do that, i wanted to know what that was. >> the reason we put that in is we wanted to try to explain that because this is a state-wide search and we are getting the firm, some of the firms, one or two might be located in the near region to -- i don't want to say it's the san francisco bay area, but in that kind of region we are, la, they have presences in other -- you know, like they may have an east coast main ofrs and they have presence in california. but what we're trying to say to them is this is a unique environment just like you guys were saying, unique environment, has difficulties that are inherent in the fact

it is unique the way it works with the board and the commissions and the mayor. this is not an easy place. they need to understand the search environment -- the searcher needs to understand whoever they are recommending has to be someone who has some experience or familiarity that this is politically charged. so it was trying to make it a pc way of saying, you know, san francisco, that we're special. >> okay, commissioner lee. >> just to give me an idea, i understand some of these firms are prequalified from out of state, possibly, but how many firms that we contact that were, like you said, prequalified, how many firms got this notice? >> there were 10 prequalified

firms and all 10 got it. and the firms, the last firm that i used when we went through this in 2007-8 time frame is also one of the prequalified. and many of the firms have experience recent, very recent and on-going meaning right now experience with the recruiting for positions high up. because these are normally only used for positions that are high up in departments. so their understanding of what in general we deal with as being a city department. so we were trying to get -- that's one of the things that helped prequalify people is if they did have some experience. i just didn't want, as you had mentioned, because this has got inherently a kind of push-pull

kind of situation with the way this department works, i wanted to make sure that there was an understanding and experience within the group that, you know, we're not like the fire department. we're not like the police department. they have their own sort of thing. >> commissioner mar. >> i just wanted to thank you and the staff from moving on this in a quick manner, in a formal manner. >> okay, dep tree director, i know you are feeling very sick. thank you for coming up here. also thank you for helping me facilitate and put this together and doing it in a very short fashion. thank you so much. >> any public comment on item 5? seeing none, item 6, discussion on employee of the

month program. >> how about you, director, would you like it talk would you like it talk about this? . >> commissioner mar. >> this item came up about a month or so ago. we thought it was a good thing that this department become involved acknowledging all the work our staff do, but especially our staff who really do exemplary work. we wanted to start an employee of the month program, but actually it's a little bit of a misnomer because we don't think we have the resources to pick an employee of the month. i think the original idea is that we will just start it kind of quarterly and with the

caveat that the four people picked the first year, one person would be picked as the employee of the year at the end of the first year. and i think we're still discussing the parameters but basically it's open to all the employees in the department and we want to make sure that -- except, i believe, the management employees -- we want to make sure it rotates through the whole division so it's not limited to any classification or any division. it covers all the employees in all different parts of the department. i think that was basically it. oh, the other thing is we're coming up with prizes so other than a piece of paper, an acknowledging of this meeting, maybe president mack car mccarthy can talk the mayor into giving up some of his giants tickets. we are asking our friends in the city to come up with prizes that might be,

that we don't have to -- we don't have to go through the resources of the department for but would be something that the employees can enjoy other than the acknowledgement at this meeting and maybe another certificate to hang on the wall. >> director. >> good morning, i would like to mention about panel member, is only two commissioner. >> we had our first meeting, we've given ourselves a goal to ratify everything, commissioner mar, by the next one. it will be interesting it see the

different scenarios that come up in the meeting but i think we'll get to the bottom of them. it worked quite well in other departments and for me it gives an opportunity to recognize people who are doing outstanding work in dbi and i think it's time that we have this program, so we look forward to, hopefully commissioner mar by the next time we come back can give us a report it's all put together. do we go to public comment on this item? >> yes, is there public comment on item 6? >> spencer gash. i think employee of the month or quarter would be a good idea. i anxiously look forward to receiving the award. thank you. >> all right. >> item 7, discussion on dbi's

