Instead of firing her, Ottawa Impact plans to give Hambley millions to resign

OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County has agreed to pay its administrative health officer $4 million to step down 10 months after trying to demote her without cause — the largest settlement in the county's history and nearly the exact amount the board cut from the public health department's budget this year.

On Monday, Nov. 6, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners was planning to vote on whether or not to fire Adeline Hambley for cause — following a two-day termination hearing Oct. 24-25 — but instead went into closed session for more than eight hours, largely used for negotiations with Hambley's attorney, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told The Sentinel. They were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.

Discussions, however, really began several days earlier, with an initial offer from Hambley via her attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, that would allow her to remain in her position, according to multiple sources. That offer would have:

• let Hambley remain health officer if she dropped her lawsuit against the county and the county dropped the termination charges
• paid her legal fees, which at the time were estimated to be $102,000, but were discounted by 20% by Howard to $82,000
• resulted in Deputy Health Officer Marcia Mansaray's resignation in January with a severance agreement of one year's pay plus benefits
• led to an external search through the county's human resources department to seek a new deputy health officer, ultimately selected by Hambley
• prevented the board from filing additional charges through the end of 2024, unless the county's HR department conducted an independent investigation

Instead, the county will now pay Hambley a total of $4 million to resign, rather than firing her, which likely would've led to further appeals and prolonged litigation. If the settlement is finalized, Hambley will pay for her attorney fees from that amount, about $250,000.

Under the current agreement, Mansaray will also resign after being placed on paid administrative leave through the end of January. She'll then receive one year's pay at $125,000, plus the benefits she currently receives.

More:Ottawa County votes to accept settlement in Hambley case

In total, the settlement exceeds $4.1 million, nearly the exact amount cut from the public health department's 2024 fiscal year budget, a move championed by the Ottawa Impact majority on the board.

Ottawa Impact is a far-right fundamentalist group created by now-board Chair Joe Moss and Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea after they unsuccessfully challenged the previous board and county health officer over COVID-19 mitigation mandates in 2020 and 2021.

The board's OI majority voted to accept the settlement Monday, while three non-OI commissioners — Doug Zylstra, Roger Bergman and Jacob Bonnema — voted no. Commissioner Kyle Terpstra left before the vote.

If the deal is completed — as of publication, a formal agreement hadn't been drawn up nor signed by the parties — it would be the largest claim ever paid out in Ottawa County history, and is more than double what the county has paid out in total claims since its insurance authority was created 30 years ago, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.

The entire $4 million would be taken from the insurance authority's fund reserved for claims, which currently has a fund balance of about $23 million. Had the lawsuit resulted in a judgment in Hambley's favor, the county would've been liable for only the first million from the fund reserve, and anything exceeding that amount would've been covered by the county's insurance carrier.

Hambley and the board's OI majority have been battling in the courts for months. The disagreement began when OI commissioners voted to demote Hambley from permanent health officer to "interim" health officer in favor of a candidate ideologically aligned with themselves.

Hambley sued the board in February, claiming the attempt to demote her was unlawful and alleging the OI majority has repeatedly interfered with her state-authorized health duties.

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In April, a circuit court judge granted Hambley a preliminary injunction that allowed her to remain in her role until a trial could take place later this year, however, the Michigan Court of Appeals partially vacated the injunction, saying the board had the legal right to fire Hambley if state law was followed.

Moss filed notice Sept. 27 that a removal hearing was planned over allegations of “incompetence, misconduct and neglect of duty.” Moss’ allegations revolved largely around health department budget negotiations.

The board has not formally concluded the termination hearing yet. Commissioners are scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14.

— Sarah Leach is the executive editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarahleach@hollandsentinel.com. Find her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.