County mulls settling with ex-commissioner Kleinjans — its last lawsuit tied to Ottawa Impact

OTTAWA COUNTY — The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners will consider settling the seventh and final lawsuit stemming from the tumultuous two-year tenure of far-right political group Ottawa Impact’s control of the board.

On Thursday, commissioners will consider accepting a settlement agreement with former commissioner Chris Kleinjans, who alleges former board chair Joe Moss pressured Kleinjans' former employer, Michigan State University Extension, to no longer allow him to work in Ottawa County — the contract between the two would not be renewed.

A settlement would end the last and longest of seven lawsuits filed against the county stemming from decisions and actions made by the former Ottawa Impact majority, which controlled the board in 2023 and 2024. 

How it started

Moss is the founder and president of Ottawa Impact, a far-right political action committee that ran a slate of candidates in 2022 motivated by frustrations with the county and state over COVID-19 mitigation measures. They went on to achieve a controlling majority of the county’s top governmental body and elected Moss as chair.

Since taking office in January 2023, OI commissioners pushed through a series of controversial decisions, resulting in numerous lawsuits against the county. Those decisions included an unsuccessful attempt to fire the county health officer — who sued and later settled with the county — and cutting the public health department’s budget.

After being seated, “they immediately began making … charitably speaking … aggressive decisions,” Kleinjans said in August 2024. “It was a different interpretation of freedom than what we were operating under before.”

Kleinjans said Moss fixated on him in November 2023 after Ottawa Food — a collaboration of over 45 local agencies that provides access to healthy, local food — announced it was suspending operations after the board made deep cuts to the county’s public health department.

At the time, Kleinjans was a member of the Ottawa Food Advisory Board and was interviewed for a FOX-17 news article about the announcement. 

Shortly after the interview aired, Ottawa County Democrats announced that Kleinjans would be their candidate in a special recall election targeting then-OI commissioner Lucy Ebel.

Moss then contacted MSEU officials requesting that they prevent Kleinjans from continuing work in Ottawa County.

Moss told the officials that several of Kleinjans’ social media posts around December 2023 were “false and inflammatory” because they said, among other things, that “children in District 2 are going to go hungry bc (sic) Ottawa Food will be eliminated” and that “District 2 families that are struggling will lose access to dental care for their children.”

At the same time, the annual approval for MSUE’s contract with the county was removed from full board consideration, despite receiving unanimous approval from the county’s Finance and Administration committee just weeks previously.

The contract, often referred to as a “memorandum of understanding” or MOU, obligated the county to pay $272,572 to MSUE for fiscal year 2025 — fiscal years are Oct. 1-Sept. 30 — to provide office space, utilities, clerical support and funding for an MSUE educator, which covers a 4-H programming coordinator. 

The perceived threat to the MOU with the county led to a series of meetings and emails between MSUE leadership and Moss, where the university declined to change Kleinjans’ employment status.

“Our Extension leadership and university counsel reviewed your request to have us relocate Christian, and have determined that we are unable to implement requests that would violate an employee's rights to participate in political activities outside of their workdays and hours,” James Kelly, district director for Extension, wrote in an email to Moss on Jan. 5, 2024.

Emails show that this reporter, who was then employed at The Holland Sentinel, requested comment on the delayed approval of the MSU Extension’s contract with the county.

That prompted Kelly to urge Moss to approve the contract so the dispute wouldn’t be made public.

“Hi Joe. It seems the issue of our delayed contract becoming a more public issue is on the verge of breaking out. We had a request from the Holland Sentinel to provide some insight as to why our contract was being delayed. They referenced in their email both the connection with Ottawa Food and the connection to Christian's candidacy as the potential reason for the delay,” Kelly wrote to Moss on Jan. 8. “I would love to be able to respond to that request saying that the contract is due to be on the upcoming agenda and that we do not anticipate any issues at this point.

“We will hold off on responding to The Sentinel, but would like to send them a positive response as soon as possible. Please let me know if there has been any developments, one way or the other, as soon as possible.”

The MOU was then put on the board's next meeting agenda and was approved Jan. 24, 2024.

Kleinjans went on to win the special election on May 7, 2024.

Just 16 days later, MSUE told Kleinjans he could no longer work there and serve as a county commissioner.

Kleinjans filed a federal lawsuit in June 2024 in U.S. Western District Court, claiming MSUE violated his First Amendment Rights.

An Aug. 9, 2024, evidentiary hearing featured testimony from Kleinjans and two of three MSUE supervisors who had several conversations with Kleinjans from before he was a commissioner candidate to after he was elected.

M. Scott Korpak, then-incoming District 7 director, testified that during a Dec. 7, 2023, meeting he had with Kelly as well as Moss and OI Commissioner Allison Miedema, the board chair “threatened” the MOU.

