>> good morning. today is july 20, 2011. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection committee. the first item on the agenda is roll-call. [roll call] we have a quorum. the next item on the agenda is president's announcement. >> good morning. for those in the chamber, welcome to the monthly meeting of the building commission. i would also like to mention some of what dbi has accomplished in the past few

months, especially the newly established boys scheduling system, where customers can call the number and schedule those inspections. both dbi and staff, and volunteers, handed out brochures and answered questions during the chinese februarynew n february, and during cinco de mayo. this new system will help facilitate a lot of questions and provide a higher level of service to the scity. also, the carbon monoxide detector give away. that was attended by the fire marshal and by our director,

vivian day. coming up in august, the lien property hearing, where property owners have not paid overdue fees and penalties for those issued notices of violation, voted in place on this list. so property owners are to attend these for their best interest. the code enforcement team is headed up by john. also, there are some retirement from within the department that i want to mention. have not only their names, but to give them strong appreciation for the years of service to the department, they're working

knowledge with staff, pierce, and colleagues. i wish them well on their new found time away from work, and i hope they spend it with their family -- their choice of time to really spend it. the first is carol roseman, electrical inspector. another electrical inspector commentary mcdermott, 40 years at the department. oscar, 25 years of service. and i am sad to say ann aherne, our secretary, after 35 years, will be retiring. sonya harris, who had been in

her stead at this time, will cover those duties. again, welcome to the bic meeting. that is it. >> item 3 is public comment. the bic will take public comment on matters within the commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda. >> good morning. my name is sandy burnback. i live at 570 o'farrell.

as i explained last time, we have had some problems. nov's are issued and then there is no follow-up. to emphasize my point, an nov was issued on 5/24 regarding the water heater. on june 16, a second issue wanos issued, along with a certified letter to the landlord stating, and i quote, you are directed to fix the unsanitary conditions. as of the close of business yesterday, nothing had been done. the last thing mentioned on the complaint database was 6/27,

where the landlord asked the inspector for an additional two weeks. this is now four weeks later, and nothing has been done. it i will ask ms. day, since it is on her letter had, what this means? >> staff can address to later, but they are not allowed to respond to your public comment. >> we are over two months, and nothing has been done. the last thing that was done was four weeks ago, where they aske for two weeks. now i would like to make some

comments about what mr. sweeney said last week about emergency repairs. i went eight days without heat, five days without hot water. mr. sweeney indicated that it would be necessary, in order to make the repairs, that a replacement of the hot water and furnace would be necessary. that is not the case. when they finally bought a repair man in the, it took less than two hours to repair the hot water and furnace. i know mr. sweeney talked about the burden that it would place on the personnel staff of dbi in recouping the money, but we are not talking about that $60,000. commissioner murphy: thank you. >> i would just like to ask the

question, the priorities, is it with the burden of staff, recouping the money, or does it have to do with the health and welfare of citizens? thank you. >> is there any further public comment? seeing none. item 4. update on process for repairing properties with life safety issues. >> good morning, a commission. -- good morning, commission. i will be addressing life safety and then the chief inspector has a presentation. to repair a property with -- if

it is an extreme life safety hazard -- we would have an emergency order. only then could we actually go in there and carry out repairs. we did something similar three weeks ago had a fire at 1400 mission street. two buildings caught fire. the building owner was not there. i called dpw and they boarded up the property. it had been some time before we have had to do that, but occasionally, we will get dpw. as far as i know, we have never contracted out to a private company to do that work for us to get more proactive. that is what it would take.

we would need contracts, for instance, -- commissioner murphy: how many units are in this building? >> 50. commissioner murphy: any complaints from the other tenants? >> not that i'm aware of. >to do the repairs that he was asking for, we would have to do a couple of bids to get our prices. i looked at a plumbing inspector who specializes in boilers, and when he gave me the notice of inspection in may, he told the property owner that it we would never -- not be accepting a certification from a contractor that the boiler made code.

