According to law, MCL Section 45.557, authority for hiring a county administrator lies with the board of commissioners. While the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) is currently engaged in a search to hire a new county administrator, so far current county commissioners have not even seen a list of applicants. Rather, months ago a search firm was hired by the county who is handling that information, and a citizen workgroup has been created to review applications, assist with conducting candidate interviews, and determine candidate strengths and weaknesses. Although the board will likely vote on the final candidate during an open meeting, as a citizen, I would like to know why select unelected residents have access to this privileged information, and why they appear to be performing a job which is reserved for the county commissioners we elected?
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 13th 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 12th.“
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.