City leaders have been debating how to fix the BRT since May, when an Inquirer series described an agency riddled with poor management and political cronyism.
Nutter said yesterday's move was an important first step to restore public confidence and stabilize the agency while he and City Council worked on permanent changes.
His main concern, he said, was a lack of leadership. Executive director Enrico Foglia, a former Democratic committeeman, resigned under pressure last month.
"Someone needs to be in charge," Nutter told reporters at a late-afternoon news conference outside his office. "They don't have an executive director, and their chief assessment officer has been very ill."
In May, Nutter called on all BRT board members to resign, a demand they quickly refused. The new agreement leaves them in office, along with the three-member Board of View, an agency that hears appeals in condemnation cases.
"We have to work with someone," Nutter said yesterday.
The two-page memorandum allows the finance director to run the BRT for six months, though that could be extended to a year.
In the meantime, the BRT will hear appeals from property owners unhappy with their assessments.
Nutter said he first talked with the BRT members in August about splitting the assessment and appeals functions and putting the finance director in charge of operations.
There seemed to be little resistance from the BRT. Yesterday, Nutter thanked them for being "cooperative."
Board members, who have been recessed since July, had nothing to say about the deal. Chairwoman Charlesretta Meade, who has declined to comment about her beleaguered agency for months, did not return phone calls or e-mail messages. Vice chairman Harvey Levin declined to comment.
