OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County will likely spend a minimum of $63,000 to the talent firm it has “engaged” to search for its next county administrator.

One day after a contentious exchange between the Ottawa Impact majority led by board of commissioners Chair Joe Moss and minority commissioners Doug Zylstra, Jacob Bonnema and Roger Bergman over the scope and costs of the executive search committee’s work, Zylstra publicly shared that the firm Moss personally selected stands to gain “30% guaranteed of first year base salary,” assuming a candidate accepts the position.

The last two county administrators, John Shay and John Gibbs, each had the same compensation package of $210,000 plus benefits and expenses, meaning the search firm W Talent likely would receive at least $63,000 — assuming the compensation package for the next county administrator isn’t increased from previous years.

Zylstra, one of two Democrats on the board, tried to get an update Tuesday, Oct. 8, at the board’s regular meeting from the executive search committee created in September by Moss — who appointed himself chair and populated the remaining four slots with OI commissioners, two of whom lost their Republican primaries in August.

Moss accused Zylstra of “creating chaos.”

“If you're going to just wait to create chaos at a board meeting or manufacture something that really is a non-issue …,” Moss said.

Zylstra then said: “It's an issue to me. It's an issue to many.”

Bergman, a Republican who is retiring at the end of the year and not seeking re-election, said the non-majority commissioners had a right to ask about the process: “I believe we can ask those questions. … We should have a possibility of our input. That's part of the reason why we need to discuss this.”

Moss responded: “Or you could avoid manufacturing chaos and asking the simple question.”

Bonnema then said: “This isn't creating chaos, Mr. Chair, this is asking questions.”

He also pointed out that, per state law, the board can’t offer anything beyond a one-year contract to a permanent administrator, which is meant as a deterrent in even-numbered years for outgoing elected officials to potentially meddle with incoming members on public bodies.

“We're looking at something that might have to be completely redone with a new board,” Bonnema said. “And seeing as how we're less than 90 days from a new board being seated, I don't want to see this kind of mess being handed to the new board.”

One of Zylstra’s main concerns is that the process that is playing out could violate the county’s own purchasing policy, which says:

Purchases Between $2,500 and $35,000, or “Informal Solicitation”: These purchases require a competitive price quotation or proposal for goods, services or construction in which a well-defined scope is conveyed by phone, email, or online bid system and do not require a formal sealed bid or proposal, public opening or other formalities. Purchase requirements will not be artificially divided to avoid a formal solicitation.

Purchases greater than $35,000, or “Formal Solicitation”: These purchases require a competitive bid or proposal for goods, services or construction in which a well-defined scope is conveyed by public notice. Proposal submissions must be made in conformance with a prescribed format.

When Zylstra raise the concern, Moss told Zylstra to speak with the county’s corporation counsel to address the concerns and advised Zylstra and the public to watch the videos of the search committee’s discussions, which haven’t to date addressed the scope of work that W Talent will provide, the timeline for the search, nor the cost for the work.

The search committee met Sept. 30-Oct. 2, with the last two meetings featuring the committee members asking questions about how the firm uses science and indexes to rate applicants.

As Tuesday’s regular board of commissioners meeting concluded, Moss addressed the cost aspect of the search for the first time:

"There is a contract and it's going through the normal, typical process that
a contract goes through. It comes from the vendor and goes through legal to be looked
at and then goes back to the board. There is a $5,000 retainer fee and that would be
rolled into their typical fee upon a successful search. There will be continued updates
from that committee." ~ Joe Moss, board chair

Zylstra, who posted the proposed contract details with W Talent on his commissioner Facebook page Wednesday, Oct. 9, wrote that the current process varies widely from the last official search in 2021, which cost taxpayers $22,500.

“Ottawa County’s purchasing policy is designed to get the highest quality best price vendor to help us carry out county services for residents,” Zylstra wrote. “In 2021, as a result of a competitive RFP process, we hired GovHR, a recruiting firm with deep experience in the government sector, to help us carry out our search for a new administrator. The cost to taxpayers was $22,500.”

Zylstra said W Talent, which is based in Grand Rapids, has a “strong private sector placement record,” but “unfortunately has no available record in the government sector.”

He also said the proposed contract shows a cost that amounts to “approximately three times the amount we paid in 2021. I do not believe that paying a search firm 30% of first-year base salary, which in 2022 for John Shay was $210,000, makes sense for Ottawa County taxpayers and will be opposed to this contract if it comes before us.”

Zylstra only posted one page of the contract publicly; it was unknown as of publication if there are additional pages that are included in the draft contract language.

The page that has been released says the county will be required to pay $5,000 upon signing the contract as a non-refundable retainer fee, which is applied to the final fee. The county also would agree to pay 30% of “guaranteed first-year base salary.”

The executive search process comes after the incoming OI commissioners fired previous administrator John Shay on Jan. 3, 2023 — the day they took office — after he had been in the job for only seven months.

They immediately used their majority to vote in former Republican Congressional candidate John Gibbs, who worked in the role for 13 months before he was fired Feb. 29 this year; he has since sued for wrongful termination and claims Moss defamed him.

The OI majority then appointed county Republican sheriff candidate Jon Anderson as interim county administrator.

The appointment was controversial because Anderson didn’t have any prior experience as a county administrator and he already was a declared OI-backed candidate for county sheriff, prompting critics to claim at several public meetings that the decision was intended to elevate Anderson's profile to better his election chances. 

Anderson lost to Undersheriff Eric DeBoer in the Aug. 6 primary by 20 points. 

The primary election also determined that OI will likely lose its board majority at the beginning of 2025.

Anderson submitted a resignation letter on Friday, Sept. 6, to the board of commissioners with a final day being Oct. 4. However, Moss said at the board’s Sept. 10 meeting, for which Anderson was not present, that he asked Anderson to stay on “through the search process.”

Moss created the executive search committee at the board’s next meeting on Sept. 24.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Anderson (who again wasn’t present) asked county fiscal services Director Karen Karasinski to read a statement to the commissioners.

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“Jon said he would be willing to stay on — or beyond — based on the success of your search,” Karasinski said.

Commissioner Chris Kleinjans said Wednesday that he hadn’t received the draft contract language.

“During the board meeting on Sept. 24, it was brought up repeatedly that a thorough, contemplative, thoughtful RFP process would bring us the professional the county needs. And it’s obvious that we should have been listened to,” Kleinjans said.

Bergman said he was shocked about the pricetag.

“When I compare this to what we paid three years ago, this is just outrageous,” he said.

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