“They terminated the contract, gave us 90-day notice.”
Allegan County prosecutor Michael Villar says shortly after he took office last year, Ottawa County wanted to renegotiate and get paid more to handle crimes committed in the three City of Holland Precincts that are in Allegan County.
“We had a contract that was signed just before I came into office. Within a year they had asked to renegotiate that contract. It substantially raised the price that we would pay.”
And in at least one case, Villar says there was disagreement on the law.Ottawa decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute a woman accused of stealing from a store in an Allegan County precinct. He objected.
“Ottawa County had declined to prosecute that case. I was informed in no uncertain terms that they were not going to do that, if we wanted to do it we would have to do it ourselves. We did and the woman plead guilty. Now the store owner has restitution.”
Allegan County staff handling City of Holland criminal cases will work out of the Holland Police Station.
“We asked Ottawa County can we have just a room in your building so when we are there we have someplace to go. They said no. The police chief there has agreed to give us a room in the police department.”
The new arrangement starts October 1st.
“I think actually it is better for our Allegan County citizens to have an Allegan County prosecutor be there.”
