Nutter creates two groups to consider L&I change

In the aftermath of the fatal Salvation Army thrift store collapse at 22d and Market Streets in 2013, Mayor Nutter has created a board to put in place recommendations from a commission that faulted the city's oversight of building safety.

The Building Safety Oversight Board, which will be led by former Deputy Mayor Michael Nadol, will decide which of the 37 recommendations made in October by the mayor's special independent advisory commission have the most merit. An internal working group will support the board in how to make suggested changes to the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

Nutter commissioned the panel in response to the building collapse, which killed six people and injured 13. Following a 10-month review, the panel said that L&I was underfunded, had too many responsibilities, and would better operate as two agencies: a Department of Buildings and a Department of Business Compliance. That would require a City Charter change.

Everett Gillison, the deputy mayor for public safety, has suggested that the decision to split the agency might not be made until the end of 2015. A new mayor takes office in January 2016.

The day that Nutter said he received the special commission's recommendations, Council President Darrell L. Clarke introduced his own plan for L&I. Clarke's bill would create a cabinet-level Department of Planning and Development to take over functions now handled by seven entities, including L&I. That, too, would require a charter change.

Clarke previously said he believes L&I belongs under a development umbrella, something the special commission is against.

Nutter said in a statement Tuesday that after the collapse, "I vowed that we as a city would do all we could to prevent these tragedies in the future. The formation of the Building Safety Oversight Board is one step in a deliberate, structured plan to bring meaningful operational changes, which will ensure that public safety is paramount in everything L&I does."