As he starts a new role as the city’s managing director, Carlton Williams says he is a different manager now than he was more than a decade ago, when a deadly collapse at 22nd and Market streets killed six people in 2013 during his time overseeing the department for city licenses and inspections.
“It was eye opening to me,” said Williams, who had a rocky tenure as the city’s L&I commissioner during the Nutter administration and went on to serve in other roles in the Kenney and Parker administrations. During an interview with NBC10 airing on NBC10 at issue this Sunday and in a new episode of Battleground Politics, Williams said that it is a tragedy he has not forgotten.
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“While we were not directly responsible for it as a government you always have to take responsibility as the leader in that department,” Williams said. “You certainly have to take a role in saying I need to do things differently or we need to do things differently as a government. That is the thing that I’ve taken with me to ensure that that type of tragedy — or to try to prevent that tragedy from happening again,” he said. “We have to be more proactive and responsive to the needs of citizens especially when it comes down to public safety.”
He also pointed to the changes made after the deadly collapse, including signage, a construction site task force and compliance division. Williams told NBC10 that although he will always remember what happened, “the lessons learned from that made Philadelphia a better place from the things that we had to put in place to ensure that those tragedies don’t ever happen again.”
As he takes on the new role, he will once again oversee Philadelphia’s Licenses and Inspections Department – split in two in its current form. As managing director, he’ll be responsible for a slew of departments including the one he most recently ran, the Office of Clean and Green, a change from his time there when he reported directly to the mayor.
The city is now in the aftermath of another deadly incident with the collapse of a parking garage in Grays Ferry. Williams says he has not yet seen the status report on that collapse. Asked if the city is doing anything different while it waits for a larger report, Williams said it’s still being reviewed.
Mayor Cherelle Parker named Williams as managing director with the departure of Adam Thiel, who served in the role for the first part of her term. Over the years and through administrations, some managing directors have been more visible than others. Williams said he thinks Thiel did a great job in the role, and that they just have different styles.
“My style is to be out front and with people,” he said.
When it comes to his approach, Williams says he tries to manage through the eyes of what residents want, from fixing potholes to safety and clean drinking water.
Williams says he spent his first few days as managing director in the city’s Kensington neighborhood, doing a walkthrough with the mayor and talking with residents about the city’s efforts to address crime, drugs and addiction there. He said his perspective on the challenge there has changed.
“I referred to it a few weeks ago as a marathon and not a sprint but now I’m changing my position on that,” he said. “It’s a marathon AND a sprint because people want to see immediate action. They want to see clean streets. They definitely want to be able to have their children walk to school without having to walk over needles.”
The next step in Kensington, Williams said, will be addressing a neighborhood frustration about issues bleeding from one area to another as people are moved.
“They’re saying that’s great that you’re keeping Kensington Avenue now clean and businesses are open but what about our residents? What about our residential community?” Williams asked.
Among the challenges on Williams’ plate now is getting a waste contract that includes incinerating a portion of the city’s trash approved by council, where there has been criticism of the city’s use of an incinerator in Chester, most notably by councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Williams said the contract has been completed – an update from where things stood earlier this summer when NBC10 spoke with the city’s sanitation commissioner – and is ready to submit to council. Currently, the city sends 38% of its trash to by incinerated by Reworld in Chester. Williams said that percentage will be lower in the new contract.
City council earlier this year didn’t back proposals from the mayor for new taxes, including a new delivery tax that would have funded the creation of a pothole squad to address road issues. Despite not having that dedicated funding, Williams says he’ll still working to “create a unit that’s dedicated that can be proactive and responsive.”
Williams also says he hopes to make it happen during this fiscal year, noting that potholes tend to show up in the spring.