Story summary

• A controversial contract between the county and Chester Township to remediate Crockery Lake is set to be reviewed by a court because it’s legally unenforceable, according to a legal opinion from the county's attorney.
• Commissioners accepted the resignation of its corporate counsel, Kallman Legal Group. It then hired longtime municipal attorney Ron Bultje as interim corporate counsel until a permanent selection can be made.
• The county board approved a resolution urging Consumers Energy to delay the closure of the J.H. Campbell plant, which is slated for the end of May 2025.

OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County tackled a slew of big topics Tuesday as the divide deepened between the moderate Republican majority on the board of commissioners and the minority far-right Ottawa Impact faction.

Read More: Lawyer swap, lake contract review, energy worries: Ottawa faces big decisions Tuesday

From a change in legal counsel, sending a controversial lake remediation contract to the court for legal review and trying to delay the closure of a coal-fired power plant, familiar storylines re-emerged with the two main factions on the board trading barbs over the wisdom of past and current decisions.

Here’s a rundown of what happened:

Crockery Lake contract

Arguably the most controversial decision of the Tuesday meeting was when commissioners voted 7-3 to ask a court to review the legality of a controversial contract the previous board approved in December.

The previous board, controlled in 2023 and 2024 by far-right fundamentalist group Ottawa Impact, approved the contract in the amount of $563,000 to Chester Township to “revitalize” Crockery Lake.

Read More: Ottawa County approves $563K contract to restore Crockery Lake as process faces criticism

The plan approved Dec. 10 already was in doubt after a legal challenge was filed Dec. 16, claiming the board exceeded its legal authority in paying the township the entire amount — despite being a five-year remediation plan — allegedly so that the former OI majority on the board could complete the deal before losing power.

To commissioners not in the former OI majority, the contract seemed sudden with little public process. They expressed deep concerns about the agreement’s language that gave the county little control over the project and increased liability should the lake cleanup go wrong.

Just weeks later, internal emails showed that the contract was crafted in less than two months, with only select officials involved in the process — including the contractor who was poised to receive the funds to complete the work.

The goal, according to emails from the former interim county administrator, was to ensure that new commissioners — set to be sworn in at the beginning of 2025 — would not be able to stop the project.

Read More: Emails: Crockery Lake contract was 'rushed,' intended to prevent new board from dismantling deal

“We want to make sure that once the funds are transferred on this project, that there's not the ability for the project to easily terminate or cease,” former interim county administrator Ben Wetmore wrote in a Dec. 3 email. “We intend to be bound to this agreement.”

Wetmore left at the end of the year after procuring a controversial $175,000 severance that also has been legally challenged in court.

At Tuesday's meeting, the new board reviewed a legal opinion from attorney Mike Bogren of Plunkett Cooney that said the contract was legally unenforceable; Bogren currently represents the county in the lawsuit challenging the legality of the Crockery Lake deal.

“It is our opinion the Dec. 10, 2024, agreement with Chester Township is invalid because the (board of commissioners) lacked the authority to enter into the agreement for two distinct reasons,” Bogren wrote in the opinion.

He said the prior board inappropriately “ceded authority to make improvements to county parks to the Parks Commission” and that the board exceeded the amount it can contribute to a lake improvement project under state law, which is 25%.”

Board Chair John Teeples said that approving the suggested motion would allow the board to ask a judge to rule on the legality of the agreement.

In his explanation of the resolution, Teeples called the residents of Crockery Lake "victims."

"They are not responsible for this legal quagmire," he said.

Likewise, he said the prior OI-led board was "just trying to help," but that "sometimes, there are legal limitations that prevent the desire of help."

Teeples, an attorney, pointed to multiple issues he had with the contract, including flaws brought up by attorney Stacy Hissong, general counsel for the Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners, who told the former board Dec. 3 there were questions over who would be the owner of the contract — the county or the township — because it was not immediately clear in the existing language.

Teeples appeared to criticize former corporation counsel Jack Jordan's lack of input when the board approved the contract and that Wetmore told commissioners Dec. 10 the contract had been in the works for months "even though certain members of the board were just finding out then."

He said his biggest concern, however, was that the contract dictates that the county assume all of the liability and costs if something goes wrong.

"I've never seen where a non-liable party, such as Ottawa County here, voluntarily agrees to assume an environmental cleanup it did not cause," he said. "Ottawa County has arguably agreed to assume an unprecedented liability and risk that might well exceed $563,000 and might well bind the county to future obligations.

"With this so-called negotiated agreement, we are opening a Pandora's Box of potential liability for Ottawa County. I see no reciprocating benefit from Chester Township to Ottawa County. I see it flowing only one way — from Ottawa County to Chester Township."

