vote] this item will be continued, and the motion passes. item number 5, directors report. 5a, update on dbi's finances. >> pamela. i will give an update on the revenue and expenses through the end of october, which is four months of the fiscal year. as we are at this point still

projecting we will end the budget with a balanced budget. one of the reasons why we are continuing through the first four-five months in a projection that we will be on budget is because we don't have enough information to projected to the rest of the year. at this point things are looking really good. in terms of revenue we have a grasp we have been putting up. - grap- graph we have been puttg up. we have 41.7% of the budget for charges of services, which is primarily due to the large projects that will be discussed in one of the leader items. in the report i gave you you will notice that the year-over- year comparison and the valuations shows the growth of

40.7%. when you look at where the growth is in terms of issue permits, there is some increases in permits from 10,000-50,000, but the primary increase's and the reason for the increase is the permits that are $1 million or more in terms of valuation, and that is 62% increase. we have built in when we did the budget of about 2.5% increase year over year. that was excluding mou's, transbay terminal, any other large port projects. puc building is pretty much done. we're doing inspections on that come up the planned review is

completed and pretty much built. we will be coming back to you in january with the full budget, and we will show and a continued increase in revenue. in terms of expenditures the first cylinder and the graph is personnel salaries and fringes. we have spent 27% of the budget, and in terms of how much the fiscal year has passed is 33%. we continue to have room for us to be able to hire more positions, and we will put some

requisitions in, primarily for clerks at all levels, building inspectors, and an individual who would be able to do some of the updating of the policies and procedures that we have for the department, because that seems to be a concern on many people's part. so right now and when you look at the total expenditures year- over-year, we're showing expenditures are 6.4% year-over- year increase, and that is to come in large part, to the fact that we have 24 more filled position than we had at this time last year. so we are continuing to hire people. the recognition is that we do need to get more requisitions out.

we need to push the approval and get the results of the tasks and be able to hire clerks, and we will be doing that in the next month to two months. >> as far as personnel needs, it seems from what we've been looking up for the past few months that there may be in need to toughen up some code enforcement, and i might just -- maybe we could talk about that. certainly in the blighted buildings category, and a list we have been provided showing 5000 cases open, it might be who of us to resolve and close some of these cases. otention there. maybe. >> ok. to g>> i think they're acting

director needs to listen to the mid-level staff and fill some of the positions. i was not aware when our previous director was leaving -- when she went on leave, she appointed deputy sweeney director, and she did say and the appointment would be done by you, pamela. i did not hear that. i asked our president to check that out, and he went back and said that was correct. he checked the minutes. there are many, many needs. we need engineers. i keep getting questions all the

time, why are these engineers being hired? the transbay terminal, we were told we would have three inspectors down there, and that has not happened. there is a need for inspectors down there. and so i think we are dragging our feet a little bit there. we are concerned about that. >> i want to clarify my role in this. i signed off there is sufficient financial backing for the positions, and that they are budgeted and we have the requisitions. i do not make the decision on the hiring. it is a collaborative effort, and it really is the acting director makes decisions with consultation with the other deputy directors and the staff in terms of what positions to push through. i just try to help them get approved by the mayor's office,

keep pushing to make sure recruitment goes through, and then sign off in the end. i am not making the decision on what positions we're filling. >> all i know is there are 40 or 50 vacancies in that, and we keep hearing complaints from customers that they have to wait in line, and it is usually clerks and cashiers, and i am wondering why that has not been addressed. that is all i am asking. i am not pointing fingers at anybody. >> i would like to weigh in on that. we have about 10 clerks that are in the process of being hired. the engineers -- the problem with the engineers is we are waiting on a new list. that list is in. we just hired mechanical engineers, and that you can see

clearly has had an effect, and we are in process of hiring another structural engineer. i believe it is one. >> what about the inspectors for big projects? >> you mentioned transbay. they will be nothing but digging for the next five or six months. >> i was down there a couple of weeks ago. >> it should be one for one inspector down there right now. >> know, all of the pile driving are all done by a special inspection. we will go down there once a month just to check on it and to check the special inspections logbook, but traditionally all of the earth moving work and she

through special inspection. we will get down there. >> 94 expanding that. is there a timing relationship -- >> thank-you for expanding that. is there a time relationship -- timing relationship for inspectors and the time that we need them and when they can be put in place? >> we have one more that we can call back at uthe puc. additional inspectors after that, we would have to initiate a test. >> in terms of the clerks, the city is waiting for testing to occur for p-clerks and the level below that. they finished doing that. but have the application period that ended at the end of last week. we are going to the process to see how the ratings came up.

