The Momentum Center is one visible, local entity that is associated with members of the leeching class. Although the Momentum Center may provide benefit to a very small number of individuals, like many organizations operated by the leeching class, they appear to be a machine centered on furthering left-wing progressive political agendas. In addition to money from wealthy donors and grants from the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF), the Momentum Center is heavily supported with tax dollars granted to them by Ottawa County and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Along with monthly payments of $24,233.33 from the Ottawa County mental health millage, they received county funding for start-up costs associated with opening the Moo-Mentum ice cream parlor in Holland, and a $700,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to be used for renovations.

Members of the leeching class tend to make crony-capitalist business deals with each other, socialize together, promote one another, serve on each other’s boards, and give each other awards. In September 2022, both Grand Haven Area Public School (GHAPS) Superintendent Scott Grimes and Curriculum Director Mary Jane Evink advocated for the Momentum Center to receive Ottawa County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars. According to a letter signed by both individuals, Grand Haven Area Public Schools and the Momentum Center work with a “parallel philosophy.” Another GHAPS individual, former Technology Director Brian Wheeler, was appointed to the board of the Momentum Center, before his arrest for embezzlement.

Thrive Ottawa is another organization associated with members of the leeching class and connected to both GHAPS and the Momentum Center. Thrive Ottawa lists the Momentum Center, the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (OAISD), the Ottawa Community School Network (OSCN), Ottawa County Community Mental Health (CMHOC), Community Spoke, Opportunity Thrive, Arbor Circle, and Help Me Grow Ottawa, as community partners on its webpage showing how it fits into the leeching class network.

The Momentum Center Experi-Mentor, Barbara Lee Van Horssen is pictured on Thrive Ottawa’s About and stories pages. Andy Ingall, former GHAPS superintendent, is featured on the Thrive Ottawa’s stories page. Former Director of CMHOC Lynne Doyle (whose organization provided funding to the Momentum Center) and former Community Spoke lead Patrick Cisler (whose organization receives approximately $45,000/year in funding from Ottawa County) are listed as the media contacts for Thrive Ottawa.

Continuing with the confusing connections within the leeching class network, the Ottawa Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (OSAP), which operates under Arbor Circle, is a collaboration formed with assistance from Community Spoke and CMHOC. CMHOC provides approximately $125,000 of funding to Arbor Circle on an annual basis. With some of their money, OSAP created approximately 50 videos for middle school students, high school students, and adults on the topic of building mental health skills. The vast majority of the videos have fewer than 100 views, and VanHorssen of the Momentum Center is featured in some of the videos. Reciprocally, the Momentum Center virtual town hall meetings have featured speakers from Thrive Ottawa.

The Ottawa Community School Network (OCSN), another organization that pushes progressive ideals, has received over $142,000 in funding from CMHOC and is also supported by the United Way. The OCSN provides funding to Opportunity Thrive which was created by its Executive Director, Rebekah Schipper. Randy Schipper, father-in-law of Rebekah, serves on the OAISD board. Additionally, GHAPS Curriculum Director Mary Jane Evink is featured thanking Opportunity Thrive in a video on their website.

In February 2023 the OAISD Coordinator of Health Education announced the district had just won a $2.4 million Child and Adolescent Health Centers (CAHC) grant from the State of Michigan for new health services in Ottawa County Schools. Showing how members of the leeching class sometimes push a world view while being funded with taxpayer money, the Health Coordinator’s bio on OAISD had links to over 170 different documents and websites, many of which encouraged sexual experimentation and enhanced gender confusion. A few examples include the websites Sex, etc that offered a Condom Game, Power to Decide which helped teens find abortion providers, and Stand with Trans which offered advice to parents with children who are seeking sex-change surgery.

Unfortunately, the leeching class is not limited to progressive politics. Sometimes conservative members of the leeching class coordinate with their progressive counterparts, whereas at other times they compete for the monetary prizes. Although I have always supported the message of Constitutional Freedoms and Individual Rights conveyed by Ottawa Impact, they have made some financial decisions that I found questionable. Firstly, although they appeared to have the votes to say ‘no’, they voted to continue funding the Momentum Center. Secondly, they voted to give lucrative and unusual severance agreements to former County Administrator Benjamin Wetmore and former Assistant to the County Administrator Jordan Epperson. Lastly, the Ottawa Impact majority voted to approve an agreement regarding care, management, and maintenance of land located at Crockery Lake. These actions reinforce my belief that politicians of all stripes care more about their pet projects than serious fiscal responsibility.

The Wetmore and Epperson agreements raise concern because both individuals received agreements to stop working for the county based on the possibility that their employment might be terminated under a new county board of commissioners. In addition, they had potential lawsuits against the county. Wetmore received one year of pay ($175,000) and Epperson received a lump sum of $75,000, five months of pay ($33,974), plus insurance benefits. Months later, during the September 23, 2025, OCBOC meeting, Commissioner Jordan Jorritsma (2:10:48) accused Commissioner Joe Moss of misleading OCBOC members during closed session when discussing the separation agreements. Jorritsma may have been onto something as the closed session audio was subsequently released and appears to validate his statements. Then in October 2025, Brandon Hall posted the following photo on Facebook, showing former Board Chair Joe Moss enjoying an evening with both Wetmore and Epperson on Mackinac Island.

Both Epperson and Wetmore worked extensively on the Crockery Lake contract. During discussion for approval, it was revealed that execution of the contract would have involved the use of an unproven technology, and the county would have assumed liability. The county was to pay $563,000 up front, and the project did not address the root causes of the pollution entering Crockery Lake. New commissioners brought concerns over the contract to a judge and at the end of September 2025, “Judge John Hulsing ruled that the proper steps were not followed and the former board acted outside its authority,” nullifying the contract.

It is difficult to determine who is part of the leeching class because members tend to closely associate with genuinely honest people trying to do the right thing. The leeching class preys on these honest individuals, using them for cover, and influencing those who hold elected positions to vote in certain ways. Sometimes members of the leeching class take actions that actually do benefit the public, but sometimes they only make speeches expressing views held by the majority of the public, and then vote in opposition to their words. Sometimes their actions may be illegal whereas at other times they may just be immoral. Whatever the case, as a taxpayer I do not like seeing public money wasted, used inefficiently, or used as a perceived payoff to friends who provided favors. Please pay attention to how various levels of government are allocating resources and give a thought to what you, as a person funding it, is getting in return.

Share

Subscribe now

As the result of a lawsuit settlement agreement, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) released audio recordings from two closed session meetings which took place on December 10, 2024. The meetings concerned the employment status of two employees. Jordan Epperson was the assistant to the county administer. Epperson was hired by former County Administrator John Gibbs and began working for the county in August 2023. Benjamin Wetmore was serving as the interim county administrator, and had been in that role for a little over three months. Wetmore was originally hired to be the deputy county administrator in November 2023. According to the Holland Sentinel article linked above, before working for Ottawa County, Epperson worked as a political consultant at Victory Strategies LLC, which was created by Wetmore.

Both Wetmore and Epperson had requested to cease working for Ottawa County at roughly the same time and were given generous severance agreements in exchange for signing release of liability documentation. After working for Ottawa County for 13 months Wetmore received one year of pay ($175,000) and after working for 16 months, Epperson received a lump sum of $75,000, five months of pay ($33,974), plus insurance benefits.

In the closed session meeting concerning Epperson, former Board Chair Joe Moss explained that, despite having filed a human resources complaint, Epperson wanted to fulfill his present duties and leave the county on good terms, without filing suit against the county. Moss explained he had discussed the matter with Ottawa County Human Resources Attorney Nate Wolf, and that [0:10] “legal council for human resources has been conducting an investigation at the request of Mr. Epperson due to potential claims against Ottawa County. [] Although HR legal council has not provided a written report, he has explained it is in the best interest of the county to get a release of claims from Mr. Epperson.”

Throughout the meeting, Moss made numerous contradictory statements. When Moss said, [3:00] “He wants to be terminated, and he doesn’t want to sue the county,” several commissioners asked “Why doesn’t he just quit?” Moss responded saying, [3:30] “there’s been an ongoing investigation, at Mr. Epperson’s request, against the county.” When commissioners asked, “What are the nature of those claims?” Moss responded with a vague, “There was a laundry list; a lot of it stems from issues he has had with HR,” and then said the list of complaints was not available to be seen by the other commissioners.

Several commissioners including Rebekka Curran, Doug Zylstra, and Jacob Bonnema then asked to speak with HR about Epperson’s situation, but Moss denied their request. Commissioner Gretchen Cosby explained that “he was hired in on one job description, and a second job description with different role requirements was released along with his resume, to the Holland Sentinel.” She indicated this release led to attacks by the media and others suggesting Epperson was unqualified for the position, and his reputation was consequentially destroyed. Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea suggested the leak to the media by HR was intentional and done for malicious purposes. At one point, [19:00] Cosby suggested the “potential risk” to the county could be as much as “$10 million.”

When Bonnema asked, [7:20] “What are his financial damages?” Moss talked about potential county expenses due to litigation and settlement, but did not address damages suffered by Epperson. Some commissioners noted “it’s not evidence” and again asked to speak with attorney Nate Wolf. In fact, requests to speak with Wolf were made throughout the closed session and repeatedly denied. Moss, the liaison between the board and the county, explained that he was relaying what the attorney had said, and that because Wolf was involved in the HR investigation, the commissioners could not speak to him.

Throughout the meeting Bonnema repeatedly tried to gain an understanding of the potential claims and liability of the county, [1:03:00] “I’m just trying to understand the whole picture of what his damages are.” But not receiving any pertinent information, he drew his own logical conclusion. [34:55] “You guys want to hand him a bunch of money because he’s your friend. [] I’m the only one willing to say it. [] You want to hand these guys golden parachutes.” Bonnema also suggested that Epperson may have played a role in his own reputation destruction, referring to statements Epperson had made online, saying [1:03:00] “Jordan said some horrible things about women.”

Commissioners also discussed the separation date. While some commissioners thought it would be good to let Epperson work until the end of the year, others thought an immediate separation was more appropriate. Despite having recommended “a clean break,” Moss stated [53:50] “He has limited work that’s definitely, strongly needed in the next month. [] What if we allowed him to choose that date?” Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea agreed, “We could do something like, whenever Jordan is ready to go between now and the 31^st.”

Once commissioners were finished discussing the Epperson separation agreement, they turned their attention towards Benjamin Wetmore. While Wetmore had not filed an official complaint with the HR department, the commissioner discussion was very similar. Some of the commissioners were concerned Wetmore would be let go by the incoming board of commissioners and felt it was in the interest of Ottawa County to offer him a severance in exchange for a release of claims agreement.

Former Board Chair Moss stated, [1:45]] “I’m asking to consider a severance [] so that on January 2, the new board can appoint whoever they want.” He added, [3:00] “He is not looking to leave today. He is looking to provide a clean transition for the board. [] He understands that he will not be retained.”

Board members questioned offering Wetmore severance since he worked in an interim position and had only been in that position for three months. Moss clarified why he thought Wetmore deserved a generous severance. “I ask myself what is the right thing to do? He has nine kids. He has a family. He has worked very, very hard for the county. [] That’s why I’m at 12 months [pay as severance].”

When commissioners discussed Wetmore’s separation date, Commissioner Zylstra wanted to end his employment immediately, namely upon signing the separation agreement. Moss disagreed stating, “one of the key facts is that he is willing to stay on until the first so there is no gap in legal [inaudible].” Zylstra did not think a few weeks without an administrator would be problematic. Commissioner Mediema and another female commissioner noted there are some tasks such as “signing checks,” that only the administrator can do.

The response to the release of the closed session audio by some on social media has been to deflect criticism aimed at Moss, and encourage people not to listen to the audio or seek information for themselves.

As an early Ottawa Impact supporter, I am disappointed. Listening to the audio, it was apparent to me that Moss was in complete control. I thought he effectively dismissed all relevant questions and pursued his goals. Several of the other Ottawa Impact members of the board appeared to completely trust Moss, and did not seek additional background information. In my opinion, Moss displayed exactly the type of behavior that creates public disdain for elected leaders.

The photo below was posted on social media in October 2025 by Brandon Hall, who noted it was recently taken at a conservative event on Mackinac Island. Among others, the photo includes Hall himself and former board chair Joe Moss standing between Jordan Epperson and Benjamin Wetmore.

Referring to the upcoming change in the board of commissioners, Moss mentioned, [7:10] “the elephant in the room” saying “it would be ideal to take care of it [Epperson’s employment separation] before the end of the year.” Perhaps Bonnema was right when he said, “You guys want to hand him a bunch of money because he’s your friend?”

I’ve given you my opinion, but I recommend you listen to the OCBOC closed session audio meetings and draw your own conclusions. For me, they were not only disappointing and eye opening, but were also highly entertaining. At one point Bonnema says that Sheriff Kemper says Jordan is the most despised employee in the building. I was stunned to hear one board member call another “disgusting” and then to hear them going back and forth trading insults. It is not how I imagined my elected leaders would conduct business.

Share

Subscribe now

“Additionally, two of the three individuals hired by Gibbs, Wetmore and Epperson, ceased working for the county on December 31, 2024, with highly unusual separation agreements. Unusually, both individuals received severance agreements to stop working for the county on the possibility that their employment might be terminated under a new county board of commissioners. Wetmore received one year of pay ($175,000) and Epperson received a lump sum of $75,000, five months of pay ($33,974), plus insurance benefits.”

On December 16, 2024, Dan Zimmer, through his attorney Sarah Howard, filed a lawsuit to stop the payments of these severance agreements, on the basis that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) had violated the Open Meetings Act when meeting to discuss the separations. During the September 23, 2025, OCBOC meeting, commissioners voted to approve a settlement agreement which included an $18,500 payment to Zimmer and his attorney, and release of the OCBOC December 10, 2024, closed session meeting minutes.

