Coming on the heels of a lengthy report that calls for a major overhaul of the city's Bureau of Building Inspection, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl yesterday announced the appointment of a new chief inspector who will be directed to implement several recommendations.

Sergei Matveiev, who was promoted from his position as plan examiner within the bureau, has worked there since June 2004.

Mr. Ravenstahl said the new chief brings with him "energy, enthusiasm and vision."

Among the changes he will oversee: movement of the bureau's building inspectors into the six neighborhood police stations; the purchase of city cars for each inspector; and a new training program for inspector recruits and existing employees.

"It's an opportunity to rebuild the entire department from the ground up," Mr. Matveiev said. "That's very exciting. It's very challenging, too. That's part of the fun."

The recommendations stem from a 42-page report by TriData Division of System Planning Corp. The consultant, which previously looked at the Fire and Emergency Medical Services bureaus for the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, found that the bureau is in "severe distress."

Among the problems noted in the report are a leadership gap throughout the organization, a lack of training for code inspectors and an unwieldy process for obtaining building permits.

"There's no more excuses," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "Today's the day we begin to take back our neighborhoods."

He identified ridding the city of blight as a key initiative in his administration, but organizational failures have made that work more difficult.

The bureau was assigned new responsibilities late last year, but wasn't given staff to pull them off, the report found. It is supposed to monitor storm water runoff, help identify disruptive properties so their owners can be billed for city services and handle a new rental registration system.

Mr. Ravenstahl's administration missed a Sept. 30 deadline for getting the rental registration system off the ground, and City Council has set a new finish line of Dec. 1, with landlords getting until April 1 to pay $12 per rental unit.

Further aggravating the situation was a lack of leadership in the bureau.

Last year, Mr. Ravenstahl showed longtime Chief Ron Graziano the door, replacing him with acting Chief Building Inspector Daniel Cipriani, who recently resigned.

Mr. Matveiev, 41, of Squirrel Hill, will be paid $91,850, the same as Mr. Cipriani but less than comparable positions in other cities, according to the study.

The lack of a permanent department head caused a leadership gap that continues throughout the organization, with supervisory jobs empty and confusing lines of communication, according to the report.

Mr. Ravenstahl believes it also may have led to declining morale in the bureau. The city is looking to fill at least 16 vacancies at the bureau, including six inspector positions.

He hopes all of those problems will be addressed by the new plan announced yesterday, which Mr. Ravenstahl said should help improve accountability and more effectively coordinate public safety efforts.

Having inspectors assigned to the police stations and working out of their city vehicles with handheld computers should make them more efficient, Mr. Ravenstahl said.

TriData didn't have time to determine how many inspectors the bureau needs, but found that it "may be understaffed." Its budget of around $3 million is probably too low, especially in light of the fact that the bureau brings in $4.2 million in fees and other revenue, the report found. It suggests that the bureau's revenue might be reinvested in its operation.

To fund the new moves identified yesterday, the state-appointed ICA will contribute $300,000 that the city will match.

Other costs will be absorbed in the city's capital budget.

For training, the city will create a program for new inspector recruits that will lead to certification. Mr. Ravenstahl said current employees will go through additional training as well.

The report found that seven of 10 code inspectors aren't certified, and even the senior inspectors almost uniformly lack certification in plan examination and energy inspection.

"It's clear that change is needed," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "This will give us another road map to public safety."

TriData also called for streamlining a four-step building permit process.

Since Pittsburgh has a daunting 1,300 buildings identified for demolition -- and 450 added each year -- TriData scanned the nation for models for dealing with abandoned properties.

It cited several examples, including Columbus, Ohio, where a team consisting of an attorney and top safety and development officials declares buildings to be public nuisances, sends police to arrest squatters and speeds the process of seizing the properties.