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 7 represents a large portion of Georgetown Township. The current commissioner, Rebekah Curran, isn't seeking reelection.
Rachel Atwood (R) is a member of Ottawa Impact and will face off against John Teeples (R) in this primary election. Heather Majestic (D) is running unopposed. Majestic will automatically move on to the general election.
(R) John Teeples
Why are you running?
It's certainly not something I plan to do. In fact, it wasn't even on my on my radar screen two months ago. But with everything going on in the county, with all of the chaos, I guess, inexperience and waste of taxpayer dollars. And in the divisiveness, it's happened. I know I have the experience to come in and help. Not only dealing with the legal affairs and the other stuff that's going on from a technical standpoint but maybe even more importantly, I'm in a position to hopefully help heal the community and bring us back together again for the sake of our community. That's what I really hope to do.
What are your priorities?
I wouldn't say it's a platform, but I do have some priorities. So like, I just mentioned that my top priority is to unite the community as best we can to stop the divisiveness to treat people with more respect to give everybody the... treat people with dignity that I think they deserve, regardless of their views on anything, frankly. I'm a fiscal conservative, so I want to make sure we're working within a budget. We're being prudent about it; we're being helpful, that those that are particularly in need get serviced and not cut out because of who they might be, or what they might look like, or what their views might be. I want to bring fair representation to the entire community as I can.
Tell me about you personally?
I retired from active practice two years ago, but I'm not bored. I do a lot of hospice work. I'm chairman of the Emanuel Hospice of Grand Rapids, but more importantly, I do just volunteer hospice work. That's a priority to me. Hobbies, I'm a honeybee keeper. I love to hunt. I love wood. I love to build things. I'm an avid outdoorsman. I love hunting. I love sports activities. … I'm not one to sit around. I love being with people. I have an inherent trust in people. I'm not naive about it, but I believe in the goodness of people, and I just enjoy being with people. … I make wine … but honeybees right now are probably the most fun things that I'm doing these days.
Why should people vote for you?
I think that what we've seen in the county, particularly, is a lack of experience in handling governmental affairs. I've been an attorney for 38 years; I represented the city of Hudsonville for over 20. I represented multiple school districts in West Michigan. I've served on many leadership boards and served in leadership capacities. I clearly have the experience to do the work of the county. I've done a lot of municipal work. ... I know I have the technical abilities to do the work.
What are your thoughts for the past year and half to two years when it comes to how Ottawa County government has been run?
I'm disappointed. It's not what I expected. I voted. I've been a lifetime Republican. I voted for the representative in this District 7 to the county commission two years ago. How it played out is not at all what I would have expected from out-of-county leaders. We've got a divisiveness in this county. In our community, that never existed two years ago, we'd get imprudent decisions and inexperienced decisions and, in some cases, revenge-motivated decisions that have cost our county not only financially but by reputation, where — and we hear this time and time again — we're being the laughingstock throughout the whole country. … There's 300, almost 400,000 people in this county that need representation. As elected officials, our job is to represent everybody, and what I've seen over the last year and a half has been a major disappointment, particularly as a Republican would never have expected.
(R) Rachel Atwood
Why are you running?
So a little bit of a long story. Four years ago, my special needs son was told he needed a mask for speech therapy. That is when I realized that government overreach was intruding upon my ability to meet my son's needs. It was negatively impacting the autism community. I do national work advocating for special needs children and for the autism community. Instead of getting mad, I decided that this was time for me to get involved. Four years ago, I began volunteering for multiple organizations working to protect parental rights, individual liberties, medical freedom, and informed consent because I saw how negatively impacted the special needs community was. Eventually, that resulted in me being hired as a legislative aide for the Michigan House of Representatives. ... I have seen laws passed that attack gun owners, individual liberty, [and] parental rights. I see bills on the horizon that I'm very concerned about that are looking to target the homeschooling community. ... When I realized how much I loved advocating for people, in between people in government agencies, I decided I wanted to do this for my own family. I want to do this for my own community at the county commissioner level.
What are your priorities?
Priority number one is upholding my oath of office. I take that very seriously. My oath is to the Constitution. It is not to mandate ... Michigan-codified laws. That also means when I'm looking into grants or things that come into the county, we need to look at it through that lens to make sure that we're not violating our oath. My next priority is, again, I'm interested in looking at how we can improve our services for the special needs communities with adults. As I get into office and can learn more about how the budget is allocated, I'm very interested in looking into what services we're providing. If they're really being used, I know there's the hot topic is Ottawa Foods. I'm confused as to why my church provides more meals effectively than our food program. Now, because of the experience I have at the state, I would really love to see if there's a way that we can make that system more accessible.
Tell me about you personally?
