supervisor cohen. this is a piece of legislation that came up earlier this year and essentially goes after foreclosure properties. the owners of 10 or more foreclosed properties, he wants to amend the police code in order to uphold the damages that could be exacted upon those types of actions. i surmise the supervisor is sensitive about banks and financial institutions that are going through foreclosures and she's trying to essentially make this a pocketbook issue with them. but in some instances, this would increase fee levels dramatically that, you know, i presume would affect some of our fees if, in fact, this becomes law. but other than that, that's about it. >> thank you, mr. [inaudible].

>> item 7c, update permit tracking system. >> good morning, commissioners. vivian day, special assistant for technology. and i'm pleased to announce that we're still currently on track with permit tracking system. in fact, we're a little bit ahead of the game. we've completed as per your agenda package, we've completed all of the prioritization of the change orders requested beyond the initial configuration stage for the actual system. we will -- they were very minimal in nature. we've also completed all the initial requirements for the fellow citizens access, which is the very basic requirements from just what the first screen will look like on what the

citizens will see when they access our website, and it will match the city's websiteses since this is a city-wide software program. we already renewed all the initial historical data conversion requirements with the vendor. we've got a list of items that we're working on to be able to transfer the nice data migration completely transferred over, more or less. we've also connected the vendor server to build out the gis system currently in planning with all the address and the owner parcel information interfaces. that's also with the city program, the city address database. so, that is already being completed as we speak. and then, of course, we had

staff that participated in the user conference that was held in, it was actually product and technical training classes. a lot of our staff attended that. a lot of planning staff attended that. the next steps on the process or on the software is to build -- is for the vendor to actually build the approved change orders into the core configuration system. and then we're going to begin to detail the requirements for the actual screens that the citizens will see and that's when we will start to bring in the subject matter experts from the public and actually start working with the public to make the screens more usable, unified school districter friendly to the public and get the information in a very user friendly format that they need to do their work * .

we're also beginning the requirements for the dbi reports and scripps. these are actually every piece of paper that comes out of the software system is called a report. so, there's a lot of paper coming out. a lot of reports are created throughout the existing system that we need to recreate in the new system plus all the new reports that people have identified that they want. in fact, next week there will be a training for all of the it people from planning and building that will be learning how to write these reports so we can do all of these reports in-house when needed and do them on an ad hoc basis. we're going to begin the detailed requirements for the data conversion. so, we're actually going to start mapping where the data goes into the system. and then we're going to continue the development of the system in a basis that are over

and above the actual core system from ocela such as our solectron ibm system we already have. we already have a document management system that will be integrated. all of those interfaces are going to be begun the development. they're in development, but we're going to continue the development and try to get those completed. the actual time frame for the go-live is go to move up to mid summer, not november. just so you know, we expect to go live in mid summer and then have three months of on-site assistance with the vendor to make sure that the system is working properly and to tweak it more than what we're going to be tweaking it from now until we go live. and i can answer any questions

on the system. >> commissioners? >> good to hear. >> good to hear. thank you for that report. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> item 7d, update on other technology projects. >> i have some handouts to hand out. >> oh. >> >> sonya is going to be handing out the other technology reports. this didn't get into the package and i apologize for it. but we're still working on the 3r requests over the web so we'll be able to e-mail back the responses on the 3r reports and to support e-mail delivery. and it's still in development, and part of the reason it is taking so long is we are

pulling our it people to work on the other project, the permit tracking system. so, we're trying to put that up to the front. we're moving that right up to number 1. we also had to implement planning and fire fee schedules. they changed their fee schedule, so, that means we had to reprogram our system to be able to collect their fees. also, we have the cash management system which is going to be the new way of collecting fees in the department where every, every permit tech or every clerk becomes a cashier, per se. and we're on hold until we finish the -- the tax collector finishes. so, we expect to be able to start doing that in -- it's supposed to be in by october, but i really don't know. we're really on hold until we

get some relief from the tax collector's office. the big thing that we did do recently is we deployed some field inspector tablets to the field on a beta test site. so, we do have some inspectors that are field checking mobile tablet computers in the field with our existing inspection program. and it is the hope that we can enlarge the system. we have six tablets right now. there's only five of them being used in the field. one of them is being used for testing, but that we can hopefully find it -- the quirks in the system, in our existing system before we transfer it over to the new permit tracking system and then make sure that the tablets are the correct ones for the inspectors and not just another toy.