Commissioner Joe Moss and three other commissioners voted against approving the settlement agreement, believing that it set a bad precedent, and therefore was worthwhile to fight the lawsuit in court. Their efforts failed, as seven other commissioners voted to settle the lawsuit. In the following commissioner comment session, Commissioner Jordan Jorritsma accused former Board Chair Joe Moss of misleading other OCBOC members during the December 10, 2024, closed session meeting when discussing the Epperson and Wetmore separation agreements. Commissioner Jorritsma (2:10:48) stated,

“Based on the documents we’ve received, the circumstances around the dismissal of Jordan Epperson and possibly Ben Wetmore, appear to be deeply troubling. In my view, they may even cross into corrupt, or possibly fraudulent territory, and it seems clear that Joe Moss misled the board in order to arrange substantial payouts; at least in Epperson’s case.

Ahead of December 10, 2024; that board meeting, then Chair Moss sent a memo stating, “legal counsel for human resources has been conducting an investigation at the request of Mr. Epperson, due to potential claims against the county.” This memo led to a closed session discussion of Epperson’s dismissal. In that meeting, Moss said HR Council Nate Wolf recommended a clean break, including a severance deal. According to the minutes, Moss presented a draft agreement he said came from Wolf, suggested Epperson receive six months pay, health insurance, and a $150,000 cash payment.

That alone should raise concerns. Not just due to the amount involved for an executive aid, but because Nate Wolf never made that recommendation. Nor did he draft that agreement. Let me say that again for emphasis. Nate Wolf never made that recommendation, and he never drafted that agreement, but Joe Moss said he did. In a sworn affidavit we’ve received, Wolf clarified his role. He did investigate Epperson’s complaint and interviewed him three times between October 24 and November 15, 2024. On November 29 he spoke with Moss about a possible separation agreement and said, “I told him that I did not see a significant buyout being appropriate, however, Jordan Epperson’s complaint could change that analysis, but I was still investigating.” Then on December 3, Moss asked Wolf for a template separation agreement, a template mind you, which Wolf provided. On December 6, Wolf stated, “I spoke to Joe Moss and he told me that Ottawa County is going to terminate the employment of Jordan Epperson. Joe Moss instructed me to terminate that investigation. I discussed the risks of terminating an employee after that employee filed a complaint. He did not ask me to attend a commission meeting, or that the board was going to discuss the termination issue at an upcoming commission meeting. So, I drafted a rough outline of the report today for my file.”

During the December 10 meeting, some commissioners, like Commissioner Bonnema, asked to hear directly from Wolf, but Moss claimed he was unavailable. Wolf later stated, he was never asked to attend, but would have been available if requested. At some point between December 3 and the December 10 meeting, someone took the template separation agreement that Nate Wolf provided to Joe Moss, and added in the six-month severance and $150,000 figure. Where those numbers came from, I don’t know, but they certainly didn’t come from any formal recommendation made by the attorney who was investigating the situation. When presented the at the closed meeting, Joe Moss told the board that Nate Wolf had written the agreement, recommended it be adopted, and was unavailable to be at the meeting. According to the sworn affidavit, and according to the sworn statement we received from Nate Wolf, none of this is true.

So, there is a lot to summarize here. Let me summarize with some bullet points.

• Nate Wolf began investigating a complaint by Epperson, which involved HR, John Gibbs, and Joe Moss.

• That investigation was not completed, because Joe Moss told Nate Wolf to stop the investigation.

• Wolf made no recommendation for termination or severance.

• Wolf provided only a generic template separation agreement; not one that said six months and $150,000.

• Moss told the board that Wolf had recommended the severance and drafted the agreement when he had not.

• Moss prevented the board from hearing directly from Wolf or HR.

• Based on this misinformation, the board approved a $75,000 payout and a five-month severance for Epperson.

Taken together, these facts paint a troubling picture. Joe Moss misled the board to authorize a significant payout based on claims that were never properly investigated. As to why, I couldn’t say for sure. Perhaps It was to bury Epperson’s complaints that mentioned him? Perhaps it was to support an ally before the board change requiring him to stand on his own merits? Or maybe it reflects a pattern of saying one thing publicly and another behind closed doors?

Regardless, the result is the same. The public lost out. Instead of choosing transparency, Moss chose secrecy. Instead of forthrightness, he presented convenient, but false information. Adding to this, during the same closed session the board also discussed Ben Wetmore’s dismissal; different closed session; In that case they approved twelve-months severance, justifying it by saying, “they felt it was the right thing to do;” and siting that he has nine children. I’m not sure which is worse? Paying over $150,000 due to personal sympathy, or misleading the board and public to push through a payout? Fortunately, that’s not for me to decide. That’s up to the people of this county.”

When given the opportunity, Commissioner Moss did not respond to Jorritsma’s accusations.

These claims are troubling to say the least. The people of Ottawa County deserve the truth, and they deserve to be represented by individuals who have their best interests at heart. The purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people, but over time, many government institutions become populated with individuals who place their own financial desires and ideological utopic views above the rights of the people they represent. Ottawa Impact was formed during COVID as a citizen response to government overreach. In 2022, Ottawa Impact commissioners won a board majority because they professed to believe in the Constitution and campaigned on the values of faith, family, and freedom.

The response to these allegations from many supporters of Commissioner Moss on social media has been to attack the character of Commissioner Jorritsma rather than address his claims against Moss. Distrust in Jorritsma stems from the end of 2022, when a freshly elected group of first-time precinct delegates made sweeping changes to the Ottawa County Republican Party Executive Committee. At the time, Jorritsma and two other individuals did not try to understand what changes the newcomers were interested in making. Instead, he coordinated with establishment Republicans and sued the Ottawa County Republican Party. The suit cost the local party approximately $20,000 and the judge ordered a redo of the convention in which the sweeping changes were made. The redo convention resulted in 23 of the original 24 people who were elected at the original convention being re-elected to the executive committee. Not only did Jorritsma not work with the newly elected individuals, he discounted their experience and admonished them for voting him and others “with experience” out.

I still believe in the Ottawa Impact values and also believe most elected officials that are associated with Ottawa Impact also believe in those values, but professed values mean nothing if decisions and actions are not grounded by them. Jorritsma’s statement coupled with some actions taken by Ottawa Impact associated commissioners, such as the Crockery Lake agreement and voting to continue providing funding to the Momentum Center, have given me pause.

It is possible for two individuals who publicly disagree to both be acting in their own self-interest and not be working for the betterment of the county in every circumstance. I am just an average citizen who does not mind watching board meetings, and likes to pay attention to local political happenings that affect my life and the lives of everyone living in the community. While it is tempting to jump to conclusions in this situation, I plan to keep an open mind so I can have an informed opinion as more details are released.

Subscribe now

Share

I’m not sure if a county needs a motto, but I thought ‘Where Freedom Rings’ was a good one to have. It’s a reminder that every American has the right to be left alone, and it is the duty of each level of American government to protect our freedoms.

However, a very vocal minority had actively pursued the demise of ‘Where Freedom Rings’ since its inception. To them, that motto seemed to imply a complete inverse to its actual meaning. Where most people saw the new motto as an attempt to return to our Constitutional principles, or simply a statement of an ideal we strive to achieve, progressive activists saw it as some kind of threat. For the past couple of years, commissioner meetings were regularly barraged with woke progressive attacks on the motto. A woman named Rachel brought forth a doozy at the July 22^nd meeting (at the 1 hr 3 minute mark):

I offer my comment in support of the elimination of the current motto, ‘Where Freedom Rings’. As previously noted, freedom is not the issue, but the issue is freedom for whom. This motto speaks to me especially as changed from ‘Where You Belong’ speaks of freedom for a specific group of people: conservative, married, straight, white, Christian, cisgender folks with good employment. What about our black brothers and sisters? What about other folks of color? What about our immigrant communities? What about those who believe differently? What about gender and sexual minorities? What about those who believe differently? What about single folks? What about folks who are disabled, whether visibly or otherwise? What about them? What about us? Because they and we are here. Don't we deserve freedom, too? And welcome and safety? Things which by the way Christian scripture and Jesus himself asks of those of us who call ourselves Christian. In Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and Hebrews to name just a few. If you want chapter and verse, I have receipts. Here are just a few of them. Isaiah 60, the opening verses of Isaiah 61, the closing section of Matthew 25, Ezekiel 47:22, Jeremiah 7:5-7, 1 John 4:20. Our county is a diverse one [..] and we need to recognize that, and our government needs to make sure that it speaks to the safety and welcome and freedom for all of us not just those who look live and believe like those in power. That is why I support the removal of the motto where freedom rings. I'd like to go back to where you belong, but for now I will settle for the elimination of the current one. Thank you for your time.

Like many of the social-justice inspired public comments of the past few years, this diatribe was laced with a woke world view. What does it mean to be woke? In short, a woke person is someone who believes that society is unjustly stratified by multitudes of systemic power and it is his/her duty and obligation to find and break down all traces of said injustice.

From the excerpt, it’s clear that this person believes our society is stratified by race and religion as she initially declares “conservative, married, straight, white, Christian, cisgender folks with good employment” to be at the top of the power structure, and then ends her remarks with “our government needs to make sure that it speaks to the safety and welcome and freedom for all of us not just those who look live and believe like those in power”. In between all that, she asserts that the former county motto somehow rains down ill effects on a wide range of victims: black brothers and sisters, folks of color, immigrant communities, gender and sexual minorities, people who believe differently, and the disabled. No evidence of bigotry or harmful actions is provided, but she’s sure something must be oppressing those on her lengthy list of victims, and she’s doing ‘the work’ to identify, expose and denounce the intolerable injustice of a county motto that contains the word Freedom in it.

Rachel’s speech is reminiscent of the following paragraph from Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (chapter 1, page 2):

The critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars interested in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. The movement considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies discourses take up, but places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, context, group- and self-interest, and even feelings and the unconscious. Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.

While you’ve been busy with family and career, activists have regularly been attending public meetings in order to influence county and city government decision making with speeches like the one above. Although removal of the county motto isn’t going to affect the substance of our daily lives, it is a reminder that a certain segment of our population disagrees with the common meanings of the words ‘freedom’ and ‘equality’ and sees the entire foundation of the United States of America in a stunningly negative light.

Subscribe now

Share

As mentioned in the previous article, depending on how NGOs are operated they can:

1. Provide a channel for privately funded government

2. Further the interests of private individuals and corporations

3. Destabilize local and/or foreign governments

4. Function as a surrogate for government organizations

5. Avoid transparency (i.e. open meetings act)

During the interview, describing ways government has been privately funded, Benz referenced Bill Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State who said, (26:00) “We have to synchronize the US foreign policy with the foreign policy set out by the [George Soro’s] Open Society Foundation (OSF).” Benz stated, (28:00) “The Soros Foundation is a co-investor and a co-sponsor of government initiatives and government projects. [] The OSF is a donor into USAID initiatives, a donor into state department initiatives; this is what you see when a government agency cannot get sufficient funds allocated from congress. They need to reach into the NGO sphere or the private sector with multi-national companies, to effectively co-sponsor and provide the top-up capital to get the amount of money they need to run this operation.”

In Ottawa County, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Office was established in early 2019. The county estimated $1,100,000 of funding over 5 years was needed of which the county planned to provide approximately $600,000 with the other $400,000 coming from the private and non-profit sectors. The county received substantial donations from the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF) and Mr. Dick Haworth of the Haworth Company among others. Following in the footsteps of the US government system, local government, businesses, and non-profits aligned their policy focused on DEI and proceeded to implement their agenda despite the wishes of the citizenry.

Benz explained how NGOs do research and networking in place of governments. (1:09:19) “What the US Institute of Peace is doing is, they’re building giant networks, and serving as a back channel for diplomacy. They are doing field work. [] We want to know economically what is happening in this region [] The US Institute of Peace will do surveys. They will work with the local populations.”

In Ottawa County we have Community Spoke to serve in an analogous role. Community Spoke receives funding from Ottawa County on an annual basis, the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation, the Holland/Zeeland Community Foundation, and the United Way. It is an entity involved in bringing government agencies and non-profit organizations together to form collaborations. Community Spoke is involved with numerous surveys and data collection efforts, which are used as justification for initiatives undertaken by collaborating non-profit organizations and government entities. Some surveys and data collection efforts facilitated by Community Spoke include:

• Housing Needs Assessment Survey

• Age-Friendly Holland/Zeeland

• Youth Assessment Survey

• Latino Community Engagement Study

• Healthy Ottawa Plan

• Migrant Farmworker Health Survey

• Community Assessment for Ottawa County

• Community Healthy Needs Assessment

Benz also explained one way the NGOs have been used to direct government assets and taxpayer money back to the stakeholders. (1:18:15) “USAID paid $500,000,000 to Harvard Institute for International Development [] to go deeper into Russian society than the US government wanted to be seen doing. [] The Russian oligarchs got rich, selling at bargain basement prices, all these Russian state-held assets, in non-competitive bids, where only two outside bidders were allowed to participate. The Harvard Management Fund for the Harvard endowment, and the George Soros Quantum Fund.”

This looting of government assets is not unlike the distribution of $57 million of Ottawa County ARPA funds. In June 2021, pre-selected community stakeholders were contacted to form an ARPA Committee “to identify needs in their areas of expertise and assist with developing draft funding priorities for the county board and administration” for the purpose of distributing ARPA funding. The committee included business representatives, government employees, and non-profit leaders whose organizations and affiliates would soon become the primary recipients of the $57 million. The committee was completely void of any members of the general population or small business owners.

Benz explained how NGOs are used to destabilize governments, shut down projects, and influence outcomes by funding groups who question government operations and stage protests. In this example, Benz referred to a copper mine located in Mongolia. (1:30:10) “Soros didn’t care about the environmental impact of that Mongolian mine. The fact that they could astroturf environmental protestors to take to the streets, and to create a human rights predicate as to why the international community should intervene, and stop the Mongolian government from signing this deal, was simply an NGO. If the US government did that, it would be a covert operation.”

