you need to meet the minimum staffing requirements? and when you start calling on overpriced -- on overtime? >> we use 300 staffers every day, and that is independent of our ambulances. upwards of about 50 at a peak period. below 300, we need to begin overtime to be able to meet the minimum staffing requirements for each apparatus that we staff prepared chairperson chu: how does the 300 relate to the 1365? when you say we need 300 every day, generally, to meet our staffing levels without having to go into overtime, when we are at 1365, how much are we requiring overtime? and if you do not have that, we can follow up. >> again, it fluctuates

differently during different time frames. in jutland -- in june, july, and august, we have a higher reliance on overtime. in the next two months through september, i anticipate there could be upwards of 50 overtime shifts per day to meet that 300. i do not specifically have what the split would be for the people who volunteer for the overtime and the people that it is mandatory. but it is higher than we should be having. chairperson chu: supervisor cohen. supervisor cohen: thank you. hello, chief. i have about 3.5 questions kamal on various topics. i want to talk to you about the proposed hiring. i am concerned about making sure that our ranks, both police and fire, are ethnic nearly --

ethnically diverse, and that you are also incorporating women. i understand you have a strict testing process that each candidate must go through. i'm curious if you can let me know what you are doing to ensure your recruiting talented people of color, talented people from san francisco that can join the ranks of the fire department. >> i would like to say that one of the things that is very important to the fire department is to reflect the community that we serve. it is a very diverse community. i know we will be talking about the language access ordinance. wethered is people of color or people who do not speak english as their native language, to be able to have emergency services providers to be responsive to that is important. in the late 1980's, there was a federally mandated victory to further diversify the department, which was not very

diverse at the time. we're about 15 years proposed that the creek, and we are one of the most avers fire department in the country. we have 15% when working in uniform. you look anywhere else and it is less than 1%. we are in the top three departments in the country with the women in uniform. followed very closely by people of color and different ethnicities. to me, it is value-added to have a work force where you have a blended team of people, so when we respond to an emergency, whether a fiery medical car, we have someone who can hopefully relate to someone. approximately% of our work force speaks other languages -- approximately 20% of our work force speak other languages other than english, there multilingual. i have a list for the h-2 class that is over 95 pages long.

the last class was a very diverse class. in addition, very well qualified. we are committed to continuing drive a diverse work force. that is a priority for us. supervisor cohen: can you talk about how promotions are handled within your department? correct -- >> promotion very very important piece for us. we had about a 10 to 20 years from where no promotion opportunities were given. the focus was on day-to-day solutions, a kind of day today band-aid solutions. -- a kind of band-aid solution. we is to have an exam unit that

worked on the consent decree. it went back over to dhr, but we have worked closely with them and since 2006 we have had over four hundred 20 promotions in various ranks from lieutenant to capt. to fire chief to fire inspector. supervisor cohen: one thing i'm also interested in is that we are promoting from the various communities, particularly the communities of color. we can take our conversation of line, but i am interested in getting a better understanding of who is actually being successfully promoted from the various communities, as well as including women. but i will move onto another question. >> your question about san francisco residencies, that is not something we can mandate.

but approximately 35% of our work force reside here in san francisco. i would like to have more. in the last class of 36 that successfully graduated, it was nearly 50%, at least at the time, of who lived in the city. i thought that was very good. supervisor cohen: can you add a little color and context around the cancer rate among firefighters in general? correct the cancer rate among fire service is high. you multiply that by 50 and it is even higher in the san francisco to please -- san francisco fire department. we have worked closely with the local 78. they have established a cancer prevention program. we have a lot of active-duty members as well as those in retirement and have seen high rates of cancer. some have succumbed to their illnesses. we are trying to be pro-active

in taking part in studies with ucsf for various screenings of cancer. and we have tried to make sure we have done a lot of study in the overall aspect of the fires, so the firefighters -- the fires are out, but the toxins are still present we have looked at whether they need to continue to breed -- where breathing apparatus. -- whether they need to continue to wear breathing apparatus. the committee meets every month and we have met some great people who want to partner with us to do cancer studies. supervisor cohen: have there been any recommendations made to assist the members of the fire department? >> there have been some. again, it is ongoing. one of the things with these studies with the bladder cancer and colon cancer screening, by asking members to voluntarily

take part in these tasks, there have been diagnoses of cancer. and at early stages. we feel that is very valuable. if the free screenings were not offered by the cancer foundation, we might have members going undiagnosed, and therefore, getting it detected at a later stage and it being more of a dramatic effect. supervisor cohen: do you know how many members in the department have been diagnosed with cancer and possibly identified as precancerous cells? rex i do not have the data with me, but i can provide that to you. it is much higher than the general population supervisor cohen: -- the general population. supervisor cohen: i would like to take a look at that and see if there is some way that we can be supportive. i have a couple of questions about overtime. forgive me if you answer those already and i miss them, but i