When asked how he interpreted Moss addressing Kleinjans’ employment, Korpak said: “You could characterize it as a veiled threat … of concern with Christian’s involvement in the recall process. … They were unhappy about his political activity.”

Korpak also testified that Moss initially brought up “concerns” about Kleinjans in the lobby of the county’s administration building in West Olive before the board’s Nov. 21 meeting.

“He shared his concerns about Christian’s efforts against Ms. Ebel,” Korpak said of the Nov. 21, 2023, conversation.

“Because he’s a Democrat?” Kleinjans' attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, asked.

“Yes, among other concerns,” Korpak replied.

Lawsuit’s second year

Federal Judge Hala Y. Jarbou ruled in early August 2024 that Kleinjans was not entitled to a preliminary injunction that requested he be immediately restored to his MSUE position and awarded back pay.

However, Jarbou said it is “undisputed that the OI majority sought political retribution against Kleinjans” because of his comments about OI and involvement in the recall effort of Ebel.

Shortly after Jarbou’s ruling, Kleinjans amended the lawsuit to add Moss as an individual defendant for his alleged role. 

Ottawa County is paying to defend Moss in the litigation because there is an existing policy within the board's bylaws that says commissioners are indemnified, or protected from personal liability, when acting within their official capacity.

However, Michigan law does not mandate that government agencies provide indemnification and the board's policy says there is an exception to revoke indemnification "if the commissioner is adjudged liable for actions taken outside the scope of his/her authority."

The lawsuit then proceeded to the “discovery” process, where parties exchange information and evidence to prepare their cases. This includes requests for documents as well as taking formal interviews, called depositions, and requesting affidavits from supporting witnesses.  

A key question is whether the statements Moss made to MSUE officials affected the university’s decision to fire Kleinjans when it did. 

MSUE and the county say that because the school refused Moss’ requests and fired Kleinjans months after the county re-approved the MOU, that the commissioner’s actions didn’t dictate the employment decision.

The school said the decision to fire Kleinjans “was premised entirely on concerns relating to potential conflicts of interest” and compliance with the Incompatible Public Offices Act, which regulates how many and what type of roles public officers or employees may hold.

Kleinjans and Howard point to deposition testimony indicating that MSUE actually made the decision months earlier — in December 2023 — that if Kleinjans were elected, he would be fired.

Audio recordings Kleinjans made with MSUE leadership leading up to his termination indicate that school officials had long-term concerns even if the MOU were to be approved.

Read More: Was Ottawa County's newest commissioner punished for running?

In a November virtual meeting with Kleinjans, assistant director of MSU Health and Nutrition Institute Erin Moore characterized the political climate in Ottawa County as “dire” regardless of whether Kleinjans pursued the elected office.

“If this were any other county, any other part of the state, where it was just a little less contentious, we wouldn't be talking about us being defunded because of your interaction with politics,” she tells Kleinjans on the recording. “But that is our reality right now … is that there is a vengeance-type of relationship that this board has with the only power that they have with this money, and that is to defund those that are ‘against them.’”

On Dec. 7, 2023, Kelly summarized notes for other MSUE leaders via email, saying: “It is likely that the majority of commissioners would follow the lead of Joe Moss and only support the MSU Extension MOA if Christian is removed from Ottawa County. … They claim he is damaging the community, that he has proven himself to be a liability, and until MSU can show they can be trusted to handle his indiscretions appropriately, they will not have the support of the board.”

During an April 1, 2025, deposition, Moss confirmed that he sent an email to former interim administrator Jon Anderson shortly after Kleinjans was elected to the board of commissioners that he had been assured by MSUE back in December 2023 that if Kleinjans were to be elected, the university would fire him.

“Commissioner Miedema and I were told by the directors of MSU Extension, who had conferred with their corporate counsel, that it was forbidden for an elected commissioner in Ottawa County to also be employed by MSU Extension and that they would have to separate if Christian was elected,” the email read.

“Did I read that correctly?” Howard asked Moss in the April deposition.

“Yes,” Moss replied, going on to say the conversation with MSUE leadership and its attorneys occurred in December 2023 or January 2024 — just before the MOU was re-approved by the county.

As the discovery process unfolded, the parties made some attempts to resolve the litigation.

Howard said there were two settlement conferences with Magistrate Judge Ray Kent — in February and July — involving all three parties and their legal representation. The county and Kleinjans also used a Grand Rapids private mediator Lee Silver on Nov. 28; MSUE did not attend, citing a scheduling conflict. 

Meanwhile, the board of commissioners saw a new moderate Republican majority assume power in January 2025 and OI went from six seats on the 11-member board to a four-seat minority. 

Kleinjans lost his bid for re-election to Republican Jordan Jorritsma by just 237 votes.

Chair John Teeples expressed shortly after being elected chair that one his top priorities was to resolve the remaining lawsuits stemming from the previous two-year period.