and then we will be doing the actual hiring. we continue to run into this situation where the city has to do testing for large groups of physicians. some of which we can do ourselves. some of which we cannot. >> do we have the ability to encourage them to expedite those tests in a manner that fit with our hiring needs? >> the deputy director and actor and director and i are in contact constantly with dhr to kind of push them along with that and other areas that they have authority over. it is hard. the process, there are so many steps in it. especially new ones that were established last year, a committee to look over each

requisition. yes, we are trying our best. i think i have been pretty successful in pushing the mayor's office. we are trying. >> what is the workable time. if we were to pushing and request to make the modification so -- if we were to push and request to make the modification? would it be the next quarter? the start of the year? >> and the time that we are going to do a test, it has to be certified and posted. commissioner romero is probably better of me than telling you how it works. it will probably be the new year. march or april. >> it being a slow process, will it be time enough to meet our needs? it seems that we are always trying to play catch-up as

opposed to providing that service when it is needed. >> the problem, for instance, we were just told that the building inspector for district four, the marina, pacific heights, he will be retiring at the first of the year. so, we just got that. and we immediately, myself and pam, got together to said that we needed another building inspector to replace jerry. by law, we have to keep so many vacant. some are -- some arcane servicing rule. but we did, one of the vacant positions that we have at the building inspectors, reactivated that and called up -- we activated that and called up the building inspector. we can save some time in doing that. >> as long as there is a vacant

position, the way that the city works is we have a bottom line that we need to stay within expenditures for salaries. we have a bottom line in numbers of physicians that we can have failed. we have the ability to activate positions to decide on the field positions as we need them in terms of our building process. our needs. but we do have to keep some of them vacant. as much as possible. in this case we are lucky that we have vacancies for retirement. we can push it so that we have people was the people retire. it seems to be a slow process. >> we were having this conversation a few years ago, talking about laying off people.

the financial report reflects that things are moving in the right direction. i think it is important to keep up on it so that we give our customers stakeholders the service they are paying for. >> when we come to you in january and request a new budget, the one thing that we need to be cognizant of and has been discussed in the past is how much we push the revenues in terms of expectations for growth next year. that will determine how much staff can do. it is tricky. you do not want to get too much staff too fast because you do not want a layoff like last time. we are just trying our best to meet the needs of the customers. >> i understand that. i think that both you and the director can dissect where our needs are. and then go from there.

>> who pays for the testing? >> if it is testing outside, dhr pays for it. if it is something that we are doing, essentially what happens is it is internal testing. people are participating in interviews and interviewing -- and going over resumes. the bottom line is that there is no increase in cost as a solution to opportunity. >> thank you. commissioners? any questions additional? >> thank you. >> thank you. >> item 5b, update on proposed legislation. >> good morning, commissioners.

i am the manager for public affairs legislation. i provided in your packet a november highlight summary, similar to what you saw last month. you may note that this ordinance that supervisor chu has introduced actually received some coverage this morning in the chronicle -- "chronicle," business section. about the accessibility of not reaching it. the acting director is putting together a brown bag briefing. we are organized to do that probably by the end of this month, to bring people in and make sure that small businesses are very clear on what needs to be done. including the information on the certified access specialty that is one way to try to deal with some of these lawsuits. in addition to that, it may be

worth noting that that particular ordinance probably will not come to the board before january. the small business commission is going to be having its own hearing on this december 12. i did not expect to be before the board before january. the status there, the mayor has signed it, and it has already taken effect as of the ninth of this month. the legislation that was originally proposed by supervisor wiener, supervisors decided to withdraw that. the measure dealing with supervisor cohen's acts of god or buildings destroyed by fire, the board has passed and that as

of this past week. the planning department has added a couple of amendments to find out when the actual starting date will be, giving the owners an additional 18 months to apply for a building permit. we are happy with it that because at least the property will be seen as restored as it should be. the only other items, we are still waiting for action at the board, dealing with the public arts trust fund, which may or may not involve us. >> i was at the planning commission for the public arts trust fund legislation, which passed unanimously. i am looking forward to that. it basically expands the use of the public art feet on large developments to include arts activity, parts of will --

possible arts space and before us. >> how large? >> over 25,000 square feet. >> yes. we are still working with planning on this amendment to the ordinance that deals with possibly reflect -- requiring additional testing of love groundwater and soil that will affect how quickly we can release the building permits. that has not yet been formally introduced. nor have we yet had a scheduled meeting by supervisor of the most to look into rental housing. all of you know that it will come to us, and eventually. >> was that more in response to the america's cup? for a condition that has been prevalent for the past year?