wanted to know if you could tell me why your overtime is increasing. and particularly, if you project any future overtime needs. >> for the moment, if we can put up the last slide, or the side that is currently up. it is a snapshot and reveals a lot. in 2002, we had 1845 full-time employees and now we're down to about 1370. that indicates our excessive use of overtime. for a while, it was proving to be more fiscally efficient, but operationally it is presenting a host of issues. we're glad to see the mayor being very supportive of hiring not just in the fire department, but the police department as well. the investment in the public safety of the city is something

the city bridge the deserves. -- richly deserves. we are at a very critical level in terms of our staffing. but we have a plan to march forward in the future. supervisor cohen: this is a very serious issue for you. >> yes. i have a very modest staff, but sometimes when we get overworked we can get a little movie. sometimes it takes more to get motivated. i'm curious from your leadership if you have noticed that people are -- i do not want to say -- >> on edge? supervisor cohen: yes, that is a good way to say that appeared on edge, moody, less enthusiastic about coming to work. -- yes, that is a good way to

say that. on edge, moody, last enthusiastic about coming to work. >> it is important to come to work and be on your "a" game. having said that, it is difficult to play that role and also try to play the role of a spouse or parent or caregiver at home. for a host of reasons, the more new folks we can get on board, the better off the whole department will be. i can assure you that everyone who comes to work every day, they fulfill the mission of protecting the city. supervisor cohen: i could imagine it can be very stressful when you are overworked and you have over time. it can be pretty stressful. maybe -- not in this

conversation, clearly, having been putting forth the additional request for the fire academy, but maybe in years to come we can have that conversation. >> sure, and we want to be respectful of the request of six clauses in the next six years. if there is a way to compress that, we would be delighted to do so. it would make a positive impact for a host of reasons on our entire workforce. supervisor cohen: thank you very much. >> thank chairperson chu: -- thank you. chairperson chu: before i go to supervisor kim, how many do you get in an average year? rex it fluctuates in a given year, but about 40 to 50. supervisor kim: along that line

of questioning, how many officers do you have on long- term disability correctly? >> i do not have that off the top of my head. we run about, i would say, an average of about 30 people on disability at any given time. supervisor kim: is there a proportion of this group that we expect never to return to active duty? >> it would be a very small percentage, because we have mechanisms in place by which after a year of being on disability you come to a fork in the road, basically, where you either return to full duty or you cannot. if requested, there is an accommodation process the member goes through. we work very closely with the apartment of human-resources so if there is any anticipation that someone cannot come back to work and they have been now for over a year, there is a

discussion related to their future with the department. we have a handful of firefighters that are continuing to work for the department in jobs outside of field operations, but just two or three. supervisor kim: and to follow along with supervisor cohen's question, and you may not have the date on them women and a local hires, but it would be good to get the makeup of their apartment -- of the department and other ethnic groups as well. also, something that i have seen both with firefighters and police officers is not just local hires, but people who grew up in san francisco make a big difference. i prefer the public safety officers to live here in the city, because i think it makes a tremendous difference in the level of service as well as the

type of service, you know, the respect and connection to the community, which i can give important. but i recognize that sometimes people may make personal decisions to leave the city. maybe there is no way to collect that type of data, but maybe to see if people grew up in san francisco as well. >> and even those who may not be living here. i agree with you completely. it is a value to have someone, even if they do not reside in the city, if they are familiar with the city. it is good to know instinctively what sri your going to, what section of the city. it is very helpful, probably more so than in other fields. supervisor kim: and the knowledge of neighborhoods that people have because they grew up here, they live here. i do not think 35% is good enough, but i know we cannot mandate it, and i know that as a challenge for you and you are committed to moving as to a place where we can hopefully

attract more. the fire department is a great place to work. it is a great job. i really want our residents, especially our young people, to benefit from that career track. however we can work with you to augment your efforts, in terms of the hours -- i know you have a huge list already, but i think it is an ongoing issue as we move forward. chairperson chu: thank you, supervisor kim. supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos: just another question around overtime. maybe we can come back. i expect that you'll be back next week for the second round of the budget. >> i did not say that yet, by your right. [laughter] supervisor avalos: generally how it goes. my question is, and maybe it is something we can get the controller's held on as well, maybe -- when it comes to overtime, it is not the same for

someone who has been in the department for five or 10 years compared to someone who is new. 10 years, let's take my 4% wage increase, a significant difference it -- the difference. we can get a sense of a person through their time in the department. when does the cost of the overtime for that person exceed the overtime for a person who is just coming in? it gives us a sense of how we can look at it in terms of glasses. -- classes. >> i believe this discussion is already in the mayor's office. that accounts for the staffing. you're basically covering someone at a much lower rate than you would be paying

overtime to a more senior employees. supervisor avalos: and you have conditions where people are not so much working mandatory overtime and exposed to injuries on the job. it could have some cost savings as well. if you could report back on that next week, and then combine that with information you have about what the average or median age of the work force is, so we can get a sense of where we are in terms of longevity in the department. >> the average age is 45, which is high. that is something we're looking at for a host of reasons and bringing in a new member work force makes sense. chairperson chu: i know supervisor avalos has mentioned some of the areas where we would like the comptroller's office do some analysis in conjunction with your cfo to help with the

