OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County’s finance and administration committee approved a handful of staffing requests Tuesday, including one that kicked off a larger well and septic inspection discussion two months ago.
Commissioners on the committee — Gretchen Cosby, Roger Belknap, Joe Moss, Rebekah Curran and Kendra Wenzel— voted unanimously to give initial approval for an administrative assistant in the Ottawa County Department of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division, forwarding the position to the full board for final approval next week.
OCDPH officials first requested the position in early March, saying it would provide oversight for clerical staff and help with processing well and septic inspections and licensing applications. On March 5, the finance committee instead forwarded the position to the health and human services committee and opened a larger discussion on potentially privatizing inspections to take the workload off OCDPH.
Spencer Ballard from OCDPH said Tuesday the position is paid for with state funds, with no cost to the general fund. He added he spoke with supervisors to get the most “bang for those dollars” and landed on this position.
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On Tuesday, Moss indicated possible privatization will be further discussed at this month’s health and human services meeting, scheduled for May 21.
Time of sale well and septic inspections are currently completed by county staff, a system that’s been in place for 40 years. It was organized at the request of real estate agents seeking a neutral party.
During a March 19 meeting, Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley said there were three potential routes for the county — leave the system as is, open point-of-sale inspections to private inspectors, or have private inspectors handle all inspections.
At last month’s health and human services meeting, Interim County Administrator Jon Anderson said discussions around inspections were in a preliminary stage.
The finance committee also gave an initial OK to a handful of positions in the county’s assessing department. Those positions will aid with a new assessing contract with Georgetown Township, also approved Tuesday.
According to Equalization Director Brian Busscher, Georgetown Township will be the county’s sixth local municipality to contract with the county for assessing services. However, he said, Georgetown Township has more land parcels than the other five combined, necessitating additional staff.
“This will more than double our assessing division,” Busscher said.
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The added staff includes an assistant assessor, four assessors of various levels, and an abstract index clerk. The positions will be funded by the assessing agreement with Georgetown Township, which lasts four years.
An additional position in the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office was also given preliminary approval Tuesday. The new transportation and assets coordinator will be a civilian position, with vehicle and equipment management responsibilities currently split between a captain, a sergeant and administrative staff.
Undersheriff Eric DeBoer said the retirement of Capt. Dave VanderPloeg led OCSO to reevaluate the responsibilities assigned to the role.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.
