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A Blueprint for Change at the Buildings Department
By Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Last September, in the wake of indictments involving senior-level agency personnel, I created a task force to perform a top-to-bottom review of the Buildings Department. Now I am pleased to announce the publication of a report that specifically addresses the inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption that have plagued the agency for decades.

The City Charter vests the Buildings Department with the responsibility of protecting public safety by assuring compliance with building code standards.

Given the decades-long history of corruption at the Buildings Department, it is clear that a comprehensive reform of the agency is long overdue. We must uphold the highest standards of safety for all construction and development in the city, while making the agency more efficient, accessible, and user-friendly.

Therefore, the task force, chaired by Bart Schwartz, president of Decision Strategies/Fairfax International and former head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, has presented six key recommendations to help re-engineer the Buildings Department into a state-of-the-art agency using 21st century technologies and processes for management:

• Professionalize the Buildings Department through staff and organizational changes
  
• Streamline the procedures for examining plans and granting permits
  
• Transfer inspection and enforcement functions from the Buildings Department to the Fire Department
  
• Review the administration of licensing examinations for tradespeople
  
• Institute anti-corruption measures within the Buildings Department
  
• Implement technological innovations to improve efficiency and customer service delivery throughout the agency

Some of these changes have to be implemented through legislation. Accordingly, my administration has submitted legislation to the City Council that would transfer Buildings Department inspectors to the Fire Department. Civilian members of the Fire Department will have the authority to conduct building inspections and enforce the building code. This merger will improve the building inspection and enforcement functions by promoting a high degree of professionalism and integrity.

The Buildings Department will still be examining plans and issuing permits, functions that will be simplified through re-engineering and technological improvements. Any New Yorker who wants to remodel his or her home, or any developer who wants to construct a building should be able to get the necessary approvals without retaining a third party expediter.

We are going to make it possible for people to communicate with the Buildings Department more effectively. Those who have dealt with the Buildings Department know that it is difficult to discern just what precedents and policies are in place from year to year and borough to borough. With the increased use of technology, we should be able to make this information available to the professional and the homeowner over the Internet. There will be greater consistency and efficiency.

I believe that when the essential elements of this task force report are implemented, it will result in a more honest agency; it will result in a better work environment for its employees; and it will result in a Buildings Department that better serves the residents and the businesses of New York City.