>> for me it becomes fire but that's our jurisdiction. i know we have a system that if there's a large fire and it encompasses large areas that our systems are all supposed to be in play. i just want to ask a question if it's not one of these kinds of examples, for example, i used to be a retired director of a senior citizen organization in japantown, and i was on the mayor's friendly task force of seniors and disability, and during that time we had

unprecedented heat wave and in san francisco, traditionally, when you have a heat wave, you like sit it out. unfortunately, with this last experience it reached temperature levels as well as resulted in a couple of individuals passing away. so, talking to the system, you know, and i was not quite sure but i think we were talking about maybe a heat alert system as well. i don't know if that falls in categorically in this department, but duty officer, is that duty officer at e.m.s.? on the deck, or how does that work? >> we have -- the duty officer is at the u.s.c. and so it's very close proximity to our dispatch center. every day from 7:00 to 4:00 a.m., or actually activated at you know, a warm level one, and so we have the operations

section active every day, and then it's a 24/7 duty officer program. like last night duty officerer sent out 2, 3 notifications, and i did the other night about a power outage. and then just in terms of the heat and public health, i mean, we certainly work with department of public health if there is, you know, a heat emergency and we can again scale up the notifications, everything to alert us after putting out a notification by the wireless emergency alert. >> vice president nakajo: i'm glad you talked about that. because again for me, it was a clarification between the office on aging through the health department, through e.m.s. and somewhere along the line we could not quite put a finger on who is the point person. so in terms of your presentation, the duty officer, 24/7, is the point person that

makes the call on certain kinds of -- >> duty officer in consultation with the manager on call. and manager on call is myself or three other manages within the division of emergency services. but when it arises to the level of a wireless emergency alert, or the outdoor public warning system, we would schedule policy group call, or we would at least bring in the public safety principles with the chief of the fire department, you know chief of police department, mayor's office on our executive director to give the go ahead on that. >> vice president nakajo: mechanism in that yourself. >> just agreeing with him. we would issue hawaii, like we -- >> vice president nakajo: that's where i brought it up. the big old elephant in the room, that -- that personnel in hawaii as it turns out was terminated. and that person, as i understand

it, was trying to do their job. i'm just going to leave it right there. all i'm saying about that is that if you are telling me a duty officer or somebody out there is a human person out there that's making the call, putting their finger on the button or turning the key, and i'm just saying that's a whole lot of responsibility on an individual. to the questions in terms of do you put the big siren on and wake everybody up and you know, like if you don't know what you are doing, you don't know what you are doing, you know what i mean. either you get out or you don't. you are prepared or not. and that's, i'm just talking about the facts of life and i'm part of that. i should be prepared for all aspects of it, i could be better prepared and all this does is remind me constantly as to what we need to do. with the recent wildfires and then with the heat, i just want to make sure that you know, our parameters of responsibility are covered and there's a coordination. and just like nert or earthquake, you know, you have

to have a mechanism in the public to be able to understand what we are supposed to be doing within the given amount of a few seconds, you know, and that's -- that's what i'm asking. i want to make sure that these duty officers have responsibility but also the whole lot of responsibility with that. comments? >> that is -- we train quite often, i mean, our folks probably think we train too much. i don't think that is, you can never do that enough. but i mean, we do have -- i'll say we do have a lot of security measures in place that would prevent us from having an incident like hawaii. and that's probably something we can go into detail off on. >> vice president nakajo: i truly appreciate your participation and your presentation and your support, thank you, mr. president. >> president cleaveland: commissioner. >> commissioner hardeman: thank

you, mr. president. thanks for your presentation. it is sort of an interesting subject when i live in the west portal, and that's like three miles up from the ocean, and it was not so long ago posted all over the poles and everything was all the tsunami information. the odds of water coming up to probably what, 5% of the city, maximum, or -- worst case scenario. it would be to a very geographically restricted area. so, i thought it was amusing a couple years ago with the notice about what to do during the tsunami. i guess it was for people who might be shopping that live near an area, but geographically, what percentage of the city would be affected, 5%, the maximum, i mean in the worst tsunami?

