Second-in-command at L&I reassigned, pending investigation

The Nutter administration reassigned the second-in-command at the Department of Licenses & Inspections Friday, while the city investigates his oversight of tough new demolition regulations imposed after the Center City building collapse that killed six people in 2013.

Scott Mulderig, the department's director of Emergency Services - a unit that deals with demolitions, building collapses, fires, and other matters - has been reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation, city officials said Friday.

The reassignment came after The Inquirer questioned city officials about building demolitions that occurred on Mulderig's watch.

Mulderig, 49, is a top aide and confidant to L&I Commissioner Carlton Williams. He is paid $90,000 annually.

It's unclear what his new duties will be. Efforts to reach Mulderig were unsuccessful Friday night.

In response to the deadly building collapse, city rules governing construction and demolition work have been strengthened, and investigations of such work are required to be performed more frequently. The Inquirer's questions to the city focused in part on compliance with those new rules.

Mulderig's reassignment, disclosed in an e-mail to the newspaper, came as officials said the information the newspaper had provided in questions to the city called for "further investigation" and that they had referred the matter to the Inspector General's Office.

The outcome of that investigation will bear on Mulderig's reassignment, they said.

Also Friday, Williams sent a memo to L&I staff that said, in part, that the newspaper's work "will impact our department in a very serious manner."

He continued: "I have responded to the inquiry with facts that have been made available to me thus far."

Williams told his staff that the agency would investigate.