Out to Lunch

Some inspectors fail inspection

Since the 1981 Hyatt Regency Hotel walkway collapse in Kansas City, nearly $50 million in damages has been paid to survivors and to families of the 114 who died. In addition, Hallmark Card Inc., whose subsidiary owns the hotel, has agreed to give $6.5 million to local charities and $3.5 million more to plaintiffs. But new damage to the city's sense of security was inflicted last week when the Kansas City Star published an expose of the department of public works. After a two-month investigation, a team of Star reporters who tailed 18 of the city's 46 building inspectors, among them two who had overseen the Hyatt Regency project, discovered that the inspectors were routinely falsifying work logs, more often than not spending their working hours bar hopping and merely driving by construction sites. One of the inspectors the reporters found derelict was the city's chief watchdog at a new hotel complex under construction downtown. One January day, the inspector reported to superiors that he had spent seven hours tramping around a dozen building sites, but the Star's investigators found that instead he had made just two quick official stops. The rest of the day he had hung out with fellow inspectors at a restaurant, shopped, and early in the afternoon, well before quitting time, gone home.

Last week all 18 building inspectors were suspended and two promptly retired; the city's building-codes administrator resigned, and the public works director was put on "involuntary leave." And the fuss may not be over: the county prosecutor is considering bringing criminal charges. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.