>> i think less than that with combined. but we do have tsunami maps, commissioner, that i can provide to the commission as a follow-up. >> commissioner hardeman: should be pretty easy to reach that 1, 2, 3% of people that might be affected and we have to pay attention if we are on the beach and -- but outside of that, it's, i think it's pretty restricted to people that should be concerned or people that live in the low-lying areas around near the water. and i do remember, you get flash notices on tv and all kinds of information. and on the tsunami, too. don't really pay much attention to it, because i know i'm not going to be affected. but it was a great presentation, thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> president cleaveland: we know

that commissioner is in the flood zone and perhaps that map should be made public so that the rest of the city could know exactly where they are or not in terms of a tsunami, or possible tsunami, and we have what, 80,000 people that are, or 90,000 that are plugged into the alert s.f. system at this point. >> yes. >> president cleaveland: another 700,000 plus that we can add to the system, right? i guess it's a constant education of the public in terms of plugging in and being ready to receive those alerts when they come. so, that's the message to the public at this point. thank you, mr. dayton, for your very comprehensive report, appreciate it. >> thank you. r>> president cleaveland: madam secretary, the next item. >> draft operating budget,

2019-2020, operating budget for 2018-2019, 2019-2020. >> welcome, mr. corseau. >> good morning, commissioners, happy valentine's day. finance and planning here with the next item. which is continuation and potentially action on the department's budget submittal for this year. i have a short slide show and happy to answer any questions you may have. >> first want to highlight some of the documentation provided you in your packets. you should have received a budget book for the department, along with an outline of enhancement requests, i'll detail shortly later. in addition, a few pages paper clipped together an update to the book. they deal with some of the

department revenues and i'll highlight those changes, a replacement to the corresponding pages previously provided. brief overview of the items i wanted to discuss. brief review of the instructions and timelines that we have highlighted at previous commission meetings. some of the assumptions and changes included in the budget before you, update on the department's budget committee that was reconvened in the current year at overview of what i guess technically the department is proposing at this time, and then questions and solicitation of feedback. just a brief review of the city's budget instructions. city is projecting $260 million deficit over the next two fiscal years. as part of that, the department, all the city departments have been requested to submit reductions to their general fund to the extent of 2.5% in each year. so, 5% cumulative in the second

year and for u the fire department, that corresponds to $1.5 million in the first year, and $3 million cumulative in the second year. and similar to last year, the overall message from the mayor's office was that departments do not submit any new net new positions to the general fund budgets. brief review of the time frame, today's meeting for discussion and possible action at the commission, the department's budget submittal is due on february 21st, along with all other city departments. june 1st is the time frame for which the mayor's office needs to submit their balanced budget to the board of supervisors. in between february and the june date, departments will be working very closely con figuring what that looks like, no means are what we proposing a final budget, that will be negotiated over the next few months with the mayor's office. june, a number of committee hearings at the board, budget and finance and once the budget

is approved there, rolled and considered for final approval at the full board. some of the assumptions in the budget, so, last year, the budget is currently rolling two-year process. last year technically the second year approved last year is the baseline for the current first year. so 18-19 budget, second year last year, rolled over, any known benefit changes, salary changes, those kinds of things have been incorporated into that budget, along with any other health and benefit costs, any work orders that are known at this time, a lot of those things will be adjusted as we get closer to the june budget. what is known currently has been incorporated. also incorporated are some of the department's previously funded initiatives, pertaining to outreach to equipment, fleet, and also hiring. and while we are not submitting until next week, there is still some changes that will be made in the budget regarding rates, regarding work orders, number of things. so, that may change from what's

before you, but no material or operational changes between what you see now and eventually submitted. so, just wanted to highlight some of the changes. as i mentioned, revenues, i'll start with that. in the documentation that was proposed to you, there is some increases in fire prevention revenues to align with projected current activity as well as some policy changes that we are still working out, specifically pertaining to some of the administrative hearings that were approved in legislation, whereas previously the department was able to issue a notice of correction and now some of the changes require us to do notice of violation. so, we have seen an increase with that, increase in the number of administrative hearings. we are working on a fee structure for that with the city attorney's office. but we have made some assumptions in the current year budget. in addition, increased some of the other items, including

overtime to correspond to current actual, and that's at request of customers. in addition, we have kept the ambulance e.m.s. revenue constant. there are a few, we'll be working very closely with the mayor's office over the next few months for that portion of it. a few changes, legislative changes at the state level, we are currently analyzing their impact, whether they will be positive or negative for department revenues. and shifts in the insurance demographic, working with, very closely with the billing company and the mayor's office over the next couple months. looking at administration and support services, no major changes there, just some work orders, workers comp, central, and settled over the next couple

