OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Sept. 25, 2024) – The Ottawa County Board apparently couldn’t pass a budget without a little drama.
After relatively quiet hearings ahead of Tuesday’s evening’s final vote on a $284.7 million spending plan for fiscal 2025, hearings that were in stark contrast to issues stemming from approving the current financial blueprint, the governing panel had some lengthy discussion on a $900,000 federal grant aimed at tracking communicable diseases. That grant had been inserted into the budget, but Board Chairman Joe Moss of Hudsonville wanted it out.
Zeeland Commissioner Jacob Bonnema didn’t like the last-minute nature of the withdrawal.
The grant was taken out on a 7-4 vote, and the budget passed on a 10-1 vote.
In addition, the board, on a 7-4 vote, set up a special committee to begin in earnest a search for a permanent county administrator. Jon Anderson, who took over in May on an interim basis when John Gibbs was dismissed, handed in his 30-day notice late last month due to a work commitment conflict, but he has agreed to push back his resignation date until December 31st in order to help facilitate the leadership change. Board Chairman Joe Moss and Vice Chairwoman Sylvia Rhodea are expected to lead this special committee, along with fellow Ottawa Impact-supported members Gretchen Crosby, Allison Miedema and Roger Belknap. The resolution creating this search panel says that an independent recruiting agency will assist in the search, and that there will be public interviews for final candidates, something that wasn’t done when Gibbs was named to replace John Shay when the current County Board members took their seats on January 3rd, 2023.
The Ottawa County Board met in the administration building of the Fillmore Street Complex in West Olive (12220 Fillmore St.). An online link to the meeting agenda and supporting documents is here.
-The YouTube link to the meeting video is courtesy of Ottawa County, Michigan
Comments