Just curious why a city is responsible for the buildings owners. condo is a complicated ownership structure and can be very political but. is a city really responsible to keep the owners personal buildings up and running safely?
Annual inspections in most cities are the responsibility of the Fire Department. I was director of a municipal fire prevention bureau for several years. The first thing I told the folks I supervised was to expect that every inspection that preceded the one they were about to conduct was incomplete and they should expect major structural flaws. Every building has flaws, and the job of the inspector should be to consult an expert to help them determine how serious they are.
Sadly, most departments assign untrained engine company officers to inspect these types of multi-family residential, or marginally trained former fire officers as inspectors.
It would not surprise me to find that this building was inspected by City employees who had no idea how to identify serious structural flaws.
Of course they aren't responsible for the buildings owners.
They are, however, responsible for enforcing their building codes (& any applicable laws) that they put in place.