Residents criticize timing and secrecy as commissioners consider CMH restructuring

Multiple residents used the public-comment periods in the Nov. 21 special meeting to press the board for transparency over a proposed review of converting the Ottawa County Community Mental Health department into an authority.

"Let us in on the plan," one resident told commissioners, asking why the board would consider discussing CMH matters in closed session given intense public interest. Commenters also questioned why the county called a special meeting two business days before an already scheduled regular meeting and why no packet or explanation accompanied the closed-session notice.

Speakers urged commissioners to hold the CMH discussion in public, to release the legal opinion or at least summarize its legal rationale, and to guarantee that millage dollars designated for mental-health services would remain protected in any structural change. The recurring theme among commenters was that decisions about service delivery, funding and structural governance affect vulnerable residents and should be handled with maximum public notice and input.