Warren Mayor Lori Stone has appointed Kirk Rehn as the city’s new Director of Building and Safety Engineering. The position was vacant for 17 months prior to the recent appointment.

At its April 8 regular meeting, the City Council voted 5-2 to receive and file the assignment. Council Secretary Mindy Moore and Councilman Jonathan Lafferty were the dissenting votes.

Moore said Rehn was disrespectful to members of the City Council in the past and also alleged he was rude to resident Tony Baker, a long-time advocate for the disabled and activist for ADA compliance. Baker is disabled and uses a scooter for mobility. The city’s ADA compliance ordinance is named for him.

“For us as elected officials, we can take it, but I won’t tolerate anyone who is disrespectful to residents,” Moore said. “We gave the mayor the benefit of the doubt on an earlier appointment, but that person has continued that behavior of being disrespectful.

“I am going to be a no vote because Mr. Baker feels he has been wronged and I want to support him.”

Lafferty echoed Moore’s statements and expressed concern Rehn would not make ADA compliance a priority in accordance with the city’s policy.

Councilwoman Melody Magee said she has been assured Rehn will go through training for ADA compliance and zoning as well as conflict resolution training.

“That assures me that things will get better,” said Magee. “That would be enough for me to move forward, but I will be doing a follow up.”

Rehn was not in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting. Warren Director of Public Services David Muzzarelli said he told Rehn not to attend the meeting and came to the podium to answer the Council’s questions about the appointment.

Muzzarelli said he holds all of his employees to the highest standard and that complaints and concerns regarding Rehn are unfounded.

“There is no disrespect to residents or members of Council; I don’t accept that in my public service department at all,” Muzzarelli said. “We just got rid of two employees last month who got into an altercation with a resident, so this is something that is just unacceptable.”

Muzzarelli said all of his inspectors are going through conflict resolution training and Rehn has been proactive in taking training related to his job in the building department, adding he is confident Rehn will effectively implement and enforce the city’s five-year ADA compliance plan.

“In the last year, he has shown me nothing but being a strong leader in that department,” Muzzarelli said.

Prior to the City Council voting to receive and file Rehn’s appointment, Warren residents Lori Harris and Joel Vanderlinden spoke during audience participation and expressed concern about the new building director’s treatment of residents while stating he is renting property he owns in the city without proper permits.

“There have been a lot of allegations and I don’t know if the administration has done a full investigation of his background or not because we have not been provided with that information,” said Councilman Gary Boike.

Boike pointed out Rehn had to sign a document verifying his background information and knows that making a false statement could result in his dismissal.

“He signed this willingly and freely and so if the facts are there, he knows that someone could complain and he could be investigated,” said Boike. “But evidently, he feels he is in the right so I just wanted to bring that out.”

The Macomb Daily filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Rehn’s bio and resume/application. Moore said the City Council received that information on the day of the meeting but were told not to share it or include it in the meeting e-packet that is posted for public viewing.

The FOIA comes at a time when The Macomb Daily has filed a lawsuit against the city seeking applications for other city department head positions. The matter is pending in Macomb County Circuit Court.

According to a social media post by Muzzarelli, Rehn has worked for the city since 2010 when he began working in the community development department. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in building construction management from Michigan State University. He is certified by the state as a building official, inspector and plan reviewer, is a licensed residential builder, and certified zoning administrator and citizen planner, according to Muzzarelli.