he pointed out some code discrepancies, asbestos, and told him to update it. that is what is taking time. they have to update this boiler and a half to remove the asbestos. the boiler has been working. there has not been any complaints about a lack of heat or hot water. right now, it is not an emergency, but they are going to have a director's hearing, possible action to the city attorney in may -- if they do nothing about it. during the winter, more people are tapping into the hot water. it is an ancient system and it breaks down. that is what we are doing for 570 o'farrell. we would have to change the way we do business here.

we have orders of abatement, but it is usually for building that have to come down, for a stairway that collapses. we give the person a reasonable amount of time and work with them. as long as we see something going on, a contractor, said of plans, someone going through the permit process -- and i believe with 570 o'farrell, i believe that is what we are seeing. we have someone here who can address that. >> chief plumbing inspector, dbi. i spoke with the owner of the building at 570, i have spoken with the contractors working with them. they explained it is in fairly good, running condition.

it is an old system. i sent out one of my staff to go out there, who is knowledgeable on boilers and systems. he told me it is still running, but at this time next year, we will not accept any certifications from the contractor who certified it already from the past year. it looks like they are doing repairs to where it is in compliance but the repairs are surviving only to an extent and that are falling apart again. unfortunately, with his unit, the building, they are going down for a few days at the time. at this point, looking at the system, speaking with the owner, she said money is tight at the building that she just took over. they are trying to finance and figure out a way to replace the

system, give everyone ample time to know -- to give them notice. it is not an easy replacement. it is a larger system. removing everything and putting everything in will take some time. so they are tried to get everything in order. i have heard number. i told her i would get in touch this week or next week to see when they are planning to do repairs. commissioner murphy: commissioner walker. commissioner walker: i appreciate that this is on the agenda, this broad issue. it is situations like this -- not just that one project. i do have questions about this one project and then i have questions about the broader effort for fixing. by next year, we want to see something different. >> i gave her a deadline of, two

weeks, come back to me with an action plan. if they cannot take care of it, afford it, at that point, we would go to a director's hearing, and then force the issue. >> if it keeps breaking down, as a serial occurrence, creating a problem for the building, everyone coming out, responding in the case of an emergency. >> to be fair, the only complaint that we have received is the one from the same tent. there are other people in the building and i have not heard anything from them. i am not saying that it is not happening. we are just not getting more people complaining.

commissioner walker: on the concept of doing it an emergency resolution for a life issue, do we have funding for that type of thing? >> for plumbing, as far as i know, i spoke with a claims city attorney. they explained there are funds for that. if there is work that needs to be done, which is a life safety and emergency, that we would contract out and then put the lien for the building. of then plumbing, i have no idea. -- other than the plumbing, i

have no idea. >> director day had been throwing funds into it. it had been depleted for years. there is a chunk of money in there. i could not tell you exactly. the money woman is now shaking her head. >> pamela levin. there is about $300,000 in there. that could be used up quickly. the process to recover the money is extremely slow. as ed mentioned, we were in a deficit, we moved some money in over there. and then it is also restricted. the other thing is an issue on contractors.

if we are using our own contract, if we make the arrangements for a contractor to make repairs, and we are doing is based on paying this out of our own funds, that contractor has to be complied with all of the city rules. we are willing to point people in the direction to become compliant, but that is also a slow process. the city has lots of rules. it does not make it very easy. commissioner walker: and the definition of life and safety is well established. as i understand, it would need to be a directive from the director. >> it means that some of his life is in danger or peril. loss of heat would be like the safety. -- life safety.

>> members of the commission, good morning. chief housing inspector. does the commission wants an overview on the history of emergency orders and repairs? kerr is a very broad definition. we are really dealing with a definition in the building code that deals with something called serious and imminent. you can have something that may be potentially hazardous, but you mean the mnc before the director can go ahead and do provocative things. as far as ordering a building to be demolished, repaired. if the director issues an emergency order, there are certain things that have to

happen. it is a time-consuming thing to do. because of the exigent circumstances, you need to give the property owner and maximum of 48 hours to try to make repairs themselves. you must report record net document immediately. -- record that document immediately. in a situation where you want to make repairs and not under issue of emergency, that is a different process. with respect to the housing division, when we get a complaint that alleges a life hazard, hazardous condition, and/or heat, we will respond to that within a 24-hour period. but that can mean a lot of things. if it is an anonymous complaint,