In August 2021 in Grand Haven, we had the Grand Haven Energy Organization (GHEO) and members from the Sierra Club who were instrumental in stopping a peaking power plant from being built on Harbor Island to replace the recently decommissioned J.B. Simms plant. They were able to organize additional residents to speak in opposition to the peaking plant project at a Grand Haven City Council meeting, which resulted in cancellation of the project by the Grand Haven City Council.

On a much larger and more insidious scale, NGOs can be used to create color revolutions. Benz stated, (1:33:45) “Instead of getting at the military level with tanks, and guns, and fighter jets, you do it at the paramilitary street level. You shut down the country by getting a critical mass of civil society organizations to not cooperate with that government. So, the government can’t bring in any revenue. They can’t pay their own police officers, or members of the military to quell the riots because there’s no money in the government coffers.”

We saw this in America with the 2020 “summer of love’” BLM riots, and similar riots are taking place today with immigration officials attempting to deport illegal aliens in opposition to some government officials from sanctuary states and cities. According to social media, CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, was funded by the State of California, and they are actively involved in the Los Angeles protests which have turned violent.

When it comes to the involvement of NGOs with our various levels of government and government institutions, it is impossible to point the finger at any one person or entity as the problem. Rather these entities have developed, grown, evolved, and moved down to the local level over time, and they work largely against the interests of everyday Americans. NGOs are just one part of this system which has come to keep power concentrated in, and money flowing into the hands of those involved. Again, I urge you to listen to Tucker Carlson interview Mike Benz if you haven’t already.

Subscribe now

Share

Benz began by explaining that NGOs are the link between government and business. To the average American they appear like ordinary non-profit organizations, but in many circumstances they (5:40) “really advance the interests of insiders, or national champions like our large multinational corporations.” NGOs can receive funding from a variety of sources including government entities, private donors, businesses, and other non-profits. (6:30) “NGOs can serve as the back-channels for diplomacy. NGOs can provide a plausible way of providing financial assistance,” and depending on how they are operated they can actually do all of the following:

1. Provide a channel for privately funded government

2. Further the interests of private individuals and corporations

3. Destabilize local and/or foreign governments

4. Function as a surrogate for government organizations

5. Avoid transparency (i.e. open meetings act)

Benz talked about the government creating laws and policies favorable to the donors who provide funding to the NGOs. (7:00) “The donor/drafter class [] they draft off the policies of the US government.” Examples include George Soros and the Open Society Foundation, Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Carnegie Foundation, and The Ford Foundation. “All of these have corporations and financial firms attached to their philanthropy. They will receive funding from the US government or from USAID, or their portfolio assets will, or NGOs, or companies will, but they will also donate into it. [] Oftentimes they are paid by the government, but oftentimes they are also paying into a government project that advances some other interest.” In essence, a CIA playbook that was created decades ago to counter Soviet expansion, while simultaneously expanding US political and business interests, has morphed into a nearly unaccountable psuedo government that also finances and steers certain social, educational, political, and business interests right here in the homeland.

Down at the local level, we have foundations such as Gentex Foundation which “provides financial contributions to non-profit organizations.” We also have the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation (GHACF) and the Holland/Zeeland Area Community Foundation (CFHZ). Haworth Helps is a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) connected to the Haworth Company, and operated through CFHZ. According to CFHZ, “Amongst the non-profits that have recently received support [from Haworth Helps] are Greater Ottawa County United Way, Children’s Advocacy Center, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland, Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes, Outdoor Discovery Network, Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity, and many more.”

The Outdoor Discover Center (ODC Network) has recently played a significant role in the converting of Mary A. White Elementary School in Grand Haven into a preschool, against the wishes of a substantial number of Grand Haven residents. In addition to receiving funding from business supported foundations, in November 2022, the ODC Network received $7.5 million dollars of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC). The ARPA money was designed “to help communities lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. The plan was for the ODC Network “to create 1,000 additional child care spots across the county [] through a coalition of partners” which included schools and businesses. This initiative which was pitched as a way to help young families with their childcare needs, has displaced an entire school of K-4^th grade students, and will undoubtedly decimate local private child care businesses.

As a reaction to budget changes from Governor Whitmer’s administration that effectively reduces funding for K-12 school districts, yet increases funding for preschools, the Grand Haven Area Public Schools (GHAPS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ODC Network. Under the MOU, ODC Network will provide funding to develop the outdoor learning environment of the new preschool, and GHAPS will provide staff for the program. The new initiative will enable GHAPS to chase per-pupil State of Michigan funding for preschool aged children.

This combination of actions by multiple levels of government (Federal, State of Michigan, Ottawa County), local business and non-profits, and NGOs (ODC) has had an outcome few in the community desire.

This is solely one example of the way local NGOs are operating in a similar fashion to national NGOs. There are many more which will be shared in an upcoming article. In the mean time, I hope you make the time to listen to Tucker Carlson’s interview with Mike Benz.

Share

Subscribe now

On June 4, 2025, in a meeting filled with disagreement, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) followed the recommendation of the executive search firm Double Haul, and voted to invite five candidates from a pool of thirty-nine to interview for the county administrator position. Although three of the five candidates accepted interview offers, two of them decided to drop out, leaving one remaining candidate. Apparently, Col. Michael Tremblay was already en route to Ottawa County when the last candidate dropped out, and he wanted to proceed with the process. Tremblay was interviewed on June 12, 2025.

Before even interviewing Tremblay, the board decided that they would re-open the selection process. Likewise, Tremblay was open and honest with the board, explaining that he was actively looking at other positions, implying that he may not be available for much longer.

Col. Tremblay, a native of Michigan, has held many leadership roles throughout his military career. During his interview he made it clear he would take direction from the board of commissioners, listen to experts, and remain politically neutral.

For me, the most interesting part of the interview was between the 51-59 minute marks when he talked about his leadership experience during COVID. Until June 2021, he served as the garrison commander at Camp Humphreys in South Korea. He said that where he was, people continued to eat in restaurants, play golf, and to engage in normal activities, while people in America seemed to be losing their minds. In late 2019, approximately 100 people in his garrison became sick with an unknown illness. After investigation, it was determined all had recently been in China. From that point on, a two-week quarantine was implemented for anyone coming into his garrison from the outside.

Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea asked Tremblay about how he saw the relationship between quarantine and civil liberties. He answered by describing the quarantine accommodations: quarantined individuals were kept in apartments that had exercise weights, a refrigerator, hot plate, television, and were delivered three meals per day. In other words, Tremblay felt their quarantine conditions were not overly oppressive, and the loss in personal liberties was a worthy trade-off.

At one point during the interview Commissioner Josh Brugger (1:23:00) asked “who is your we?” referring to Col. Tremblay’s family and home life. As an Ottawa county resident, this question concerns me as I believe it could be interpreted as a means of discrimination.

Commissioner Joe Moss (1:43:20) confronted Tremblay, asking him about a statement he had written saying Ottawa County should have “internal equity audits.” Tremblay said he didn’t recall writing that.

During COVID, Ottawa County residents experienced government overreach and infringement on their individual civil liberties. Residents who questioned authority were dismissed by leadership who relied solely on the recommendations of credentialed experts. Few people in power dared to question or push back against what they perceived as bad policy from a higher authority. I doubt Col. Michael Tremblay will become the next Ottawa County Administrator given the chain of events that has taken place within the candidate selection process. I think he is likely to accept other employment before the Ottawa County search process is complete. However, should Col. Tremblay become the Ottawa County administrator, I believe he will unquestionably strive to implement the vision of the board. Much like our previous county leaders during COVID, I believe he is inclined to execute a higher authority’s vision with little consideration as to its overreach or ethicality.

Share

Subscribe now

• Voting Block 1 - (John Teeples, Josh Brugger, Phil Kuyers, James Berry, Jordan Jorritsma, Jacob Bonnema, Doug Zylstra)

• Voting Block 2 - (Joe Moss, Kendra Wenzel, Sylvia Rhodea, Allison Mediema)

In the end, with no discussion on candidate qualifications or personal interaction with the candidates, they voted to interview the top five candidates recommended by the executive search firm Double Haul.

Just before the vote took place, Commissioner Joe Moss briefly highlighted the issue. (5:27:30) “We’re about to move forward with a set of candidates. We have not been able to call them. We haven’t talked to them. We’ve been instructed not to have communication about them. We don’t have community input.” It appears the OCBOC relied entirely on recommendations from an executive search firm that performed its own evaluation of the candidates outside of the view of the public.

Four commissioners have consistently requested increased access to information and transparency throughout this process, appearing a bit hypocritical since three of them were involved in the hiring of former administrator John Gibbs. If you remember, Gibbs was selected to be the county administrator before commissioners were sworn into office in January 2023. At least one of the three commissioners has expressed regret for the way that hiring practice was handled. On her Facebook page Commissioner Allison Mediema wrote, “If I could go back in time, I would have voted to have John Gibbs installed on an interim basis and then conducted a search for a full time administrator (to which he could also apply if he so chose). One of the main reasons for this is so that the public could weigh in on applicants. Because sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Here is a full summary of recent events.

In earlier meetings, some of the commissioners had requested a packet containing full candidate applications and information gathered from any interviews for all thirty-nine applicants at least a week before the review meeting. Although they did receive this information, it was only about 1.5 days in advance. Many commissioners felt the amount of time for candidate vetting was insufficient. Therefore, upon opening the meeting on June 4^th a motion was made to adjourn until the next day to allow additional time for candidate vetting, but the motion failed with a 7-4 vote.

This motion was followed by a motion to review applications in open session. Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea raised concerns of potential Open Meetings Act (OMA) violations and cited two recent court cases written about in the Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) February newsletter article titled Open Meetings Act – The Dangers of Delegation. From the articles, Rhodea read, (39:30)

“Where a committee, council, or subcommittee is empowered to act in matters in a manner that deprives the full body, example, the board of commissioners, of the opportunity to consider and vote on all of the matters before it, the committee’s decision is an exercise of governmental authority which effectuates public policy, and the committee proceedings are therefore subject to the OMA.

For example, when a committee or subcommittee considers and eliminates potential options which are not part of the eventual advisory conclusions sent to the board of commissioners, this narrowing of scope is an exercise of governmental authority that effectuates public policy. This may occur where there are several applications under consideration and the committee recommends some of them, and rejects others.” [] “The full board must demonstrate independent consideration of the merits of the committee’s recommendations, and not merely give their approval without adequate discussion.” [] “The tasks of studying, considering, and narrowing of a variety of issues for the purpose of rendering a final recommendation to the full board, should be open to the public with the purpose of the OMA.”

Rhodea described the administrator search. “In 2025, the OCBOC delegated its responsibility to the county administrator, several staff members, and Double Haul, to assist with the process of hiring a county administrator. The work has included the collection of applications, cover letters, resumes, and with a smaller number of candidates, narrowed down by Double Haul, NOT COMMISSIONERS, two additional rounds of multiple questions and an interview. Double Haul has now provided their insights and a ranking of applicants based on the interview scores.” [] “Double Haul ranked applicants, and actively decided which applicants would receive interviews, utilizing a non-transparent process.”

To ensure compliance with the OMA, Rhodea requested the board discuss candidates during open session and not merely follow the recommendations of Double Haul, but the motion failed with a 7-4 vote.

Next, the OCBOC attempted to enter closed session but this did not happen because a two-thirds majority vote is required. Instead, the board entered a long recess to give commissioners additional time to evaluate candidates. When the meeting was resumed, (5:13:20) Vice Chair Josh Brugger again made a motion to enter closed session, which again failed.

This motion was followed by a motion from board Vice Chair Brugger to accept the five candidates recommended by Double Haul for interviews. When commissioners attempted to discuss Brugger’s motion, Commissioner Jordan Jorritsma made a motion to call to question, which means end discussion and proceed to a vote. The motion to call to question failed for lack of a three-fifths vote with the four commissioners who had been voting together plus Commissioner Doug Zylstra in opposition. Therefore, discussion on Brugger’s motion to accept the Double Haul recommendations began.

During this time, Commissioner Joe Moss noted (5:17:30) that one of the top five candidates recommended by Double Haul wanted Ottawa County to have internal equity audits. He did not want to blindly accept the Double Haul recommendations and instead made a motion to recommend a slate of twelve candidates. Since other commissioners did not seem to like this idea, the slate was reduced to seven candidates. However, these candidates were not the top seven recommended by Double Haul, but rather seven from the original pool of thirty-nine.

Moss stated, (5:24:00) “Just because they are in Double Haul’s top five does not mean much to this board. This board has to take their qualifications and applications into account and deliberate separately. We can’t just rely on Double Haul, and also, we should not just rely on Double Haul.”

There was little to no other discussion on candidate qualifications and the motion to interview seven candidates put forth by Moss failed and, in the end, commissioners voted to advance the candidates recommended by Double Haul without discussion on qualifications.

Commissioner James Berry stated, (5:26:00) “I really regret that the commission is not giving itself the opportunity to share amongst all commissioners what they see as the pros and cons of these candidates,” and “I’m really not happy with the idea that I’m supposed to vote on these people without feedback from the other commissioners for why they support someone, or why they don’t support someone.”

Board Chair John Teeples insists that the board has followed the law and maintained the confidentiality of applicants. A citizen committee is currently scheduled to interview the remaining candidates in a public meeting on June 11^th. The citizen committee is expected to provide their assessment of candidate strengths and weakness, but not to conduct deliberations. Commissioners are then scheduled to interview the same candidates the following day to make their county administrator selection.

Following the June 4^th meeting, three of the five candidates accepted interview offers. According to the Holland Sentinel, “they include Muskegon County Administrator Mark Eisenbarth; Lee County, Florida, Deputy County Administrator Glen Salyer; and Michael Tremblay, a retiring Army officer with experience in workforce development, municipal operations, crisis response and strategic planning.”

In my opinion the OCBOC should have heeded the warnings from Commissioner Rhodea, as it’s possible they may have violated the Open Meetings Act by blindly accepting Double Haul’s recommendations without adequate discussion on candidate qualifications. Let’s hope this process leads to a good county administrator for the citizens of Ottawa County.

