WEST OLIVE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The end of the search for one entity has led to the beginning of another’s.
Such is the case with the neighboring counties of Kent and Ottawa. On Thursday (July 22, 2021), the Kent County Board of Commissioners approved a contract with Al Vanderberg to become the county’s new administrator, replacing the retiring Wayman Britt. The deal ends an 18-year-long stint as Ottawa County government’s operational leader, as Vanderberg came to the Fillmore Street complex in 2003 following a four-year stint as Kent County’s deputy administrator.
Ottawa County Board Chairman Roger Bergman of Grand Haven and fellow Commissioner Joe Baumann of Holland Township admitted that filling the vacancy won’t be easy.
“When he came on, the county was not in a good financial situation,” Bergman said on “WHTC Talk of the Town” during a Thursday appearance. “The board wasn’t working together.”
“It was the administration versus staff,” Baumann added. “It was not a good relationship.”
“So he made a big change,” Bergman continued, “and he brought us to where we are today. Financially, we’re very well off, and we’re one of the best-run counties, if not the best-run County in the state of Michigan.”
Bergman added that, while “we don’t have it all nailed down yet,” there should be a search committee of seven persons, three of them from the board and one each from the four “quadrants” of the county, assisted by a retained search firm. No timetable for when Vanderberg’s replacement would be named was initially disclosed.
Comments