2026-02-27T20:06:47-05:00November 26th, 2025|

Last week, closed session minutes from 2023 were released. This was related to the “$4M” and the removal hearing for the health officer.

MLive was the only news outlet that contacted past Chair Joe Moss and they printed a couple sentences of his response. (FOX17 and others didn’t bother reaching out.)
*Not a single news outlet reached out to me for a comment.

As shared by Commissioner Moss last night during our Board of Commissioner’s meeting and to which I concur,

“The Board of Commissioners engaged in a negotiation process to separate with the Health Officer. The consensus of the November 6, 2023, meeting was to begin drafting documents and continue the negotiation process a week later on November 14. The meeting minutes reflect a moment in time during the process.

At that time, there were never six or more votes to accept any of the terms discussed that day.

The Health Officer decided to break off negotiations and the court accurately ruled that she was not owed money. At all times, the first priority of the Board majority was to PROTECT THE KIDS of Ottawa County, which is what The People elected us to do. 🇺🇸”

Commissioner Moss additionally shared on his Facebook page this morning:

“To be more specific, the board never agreed to settle with the health officer for $4 million. I said publicly from the very beginning that the health officer could demand $8 million or $4 million, it doesn’t mean she could get it.

The news (and others) spread the lie that the board had voted to pay $4 million. That never happened, the judge confirmed it, and the minutes also confirm it.

If the health officer did not break off negotiations and sue the board, to try to gain a $4 million payout, the board would’ve come back on November 14, 2023, to continue negotiations.

I wish we could’ve come back and continued to negotiate. I believe the board would’ve continued to reduce her demands from where she started at $8M, to a more reasonable figure to separate.

It’s too bad there isn’t an audio recording of that meeting, because it would show that at the end of the closed session, the board came to consensus and wanted to start drafting documents so we could see potential terms of an agreement. The board never intended to vote on an agreement that it did not have. This is proper process and good practice.

I’m thankful the COVID era is behind us, parents woke up and opposed DEI and woke indoctrination in schools, and are continuing to fight for their kids! We must be ever vigilant.

Fake news is the enemy of the people.”

I will be sharing more thoughts on a second post, sharing my Commissioner Comments I provided at the end of the meeting.