A lot is wrong in Ottawa County right now. Much of it stems from the management practices and political goals of Ottawa Impact, a group with Christian nationalist ideals that won a majority of seats on the committee in 2022 and took office in January.
Since January, county board meetings have become marathons. Why; Because the policies of the board majority have caused alarm and resistance from citizens, both those citizens and Ottawa Impact supporters are attending meetings to voice their concerns. Meetings span five hours and more. Why does this matter? It is a symptom of suffering. Ottawa Impact has punctured the hornet’s nest and the result is a swarm of angry people trying to be heard.
This means that the board’s action is directed towards self-defense. We have read in the papers numerous reports of firings, hirings and conflicts with county employees and especially with the county health department and its director. We read about grant money being left on the table because the grants were originally tied to COVID. We read about programs not being funded becauseβ¦ well, we’re not sure why the suicide prevention grant for adult men was turned down.
We haven’t read much about the board’s work to see the county prosper in the 21st century. What has the council done about affordable housing, which is essential to attract the workforce? What is the board’s thinking on infrastructure, especially internet access? What about energy needs? Or environmental protection? What about cleaning up groundwater and soil pollution?
Why does this matter? It is also a symptom of problems. Apolitical government work has taken a backseat to a set of focused political actions that look a lot like retaliation against county politicians during the COVID pandemic. But the truth is that government work is usually uncontroversial: it is not driven by political agenda, but by the public good. Who is doing this work in Ottawa County right now?
The council’s need to defend its actions is costing citizens. Ottawa Impact commissioners hired a new law firm, the Kallman Group, at their first meeting. The company has since been embroiled in a series of lawsuits against the county β all the result of the board’s actions. The lawsuits allege violations of the Open Meetings Act, religious discrimination and age discrimination.
The most extensive – and expensive – legal dispute is over whether the current health department director can keep her job. The majority of the board initially sought to review records from December 2022, before they took office, to confirm that Adeline Hambley was never appointed in the first place. The grounds for that argument were shaky, and the county lost that case this month. The Kallman Group plans to appeal, the Sentinel reports.
Last week, after two days of hearings on the Ottawa Impact majority’s allegation that Hambley exhibited incompetence, misconduct and dereliction of duty, the board postponed a vote on terminating her employment until Oct. 30. By the time this column is published, this decision will have been made public. What additional legal challenges will this create? How much more public money will be spent on a staffing problem rooted in the politicization of COVID policy in 2020?
Other Sentinel writers have pointed to silver linings: Marcia Mansaray wrote appreciating the outpouring of support for health care workers. Richard Wolfe has written about how citizen action can shape public policy. There are indeed more people paying attention to our local politics than ever before. There is a petition to recall Ottawa Impact commissioner Lucy Ebel. Groups like Ottawa Opposes, Vote Common Good, Unifying Coalition and Ottawa Integrity come from a diverse base of citizens united by their disapproval of Ottawa’s impact.
We are at the center of national attention, thanks to a report from the Washington Post. Our problems are part of a larger design of a right-wing, Christian nationalist agenda to reshape American politics, starting with local school and library boards and city and county government. These levers of power are used to implement ideological goals that are often not shared by the majority of citizens.
This won’t end soon. It’s the new normal.
We’ve let it happen by taking it for granted, for too long, that local politics is not divided by ideology. The day of sleepy city and county elections is over. We’ve seen how low voter turnout dominated by a highly motivated segment of the population can sweep a group like the Ottawa Impact into power. Just a reminder: in the May 2022 primary election in which Ottawa Impact candidates won the GOP nomination for office, only 28% of registered voters cast a ballot. This is really a minority government.
What to do? All of us, regardless of party label, must work to redefine concepts we have taken for granted for so long.
Who are the “people” in government, by and for the people?
What does public service mean and who does “the public” serve?
And finally, what constitutes a “public good?”
β Community columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and Park Township resident. You can reach her at oleske@gmail.com.