months as departments submit to the mayor's office their fee schedules and their cost for services, so those will be dealt with on a citywide level. at this time we don't know a lot of those rates, but those roadway worked on with the mayor's office over the next couple months. fire prevention, there are a few changes. there's a reclassification of a couple vacant positions to fund fire protection engineers in the bureau, that will assist a plan check. it's -- the budget currently proposes the continuation of some of the outreach efforts by the department. majority of that was funded by the department of building inspection, so we anticipate that continuing over the next couple years. those funds for staffing mainly are recouped through a work order. we have continued funding the two projects in fire prevention, both based from fee revenues and that's pertaining to a fleet, fire prevention fleet replacement, as well as our fire facilities renewal for our

satellite office on oak street. as i mentioned, we have adjusted our overtime to reflect current activity. we have seen last year and projected. and additionally, additional fire prevention staff allocated, both to the port of san francisco as well as the airport. operationally, to date, salary and benefits rates have been adjusted with known information. one of the questions that had come up previously and just overall as you may know, a lot of the m.o.u. negotiations are ongoing between the city and firefighters union, so any changes or any financial impacts, budget-wise as a result of those negotiations will be incorporated into our budget at a later date. but obviously since those are not known at this time, they are not included in the department's proposal. as i mentioned before, the budget highlights the continuation of the fleet and equipment plan in fiscal year

2019, allocated over $5 million as part of last year's allocation for the first year here. working with the mayor's office on that allocation in the second year, fiscal 19-20, but the fleet plan, the third year of the five-year plan and the minimum allocation set forth in that plan is $3 million, so we'll be working closely with the mayor's office on that allocation. continuation of the mayor's public safety plan, both for e.m.t. paramedics, and also for entry level firefighters, so we anticipate that hiring plan will continue through fiscal year 20. we are working with the mayor's office on e.m.s. ambulance staffing, so, there was an analysis done a couple years ago that set forth our staffing levels of 200 s.t.e.s. we feel given the call volume and the increase in such call volume we would need additional

personnel for the support services, and we will be working closely with the mayor's office as they perform their budget. additionally, just additional training and operational staff added to the airport, pertaining to some of the training over there, three additional training personnel as well as we discussed at the last meeting, bike medic program f.t.e.s. to give a brief update on the status of the budget committee. reconvened for the current year process. we have met multiple times leading up to this point and continue meeting the next few months as the budget process continues. included in your packet was a list of some of the results of need assessment for the department submitted by division head, field and members of the budget committee and discussed those in length and anticipate discussing those with the mayor's office. so, they have graciously offered to host a meeting with the

budget committee at city hall and we are currently in the process of scheduling that, most likely for early march. so, we have done that the past couple years, where the mayor's office gives an overview of the city's financial outlook, the budget process instructions and then serves as kind of a q and a session with the budget committee. we have had some initial discussions at the budget committee on how we would like to use that time, and i think it would be for highlighting the priorities of the department going forward, so we'll be meeting internally prior to that meeting, but that's on the radar working with the mayor's office over the next month. as far as what we are actually proposing before you, so, the department, the budget proposal before you does not meet the target reductions as put forth by the mayor's office, given some of the lack of flexibility we have with regard to salary and benefit commitments, as well as maintaining minimum staffing

levels. not a lot of room for reductions that does not have an operational impact, so, our proposal is to continue to work with the mayor's office over the next few months on many of those issues as they move forward toward finalizing their budget. and as mentioned, also looking to continue the discussion with regards to e.m.s. staffing over the next few months as well. and with that, i would like to open to any questions for discussion. >> president cleaveland: thank you, any public comment, seeing none, public comment is closed. i'll ask our vice president to begin the conversation on the budget today as he was a part of that committee that met with the department several times on the budget. so, mr. vice president, would you begin the conversation and the questioning on the budget.

