GEORGETOWN TWP. — Michelle Dieleman never planned to run for Ottawa County commissioner.

“The truth is, I never thought I would be doing this,” she said.

A trip to the local Meijer in Jenison, however, made the Democrat realize she had more in common with her fellow residents than she realized.

“I was standing in line and overheard two people talking about how embarrassed they were to be in Ottawa County. I had been hearing that a lot,” she said. “And I thought: ‘What do I do? How can we change it? I know this is negative, but this is hopeful.’”

The Wyoming, Michigan, native has lived in Georgetown Township for nearly 40 years. She said she was inspired to run for the District 6 seat when she saw a series of controversial decisions starting in 2023 by the current Ottawa Impact majority on the board.

Several actions during their first official meeting that year — including firing the administrator and county attorney as well as demoting the county’s health officer — ultimately resulted in multiple lawsuits against the board.

Those actions were bad enough, Dieleman said, but a more basic decision made at that meeting stood out: changing the county motto from “Where You Belong” to “Where Freedom Rings.”

“And it's so dumb. Really, it's the dumbest thing, but it's probably the thing that pissed me off the most,” she said. “They had to pay about $40,000 to change all the stationery.”

Dieleman said it’s unfortunate that the county has experienced political upheaval over the past two years; she said she longs for a return to normalcy and wants to help achieve that.

“I'm positive. I love people, I love my community,” she said. “Really, what I want is for Ottawa County to just be like the boring Ottawa County it used to be where we didn't even know the names of our commissioners — because they were doing a good job.”

The 61-year-old said pulled from her experiences parenting her children in order to come to the conclusion to run.

“I've always said to my kids: ‘I don't want to hear you bitching if you ain't willing to do something about it.’ And here I am. I’m willing to do something about it,” she said. “I feel a willingness to serve and the uncomfortableness of what's going on. You just have to be willing, and God will take care of the rest.”

She said the tenor and tone of the current board majority, which she described as “wasted time, wasted money” and nationalistic, has disturbed her. It harkened back to her upbringing on a small farm.

“I was raised in that nationalism,” she said. “It probably hits me harder, because it's scary to me. I think that's what's so disturbing to me, is the cultish flavor of what's going on.”

Dieleman said she would like to serve as a voice that promotes unity while clearly defining the roles of what county commissioners can and can’t do.

“They don't have clearly defined service roles,” she said. “What is your clearly defined service role? And then how do you stay in those parameters? This whole thing has been about personalities, but where are the principles? How about we just do our responsibilities?”

She said the current board is heavily dictated by board Chair Joe Moss, who also is the founder and president of Ottawa Impact.

“It's a cultish, top-down mentality, instead of being democratic and thought in action,” Dieleman said. “And I don't believe in a top-down mentality. It's just not who I am or where I come from. So I think I'm the voice of my constituents.”

She said one of the biggest lessons from the past two years is that the role of county commissioner can affect more than people realize.

“On one hand, let's get right-sized because they are not right-sized in their job,” she said of the current OI majority. “You are county commissioners. I feel like you can hold both … you're not that important, but you're really important.”

Dieleman will face Ottawa Impact Republican Kendra Wenzel on Nov. 5. Wenzel has been in the role for less than a year; she was appointed to the role in December after former District 6 commissioner Kyle Terpstra resigned.

Dieleman wants constituents to know that she might be a Democrat, but she’s not a radical.

“I am a pretty moderate Democrat on all the things that I will be working on,” she said. “I am fiscally extremely conservative.”

She said she feels like she’s more attuned to what her neighbors want and need from their commissioner over Wenzel.

“I'm bringing my constituents' point of view. I'm bringing the District 6 point of view. That's how I see it,” she said. “There are way more people like me in this district than her, where I bring a more common voice. So I am a more relatable voice. … I believe in democratic representation. I represent a bigger group.”

Dieleman said her upbringing and life experiences bring a unique perspective.

“My life is one-on-one with people, talking about things that are hard. I talk about stuff … even with people who don't agree with me,” she said. “I just always feel like I want to lead with presuming goodwill. We want the same things. How do we get there? Most people want the same things.”

Dieleman said her top priorities are to balance the preservation of the county’s farmland while balancing the growing need for affordable housing and childcare.

“I grew up on a small farm. I have such a passion for not developing all our small farms and farmland that we have in my district,” she said. “Also, my daughter's living in my basement because she can't afford a house in Ottawa County, even with a master’s degree. So how do we balance that? And what can I do to find balance to that? Giving both of those things voice, I think, is really important.”

She said the county has an obligation to explore ways in which it can help its residents thrive.

“There are employers who make childcare affordable. Why aren't we all doing that? How can we make that happen in our county? How can we make that happen in more places?” she said. “And there's stuff coming from the state where they're trying to do that … let's tap into that.”

The first priority, however, is to select a county administrator who can help the board tackle its goals, Dieleman said.

The county has had four administrators over the past three years and soon will have another after current Interim Administrator Jon Anderson submitted his resignation earlier this month.

Read More: Interim Ottawa County administrator abruptly resigns after losing sheriff bid

The current board is set to create a five-member subcommittee at its next meeting Tuesday, Sept. 24. According to the publicly posted packet on the county’s website, all five commissioners appointed by Moss to the subcommittee are members of Ottawa Impact, including two who lost in the August Republican primary.

Dieleman said Moss’ style of leadership is disappointing, but it helped bring her attention to how parliamentary procedures should work and what she would live to see in her local government.

“You just keep bringing principles,” she said. “Keep showing up with principals. This has really helped me understand what's going on in Ottawa at a different level. And if you never bring it to the open, people don't have a place for a voice. They might not have a role, but they have a voice.”

She said, coming from a strong conservative upbringing, she can help restore balance and common sense to local government.

“I think the thing that I hold the most dear that I have learned is to be open-minded,” she said. “I was raised to be closed-minded, and it has been a hard-fought thing to become open-minded and to see people's humanity. To me, that has been hard, but I think I bring that to the table.”

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Married for more than 30 years, Dieleman and her husband, Cal, share four adult children. She said she’s “just a regular grandma and mom” who wants what's best for her family and community.

“I think I'm a strong, driven person, but I don't think I'm always right,” she said. “I think there's a balance of being really strong and independent, but also I think in my old age, I can hold both.”

For more information, visit Dieleman’s campaign page at michelle4commissioner.com.

— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.