YouTube presentation courtesy Ottawa County, Michigan
OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Sept. 9, 2025) – The five men who want to be the next Ottawa County Administrator were put through their proverbial paces on Monday.
In a session that lasted more than six hours at the County Administration Building in West Olive, former Holland Mayor Kurt Dysktra, Muskegon County Deputy Administrator Matthew Farrar, City Administrator Chris Kukulski of Billings, Montana, Ottawa County Director of Strategic Impact Paul Sachs, and Deputy City Manager Patrick Waterman of the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming answered questions from a Citizen Work Group of current and past county leadership figures. The hopefuls were asked about the use of grant funds, centered around a scenario given to them ahead of time by Interim Deputy Administrator Ron Frantz.
Interim Administrator Gary Rosema admitted that, if he was a younger man, he would have wanted to be among those queried.
Spring Lake Manager Gordon Gallagher, who was among those posing questions, came away impressed.
Board Vice Chairman Josh Brugger of the Tri-Cities area spoke for his fellow commissioners who were in attendance.
The county board holds a special meeting on Wednesday at 9 AM in the Board Room of the County Administration Building in West Olive (12220 Fillmore St.), where all five administrator finalists will go through individual public interviews. A decision on where the governing panel will do next could come after those queries, or another meeting may need to be scheduled.
Ottawa County has not had a full-time Administrator since John Gibbs was relieved of his duties on February 29th of last year. Rosema assumed the interim operational leadership duties in January after two previous temporary administrators left, and this is the third organized search for a full-time leader since Gibbs’ departure.
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