New county treasurer challenged by Spring Lake CPA
Wed, Jul 23, 2008 
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BY MARK BROOKY
mbrooky@grandhaventribune.com
Bradley Slagh has been the Ottawa County treasurer for less than a year. He will have to defeat a fellow Republican in the Aug. 5 primary to win the job for a full four-year term.
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Slagh, of Zeeland, is being challenged by Spring Lake resident Steve Namenye in the primary. The winner essentially takes the post, which will pay $87,000 next year, as there is no Democratic Party challenger.
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Namenye, 51, has worked for the county for almost 16 years in its equalization, administrative services and information technology departments. He has also operated his own local accounting business for the past 20 years, currently with six employees and more than 600 clients. He and his wife, Linda, have four children.
Namenye said he has learned a lot in his work at county offices, and he has several goals to accomplish should he be elected treasurer. He would like to maximize the return rates for county investments, continually improve the county's telecommunications network while finding cost-saving measures, ensure that proper checks on county finances are in place, develop a home foreclosure prevention program, and create a "relaxed" office environment that promotes communication.
Namenye said he's troubled that the treasurer's office has lost 30 percent of its staff, according to the Spring Lake accountant, since Slagh took over. Namenye said there are cost savings in retaining knowledgeable employees.
Slagh, also 51, was appointed county treasurer in September 2007 when Mary Richardson retired. He acknowledged that four of 10 staff members have left since then — but that includes Richardson and two other retiring employees, and a fourth who became a controller for a private firm.
Except for two years when he lived and worked in Idaho, Slagh has lived in Zeeland since 1974. He and his wife, Carol, have three children.
Slagh earned a degree in business administration and a teaching certificate at Hope College, hoping to become a teacher.
"Because of a recession and limited teaching jobs after graduation, I never did teach in a high school, but have used both the business education and the knowledge of how to teach in many ways throughout my life," he said.
Slagh spent 18 years in the banking business, and has owned and managed rental properties since 2004. When Zeeland Township Supervisor Gordon Ellens died in 2001, he applied for the part-time post and was appointed.
"For the next five-and-a-half years I enjoyed both the daily task of managing the township roads, water and sewer, along with leading the community through the many legal and also the regular legislative dealings," said Slagh, who was re-elected supervisor in 2004. "It proved to be an excellent experience for me as I grew in my ability to craft and enact policy."
Slagh said he sees the county treasurer's role more about management, vision and ensuring the county's goals than accounting work. He would like to develop something called a "land bank," which he said allows county treasurers to take over "distressed" properties and work to have them redeveloped.
