30 people are running for Ottawa Co. Commision; meet the District 2 candidates

Meet the District 2 candidates for Ottawa County Commission

By: Matt Witkos

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 backed by the group named Ottawa Impact. Since 2023, the board has taken 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. 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 2 represents large portions of Holland Township and a small area of Park Township. Democrat Chris Kleinjans, the current commissioner, automatically goes on to the general election. Republican Jordan Jorritsma will face off against Republican Lucy Ebel in the August Primary. Ebel, who is backed by Ottawa Impact, lost her recall race this last May.

(D) Incumbent Chris Kleinjans

Why are you running?

I feel that there is a place for a little bit more diversity, a little bit more of a voice for the second district, necessary on the Board of Commissioners. I feel after spending a lot of time listening to the people of the district that I can represent that need very well.

What are your priorities?

So priorities are the same that a lot of people have throughout the county. I want to look at housing. When you talk about housing, that's obviously the big elephant in the room. Holland Township has been pulling multifamily housing permits with great consistency for a number of years. … The things that we like about Ottawa County, [are] access to good jobs, natural resources, lake parks [and] a big agricultural sector. Those are all relying on a finite amount of square acreage, [and] we are going to have to start discussing what we're going to do when it starts getting thin. We need to have a community discussion countywide about where we want to be in 2050.

Tell me about yourself?

So I'm a nerd, okay, and I'm down with that. I like museums; I like art museums. My undergrad is in history. So I love American history in particular, and I love Michigan and Holland history most of all. How much of a nerd. I was at the top of the nerd food chain. I used to be a Civil War reenactor and did that for about a decade. I brought my sons into it. It was a great thing to be engaged in.

Why should people vote for you?

So I've lived in the district for almost 30 years; I grew up in the district, as a matter of speaking. I arrived there, a very young man with a young family and have grown into an older man who has watched his children grow up and leave. I want them to come back, of course; who doesn't? … I'm not just I'm hyper focused on my district because those are the people that I serve, but I'm aware of, really, what goes on around the county and what's on the people's minds around the county as well outside of my district.

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?

Ottawa County government has been a much different experience for the year and a half, two years, by anybody's metric. ... I'm not gonna call it disruption, but I'll say there's more divisiveness. I've heard that it's been often said, you know, county government is supposed to be boring. Well, it's not boring. It's actually where most of the things that impact you as a citizen take place.

Chris Kleinjans

(R) Jordan Jorritsma

Why are you running?

I am running because I was not thrilled with what I saw happening. … I'm running to restore a little bit of fiscal responsibility, some of that camaraderie and bipartisanship, being able to work with anyone and everyone in the county because, as a public servant, you work for anyone and everyone. I really got into the race to bring us back to a low-drama governing board so that we can get done what we need to do and stop wasting money doing it.

What are your priorities?

My priorities, by and large, are to get back to that low-drama governing. I think that we need to take a serious look at how we do budgeting. The budget process is hugely important, looking at funding our various departments. I think we need to look at creating a strategic plan for the future. It makes it very hard to operate a department if you are ambiguous on what your funding level is going to be from year to year. So we need to build in a little bit of stability there. Also, create a plan for 5-10 years out, the direction that we want to go. ... We need to look at a strategic housing plan. That doesn't mean putting up big apartment complexes in every neighborhood, but it means how do we work with our community partners to add more housing at every income level, but especially for those young families?

Tell me about you personally?

I live here on the north side of Holland with my wife. We got married last summer, actually. So, we moved back to the area. This is where I grew up. I grew up a mile down the road from Bowerman Blueberries. We just love it here. We go to a lot of the parks around here. We go watch the sunset at Lake Michigan, love going downtown for dinner. But I've always been very engaged in politics.

Why should people vote for you?

I've got a lot of experience working at the state level in legislation, helping pass bills that affect our community directly, bills about public safety [and] the foster care system. I've been very privileged to work on a lot of great legislation. I think that experience has prepared me for this job and in making sure that our county is also doing what it needs to do; it needs to provide services, and it needs to stretch our dollar as far as it can. No one wants higher taxes; you're not going to see higher taxes with me. But what you're going to see is more efficiency in the county services.

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?

The past year and a half, two years has been a lot of questions. You know, I don't hate everything that Ottawa Impact has done. I have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns about the way they've gone about doing it. I think that it's largely been very oppositional. I think we need to do a little bit better of a job of working with everyone. I'm not a retaliatory person; you won't see me making ad hominem attacks online. That's not who I am. I've received some of those attacks.

Jordan Jorritsma

(R) Lucy Ebel