we have to try to contact the owner. we are trying to look at those types of things that are traditionally not in the common area. the boiler room, a time clock, all things that we need access to. we need to go through the provision the right of access to go through those things. if it is a complaint about an individual in their unit, they may not want an inspection for a few days. while we initiate that communication, we do not always get to perform the inspection within one or two business days, depending on the situation. in the case of the building in question here, i have had housing inspectors there are a daily basis, several times a day, tried to press the contractor or order to get things done. we are up-to-date on the notices of violation that we have

issued. commissioner walker: i understand if it looks like it will collapse. i think we are forced into a situation to do something. what do we do, if it is 30 degrees out, and there are elderly people in a building, and the heat is off? >> i can tell you what we have done. depending on the circumstances, we may or may not issue an emergency order. we have in the past. the repair and demolition fund appeared 17 years ago as a $150,000 supplement to the to deal with the imminent hazard. that was its original intent. from that, what we have done in the past, because of issues with

contractors, we have used many times dpw's bureau of building repairs to do those repairs, particularly in instances where the heat was not the central control, but it was in a particular unit where we could get access. we had permission from the complainant. in some cases, we were able to restore those heating devices. but when it comes to a central system, when you need access over time, and then you may be dealing with a much more complex situation. commissioner walker: ok, i get it. what do you do then? >> if i may, commissioner, generally, what the department has done is deal with the exigent circumstances to make the building more stable, to

deal with the issue but not necessarily restore the whole system. when you get into a boiler system, you may have other issues -- commissioner walker: space heaters, something like that? >> in instances where there was a single source, we may have had an elderly individual or confirmed individual, we have access, and there was sufficient money to stabilize the situation. but when you are dealing with several large building systems, it becomes a much more complicated situation. even when the department had $20 million in its operating fund, they were apprehensive to do that. once you start making the repairs, you inherit the liability and access that goes along with that. it is one thing to barricade a building.

it cost about 18 dozen dollars just to have the bureau of rebuilding repair come in, the police was there, the city attorney involved. in a situation, we may attempt to make it apparent in a part of a building that is not accessible. we would have to do something tantamount to a forcible entry warrant. so even when you are issuing an emergency order, you have to be in constant contact with the property owner to document that you have the ability to make those repairs. commissioner murphy: how much do we have in the fund? >> i believe the deputy director just said it was about $300,000. commissioner murphy: i have no problem on dropping the hammer down on property owners not taking care of their business. but as a department, we cannot

get into the repair business. we cannot run out there every time a boiler goes out. first of all, we do not have the money. second, if there are contractors assigned to doing this kind of work, they will end of being sued because of favoritism, giving jobs to contractors. i do not think we should get involved in it. as far as commissioner walker asking, what do you do if a boiler goes out in the middle of the winter and old or sick people do not have heat? perhaps that is something for the rent board. moving into hotels or something. we just need to be careful how we tread on this. we cannot put this on the backs

of our stakeholders, who are already supporting tremendous fees for permits and other stuff. if the city is going to do something, it should be done on a citywide basis, picked up by the assessor or somebody. not just this department. commissioner lee: i think pamela mentioned that replenishing the fund is a long and difficult process. what is that process? >> excellent question. it could take over a year to replenish. you bill the property owner for the time, building repair, for all of the costs, administrative costs. then if they do not pay, you have to lien the property. after you send the notification,

and they still do not tender the hearing, we go to that hearing that we have once a year, our lien cycle. then when the tax bill gets paid, next april, there is an amount that they pay and you get part of it in the first installment, part in the second. they have to pay the tax bill because the tax collector cannot take a portion of that payment and give it to a department. so they need to pay their installment in its entirety before you get the transaction back to you. so that could be several months. that is just recouping what you have spent. if you want to make it a policy of stepping into the issues of the property owner, then you will need a much larger budget will need a much larger budget funded on the front end to