Philly City Council has approved a plan to require the mayor hire a chief public safety director

Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved a plan to add a cabinet-level position overseeing public safety after Council leadership amended the legislation at the eleventh hour to remove a requirement that the person be the former head of a law enforcement agency.

The legislation passed unanimously and creates a chief public safety director who would report directly to the mayor and would oversee the police, fire, prisons, recreation, and emergency management departments.

Because the legislation requires a change to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, a document akin to a constitution, voters have to approve it through a ballot question. That could happen as early as the May 16 primary election.

A Council committee advanced the plan last week, despite objections by Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration, which asked to delay the legislation because officials said they had not had enough time to assess its potential effect. The legislation was introduced in mid-February and passed on an expedited time line, with Council shortcutting the typical legislative process this week by amending and adopting the measure on the same day.

Initially, the plan required the appointee to be the former head of a law enforcement agency. The amendment — made minutes before the final vote — broadened the qualifications to say the person must have “senior leadership experience in a law enforcement agency, legal entity, or other public safety position.”

The city charter requires a five-day waiting period after a bill is amended before a final vote is taken to prevent “hasty consideration” and to allow the public to weigh in.

Council President Darrell L. Clarke said he allowed the vote to take place directly after the amendment was made because the legislation that changed was a resolution — not an ordinance. Clarke, who is retiring at the end of the year, said the nature of the city’s shootings crisis requires a sense of urgency.

“Somebody needs to deal with this violence in the city of Philadelphia, and it’s out of control, and the sense of urgency is here,” he said. “People want to wait and debate the issue? Get somebody in charge, and let’s move the needle.”

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But Patrick Christmas, policy director at the good-government group Committee of Seventy, said he could not recall a time in recent history when legislation to change the city’s constitution was amended at the last minute prior to passage.

“If this didn’t violate the letter of the law, it certainly violated the spirit,” he said. “Any time we change the city constitution, it should be done carefully and deliberately. Both branches should be weighing in and collaborating on that change.”

He said the city has seen a proliferation of charter changes in recent years and compared it to Republican-led efforts in Harrisburg to “grab power through controversial amendments to the state constitution,” measures that the governor cannot veto.

The Kenney administration did not immediately respond to a question about whether the mayor would sign the companion ordinance that puts the measure on the ballot. Both the ordinance and the resolution passed with 14 votes, a veto-proof majority.

Kenney is term-limited and will be replaced in January, so the proposed change will likely only affect his successor.

Under the legislation, lawmakers can reject the mayor’s choice for the new position, an unusual level of power for the Council to grant itself over the executive branch.

It can be seen as part of a years-long project by Clarke to shift more power to Council. In his view, members are able to represent the interests of various constituencies in ways the executive branch can’t, and are ultimately held responsible by voters for the city’s response to crime.

Officials in the mayor’s administration expressed concern that the legislation could limit future mayors’ ability to craft the structure of their own cabinet, in part because of specific provisions about the director’s job responsibilities and qualifications.

The measure requires the person to be paid $265,000 annually.

During a mayoral forum last week, before the amendment was made, five of the 10 candidates vying to replace Kenney — former Council members Derek Green, Cherelle Parker, Allan Domb, Maria Quiñones Sánchez, and retired Judge James DeLeon — expressed support for the chief public safety director plan. Former Councilmember Helen Gym and ex-City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart said they opposed the measure.

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Under current city law, mayors have wide latitude to shape the top rungs of their administrations. For example, former Mayor Michael A. Nutter had a deputy mayor who oversaw public safety issues and reported directly to him.

The Kenney administration’s public safety response is currently coordinated by Managing Director Tumar Alexander and his deputy, Erica Atwood, who both work closely with police brass. Kenney announced last week the administration is also hiring Estelle Richman, the former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, to be a senior adviser focused on gun violence intervention.

Clarke said the structure is inadequate, saying the managing director is responsible for departments that don’t touch on public safety, and that the city needs a high-level cabinet member tackling the issue as their “sole responsibility.”

“People want us to do something. They want us to do something meaningful. I think this is meaningful,” Clarke said. “I can’t sit around because somebody is in their last year of their last term. ... What’s the need for further debate?”

Staff writers Julia Terruso and Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.