to how the Ottawa County government has been run?
Sometimes I think Ottawa Impact doesn't know what they're doing. And at other times, I think they do and they just don't give a rip.
(D) Keith Courtrade
Why are you running?
I'm running to try to right the ship. I think they have a lot of... they messed a lot of things up out there. ... I'd like to see some little more accountability. If things work, you don't need to change them. They came in, and they basically bought people out and did a lot of other things to change the leadership and put people in that they wanted. Then in some cases, they even got rid of the ones that they put in there. ... So I'm looking to clean things back up and right to ship.
What are your priorities?
Accountability, a lot less less things done behind door. Right now I feel there's a lot of stuff that they're doing behind doors. So I want some accountability. I'd like to see the Diversity Department brought back among other things. I plan on being a lot more accountable than the ones that are in there.
Tell me about you personally?
I'm kind of a homebody. I guess I sold my soul to General Motors; I worked a lot of hours for 35 and a half years as a tool-and-die maker. Now I'm retired, and I'm bored, and not only am I bored but I'm also looking to have a purpose [in] my life. The number one obstacle was to raise my son as a single parent and to retire from GM, which I accomplished. Now I'm looking for another way to help out and be important to society. And I think that this is something I can really accomplish.
Why should people vote for you?
They should vote for me because I care about people. I've always represented people. I've looked out for people. I want a better living for everybody. So that's what I work for.
What are your thoughts for the past year and a half to two years when it comes to how the Ottawa County government has been run?
A lot of wasted money, a lot of wasted time. A lot of unnecessary, wasted time and money. Some really ridiculous things have happened out there. There's just no there's no call for that.
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