, and we have, as far as i am concerned, made a lot of progress over the last couple of months to get a product that can truly serve our needs. i do not know if you have any questions. >> what was the date of issuing the intent to issue? >> it was this last monday, before 12:00. so is this following monday. next monday at noon that they have to have their protest in. commissioner lee: i just want to say thank you for keeping us abreast, especially this chart on the progress. this is very helpful. >> we will be working on, kind of dissecting the process between now and the consummation of the contract. so we are not just saying between now and the contract we

are not going to update you. we will continue to update you on a monthly basis. commissioner murphy: thanks for that report. what about our semantic systems we have? we have all these monitors up on the wall, but nothing seems to be working. it was supposed to be implemented by the first of the year. >> the schematic system, we are still doing. there have been some suggestions by staff of changes in processes, and we are working that out, plus doing the final training. the equipment works. it is just a matter of -- commissioner murphy: why is it working? >> e-mail why have we not implemented? we are working with staff right now to find and the processes of getting the people to the right stations at the right time to make sure that the computer system itself realizes the fact that they need to go to the next station that is available rather than the next station that is on the list in the priority list.

staff have come up with some suggestions. we have also had some trial runs with actual applicants going through the system, and they have made some suggestions. we have configured the software a little bit differently in -- that was originally configured. we hope by the next meeting we should have an out. we have everything ready to go. we have the numbers for the stations ready to go. it is just the last fine-tuning and making sure we do not put something out there that is not going to work. >> and we want to honor -- commissioner murphy: the only concern i have is that i was told it would be up and running by the first of the year. here we are coming up to june and still not running. i am just concerned that we are dragging our feet here. >> i think it is really important to honor the suggestions of staff in making

the process work and being able to do that when it is actually implemented instead of going back and forth after it is a implemented, and staff has been extremely interested in providing, you know, when we first had training, they really wanted things to be in a way that made sense to them that they could support and they could have the by end, and having buy into a project is extremely crucial for success. commissioner murphy: i understand. i appreciate that. is it all one system? >> the bottom floor feeds into the fifth floor, and the fourth floor is separate, right? no, the first floor controls -- you can go into the first floor and get a ticket for any floor, whether it is the first floor, the fourth floor, or the fifth

floor right now. those are the only floors on the schematic system. you can go to the fifth floor and get a ticket. the fourth floor you have to go to the first floor to get a ticket. the software is multitasking, based on each floor, but it is integrated, so the processes have to be integrated across the department, and that has been part of our problem, getting people to be able to get a ticket on the first floor and being able to go to the fifth floor with enough time and going to the right station and knowing what station they need to go to. that was a problem at first. in the meantime, we have more staff come up to the fifth floor, so we had to add in the fourth floor, which was records when we move records over, and we had to add more staff into the fifth floor, so that did take some time.

>> there is also the ability for someone to come in and pull a take it themselves. that is the one next to the elevators rather than standing in line or not standing in line, but cuing up for the front desk -- queueing up for the front desk. commissioner murphy: the frequent fliers, as they like to call themselves, that use the department are telling me that it is impossible to work the way you guys are trying to do it. people in middle management are telling me the same thing. you need to listen to middle management on each floor. >> we are trying to do that. commissioner murphy: i can understand one system for the fifth floor only. separate system than for the other floors. we could probably make that work in the next month.

you guys could make it work, but you are not going to make this work successfully trying to combine all these floors together. commissioner lee: any other questions or comments? thank you. >> is there any public comment on the update on permit tracking systems? >> mr. murphy brings up a good point. the imitation of the schematic system is telling on the future adoption of the computer system. if they cannot get the simple electronic system to work, and i have a piece of paper that said it was supposed to work by last november -- if they cannot get the simple electronic system to work, what kind of a permit tracking system are we going to have? probably worse than the one we have now. thank you. commissioner hechanova: thank you. next item.

>> 9d, an update on other activities affecting the administration of the department. >> actually the hiring in of the new clerical people that will be running the system. these people were supposed to be hired in january, as we all know, and the requisitions were not signed by the mayor's office until last week. we are putting them out there. we do need people to man the desks that will be issuing the tickets to people, so it is not just a matter of whether the computer system works or not. we also have to have staff to be able to man the system. it is not going to do any good if we have something that is not going to be manned by people or have people to actually help people use the system, and that is what we have also been waiting for, so that it will all culminate hopefully before the end of next month. commissioner hechanova: thank you. any other comments?

