HOLLAND, Mich. – The quickest rising county in Michigan has observed its native authorities remodeled within the wake of backlash to pandemic restrictions, and the brand new commissioners — claiming COVID is over — are threatening to reduce tens of millions of bucks from the county’s health division.
Local public health officers say the possible loss of funding may seriously affect a number of very important services and products, together with vaccines, most cancers screening and checking out for sexually transmitted infections. These proposed cuts additionally come after the board tried to substitute the county’s best health legit, sparking a monthslong prison struggle.
A countrywide public health knowledgeable stated the placement is exclusive within the U.S. and a danger to all the public health box — particularly going into an election yr when health officials and their division could again become political objectives.
“Of the hundreds, maybe thousands of public health officials who were fired during the pandemic, I’m trying to find a single example where they’ve retaliated against the entire department like this,” stated Lori Freeman, the manager director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. “I’m hoping this isn’t the start of a new trend of retroactive punishment against public health departments.”
More than than 300,000 folks are living in Ottawa County, making it Michigan’s 7th biggest county. Millions consult with its miles of sandy seashores alongside Lake Michigan and the famend tulip and coast guard gala’s. The county may be house to furnishings maker Herman Miller.
The political battle right here started in fall 2021, when the crowd Ottawa Impact, based by way of Joe Moss and Sylvia Rhodea, supported an unsuccessful lawsuit towards the county over a masks mandate. Then the crowd ran a slate of applicants towards Republican incumbents and gained 8 of 11 seats at the county board of commissioners — Moss and Rhodea integrated.
At the brand new board’s first assembly, they voted to shut the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion place of job and alter the county’s motto to “Where Freedom Rings.” They fired the county administrator and appointed John Gibbs, a former far-right congressional candidate who has since again and again declared that “COVID is over.”
The new majority additionally voted to substitute administrative health officer Adeline Hambley, who oversees the general public health division, with a candidate who had no earlier public health enjoy.
“It’s pretty clear now that they were always hyper-focused on really going after the health department,” stated Ottawa County Commissioner Jacob Bonnema, who was once elected as phase of Ottawa Impact however has since distanced himself. He added that he is OK with lowering funding for departments when it isn’t “completely indiscriminate”
While some county officers quietly left their positions beneath the brand new regime, Hambley stayed — and sued the brand new commissioners for “termination in violation of public policy.” A pass judgement on quickly blocked the commissioners from putting off Hambley, announcing she cannot be fired with out “just cause.”
Then late last month, with the legal battle as a backdrop, Hambley said she was given 48 hours to propose a budget that would cut the county’s general contribution for the next year in half — $6.4 million to $2.5 million. She took to social media, saying the cuts could effectively shutter the department.
“It’s hard to believe that the budget cut isn’t retaliatory both for frustration at COVID actions that they don’t agree with and not being able to remove me for a political appointee,” Hambley instructed The Associated Press.
Hundreds of people rallied outside of the health department in support of Hambley after the warnings, which Gibbs and Moss have called “media theatrics.”
On Sept. 5, the commission released a new budget proposal with $4.3 million from the general fund — still about $2 million less than Hambley had asked for — and requested the department decline all grant funding related to COVID-19.
Under the current proposal, a family planning program that also provides things like cancer screenings for those without insurance would see its budget reduced by 40%. Money that goes toward STI testing would be cut by 44%, and a mobile dental health clinic that goes to places like schools and jails would lose nearly 20% of its funding.
Moss instructed the AP in an e mail that no other department noticed identical cost increases in the past several years, “nor did they respond to the pandemic in the same way the health department did.” He added he supports “public health efforts that respect constitutional freedoms and parental rights.”
The final vote on the health department’s budget is scheduled for Sept. 26 — and it has the public’s attention. More than 100 community members turned out for Tuesday’s public hearing on the health budget, with many speakers criticizing the commissioners’ actions towards Hambley and the department.
“You were all elected with a moral obligation and duty to serve all the people of the county, including those with the greatest needs,” a Grand Haven resident said. “You should not be at war with your health providers.”
The Network for Public Health Law and the National Association of County and City Health Officials filed amicus briefs in support of Hambley’s lawsuit last month. NAACHO typically reserves that for legal action with national implications.
And Freeman said her organization is keeping a close eye on Ottawa County: “This isn’t something we want on the books for other county commissioners to consider in the future.”
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