>> i think it has been driven by the department of public health and their environmental section, who feel that people living in certain parts of the city are more subject to potentially dangerous, health-wise, toxicity. that is why we are looking into this. >> in addition to ordinance 110854, updating the department of design green requirements, i would like to commend this commission for having passed, almost three years ago, the green building policy court proof. could you expand on house and francisco was recognized? >> san francisco was considered one of the -- on how san francisco was recognized? >> san francisco is one of the greenest cities in the country.

i do not know that everyone who lives here things we are there yet, but it is very definitely a popular mode of building. >> thank you. >> it was about three years ago, with the help of the commissioners here, we extended the, or changed the code to extend permits by 36 months. now, move the clock forward a few years. we are there. there are a lot of permits right now that are being cancelled. i would like to see the department taking another look at that as far as changing the way that we loosely just cancel requirements. i am sure that we do have notices, but i still think that the majority of stakeholders are

still struggling to get money to shut these projects and move them forward. the other thing that is not clear to me, when does the clock starts ticking? from the day that it comes out of class -- out of planning? or the day the tickets approval? from the mapping and all of this other stuff, that is up to one year. i would like to, you know, certainly big building planning, we would want to take another look at them and send out notices. what we call them? 311. the smaller projects within the envelope, i think they should

be, maybe you can come up with some way to take a look at that. >> we would be happy. >> this is a different agenda item, i think. >> yes. >> well, maybe we will put it on the agenda for next meeting. >> if even follow up? >> i would like to make that an agenda item. >> thank you, commissioner. >> item 5c, update on the permit tracking system. >> penny, dbi project director and project facilitator. we have our vendor excella 21 tech here today.

like is the project director. brenda is the business process -- mike is the project director. brenda is the braziel -- business process facilitator. [coughing] >> we got a lot done in the last month. we finalize our relationship between dbi and planning and got signed off on the mou. we completed the initiation phase. that included the project charter, the kickoff meeting

presentation, the parent demo, the system staging environment, and the initial project training. our kickoff meeting occurred on october 26. the demo included citizen portal. but also october 26. questions on the status. >> was there a direct invitation of the stakeholders that will be working on this system? >> they were involved in kickoff meetings. trainings and demos. we introduced everyone to the project, clarified their roles, give them an understanding of the schedule, and how important their involvement could be. >> commissioner walker?

>> i had the occasion with the interim director to sit in on an interview with one of our staff. it was very informative to me to process the customizing of our system. it went through a detailed interview with each employee that participates in the system to see their role, what they do, the data they have, whether they need input and access to the reporting. it was pretty impressive. i am really excited about the thorough nature of creating this system. including all of us who end up touching all of the data that goes in. i am looking forward to this process. >> excella 21 tech came in a

couple of weeks ago, looking at the building staff, workloads, and physicians for the future. we have intensive sessions all this week, planning in the morning. we have about four people from excella 21 tech here every afternoon. they are proposing ideas for how to implement a system for the work flows that we need, etc. >> are we going to have a presentation at each meeting? >> i would have to check on that. >> we can make that a monthly agenda item. >> i think that would be reasonable until we understand what is going on. >> i think that that is where we have looked at the public

interface and participation happening at the meetings. >> yes. we got a lot of feedback on that debt load. people are excited about the project. >> i would say that at the last pac meeting, there was a category based on some of which were shown being in place in the present system. i am sure that there has been significant progress from that point. that was where it was going to be measured from the progress. >> exactly. that was the baseline delos system. this one will be much more integrated. -- demo system. this one will be much more integrated. >> are we having planning strongly participate? or do we need to encourage them to have a stronger representation? >> everyone is participating and working hard. we e