On Thursday, Feb. 12, the Oceana County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the annexation of three parcels of property utilized during the annual Electric Forest Festival from Grant Township to the Village of Rothbury. This annexation is at the request of Electric Forest LLC with the support of Rothbury, Grant Township, live-entertainment producers AEG Presents and the owners of the parcels, the Goerbig Family Trust.
The interested parties provided several reasons for approving the annexation, which would ensure a streamlined and consistent running of the event. Some of these include improved arrangement of festival stages, which would help mitigate noise pollution for local residents and consistent alcohol allowance throughout festival grounds, which have been affected in the past by Grant’s strict restrictions as a dry township.
The largest of the three annexed parcels is 40 acres and all are adjacent to Double JJ Ranch. The annexation is also estimated to bring in more revenue to the village, without affecting that of Grant Township. Adjacent property owners were notified extensively and given the opportunity to attend the relevant public hearing before the regular board meeting commenced.
In his presentation to the commissioners, Chairman Robert Walker spoke to the economic value of Electric Forest, noting how the first year of operation brought in an estimated $14 million to the area, and how the number has only grown in over 15 years of the festival’s production.
The board meeting also saw quarterly and annual reports from Life EMS and the Oceana County Department of Veterans Affairs (OCDVA), respectively. Also presented were several grant opportunities for Oceana-Mason 911 Emergency Management and the Oceana County Road Commission.
Regional Director Jeff Stockhill presented for Life EMS. Last quarter saw 609 calls for a total of 2,297 for 2025, with an additional 13 following the start of the new year. They are fully staffed, though they do currently have two absences due to injuries, which Life EMS is working to accommodate. They have also recently lost a supervisor, who is now instructing full-time for West Shore Community College, which Stockhill described as a positive regardless, as “building that program up there does, in the long term, help us.”
Life EMS also reports an average response time of 11 minutes and 48 seconds, with 84% of responses reaching the goalpost of 15 minutes or less. Stockhill did mention, however, that responses in the last few weeks have been longer due to inclement weather.
While not under the purview of the Northern Life EMS branch, Stockhill did share the news that Life EMS is expanding their services into the Grand Haven area after accepting a recent RFP for the service. While they officially begin March 1, a vehicle and limited staff were already sent down at the first of the month to meet demands from Trinity Health’s turn-overs. While they will be hiring some of Trinity’s staff and moving in phases, Stockhill explained that Life EMS is anticipating difficulties for “both agencies to flip a switch on March 1 [and] say, ‘Okay, yesterday you worked for Trinity, today you’re working for us.’”
OCDVA Director Jodi Slinkard and Veterans Service Officer Sam Nanasi gave the organization’s annual report, with Slinkard presenting a prepared statement summarizing the year in review with, “Oceana County Department of Veterans Affairs has been filled with lots of moments of assisting local veterans and their families in completing paperwork, enrolling in VA healthcare, emergent needs and public outreach events…’“
Slinkard was also sure to clarify how “we do so much more than that,” giving anecdotal examples of the types of things, big and small, that Veterans Affairs, their staff and volunteers do for local veterans. Especially praised were their volunteer drivers, who help get rural veterans to out-of-area appointments. “We are very supported in this county, we have great volunteer drivers…we give a lot of veterans rides to and from appointments.”
As the service is greatly needed, Veterans Affairs (VA) is also working with the Muskegon VA Offices and the Oceana County Council on Aging to create collaborative networks of transportation.
Other essential services the OCDVA provides include their food pantry, which fed 143 veterans and their families in 2026, especially during the November government shutdown and temporary stoppage of SNAP benefits.
Slinkard likewise described their goals for 2026, hoping to see staff hours increase to full-time if funding allows, continued improvement of existing fundraising events and further success of their public outreach events. The latter has become essential for the OCDVA, with Nanasi explaining how it allows them to connect with local veterans. “We can make contacts with the veterans, but getting them to physically come into the office is another story. So, maybe being able to convert maybe 30 contacts to 10 appointments shows that’s really working.”
Slinkard expressed the importance and types of services the OCDVA office provides, “It’s not just about getting them benefits or getting them enrolled in VA healthcare. It's that process of helping them along the way and continuing to help them through those processes and getting them what they deserve.”
As for grant opportunities, Oceana County Emergency Management Director Troy Mahoney presented one such provided by Critical Response Group and its Critical Incident Mapping services. The grant on the table is for up to $25,000 and would provide three maps per county. It is a non-match grant, and the application is already prepared by Emergency Services, so all that was needed was for the board to sign off on the application.
For Oceana County, Emergency Services is looking to fund the detailed building mapping of Shelby Hospital, the Medical Care Facility and the courthouse - buildings with the largest population and potential for highest injuries in a catastrophic event. These maps would be incorporated into Emergency Services’ computer system at dispatch, as well as remotely accessible for EMS providers.
The Oceana County Road Commission (OCRC) was seeking the other grant opportunity presented at the meeting, which is a build grant for $25 million. OCRC reached out to Commissioner Tim Beggs for a letter of support, who presented the proposition to the board. If awarded the grant, OCRC would utilize funds to improve local gravel and dirt roads, resurface and widen existing, poorly maintained paved roads, and provide a bridge rehabilitation and two structure replacements, allowing semis and farm traffic to travel with no load and width restrictions year-round.
The purpose of these improvements is to improve the transportation of agricultural goods in and out of Oceana County, reducing the wear and tear on the roads, heavy vehicles and farm equipment.
As Beggs explained, “Agriculture is a pretty big deal in our county. A lot of those dirt roads where those farm fields are, they’re pretty rough…the goal is to fortify those dirt and gravel roads to augment the first mile [for] the farmers as they get that produce to processors and then out to feed the rest of the county and the world. It’s exciting progress to see from the road commission to improve, to enhance the economic condition of the county…”
Letters of support for the grant have also been sent by the County Administrator’s office, as well as Emergency Management, on the basis of the impact the poor roads have on heavy equipment such as firetrucks and ambulances.
The board approved the signature and letter of support for both Emergency Services and OCRC grant opportunities.
Also at the regular meeting were unanimous approvals for the appointment of Muskegon County Commissioner Jessica Cook as a business representative on the Material Management Planning Commission, the appointment of Kimberly Mull for a 3-year term to the planning commission, a contract revision with American Classic allowing the agreed monthly payment to begin in 2028 instead of 2027, and contracting Spicer Group to provide GIS-interactive mapping for the county.
For Department Head Reports, Sheriff Craig Mast gave his usual report, also updating the board of a “pretty substantial fraud complaint” coming from Shelby Public Schools. A member of the school’s purchasing department had accidentally opened a phishing email, allowing international fraudsters to access the school’s Amazon account to purchase and deliver $120,000 worth of laptops and tablets.
The Sheriff’s Department has already intercepted and recovered $30-40,000 worth of computers before intermediary persons - also victims of the fraud - could receive and send the products elsewhere. The Sheriff’s Department is also working with Amazon, who are aware of the fraud, and the FBI due to the international nature of the crime. While the brunt of the damage has been avoided, as the criminals are located in Nigeria, it is unlikely the suspect will see any consequences in Oceana County - nor were the commissioners apt to pay the expense of extradition.
Said Mast, “That was a very serious threat to one of our schools financially, but we think we got it really early and got on top of it… as unfortunate as it is, it’s some nice work on our school resource officer, Deputy Simon, being involved right away.”
This threat is a reminder to everyone to be wary of opening suspicious emails, as Walker said, “Nobody’s exempt from [falling for frauds], in my tenure on this board, Oceana County has been hit twice… and it’s so easy for the employee to get caught up into that.”