>> vice president nakajo: thank you very much, mr. president. as you requested, in terms of at least starting the discussion with the commissioners on the docket, i just wanted to say a few comments and then again, mr. president, recognition of the members of our commission to chime in. thank you for your comprehensive preventtation. in a nutshell, commissioners, in terms of page 11 the budget proposal, i pretty much support the budget proposal as is being presented. i know in detail that several questions can be addressed, both in terms of our decision to basically not meet the target reduction, which is very similar, exactly similar to what we did last year. and i'm speaking for me, myself in terms of interpretation,

based on the demand of services that we need to provide to the citizens of this great city. it seemed a sense of responsibility upon our part, both operationally as well as how that operation dictates itself through budget or budget reductions that we just simply cannot do that. i think it's irresponsible in terms of being the fire department to look at how then do we meet the growing demand in the city as well as the population. i also wanted to say that this budget committee that was reconvened, is really important and again, i'm going to make some references in terms of longevity with this commission, but there was a time as being a participant on this commission that the budget process was done by a few individuals within the department. the history goes all the way from the commission secretary at one point had a lot of input in

terms of how the budget was put together. i remember during chief demon's era we had the ability to hire a budget director and they would create the budget and the most important piece part of the budget presentation that reflects itself in terms of the contemporary budget presentations that we have had over the last couple years is the inclusion of the members of the department. i just have to say again that that's really important. the three budget meetings that you have called, director, i believe i have attended two of these meetings, the first one, the second one i couldn't, the last i attended with the commission colleague, and basically what it is, it keeps on reinforcing to me as a commissioner the importance of the chief, when she put that budget committee together based on her initiative as well, but initiative by this commission

and by the department that asks the chief of the department to have more inclusion with the make-up of the budget. realistically, how are we going to operate as a department if we don't have the input of the various chiefs and the responsibility areas of prevention to airport, to suppression, to e.m.s., every component of that with the infrastructure. and i must tell you, colleagues, that i felt really good about it, because the staff that's there now, not saying that the staff there was previously part of this, is a very keen staff that knows what their duties and tasks are. i was delighted within the dialogue that occurs at these budget meetings because these chiefs know that what they have to do is create an analysis of what their needs are immediately, but under the restrains of our marching orders. and basically what's happening is that we are ready as a department with justification not trying to meet the target

reduction but the other part about that is that we are going to still try to submit to this mayor's office and to the budget our enhancement items, and our enhancement items from grant writers to marine units to the various components on the list are all brought by the budget meetings by us on the commission as well as the members and the officers. when we met last and the conclusion is always restraint of what we need as a department based on limitations. i think the agreed upon conclusion and i left a little early, was the chiefs themselves attending with conjunction with yourself, director, and the chief's office, that we would agree to at least prioritize the top three of every unit area. all of these multiple areas, in training, in support service, in the airport, in fire prevention, so that no one unit is left out.

and that's what it's going to take. it takes that kind of inclusion so that the chiefs can take control of their budget, having the dialogue among their membership and what the need is, bring it back realistically. hear ourselves as a commission to the marching orders and try to submit. i felt very good about the process, mr. president and fellow colleagues. i felt the enhancement list advocates for the items that we wanted to have realistically. it's not saying we can't have other components, such as a marine unit or rescue squad, that we need to use the resources that we have, we have to deal with the hand we are dealt out with and we have to be able to come into compliance. number one thing that i think that we shouldn't do is to delay this process of submittal. we, the fire department i feel, with being members of the commission, we take care of

business, we do what we are asked. we submit and the negotiation period between now and the mayor's office with the board of supervisors in this very challenging political atmosphere of having the mayor in place until june, after that it's an area of perhaps almost two years. we got to be able to work with, but that does not negate any responsibility by us, the fire department and the fire commission in terms of what our responsibility is. so, i feel good about this budget. i think we should submit. i'm going to recommend that we move on it. might be a little premature until we have the discussion among the colleagues, but i wanted to say that particular comments as well as give you that input and i'm looking at my notes and i keep on seeing it's about as good as it gets at this point. that's not saying that we are compromising anything, because we went through this process. so, commissioners, colleagues, i'll stop at this particular point and ask the president to indulge the rest of the

commission for discussion. thanks, director corseau. >> president cleaveland: thank you, mr. vice president, and for your leadership on the budget discussions. commissioner. >> commissioner veronese: thanks for coming. like you had a choice, right? i appreciate everything you do, really. the san francisco fiscal year operating budget that's in front of us, i want to just kind of go through that quickly if you don't mind. >> sure thing. >> commissioner veronese: on page 14, you talk about, 14 out of 86, you talk about the revenues, the ambulance billings, you have $139 million in ambulance billings. now, i'm assuming what that means to a layperson is that every time the ambulance goes out, they create a bill and they