Subscribe now

Share

Ottawa County has not had a permanent County Administrator since February 2024 when former County Administrator John Gibbs was placed on administrative leave and later relieved of his duties. Gibbs subsequently sued the county for wrongful termination and in late January 2025 reached an agreement with the county for $190,000 in exchange for his resignation.

After Gibbs left, Jon Anderson was appointed Interim County Administrator in March 2024 and served until he submitted his resignation in October 2024. On October 16, 2024, Benjamin Wetmore was promoted from Deputy County Administrator to Interim County Administrator. Then the OCBOC attempted to hire a new county administrator, but the final two candidates withdrew themselves from consideration at the last minute. This was highlighted with allegations of intimidation, and statements of denial from current commissioners during the November 25, 2024, Ottawa County Executive Transition Committee meeting, and the OCBOC meeting which took place the following day. The next month, on December 31, 2024, Benjamin Wetmore ceased working for the county, and exited with a highly unusual separation agreement. He received one year of severance pay ($175,000) to stop working for the county on the possibility that his employment might be terminated under a new county board of commissioners.

When the current OCBOC was seated in January 2025, they appointed Gary Rosema as Interim County Administrator and then a review team was assembled to begin the search for hiring a new county administrator. During the March 11, 2025 Ottawa County Planning and Policy Committee meeting, Interim Administrator Gary Rosema and former Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Frantz (a member of the review team), provided an update on the search process. (2:58:00) After reviewing eighteen responses to a request for proposal, the review team had agreed to hire Double Haul Solutions to assist with the hiring process.

Next, Frantz described the process that the county and Double Haul would be following to hire a new administrator. (3:00:10) In order to preserve applicant confidentiality, a citizen workgroup comprised of various government officials from across the county would be reviewing applications, assisting with conducting candidate interviews, and determining candidate strengths and weaknesses. He said “the search firm will be receiving applications and filtering some out,” and “then be presenting applications to the citizen workgroup.” He disclosed that interviews conducted by a citizen workgroup would not be subject to the open meetings act.

Members of the citizen workgroup were selected by Frantz after receiving input from some commissioners and other people including Board Chair John Teeples, Commissioner Jacob Bonnema, Board Vice Chair Josh Brugger, and Interim Administrator Gary Rosema, and consist of the following members:

• Sally Gruppen, City of Zeeland Council Woman and Mayor Pro Tempore

• Gordon Gallagher, Spring Lake Township Manager

• Mark Bennett, Tallmadge Township Supervisor

• Amanda Price, former Ottawa County Treasurer

• Rob Blitchok, Georgetown Township Supervisor

• Karen Lowe, City of Grand Haven Council Woman

Several commissioners expressed concern that their elected duties were being circumvented, and that a group of unelected citizens would ultimately influence the county administrator selection. Although the plan was fluid, Frantz emphasized that the citizen workgroup would not be evaluating candidates, but rather, applicants would be passed onto current commissioners for evaluation, and then commissioners would determine who to interview during an open session.

However, it was unclear if all candidate applications and additional candidate information generated by the citizen workgroup would be available to our elected commissioners. Commissioner Joe Moss (3:11:20) exposed the discrepancy through a series of questions. At one point Frantz responded to Moss, (3:12:00) “The entire group would go to the board. We’re not going to weed anybody out, but we are going to give the board the benefit of our interview and our evaluation of the applications.” Seconds later when Moss suggested the names of all candidates who applied would eventually become public, Frantz stated, “if they are interviewed, they certainly would be, by the board of commissioners, beyond that, I think we would have to talk to corporation council and ask whether those that are weeded out could be known by the public.”

Two months later, during the May 13, 2025, Ottawa County Planning and Policy meeting, Interim Administrator Gary Rosema once again provided an update on the search for a county administrator. Rosema stated, (2:54:00) “39 total applications were received, and of that 39, 30 applicants met the minimum qualifications and will move forward. No, I don’t know who they are and even though we have tried to access that information, Double Haul has been extremely good about just retaining that for the applicants privileges.” He also shared, “Applicants represent a wide range of backgrounds; chief administrative officers, city managers, department heads, nonprofit leaders, consultants, and executives from nationally and globally recognized organizations. Many candidates bring decades of experience managing complex organizations and public services.”

Double Haul would be reducing the number of candidates and bringing them to the board during closed session in which current commissioners would decide who to interview. It was unclear in March whether or not commissioners would be receiving all candidate information created and gathered, and this remained unclear during the May 13^th meeting. Regardless, since the commissioners had not yet seen any candidate information, several expressed concern with evaluating a vast amount of candidate information during a single closed session meeting. They therefore requested receiving packets with candidate application information prior to the closed session. A long discussion ensued with no obvious resolution.

Then during the commissioner comment portion of the May 27, 2025, OCBOC meeting, Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea read a portion of an email she sent to Interim Administrator Rosema summarizing and requesting resolution for administrator hiring process concerns. (2:23:00)

“The statute gives the power and authority to hire a county administrator to elected county commissioners, and as such, the process, including the candidate information, should be fully transparent. Candidates should not be essentially eliminated in private, non-transparent meetings at which county commissioners are not present.

Commissioners should be allowed ample time with applicant’s information to come to their own judgement on candidates, rather than candidates being effectively eliminated by county employees and Double Haul. A glance at a notebook filled with twenty out of thirty-nine candidates during closed session does not ensure commissioners are able to give candidates just, appropriate, and adequate considerations. Perhaps the process is designed to reduce the pool before the closed session with county commissioners?

I believe my requests, which were echoed by other commissioners at an open meeting, are reasonable based on the statutory responsibility of county commissioners, which is not delegated in the law to others. So, I again request the following: that all commissioners be able to pick up the full applications and information gathered from any interviews, and candidate packets collected by Double Haul for all 39 candidates prior to our meeting for closed session on June 4. Due to the volume of information, that all board members receive this on May 29, to allow for adequate time to prepare for closed session.

Additionally, I’m again asking whether the community interviews by the citizen workgroup will be open to the public and available to watch by video. As expressed above, a recap of interviews which will influence the process by individuals who are not statutorily assigned the responsibility to chose the county administrator is not transparent to either county commissioners or the public.”

Upon request, she also read Rosema’s response.

“We have followed the direction of Double Haul when it comes to not disclosing the identity of those making application for this position. We are required and doing this for the protection of the candidates until such time they are reviewed and identified to the board by Double Haul on June 4. Many of the applicants do not wish to be named until such time they are moved forward to the citizen workgroup and the full board for a public interview on June 12. The citizen workgroup is also a closed session meeting, and they will not be debating or deliberating the candidates, but just looking at their strengths and weaknesses and various categories. I cannot recommend a live feed for this part of the process because of privacy protection but will check with [Double Haul} regarding the possibilities of recording it for your review on the 12^th.“

As a member of the public, I have great concerns with the process being followed by county commissioners to hire a new county administrator. It appears that under the guise of protecting applicant confidentiality, the OCBOC is attempting to avoid the open meetings act by circumventing their role in the hiring process and allowing an unelected committee to perform a task that should be open and transparent to the public. Why do you need a citizen workgroup to screen applications when you have already hired a professional search firm? Also, even if a citizen work group is needed, how come only a subset of the commissioners influenced the selection of its members?

Imagine being a member of a jury, and rather than witnessing the trial, you are provided a summary from a committee appointed by either the defendant or the prosecutor. Additionally, you are not permitted a copy of the court transcript. Do you think you would receive fair and unbiased information as you prepare your verdict? To me, that is what this feels like.

Subscribe now

Share

School district employees are sure to turnout and vote in favor of these proposals as some of their livelihoods are directly connected to the election outcomes. This is despite the declining quality of the service provided by the public school district bureaucracy. Make all the jokes about the rural south you want, but Mississippi just passed Michigan in fourth grade literacy. Michigan is a bottom feeder in the national rankings, besting only six other states. My questions are, will average taxpayers also show up to vote, and will they be in favor of, or against the plethora of ballot proposals that manifest as additional taxes?

In the Grand Haven Area Public School (GHAPS) district alone, there were many reasons voters twice recently rejected bond proposals. When GHAPS proposed a bond of $155 million for a new school and athletic facility, voters were concerned the construction plans lacked transparency and doubted that the administration could be good stewards of taxpayer money. Then, even more community members lost confidence in district administration when they made a rush decision to convert Mary A. White Elementary school into a preschool without a detailed plan or financial analysis. Voters tend to be placated with statements like, “we must fund schools” or “the children will suffer.” But does the money actually make it to the children? In Grand Haven, while enrollment declined, expenditures went up.

So how is school district money actually spent? Is there a better way to allocate resources that will actually improve education?

Perhaps the most egregious GHAPS expenditure is a combined $213,616 on advertising and bond-planning. That is over $200,000 that could have gone to actual education, but was wasted in an attempt to persuade the public to provide the district with additional funding.

Board Policy 1130 addresses conflicts of interest - “No employee, officer, agent, or Board member shall engage in or have a financial or other interest, directly or indirectly, in any activity that conflicts or raises a reasonable question of conflict with the employee's, officer's, agent's, or Board member's duties and responsibilities in the school system.” Despite this policy, there are potential concerns regarding conflicts of interest with at least two GHAPS board members.

These concerning spending habits are not unique to GHAPS. The OAISD spent over $40,000 at a pub, $13,000 at a coffee shop, and $27,000 on a trip across the country.

Additionally, over sixty OAISD administrators earn over $160,000, and the OAISD superintendent’s total compensation is approximately $434,000. I will guess that most of the public does not even know that there is a position of OAISD superintendent, and that he gets paid eight times the median household income in the county.

The OAISD is asking not for only a continuation of the current millage, but for a 20-year increase of $0.5 for every $1000 on taxable valuation. This would amount to an increase of $75 per year for a house valued at $300,000, on the approximately $200 already allocated to the OAISD. GHAPS is asking for 18 mills on each $1000 of non-primary residences. This amounts to $2,700 for a property valued at $300,000, but since these are non-primary residences, they are more palatable to the public as the tax is primarily paid for by second homeowners and businesses. But the public should not be fooled. This high operating millage does have a ripple effect. Renters for example, wondering why rent is unaffordable, could look at this millage as a contributing factor.

School district bonds and millages tend to pass easily as they are requested during elections that have lower voter turnout, and because residents know that in general good quality schools correlate to higher property values. But for people on a fixed income, being taxed out of their home is a real concern, and increasing taxes on part of the population does have a ripple effect. How much tax is acceptable? When is enough, enough? Before voting this Tuesday, ask yourself if you think we should continue blindly funding school districts who appear to have lost sight of their primary mission. Ask yourself what are the building blocks of a quality education? Are competent teachers with pencils, paper, and books or beautiful buildings with state-of-the-art technology the key? Are the taxpayers who fund, and the students who attend these establishments, getting the return on investment they deserve, or could voters demand improvement by rejecting current requests and demanding administrators re-evaluate their priorities and perhaps tighten their financial belts?

Share

Subscribe now

Crockery Lake is a small (2.5 mile circumference) inland Ottawa County Lake that is home to farmers, homeowners, and a park. Local residents have been concerned with and studying the lake’s water quality for several years. On December 10, 2024, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) agreed to give $563,000 to Chester Township for the purpose of restoring the lake. The restoration project will be designed and implemented by Restorative Lake Sciences under the direction of Dr. Jennifer L. Jermalowicz-Jones. The community revitalization effort will include work to rehabilitate Crockery Lake, provide funding for oversight and management of the operations, and is expected to result in increasing tax revenue.

Community Concerns

On December 10, and on December 3, 2024, when the proposed agreement regarding environmental cleanup of Crockery Lake (p. 130) was discussed during an Ottawa County Finance and Administration meeting, local residents raised numerous concerns. They were concerned that execution of the contract involves an unproven technology, and that the county has assumed liability. They had concerns over the lack of competitive bidding, and about paying $563,000 up front. They highlighted that the project does not address the root causes of the problem, and that potential solutions to prevent further pollution are voluntary by property owners. They asked if the plan was legal and about the legal differences between public and private lakes under Michigan law. Residents noted that Ottawa County has approximately 109 inland lakes and asked why Crockery Lake was selected. There will always be more needs than money, and funding the environmental cleanup effort of a single lake sets a dangerous precedent. In fact, funding for Lake Macatawa, Pigeon Creek, and other waterways was requested during public comment. Residents suggested that entering into the agreement was reckless as the county lacks both a big-picture plan and a detailed plan for cleaning Crockery Lake. Some even accused commissioners of funding a pet project, and a lack of transparency by placing the item on the agenda at the last minute.

Local resident Ken Willison, (5:40) explained how the solution does not address root causes, during his public comment on December 3, 2024. “The largest input problems at Crockery Lake are runoff from farming and residential, and seepage from aging septic. The current discussion addresses those problems with several best management practices (BMP), but from shoreline landscape restrictions to changes in farming techniques, to mandatory septic inspection/replacement programs, all the BMPs being discussed are voluntary. So, it would be impossible to make watershed property owners implement them. That would require changes to state law.”

Crockery Lake Contract

Under the contract (p. 130), the township will not be required to complete the project should funds run out, and shall be entitled to retain administrative fees in the amount of two percent. The county will pay for the township’s legal and personnel fees associated with drafting the contract, and the county will hold the liability. In the contract it states, “the Township shall not, and will not, incur any contractual financial liabilities in the carrying out of the Project in an amount in excess of the total amount of the Lake Restoration Funds provided to the Township by the County. As such, the Township has no obligation – financial or otherwise – to ensure that the Project is completed if the Lake Restoration Funds have been completely depleted under the terms of this Agreement before the Project has been completed.” It also states, “The County shall, at its own expense, and to the extent permitted by law, protect, defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Township, and its elected and appointed officers, employees and agents from all claims, damages, costs, law suits and expenses, including, but not limited to, all costs from administrative proceedings, court costs and attorney fees that they may incur as a result of any acts, omissions or negligence of the County or any of its officers, employees, agents or subcontractors which may arise out of this Agreement.”

