It’s been a challenging week for Leelanau County administrator David W. Gill.

Immediately after he returned to work from vacation last week, Gill learned that the county is being investigated by the state Bureau of Construction Codes.

He also learned that the county is facing a lawsuit from the former head of the county building inspections department, Robert VanDyke.

Gill, who was named individually in the lawsuit, fired VanDyke in June – just days after VanDyke had rescinded certificates of occupancy issued for the BayView condominium development in the Village of Suttons Bay.

VanDyke rescinded the occupancy certificates because of what he said were potentially life-threatening defects in the installation of furnaces and water heaters in the condos. The day after he fired VanDyke, Gill reversed VanDyke’s decision and reinstated the occupancy certificates for BayView.

VanDyke’s lawsuit alleges that Gill and the county violated the state Whistleblower’s Protection Act in connection with VanDyke’s actions relative to BayView as well as other major construction projects in the county. Other projects cited in the lawsuit include the county Government Center in Suttons Bay Township and a now-completed project at The Homestead resort in Glen Arbor Township that has been the subject of litigation since 2005.

It will be weeks before the county’s lawyers will need to respond to VanDyke’s lawsuit. But the Bureau of Construction Codes in Lansing is demanding answers from Gill immediately.

“Due to the nature and scope of alleged inspection failures and financial damages currently under review by the courts, as well as allegations from a veteran (16 years) county building official (VanDyke) that his efforts to carry out his duties were inappropriately thwarted, the situation in your county is of particular and growing concern to the Bureau,” stated a letter Gill received last week from Gerrit Bakker of the state Bureau of Construction Codes.

This week, Gill was deeply absorbed in putting together reams of paperwork demanded by the bureau and providing detailed explanations of the circumstances surrounding VanDyke’s firing.

The bureau’s investigation was precipitated by complaints that VanDyke had filed with the bureau immediately after he was fired.

Gill and the new head of the county building inspections department, Robert Meyer, met with the Inspections Department Subcommittee of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners on Friday. During the meeting, Gill briefed commissioners on the lawsuit and the Bureau of Construction Codes investigation.

Gill noted that the bureau’s investigation was prompted by letters from VanDyke and was likely an attempt to support VanDyke’s lawsuit against himself and the county. Gill said he expected to provide the bureau with an 18 inch-thick pile of documents including blueprints of the BayView condo project as well as the Fiddler’s Pond Hotel project at The Homestead.

Gill said it was likely that the Bureau of Construction Codes would send staff members to Leelanau County in person to conduct a “performance evaluation” of the county’s building inspections department.

Although Gill is not a certified building official, he served as interim head of the department for several weeks before he hired Meyer.

Two unionized employees of the inspections department, mechanical/plumbing inspectors Scott Earl and Steve Schwarz, are being sued by owners of The Homestead because of their involvement in approving the installation of gas fireplaces at the resort several years ago.

The case has been dragging on in Circuit Court since 2005. In March of this year, the state Court of Appeals ruled that the two inspectors could not claim “governmental immunity” in the case.

“We agree with the circuit court that a reasonable jury would conclude that the defendants’ conduct (in conducting inspections at The Homestead) constituted conduct so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results … Defendant inspectors knew these units violated the Building Code and approved them nonetheless,” the state Appeals Court panel opined.

VanDyke has said that he has been trying to fire the two mechanical/plumbing inspectors for years, but that Gill and the county board wouldn’t back him up because the two are members of the Teamster’s Union and their firing could drag the county into lengthy and expensive litigation. Meanwhile, The Homestead’s suit against the two inspectors continues in Circuit Court.

In reversing VanDyke’s decision to rescind occupancy permits at BayView, Gill indicated that he was relying in part on recommendations from Earl and Schwarz. Gill also said he reversed VanDyke’s decision based on two reports prepared by an engineering firm that had been hired by the developer of BayView and the subcontractor who had installed furnaces and water heaters in the BayView condos.

Two other engineering reports, however, had indicated that there were code violations and potential “life-safety” issues related to furnaces and water heaters in the condos. One of the engineering reports had been introduced as evidence in a circuit court case earlier this year in which a judge ordered the BayView developer to refund a condo unit owner the entire $700,000-plus she paid for the unit in part because of defects in how her furnace and water heater had been installed.

VanDyke’s attorney, Mark Hullman, said it was clear that Gill and other county officials want the Inspections department to be run in a “more lax fashion” than VanDyke was running it.

VanDyke himself told the Enterprise: “I’ve always taken my job to enforce the construction code very seriously. Its purpose is to protect the health and safety of the people of Leelanau County and that’s been my main goal all along.”

VanDyke added: “Yes, I am very depressed over my firing, especially when I gave 110-percent to my job and was just tossed out like trash. But I have had overwhelming support both from contractors and ordinary citizens alike, and that has really meant a lot to me.”