and the other big thing that we did start and we kicked off was our mission quarter sugar room project. we had our kickoff meeting a couple weeks ago. the vendor has been given his notice to proceed. the equipment in most of the behind the scenes work will start immediately. the actual construction work will not start until december and be finished in february. and that's the construction line on that project. >> commissioner walker, yeah. >> what isn't on here is the queue matic. and i know we will held back on that process, but the goal is to see it -- we can amend it and/or deal with that it was trying to help us with. i think that i'm expecting a report back about that, too.

>> yeah, we are still looking into a system. right now technology can fit into our building. because we are a multiple floor and how to make it efficient, i asked pamela to see if anything around and she's still looking into it. unfortunately once that news is mis involves one person, pass away two weeks ago, and then they are short staff there. >> maybe next meeting we could have an update as to what the thoughts are around that. >> okay. >> right. tom, i'd like to also add that the cumatic is also dependent on the higher the 1406s, the directors for the cumatic. and that's what we lacked the last time and that was one of the big failures we had, is people did not know where to go. or how to get there and until

we get our 1406s in place and trained, it's going to be kind of hard to implement that. >> okay, great. thank you. >> is there any public comment on the director's report item 7a through d? commissioner comments? >> seeing none. >> seeing none, item 8, commissioners, is questions and matters. 8a, increase the staff. at this time commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies, practices and procedures which are of interest to the commission. >> i don't have anything right now. >> any of the commissioners before i get going? it was mentioned earlier there was a delay, building inspection head came up here.

i think it was four or five of them, six of them -- six, yeah. i just want to put it out there. i found it very interesting and i found if very informative to see they have the same growing pains we have here. obviously it's a different lay of the land and they approach inspections and things differently. a few things that came out of that i was kind of interested in, one of them was their -- they had some blight, how they handle the blight issues there, boarding up of properties and so on and things. without getting too far ahead of myself not knowing and not knowing if it's going to be a fix here or something that would work here in this city. i was wondering if staff, whoever would want to take it on, could find out what their policy was on that and maybe we could have a chat or discussion on it and see if it's a possible fit for up here in the city. it struck me as a very kind of matter of fact way of dealing with some of these blighted

properties in a kind of not as expensive way of having to go through the city attorney's office and so on, thing in some of these cases. it would be a good first step. i don't want to get ahead of myself because i don't if it's a fit. it struck me as a good policy. in talking with the bureau chief, who is robert steyn beck, i believe, he said it was quite successful down there. so, with that i kind of would like if maybe we could work on something like that and staff can get hold of me off line and we can talk more about it and see if it's something. commissioner walker? >> just, i wonder if we can -- i think when we talk about our notice of violations and the open cases, we ask for a periodic report back. so, maybe at the next meeting we can revisit the notices of violations and get an update about how we're doing, getting rid of some of the stale cases.

i think it's probably going to look good, but it would be great to be able to do that. >> any more comments? seeing none. >> item 8b, future meetings and agendas. at this time the commission may discuss and take actions to set the date of a special meeting and/or determine those items that can be placed on the agenda at the next meeting and other future meetings of the building inspection commission. the next regularly scheduled meeting is october 17th. >> that's fine. >> okay. is there any public comment on items 8a and b? seeing none, item 9, review and approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of july 18th, 2012. >> is there any friendly amendments to that, no? okay. >> you approve? >> second. >> is there any public comment on the minutes? * move to approve

seeing none, are all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> are any opposed? then the minutes are approved. and we are going back to item 2, president's announcements. >> thank you, madam secretary, and thank you for giving me the opportunity. just a few president's announcements. once again, the dbi staffer christopher victoria of the ventral permit bureau got a letter of recognition. so, well done there. obviously for those, most commissioners would notice, our condolance and heart felt sympathies to commissioner colleague dr. mccray for his recent loss of his father, mr. james mccray, senior. we in honor of him would close today's commission meeting in a moment of silence ask in honor of mr. mccray senior. on september 11th, i joined acting director huey deputy

