By Jeremy Carroll
C & G Staff Writer

ROYAL OAK — The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department is looking into an allegation of wrongdoing by unnamed members of the Royal Oak City Commission, Undersheriff Michael McCabe confirmed.

“We are looking into a possible violation that may or may not have occurred,” McCabe said. “Right now we don’t have a police report. We don’t know if anything illegal happened here.”

McCabe said he couldn’t discuss the subject at length, but said the investigation centers around the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals and an issue regarding Bordine Nursery and English Gardens.

Rochester Hills-based Bordine Nursery has set up a 90-day temporary location in the city in the last two years on a defunct industrial site at 4850 Coolidge Hwy. In 2008, the ZBA approved the petition, and English Gardens — with a permanent location in Royal Oak — sued the city over the ruling. A circuit court judge ultimately upheld the ZBA’s ruling.

Bordine asked for a renewal of their 2008 approval earlier this year, and the ZBA ultimately denied the request in March, with several members of the ZBA flipping their votes from the previous year. Bordine Nursery filed a lawsuit against the city, and the City Commission quickly settled the suit in April.

Former Oakland County Prosecutor and one-term member of the Royal Oak City Commission David Gorcyca claimed the investigation involved three members of the commission at an administrative hearing for ZBA member Jim Rasor on June 2. Gorcyca served as co-counsel for Rasor, who was accused of an appearance of impropriety and conflict of interest for representing Bordine in front of the ZBA. The charges were ultimately dropped against Rasor.

“To my knowledge, there is an open and active investigation being conducted by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department,” he said after the hearing.

While Gorcyca named three commissioners at the hearing, the Royal Oak Review could not verify those names with official sources and is not publishing them as of now.

David Poulton, an alternate member of the ZBA who sat in on the Bordine Nursery appeal earlier this year and voted in favor of the renewal petition, said he initially contacted the city attorney’s office to voice his concern about a conversation he had with a particular city commissioner.

“I had a duty to report it,” he said.

Poulton said he didn’t fill out any report, but he confirmed that has been in contact with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.

McCabe said they were looking into the issue on a request from Royal Oak Police Chief Chris Jahnke. Jahnke, who was just recently appointed as the city’s top cop, said while no written complaint had been made to the department, he contacted the sheriff’s department following a verbal allegation being brought to his department.

“We haven’t taken any reports about any city commissioners,” he said.

Jahnke said forwarding the information to another department is standard protocol to avoid any possible conflict of interest.

City Attorney David Gillam said if an allegation of wrongdoing by a city official was brought to his office, he would forward it to the Police Department.

“I can’t say whether that happened here or not,” Gillam said.