>> is there any public comment on 9d? commissioner hechanova: next item. >> item 10, review and approval of the minutes of the special meeting of december 5, 2010. have a motion. commissioner walker: move to approve. >> second. >> all those in favor? >> aye. >> opposed? minutes are approved. item 11, commissioner questions and matters. 11a, increased the staff. commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies, practices, and procedures which are of interest to the commission. commissioner walker: as a result of some of the issues that have come up, i would really like to have bus revisit the process for

registering vacant properties and see if there is a way that we can catch more of these properties and maybe evaluate if it is working to reduce blight. i also would maybe like to get a presentation of around code enforcement and how the different departments do referrals. then, i think that we asked this before in response to mr. morales' issues about the licensing, if we could get the city attorney to respond as to our jurisdiction on his specific case, maybe in writing, and then also, i think that the issue of the director's ability and our ability around deputy directors

and our responsibility under the charter -- that maybe something that we could get an update from our city attorney. i think that we have -- the previous director actually made huge changes in or adjustments to what the charter mandates, and we approved that. i think we need to understand what our requirements and responsibilities are under the charter. commissioner murphy: you are saying you want that on the agenda? i would agree with that. >> is there any public comment on item -- commissioner lee: wait, there's still more. just piggybacking on the vacant buildings and blight laws, maybe we should include that to see

what departments are doing parallel with each other or in conjunction with each other to solve the plight issue, so to speak. we might need the president to craft something on the agenda so that it includes everything back commissioner walker and i are concerned with. commissioner murphy: is that a duty of the district inspector? to identify blighted buildings? and then maybe we could talk about it when is agendized. commissioner murphy: i'm asking the director. >> yes, it is. commissioner lee: i will save the rest for later. commissioner hechanova: any other comments? >> public comment on item 11a? 11b, future meetings and agendas.

the commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a special meeting and/or determine those items that could be placed on the agenda of the next meeting and other future meetings of the building inspection commission. commissioner walker: i just want to say our next litigation is -- our next litigation meeting is july 19. the building inspection commission meeting will be on july 20. and then we have one in june, to, right? >> yes. is there any public comment on the item 11b? the next item is item 12, adjournment. commissioner murphy: i make a motion we adjourn.

commissioner walker: second. >> we are now adjourned. >> good morning. today is wednesday, may 18, 2011. this is the meeting of the abatement appeals board. i like to remind everyone to please turn off all electronic devices. first item on the agenda is roll call. [roll call] we are expecting commissioner murphy. commissioner romero and commissioner hechanova are excused. we have a quorum. the next item on the agenda is

the oath. will all those who will be giving testimony today please rise and raise your right hands? this is for the abatement of pills. do you swear that the testimony you are about to give us the truth to the best of your knowledge? thank you. we can move on to item number c, which is new appeals. order of abatement case 1, case number 6748 1429 hyde street. the act it -- the action requested by the appellant is assessment of costs and fees imposed by the order abatement be waived. we will hear from the department first for seven minutes and then the appellant. then we will have discussion, and then there is a three-minute rebuttal for each side. if we could hear from the

department representative first. >> good morning, commissioners. i work for the department of building inspection as a plumbing and mechanical and specter. -- inspector. the original notice of violation was written by myself based on an actual physical inspection of the premises on 4/19/04. at which time, we observed several code violations, which are delineated on the report. we issued letters, followed procedure, and some of these code violations are pretty significant violations with back flow protection and boiler certification inspection and safety items on the book.

the owner of the property has had a significant amount of time to contact us. we have sent letters explaining what he needs to do, how to go about getting a precontracted to help -- appropriate contractors to help with the work, and today, we have had no inspections, no response. our recommendation is to uphold the order of abatement and impose assessment of costs. thank you. >> this is a significant amount of time, going on seven years. i mean, i guess i would ask how, it has taken so long to get to this point. >> i can only give you my response, which is beyond the scope of my expertise, other than if you look at the case history, we sent the code enforcement from one department somewhere in may.

i cannot speak to what takes place up there and how come it took so long. >> ok, thank you. >> has anybody gone back to visit the property since 2004? >> no, we have a response that says there were plumbing permits which were required cold, but it's coming from and in its description and scoke mentions nothing about the removal of the boiler, for which we require a permit an inspection, and that particular permit has no case history of any inspections being done. >> so it is enacted? >> it is long since expired. >> what led to the 2004 inspection? >> probably the city had some records either from the apartment, from the health club apartment, or we had records to

indicate there was a boiler on the premises, and it did not have a valid or current permit to operate. at which time, when i was first hired on, that is primarily what i did. go out and inspect various boiler rooms to see if they complied. >> are there usually routine inspections of boilers? >> the actual requirement to have a routine inspection and a permit to operate is the responsibility of the property owner, and it is up to them to hire a licensed contractor. they do the physical inspections, submit the report to our department, and we issue the permits to operate. but as far as enforcement goes, then that falls on our shoulders to do enforcement. >> no questions? ok, to the comment.

