Changes at L&I planned

Government Affairs Committee Meeting

L&I Commissioner Fran Burns reported on efforts to improve customer service and streamline licensing systems to the When We Fix It Coalition and Building Industry Association of Philadelphia Government Affairs Committee.

Burns explained that over the next couple of weeks, the customer service area at the L&I Municipal Services Building Concourse will be redesigned to allow customers seeking permits to meet with examiners while sitting down in small cubicles, rather than standing at the large marble counter. Currently, plan examiners have such tiny spaces that they cannot open plans at their desks to meet with customers. The new layout will correct this problem.

To streamline the licensing system, Burns is working with City Council to reduce the current 120 business licenses to 30. As Commissioner Burns said, “As laws got created, L&I created forms.” Streamlining the number of licenses will not only get rid of some of these forms, but it will create a clearer and more efficient business process. L&I is also working to improve consistency between the decisions of the plan examiner and those made by the inspector. Audits of at least one of each examiner’s plans are being completed monthly and exercises for employees are being run where they review plans together as a group to determine how to proceed. L&I is also training its inspectors in multiple disciplines, so a single inspector can be sent out to each building.

One major policy change is that L&I will no longer accept incomplete applications. The department receives thousands of incomplete zoning and building permit applications each year, wasting up to 30 percent of valuable staff time. While homeowners seeking a deck or addition are responsible for many of these incomplete applications, professional building industry folks contribute to the problem as well. Burns committed to providing clear written guidelines and training as to how to fill out the applications.