During the September 18, 2023, Grand Haven City Council meeting, three council members voted to launch an independent investigation into a whistleblower complaint filed by a Board of Light and Power (BLP) employee. The employee alleged that the BLP:
Acted improperly in responding to a FOIA request and may have deleted relevant emails so not to have to answer.
Repeated false and misleading statements to its employees regarding a proposed charter amendment.
Attempted to avoid compliance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act (OMA).
Pressured employees to sign a letter, to contribute funds, and to distribute door signs opposed to the proposed charter amendment.
Over the course of approximately three weeks, a complaint was made, the public was made aware of the complaint, and an outside investigation was authorized. Through Attorney Sarah Howard and BLP Board Member Andrea Hendrick, the whistleblower employee contacted BLP and City Attorney Ron Bultje at the end of August. By September 5th the city council was made aware of the allegations. By September 12th, Council Members Lowe and Cummins, along with Attorney Ron Bultje, formed a plan to make the allegations public. On September 14th, City Attorney Ron Bultje met with the whistleblower and the whistleblower’s attorney, followed by a separate meeting of Bultje, Council Member Lowe and Council Member Cummins. By September 18th the public was made aware of the allegations and a resolution was in place to launch an investigation.
But this was not the first whistleblower to allege a complaint against the BLP and its board. The first whistleblower requested an investigation 19 months earlier, but has yet to receive an official response from the city council. Why are these two claims being handled so differently?
The first whistleblower is BLP General Manager David Walters. He also made his claim public during the September 18, 2023, Grand Haven City Council meeting when he spoke during public comment. He stated, (22:34) “As the public does not know, this is not the first BLP employee whistleblower that has an active concern before the board. That would be me.”
Walter’s allegations center around BLP board member Andrea Hendrick. He alleges Hendrick:
Improperly forwarded BLP materials from her BLP email account to her personal email account from December 2021 until August 2023.
Joined the BLP board with a prior agenda to work with similarly-minded individuals on City Council behind closed doors.
Displays no “Duty of Loyalty” to the board she was elected to serve, to place the interests of the BLP organization ahead of her own political interests.
Harassed and slandered him both publicly and privately, and referred to his age and gender as justification to do so.
In addition, Walters alleged that the BLP board as his employer, Grand Haven City Council as the overarching authority, and Attorney Ron Bultje representing both entities, all failed to respond to his repeated requests to address his concerns.
Walters submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the BLP on August 16, 2023, requesting correspondence to/from Hendrick that included the mention of him. On September 6, 2023, the BLP responded, “Due to the large volume of responsive documents that must be individually reviewed to determine if they are public records, defined by the Act as “a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function for the time is created,” the documents will be provided to you within a reasonable period of time after they are provided to the BLP by Ms. Hendrick and then are reviewed by the BLP attorney to determine their coverage under the FOIA.” The BLP’s response shows they are relying on Hendrick to provide emails that could potentially incriminate her of wrongdoing.
As part of his opening public comment at the city council meeting on September 18, 2023, Walters stated, “Late last Thursday, I was notified that board member Hendricks, and now this whistleblower’s private attorney Sarah Howard, alternately delivered to the city attorney, this new evidence that apparently requires more immediate attention than responding to my FOIA request.“
It is curious that Sarah Howard, the attorney representing Adeline Hambly in her case against Ottawa County, is representing both Andrea Hendrick and the second whistleblower, and happens to be business partners with Crystal Bultje, daughter of BLP and Grand Haven City Attorney Ron Bultje.
It appears much action is taking place behind the scenes that is attempting to discredit the BLP and its General Manager David Walters. Walters expressed his frustration giving a second public comment on September 18, 2023.
(1:50:35) “I just want to voice my disappointment as well. I told you before the meeting that you had another whistleblower that had struggled with all the same things that this whistleblower is. I am 100% in favor of that whistleblower getting a full and independent investigation, but I have been asking for an independent investigation, with an independent attorney for 19 months. This Council has denied the Board of Light and Power the ability to go out and get another attorney. [] I expect in the next meeting that you guys go back, read my whistleblower complaints, and do the exact same thing for [me] [] that you're doing for this one [whistleblower]; assign an independent counsel that I've been asking for for 19 months; assign them, take a look at it, and do it post haste. Then we can look at the emails that were deleted that I'm trying to get, because a lot of emails are deleted.”
Why is there a significant difference in the way these two complaints are being addressed? Walters’ concerns against Hendrick likely have merit, as a complaint filed on Hendrick’s behalf by the girlfriend of City Council Member Kevin McLaughlin alleging harassment of Hendrick by General Manager David Walters and the BLP board were found to be baseless, but the investigation by the BLP found that Hendrick had made discriminatory social media posts against BLP board members, and was herself using tactics she alleged were being used against her.
There appears to be a hidden agenda.