In December 2024, Ottawa County commissioners agreed to a contract providing Chester Township over $563,000, or 100% of costs associated with Crockery Lake cleanup, but as Board Chair John Teeples explains, the county is only legally obligated to pay up to 25% of cleanup efforts.
“Through this so-called negotiated agreement as written, Ottawa County has arguably intentionally agreed to accept an unprecedented liability and financial risk that might well exceed $563,000 and bind the county to long-term obligations.”
The project and funds would be managed by Chester Township. Tuesday, on legal advice, the board voted 7-3 in favor of asking a judge to rule on the validity of the contract.
“If the contract’s invalid because the county can’t enter into these kind of contracts, then it makes no difference what the dollar amount of the contract is. That’s what we’ll be asking the court to do: tell us if we have the authority to enter into these kind of contracts. Our attorneys tell us we do not.”
Former Chair Joe Moss and Commissioner Allison Miedema cautioned that using the courts to rule on a previous board’s agreement was akin to playing politics, but Teeples explained that he would support however the court ruled.
“We’re not going to get into a fight with Chester. We just want the court to tell us. If the court tells us we have a contract, however bad I may think it is for everybody, it is what it is. We signed it.”
No word on how long the court’s ruling could take.