Commissioner Discussion when Passing Resolution

During the December 10, 2024, OCBOC meeting, although the resolution passed, several commissioners shared similar concerns to the residents. Commissioner Doug Zylstra asked why the agreement was between Ottawa County and Chester Township, and not directly with the lake board or Restorative Lake Sciences, the company expected to perform the work. Interim County Administrator Benjamin Wetmore explained, (1:05:45) “This has been the product of months of discussions and negotiations, and the township has been very involved with meetings with the county.” He added (1:08:45) “The township is part of the county,” implying that gave the county some amount of oversight over the project, but Zylstra argued that the county did not have any recourse should an issue arise.

Dr. Jones (1:18:50) addressed Zylstra’s concerns explaining, “We are going to be giving quarterly reports to the county on the progress of the project.”

Commissioner Christian Kleinjans, (1:12:58) explained that the contract spans a period of roughly four years, and success depends largely on voluntary changes made by property owners. “We are going to spend four years cleaning a lake and continue cleaning, regardless of the fact that the points of pollution that are causing the problem haven’t been fixed.” [] “We are just giving money with trust because there is no data in this packet that confirms that what this is going to do are going to happen.” “There is no plan in this packet, so I don’t know how we can actually support it.”

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema thought funding milestones should be added to the contract, and also noted the lack of clear objectives. He explained, (1:18:10) “For example, once permits are issued, that would release the next amount of funding; once this task is completed, it would release the next amount of funding,” and then later asked about the goal of the project. (1:25:10) “Is there a purification of the water or a clarity amount that says this is the finish line?”

Dr. Jones explained, (1:25:20) “What we will be doing, the very first thing, is having a visioning session with the community to come up with the objectives and goals; many of which have already been selected by the Crockery Lake Association, but we want to make sure that the public also supports those. And then we’re setting goals and metrics, and as we collect more data, we can see if the implemented technologies and BMPs are following those metrics, and improving them. And that’s what we will be reporting to the county.”

Commissioner Bonnema was also greatly concerned with potential liability to the county as a result of the agreement. He explained (1:20:20) “The liability for anything that might go awry falls back on the county.” [] “If we’re putting together a contract where we are the funding agent of it, we should have indemnities built into it.”

Interim Administrator Wetmore responded. (1:22:27) “Those liabilities come with risk, and that risk gets priced into the contract. So, part of the discussion was about containing the price of the contract, and the percentage of the fee that would go to the township, and minimizing that by having the county retain the risk; because the risk profile for this project is relatively low. Right. It saves the county funds by not transferring that risk to the township.” The exchange continued with Commissioner Bonnema asking, (1:22:48) “Why would we not transfer that risk to the agency that is doing the work?” and Wetmore responded, “Because we would have to pay them to hold the risk.”

Another point of discussion involved the experimental technology. While some commissioners were concerned about it potentially not working or creating liability, others were excited by its potential. Commissioner Gretchen Cosby said (1:23:40) “We want to see this project be successful, and it’s an opportunity for other fresh waterways here and inland lakes as well. Just give it an opportunity commissioner.”

Board Chair Joe Moss stated, (1:35:00) “I’ve heard we need this proven before we do it. Well part of the project is to work on a merit-results, data-oriented process, and strengthening a partnership with a local unit of government.” Later in the meeting Moss added (2:00:03), “It’s an excellent project. [] This is an opportunity to do something that’s a little bit new; a little bit different; and to test this out.”

Commissioner Allison Mediema explained her view. (1:41:06) “There is a lot of new technology around all things water without harming the environment. One of the reasons they [Crockery Lake Association] wanted to go with Dr. Jennifer Jones was due to wanting to pursue this innovative technology. They have seen mucky swampy water, for example, turn into clear, clean drinking water; an innovative technology that will one day be used to a wide extent to filter much of the Earth’s water. [] It’s only a matter of time until this technology will be filtering many bodies of water. [] They [Crockery Lake Association] are excited to be on the cutting edge of this new technology.”

Throughout the discussions in various meetings, the topic of ARPA funding was brought up several times as a way to justify the Crockery Lake Agreement.

Commissioner Discussion to Request a Legal Review of the Contract

During the February 25, 2025, OCBOC meeting, Board Chair John Teeples read a lengthy statement regarding the Crockery Lake Agreement (1:00:25). He explained that attorneys Plunkett Cooney reviewed the contract, had concerns regarding its legality, provided a history of discussions related to approving the agreement, and reiterated the concerns raised by commissioners in previous meetings. First, he emphasized, (1:01:20), “His [Plunkett Cooney attorney] legal opinion states very clearly, that the Crockery Lake Agreement, is invalid as a matter of law and not enforceable.”

Teeples then gave his personal opinion. (1:06:57)

“When I saw the draft agreement before the December 10, 2024 board meeting, I thought it had to be a mistake. I thought there was no way the county and the township intended for the county to assume the risk of nonperformance of the cleanup and hand over $563,000, pay the township a fee for handling the funds, pay the township’s attorney fees, and also indemnify the township. It had to be a mistake. However, after now having read through email communications between the parties and their attorneys and representatives, I have come to the understanding that there is no mistake. This agreement was knowingly and intentionally negotiated as it is written and signed.”

“I’ve been an environmental attorney for over 30 years beginning with Dickenson-Wright back in 1991. As an attorney for the City of Grand Rapids, I was in charge of environmental site assessment for land where the VanAndel Arena now sits. I did the same thing for the DeVos Place along the riverfront. I completed a full environmental analysis of the Gerald R Ford airport.” []

(1:08:50) “Through my experience, I have come to know that there is no such thing as a routine environmental cleanup. Environmental projects seem to always exceed budgets, and rarely, if ever, are completed within anticipated time frames, and that the cleanup standards are often a changing and moving target depending on who is the governor of Michigan, further exacerbating the ultimate cost of cleanup. I have never seen where a non-liable party such as Ottawa County here, voluntarily agrees to assume an environmental cleanup it did not cause.” []

(1:11:10) “Additionally, Ottawa County is supposed to pay Chester Township an administrative fee for holding the monies we are giving for the benefit of their residents for free.” [] “Under the contract, Ottawa County has agreed to pay the township’s attorney fees for having negotiated this agreement.”

(1:16:05) “It doesn’t make any difference if it’s a dollar. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s twenty-five percent, or one-hundred percent. If the contract is invalid because the county can’t enter into these kind of contracts, then it makes no difference what the dollar amount of the contract is.”

Commissioner Joe Moss did not agree with Teeple’s assessment. He stated, (1:17:58) “My understanding is that the agreement falls within the county’s authority under Michigan Law. [] MCL 124.2 on intergovernmental contracts and MCL 124.504 for joint public powers explicitly authorizes counties to enter into these types of agreements for jointly managing property.” He soon added, (1:30:00) “I think trying to take this to court is a method by which you can try to nuke a decision by the previous board.”

Commissioner Mediema agreed, (1:32:37) “You are basically asking for the judge to side with you, based on decisions you did not make in December, and that is something that concerns me for any board turnover that happens. That is a political game.”

Chair Teeples countered (1:33:55), “This is not political. This is prudent.”

Conclusion

Regardless of anyone’s opinion on environmental cleanup, exploring cutting edge technologies, taking on liability, and setting new precedent, it will now be up to a judge to determine if the contract is legal. If it is, Ottawa County will have to abide by the agreement, and if it is not, the effect will be reversing a decision of a previous board.

Share

Americans are facing rapidly rising energy costs and decreased energy reliability. This is due to the combination of coal generating facilities across the country being decommissioned, a lack of investment in reliable sources of energy, a dependency on inadequate solar and wind power generation coupled with government policies and regulations that incentivize green energy, and the increase in demand for electricity, largely due to the popularity of electric vehicles and data centers.

The Campbell plant has a power generation capacity of 1,450 megawatts. According to America’s Power, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) power generating capacity is currently 202,000 megawatts, and the power generating members have plans to add an additional 163,000 megawatts of generating capacity over the next 20 years. However, the 2024 MISO Regional Resource Assessment forecasts that demand will increase by 343,000 megawatts over the next 20 years, indicating a shortfall of roughly 180,000 megawatts.

• Campbell Plant Capacity - 1,450 megawatts

• MISO Capacity - 202,000 megawatts

• MISO Projected Capacity in 20 years - 365,000 megawatts

• Projected demand in 20 years - 545,000 megawatts

To put this shortfall in perspective, an 85-megawatt generating solar farm, requires roughly one square mile of solar panels. This alone would require over 2000 square miles of solar panels, easily covering the entirety of Ottawa County which is 1,631 square miles in size. Covering only the current power generation capacity of Consumers would take roughly 16 square miles of solar panels. Experts at MISO and NERC [North American Electric Reliability Corporation] have been issuing warnings about potential power shortfalls.

Local resident and leader of the Save the Campbell effort, Joseph Parnell McCarter, gave public comment during the February 25, 2025 OCBOC meeting. According to McCarter, “Consumers Energy is violating Michigan law with its plan, because Michigan law implies that no electric public utility should move forward with a plan which endangers the grid like NERC and MISO are warning.”

McCarter then explained that in addition to transitioning to wind and solar, the plan for providing residents with sufficient power after the closure of the Campbell includes reopening the Palisades nuclear plant. McCarter also mentioned actions being taken by the Trump Administration that are likely to have local impacts. “The Trump Administration has frozen payments for Michigan solar and wind projects, which place all Campbell alternatives in even deeper jeopardy.” “Consumers’ 2025 Campbell closure is also in violation of the Trump Administration’s National Energy Emergency executive order, which calls for stopping such closures, because our lack of electric generation ‘constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy.’ It calls for co-locating AI data centers next to plants like the Campbell. If this executive order route is followed, it is a way to significantly reduce electric rates for Ottawa County citizens. The high charges to the AI data center can subsidize lower rates for county rate payers. Remember, Consumers Energy customers pay 58% higher rates than Zeeland customers on municipalized electric. This outrageous rate difference is another reason the County Board needs to intervene, along with preventing huge rate increases as reliable electric generating capacity becomes more scarce.“

At least seven municipalities, including Polktown Township, Jamestown Township, Blendon Township, Zeeland Township, George Township, Grand Haven Township, Chester Township, and Ottawa County have passed resolutions in favor of delaying the closure of the Campbell plant.

During the OCBOC meeting, Commissioner Joe Moss (45:30) stated, “One public commenter said, ‘Consumers plan is unrealistic,’ while I agree with that, I would go a little further and say, it is ideological, and they are pushing, whether it is public or not, the climate crisis, green energy agenda in their war on affordable fossil fuels.”

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema (46:20) stated, “Power is essential to business being able to grow and thrive here, and of course our community members need that every day. So demand is going up, not down. So the idea of removing power from the grid just doesn’t make sense before we are truly assured that a one-for-one replacement of the power that is being turned off is in place.”

Commissioner Josh Brugger (51:30) stated, “I do believe in climate change. [] I do believe that coal has a negative impact on our environment, and I am thrilled with the closure of coal plants. I do believe we need a diverse source of energy, excluding coal. I’ve had the opportunity to vote to close one coal plant as a city councilman in the City of Grand Haven. [] The second part of that decision was whether to bring in a new energy source into the City of Grand Haven, and I voted no on that.” He then referred to the NERC study published in December 2024. “These people are not coal people, but they are warning us that there is a concern with the MISO grid. That concern is that renewables and other sources are not coming online fast enough to offset the shuttering of other plants.”

All three of these commissioners along with the others excepting Sylvia Rhodea, who was not present, and Doug Zylstra who voted no, voted yes on the resolution.

As Americans, we are accustomed to having reliable electricity. The only times we seem to go without electricity are during recreational wilderness camping excursions or when wind storms cause trees to fall on power lines. We have never experienced living without home electricity for prolonged periods of time. We have never had to keep food cold without electricity. We depend on electricity to prepare our meals, heat our homes, power our entertainment systems and provide general lighting. We do not even consider the possibility of going without electricity. Unfortunately, we are unwittingly heading in that direction, because this is where decommissioning reliable coal energy producing plants and switching to unreliable green energy leads!!!

It is not too late to reverse this decision.

Ottawa County Board of Commission Resolution to Delay the Closure of J.H. Campbell Plant, February 25, 2025

WHEREAS, Consumers Energy (hereafter “Consumers”) operates the J.H. Campbell Plant (hereafter “Campbell Plant”) located in Port Sheldon Township, Ottawa County, Michigan; and,

WHEREAS, the Campbell Plant delivers electricity to Ottawa County, the State of Michigan, and throughout central portions of the United States as an integrated member of the electrical grid system called the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, INC (hereafter “MISO”); and,

WHEREAS, the Michigan Public Service Commission (hereafter “MPSC”) has statutory authority to regulate the Campbell Plant (MCL 460.6); and, WHEREAS, in 2022, Consumers received approval from the MPSC to cease producing electricity at the Campbell Plant beginning April 1, 2025; and,

WHEREAS, the MPSC decision was based on projected increases in energy production from diverse sources that would offset lost production from the closure of the Campbell Plant; and,

WHEREAS, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (hereafter “NERC”) indicated in its December, 2024 report that out of eleven North American grid networks extending from the Canadian Arctic to the Gulf, the only network receiving a “High Risk” warning for shortfalls in electricity supplies is the MISO grid (NERC, 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, December 2024); and,

WHEREAS, the NERC report further indicates that the reason for the High-Risk warning is that “resource additions are not keeping up with generator retirements and demand growth.”; and,

WHEREAS, Consumers representatives reported to members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners at the February 11, 2025, Ottawa County Planning and Policy Committee meeting that closure of the Campbell Plant was not originally slated to take place until after the year, 2030; and,

WHEREAS, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners has the authority to “enter or to intervene in any action or certificate proceeding involving the services, charges or rates of any privately owned public utility furnishing services or commodities to rate payers within the County.” (Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution of the State of Michigan, 1964, as amended);

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners requests that the MPSC consider this resolution as a formal appeal of its decision dated June 22, 2022, authorizing the Campbell Plant to close on May 31, 2025; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in light of the concerns described herein, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners requests that the MPSC postpone this closure until such time as a new hearing can be held before the MPSC to address these concerns and to provide assurances to the citizens of Ottawa County, the State of Michigan, and all members of the MISO grid that based on currently available energy sources, the closure of the Campbell Plant will not have an adverse effect on the reliable delivery of electricity to our respective communities.

