Meeting Notes 1-4-21

Meeting Notes from the January 4 Organizational Meeting of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.

Meeting Packet: https://www.miottawa.org/appImages/Calendar/1609438837940-packet.PDF

Meeting Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsTPzEkdk-Q

Sentinel Recap: ‘New rules for Officials: County interests come first’

Election of Chair and Vice Chair: The Board re-elected Roger Bergman and Matt Fenske as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. 

Committee Assignments: I was pleased to be appointed to the following committees for the following year: 

- Holland Local Development Authority Board

- Talent and Recruitment

- Ottawa County Community Mental Health Board 

- Lakeshore Regional Entity Oversight Policy Board (SUD)

- Finance and Administration

2021 Rules of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners: The Board appoved, by a 9-2 vote the proposed 2021 Rules for the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners. I voted no on the measure.

I was disappointed that the rules package passed today without any modifications, as I believe the package, especially section 3.6, by positing that our primary duty is to “advance the County’s corporate, legal and financial interests” and not the public good, has the strong potential to prevent Commissioners from fully exercising their duties to the residents of Ottawa County, which I believe should be first and foremost. It is my hope that we can continue addressing this so that we may have a Rules package that better allows us do our to job, not hinders us in doing so.