Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) replaced the leader of the city's troubled regulatory agency yesterday, saying that a new director would implement major reforms.
Patrick J. Canavan, a psychologist who has served as Williams's director of neighborhood services for the past five years, will take over the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which has suffered a series of missteps and received complaints from neighborhood leaders.
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He replaces David A. Clark, a former postmaster and the agency's director since April 2001. Speaking at his weekly news briefing yesterday, Williams declined to say why Clark was being replaced, referring questions to City Administrator Robert C. Bobb.
"We have key reforms that need to be put in place, and it's time for new leadership," Bobb said. He declined to give further details on why Clark is being replaced.
Clark declined to comment. But three city officials said Bobb told Clark to step down. It is unclear whether Clark will be offered another position in the government.
The agency has been criticized by the business community for its snail-like pace in issuing permits and by neighborhood leaders for its poor oversight of blighted buildings and new construction.
The department's regulatory responsibilities include conducting housing inspections and issuing building permits and a variety of business and professional licenses.
"This agency has its hands on the throttle of the District of Columbia," said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1). "It touches on a wide range of quality-of-life issues, nuisance properties, safety and permitting. And few would say it is working real well."
Last week, Bobb called a meeting to address the agency's failure to stop a builder from operating without permits, despite issuing 39 fines totaling more than $200,000 for work at six properties in the Deanwood neighborhood in Northeast Washington. The builder was arrested and charged with criminal violations yesterday.
The department was forced to step up inspections of student housing after a 21-year-old Georgetown University student died in October in a fire caused by faulty wiring in his rowhouse basement apartment.
Williams praised Canavan as a manager with the skills to make another attempt at improving the agency, which city officials described as a large, often unwieldy bureaucracy that so far has been resistant to such efforts.
Graham, chairman of the council committee that oversees the agency, has complained about Clark's leadership. Yesterday, he praised the mayor's action.
"I'm very pleased to see that the mayor has a new leadership approach in mind," Graham said. "Clearly things have opened up and there's a real opportunity here for a serious revamping of the agency."
Canavan served as an administrator in the forensic division of St. Elizabeths Hospital when he was tapped during Williams's first term to lead the city's eradication of rats.