send that bill to the patient and the patient's insurance either covers it, doesn't cover it, and what's not covered the patient should cover, is that correct? >> yes, so the way it works, when our crews respond, they'll generate electronic patient care record for each encounter, which is mandated. and that record is then sent to the billing company where they run scans on individual's insurance, and then if they are, they send letters to the billing, to the patient if they are unable to find insurance, they work with medicare, medical, private reimbursement. and sent and follow-up with the patient themselves and after a certain portion of time, if they are unable to get any movement on that account, it's then turned over to the city's tax collector bureau for follow-up on that side. [please stand by]

the flat rates are established at a federal level. if we have a $2,000 ambulance bill, we get reimbursement of $450 on that and there's no flexibility. the remaining balance is written off and shows up, the remaining amount goes into that bucket for adjustments. for population where they do not have insurance, those charges eventually end up in that bucket as well. >> commissioner veronese: so, if these numbers are pretty constant? over the years? >> for the most part. in general it doesn't change. in some cases they have been

reduced. >> commissioner veronese: are we running that or is that general? >> it's been between 20-25%. >> commissioner veronese: i'm talking about the losses. is it possible that we have lost a billion dollars over 10 years? >> potentially yes, the amount of write-offs and adjustments to that degree. yeah. you're in that neighborhood. why are we giving out free healthcare to people if we're not looking to get it back. there's probably a huge number

of the population a that is homeless and we just started tracking the homeless related calls and should give us more data on what the numbers probably look like. but this is almost a third of the budget. we have a long wish list of things we would like to have. we wouldn't have to go to the mayor's office and begging for extra things if we actually had this. this is a third of our budget. i'm not saying this is on you, i'm not accusing you of doing this, but there has to be a better way of doing business where we're losing over 10 years, billions of dollars. like give it to them for free because it should be a service we have or actually collect it. i think muni went through that debate as well.

that's probably something that we really need to look at the number. it's not a number to ignore because it could be doing other things. we need to dive into the number and figure out how it's happening and if it's revenue or a big waste of time. if it is a big waste of time, then this should be the number we start negotiations with the mayor's office, hey look, a billion dollars every 10 years we're losing because of the great service we provide to the city that is necessary. >> just a few comments on that, we set our fees as the total cost of providing ems services. we're talking everything from the staff, ambulances, supplies, engine response, i think some of those -- i don't think the number has drastically increased.

some of the costs have been associated and absorbed in the general fund. that's been the strategy to provide the services and care. some of that, a big portion of that i don't think you're going to get anything from because they're mainly for medicare and medical patients. given the state rules, for those $18,000 on an account, we don't have recourse for that. one program ground emergency transport, that allows leverage -- program to leverage federal funds to supplement some of the reimbursement to the tune of $2 million a year for those calls. there are a number of programs that have been vetted or in process at the state level to kind of identify it. i wouldn't say by any means are we alone in this issue.

given patient demographics, that various across jurisdictions but they don't reimburs for the total cost of providing services. >> commissioner veronese: so that 20 million being paid back in the system is a mixture of people who can afford it and insurance companies. so it's 1 or 2% of the state for the number. >> correct. mainly private insurance, state and federal government and people who self-pay on their own. >> commissioner veronese: it gets more and more expensive to live in this city, doesn't it? >> absolutely. >> commissioner veronese: that's something we need to keep our eye on. moving to page 16.

line 25, chief i see you have a zero budget for entertainment and promotion. >> yes. >> commissioner veronese: i'd have to say there should be some numbers in that, because i know this department does promote itself. so we're probably just absorbing that but joking aside, that number is probably less accurate, i know we have a department that does a lot of promotions, for the health department, speaking of those guys with the $3 billion budget. so that number is probably not as realistic, right? >> i would say that's a technical category of expenditures, a lot of it is materials and supply, based on outreach and things like that, 040 materials and supplies line,

it doesn't represent the efforts, it's more of a technical explanation of expenditures. >> i would add with public education for fire bureau, where we purchase materials that we use at our public safety fairs and so forth, we make it work. >> commissioner veronese: online 29 you have maintenance service equipment. is this the amount that we are paying to central shops to fix our rigs? >> no, that's line -- on the next page -- page 17, that represents the work order amount for central shops, including the ladder shop, machine shop over there and then the maintenance and repair on our vehicles.