Teeples questioned former advisors who helped broker the deal.

"When I saw the draft agreement before it was approved, I thought it had to be a mistake," he said. "I thought there was no way that the county intended to incur the risk of non-performance cleanup, pay the fees ... but after reading through the email communications around this agreement, I realize there was no mistake.

"Clearly, we must ask: Was there anyone representing Ottawa County? Why was the public not made aware? Why were these concerns about the agreement earnestly discussed? Why were they so flippantly dismissed?"

Commissioner Doug Zylstra, the board's lone Democrat, asked if the county needed to discuss the concerns raised by the legal opinion with Chester Township to modify the figure before addressing it through the courts.

Teeples said if the contract is invalid, then attempts to renegotiate now would be moot.

Commissioner Joe Moss, who was chair of the board during OI's majority tenure — he also is the founder and president of the political group — said he didn't feel that the board exceeded its authority.

"I disagree with a couple statements you made earlier," he told Teeples.

Commissioner Jordan Jorritsma said the difference of opinion is the very reason that it would be helpful to have a judge give the board guidance.

"I think the fact that you and our county attorney disagree is exactly why we're asking a court to rule," Jorritsma told Moss. "There appears to be an ambiguity. I have no problem sitting down with Chester Township ... after we know the contract's legal."

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema questioned Moss on what harm asking the court to weigh in would cause.

"Are you opposed to hearing from a judge that this is a legal contract?"

"I think this is a way you can nuke a decision made by the previous board," Moss replied.

"This isn't political for me; I see it from a point of law," Teeples said. "And I think you made a mistake."

Teeples said the move isn't unprecedented.

"Insurance companies do it all the time, where you're asking a court to rule on the intent of the contract," he explained.

He also noted that if a judge ruled the contract unenforceable, it could help resolve a portion of the lawsuit challenging the contract's validity (the litigation also challenges a pair of separation agreements not connected to the Crockery Lake plan).

"We could use a mechanism there to file a motion for summary disposition," Teeples said, referring to when one party asks a judge to dismiss a claim.

The attorney who filed the lawsuit against the county challenging the agreement said the legal review was better late than never.

"It was clear back in December that the lake contract was illegal for many reasons, which is why our client filed suit right away," Sarah Riley-Howard said in a Wednesday statement to ONN. "The independent commissioners not affiliated with OI pointed out the problems at the meeting when the contract was first presented to everyone and couldn't get answers from legal counsel before it was rammed through.

"While this examination should have been done before the contract was passed, we are glad to see it happening now," she said.

Corporation counsel change

One of the biggest changes that will come to Ottawa County is a change in corporation counsel — the attorneys who serve as the chief legal advisor and who acts as the primary lawyer for the governing body, advising on legal matters and representing them in court when necessary.

On Jan. 3, 2023, the OI board majority made a series of controversial decisions, including firing longtime corporate counsel Doug Van Essen. It then hired Lansing-based Kallman Legal Group — then best known for representing an Owosso barber when legal action was brought against him for operating his haircutting business during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic against statewide orders.

Read More: Ottawa County meets again Tuesday. Here's what to expect after bombshell changes

Kallman then proceeded to assist the board through numerous controversial decisions and seven lawsuits brought against the board over the next 24 months, which have cost more than $1 million to handle the day-to-day operations from January 2023 through December 2024.

The county also has paid out more than $700,000 in settlements to date, with two lawsuits still ongoing.

Those decisions inspired a countermovement that ousted the OI majority in 2024, however, some OI commissioners remain.

At the time Kallman was hired, the board didn't open up a bidding process to allow other legal firms to compete. Perhaps more problematic, the two primary attorneys of Kallman Legal Group — David A. Kallman and Stephen P. Kallman — are related to Moss' business partner, Joel Kallman.

Despite the affiliation, Moss didn’t recuse himself in the vote to approve Kallman — which had no prior experience as a corporation counsel — as the county’s new attorney.

Before OI lost its majority, commissioners approved a controversial contract with Kallman that paid the law firm nearly $250,000 upfront for legal services that presumably were to be delivered between January and September of this year.

At the Tuesday meeting, the board voted 6-4 to accept Kallman's resignation, which was sent to commissioners Feb. 21, but not everyone agreed with the decision.

"I don't think we should move forward this one," Moss said. "Kallman Legal is one of, if not the best, constitutional law firm in the state."

Bonnema said Kallman did a bad job representing the county.

"When it comes to municipal law ... they don't understand it at all," Bonnema said of Kallman. "You dismissed prior counsel suddenly when you brought in the Kallman Group, which looks self-serving."

"I've also seen multiple times during closed session where important points are being made that they remained silent to protect your interests," he told Moss. "I don't think this is working on behalf of the county and it's got to stop."

