I have been attending a Lenten book study at church and we’ve been reading “A Faith of Many Rooms” by Debie Thomas. This week’s discussion centered around paradoxes in the Christian faith and paradoxes in our daily lives. There was intense discussion around how to “live into” accepting many perspectives, approaching folks fundamentally different than ourselves and finding joy in those with whom we might vehemently disagree. After class, I read the Holland Sentinel article “Rhodea, Miedema respond to Joe Moss letter to GVSU,” and thought about all of the paradoxes in the article.

Commissioner Joe Moss attended an anti-transgender event at GVSU carrying a gun in his belt, in violation of GVSU policy around weapons on campus. After the event, Moss (District 5) sent a letter to GVSU President Philomena Mantella on county letterhead expressing demands “to protect the safety and civil rights of (the) individuals” who visit GVSU, and to comply with recent federal executive orders. In total, he requests the school “take all necessary steps to shut down” DEI initiatives, discontinue “segregated graduation celebrations,” recognize “biological reality and the differences between men and women” and add concealed carry exemptions “for peace officers and (licensed individuals).” Mr. Moss chose to use county letterhead as the vehicle for his demands, implying county policy and perspective. Subsequent to Mr. Moss’ letter, Commissioners Sylvia Rhodea and Allison Miedema sent letters to GVSU with similar language on letterhead.

County residents expressed concern over misuse of official county communications methods. Commissioners Moss, Rhodea and Miedema were expressing personal opinions – not county policy. The County Commission has no responsibility for policy, procedure or curriculum at GVSU; yet the commissioners saw fit to express their personal opinions on letterhead. Why? These commissioners frequently lecture on First Amendment rights to speech and protest, yet feel it necessary to throw additional weight around via their elected status. Paradoxical.

At the Planning & Policy Committee meeting Thursday, April 10, Mrs. Rhodea dismissed the letters as a “non-issue,” saying the board was “getting all worked up over silliness” and “suffering from Moss Derangement Syndrome.” Interesting. Last time we heard about a “Derangement Syndrome” in Ottawa County it came from John Gibbs, former county administrator, hired by Moss and Rhodea, who coined the phrase “Ottawa Derangement Disorder” to describe anyone who questioned the actions of the Ottawa-Impact-majority-board from 2022-2024. Gibbs was fired after pointing out gross incompetence on the part of Kallman Legal and board members – was he suffering Moss Derangement Disorder? Or was it Ottawa Derangement Disorder? Or was he correct?

Mrs. Rhodea’s dismissive rhetoric around those who might question her actions is quite paradoxical. She was adamant in the last full board meeting that she was representing constituents in questioning several contracts the county enjoined; yet when constituents question her actions or the actions of Moss, they are suffering from mental illness? Seems paradoxical. When one resorts to the “calm down” response to an issue it is tantamount to admission of guilt. Mrs. Rhodea knows she was wrong to use letterhead. Admit the mistake and move on; deflection is cheap.

Moss, Rhodea and Miedema are elected commissioners in a democracy. All three have consistently dismissed questions from constituents and denigrated those that might be in opposition to any given position they hold. This level of disrespect and animosity toward the participation of the American public in political discourse is fundamentally opposed to their position as leaders in a democracy. I urge these commissioners to reflect on their attitudes towards constituents, especially those whom they represent despite policy disagreement.

The county’s top Health Officer Adeline Hambley has since claimed that the reduction would force the Health Department to close their doors in a matter of weeks. Moss and Gibbs have refuted such statements to be “patently false” and the matter of the budget has since been turned over to Ottawa County Fiscal Services as of Aug. 30. 

Municipal representatives returned to the ongoing debate regarding the OCHD’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year following closure for the holiday weekend. Tensions ran high during the Finance and Administration Committee meeting Tuesday Sept. 5 as the subject of public health financing remained at the top of the docket for yet another county meeting. 

In an unprecedented motion, Finance Committee Chair Gretchen Cosby asked for Hambley to be placed under oath during the discussion, following “fear-mongering” accusations from other county commissioners. 

“I would like to highlight the timeline of all this because by no means in the last two weeks has any budget been finalized, and we still don’t have one,”  Moss said to Hambley.

“That’s good to hear because it has not felt nor seemed like a discussion until this point,” replied Hambley. 

Gibbs shared with fellow county commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting that the general fund allocation contribution has since increased to approximately $4.35 million. While the value is certainly an increase from the previous contribution of $2.5 million, it is possible that health department programs would still see cuts. 

In a rare move for a public official, Hambley addressed commissioners during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting. 

“Today’s version of the budget also reduces the ‘Miles of Smiles’ dental program for uninsured children. And in some instances, you’re literally taking services out of the mouths of children with these actions,” Hambley said.

Hambley said even with the increased general fund allocation, 13 of 16 public health programs would still experience decreased budgets, some being cut by nearly half.  Gibbs rebutted the 2024 budget would be a 53 percent increase from the 2019. 

“The COVID pandemic is over, and we want to make sure that’s reflected in what our budget looks like,” Gibbs said during Tuesday’s meeting.

Hundreds of community members rallied around embattled health department employees the following day as the group left work, chanting “we support you.” The crowd packed the front lawn of the James Street OCHD office located Holland, Mich. as passersby honked in support, many carrying signs with expressions in favor of the Health Department. 

“It (the rally) came together very quickly over the last week, after the discussion between the Health Department and the county broke down as far as next year’s budget. It is really important to reinstate or reinforce the notion that democracy is of the people and we do hear often coming out of the meetings that they are there for the people,”  said rally attendee Christian Kleinjans. “These are the people that are very concerned about what could be coming out of the next fiscal year with the budget. The fiscal gymnastics that have gone behind the attempts to sort of justify the cuts don’t pan out if you’ve taken econ 101, and we feel that is not fiscally responsible and it’s not ethically responsible.”

Attendees at the rally also collected signatures in favor of the effort to recall county representatives in association with the far right group Ottawa Impact. The rally was organized by Ottawa Integrity PAC, Zeeland Area Action Council and Progressive Lakeshore. 

Speaker at the event and local ER Physician Rob Davidson, urged attendees to take their grievances with Ottawa Impact to the voting polls during his declaration.  

“If that person (a candidate) comes out and they are talking about good governance and the good use of county dollars and supporting public health and that person can take out someone like Joe Moss, can take out someone like Gretchen Cosby,” Davidson said.