LORAIN —Bill Desvari told the Ohio Building Officials Association that he’ll retire from his position as the city’s chief building official.

Or did he?

 Desvari, 58, who served as one of six directors on the state association’s board, announced during a Feb. 10 meeting in Toledo his intentions to retire, said Guy Fursdon, association treasurer and chief building inspector for North Ridgeville.

“That’s what we heard him say,” he said. “He didn’t go into specifics, but he said he was planning to retire, and since he was no longer going to be an active code official, he needed to resign from his seat (as a board director).”

Minutes of the meeting stated that Desvari still had one year remaining on his second two-year term as a director. His replacement will be appointed by the board’s incoming president at the March meeting. Desvari’s retirement announcement was added under the new business category of the meeting’s agenda.

But Thursday night, Desvari said the association has it all wrong.  He did resign from the association, but not from his city job, he said.

He said Dan Given, in his short stint as Lorain’s safety service director, told him he no longer wanted Desvari traveling for the once-a-month meetings. So Desvari said he tendered his resignation even though he had been in line for the treasurer’s job and may have one day been the association’s president.

 So how did his message get so scrambled?

“I don’t know why that was. It was the way they wrote it down,’’ Desvari said.

Desvari has been on paid administrative leave from the city since he was escorted from his office Feb. 8 after Lorain police launched an investigation. Neither police nor city officials will say what the gist of the probe is, but Desvari’s computer and Building Department files have been seized.

Last week, Desvari told The Chronicle-Telegram that he’s done nothing wrong, and he said he ran his department by state standards.

Desvari has found himself facing heat since joining the city — including a no-confidence vote from City Council. He has been criticized for lying about his education, having felony convictions, intimidating employees, using city vehicles for private business and for the way he managed his department.

In addition to his recent problem involving the city, Desvari also was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed Jan. 4 in Cuyahoga Court of Common Pleas. The suit contends that Desvari’s construction company, Desvar Construction, failed to pay more than $4,300 for work completed in 2007.

The lawsuit contends that Pro-Tech Skilled Services completed a more than $6,800 job at Alcon Industries in Cleveland, but only received $2,500 from the company. The lawsuit asks for the amount to be paid in-full, in addition to interest fees and court costs.

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

 

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