In Chair John Teeples’ absence, Vice Chair Josh Brugger led the County Administrator discussion which focused on three main topics: release of candidate names, interview process, and Citizen Work Group process.

Interim County Administrator Gary Rosema told the Board that he intended to release the names of the five County Administrator candidates on September 8—the day the candidates are to be interviewed by the Citizen Work Group.

• Commissioner Doug Zylstra expressed that September 8 seemed late for the names to be released.

• Commissioner Allison Miedema said that if all five candidates have agreed to be interviewed, it would be appropriate to move forward as soon as possible with releasing the names. “We should err on the side of transparency,” she said. Commissioner Kendra Wenzel agreed.

• Commissioner Joe Moss also agreed, saying he would like to give his constituents time to give him feedback. He added that releasing the names presently would gain a week of transparency for the public.

• In agreement with Moss and Miedema, Rhodea also wanted to see the names released right away. She said the public needs time to provide feedback.

• Commissioner Jim Barry compared the name release to a public meeting, remarking that agendas go out by Friday noon for a Tuesday meeting. He, too, said there should be more time for the public to know the names, adding that even a Friday announcement would be helpful.

• Commissioners Phil Kuyers and Jacob Bonnema agreed that Thursday or Friday would be appropriate for releasing the names.

• Interim Deputy Director Ron Frantz pushed back saying he had told the candidates they could keep their anonymity most likely until Tuesday, the 8th, though they might have to give their names as early as Friday the 5th. He was concerned at least one candidate could back out if the date was changed to earlier.

• Rhodea encouraged Frantz to get the candidates to agree to Thursday so that the press could publish the information by Friday. She additionally offered supporting a Friday morning release but insisted that Friday at 5 pm would not be OK.

• Moss asked why people looking to lead a county of 300,000 people had such a big concern with releasing their names.

• Frantz told Moss he would have to ask the candidates, though he surmised it had to do with not wanting to jeopardize their current employment.

• Miedema said she didn’t think it would make much more work to reach out to each candidate one more time and ask about releasing Thursday.

• Brugger concluded the topic on the name release timing by saying he was fine with the 8th or 5th. He understood applicants need to time to notify everyone. Additionally, he said he was in no hurry to make a final decision on the candidates, and that he would be open to pausing for a few days after the interviews to allow the public to weigh in.

Commissioner Zylstra asked about the expectation for the interviews. Would the Board be narrowing down the five candidates or simply selecting the top applicant? Rosema responded that the process would be a Board decision.

• Brugger said that without the Chair present, he didn’t want to make a decision on timeframe.

• Moss said he liked Brugger’s earlier suggestion of conducting the interviews and then, with no urgency behind it, taking a short break to allow for citizen input. He went on to say that if the commissioners chose to move forward by narrowing the pool, they could build consensus as they proceeded and not split the vote.

• Jorritsma said that he didn’t think they needed to approach the interviews with the expectation to narrow since their goal is to get to one finalist.

• Miedema suggested using the interviews to narrow to two candidates. The final two could be given a tour of the County building and perhaps a second round of interviews as is typical in the business community.

• Bonnema said he preferred to go from five candidates to one. Kuyers agreed saying that then they could get it done before the weekend.

• Though he said he could be flexible, Barry said he was optimistic that the right individual will become apparent proving no need for narrowing.

• Wenzel agreed with narrowing to two, while Rhodea said that one set of interviews was probably enough, but it was good to leave the door open if more were needed—and to not vote too quickly. Rhodea also liked the idea of having more than two days to make the final decision.

• Brugger concluded the topic saying it was important to have a unanimous vote. “Whether it’s a two-step process to get down to one or a second vote for the individual who gets the most votes, even if it’s a symbolic nod to the individual, I think that would be a great way to move forward.”

Interim Deputy Director Ron Frantz explained that the Citizen Work Group will show up Monday, September 8, at 9:00 am. There will be three interviews in the morning and two in the afternoon. The location most likely will be Conference Room H, and the meeting will be open to the public and the commissioners. There also will be a live stream. Members of the group will fill out a Report Sheet which the commissioners will receive by the following morning, giving them a couple of days to review. The Report Sheets will include group members’ comments, suggestions, and reactions.

• Zylstra asked how the group members were chosen. Though he hadn’t seen the current list, he said he only knew one of the members who were on the previous list. He suggested names of people he would like to see added to the group, including Chris Kleinjans and Becky Patrick.

• Brugger interrupted him saying that Zylstra already had shared that he doesn’t find value in this group.

• Zylstra responded that he never said he didn’t find value in the group or in having the interviews live streamed.

• Brugger apologized and said he had no interest in changing the names of the members that staff and Chair John Teeples had worked so diligently to select.

• Rhodea asked if the meeting would be noticed, to which Frantz told her the Open Meetings Act attorney told him it’s not an open meeting in the sense that an agenda and public comments would be needed. Frantz said he will confirm the attorney’s perspective in writing by Friday.

• Rhodea responded, “The one technicality on that with the recent Supreme Court case on the Open Meetings Act is: If we’re getting recommendation out of that committee that are coming back to the Board of Commissioners, I would be concerned if we’re not noticing it. Personally, I would recommend that we just notice it. It’s not that hard… It just helps you legally be covered that you’ve done everything you need to do to be transparent.”

• Moss chimed in, “The meeting should be noticed. If it’s an open meeting, I don’t want it to be a fake open meeting. Just notice it.”

• Wenzel asked what the process was for getting the names for the Citizen Work Group and who chose the names.

• Brugger responded, “We’ve talked about that numerous times. I’m not going to weigh in on that one again.”

September 2, 2025 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners—Special Meeting.

Ottawa County Board of Commissioners
Special Meeting
September 2, 2025

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