light policy. >> i kind of put this on the calendar, actually, if it's okay with you, we were looking on some documentation that was to come that we're working on and i've been working on with mr. strong and we haven't got that yet. so if it's okay with you, i'd like to continue this item and i will put it on the calendar for the next meeting. it would be pointless having a conversation without the documentation. if there's no objection i would like to move to move this to the next meeting. >> is there public comment on the continuance? seeing none, item 8, director's report, 8 a,

update on dbi's finances. >> good afternoon, commissioners, i'm gale rovels, acting finance manager. i wanted to give a quick update. we did have a handout as well. we are a quarter of the way through the year so we would expect our revenue and expenses to be at about 25 percent right now. our revenue, the graph is actually higher than 25 percent so there's 3 main types of revenue that the department brings in. we receive our apartment and rental unit revenue towards the end of the year, so we haven't received any yet, but we do expect to get all of it. the majority of our revenue comes from charges for services so you will see that we receive about 81 1/2 percent of our budget from charges for services and so far this year we are way ahead of what we had budgeted for the year. we have received about 42 percent of the revenue we budgeted in charges for

services. right now we aren't projecting an increase projected amount for the end of the year. we may actually have an increase, but we'd like to see what happens over the winter months. we kind of expect things to slow down a little bit, which will then average out. we have received more large projects this year than we had anticipated, so our total valuation of permits is actually way up. so if we continue to receive a lot of really large projects our revenue will be higher than we budgeted, but it is too early to know that for sure in the year. also our other revenue is coming in about as expected. the expenses are coming in a little lower than 25 percent of the year. we are spending our money, employee salaries and fringes are slightly lower. that is because we have so many vacancies right now. as we've

talked about in the past, we have several exams going and hopefully will be filling our vacancies relatively soon. so we do expect our salary and fringe amounts to come up. our non-personnel, other types of program expenses, we are starting to plan for those expenditures. we did just do the cabo training last week which was a large training expense. we do have large trainings coming in for ada, stuff like that, so we are on track to spend our funds, our budget for this year as we had projected in the budget. we aren't quite at 25 percent but we are getting there and i expect we will spend the amount that we had budgeted. are there any questions? >> yes, i have one. if it looks like the number of permits are relatively the same but the dollar value amounts are higher, which is dau to

large projects, like you said, how are we doing on manpower? if these large projects are coming in, how are we doing on inspection services and plan check? are we doing okay? >> right now we have 5 engineers but we're still waiting for getting all the inspector, deputy director mentioned we have exam coming up soon and then also the senior inspector and the chip building inexpector and also we are trying to get announcement out for housing inspector. unfortunately 1406, the clerk, the lease come out but we are holding the location for all those people for the redevelopment agency. probably pam. >> pamela levin, every day

there's different news on that. kind of to step backwards about 3 or 4 weeks ago, we got notice they were holding recommendations across the city for placement of people who were being laid off. they have grabbed many of our requisitions and we have a person starting in records management on monday that's coming in. the 1406 is the clerks. monday they were, we were told we could go ahead and recruit. tuesday we were told we couldn't, yesterday we were told -- yesterday afternoon we were told we could. as of today we have 200 people on the list that we have canvased so now we have to go through on the next level, which is they say they can meet the

requirements, the special conditions are not -- just the general requirements of our job, then we go down and try to figure out how many people we can actually interview and what the level is. so it's being very, the whole thing is being really controlled right now. there are, they don't have building inspectors, they don't have electrical inspectors. one inspector that you didn't mention is we do have, finally have a test for electrical inspectors that's been posted that a test will occur and i believe that's towards the end of november. so, you know, things as we mentioned, when dhr came here and said we're offering help to do the testing and stuff, we are seeing it, we're just a little behind in a couple months. i do expect that because this priority due

