OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Sept. 11, 2025)
With that, Ottawa County Board Chairman John Teeples began a nearly seven-hour special meeting in which the five men who want to be the next County Administrator put forward their best case for the job on Wednesday.
Each of the hopefuls spent a hour answering some standard questions from Interim Deputy Administrator Ron Frantz, but from all of the Commissioners. Much of the attention centered on Deputy City Manager Patrick Waterman of the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, who is looking forward to returning after a stint as a Deputy Administrator.
However, former Board Chairman Joe Moss of Hudsonville wasn’t having any of it.
This drew a response from Commissioner Jacob Bonnema of Zeeland, who had been affiliated with Moss’ Ottawa Impact political action group before breaking away shortly after being elected with Moss in 2022.
Also making their case for the administrator position were former Holland Mayor Kurt Dysktra, Muskegon County Deputy Administrator Matthew Farrar, City Administrator Chris Kukulski of Billings, Montana, and Ottawa County Director of Strategic Impact Paul Sachs.
Commissioners will not only consider these interviews, but evaluations from a Citizens Work Group session with the hopefuls on Monday, when Teeples of Jenison bangs the gavel at another special meeting set for Friday morning to perhaps select a new operational leader.
Ottawa County has not had a permanent operational leader since John Gibbs was relieved of his duties on February 29th of last year. Retired Sheriff Gary Rosema is the third Interim Administrator retained by the board since that time.
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