After a quiet start due to technical difficulties and no recorded audio, the Planning & Policy Committee meeting kicked off a second start by opening the mic for department updates and reports.

Veterans Services Director Jason Schenkel presented the first update.

• Veterans Services held the first Legacy Link event at Waterford Place. Legacy Link collaborates with senior living facilities across Ottawa County as an outreach to the aging veteran population.

• This fiscal year, Veterans Services already has exceeded the emergency funding through the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund, emphasizing the obvious need in the county. Going into 2026 there are more people seeking assistance than in previous years.

• Total VA spending—including compensation and pensions, education benefits, and medical expenditures—increased from 2023-24 by 13%. Ottawa County surpassed Muskegon County which has virtually the same population. 2025 spending will reflect the addition of Schenkel and a fully staffed department and is anticipated to be a beneficial measuring tool.

Next Chief Executive Officer Michael Brashears shared an update from Community Mental Health.

• Over a 2-month period, CMH screened approximately 1000 calls. Of those 1000, approximately 150 met the screening criteria outlined by the state as being eligible for one or more CMH services. The highest admission rate was for autism, due largely in part to the state’s autism criteria making many eligible for services. The resulting increase has become one of the primary drivers of the CMH budget deficit.

• CMH is not permitted to deny anyone who meets the eligibility determination. “It is an entitlement, not an optional benefit,” Brashears said. CMH cannot base admission on the budget. “I have no ability to say, we have a deficit close the front door. It’s the opposite. In fact, there’s no financial incentive for CMH to ever take new clients because our funding is exactly the same regardless of the number of people we serve.”

• The deficit this year is 1.5%, or 3 million and potentially will be $5 million next year. For 2026, CMH already is projecting a decrease in Medicaid revenue of 4%, or 2.4 million. The services provided are identical to other CMHs, but Ottawa County’s overall Medicaid resources by person is less—meaning Ottawa County is asked to do more with less because of the funding model. CMH is moving towards fighting for a needs-based model which this region used to have. Brashears believes the regional internal service fund will cover the deficits from last year and this year.

• Last year CMH did a comprehensive study of the complete residential system and CMH’s highest cost service, and then developed a utilization management strategy to help streamline the cost and have consistency.

County Clerk Justin Roebuck presented the 2024 Clerk/Register of Deeds Annual Report.

• Early Voting was one of the “biggest lifts” of the department for 2024, and it was “an incredibly successful process.” Of the residents who came out for last year’s November election, 13% voted early.

• The County has a new offering of a free Property Fraud Alert Service. For those who subscribe, the system provides a text, email, or phone call whenever a document is recorded in the Register of Deeds Office under a resident’s name, which allows property owners to quickly detect potential fraudulent activity.

Detective Lieutenant Mark Shore of the Michigan State Police gave an update on his West Michigan Enforcement team. The team is composed of officers from the Holland Police Department, deputies from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, and troopers from the Michigan State Police.

• Investigations initiated in 2024—Ottawa County: 119, Muskegon County: 127. The majority of complaints happened in Holland and Holland Township.

• Arrests in 2024—Ottawa County: 67, Muskegon County: 73.

• Drugs seized in 2024—fentanyl ranked highest at 2,246.3 grams seized, which according to Shore was enough to kill the population of Grand Rapids. Cocaine and Crystal methamphetamine held the next highest rankings. The team spent a little over $16,000 to buy evidence/drugs and paid out about $6000 to informants.

• Drugs make their way to Ottawa County through airports and expressways, coming from Chicago, Texas, and there even has been cartel-related activity originating from Mexico.

After the updates and reports, the commissioners discussed expanding the Housing Commission. Commissioner Doug Zylstra—who sits on the Housing Commission—shared the proposal summary, which is modeled after the Groundwater Board. The expansion would increase the Commission from five members to nineteen and adjust term lengths from five to three years, staggering the rotation.

• Commissioner Josh Brugger relayed that the Enabling Act limits the Commission to five members and that the Board needs to consider whether it’s advantageous to remain under the Act.

• Commissioner Allison Miedema said she would prefer to schedule a work group day to be able to have a more in-depth conversation about the topic and to invite the rest of the members of the Housing Commission. Brugger agreed, but he didn’t want the process drawn out too far.

• Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea shared that she’d met HUD Secretary Scott Turner when she was in Washington, D.C. Turner had talked about opportunity zones expanding to rural areas. Rhodea cautioned against dismantling the Housing Commission if it would risk losing potential access to something that could be beneficial. She added that perhaps the County needs both a Housing Commission and a broader committee, though to her, the Commission’s references to the Michigan State Housing Development Authority presented red flags. “I just have a little bit of a pause on that because it does seem to definitely be operating through an equity lens—so. there’s a DEI component to some of their work. However, they are doing some good work,” Rhodea said.

• County Administrator Patrick Waterman ended the discussion by agreeing that the Housing Commission members should undergo strategic planning before presenting to the Board and advised cross pollination with the Groundwater Board.

December 9, 2025 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Planning & Policy Committee meeting.

Laid out before the Finance & Administration Committee was a motion. Administrator Waterman was recommending the Committee approve and forward to the Board of Commissioners the Resolution accepting the Officers Compensation Commission determination to increase the salary for the County Treasurer and Water Resources Commissioner to equal the base pay of the County Clerk/Register, effective immediately.

Waterman summarized that in 2024, the Officers Compensation Commission had met five times, but only four times within the required 45-day period. It was during the fifth meeting that the decision to increase the salary for the County Treasurer and Water Resources Commissioner had been documented—though the decision had occurred during the prior meeting. Waterman added that he and legal counsel viewed the motion as a “housekeeping corrective action, a legal corrective measure to make that decision whole and effective.”

• Commissioner Allison Miedema was concerned that the information the Board received did not include a legal review or anything that would clarify why the opinion had changed, other than the County now has different corporation counsel.

• Waterman acknowledged that the opinion of the previous counsel, Kallman Legal Group, was correct, but that it fell short on the decision of needing to be documented. Miedema asked if there were meeting minutes to back up what Waterman was asserting. As far as Watermen knew, there weren’t any minutes. The motion presented was based off of legal opinion from Kallman—who had conversations with people on the Officers Compensation Commission, the Commission chair at the time, and the two elected official who were advocating their base pays. The interpretation was that the decision was made.

• Rhodea interjected that what Waterman was saying wasn’t her understanding. Rather, in the legal opinion, it says that at the April 11, 2024, meeting the matter wasn’t voted on. Waterman responded that was why he was bringing it to the Board for the decision, since the Compensation Commission hadn’t voted.

• Rhodea asked if every person on the Commission had been talked to. “This needs to be legal, and I’m not convinced it is,” she said. Miedema agreed saying it wasn’t about paying the extra money but rather making the decision the correct way.

• Moss suggested avoiding the issue by abolishing the Compensation Commission and having the Board determine the salaries. Zylstra was supportive.

• Commissioner John Teeples talked through how it’s only $18,000, whether or not the County could be potentially damaged by the decision, and how the consequences are immaterial in reality. He concluded that in balancing the perspectives he could support the motion.

• Rhodea responded that she thought the balance was in integrity, and how she didn’t believe it would be legal to approve the increase, not that she didn’t agree with it. She recommended going back to the statue to look at how the Compensation Commission is set up and evaluate if it can be dissolved in order for the Board to make independent decisions—recognizing the action would need legal review. Rhodea made a motion to table until the matter could be reviewed.

• Zylstra agreed with tabling, saying he was supportive of the increase but wanted to find a mechanism they could all be comfortable using.

• Brugger also was in favor of tabling. He said he would be more comfortable voting if he had a legal recommendation that the intent of the meeting was corroborated by other members of the Commission. Even though Waterman reiterated that he had supplied much of that, Brugger said it was optics for him. The testimony provided was from the two people who would benefit from getting a raise and the person being held responsible for the process being “botched,”—with which Brugger disagreed and instead blamed Kallman Legal Group. He added that he would be interested in hearing more about dissolving the Compensation Commission.

• Commissioner Phil Kuyers said emphatically that he thought getting rid of the Compensation Commission was a “really bad idea.” He thought the commissioners should go back and look at why it was originally created.

• Unlike Brugger, Miedema didn’t think hearing from the rest of the Compensation Commission would affect her vote. Without the minutes for reference, Miedema said it would be important to understand the state statue.

By the end of the discussion, Administrator Waterman had been tasked with gathering the remaining testimonies, the background behind the creation of the Officers Compensation Commission, and the information on what it would take for the Commission to be dissolved.

December 9, 2025 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Finance & Administration Committee meeting.

Ottawa County Board of Commissioners
Planning & Policy and Finance & Administration Committees
December 09, 2025

Ottawa County Administration Building
12220 Fillmore Street
West Olive, MI 49460