I love freedom. Some of the favorite things I love to do with my kids are just getting outside and getting active. I lost my mom a year ago this coming weekend. When I lost her, I felt like I lost a part of myself. I wanted to make sure that self-care became a priority. About a year ago, I got really into health and fitness. So, one of my favorite things to do is cook, and I do a lot of organic cooking from scratch. So, making food that is healthy, that's whole foods. Also, exercising has become my one of my favorite things to do. I do it with my kids.
Why should people vote for you?
What makes me a little different in this race is that my experience is much more geared towards the current culture war that we're facing. On all of my lists, I give outdoors. It says boys are boys and girls are girls. People who say science is real seem to have forgotten biology. And because I am raising kids in a culture that is attacking identity, a lot of my work and volunteering has been around advocating for childhood innocence. So I spend a lot of time working in that arena and protecting my kids.
Why should people vote for you?
My experience is current. The reason that people need to vote for me is because, where was my opponent in 2020? What we're currently facing is government overreach. We're living in an age of fighting the culture to keep our ... children innocent. Children are not racist or sexual. I also want to keep my family free. My career and my experience is very much dedicated to defending the childhood innocence of the current things going on in culture, but also to defend us from government overreach; more of my experience stems in the current struggles that our families are facing that are raising kids. Millennials are concerned about whether or not they'll be able to afford their future, if they're going to be able to raise children in this culture, or childhood innocence seems to be lost. I want to protect my kids and others from what I consider to be very mature adult content.
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?
I will note that I am running for an open seat, and I'm not an incumbent. While I've been working for the state level, I have attended some of those commissioners' meetings, and I have tried to follow those. From what I can gather, I think our commissioners are new, and they're learning. They're fine-tuning how they're running the county. I think from day one, they did exactly what they promised that they would do. They defund a DEI, and they've been under attack ever since. It's interesting to see how when I door knock, I have to educate people about what our commissioners have or haven't done by fighting what your news stations publish. It's very interesting to see how the media has twisted and attacked these commissioners for their conservative values, villainized for the way they have hired and fired without providing full transparency. My overall opinion is that I support our current commissioner board and the decisions that they've made.
(D) Heather Majestic
Why are you running?
I am running for the District 7 commissioner position. ... I see things that don't sit well with me, like lack of transparency. I feel like they're wasting funds on things like lawsuits and severance packages; they are not using their HR department to do their hiring and firing. … Services are starting to degrade. … I feel like there's a bit of overreach in terms of what they're trying to do; it kind of feels like the power has made them feel like they've been running an autocracy, but, really, they're kind of trying to do things that the board isn't really supposed to be doing. And it feels a little bit like a revenge tour for them because of something that happened to them with their schools and stuff during COVID. So I don't think that's the kind of thing that the elected officials should do. It shouldn't be a personal vendetta. They shouldn't be; they should be serving and representing everyone. I feel like they're only representing people who are like them.
What are your priorities?
I feel like there's some of the services [that] are starting to fall off. You know, wage inequality is bad, housing is hard to come by for people who are, you know, middle income, there's food insecurity issues, and I think there are things that the county board can do in order to make that make our county for everybody, not just for people who look or talk or act like me. So I want to represent everyone.
Tell me about you personally?
My kids and I have lived in this area since 2001. That's when I got married. ... I got my MBA from Michigan State in 2001. It was, like, a big year for me. I know it was kind of not a great year for everyone, but it was a really great year for me. I also started working at Steelcase. We just started having our family here. So I like to watch football and [I'm] the really big sports fan of the two universities where I went: University of Notre Dame and Michigan State. I like to read a lot. I'm in multiple book clubs: one with my church and two with other just friends. I like to cook. Yeah, I guess that's kind of me.
Why should people vote for you?
I think they should vote for me because I have a track record of leadership in large organizations. I was in the Navy for six years; I was a Supply Corps officer; I served in Alaska; I served on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier, and Navy SEAL team. I learned the leadership qualities of a naval officer, how to be an officer, how to have discipline and get things done. Then, when I left, I went back and got an MBA, and I've been in the business world since then. I've always managed people. So I think I understand how large budgets work, how large organizations work, how to collaborate with other people, even when maybe you don't have control over them or you disagree with them.
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?
I think that people start out with the right intention; I think they intend to do things right for themselves or what they think is their community. I think sometimes the way that they go about things are not necessarily the best way, right? You have to collaborate with others. I think, to me, government is about compromise and finding the best solution for all. It also represents all, and I feel like the current board is narrowly representing people who are like them. It feels a little bit more like a revenge tour, not something that they're trying to do for all people, you know. The county is more diverse than just one particular way of thought. I think that they're there again. They're doing things that are transparent, and they're wasting money right at the peril of the constituents.
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