Pittsburgh building code chief taking job with Amazon

Pittsburgh’s building code chief, who is credited with moving the department from the Dark Ages to the computer age over the past five years, is heading to Washington, D.C., for a job with Amazon.

Maura Kennedy, 38, chief of the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections, said she will serve on Amazon’s public policy team as economic development manager.

Kennedy, one of Mayor Bill Peduto’s initial hires after taking office in 2014, said she was looking forward to a new challenge but the move out of Pittsburgh would be bittersweet. Her last day is Nov. 22.

“I think that we’ve accomplished a lot here at PLI in terms of modernizing and developing the process as a whole,” she said. “The thing that I’m proudest of is the team that we’ve built. We have 90 highly professional, service-oriented people. Their hard work is what really makes the volume and the skill of these accomplishments possible.”

Kennedy previously served as executive director of development services for Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections. She came to Pittsburgh and found a department operating almost exclusively on pencil and paper.

Kennedy said the department had 10 computers for 80 people and that developers and homeowners had to wait in line sometimes for hours to submit plans for a new building or a remodeled kitchen. It took building inspectors three weeks to notify an owner of a code violation.

Change did not come without controversy. City council questioned Kennedy’s qualifications and Peduto moved the department out from under the Department of Public Safety after a reputed spat between Kennedy and a former public safety director.

Kennedy managed to transform the department despite the flak. She established the OneStopPGH website permitting contractors and businesses for the first time to apply for, amend, and renew licenses online. She also created the city’s Buildingeye website, allowing users to find properties cited with code violations and permits issued by the city.

“Director Kennedy completely transformed the bureau,” said Dan Gilman, Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff. “When she came in, this was a department that worked purely off of pen and paper, had no acceptance of credit cards, no ability to take online permits. Our building inspectors did not have cellphones or email addresses. I think her legacy of innovation in the department will be one of the greatest accomplishments of the Peduto administration.”

Gilman said the administration has not decided on a replacement for Kennedy, whose current salary is $108,135.