sweeney and chief henchon as we sat with six top staff from the los angeles building department who visited san francisco to learn about our procedures and code enforcements and inspects and plan review we discussed earlier in the last item. * inspections at the recommendation of acting director huey, we will be establishing a new committee to recognize and award outstanding dbi employees on a quarterly or annual basis. an initial organizational session was held yesterday and i was there. vice president mar was there. i was pleased to be part of this new committee. other members include emilie morrison and jeffery mar and bill strawn. it was a good discussion and as i joke with bill in good fashion, we find issues we want to address first before we can agree on it. we'll have another meeting and the goal here is to have this

program in place here starting next year and do it on a quarterly basis. i think it will be a very, very good policy to have in place to recognize all the -- particularly the people in the dbi family who are doing a great job and recognizing them on a quarterly basis. finally, a reminder that this afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. which i was correctediervier, there will be a special meeting on the joint disability access subcommittee and access appeals commission in room 2001 at 1660 mission street. representatives of the national elevator manufacturers and consultants will be presenting prototypes of their equipment for disabled and nondisabled persons. i hope to attend that meeting, swing by. on saturday, september 22nd, dbi staff volunteers will respond to questions and provide outreach information at the annual sunset community festival from 1 1:00 a.m. to

3:00 p.m. at the west sunset playground. this is at 39th and/oring at the a and it's next to the oring tega branch library. * it would be good if commissioners could show up for that. dbi staffers will also be there at this year's castro street county fair, the old street festival in the city. -- oldest * this event is october 7 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. finally department of public works has just announced one of the chronicles most experienced and most respected reporters rachel gored enhas accepted dpw's offer and will join public affairs. great catch. great to get somebody from the other side of the press. with that, i have no more announcements, madam secretary. so, next item, please. >> okay. is there any public comment on the president's announcements? seeing none, item 3, general public comment.

the bic will take public comment on matters within the commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda. [inaudible]. >> before we start comment, i just want to read into the -- members of the public may address the commission on items not appearing on the agenda for a period of time not to exceed three minutes. speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. thank you. good morning, commissioners. my name is spencer gash. i've been a building inspector for the city and county of san francisco for 22 years i've been a resident 32 years. i'd like to request all persons who had a bad experience with this department to come to the meetings and let the commissioners know about the problems. meetings occur the third wednesday of the month in city hall room 40 16 assuming the president doesn't reschedule the public comment for some

other less usable time, let's say. i'd like to read a further prepared statement. folk, i don't want to be here. my presence is a direct result of the persons who are allowing the mismanagement of the department of building inspection, that's you. racism, i was here last month stating the facts. you are now after multiple notifications continuing to foster and condone racism in the department you oversee. this exists in hiring, promotional opportunities, job assignments and exhibits itself in other ways. i would like to -- you to make efforts to stop it immediately. in spite of the city attorney's foolish and erroneous opinion that you need to do nothing about my complaints, you are responsible. i suggest you seek outside counsel regarding your responsibilities and liabilities. the statistical evidence of the charge of racism is that according to current organization chart. civil structural engineering class of dbi 80% chinese ethnicity, remaining include vietnamese and filipino

sympathetic to the chinese leadership. the first white engineer was hired two months ago. other racial disparities could be found. should we look? topic of official misconduct. i would like to address a larger problem. discussion of racism you refuse to do anything about, the larger problem is the lack of written authorized direction to staff. for the last four plus years there have been no such documents produced by our management. once again, how can this commission allow a department to exist with no written and authorized policies and procedures? how can you allow these persons whose actual title include the word director not direct? once again a director has not issued directives is committing malfeasance at the level of misconduct. the lack of written direction for a lengthy period of time has resulted in complete confusion in that department. from operating by word of mouth only. should this department become criminal or operating in a criminal manner? regardless who hughey and sweeney have to go. the complete lack of written

