I went to the local city hall with my American driver's license and an official translation then I was told that I had to get a certified official statement from the city that I lived in confirming that I was a resident at the time I recieved the driver's licence. I tried to explain that we have a different system in the U.S. and there is no central place that could confirm my residence.

Anyone else go through this and what did you do to resolve it?

I learned on this very site that what you need is a certificate of your driving record in the United States. I did get that before I came here and when I went to the town hall, they took my US license and the certificate and after two weeks I had a Belgium drivers license. They will keep your US license in the office, but if you need it to go to the States you can trade in your Belgium license and they will give you your US license, when you return they same procedure.
I hope this is helpful. This is much easier then going through what it would take to get a drivers license here.
Gigi