Read More: Closed meeting minutes: Moss agreed to $4M settlement with Hambley to 'get this over with'

The road to resolving the lawsuits was contentious and controversial at times, with three sets of closed session minutes — two with audio — that inspired two ethics complaints against Moss that the current board refused to investigate in November.

After settling all other cases in October, Teeples lamented that resolution of the Kleinjans case remained elusive.

“I'm very happy that we settled all these lawsuits ... with the exception of one,” Teeples said at the board’s Oct. 24 meeting. “Despite what has been reported, the failure to settle that lawsuit is not because of the attorneys.”

The comment seemingly referenced a statement Kleinjans gave when he announced his candidacy for Michigan’s 31st Senate seat on Oct. 6. The election will take place on Nov. 3, 2026.

“Obviously, I would rather have had this resolved, but if there’s anything worse than trying to get two lawyers to find a workable date for mediation, it’s getting three lawyers to find one,” Kleinjans said.

“I’m still very confident in our claim, and everything that’s come out thus far only confirms what I was told by MSUE admin back in November of 2023 regarding the actions of former chair Moss and MSUE.”

What could happen

At the board’s planned regular meeting on Thursday, commissioners will consider accepting their legal counsel’s recommendation in the Kleinjans case with respect to Moss. 

The board likely will consider a vote to go into closed session, however, several times during the year the two-thirds majority required to go into closed session wasn’t reached.

In January, the new board failed to secure the two-thirds threshold when it was considering settling with former administrator John Gibbs, who sued the county in April 2024 after he was fired in February that year.

Read More: 'We're in this bad deal because of you': Gibbs lawsuit settled as allegations fly between officials

The failed closed session vote gave way to a public discussion in open session where commissioners pointed fingers over who ultimately was responsible for the county being in the position to pay out a fourth six-figure settlement within two years.

The board voted 7-4 Jan. 28 to approve a $190,000 settlement to Gibbs, with one-third ($63,333) going toward his attorney’s fees; all four OI commissioners voted against the decision.

At the time, the county had paid out more than $700,000 to settle four other lawsuits filed between February 2023 and December 2024. One lawsuit was dismissed in 2023 over allegations that the OI-led board violated the Open Meetings Act before taking office in 2022.

The new majority faced similar challenges when settling a lawsuit challenging the legality of a pair of controversial severance agreements Moss championed in December 2024 that resulted in $280,000 in payouts.

Previous and current non-OI commissioners have said Moss misrepresented the county’s legal liability in relation to claims the two employees in question could have — when no actual evidence was ever provided that the threat of litigation was real.

Read More: Recordings: Moss pushed county board to approve $280K in controversial payouts despite no evidence of legal liability

The board also helped resolve a legal filing by The Sentinel after the newspaper sued to compel a circuit court judge to unseal subpoenaed secret testimony on detailed discussions during the Nov. 6, 2023, closed session when a $4 million deal was reached between county Health Officer Adeline Hambley and the board.

Moss publicly denied the deal was ever reached and blamed a “false narrative” by local media; the judge ruled that the deal occurred, but wasn't enforceable. Closed session minutes released in November and subsequent emails between the attorneys confirmed that the deal took place.

Read More: Closed meeting minutes: Moss agreed to $4M settlement with Hambley to 'get this over with'

If the Kleinjans lawsuit is resolved on Wednesday, Kleinjans must still resolve his claims against MSUE, likely through private mediation without the county, Howard said.

If a settlement isn’t reached, a trial is scheduled for June 1, 2026. Prior to that, however, a judge will need to resolve various motions for summary judgment — where all sides are asking for the court to find in their favor without further proceedings. 

If the county loses its summary judgment motion, it has the right to an immediate appeal if it wishes on its claim to qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects government officials from liability in civil lawsuits when they perform discretionary functions, shielding them from personal financial liability unless their conduct violates statutory or constitutional rights.

If that eventuality were to occur, Howard said she feels confident that Kleinjans will prevail.

“We think the case law is very clear for us that there is no qualified immunity for what we allege Moss did,” she said. 

That process also could take an additional year to conclude and likely would delay the trial. Howard said that in this scenario, the county would be appealing an issue it lost by that point, and could result in awarding more attorney fees if it didn’t prevail on appeal. 

“I would like to settle my claim against Joe Moss with the county and see it happen soon. We have been trying for some time to get it settled. It has been emotionally exhausting, and my wife and I would be happy to get it behind us,” Kleinjans said. 

“I would also like to see the county be incentivized to ensure that no county commissioner ever does something like this again — try to get a person fired or threaten his job using their power as an elected official, simply to punish a person for speaking out on important public matters,” he said.

— Sarah Leach is the executive editor of the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at sleach@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Follow her on Twitter @ONNLeach.