OTTAWA COUNTY — One day after Ottawa County’s interim administrator resigned for the second time, the deputy administrator signaled he plans to move forward with making hires for two key department head positions — county public defender and human resources director — internal emails show.

County commissioners who are not a part of the current Ottawa Impact majority, however, are asking whether the deputy has the authority to hire and fire department heads without the board’s authority and are asking for a delay in order to get clarification on what county rules allow.

How we got here

In an email to commissioners on Monday, Oct. 14, Deputy Administrator Ben Wetmore informed commissioners that Interim Administrator Jon Anderson had resigned from his position the previous evening, effective immediately.

It was the second time Anderson resigned, after initially informing commissioners on Sept. 6 that his last day would be Oct. 4. Board Chair Joe Moss said at the commission’s Sept. 10 meeting that he asked Anderson to stay on “through the search process” for a new administrator.

Read More: Interim Ottawa County administrator resigns — again

Moss created an executive search committee at the board’s Sept. 24 meeting. Just last week, at the board’s Oct. 8 meeting, Anderson (who wasn’t present) asked county fiscal services Director Karen Karasinski to read a statement to the commissioners, saying he was “willing to stay on — until the end of the year or beyond — based on the success” of the search for the next administrator.

Five days later, Anderson resigned again.

Although he didn’t provide a reason for the second resignation, he told SentinelLeach via text message on Oct. 14 that “it was just going to be too hard to dedicate the necessary time to the county while doing my other job and assisting with the gun store” he co-owns in Holland.

Anderson did not respond to a request for comment on this story on Tuesday.

The executive search process for the next county administrator comes after the incoming Ottawa Impact 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 Anderson, who had already filed to run as a Republican for the county sheriff position, 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. 

OI is a far-right fundamentalist group formed by Joe Moss and Sylvia Rhodea in 2021 after they took issue with pre-K-6 school mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moss launched the political action committee under the premise of “defending parental rights” and to “thwart tyranny” within the state and federal government.

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.

What’s happening now

After the resignation, Interim Human Resources Zac VanOsdol sent an email to commissioners asking for clarification on the limitations of authority of the deputy administrator position after Wetmore signaled he planned to move ahead with making hires for the long-vacant HR director position and the recently vacated public defender position.

“I want to be sure I understand the extent of Deputy County Administrator Ben Wetmore’s authority,” VanOsdol wrote in the Monday email. “I understand his job description states, ‘Assumes the responsibilities of the county administrator as assigned or as required in his/her absence.’ Specifically, does Ben have the ability to hire and fire department heads and other staff that report to the county administrator?”

VanOsdol went on to explain that Wetmore “has sent various emails to the HR office this morning of his intent to move forward with the hiring of a public defender and HR director, both of which report to the ‘county administrator.’ I want to ensure the candidates have a good experience in the process and there is not a question as to if a hire can be made. 

“It is my understanding that during the previous vacancy of the county administrator position (between [John] Gibbs and [Jon] Anderson), Deputy Administrator did not have this authority,” he wrote.

The emails cited in this story were provided to SentinelLeach by a county commissioner who asked not to be named over fears of retaliation from the board majority. In a request for comment, VanOsdol said he could not speak about the matter. 

Nichole Jongsma-Derks recently resigned from the public defender position after a little more than two years in the role. It was announced at the Oct. 8 board of commissioners’ meeting that Jongsma-Derks had accepted a job within the Kent County public defender's office. The county posted the job listing on Oct. 2. 

In May, Anderson told commissioners that longtime Human Resources Director Marcie VerBeek had resigned after working for the county for 16 years. VerBeek accepted a position with a local school district. Despite posting the job shortly after her departure, the county has not made a hire for that position in the five months it has been vacant. It no longer is listed on the county’s website.

In response to VanOsdol’s request for clarification on Wetmore’s authority limitations, commissioners not in the Ottawa Impact majority on the board began voicing various concerns about Wetmore following through with his plans.

Commissioner Jacob Bonnema, a Republican who originally was aligned with OI in 2022 but separated from the group just three months into his term in 2023, said allowing Wetmore to move forward on the hires would be “unseemly and inappropriate.”

“Activity regarding new hires which report to the county administrator should be put on hold until the new administrator determines how to move forward with those positions,” Bonnema wrote in an email Oct. 14 in response to VanOsdol and his fellow commissioners. “It would be unseemly and inappropriate to fill these positions at this time without the next administrator’s approval.”

In an email dated Oct. 15, Commissioner Doug Zylstra, a Democrat, said he asked the county’s attorneys whether the deputy had the full powers of the administrator in this scenario.

“I do want to highlight though that if the determination is made that the deputy has those full powers, then we need to remain mindful that the deputy also operates under the same constraints as the administrator’s contract, he would need to bring all department head hires before the board for final approval,” Zylstra wrote.

Zylstra was referencing the contract language that was in place for the previous two permanent administrators, John Shay and John Gibbs, which said: 

“The county administrator shall supervise the operation and performance of all county departments and department heads, except elected officials and their officers, and, with the approval of the board, appoint and remove all heads of departments, other than elected officials.”

VanOsdol said in a Tuesday email that he had been instructed to “consult with legal” regarding the concerns he raised on Monday regarding the limits of authority for the deputy administrator position.

He said Anderson “began the process of hiring an HR director in June,” but that a hire was never made. “The job was posted throughout July and interviews were conducted at the beginning of August,” VanOsdol wrote in the Oct. 15 email. “No further steps were taken in that hiring process until (Wetmore) inquired about the status of it (Monday, Oct. 14).”

101524 HR email to commissioners966KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadRead the email Ottawa County's HR director sent on Tuesday to county commissioners.Download

VanOsdol went on to say Wetmore instructed one of his staff members to respond to his requests by 2 p.m. Tuesday.

