Ottawa County, MI (WGHN) – Court records show a tentative agreement between Grand Haven Pastor Jared Cramer and Ottawa County. Rev. Cramer filed his lawsuit in early October in U.S. Western District Court, claiming Board Chair Joe Moss used his position to “endorse a particular set of religious beliefs and exclude a particular set of religious beliefs” and therefore “is discriminating against certain religious beliefs,” which is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Cramer’s attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, argued that the county’s after-the-fact policy and formally invited Cramer to give an invocation was too little, too late.
Fox 17 reports that two people have filed a lawsuit claiming they need more transparency with the local government entity.
Andrea Hill and Luke Scanner have both filed FOIA requests with Scanner wanting to access “county related business” found on several of the Board of Commissioners’ personal devices. Hill has filed over 50 FOIA requests over the last year and a half.
The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners says what’s on personally-owned communication devices are not public records. That was the response to a lawsuit surrounding a Freedom of Information Act request that was denied. An attorney for Ottawa County said “Instant messaging communications found on personal cell phones” are not public records because they are not the possession of Ottawa County. A request for a specific individual’s device was denied because that person is “not an Ottawa County employee” according to another Ottawa County attorney.
Joe Moss Says “Instant Messaging communications found on personally-owned devices are not public records because they are not owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the County nor were they prepared by the County.”
There are currently several lawsuits with the county including one from former County Administrator John Gibbs for wrongful termination.
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