Commissioner Use of County Logo
At this Thursday’s Planning and Policy Committee meeting, we are scheduled to discuss the Commissioners’ use of the county logo. I am not opposed to Commissioners using the county logo. In fact, we have a county policy that encourages our departments to use it on official correspondence with the public and outside agencies.
However, we have a couple of recent examples where I believe the logo was misused or used improperly. Commissioners Moss and Miedema both used the county logo on letters they sent to the presidents of Grand Valley State University (GVSU), petitioning for changes to the university’s policies on specific issues. While we, as private residents, are welcome to use our voices to petition governmental entities like GVSU for changes we’d like to see, I don’t believe that we, as Commissioners, should be leveraging the county logo—or any accoutrements of the county—in that process.
As Commissioners, we have the ability to present resolutions to the Board, allowing us to collectively determine whether the county should take a formal position on an issue. We are also free to speak as private individuals on matters of interest. What we cannot do, in my opinion, is attempt to forge a third option—a semi-official position that is neither private nor collectively authorized by the Board.
Our board rules contain one fundamental rule regarding our conduct: Rule 3.1, which states, “The Board shall have such powers and duties as are provided by law. The authority of the Board is a collective one, and according to state law, no individual member can assume any action, decision, or endeavor on behalf of or in lieu of Board action (MCL 46.11).” I believe that sending correspondence with the county logo—essentially leveraging a public asset— to advance a private concern rather than a collective one, violates this rule.
It is my belief that by sending correspondence of the nature that Commissioners Moss and Miedema did, and by using the county logo in that manner, a violation of Rule 3.1 occurred. I hope that our discussion on the use of the county logo this Thursday not only brings about specific guidelines for its use but also allows us to address the broader question of how we can and should act as a collective body moving forward—for our sake and for the sake of all Ottawa County residents to whom the logo belongs.
