HIGHLIGHTS from February 25 Board of Commissioners Meeting and VOTE EXPLANATIONS:
Commissioner Joe Moss pulled off an item from the consent agenda regarding the motion to approve the contract with Baker Tilly Advisory Group for wage and compensation services for a total of $107,400.
Vote Explanation: While I support the work that needs to be done, I voted against this contract for two reasons.
First, I agreed with Commissioner Moss’ assessment and statement of Baker Tilly. As shared (in part) by Commissioner Moss, “While I support the work that needs to be done, I do not support contracting with the firm Baker Tilly. Baker Tilly received a perfect score from the human rights campaign in 2022. They have continued to promote pro-HRC, pro-DEI policy as a company into 2025. If you are unfamiliar with human rights campaign, it is the group that has been promoting damaging left-wing ideology, like children being able to change their gender, and they go so far as to publish training guides and instruction manuals telling doctors not to “assume” peoples gender based on their biology. These policies promote things like hormone therapy and gender transition mutilation surgery to accommodate peoples, preferred identities, pronouns, and names.
HRC and the ideology promoted by Baker Tilly does not represent Ottawa County values. Or common sense. As a board, we should be intentional when analyzing contracts. The board should be especially cautious when considering any contract with groups that align with the human rights campaign. The HRC is at the center of the controversy over last few months, as Christopher Rufo and Robbie Starbuck continue to expose the bad ideas promoted by the HRC and large corporations.
Thankfully, many companies have disassociated with the HRC due to backlash from the people of the United States learning about the woke ideas they are promoting.
Baker Tilly is publicly aligned with the HRC. Their team was hand-picked for Ottawa County, as written in the proposal, and includes at least one person who has a specialty in injecting DEI ideology into local government. Most of the team members handpicked for Ottawa County proudly display their pronouns in their bios, although they did not include those in the packet…”
Second, I spent some time looking at the proposals. There were other firms that scored higher or very similar as Baker Tilly. One particular firm that ranked the highest wasn’t afforded an interview yet had a very thorough proposal and has done work for municipalities. I shared that I would personally still like our BOC to spend a bit more time on this and direct our HR dept to look at a couple of their other options as this isn’t a time sensitive matter.
Motion passed 7-3 (Commissioners Moss, Wenzel and myself voted against; Commissioner Rhodea was absent due to illness at today’s meeting).
I pulled an item off from the consent agenda regarding the motion to approve the FY2025 budget adjustments per the attached schedule and made a motion to amend the agenda to remove line item 04-1172 of the budget adjustments and vote on it as a separate Action Item.
Vote Explanation: This $900,000 line item is not a requirement for our health department. This is unnecessary state and federal dollars (our dollars) being spent, specifically continuing on the Covid funding that began in 2020. It’s fluff and we have too much of that already in government. Commissioner Cosby asked repeatedly of our health department from 2023-2024 to provide data showing where the needs were so that we can make the best educated decisions on behalf of our community. To this date, no data has been presented to the Board showing the need for this money.
Motion to vote on it separately failed 7-3 (Commissioners Moss, Wenzel and myself voted for) and the original motion to approve the FY2025 budget adjustments was approved with a 7-3 vote (with Moss, Wenzel and myself voting against).
Campbell Plant: To approve the resolution in support of the delayed closing of the Consumers Energy Plant.
Vote Explanation: I voted in favor of this resolution (Resolution to Delay the Closing of the Consumers Energy J.H. Campbell Plant). I am thankful to see the support of many local municipalities, state representatives and senators and most of the Board of Commissioners seeking a request of a delayed closure of the Campbell Plant. As stated in the resolution, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation 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 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. 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.
Motion passed 9-1 (Commissioner Zylstra voted against).
Crockery Lake Agreement: To authorize legal action for court ruling on the validity of the Agreement for the Care, Management, and Maintenance of Land Located at Crockery Lake (a/k/a) the Crockery Lake Agreement) approved and dated on or about December 10-17, 2024.
Vote Explanation: This is an absolute political and power play going on here at the detriment of the environment, constituents and democracy. The newly elected board is seeking a judge to side with them to undo a contract that was put into motion with a majority vote in December 2024.
Motion passed 7-3 (Commissioners Moss, Wenzel and myself voted against)
Kallman Legal Group -To approve the Agreement For Termination for Legal Services with The Kallman Legal Group effective February 21, 2025.
Vote Explanation: I’m thankful for the terrific job that Kallman Legal has done here in our county for the past 2+ years. They have stood under extreme Democrat law fare, have led with integrity, professionalism and respect for staff and elected officials, built great working relationships across our county. I personally do not wish to have them dismissed – I’d like to see them continue on here. They have greatly improved processes that were lacking for years.
Motion passed 6-4 (Commissioners Moss, Wenzel, Zylstra and myself voted against).
Dickinson Wright: To retain Ronald Bultje as lead counsel, Dickinson Wright and its attorneys, agents and contractors as interim Ottawa County Corporation Counsel to perform corporate legal services to Ottawa and its departments, funding units, departments and boards
and commissioners until a permanent Corporation Counsel can be hired.
Vote Explanation: While I recognize that a newly elected board has every right to go a new direction for legal counsel, the process and timing was poor and lacking. The county currently has legal counsel willing to work through the end of their contract in August. It would be more prudent to begin a search process for a new permanent legal counsel while retaining the experienced legal team we already have employed at the county. This would save the county financially as well as provide a better transition. Additionally, I have concerns about Ronald Bultje serving as the county’s legal counsel – after spending time doing a bit of research on him on Monday, he serves several other local municipalities in Ottawa County. I am concerned about the potential conflicts this may cause in doing work with them. Additionally, I received some negative reports from others within Ottawa County that have had prior experience working with Ron.
Motion passed with a 7-3 vote (Commissioners Moss, Wenzel and myself voted against).
For more information, watch the meeting at:
https://www.youtube.com/live/XZEAtKbPcqs?si=IOfQ3L4fBqxWLI72&t=480
Campbell Plant discussion beginning at 40:43-1:00:00
Crockery Lake discussion beginning at 1:00:00-1:37:33.
Legal Counsel discussion beginning at 1:37:33-2:22:08
Wage Study Baker Tilly contract discussion beginning at 2:34:22-2:50:21
Budget Adjustments discussion beginning at 2:50:23 -2:57:24
