Greetings from the Administrator

Thank you for your support as I continue to engage our great staff, county elected officials, and community stakeholders to keep Ottawa moving in the right direction. To that end, I was happy to be sworn into the Grand Valley Metro Council (GVMC) on Thursday, February 2nd. GVMC is comprised of local government officials from Kent and Ottawa Counties who are appointed to coordinate governmental services and grow our community. I, along with Ottawa County Commissioner Kyle Terpstra, look forward to representing the County on the Council and contributing to the many great projects of GVMC. I’m also thankful to have been appointed to the board of Lakeshore Advantage, Ottawa County’s partner for Economic Development. Lakeshore Advantage focuses on attracting business to our county to keep us the top destination for the best companies. I look forward to achieving great goals for our county together.

John Gibbs | County Administrator

Administrator Gibbs is sworn into the Grand Valley Metro Council.

The following articles, updates and upcoming events have been curated from a variety of sources:

Sheriff's Deputy Awarded

Ottawa County Deputy, Joseph Rohloff, was given an award for saving a man’s life during the Christmas blizzard. Below, in a WOOD TV8 photo, Sheriff Kempker presents the Lifesaving Award to Deputy Rohloff. See the story on WOOD TV8

Ottawa County’s New Logo

The County is proud to roll out our updated logo featuring the new tagline, “Where Freedom Rings”. This represents the County’s commitment to: uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Michigan, which protect the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness; to preserve the Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly, as well as due process of law; and to keep our County a place where individual freedom is protected and all citizens belong. These freedoms, which attract so many from all walks of life to live, work, worship and raise a family here, continue to make our County the fastest-growing in the state. We are excited to continue and accelerate that trend.

Ottawa County Clerk’s Office News

Ottawa County Clerk, Justin Roebuck, announced on January 31 that he has chosen to remove the Elections Division of the County Clerk’s office from consideration in the newly formed U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. Read the complete statement.

In related news, the Elections division has been holding its post election audits throughout the County. Read more here.

Ottawa Way Newsletter Survey

The County recently mailed the winter 2023 Ottawa Way Newsletter. We would appreciate your honest feedback on this edition plus the previous two mailings of the newsletter sent in winter 2022 and summer 2022. The survey is just THREE question: https://miottawa.info/3Wnbhuy If you missed the newsletter or are not a resident, you can see a pdf of the newsletter here.

Ottawa County Unemployment Rate for December 2022

The preliminary unemployment rates for December 2022 were recently released by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget. Ottawa County’s unemployment rate for December measured 2.9%. This rate is the third lowest in Michigan for December, with unemployment rates ranging from 2.4% in Livingston County to 15.9% in Mackinac County.

Parks Update - February News, Events and More

Read recent announcements, upcoming programs, summer camps and more from the Ottawa County Parks Department.

From the Road Commission

Our colleagues at the Ottawa County Road Commission publish a monthly newsletter. Topics for this month include potholes, weight restrictions and more. Read now.