to the redevelopment that that's going to be resolved fairly quickly and we'll be able to move on, the slow process of filling positions. the other thing tom mentioned is that we are providing i think as i speak, if it's not this week, next week, the unions, the information on housing inspectors. we will provide that description to the mayor's office and the board of supervisors so that we will get concurrence as we go through the recruitment and we won't be stopped by any, we will have done our due diligence and getting everybody as happy as we could. that has been kind of the last focus is trying to get those going and rosemary has done yeoman's job on that. >> with regard to the holding,

so i know for example dpw were going through hiring. is this across all departments or just dbi on hold? >> it's across all departments. what happens is that, for instance, in this case it's a management decision, like a very kind of the lowest level management assistant, the second lowest. and so we had a job description, we provided that to dhr, they looked to see whether the individual, you know, met that job description. they looked at what, whether there were open requisitions in other departments. so they may have vacancies and not put recs out. so they would not necessarily be captured as being a possibility, but it's throughout the city. all these things, especially the clerks, they are placing people throughout the city. >> like 1406, it's -- my first

reaction when you said the redevelopment agency, i wouldn't have thought there would be many 1406 type people in that list, if any. >> we are not allowed to see that. all i know is that the edict went out -- i'm sorry, the direction went out that said these will be held. do not do anything, don't breathe, we'll get back to you. and so we don't know how many are sitting there and so i don't know. i know dph got some. i don't know. but so far we haven't gotten any, it looks like, in terms of the clerks. but, you know, because it is civil service they have to follow the rules. >> i know i keep hearing that. regardless, if it's going nowhere, if there's nobody on that list that goes to 1406, it seems very strange that --.

>> no, they would not be holding things up unless they had 1406's. >> so let's say from that list of the redevelopment agency, there are people who would qualify for that 1406. there are. >> but i think we're out of that hole, the 1406 hole. we're just in the hole on other positions where they are saying i think there's somebody in redevelopment that may qualify for your position, it may be a good fit, then they just send them. >> is it nearly time, director, for another meeting again, for an update from the department? i don't want us to go down this road. i was really feeling pretty bullish that we were getting the job done, but if we're going to be going backwards here again, do wae need to have human resources come back to us and talk to us and give us an update if they're changing policy on us? >> well, this came out of --

this should have happened months ago because if i recall right, the redevelopment agency was dissolved in, what, john, february, march? and then there was a lot to do on the union negotiations with them because they had rights. so i do think that it would not necessarily be bad in the next couple months to have an update from them and, you know, coordinate that in some of the topics that might be timely since we're going to be going into budget again. the biggest hurdle, honestly, right now the biggest hurdle is a software system that was designed and installed that is extremely difficult and it has some issues in business practice. in other words, when

like if pamela were doing, and she'll be up here, but fa if she was doing a process it has to lack at what are the rules. this thing doesn't, it's very difficult and there's recognition all throughout the city that this has caused problems for a lot of departments and those are the kinds of things we're running into. it's not reluctance on the part of the entities to approve our requisitions, it's that they can't see the requisition in the computer because it's there but they can't see it. we're trying to work through that major frustration. >> commissioner lee. >> director, you can see the value of these projects are going up and if this continues again for the next quarter i can see the department being very busy and if we don't get

these extra people in, we might fall behind. so i don't know if that's a concern but please keep an eye on it. >> yeah, that was my concern. that's why every time, you know, remember 6 months ago i come up with major project, that's why i foresee all these coming. but that's what we are trying to push dhr trying to help us get all these requisition. unfortunately pamela mentioned about the computer program from controller office, the system. that's why we cannot --. >> i have been on ted yamasaki about our requisitions. we just got some approved by the mayor's office and i'm going to talk to him tomorrow -- hope he's listening -- and recommend we figure out what's holding things up in getting things through when they can see it on

their side. but i'll work with the director and we'll work with the director at human resources and nicki and ted and see. >> why don't we leave it to the president to see when we should ask dhr for an update and maybe sooner instead of later. i'll leave that up to your discretion. >> thank you, probably more sooner than later. okay, commissioners? >> i just second that. i remember this was a january decision but we knew a year and a half before that, that there was a strong possibility because it was a governor's initiative that they would come now in october and say, oh, put everything on hold seems a little -- their lack of planning or disingenuous. >> it's not on our radar. the