Share

Understanding how taxpayer dollars are spent is difficult as they flow from our state and federal governments to numerous non-government organizations (NGOs) and non-profits which have fewer reporting requirements. DataRepublican (small r) on X explained that “the system is designed with multiple layers of plausible deniability. If people object to being linked to USAID funding indirectly, they should push for transparency and the removal of these layers – along with ending the NGO system that enables it.” DataRepublican has created a website that accesses information from USASpending.gov, the official open data source of federal spending information, making it easier to track federal funding that originated with USAID.

The following, two, big-picture charts show how American tax dollars originated at USAID and flowed through a network of organizations. Along the way, taxpayer funding is mixed with private donations which then ends at local nonprofit entities. The chart on top ends with Extended Grace on the right which is the tax-filing name of the Momentum Center. The chart on the bottom ends with Michigan Impact, a nonprofit organization operating at the state level, affiliated with Ottawa Impact. The pink boxes signify organizations that receive a high amount of taxpayer funding. Grey boxes indicate that none of the money received through the mapped channel is considered taxpayer funding despite the fact that a lot of it could have originated with taxpayers. However, it is possible that entities with grey boxes received direct taxpayer funding that came from other channels such as grants.

Click the links to zoom in on the charts:

• Extended Grace

• Michigan Impact

Data from the above charts has been re-rendered in the charts below to make them easier to read from an overall perspective. The purple stars denote entities included on both flow charts.

It is difficult to find two more polar opposite organizations than the Momentum Center and Michigan Impact. “Michigan Impact creates lasting cultural change. Their projects are built on timeless principles of truth and human flourishing.” Their affiliate, Ottawa Impact, supports political candidates that follow the principles of the Constitution. The Momentum Center claims to be a non-political, social recreation organization that supports individuals with mental health challenges, but has engaged in get-out-the-vote efforts, COVID-19 vaccination events, and numerous events supporting social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Nonetheless, both entities are part of the same greater funding network. In both cases paths exist for money to flow from the Consortium for Elections, to the National Democratic Institute, to Global Communities, to World Vision Inc., to the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gifts Fund. From there, Fidelity can direct funds to the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation which gives to the Momentum Center. Fidelity can also direct funds to the National Christian Charitable Foundation Inc, a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) which is used by private donors to direct money to nonprofits such as Michigan Impact. Without viewing the books of nonprofit entities, it is impossible to know where funds originated (DAF, or taxpayer, or other).

At any point along the way, taxpayer funding can be mixed with private donations. When an entity that received taxpayer funding sends that money out, it is no longer considered taxpayer funding. The network of funding connected to the Momentum Center includes the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Seattle Foundation, the California Community Foundation, the Saint Louis Community Foundation, the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, and Tide’s Foundation. The funding network that is connected to Michigan Impact includes the Community Foundation of Texas.

Who would have thought that taxpayer money could pass through so many entities and that community foundations would give to each other? Why would community foundations in St. Louis, Seattle, New Jersey, and California want their money to end up at the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation? DataRepublican explained how the system works.

While the above data indicates neither organization received direct taxpayer funding that originated with USAID, according to the DataRepublican Michigan Impact charity funding table, 0% of the funding received by Michigan Impact originated as taxpayer funding, but 69.9% of the funding received by the Momentum Center originated as taxpayer funding. This is because the Momentum Center received a direct government grant.

While other Ottawa County nonprofits such as the Greater Ottawa County United Way, Opportunity Thrive, and Community Action House appear on searches within the DataRepublican website, many others such as Grady’s Classroom, Arbor Circle, Community Spoke, Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance, and Thrive Ottawa do not. This indicates that their funding networks are not connected to USAID, but does not eliminate the possibility that they received funding that originated with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, or another government entity.

Looking only at USAID shows a single government entity could be used to fund nonprofits whose foundational missions oppose each other. It appears one goal of this funding is to keep the people divided. Perhaps another goal is to support people financially, so they do not question government spending. This concept is known as “the Uniparty” and again DataRepublican explains.

Besides creating division among the citizenry, furthering woke agendas, and financially supporting entities with opposing political beliefs, it is not unreasonable to question whether significant portions of this money are being used to pay people off. This leads to the question: Who are the nonprofits paying for services rendered?

The entrenched Uniparty has been revealed. Numerous politicians are losing their minds over the exposure of their favorite piggybank, USAID. More information is likely to be forthcoming. While accepting money from donors is not a crime, “The true crime is the laundering of this money and using it to shape the world we never wanted.” ~Dave at X22

Share

Understanding how taxpayer dollars are spent is difficult as they flow from our state and federal governments to numerous non-government organizations (NGOs) and non-profits which have fewer reporting requirements. DataRepublican (small r) on X explained that “the system is designed with multiple layers of plausible deniability. If people object to being linked to USAID funding indirectly, they should push for transparency and the removal of these layers – along with ending the NGO system that enables it.” DataRepublican has created a website that accesses information from USASpending.gov, the official open data source of federal spending information, making it easier to track federal funding that originated with USAID.

The following, two, big-picture charts show how American tax dollars originated at USAID and flowed through a network of organizations. Along the way, taxpayer funding is mixed with private donations which then ends at local nonprofit entities. The chart on top ends with Extended Grace on the right which is the tax-filing name of the Momentum Center. The chart on the bottom ends with Michigan Impact, a nonprofit organization operating at the state level, affiliated with Ottawa Impact. The pink boxes signify organizations that receive a high amount of taxpayer funding. Grey boxes indicate that none of the money received through the mapped channel is considered taxpayer funding despite the fact that a lot of it could have originated with taxpayers. However, it is possible that entities with grey boxes received direct taxpayer funding that came from other channels such as grants.

Click the links to zoom in on the charts:

• Extended Grace

• Michigan Impact

Data from the above charts has been re-rendered in the charts below to make them easier to read from an overall perspective. The purple stars denote entities included on both flow charts.

It is difficult to find two more polar opposite organizations than the Momentum Center and Michigan Impact. “Michigan Impact creates lasting cultural change. Their projects are built on timeless principles of truth and human flourishing.” Their affiliate, Ottawa Impact, supports political candidates that follow the principles of the Constitution. The Momentum Center claims to be a non-political, social recreation organization that supports individuals with mental health challenges, but has engaged in get-out-the-vote efforts, COVID-19 vaccination events, and numerous events supporting social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Nonetheless, both entities are part of the same greater funding network. In both cases paths exist for money to flow from the Consortium for Elections, to the National Democratic Institute, to Global Communities, to World Vision Inc., to the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gifts Fund. From there, Fidelity can direct funds to the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation which gives to the Momentum Center. Fidelity can also direct funds to the National Christian Charitable Foundation Inc, a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) which is used by private donors to direct money to nonprofits such as Michigan Impact. Without viewing the books of nonprofit entities, it is impossible to know where funds originated (DAF, or taxpayer, or other).

At any point along the way, taxpayer funding can be mixed with private donations. When an entity that received taxpayer funding sends that money out, it is no longer considered taxpayer funding. The network of funding connected to the Momentum Center includes the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the Seattle Foundation, the California Community Foundation, the Saint Louis Community Foundation, the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation, and Tide’s Foundation. The funding network that is connected to Michigan Impact includes the Community Foundation of Texas.

Who would have thought that taxpayer money could pass through so many entities and that community foundations would give to each other? Why would community foundations in St. Louis, Seattle, New Jersey, and California want their money to end up at the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation? DataRepublican explained how the system works.

While the above data indicates neither organization received direct taxpayer funding that originated with USAID, according to the DataRepublican Michigan Impact charity funding table, 0% of the funding received by Michigan Impact originated as taxpayer funding, but 69.9% of the funding received by the Momentum Center originated as taxpayer funding. This is because the Momentum Center received a direct government grant.

While other Ottawa County nonprofits such as the Greater Ottawa County United Way, Opportunity Thrive, and Community Action House appear on searches within the DataRepublican website, many others such as Grady’s Classroom, Arbor Circle, Community Spoke, Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance, and Thrive Ottawa do not. This indicates that their funding networks are not connected to USAID, but does not eliminate the possibility that they received funding that originated with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, or another government entity.

Looking only at USAID shows a single government entity could be used to fund nonprofits whose foundational missions oppose each other. It appears one goal of this funding is to keep the people divided. Perhaps another goal is to support people financially, so they do not question government spending. This concept is known as “the Uniparty” and again DataRepublican explains.

Besides creating division among the citizenry, furthering woke agendas, and financially supporting entities with opposing political beliefs, it is not unreasonable to question whether significant portions of this money are being used to pay people off. This leads to the question: Who are the nonprofits paying for services rendered?

The entrenched Uniparty has been revealed. Numerous politicians are losing their minds over the exposure of their favorite piggybank, USAID. More information is likely to be forthcoming. While accepting money from donors is not a crime, “The true crime is the laundering of this money and using it to shape the world we never wanted.” ~Dave at X22

Share

Community Spoke and County Representatives Work Together to Stealthily Secure Funding

Five months earlier, during the August 20, 2024, Ottawa County Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee meeting, it became apparent that Community Spoke had been operating without a valid contract since October 1, 2023. Furthermore, it was revealed that in March 2024, when Community Spoke submitted an invoice for services rendered, county officials responded that payment could not be made without having a contract in place. Apparently, it had been the practice of the nonprofit to submit their board meeting minutes along with an invoice to the county, which the county unquestioningly paid. In 2024, commissioners explained that this unapproved process was problematic because it removed the oversight provided by the Board of Commissioners by circumventing the procurement process. After a lengthy discussion, commissioners agreed to approve payment, but advised public health department officials to begin developing a contract for the following year if they intended to continue working with the nonprofit.

About Community Spoke

Community Spoke is in the data collection business and is involved with numerous surveys which are used as justification for initiatives undertaken by collaborating non-profit organizations and government entities. One such survey is the highly controversial Youth Assessment Survey that asks Ottawa County 8th, 10th, and 12th graders extremely personal questions about their drug use and sexual history.

Community Spoke has a long history of chasing funding from the county.

• In 2017 they received at least $1,000 from Ottawa County to conduct a study on the transportation habits of seniors. The total cost of planning and conducting the study was reported to be $30,000.

• In 2018 they received $10,000 to facilitate a County Community Health Improvement Plan.

• In 2022 they received $45,000 to coordinate Ottawa County Health and Human Services and they received similar amounts in other years.

• In 2021 they received $15,000 and in 2022 they received $25,000 to support and coordinate a vaccine Equity Advisory Council on behalf of the Ottawa County Public Health Department.

• In 2021 they received at least two payments to assist the health department with vaccine distribution efforts; one for $10,000 and another for $15,000.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

During the January 31, 2023, Ottawa County Health and Human Services committee meeting, former Ottawa County Board Chairman Joe Moss pointed out, “If you would like to learn about Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance you can go to their website. They have a lot of helpful information; information on systemic racism, implicit bias, white privilege, understanding microaggressions, racial equity tools and lots more.”

Moss was correct then, and the LNA is still highly vested in racial justice initiatives such as actively dismantling racism.

Their website recommends books like White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi as well as videos, web resources, articles and documents such as Understanding White Privilege and Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.

Board and Operations

The LNA board is comprised of representatives from the Ottawa County Department of Public Health, both the Grand Haven and Holland/Zeeland Area Community Foundations, and others representing government entities and nonprofits. This is interesting because Patrick Cisler, former Executive Director of both Community Spoke and the LNA, addressed the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) on January 31, 2023, saying that the total Community Spoke budget was approximately $300,000 and they also received funding from the Grand Haven Community Foundation, the Holland/Zeeland Community Foundation, and the United Way. During the August 2024 meeting, Tracy Bolo, current Executive Director of the Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance disclosed, (48:15) “We have a staff of 2.5 people.”

Conclusion

It took many years for government, business, and non-profit stakeholders to build cozy relationships that intermix agendas, financing, and personnel. At least four members of the current Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) understand that entities like this have a habit of benefiting from taxpayer funding while providing few services and/or furthering ideologies undesirable to the majority of the population. At the Federal level, President Trump, his appointed department leaders, the Department of Government Efficiency, and others are exposing government-funded grifts. Since the heavy handed government response to COVID-19, more and more community members have become aware of the extent to which nonprofit organizations either benefit or scam the public at large. The next step will be to restore fiscal responsibility, oversight, and accountability to government operations at all levels. For now, if you take issue with organizations that work to indoctrinate others in woke ideologies, please let your elected officials know you are disappointed in their failure to responsibly spend your taxpayer dollars.

Share

Background

Gibbs was terminated based on allegations that he made sexual and defamatory comments, threats of physical harm, and ridiculed the faith of protestants. Former Board Chair Joe Moss shared a letter to Gibbs' former Attorney Noah S. Hurwitz, concerning complaints made about John Gibbs on his Facebook page February 23, 2024, which has since been taken down. Gibbs denied the allegations, filed suit, and proposed a settlement which involved him submitting a letter of resignation in exchange for $630,000.

Ottawa County commissioners hired John Gibbs in January 2023 believing he shared their vision. However, friction arose between Gibbs and the county which appeared to peak on October 25, 2023, when Gibbs was questioned during the 46.11(n) hearing to provide Health Officer Adeline Hambley a public opportunity to respond to the charges against her. Gibbs spent approximately 8 hours answering questions posed by Hambley’s attorney in which he repeatedly stated he did not remember information. Just the day before, on October 24, 2023, a lawsuit had been filed, alleging age discrimination based on actions of Gibbs against Ottawa County by Ryan Kimball, a candidate for the Administrative Assistant to the County Administrator position. Since being hired, Gibbs had significant involvement in hiring three individuals including Director of Veteran’s Affairs Jason Schenkel, former Deputy County Administrator Benjamin Wetmore, and former Assistant to the County Administrator Jordan Epperson who was hired into the position contested by Kimball.