Other commissioners, like Zylstra, voiced concerns about the pre-payment in December and how that would be reconciled with the county.

Teeples said there was $174,000 left on the pre-paid Kallman contract and that, between the law firm waving some fees and working on odds and ends over the next few months, the county will recoup about $100,000 of that.

The board then considered hiring longtime municipal attorney Ron Bultje, of Grand Rapids law firm Dickinson Wright, as corporation counsel.

Bultje has worked with the county’s Parks and Recreation Commission as well as municipalities that include Port Sheldon Township and the city of Grand Haven.

Despite those credentials, the OI commissioners questioned why the board majority backed the selection of Bultje.

Miedema said she wanted to see a bidding process before a decision was made, even though the prior board didn't do that.

After the board voted 7-3 to hire him, Bultje told commissioners that he would work for the county on an interim basis until a permanent corporation counsel could be hired.

"I'm not looking to take on more clients," he joked.

Campbell plant closure

Commissioners also voted 9-1 to encourage Consumers Energy to delay the closure of the coal-fired J.H. Campbell Plant in Port Sheldon Township.

Read More: County poised to urge delay in closing Campbell as officials say plan likely won't change

The Campbell Plant is Consumers' last — and largest — coal-fired plant in the state.

The plant, operating since 1962, was originally scheduled to close partially in 2030 and wholly in 2040. But the utility announced in 2021 it was moving the plan up by 15 years for an operations end date of May 31, 2025.

Read More: Consumers Energy reaches agreement to close Campbell plant, end utility's coal use by 2025

The utility seeks to end coal use altogether by 2025 as part of its goal to achieve carbon neutrality.

Consumers’ leadership, however, has said the closure will not be delayed “unless there's reliability concern.”

“We take our responsibility for reliability seriously. And so when we hear concerns and the like, we want to address them. We want to explain them, and where there are concerns that are legitimate, we try to address them,” said Srikanth “Sri” Maddipati, vice president of electric supply with Consumers.

“We care. I don't want the power going out any more than you do. So we're all in this together.”

Since the announcement, Consumers has been actively preparing the plant for "full retirement," a spokesperson said last year.

"The complex will officially go into retirement with an aim to go cold and dark after 2025," said former Consumers spokesperson Kristen Van Kley. "In 2026 and on, the complex will be demolished with a plan to restore the site over time."

Even with the assurances, a handful of townships within Ottawa County have passed resolutions requesting that Consumers delay the Campbell closure:

• Blendon
• Chester
• Georgetown
• Grand Haven
• Jamestown
• Polkton
• Zeeland

At Tuesday's meeting, the county joined that growing list, although their reasons varied.

Moss spoke of "the war on fossil fuels" and that Consumers is "completely out of line with the Trump Administration" and its energy policies.

Bonnema said his support for the resolution had more to do with energy "demand going up, not down."

Brugger said he supported the closure of the plant, but he is worried about the stability of the energy grid, citing two separate reports — from MISO as well as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC — that indicate concerns over the energy grid’s reliability once the Campbell is taken offline.

"I do believe in climate change. ... I do believe that coal has a negative effect on our environment and I'm thrilled to see the closure of coal plants," Brugger said. "My concern is that we'll have rolling blackouts and brownouts."

Consumers representatives appeared before the board Feb. 11 to reassure commissioners that the company’s plan and timeline are sound and that the grid is reliable.

The decommissioning process for the plant is expected to take about five years to complete, she said.

Meanwhile, Port Sheldon Township has said it’s already moving forward toward a future without the Campbell.

“We have been told explicitly that that is not an option because Consumers is bound by the (the Michigan Public Service Commission) and their integrated resource plan,” said Mike Sabatino, Port Sheldon Township supervisor.

Sabatino said his township — which notably has not passed a resolution urging a delay in closure — understands the fear of change, but that local officials understand the decision-making and how Consumers and residents will move forward.

“I understand the sentiment — this is something that's been here for 60 years — but it's been explained decision-making

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“There's nothing that we can do to prohibit them from closing; there's no ordinance that we can pass or anything like that,” he said. “They've already agreed to this closure timeline.”

Sabatino said the township recently completed a five-year master plan, which found that “the implications for tax revenue turned out not to be that bad at all.”

“We're in very good shape with that,” he said. 

Sabatino pointed to the township’s master plan as a way to incorporate preferences of residents on future purposes of the site.

“(Consumers) have not indicated they're disposing of any of that property, but they have committed to work cooperatively with the community and take that input into account as they make those decisions,” he said.

— Sarah Leach is the executive editor of the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at sleach@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Follow her on Twitter @ONNLeach.