Newly elected county commissioners stand up for rural Michigan voters, rescind support for Chinese battery plant

The newly elected commissioners of a rural Michigan county have already given their constituents a major win when they voted to rescind official support for the construction of a battery plant for a Chinese company.

On Thursday, four new commissioners — Greg Adams, Jeff Jackson, Gary Lambrix, and Chris Zimmerman — were sworn into office in Mecosta County, a county of fewer than 40,000 residents about an hour north of Grand Rapids. Their first order of business was to do what the people elected them to do: begin pushing back against plans to build a Gotion Inc. electric vehicle battery plant in Green Charter Township.

Immediately upon taking office, the new board of commissioners voted 5-2 to rescind Resolution 2023-04, which passed under the previous board and gave official support to the Gotion plant, the Midwesterner reported. Commissioners Chris Jane and Bill Routley were the two "no" votes.

"New information and developments have emerged concerning the project and its ownership structure with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party CCP and broader issues of foreign investment," said the newly adopted resolution, according to the Pioneer.

Gotion is headquartered in Silicon Valley, but its parent company, Gotion High Tech, is based in China. To advance the project in Green Charter, Gotion engaged in secret negotiations with Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other lawmakers and even allegedly bribed some previous members of the township board for their approval.

'When 92% of the Mecosta County residents opposed the Chinese battery plant ... commissioners should have listened.'

For years, voters in the area have been remarkably clear and consistent about their views on the Gotion facility: They don't want it. Despite the promise of more than 2,300 new jobs, residents worry about potential communist infiltration and negative effects on the environment.

In fact, Green Charter residents opposed the idea so vehemently that they ousted all seven members of their township board in 2023, as Blaze News previously reported. Five of them were recalled at the ballot box. Two others resigned.

Adams, Jackson, Lambrix, and Zimmerman apparently took notice and ran for the county board of commissioners in 2024 on a platform of opposing Gotion.

Zimmerman, the new board chair, noted in his remarks Thursday that local leaders have been ignoring the opinions of their constituents for far too long.

"When 92% of the Mecosta County residents opposed the Chinese battery plant in our community, the board of commissioners should have listened," he said.

"All four of us opposed Gotion," Zimmerman continued, referring to himself as well as Adams, Jackson, and Lambrix, "and we hope the passage of this resolution will help heal the divide in our community. Moreover, as long as the four of us are on the commission, we will no longer ignore the will of the people."

Zimmerman also acknowledged the risks of allowing a Chinese company to put down roots in Mecosta County. "When our congressman [John Moolenaar] says there are security concerns with China in our community, the board of commissioners should have reversed their approval of the project," he said.

President-elect Donald Trump gave a similar warning about Gotion back in August. "The Gotion plant would be very bad for the State and our Country. It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. I AM 100% OPPOSED!" he posted to social media.

While the Mecosta County board of commissioners has now made its opposition to the Gotion plant known, the practical implications of the vote to rescind the resolution are unclear since the project is currently tied up in litigation.

Gotion did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

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