Activist plays harmonica during meeting after Ottawa County commissioner orders his removal

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI – An activist on Tuesday was removed from an Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting after an outburst that ended with him playing the harmonica.

Holland Township Joe Spaulding wasn’t forcibly removed from the Tuesday, Sept. 5, meeting but instead walked out with a sheriff’s deputy after commissioners recessed the meeting due to his harmonica playing.

The deputy had asked Spaulding to leave the meeting at the request of Ottawa County Commissioner Gretchen Cosby.

Spaulding unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat in November 2022 for a seat on the county board and is a vocal opponent of Ottawa Impact, the far-right group which holds a majority on the county board. He is helping an ongoing recall effort against one of the Ottawa Impact county commissioners.

The outburst happened about three hours into the county board’s Finance and Administration Committee meeting Tuesday morning as County Administrator John Gibbs was detailing his administration’s proposed budget for the county health department for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Gibbs rejected the proposed budget drafted by Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley, who Ottawa Impact commissioners have been trying to remove since taking office in January. The new, proposed budget — one Gibbs says will bring the department back to pre-COVID levels of spending — was drafted without Hambley’s input.

Gibbs’ budget for the department proposes significant cuts, which Hambley told commissioners Tuesday would impact a number of programs – some state-mandated – including immunizations, communicable disease prevention and investigation, substance use prevention programs and more.

Related: ‘Fear-mongering tactics’: John Gibbs, Joe Moss blast criticism of health department budget cuts

Two non-Ottawa Impact county commissioners, Republican Roger Bergman and Democrat Doug Zylstra, asked Gibbs whether there was a handout of the new, proposed budget or some way to follow along with his verbal presentation of it.

“No, I’m just going from the notes right now,” Gibbs said.

Soon after, Spaulding shouted, “Talk to Gretchen about that,” referring to Cosby, an Ottawa Impact member who chairs the board’s Finance and Administration Committee.

“I can have you removed,” Cosby replied.

“Try it,” Spaulding said.

“Can I have him removed please, officer?” Cosby asked.

Spaulding then produced a harmonica and began to play it. An Ottawa County sheriff’s deputy walked over to Spaulding and asked him to leave, but Spaulding kept playing.

Cosby soon after called for a 10-minute recess without a vote, and many of the commissioners left the room.

As commissioners left, Spaulding stopped playing and walked out with the deputy. He wasn’t arrested.

Earlier in the meeting, Spaulding had yelled “Nurse Ratched” at Cosby, referring to the tyrannical nurse from the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

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