The Ryan Kimball age discrimination case was settled with the county on September 10, 2024, for $225,000. Additionally, two of the three individuals hired by Gibbs, Wetmore and Epperson, ceased working for the county on December 31, 2024, with highly unusual separation agreements. Unusually, both individuals received severance agreements to stop working for the county on the possibility that their employment might be terminated under a new county board of commissioners. Wetmore received one year of pay ($175,000) and Epperson received a lump sum of $75,000, five months of pay ($33,974), plus insurance benefits.

Settlement Discussion of Gibbs Lawsuit

A two-thirds majority vote is required for the board to enter closed session. On January 28, 2025, when the board voted on the motion to enter closed session, commissioners Joe Moss, Allison Mediema, Sylvia Rhodea, Kendra Wenzel, and Josh Brugger voted no. Some confusion followed the vote and then Commissioner Zylstra made a motion to add an open session discussion of the lawsuit settlement to the agenda. He expressed that even though the board voted not to discuss the settlement offer in closed session, it could not be ignored. Vice-Chair Josh Brugger shared that he voted no because he favored a public discussion. Commissioner Moss explained that he voted no because he thought the settlement offer was a horrible deal for the county and wanted the Insurance Authority [county entity responsible for handling the lawsuit] to propose a better deal. Commissioners Mediema, Rhodea, and Wenzel appeared to agree with Moss.

Board Chair John Teeples cautioned the board, (2:53:15) “One of the drawbacks of having an open discussion of ongoing litigation, in a settlement discussion, is that you may limit your negotiation abilities to finish the settlement.” Teeples continued, (2:56:50) “It’s already gone through the Insurance Authority. Now we’re at the stage of the settlement that involves us.” Despite the elevated risk, commissioners Bonnema, Brugger, Jorritsma, Zylstra, Kuyers, and Teeples voted yes to discuss the settlement in open session.

Board Chair Teeples began by explaining the proposed offer. (3:23:42) “The essential terms of the deal: $190,000 payable in thirds to his attorney, to himself; one-third was going to non-economic loss, one-third for economic loss subject to taxation, one-third subject to payment to his attorney; $190,000 total, with three other essential terms; []

• Ottawa County agrees to rescind his termination of employment dated February 29, 2024, and remove any reference to the termination from his employment file.

• Ottawa County agrees to accept his resignation dated effective February 22, 2024, and will place Gibbs’ letter of resignation in his personnel file.

• It also includes a release of all claims by him against the county, and of course no admissions of liability, which are standard terms of any type of agreement.”

During the discussion it became apparent that several commissioners believed the termination was justified, and the proposed settlement should not be considered based on principle alone. This was best illustrated by a letter read during the discussion from former Commissioner Gretchen Cosby, urging the current board to follow a righteous path. (3:28:00) “I am compelled to speak out in defense of the integrity of our county government and the importance of standing firm against baseless attacks on character and reputation. [] Integrity can be sacrificed for convenience and those who weaponize dishonesty and character assassination can ultimately potentially profit from their behavior. [] It is true that fighting this lawsuit will cost time and money but the cost of compromising the truth is far greater. The county has a strong case that can demonstrate his termination was justified. A settlement, particularly one that erases the cause for his removal, allows him to escape accountability while further burdening taxpayers who have already endured enough harm from his actions.”

Other commissioners felt the unknown financial cost to the county of continuing to litigate the claims would be too great. Commissioner Zylstra pointed out that a severance payment of $210,000 was required if Gibbs would have been terminated without cause, indicating that a settlement of $190,000 was a good deal. Additionally, Zylstra felt accusations had been made, but cause was not sufficiently documented. He stated (3:31:30) “Back in February, I did vote no on terminating Mr. Gibbs. [] I didn’t think that the board had put together a case against Mr. Gibbs.”

Board Chair Teeples reiterated (3:33:00), “Under the employment contract, if he is discharged without cause, he would be entitled to $210,000. If he was discharged with cause, which is what the allegation is here, he would be getting $0.” Teeples later stated, (3:42:00) “In my opinion, this case has not been documented they way it should have been to support a defense of a proper discharge. [] This is a way to cut loses and move ahead with the county.” Teeples also added (3:55:30), “Our litigation attorney is recommending this agreement.”

Commissioner Jorritsma expressed (3:49:50) “To me it’s pretty simple. We either have a huge risk at gambling taxpayer money in litigation or we settle, relative to alternatives, with a low amount of money.”

Unfortunately, the discussion became lively, as in addition to settling the dispute, some commissioners were interested in finger pointing and character assassination. Near the beginning of the open discussion Commissioner Bonnema raised his voice. (3:26:07) “Joe, we’re in this bad deal because of you. How you hired John Gibbs and also how you fired John Gibbs. We’re in this situation because of you.”

Vice-Chair Brugger later expanded with similar sentiments. (3:39:00), “Mistakes were made when hiring Gibbs. The individuals who made those mistakes; there are four of them in this room. [] The county paid a price. The employees paid a price. [] When you make a mistake, [] you own it. You apologize for it, and you offer to fix it. I appreciate that commissioners here don’t feel they made a mistake when firing him. I’ve heard them all acknowledge they made a mistake when hiring him, but I have not yet heard an apology to the people of Ottawa County from those commissioners. Absent that apology and the offer that we have on hand here, I’m in favor of [] settling.”

Commissioner Mediema reminded everyone that (3:27:14) “Each person is responsible for their own behavior.”

Referring to Brugger’s statement, Commissioner Moss pointed out, (3:43:10) “He tried to assign blame. [] This process of termination [] There were closed sessions. There were confidential memos. There was information shared with the board. There were complaints made by employees.” Commissioner Moss explained that it was an effort by the board, which was guided by council, and followed a process.

Ultimately, after the discussion the board voted to move forward with the proposed settlement offer.

Yes: Jorritsma, Bonnema, Brugger, Teeples, Kuyers, Zylstra, and Barry

No: Moss, Mediema, Rhodea, and Wenzel

Now the decision will be up to former County Administrator John Gibbs, and the board will have to wait and see if he agrees to the offer.

Share

The makeup of the various boards and committees is an important factor in determining outcomes and there are a number of ways positions are filled. Some boards and committees have seats reserved for commissioners. Commissioner seats are appointed by the board chair. Other committees allow commissioners to hold seats which also typically seem to be appointed by the board chair. When seats are open to the public, the procedure involves posting openings, collecting applications, conducting interviews and board votes. Much of this work is done by the Talent and Recruitment committee. With multiple boards and committees to be filled, meeting legal statutes and requirements can become confusing. The January 7, 2025, board of commissioner meeting involved much discussion on this topic and it appears likely some past positions may have been filled incorrectly.

At the beginning of the meeting, motions were made to add two separate items to the agenda. One involved appointing Kelly Rice to the Parks and Recreation board and the other involved appointing Vonnie VanderSwag to the Community Mental Health (CMH) board. Immediately after Commissioner Doug Zylstra made these motions, he was challenged by Commissioner Allison Mediema. Commissioner Zylstra stated he believed there were actually two openings on the Parks and Recreation board and three on CMH, all which were held by commissioners. Commissioner Mediema argued that there were no open seats.

First, let’s address the opening on the Parks and Recreation board. Some board members were attempting to convert a commissioner seat, held by outgoing Commissioner Roger Belknap, to a public seat, and then vote a member of the public into that seat, but several commissioners believed this seat was full and I will explain why shortly. Board Chair John Teeples believed it was open and explained (8:22:30). “When he loses his position as an elected official, he doesn’t have the rights to continue on as that elected official in any capacity in the county, whether he’s on a committee or not because he’s only on that committee as a representative of the county. He loses that when he loses his election.”

In addition to believing the seat was filled by Roger Belknap, Commissioner Mediema and several others were concerned that the board was not following the Talent and Recruitment process, because the position had not been posted, and other members of the public had not had the opportunity to apply. Mediema read a portion of the policy (8:03:50). “A list of all open positions shall be maintained by the county clerk and listed on the county website. The list of open positions will expand to include all appointments that expire four months prior to the expiration of the term.” When Commissioner Jordan Jorritsma mentioned (8:06:40) “We’re substituting out a commissioner seat,” Commissioner Joe Moss expanded on Jorritsma’s comment (8:07:10) “It becomes a public seat if a commissioner is not appointed. Then you go through the process.” Commissioner Mediema agreed (8:07:25) “There are certain seats that are filled by the talent and recruitment process and there are certain seats that are filled by the board chair.” – If it’s a constituent seat, it should go through the talent and recruitment process so anyone in the public has the opportunity to apply. Commissioner Sylvia Rhodea also agreed. (8:09:12) “If the chair decides he doesn’t want to fill this with a commissioner, that’s fine, it just needs to go back to the beginning of the public seat process.”

Commissioner Mediema requested an opinion from the clerk. (8:13:20). “John, you said that you wanted it not to be a commissioner seat anymore; you want it to be a constituent seat. By doing so, that’s going to get changed in the clerk’s office to reflect that it will now be a constituent seat.”

The clerk responded by referencing an email from December 2024. (8:13:40). “The email that I received from you Allison, was asking me to extend the terms for you and Roger Belknap and change Roger Belknap’s seat to public. [] I did what you asked me so as of right now there are no open seats on that board.” Commissioner Mediema also explained (8:15:10), “According to the bylaws of parks, every commissioner serves a total of three years.”

Essentially, the clerk was explaining that Roger Belknap did not resign, but was assigned as a member of the public to a commissioner seat that was redesignated to public. Newly elected board members were understandably irritated by this revelation. Board Chair Teeples asked, (8:14:30), “You’ve taken a county commissioner seat and given it to an individual. How’s that any different than what we are talking about doing now?” They asked if Roger Belknap was voted in and how the position was changed, then ignored the fact that the seat was potentially filled, decided not to allow any members of the public to apply, and proceeded to vote. (8:26:00) Kelly Rice was appointed to the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation board.

The Ottawa County CMH board consists of twelve members. According to state law MCL 330.1222, at least one-third (4 members) must be primary consumers or family members, and up to four commissioners may serve on the CMH board, but there is not a requirement for commissioners to hold seats. According to the CMH website, four individuals hold CMH commissioner seats including:

· Gretchen Cosby appointed 1/3/2023

· Christian Kleinjans appointed 12/13/2022, term expires 3/31/2025

· Sylvia Rhodea appointed 1/3/2023

· Kendra Wenzel appointed 1/16/2024

Of the four commissioners listed above, only Christian Kleinjans was appointed to the CMH board as a member of the public before he was elected as a commissioner. Additionally, Kleinjans is no longer a commissioner. Of the other three, both Sylvia Rhodea and Kendra Wenzel were re-elected as commissioners, but Gretchen Cosby was not. There are currently eleven board members listed on the CMH website with the following dates for term expiration.

· 3/31/2025 – Kleinjans, Parnin

· 3/31/2026 – Bunce, Wick

· 3/31/2027 – Bird, Rockman (has resigned), VanHoven, Savage

· Unspecified – Cosby, Rhodea, Wenzel

According to MCL 330.1224, a CMH board member’s term of office shall be 3 years from April 1 of the year of appointment and vacancies for unexpired terms shall be filled by appointment. Therefore, the law specifies that seats shall expire on a rotating basis with four seats expiring each year. Notice that it is unclear when the term expires for three of the individuals listed on the CMH board website. Were they appointed to vacant seats to complete full three-year terms, or appointed to seats for individuals who had resigned and were completing the remainder of their term?

The term expiration dates are unclear because it appears Ottawa County has not followed the appointment schedule specified in law for a number of years, and additionally falsely identified four seats as reserved for commissioners. This created a lot of confusion during the meeting discussion on January 7, 2025.

Commissioner Zylstra explained the process the board of commissioners has been following to fill CMH board seats. (8:38:50), “I don’t think there are ambiguities. Our practice over the last 30 years is that commissioners appoint for the upcoming year. I think that’s just been straightforward. [] The chair person has the right to nominate. We have the right to approve. [] Our practice is that at the beginning of ever year [] nominate commissioners for commissioner spots; you fill it for a year. At the end of the year it’s open. If you’re on the board [of commissioners] still, you have that opportunity to continue. I just don’t see any ambiguities here.”

Commissioner Moss stated (8:34:42), “The fact in law is that four members of the board may be county commissioners, and a person who is removed shall have a term of three years.” He argued that there are technically no commissioner seats. Therefore, Cosby was appointed as a member of the public for a three-year term. (8:37:30), “Additional analysis is that the law requires any member of the board who is appointed, as a member of the public, she’s not appointed as a commissioner [] and her term shall be three years.”

Board Chair Teeples (8:36:00), argued that Cosby holds a commissioner seat, therefore, “She loses her status as a matter of law when she lost her seat.”

The reality is that former commissioner Cosby did not hold a commissioner seat because the law does not designate commissioner seats. Additionally, her CMH board term expiration date should have been clearly specified. Does it end on March 31, 2025, 2026, or 2027? Because proper procedure for appointing board members has not been followed for a number of years, it is possible that decisions passed by the CMH board could be rendered invalid. Once the implications and magnitude of the issue was discovered during the board discussion on January 7, 2025, the board voted to table the vote on a CMH board member until the legal department analyzed the situation.

Following the January 7 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting, former commissioner Gretchen Cosby resigned from the Community Mental Health board. While this action may eliminate some of the confusion, it does not fully resolve the issue as it is unclear what terms some of the remaining active board members are fulfilling.

