The meeting began with concern about whether one of the main points of the meeting—solidifying Board Rules—could be accomplished as an action item or should be moved to a discussion item so that Corporate Counsel could review the changes.

• Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea agreed, explaining it is imperative to get things right, and that there are legal ramifications when the Board rushes.

• Chair John Teeples assured the commission that the Rules are not cast in stone. “It’s my attempt over the last month to be working on these things…My objective was to try to save taxpayer dollars, and so we’re consolidating things.”

Miedema’s motion did not pass, with Commissioners John Teeples, Josh Brugger, Jim Barry, Jordan Jorritsma, Jacob Bonnema, Phil Kuyers, and Doug Zylstra voting no. Commissioners Allison Miedema, Sylvia Rhodea, Joe Moss, and Kendra Wenzel voted yes.

• As former Chair of Talent & Recruitment, Miedema said she had not heard there were openings.

• Teeples explained that Board Rules allow the Chair to assign commissioner seats for the ensuing year.

• Rhodea informed the Board that state statue trumps board policy, and they were “entering legal territory.” She wanted to understand and follow state statute.

• Miedema clarified her resistance had nothing to do with the individuals mentioned. Rather, it was related to lack of process and “it feels political.”

• Teeples said he heard the concern about the statute and would make sure to get a legal opinion so the Board wouldn’t be at risk.

The motion to amend the agenda passed. The yes votes were Teeples, Brugger, Barry, Jorritsma, Bonnema, Kuyers, and Zylstra. The no votes were Miedema, Rhodea, Moss, and Wenzel.

“I believe that by using the wording in this motion to authorize you to speak to Corporate Counsel,” Moss said, “I believe the inverse is also true, that you are then deauthorizing the rest of the Board from speaking to Corporate Counsel. If that’s not true, then this item is not necessary as all Board members may speak to Corporate Counsel.”

• Teeples said he would like to have Corporate Counsel explain where the Board stands on every case. “So,” Teeples said, “when we go to closed session, I can explain to you from my perspective, too, not just what the lawyers will say, but my experience… I wanted to get that authorization from you before I did that… I told counsel I can’t discuss it, and so I haven’t.”

• Moss explained that Teeples can and should discuss things with Corporate Counsel. “It’s your role as commissioner,” Moss added. “It’s the role of all the commissioners to care about the County and care about the operations and care about the litigation.”

• Brugger shared that he and Teeples had gotten the sense that the previous Board Chair had discussed matters with legal counsel, granted authority, or gave direction above and beyond his role.

• “As Chair,” Moss said, “I never negotiated settlements. We did that through a public process, whether it was a committee, or whether it was in closed session, I never did that as Board Chair. That’s in the minutes and open record.”

• Teeples clarified that he does not want authorization on settlement negotiations.

While all commissioners seemed to agree Rosema would do well in the position, a few commissioners expressed concern with his past performance as it tied in with former county lawyer Doug Van Essen.

• In a conversation with Teeples and Rosema, Moss said he was told they were considering hiring Van Essen, who had been fired after government overreach during the Covid-19 pandemic. Moss did not support this direction in that “Van Essen has demonstrated a pattern of ignoring the law, toxicity to constituents, willingness to abuse government power to threaten citizens, lying, and more.”

• Miedema said she would not be voting for Mr. Rosema due to process not being followed and because of his ties to Van Essen. She explained that the relationship between the Board and the Administrator, the Board and Corporate Counsel, and then Corporate Counsel working with the Administrator, are very important roles, which are interconnected.

• Rhodea said that Rosema hadn’t taken a stand with Van Essen, which will be even more important if the Board majority places Corporate Counsel under the Administrator. Rhodea shared that during Covid, one of the former commissioners elected in 2021-2022 said he had been advised that if he stood up with courage and protected the people, he would “lose everything.” Rhodea went on to explain that threat was from corporate counsel, and “that bred cowardice among the Board.”

• “Who our Corporate Counsel is really matters,” Rhodea continued. “The things that happened during Covid were egregious and I am not interested in rebuilding Team Covid and Team Fauci here in Ottawa County. And it’s really important who we are choosing in these leadership roles.”

The rest of the commissioners expressed support for Rosema. “I think Gary’s going to do a great job,” Jorritsma said. “The job of the County Administrator is to serve at the pleasure of the Board. And so, if the Board decides we don’t want to go a specific direction with Corporate Counsel, I trust Gary to honor that.”

The motion to appoint Rosema passed 7-4. The yes votes were Teeples, Brugger, Barry, Jorritsma, Bonnema, Kuyers, and Zylstra. The no votes were Miedema, Rhodea, Moss, and Wenzel.

“Mr. Van Essen and I had a relationship—prior to my retiring—for 24 years as he represented the county…” Rosema said. “He did an excellent job. What happened in your relationship, I can’t answer to… That doesn’t mean I won’t work with you guys, I will. I pride myself in being able to turn people’s opinion around…”

Last week, at the Board meeting on January 2, 2025, Commissioner John Teeples was elected Chairman. Unbeknownst to some of the commissioners, he was voted in to serve a two-year term rather than the traditional one-year term.

After a lengthy discussion, and input from Corporate Counsel, Chairman Teeples decided to resign his appointment at the next meeting so a resolution could be adopted limiting his term to one year. After that, he will be re-elected as Chair for one year.

The next Board rule that received lengthy discussion was whether the Chair can appoint committee assignments. Miedema and Rhodea spoke at length about the policies pertaining to this issue, explaining how every committee has different bylaws and requirements—all different and without consistency.

• Rhodea went on to say that the Board will be opening itself up to lawsuits if people are yanked from committees after they have been appointed for specific timeframes by bylaws and statute.

• “I would like to do this right,” Jorritsma said. “I don’t want to be hasty, and I don’t want to rush through this if there are ambiguities. I think it would be fair to have legal look at this so we have clarification.”

• Brugger pushed back, implying the previous Board didn’t respect policy.

• “I know the press has ridden us [the previous Board] hard,” Rhodea said. “I think time will prove to you guys that we’re very diligent, and we really care about process and how things are done. And much of what you’ve heard has been mistruth over these last two years.”

At the end of a sun-up to sun-down meeting, the commissioners ended by congratulating each other on getting through the material and their collaboration.

Rhodea summed up the day well. “I know some of the information shared was new, and I think we had some important conversations… That this County operates in a legal matter, really matters. Things can be much more complex than [we] realize on the surface… It matters that we slow down, we look at details, and that we make sure we get things right.”

“I agree with Sylvia,” Teeples said. “The process of how we manage and how we govern is sometimes more important than the decisions we make, that we show that we’re strategic and methodical in what we do. It may require us to slow down, but the process and everything we do is important. We’re setting the groundwork here for the next four years.”

January 7, 2025, Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Organizational Meeting

Ottawa County Board of Commissioners
Regular Meeting
January 7, 2025

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