There are now three people unaccounted for after the Davenport Hotel building collapse in Davenport, Iowa. The bodies of all three men are believed to be buried in the rubble.
After going silent for a day, city leaders in Davenport held another press conference Thursday morning, June 1. Questions swirled inquiring about the city’s website saying the building passed a safety inspection days before the collapse, only for that same website to then show the building failed inspection after the collapse.
Rich Oswald, director of Davenport Neighborhood Services, chalked it up to a glitch in how the system processes incomplete inspections.
“We understand this is an administrative error, but the magnitude of the error, the employee gave their resignation yesterday. I want the public to know it was just incomplete,” Oswald said.
Davenport Mayor Mike Matson told reporters he understands the anger and frustration voiced by the public. He said he shares those same feelings, and promised the building permitting process will be under increased scrutiny moving forward.
“Obviously, because of this tragedy, we are very astute to the idea of sending inspectors outside of their normal schedule. We have a lot of old buildings around, we know the concerns of some,” Matson said.
But the mayor said he was unable to answer the biggest question: Could the city have done more to prevent this tragedy?
“I don’t know that anybody can predict when a building will fall, all I can tell you is that through improved inspections we will continue to look at things to do. I can only tell you that,” Matson said.
Matson said more experts are being brought in to determine how best to bring the building down in a way that respects the area as a final resting place for the three men.
