Ottawa County has agreed to pay its administrative health officer $4 million to step down 10 months after trying to demote her without cause – the largest settlement in the county’s history and nearly the exact amount the board cut from the public health department’s budget this year.
To avoid further litigation, the Ottawa Impact Commissioners have voted to pay to end the mess they created for no legitimate county business reason. This is not the first time Ottawa County has paid for the OI Commissioner’s foolishness:
- The firing of John Shay without cause paying $210K in severance costs plus 12 months of health benefits
- The hiring of loyalist John Gibbs, an ex-missionary, political candidate loser who requires an executive aide for $81K
- Hiring of Kallman attorneys (who are not from Ottawa County and are related to Joe Moss’s business partner) with a two-year contract of at least $280,800 the first year and $299,520 the second year. Hourly rate to be $225 per hour for at least 1,248 hours the first year, a rate that will rise to $240 an hour the next year. $295 an hour for representing county in lawsuits. Kallman exceeded the budget by over $100K billing the county on average $35,000 per month for 2023.
- The creation of a Communications Manager $150K for a propaganda department (yet to be created for undisclosed additional expense)
- Payment of $4.1 million to settle with Administrator Hambley and Deputy Health Officer Manasaray.
When you hear from the county propaganda machine that the cost of the settlement will be covered by the Insurance Authority, don’t be fooled. The residents of Ottawa County are paying for this boondoggle. If a judgement had been given to Hambley in a court of law, the county would have been on the hook for the first million, the rest to come from the insurance carrier. Since the settlement was offered at the advice of legal council, the full 4 million will be taken from the reserve fund. Guess where that money came from?
Let us also clear up the bogus claims of malfeasance. County Administrator John Shay did nothing wrong and was fired without cause. All to be replaced by an unqualified loyalist John Gibbs. Health Administrator Hambley did nothing wrong and the OI Commissioners attempted to fire her without cause to be replaced by unqualified loyalist Nathan Kelly. When that didn’t work, they ginned up a crises by cutting the health department budget in half and then complaining because Hambley did what any good department head would do. She protested the cuts as unreasonable, and let the public know they could lead to the shutdown of the department, all of which was true.
The charge of incompetence against Hambley is nonsense and the settlement proves the real incompetence here is the revenge grudge the OI commissioners have against the health department for doing its job. County government should not be a platform for ideological extremists to carry out a grudge match at the expense of county residents.
Irregardless of what action Hambley takes, and why shouldn’t she give Ottawa County the middle finger and take the 4 mil, the county will spin this in their favor. Look, we didn’t fire Hambley, she resigned. Nothing we could do but replace her with a conspiracy theorist with no public health experience. Of course they don’t want to end up back in court trying to defend the bogus charges they manipulated Hambley into.
Where does this foolishness end? How much are you willing to pay to replace the County Clerk, the County Treasurer or perhaps the HR director with OI loyalists? And when the clown car is full – what then?
This is another fine mess Ottawa Impact has gotten us into
Update on $4 million dollar settlement
After the Kangaroo Court hearing of October 24th the OI Commissioners voted to accept legal counsels recommendations on a $4 million dollar settlement on November 6th.
The agreement was made in writing and accepted by both parties’ attorneys. Kallman, attorney for the county, now claims, they were just kidding and Hambley shouldn’t have taken the offer seriously.
Hambley’s attorney revealed Kallman claimed “they did not notify the insurers before giving away $4 mil and have since learned of potential negative consequences”. You think?
Let’s boil this down to the essence:
- Settlement is usually offered when lawyers realize they have no chance of winning the case in court. OI Commissioners tried to fire Hambley for no cause and failed. If you can’t fire for no cause, why would you be more successful doing so for trumped up charges with a real motive of revenge?
- Kallman recommends a ridiculous $4 mil settlement to supposedly be paid by insurance.
- Kallman makes recommendation and writes up the settlement without checking with insurers first.
- Kallman, who we reportedly spend about $35K a month for, now tries to claw back the settlement creating yet another court case to be fought at county resident’s expense.
All of this mess is simply Ottawa Impact tilting at windmills. Expect more of the same.
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