Share

Michigan law obligates counties to provide Mental Health Services. Medicaid money flows from the Federal government, to the states, to the prepaid inpatient health programs (PIHP), to counties, and the Federal government designates how different portions of the money must be spent. Although funding is based on the number of Medicaid eligible people in the county, the county is not reimbursed based on services rendered. Rather, the county is paid a lump sum based on the number of people eligible for Medicaid and the vast majority of CMH expenses are paid with Medicaid dollars. If counties overspend, they must pay the difference up to 7% and then the state pays the rest. If they underspend, they must return the remainder and their budget will likely be reduced for the following year.

Unfortunately, counties all across Michigan are experiencing difficulty meeting their obligations with their allocated Medicaid money. CMHOC Executive Director Dr. Michael Brashears is expected to write a formal letter in December/January to the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) requesting relief funding of around $1.8 million.

A number of factors are contributing to the relief funding request:

• Typically, an average of 20-22 individuals are placed into new specialized residential living arrangements each year. New placements cost between $70,000-$100,000 depending on needs. Fiscal year 2024 saw an increase in Medicaid expenditures as 31 Ottawa County residents were placed.

• 2024 also saw an increase of roughly $1.5 million beyond the budgeted amount for community living supports. This is primarily due to the increase in rates of autism.

• Inpatient psychiatric admissions also saw an increase and are averaging around 2 to 3 per day.

• Finally, there was a $3 million increase in administrative expenses, with employee raises accounting for over one-half of the increase. In 2024 CMH staff organized into a union and negotiated a contract with county officials which included employee pay raises of $1.8 million. While the contract was negotiated in good faith, the reality is that the Medicaid allotment of CMHOC is insufficient to cover all of these unforeseen expenses.

In addition to Medicaid funding, CMH receives money from the state general fund which is used to cover gaps that Medicaid does not cover. State general fund dollars can be used to supplement Medicaid. While Medicaid is an entitlement, the county CMH uses assessments to determine how to spend state general fund dollars based on needs and priorities. State law establishes that county governments shall provide certain mental health care services for individuals with severe cases, while individuals with mild to moderate illness are generally covered with private insurance. If the county has available funds, state general fund money is commonly used for uninsured people not on Medicaid with mild to moderate illness, and for crisis situations.

The CCBHC is a relatively new addition to the Federal government’s Medicaid program, and is reimbursed on a fee-for-service model. CCBHCs have been created across the southern portion of Michigan but, oddly, they are non-existent in most northern counties. Counties that agree to accept CCBHC dollars obligate themselves to providing additional services not required by Michigan law. Some obligations include providing 24 hour/7 days per week crisis care for both children and adults, providing services to individuals in jail facilities, and providing services to mild to moderate individuals regardless of their county of residence. Ottawa County receives $414/person/day served by the CCBHC. While in many cases this rate sufficiently covers expenses, should multiple people seek services whose care exceeds $414/day, the existing CMH system is responsible to make up the difference.

CMHOC has received approximately $6 million in funding through the CCBHC system. This includes grant money which was primarily used to create the infrastructure required by the state to be reimbursed through the CCBHC system and per person reimbursements for screenings, assessments and diagnoses. Since implementing the CCBHC system, CMHOC has not expanded services, but rather has hired personnel and created the infrastructure required by the state to do so.

CMHOC receives approximately $4 million per year from the mental health millage which was approved by Ottawa County residents in 2016. Mental health millage money cannot be used to supplement Medicaid covered services and is therefore primarily used to cover services CHMOC believes will help current consumers, and reduce or not increase the number of consumers receiving Medicaid services. For example, mental health millage dollars have been used to fund social recreation programs, services to individuals in the jail, mental health staff placed in public school buildings, and to support group home services not covered by Medicaid.

CMHOC receives approximately $1.8 million in grant funding which covers a variety of services not required by state law. Grants enable CMH to expand services beyond what is required by Medicaid. All grants are 100% optional and require additional CMH resources to ensure compliance. Some grants enable CMHOC to provide services to individuals in jail. The Child Collaborative Care program MC3 grant is used to educate primary care physicians on psychiatric medications prescribed to children. The HUD1 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development helps provide permanent housing assistance for homeless individuals with permanent disabilities, but, unfortunately, this particular grant comes with numerous restrictions which eliminate many seemingly appropriate candidates from qualifying.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the Ottawa County Community Mental Health System and Community Mental Health systems across the nation could benefit from significant restructuring. Approximately 15% of CMHOC budget alone goes toward overhead and figuring out how to comply with the rules. Remember, Medicaid money flows from the Federal government, to the states, to the PIHP, to counties, and then to the individuals who actually receive services. That is four layers of bureaucracy.

Currently, the Medicaid manual does a very good job at detailing what services must be covered. If the Medicaid manual was codified into state laws, and state laws mandated that county level governments fund the mandated services, then three layers of bureaucracy could be eliminated. Rather than the money coming from the Federal government, through the state government, and the PIHP, what if the money came directly from the taxpayers at the county level? That would eliminate approximately 35 bureaucrats taking a slice of the pie at the regional level alone.

CMHOC has traditionally provided services to the destitute, but with the CCBHC is now expanding services to individuals with mild to moderate illness. These individuals more commonly have access to family, community supports, church networks, and employer resources that can assist them with difficult times. CMHOC provides numerous services. One question that must be asked is: how is the CCBHC system helping people in general? Does the burden the CCBHC system imposes on the average taxpayer outweigh the benefit received by individuals it serves? Wouldn’t it be better if people were empowered to be independent rather than encouraged to accept more government assistance? Rather than providing mental health services for individuals with mild to moderate illness, what if insurance companies provided coverage for mental health services? Better yet, what if costs for services were posted so people in need of services could directly seek them understanding how much they cost?

There are a number of significant changes that could be made to improve the nationwide mental health system, and it will likely take a coordinated effort from elected officials that results in a change of how the money flows. In the mean time, Dr. Brashears at CMHOC is working to improve services for local residents and we will see if the OCBOC approves his request for relief funding.

Share

“members of the incoming board majority began reaching out to me, both directly and indirectly, to express that I would not be given a fair opportunity to succeed in this role. They explained that, regardless of my qualifications or efforts, they were committed to terminating or otherwise forcing out whoever is hired. This would be the case even if it resulted in significant costs to taxpayers through severance payments, search fees, and renewed turmoil. While I was assured this was “not personal,” it would undoubtedly impact my family and career.”

During the November 25, 2024, Ottawa County Executive Transition Committee meeting, commissioners read a prepared statement and the letters from the two candidates who are withdrawing their applications.

The commissioners stated, “After James Freed withdrew his candidacy on Thursday of last week, Jim Lower became publicly known as the final candidate to be considered for permanent county administrator. Jim Lower shared with us that once this happened, he began receiving intimidating phone calls from John Teeples and Jacob Bonnema.”

John Teeples, incoming Ottawa County Board of Commissioner from District 7 is scheduled to begin serving in January 2025, and denies this claim. While he acknowledges that he spoke with Lower, he claims Lower reached out to him. At the OCBOC meeting which took place the day after the Executive Transition Committee meeting, John Teeples gave public comment explaining what happened. Because public comments are limited to three minutes Teeples was cut-off and unable to complete his statement during the first opportunity for public comment. Therefore, he spoke again at the end of the meeting to finish his statement.

(33:05) John Teeples, “Mr. Chairman, yesterday you publicly blamed me for intimidating Lower into withdrawing his candidacy for next county administrator, and said that I had acted unethically. I find it interesting, that throughout my almost 40-year career, as a lawyer and public servant, no one has ever, ever called me a liar or unethical until I decided to run for office. Then it’s by people like yourselves, who do not know me, that I’ve never worked for, that jump to conclusions without facts.

Let me set the record straight. I never reached out to, nor called Jim Lower, and had no intentions of ever doing so. In fact, he called me last Friday night around 8:30 pm as part of his due diligence as to whether or not to accept the job. I never asked anyone to talk with him, and did not direct him to anyone else. He essentially wanted to know if his job was secure once the new commission was sworn into office in January. I told him that I could not speak for the other commissioner elects, but I personally did not feel it would be fair to him, or to his family, to fire him, simply because he had accepted the job under these circumstances, and that I surely did not and would not hold it against him for doing so. I also expressed my belief that the other commissioner elects would likewise treat him fairly, because I told him, they are good people.

However, I also told him that I would expect that there would be a new recruitment and search committee forming next May or so, with community participation like that which existed when John Shay was identified and hired in 2022. Mr. Lower knew that, as a matter of law, the best this board could offer him is a job for a maximum of 12 months, ending December 31, 2025. The county would otherwise expect to have a permanent administrator starting January 2026 if not sooner.

[] He said, that he was hoping that if he did a good job, the new commission would not go through another search process for the next administrator. I told him I would not support that plan. He wanted assurances I simply could not give. (1:03:10) “I never did anything to contact Mr. Lower, but he called me for employment assurances I simply could not give. We never discussed his credentials or qualifications, and he never asked me and I did not offer any opinion as to whether or not he should accept the job under the circumstances, but I did recognize him for being aware of, and raising a red flag of uncertainty for his considerations.

Mr. Chair, you blame me and others for you no longer having a candidate for county administrator, but we are not to blame.”

Over the past two years, Ottawa County has been led by two administrators (John Shay and John Gibbs) and two interim administrators (Jon Anderson and Ben Wetmore). Former County Administrator John Shay was released from duty by the incoming BOC in January 2023 due to his leadership during the COVID pandemic. Former County Administrator John Gibbs was placed on administrative leave in February 2024 and later relieved of his duties. According to local reports, “Deputy Administrator Benjamin Wetmore and Administrative Aide Jordan Epperson made allegations that Gibbs acted inappropriately and neglected his job duties.” Gibbs contested the allegations and filed a lawsuit against the county which is still ongoing. Jon Anderson was appointed Interim County Administrator in March 2024 and served until he submitted his resignation in October. Ben Wetmore began serving as Interim Administrator on October 16, 2024, when he was voted in (6-5) by the OCBOC.

With respect to hiring a permanent county administrator, it is possible that both Ottawa Impact commissioners and John Teeples are telling the truth. Lower said he was reached out to both “directly and indirectly.” What does indirectly mean? Who else reached out to him and was this entity truthful with him? It is possible that Lower told the commissioners that Teeples contacted him, but his withdrawal statement did not name anyone specifically. Perhaps Lower was wary that he may be entering an unbecoming political situation and determined it was in his best interest not to get involved.

What is clear is that the Ottawa County Administrator is a powerful position, and political games are being played surrounding the fulfillment of the position. While it is unclear just who is behind the chaos and what the motives are, it is not fair to the citizens of Ottawa County.

Share

Several people who gave public comment, as well as the five board members who voted against the motion expressed, their concerns. At issue was the selection of Ben Wetmore to the position as well as the following paragraph in the resolution:

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Interim County Administrator shall direct the operations and supervise the performance of all County departments and department heads, and is the final authority for decisions related to employee behavior, discipline, selection, appointment, removal, and policy enforcement, however, this authority shall not apply to elected officials or officials that have been appointed by the Board of Commissioners”

Commissioner Doug Zylstra suggested the motion should agree with the job description for the county administrator position which reads, (49:23) “The county administrator shall supervise the operations and performance of all county departments and department heads except corporate council and elected officials and their officers, and with the approval of the board appoint and remove all heads of departments other than elected officials.”

The other commissioners agreed that the resolution and job description should match, but disagreed on which version to incorporate. Some commissioners believed the resolution increased the power of the county administrator by granting him authority over all employees while removing the requirement of board approval for decisions, but other commissioners believed the language was merely a clarification.

Commissioner Roger Bergman agreed with commissioner Zylstra and was concerned that the resolution gives the interim county administrator disciplinary and dismissal authority over all county employees (52:30). Board Chair Joe Moss explained (54:30) that the language in the motion clarifies the role of the administrator.

Commissioner Zylstra also drew attention to the removal of the phrase “with the approval of the board,” and suggested the board was giving up a right. Board Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea explained (58:10) that the board has historically not always given approval when department heads are hired. She suggested the language in the motion was more desirable and also in line with board practice stating, “That authority belongs with the administrator, not at the board level.”

Commissioner Gretchen Cosby explained (1:05:30) that in many ways the county administrator role is similar to the role of a CEO. While on special occasion the administrator may need to make a dismissal or disciplinary decision, “the heads of the departments are responsible for their employees.”

After a proposed amendment to the resolution was voted down, the focus was on Wetmore as a candidate. During public comment Becky Patrick of Allendale, who is also a commissioner candidate, speaking of Ben Wetmore stated, (27:50) “He has been publicly associated with multiple events in which people attempted to publicly trick or embarrass others for personal gain while surreptitiously filming them.”

Dan Zimmer, another individual who gave public comment, was concerned about Wetmore’s involvement with Project Veritas and the Gateway Pundit (41:00), but he was not the only one. Karen Obits stated (44:00), “I recall reading articles that stated he was an attorney by profession, but there seems to be little evidence of a successful law career. There was however, extensive history of political activism; including an association with The Gateway Pundit and Project Veritas.”

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema took an opportunity to express his opinion, (1:10:50) “This decision is a very big decision. It holds a lot of power. It demands a lot of trust Mr. Wetmore. You will have access to people’s personal information; a lot of private content that a lot of people don’t trust you to have access to. I expect you, should this vote go your way, to prove all of these department heads wrong, because as I reached out to multiple department heads today to ask them ‘Do they trust you in this position?’ I could not find a single one that said that they did. That is a critical failure of leadership on your part since you have been in this building for the months that you have.” A few minutes later Commissioner Bonnema added (1:20:15) “We need someone who our county employees want to follow. They do not want to follow Mr. Wetmore. They do not trust him.”

Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea countered, (1:20:45) “I would just note that the county government exists for the people. The people do not exist for county government. It is our job to appoint an interim administrator who will do the best job for the people of Ottawa County; not an interim county administrator who will make the bureaucracy the happiest.”

The OCBOC is currently in the process of hiring a County Administrator. They have formed an Executive Transition Committee and hired a firm to assist with the search. Links to their meetings, agendas and meeting packets can be found here.

Share