policy are a symptom of the real problem at the department and at the monthsv. let's not forget the mayor. the real problem is you and the mayor condone this pathetic situation * with the willful lack of oversight. you have allowed these people to get away with so much for so long they're starting to believe their own bull sheet that they can get away with anything. you ask they are wrong. i'll see you next month. thanks for listening. >> any further public comment? >> the next speaker. commissioners, good morning, my name is robert davis at the bayview. and i'd like to ask to bring up some topics. i have some prepared notes. one is an emergency demolition order that was signed by the acting director back on august 7th for property located at the corner of thornton and 3rd street of the bayview. the owner has done nothing and the 30-day period is past. the next item is 48 01 3rd street, which as you see in my notes was the subject of a

lien. went to the board of supervisors. it was taken off of the lien list because alan davidson from this department or the dbi said receipts have been received and the fines have been paid, but no receipts actually have been forthcoming from the department showing that the fines have been paid. i'd kind of like to clear that up. thank you for mentioning that, open directors hearing, thank you for that also. key matic, i appreciate you mentioning that. i have a easy solution for that and i offer to show commissioner lee did have a look at that. it seems to have gotten nowhere. and the last thing is 18 81 oakdale just to refresh your memory, this is a property that i think about last year in november, about four months later had a fire. about 30 people were displaced including men, women and children. fortunately nobody was injured, but, of course, being displaced is a certain kind of injury. and the building just needs to

be knocked down. it needs another emergency demolition order, i believe. it's just been on the radar for too long and too many people have inspected it. too much has gone on and there's been no action. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker. >> can i just say -- >> not in public comment. >> i'm just asking if we can get a response from the director -- >> we'll finish public comment and then -- yeah, go ahead. hello, i'm carl shier. i've been working on a project on 17th street for two years. we've been trying to get a permit. this permit has zero issues. we still do not have a permit yet. i sent letters to the department heads certified, even to the commission, you folks as well, pdf files. as of this date i have not received any response and these were sent out last spring.

we're just trying to -- actually you talked earlier about derelict buildings. as a brief history, this building has been vacant for 15 years. and, so, it's just a shell of a building. we've been trying to kind of rehab it, actually move into it as a home. we've had zero help from the city, zero. * in fact, it's been a stumbling block every part of the way. i'd like to ask your assistance into looking into this and somehow have some response, have some accountability from the department. your help and assistance would be greatly appreciated. thank you. >> would you give the address? it's 4388 17th street. >> 43 -- >> 88 -- 4388 17th street. and what's on the plate right now is when we purchased the property, it was actually held by the city.

it was a probate sale. the house was so bad that we wanted to secure it. and, so, we were immediately hit by the city with fines from the previous owner, which was the city. we got a permit and now we got a permit to do more work. we now have two permits that are intertwined and we can't close out the first permit because it's attached to the other permit. and, so, now what we've -- we have an order of abatement for the first permit even though there's nothing we can do to close out the first permit. so, i'm going to be back hooer in just a few days for an abatement hearing for that. * here and i have not been able to talk to anyone about this or get any communication whatsoever. so, again, your assistance, any possible way, to have some kind of communication from the department, i'd appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you.

is there any more public comment? [speaker not understood]. the previous speaker made a reference to 48th and 3rd street. that address was sent to the board of supervisors lien cycle. that is a common practice and procedure where if a property owner appears at the board, the borden courages the department to work with the propertd quite pulled from the calendar. now, when the address is pulled, it's not that the fee is waived. the fee is still outstanding. but we work with the property owner. and if it's not paid during the following year, it is on the calendar for lien for the following year. so, just like to clarify that. as regards the speaker before that, once again i'd like to

distance myself from that speaker. i don't like to have any association with people that spoke, you know, something of a negative nature. i'm with the department a long time. i work with a lot of different individuals, different backgrounds, races, you name it. and, you know, we're all very proud of the department, with the diversity we have and how we all get along, and how our diversity is a strength because in working with each other we're better equipped to deal with a public that is very difficult verse also. so, i'd just like to make that comment. thank you. * diverse >> thank you. next speaker. seeing none. >> we're on to item number 10, adjournment. >> public comment is closed. >> public comment is now closed. is there a motion to adjourn?

>> move to adjourn. >> second. >> are all commissioners in favor? >> aye. >> we'll now adjourn the meeting. it is 11:50 a.m. close the meeting with a moment of silence for james mccrayv senior. thank you. we're now adjourned. [adjourned]