director has been saying things are coming. it's not great but things are coming forward. deputy director, we understand you are doing everything you can here. >> i just wanted it point out not knowing about this was not anything that the director would know about. i mean, we didn't know about it so --. >> i understand, yeah. >> it was one of those things where we hear about it one day and that same day. i want to just give him credit for, it wasn't his --. >> it's a big mandate for us, for all the commissioners here, as commissioner melgar has been saying for the last year. >> pam, i wasn't implying you knew about it but i think dhr did. >> looks like i'm on my way back to dhr >> do we have public comment? >> item 8b, update on proposed

legislation. >> good afternoon, commissioners, bill strong, legislative and public affairs director. make this very short and sweet. this has already been a long meeting. the one item about our permit extensions and expirations, that legislation is expected at land use in probably the middle of november so that is moving ahead as we want it to. the reference that the chief housing inspector, rosemary, made a little bit ago about david chiu's legislation on amending chapter 41 a for the apartment conversion ordinance, this has to do with going after especially commercial entities that may be with master leases subleasing to tourists operations that supervisor chiu is particularly anxious to stop. that legislation passed

its second reading yesterday. as expected, the mayor will sign it before the end of this week, so that will actually take legal effect sometime about the time of thanksgiving. and as the chief housing inspector indicated internally she is taking the lead on preparing the various steps the department will have to take to help enforce the provisions that are in those amendments. the only other one i wanted to address is what jane said about opening the door on commercial building, we have had mis take a look at our list of vacant buildings which right now is just a little over 500 buildings. it looks like we have 46 on that list that would fall into this commercial category. so it's obviously a

much smaller number and we'll be working with supervisors it try to refashion that draft legislation accordingly. >> just on that, it would be your interpretation this is strictly for commercial buildings? >> that's my interpretation of what she had to say. she was very keen not to put any undue burden on the department to make sure we received whatever cost recovery comes out of this. with that, i think i will stop unless you have other questions. >> thank you, don. >> 8c, update on permit tracking system. >> good afternoon, commissioners, hermine canto, department of building inspection. the project is on track. the core configuration

is complete and we're in the build phase right now. the scripts and reports have been prioritized and they are in development. the interfaces to the core system is also being done as we speak. for the past -- during the reporting period the department of building inspection and the planning department are working closely on the design and configuration of the access. it's the web portal for the public and project tracking system or the permit and the projects so the expectation is to form a citizen advisory group which consists of members from the community which would be, you know, members that use our system, design professionals, contracts by professionals and also one commissioner from inspector statements. the committee is expected to be somewhere between 15 and 20 members and they will be

providing input feedback comments on the user interface and providing also the user acceptance part of it. regarding the time frames when they expect the level of time, effort will be coming out shortly in the next couple of weeks. if there's any other questions on that i can answer. >> just the advisory committee. when would you like to hear back from the commission on that if there's somebody from the commission. >> as soon as possible would be great because we're trying to identify the members and within the next couple weeks the letters should go out from the department heads to the respective members. >> the department heads would send out the letters identifying who the different stake holders for the --. >> yes. >> for the commission. so if there's somebody from the commission here wants to put their name forward, i think it would be best to put it to sonia and we can decide if that

works for the commission. do we have any idea how many times a month you will be meeting or the time frame involved? >> we are discussing that as we speak but the involvement would start in january, probably for a span of 3 months, but the details should be coming out soon. >> thank you and thank you for the update. looks like we're almost there . >> item 8d, update on other technology projects. >> hermine canto, technology department of the department of building inspection. email delivery is almost complete, we should have that shortly. we have about 40 percent of dr requests coming through the web right now. on the cache management system, the good news is the tax director is scheduled to go live in nove