The newly elected Ottawa County Board of Commissioners made sweeping changes to its local government Tuesday that included the hiring of former Republican congressional candidate John Gibbs as its new county Administrator.
John Gibbs had been the GOP candidate for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District after beating United States Representative Peter Meijer in August’s Republican primary, however, Gibbs lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten in November’s general election.
The move Tuesday to hire Gibbs as the County Administrator came after the Board fired current administrator John Shay.
Board member Sylvia Rhodea on the move:
“Out of respect for our voters and the need to have leadership in our county which fully aligns with the Board of Commissioners and who will cooperate and work fully and transparently with the Board of Commissioners, we believe it’s important to appoint John Gibbs.”
The hire of John Gibbs capped off several other agenda items Tuesday that also including firing the county’s current top health officer and voting to eliminate the county’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Department.
Calls to the Department of Diversity Equity and Inclusion were not returned; the meeting also saw the swearing in of several new board members Tuesday. In 2023, the new board is one Democrat and 10 Republicans, nine of whom were endorsed by the far-right Republican group, Ottawa Impact in November’s election.
