OTTAWA COUNTY — Just a week after starting his new job, Chris Kleinjans was fired from his old employer.
Kleinjans won a seat on the Ottawa County Commission on May 7, defeating Ottawa Impact-backed incumbent Lucy Ebel in a recall election. He was sworn in as the representative for the 2nd District on May 28. A week later, on June 4, he was fired from his local position with Michigan State University Extension.
The county is paying for the service extension, paying $272,720 in the most recent fiscal year. As part of the agreement, Ottawa County is also providing office, meeting and programming space.
Kleinjans was a regional nutrition adviser for the charity and said the reason for the extension was Section 556 of the Unfitness for Public Offices Act 1978.
“They informed me that I could not continue to work effectively with their partners while performing the duties of my recently elected commissioner,” Kleinjans said in a statement. “This is the sole reason for my termination. There were no job performance issues, no personal or professional misconduct, and no other reasons for Michigan State University Extension’s decision.”
Kleinjans’ lawyer, Sarah Riley Howard, who has represented several clients in lawsuits against the Ottawa County Commission, said she doesn’t agree with the county’s interpretation of the law or whether it’s even grounds for termination.
In a letter to the Extension Office seeking a stay on the documents, Howard argued that “political pressure” was the real issue.
“There is no serious argument that Ms. Kleinjans’ employment as a regional nutrition instructor for Michigan State University Extension means that there is a subordinate or supervisory relationship between that position and her role as commissioner,” the letter, which was released in full by FOX-17, reads.
“We believe the real reason for this decision is that MSU Extension has caved in to political pressure from current Ottawa County commissioners aligned with Ottawa Impact and Lucy Ebel.”
The letter cites conversations that purportedly took place before the recall election between agricultural extension staff and commissioners Joe Moss and Allison Miedema. Moss is co-founder and current board chair of Ottawa Impact. After the meeting, staff acknowledged they were “concerned about the impact” if Kleinjans were to win, according to the letter.
Ottawa Impact, a republican group formed in 2021, won a majority on the board in the 2022 election cycle and quickly introduced sweeping reforms. Miedema is also a member of OI.
At the end of her letter, Howard asks for Kleinjans’ reinstatement. She said she is not seeking economic or non-economic damages or attorneys’ fees at this time.
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Kleinjans won the recall election by 20 percentage points, receiving 60 percent of the vote, and he and Ebell are both running to serve full four-year terms on the board this fall.
Kleinjans will run unopposed in the August Democratic primary, while Ebell will face Jordan Joritsma for a spot in the November general election.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com
