Ottawa County Board Commissioner Lucy Ebel’s (ee-bell) legal challenge to efforts calling for her removal from office will now take place in Kent County.
The decision came after five Ottawa County judges recused themselves from the proceedings, arguing that hearing the case would create an “appearance of impropriety.”
And the Michigan Court Administrative Office agreed, while assigning the case to Kent County's 17th Circuit Court on Thursday.
In July, a grassroots effort to remove Ebel from office got the green light, after an elections board committee approved petition language that had been presented by Park Township resident, Larry Jackson.
Jackson, a former candidate for the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners himself, argued that Ebel’s politics and affiliation with Republican and far-right-leaning pac group “Ottawa Impact” were too extreme for the county.
“There whole agenda is too extreme for Ottawa County,” Jackson said. “Changing the logo for the county, getting rid of the DEI office, firing people that have worked there for years. They say they are working for the constituents of Ottawa County. They are working for the constituents that voted for them.”
In her appeal, Ebel has argued that the petition language is “indistinct, unclear, and untruthful.”
Even if Kent County 17th Circuit Court Judge Mark A. Trusock, who has been assigned to the case, rejects Ebel’s appeal, there is still a long road ahead before she would be removed from office. The petition would first need a required number of signatures before being placed as a proposal on the November ballot.