>> [inaudible] >> seven minutes. >> i am the son of the owner, and a lot has transpired. in 2004, when we get the notice -- i think it was late 2004 or 2005 -- the apartment caught fire, so there was fire damage, and everyone was out of the building for several years. at that time, when we remodeled or had to rebuild the whole thing, when we were examining the fire damage and everything else, the demote the boiler as well. i told one inspector when we first got the notice that it is not operational right now. i cannot give a permit inspection because the building is not occupied. no one is using it.

there was no usage of the boiler at all. since then, my dad was in charge and passed away, and my brother has passed away, so a lot has transpired since then. we just got the building back online. but the boiler was removed back in 2005. i talked to the inspector, i called, and he said to send an e-mail, and i did and did not hear a response, so when i got the first reviewed the court thing -- the first court thing, and said that the boiler was not there, and i talked to the inspector, and he said i just had to send in information saying the thing was gone, so i assumed i did not have to show up for this one.

the boiler is not there. nobody bothered to call me up to get an inspection to see if it was there or not. it has not been there for fiber six years. -- five or six years. i do not have a boiler left. there is nothing to abate. commissioner walker: but our department does not have any record that there was any inspection of whatever the permits for the funding was at that time. my question is, you have done a rebuild after the fire. what is the current heating source? >> it is a water heater. commissioner walker: ok.

commissioner lee: any other questions, commissioner? commissioner murphy: director sweeney, explain to me what is going on. commissioner lee: we will go to the appellant first and then talk to the department again. any other questions for the appellant? i have a question. my understanding is that there was a fire and you rebuild the building, changed the heating system. >> there was fire damage before, and it for part of our roof off. the place was vacated. commissioner lee: you must have had permits to -- >> we had a demo permit and everything. commissioner walker: what is the current heating system? electric? >> yes.

commissioner lee: that was indicated in your construction project? commissioner walker: that is permitted? >> i think so. >> a similar question, was the wood for domestic hot water supply or heat as well? -- was the boiler for domestic hot water supply or heat as well? >> it was both. since that was the case, when we had the fire, we just demo the whole thing. >> thank you. when you did the rebuild, the heating system was installed and a domestic hot water supply system was installed. >> that was part of the building permit. >> at the time, there was no reminder of an outstanding violation? >> no, because there was no violation. i told one of the inspectors

back then that the boiler was put down. i did not realize that i had a violation at that time. there was no violation because the boiler is not there anymore. how do you get fined for something that the trouble is not there? i mean, the boiler is gone. >> because the apartment building was vacant after the fire and because it was reoccupied, was there an inspection, and that was passed before it took place? it is not occupied now? >> i have finals coming up pretty soon. >> the construction is still going on? >> yes. had a lot of family issues when my father passed away and my brother passed away. >> it has been vacant since 2005?

>> yes. commissioner lee: so the construction permit has not been completed yet? >> no, i still have the permit out on it. commissioner lee: no more questions, commissioner? ok, thank you. public comment first. any public comment? ok, no public comment. could we have the department back up for rebuttal? >> certainly. i understand the appellate's frustration. it was a simple matter, and we made this clear through our communication. you can remove a boiler, but you need a permit to remove the boiler. we will do the physical inspection to make sure the cross connection has been eliminated and the gas lines are secure, and we will update the

complaint. simple as that. going beyond that, to install a new source of heat, particularly gas heaters and water heaters, we need additional permits for the new equipment. as of date, i have no permit indicating that they are installing any of those acquitted. i have no inspection history of any physical inspection for any plumbing or heating devices. all i have is a permit would says replaced damages from fire. that permit is long since expired. >> so if i go to the online side and look at the history, there will be no permit for either a new heating system or a removal of the old one?

>> based on the staff report given to me that i have in front of you here today, that is my understanding. there is no history of any permits for any of this work. there may be some misunderstanding. the appellate might have been under the belief that his job card covered this work, but it is clearly indicated that separate plumbing permits are required. commissioner walker: thank you. commissioner lee: did you have anything else to add? >> i did not mean it like that, but i had to go up to the building department and renew my existing building permit to get the parking passes that i had.

i know i did that, and i paid them something, so i do not know what that is. they looked up the files and said that they updated the permits, and i paid the fees on it to get my parking permit and everything. i do not know what i can say. if i need to pull some more permits our, then i will have to do that. >> [inaudible] >> i thought that was included. i thought that was in the original building permit. commissioner murphy: are you a general contractor? >> yes, i am. commissioner murphy: i think a general contractor should note to pull separate permits.

>> i am an electrical contractor. i have a general license. i do not act as a general very often. i am not a general general contractor. i have the license, but i do not utilize it as my source of income. i am more of an electrical contractor. i thought it was included since they pulled the permit for the whole building. that was pulled by them. commissioner walker: do you have a contractor on this job? >> no, i am just doing it myself. commissioner mar: i i think he answered the questions from the two previous commissioners. thank you. commissioner lee: thank you. commissioners? commissioner walker: it seems pretty clear from the presentation back