Mercer Island Official Resigns -- Move Follows Allegations Of Improprieties In City Building-Code Division

Robert Rohrbach, Mercer Island building-code official, has resigned effective tomorrow, City Attorney Ron Dickinson has confirmed.

Dickinson said Rohrbach was not fired, nor was his resignation requested.

The city building department was recently investigated by Mercer Island police after allegations of criminal conduct and improprieties brought by island resident Mark Meadows.

The investigator, Detective Sgt. James Myers, concluded there was no criminal conduct, but some improprieties did occur.

Meadows, who is building a new home on East Mercer Way, had objected to the department's requirement for tests on the steep site by a certified soils engineer before a building permit could be issued.

In protest, Meadows last fall camped for a time with his family on his property and hired pickets to carry placards at the City Hall entrance, charging criminal activity in the building department.

Meadows and the builder he had engaged at that time, Jim Gutschmidt, asked through the community newspaper if any other residents had complaints against the building department. Nothing in the investigators' report indicated that any valid complaints were received.

The report, received last week by the city attorney, rejected a charge that the building department had falsified records.

It did, however, acknowledge that some of the contacts between Rohrbach and another building official and a developer, James Trull, had the appearance of impropriety: namely, that the developer was allowed to store his recreational vehicle on the private property of a building official; that an official had borrowed the RV and a boat belonging to the developer; and that the developer and an official went skiing together.

The report rejected other allegations that could not be proved, and which the subjects denied.

``There's a thin line,'' said Jerry Bacon, director of community development, between camaraderie and the appearance of impropriety. ``If you draw the line tightly, those of us who work for the city would never be able to have any friendships on Mercer Island.''

Both Bacon and Dickinson declined to discuss disciplinary action that might have been taken as a result of the investigation, because city policy forbids public discussion of personnel matters. Rohrbach could not be reached.

The city employee manual does not include guidelines for employees' relationships with people whose activities are regulated by the city. An amendment was approved this week for insertion into the manual, according to Bacon.

Rohrbach will not be replaced immediately, Bacon said, as the city is about to study possible reorganization of the community development and engineering departments. He said one of the building inspectors would be appointed as acting code official for the time being.