financial component. another piece in your budget at the moment my books like you expect that there will be about 42 new individuals who will be coming in once they have a finished their academy courses. but at the same time we expect 40 to 50 retirements as well. we are pretty much breaking even. you are hiring, but people are going out the door. in terms of the full-time people that you have, the expectation is that we will be at the same level that we were in its current year. that leads me to believe we will have the same level of overtime in its current year based on the same staffing levels and the same minimum staffing requirements. in your budget, however, there is a growth in the overtime to lead to an about $9 million -- to the tune of about $9 million. my question is what that is related to. the expectation is that we are

hiring 40 and 40 are leaving for retirement. we are at the same place that we were. >> right, and that is one of the things we are continuing to work with the budget analyst on. i believe they indicated that we would need to rely less on overtime. our numbers are not showing that at this point. eventually, that is where we want to get to, but right now, it is breaking even. chairperson chu: this year, you did come back with other departments to tune up your overtime level. >> we did. it was within budget, but we needed to basically borrow about $6 million to put into overtime. correct. chairperson chu: an analysis around that for the committee would be great for next time. >> i just have three more quick sites. again, about additional department initiatives, we talk about the eastern bront.

-- the easter bond. it is a bond that passed in june of 2010 for approximately $412 million broken and you -- broken into two main areas. -- three main areas. those are some of the things that we continue to work on, as well as beginning discussions with easter bront 2. one of the things we have done is propose an online infrastructure project for training. enhances our training and content ability. it will be a lot more efficient for us. and it will allow us to track who is being trained and who is getting mandatory certification and training spirit and the other thing i talked about was the replacement program through the mob.

we were awarded a fema grant in the amount of $1.6 million for the complete updating of our breeding agreement. due to the difficult economy, we have had to remove that. we're looking forward to getting the 275 breeding apparatus -- breathing apparatus for our members. and in the last two side, this one is busy to opportunities. unlike other departments, we do not have as many opportunities, paid opportunities for the utes to comment -- youth to come in. but we have worked with partners, mostly at headquarters, to provide guidance and mentor ship support. we have also worked with the mayor's youth education employment program and you to

educational services. we also have a reserve program. that is for members interested in signing up for arbors synergies with the fire department. and finally, in the language access, what we talked about earlier, the importance of having a work force that can communicate with a large number of people that do not speak english. we are proud to have approximately 20% of our work force that does speak languages other than english. and we do have some paid premium positions for people that speak other languages, so when the public comes in for permitting or inspection type activities, if they do not speak english, we have that availability. when someone calls 911 and cannot communicate in english, there is a language line in

which the reporting party can get connected through the 911 system. for us, when we responded is less about communicating when there is a fire, so to speak. everyone pretty much comes out when we are going in, but it is critical during medical emergencies to be able to obtain medical history, medication from someone who speaks another language to be able to have our members do that. we are trying to provide options and have members that utilize different languages. during our neighborhood emergency response team, that is trained not only in english, but also went spanish and cantonese. we also put on a voluntary program with the san francisco fire safety education. it is providing multiple languages. and we provide worksheets and

assignments for students to bring home to their families. approximately 20% of our work force speaks more than just english. that concludes the presentation. i'm happy to respond to any questions. our main areas of concern are the materials and supplies and overtime. those are the challenges this year where we actually had to come before you and have money transferred over from our salaries into overtime. we are optimistic that we can come to some agreement and we look forward to seeing you next week. chairperson chu: thank you. to the budget analyst, is there anything that you would add? >> madam chair, members of the committee, our recommended

reductions for 2012-13 are about $2.4 million. let me comment that based on additional information the department has provided to date, they have been reduced to about $1.9 million. that is not in the report, but i want to give you an update of the intermission that the department has provided. and similarly for 2013-14 where we recommended reductions of $501,913, it will be based on the latest information somewhere in the area of $300,000. my understanding is of that total recommended reductions of $2.2 million that the department agree with, there is one recommendation for training of $5,000.

>> we have some work to do, no doubt. [laughter] chairperson chu: thank you very much. given that there is still some work to be done, we will see you next week. colleagues, why do we go on a half-hour recess? thank you. welcome back to the budget finance committee. supervisor chu: first, i would like to invite the department of emergency management. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- supervisor chu: before we do that, quickly, there was an item

on the agenda, item number three, that pertains to the fire department. >> the next item on the agenda is for some legislation from the fire department. specifically for two fire prevention fee increases that have been proposed. these increases are to allow the department to recover the cost of services. the first feet is the increase in overtime fees at the request of the customer, where they would like an expedited review of plans or permits. it is only collected if the service is requested or performed. the increase is strictly due to wage increases. the second fees for the plan review. these are for the review will --

review of construction plans. the department has seen a large increase in the volume of plans coming across the bureau, which is very good news for construction across the city. the workload for the department's division, and we have been forced to reallocate work sources and bring in more to make sure that we are able to process the plans in a timely manner. we have received pressure from city agencies and building designers in order to make sure that we do receive these plans and process them timely, and not delay in this initial stage of the project. it could result in increased costs down the line. this has been in response to customer requests for timely review. these are strictly to recover costs provided by