At its regularly scheduled meeting this evening, the Bellevue City Council approved the hiring of Bellevue Police Chief Mark Elbert as the City’s first Community Development Director.
Bellevue Mayor Rusty Hike and City Administrator Jim Ristow presented the promotion of Chief Elbert, to the position of Community Development Director, to the City Council for their approval as part of a strategy to streamline the economic development process in a more efficient manner and provide additional support to the administration in their daily duties.
Chief Elbert will officially retire from the Bellevue Police Department effective December 31, 2019 and will start working in his new role with the City of Bellevue at the beginning of 2020. Chief Elbert has served with the Bellevue Police Department since 1996 and has been the Police Chief since February of 2013.
Chief Elbert is excited for this new challenge and opportunity and looks forward to, “working with the administration in advancing their vision of economic growth and prosperity in Bellevue.” As part of his new duties, Mark Elbert will immediately take an active role in overseeing the City’s Permit and Inspections, Code Enforcement, Cable TV and Planning Departments as well as serving as the incident commander in any City Emergency Operation Center events that may transpire. Mark Elbert will also work with City Administrator Ristow and other City Departments on short and long range strategic plans to assist in business growth, community development and consulting with developers on potential development projects.
City Administrator Ristow thanked Chief Elbert for his many years of service as a police officer and Police Chief in Bellevue. “Chief Elbert has professionally led the Bellevue Police Department since 2012. During that time, he has helped move the department into a new state of the art police facility and has taken the lead on helping the citizens of Bellevue through two major floods and a tornado that have impacted our community. His leadership will be missed in the Police Department, but we are excited that this promotion will allow him to help us move the City forward in a more efficient manner.”