Hodgkinson, Goward win seats on conservation district board; highest vote total ever recorded
The Ottawa Conservation District held its annual meeting on Tuesday, March 10, where it also hand-tallied votes to determine which of four candidates would serve in two open seats on its five-member board of directors.
OTTAWA COUNTY — An obscure government entity's election is finally over, with nearly five times the votes in the body's nearly 88-year history — and the most cast in any conservation district election in state history.
The Ottawa Conservation District held its annual meeting on Tuesday, March 10, where it also hand-tallied votes to determine which of four candidates would serve in two open seats on its five-member board of directors.
Although the roles are non-partisan, the election cycle became unusually contentious this year, with two candidates — incumbent Matt Hehl and Jeff Vredeveld — backed by members of the far-right political group Ottawa Impact — and two candidates — incumbent Rivka Hodgkinson and Kelly Goward — backed by the non-partisan political action committee Ottawa Integrity, which typically endorses moderate and progressive candidates.
Read More: Politics infiltrates Ottawa County conservation board election as officials urge residents to vote
On Wednesday, March 11, OCD announced on its Facebook page that Hodgkinson and Goward had secured the two open seats.
"As a result of our Board of Directors Elections on March 10, we welcome Rivka Hodgkinson and Kelly Goward to our board. Final ballot numbers will be shared later today!" the body said in the post.
In a Wednesday morning email to ONN, initially one or both of the two unsuccessful candidates had verbally requested a recount, "but has since been rescinded."
"We don't expect any challenges to the election as of this moment, and the margin of victory was quite wide," OCD said.
On Wednesday evening, OCD said it received a total of nearly 1,543 votes. Because voters could select up to two candidates, some the overall individual totals do not match the overall number of ballots cast.
Here are the totals:
- Goward: 1,290
- Hodgkinson: 1,276
- Hehl: 202
- Vredeveld: 194
OCD said the final election results will be certified by the state within the next week and Hodgkinson and Goward will be officially recognized as OCD Board Directors at the body's next meeting on April 14.
A unique body, election
The OCD often flies under the radar for many residents because it heavily focuses on private landowners, farmers and forest owners, playing a critical role in managing Ottawa County’s natural resources, from agricultural sustainability to soil conservation.
With a budget of nearly $2 million — funded by local, state and federal sources — the board’s influence on the county’s environmental priorities is substantial. It helps guide the work of the OCD and provides oversight over annual goals, finances and program directions.
Once elected, each director serves a four-year term and volunteers their time, meeting monthly to review district accomplishments and discuss future activities.
Unlike standard county elections, which are overseen by the Ottawa County Clerk's Office, the race is administered directly by the Conservation District.
Although typical board elections for the district see participation hover around 300 voters, this year has witnessed a surge in engagement. The spike in turnout highlights a significant mobilization effort, as local political interests — specifically an initiative by the Ottawa Impact group to secure seats on various county boards — intersect with the stewardship of the county's natural resources.
“I feel like the first few elections, we’d get anywhere from 40 to 50, maybe 60 votes, depending on who came to our annual meetings. A lot of the times people would vote there, and then maybe we’d get a small handful of absentee votes," Benjamin Jordan, the acting executive director and watershed programs coordinator for the OCD, told The Grand Haven Tribune.
But when a few candidates ramped up the scale of their campaigns about five years ago, Jordan said that they received hundreds of votes and decided to overhaul the voting process with more emphasis on the absentee ballot period.
“Two years ago, three years ago, maybe 200, 300 votes was kind of the top,” he explained.
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As a nonpartisan, non-regulatory, local government entity, the OCD remains committed to its values regardless of who is on the board, according to Jordan.
“This election, from our standpoint, is not going to change our organization’s mission, but it’s important because obviously you want board members that are going to be engaged and are going to be active for the district,” Jordan said. “The board members, they help guide the district, they help create our annual appropriations budget, and make some of those decisions that are kind of above the level of just the staff themselves.
For more information about OCD, contact the office at 616-842-5852, Ext. 5, or email ottawacd@macd.org.
— Sarah Leach is the executive editor of the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at sleach@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Follow her on Twitter @ONNLeach.
