Ottawa County board appoints sheriff's candidate as interim administrator

OTTAWA COUNTY — A local business owner and prospective sheriff candidate is now the interim administrator for Ottawa County.

Jon Anderson, a former sheriff’s captain, co-owner of Bullet Hole Firearms and Training in Holland and 2024 Ottawa County sheriff candidate, was appointed by the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners during a meeting Tuesday, March 12.

Anderson replaces John Gibbs, who was fired Feb. 29 after 14 months in the administrator role. Gibbs was hired Jan. 3, 2023, as one of the first actions by the slate of Ottawa Impact-affiliated commissioners at their first meeting.

Commissioners initially voted by announcing the name they supported for the role. Through that process, they voted 5-4 to appoint Anderson, with fiscal services director Karen Karasinski receiving four votes.

Chair Joe Moss, vice chair Sylvia Rhodea and commissioners Allison Miedema, Roger Belknap and Kendra Wenzel voted for Anderson. Commissioners Lucy Ebel, Gretchen Cosby, Rebkeah Curran and Doug Zylstra voted for Karasinski. Commissioners Jacob Bonnema and Roger Bergman were absent.

Moss told commissioners they were free to vote for whomever, but four names had been suggested as candidates. They were Anderson, Karasinski, deputy administrator Ben Wetmore, and director of strategic impact Paul Sachs.

More: Holland business owner joins the Republican race for sheriff

Later in the meeting, after several action items and a recess, Moss returned to the appointment, saying a motion was mistakenly not made to appoint Anderson. He then made a motion to appoint Anderson, supported by Rhodea. That passed unanimously by a voice vote.

Miedema said she called several references — an employee of Anderson’s at Bullet Hole who is a former Michigan State Police trooper, a former cold case coworker in Livingston County and a former coworker at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. They all spoke highly of Anderson's law enforcement experience, Miedema said.

Additionally, Miedema said although she has “the utmost respect for current staff members,” the current “political atmosphere” led to her desire to hire an outside candidate, although she didn't elaborate on what that meant.

“I personally feel that due to the current political atmosphere within parts of the county and government, largely attributed to an ongoing false narrative of media all working in tandem together, it is in the best interest to have a non-current staff member come in from the outside and fill this interim role of county administrator,” she said. “I also desire to protect the positions and staff relationships that Karen, Paul and Ben all currently fill in the county. By leaving them in these positions, their work can flow uninterrupted, which, in turn, benefits the people of the county.”

Rhodea said Anderson’s experience working in Riverside County, California, which includes city and rural areas, was a plus for her. She highlighted Anderson’s experience with “leadership of large departments, budgets, working grants and human resources, strategic planning and working with boards and commissions.”

Cosby said she called and asked a series of questions of the interested candidates Monday. Her questions included asking about relationship building, strategic planning and budgeting, she said.

“We’re very fortunate to have some qualified candidates,” she said.

Zylstra said he preferred a candidate with “current financial and organizational knowledge” as it relates to the county. He said Karasinski holds that knowledge, and that’s why he voted for her.

“On a short-term basis, she would be a great interim,” Zylstra said. “She’s in a unique situation where she has the departmental resources to take on this role (and has) the current financial and organizational knowledge of Ottawa County to really put that to work.”

Curran, echoing an idea mentioned in public comment, asked if the duties of the role could be distributed among several staff members. Moss said that was considered, but the board is required to appoint one person to the administrator role.

Although Bonnema was not at the meeting, he shared his thoughts on the situation via social media Tuesday morning. He wrote that board members received candidate information just before 5 p.m. Friday, March 8, and that a vote should have been delayed.

“I have numerous questions that I would like to ask the candidates. It is unacceptable to receive such significant information late on a Friday afternoon and then be expected to vote on it the following Tuesday,” Bonnema wrote on Facebook. “Rushed decisions often lead to poor outcomes.

“I urge my fellow colleagues to adhere to good hiring practices by requesting resumes to be submitted to Human Resources for proper vetting and consideration by the Talent and Recruitment committee.”

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Anderson is a retired sheriff’s commander from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office in southern California with 32 years experience in law enforcement. He’s lived in Michigan for eight years and in Ottawa County for the past five.

In February, Anderson filed to run for Ottawa County Sheriff. He is currently one of three Republican candidates, along with Ottawa County undersheriff Eric DeBoer and Grand Rapids Police Department Captain Michael Maycroft, who will face off in the Aug. 6 primary.

Anderson will serve as interim administrator while the county looks for a permanent candidate to fill the role. The exact process and timeline haven’t been set, but Moss did provide a brief update during discussions on the appointment Tuesday.

“Long term, the board will develop a search process for a permanent administrator,” he said. “Commissioner Bergman has shared the process that was used in the past. It was very collaborative, very specific. I’ll recommend a similar process and search committee and we’ll likely begin by updating the job description and presenting it to the board for approval.”

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County board appoints sheriff's candidate as interim administrator