“I emailed Ben asking that communication with HR staff to go through me as the interim director and that we would not be able to comply with his deadline due to needing a legal consult,” he wrote, referring to the county’s corporation counsel. 

He noted that Anderson also had begun the hiring process of the public defender, and that he received instructions regarding that position from Wetmore on Monday and that a hiring committee had been formed that didn’t include HR staff.

“I received an email from (Wetmore) yesterday ordering me to provide public defender application access by 1 p.m. today to the hiring committee, which consists of himself, Jordan Epperson and Commissioner Rhodea,” VanOsdol wrote on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

He also noted that his 2 p.m. consultation with county corporation counsel had been canceled and has yet to take place. 

“Please note that hiring processes must comply with the Ottawa County Employee Selection Policy. This policy requires final approval for hiring to be sought and obtained through the HR Department (section IV.A.) and that HR is involved in the interview process (section IV.D.3).

At 4:30 p.m., Moss notified the county clerk’s office to call an emergency meeting of the board of commissioners for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, with the intention of appointing Wetmore as the interim administrator.

“The purpose is to appoint an interim county administrator,” Moss wrote in an email late Tuesday afternoon. “There have been questions as to county function while the search for a permanent administrator is conducted.

“To maintain smooth operations and provide clarity to employees, I would like the board to take up the appointment of the deputy administrator while we conclude the search.”

Just last week, Zylstra posted partial draft contract language the county has with Grand Rapids-based recruitment search firm W Talent that could obligate the county north of $60,000 — three times what the board paid for its last official administrator search in 2021.

The county has not yet posted the position. If the board were to select a new permanent administrator before the end of the year, state law prohibits anything longer than a one-year contract in even-numbered years.

Why it matters

The hirings of Epperson and Wetmore sparked their own controversies.

After hiring Epperson in August, Gibbs was accused of age discrimination after a more qualified finalist for the position went unselected. That finalist, Ryan Kimball, filed a lawsuit against Gibbs and Ottawa County in October; it was settled in September with Kimball receiving $225,000.

Read More: Ottawa County to pay $225K to settle age discrimination lawsuit as legal costs mount

In his interview for the aide position, Epperson, who is still working for the county, allegedly told the county's hiring committee he believes ethics “depend on who you’re working for” and said government positions like his are “absolutely” political, according to former Deputy Administrator Patrick Waterman.

Waterman also said Epperson refused to shake hands with the women on the interviewing committee. Waterman resigned in July, citing a strained working relationship with Gibbs and a "lack of effective leadership" on the board.

In November, the county announced the hiring of Wetmore, who has an extensive history in conservative political activism and has taken part in several political stunts over the past 20 years, including staging undercover encounters on video for right-wing nonprofit Project Veritas.

In 2009, he pretended to be a volunteer for the Love Thy Prisoner Campaign, where he and Project Veritas James O’Keefe tried to get residents in Boston to "adopt a Jihad detainee" and become "pen pals with Guantanamo Bay detainees and put them into their loving homes." 

Wetmore made headlines for a 2010 plot he authored to lure a female CNN reporter onto a boat where another conservative activist planned to faux-seduce her on camera.

When asked for comment on his involvement with the controversy, Wetmore cited a “record low trust in the media because of biased, politically-motivated so-called journalism” and that “the document in question was an attempt 13 years ago at trolling CNN and was never meant to be taken seriously."

Despite distancing himself from O’Keefe in the past several years, Wetmore is currently listed as the president of Project Veritas, after O’Keefe resigned when the board reportedly put him on leave from his role as chairman amid complaints about his treatment of staff at the organization.

After his unsuccessful judge bid in Texas in 2018, Wetmore moved to Michigan in 2021, jumping into the conservative political scene. He launched political consulting firm Victory Strategies LLC and advised then-MIGOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock regularly on issues and candidate campaigns during the midterm election cycle. He also worked as a legislative aide for Rep. Matt Maddock, one of several lawmakers active in Michigan's "Grand New Party," an offshoot of the Republican Party.

Epperson also previously worked as a part-time aide for Matt Maddock, and was a legislative aide for Northern Michigan State Rep. Neil Friske, also a GNP supporter, who lost his re-election bid in the August primary after his arrest in June on unrelated criminal charges.

He has voiced his support for Project Veritas, posting on social media when Wetmore has given interviews representing the group.

Their role in the Gibbs lawsuit

The board fired Gibbs for cause on Feb. 29 this year after he served in the role for 14 months, alleging “gross misconduct, and/or committed willful malfeasance,” Moss said at the Feb. 29 meeting.

At the time, the OI commissioners cited allegations reported by Wetmore and Epperson that alleged Gibbs acted inappropriately and neglected his job duties. 

Gibbs has denied any wrongdoing, calling the claims “fabricated.” He sued the board in April, claiming the board retaliated against him after he criticized the county's corporation counsel, Kallman Legal Group, which was hired at the controversial Jan. 3, 2023, meeting.

In an interview after he was fired, Gibbs admitted he approached Epperson and Wetmore — whom he hired in August and November, respectively — to potentially resign in solidarity with him after complaints about Kallman Legal Group went unaddressed.

Gibbs said Moss defamed him on social media that “lack factual support” and that Moss “knew that the defamatory statements were false.” 

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"Mr. Gibbs felt these individuals should resign their positions in protest of government abuses, but instead they fabricated allegations against Mr. Gibbs to further their careers," Gibbs’ attorney told this reporter after the firing.

Gibbs said Epperson and Wetmore "failed to perform their job duties consistently, which was discussed in performance evaluations."

Epperson denied Gibbs' claims. Wetmore didn’t respond to a request for comment in February.

Gibbs’ lawsuit was filed in federal court and has not yet been scheduled to be heard.

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