>> commissioner veronese: we're paying $5.5 million every year to fix our rigs. we have put in as part of the budget to try to get this year -- is it right we're trying to get our own employees to fix rigs as well? >> similar to that, in regards to dpw and facility related expenditures we have, we are requesting to have our own employees related to some of those mechanics, electricians, etc cetera and we have discussed that in previous years as well. we feel that would be a more efficient use of resources and allow the department to prioritize work as needed by the department. >> commissioner veronese: is that ask a part of our wish list not in the budget, an add-on or in this budget? >> we adhere to the instructions on no new net fte's in our budget but they're on the

additional items for discussion with the mayor's budget office. >> commissioner veronese: has there been an analysis to how much we could save if we're paying $5.5 million to central shops, if we had our own person doing it? >> not -- i don't think in depth. we have discussed it in the past and there's been a number of issues through supervision, having those types of personnel allocated to a different department. those are issues we're continuing to work with the mayor's budget on. i think the department's position is it would result overall in savings and efficiencies if there was an employee within the department's responsibility. >> commissioner veronese: we had a truck off line for two or three months at central shops, isn't that right? >> correct. so we're working closely with city administration and central shops to streamline some of the

process. this doesn't necessarily represent all central shop employee work. so certain jobs, given the kind of complexities of our apparatus, they will contract out as needed to complete the work with certain certified venders, so ways of streamlining the process is currently what we're working with the shops on. >> commissioner veronese: got it. so we're asking the city for our own central shops guy, but there are some circumstances where we send our rigs to central shops and they send it to a third party? >> correct. >> commissioner veronese: sounds pretty inefficient to me. >> there are efficiencies to be gained for sure. >> commissioner veronese: i think we need to press hard. i have been on this commission at least a year now, close to a year and this was a topic of discussion last year. i would hate to have it be a topic of discussion again next year, especially since i have been to a number of the stations

-- having these things, these rigs are literally a part of the family for a lot of these guys. they live and breathe on these things. having them off line or not fixed or not working is a life safety issue and something we need to press hard on because central shops, if it's not being as efficient as we could be, then we should just do it. i think that's the attitude we need as far as that particular individual is concerned. page 23, a brief mission of line 0114, the city should be pleased to know they're getting their $6,000 well spent on this commission. there's severe efficiencies going on in that line.

there should be more volunteer hours in this department like in this commission. we can get the numbers down to $6,000. job well done commissioners. way to keep the numbers low. >> cheap labor. must be non union. >> for sure. just one other item. i notice on page 81, you have work at stations for new kitchens, 2, 6, 8, 8, 10, all the way down to 43. is that money that is budgeted for next year. >> i failed to highlight, at the end of the budget book there before you is the capital and it budgets previously vetted at the

earlier meeting in january. this is the department's budget request. that portion of funding is part of the 33 and $53 million request through the capital planning committee. that's a bit of a separate process and those requests have been submitted and we'll be meeting with capital planning to advocate for the department. >> commissioner veronese: chief, did you want to add something? okay. so that money is money we have to get permission for, it's currently not allocated. >> correct. >> commissioner veronese: i had the pleasure of being invited to station 8 and had dinner there last monday. as i mentioned before, this is money well spent, although i think 3 $10,000 for a kitchen,

you should get marble tables. >> those are estimates. there's a fuller in depth assessment on all department facility, kitchen is a subcategory they're reviewing. >> commissioner veronese: can we make sure when the department spends that type of money on the kitchen, we're getting them refrigerators and yutensils so they're not paying for it. >> i believe that funding is for the fixed equipment or furnishing -- not furnishings, the fridges i think are covered but utensils and so forth i don't think are covered. >> so usually the dish washer and stove is supplied by the department. the refrigerators are usually

supplied by the members. also when we build a new facility all the appliances are included. that's been our policy for quite a while. >> commissioner veronese: i know what's usually done but if we're going to spend $300,000 in a kitchen, can we include everything in the kitchen? i mean is there a policy, is there a rumor a law that says we can't buy utensils and refrigerators and washing machines and these types of things that our troops could use in their stations? >> i'm not sure the answer to that, but i will say once the city or the department supplies any item to the firefighters, we're then on the hook to maintain and repair them for the life and even replace them in the future. whereas at this point, we maintain and repair washing

machines -- excuse me dish washers and stoves and then at the new stations we give them that in the beginning. >> commissioner veronese: i hear what's usually done. i hope with the amount of money spent here we can think outside the box and pay for internet and cable, i'm not stopping at kitchen. internet, cable, dishwashers, all these things people use, i don't think firefighters should have to pay for it themselves. >> we'll look at it. cable is not covered and i don't know that that would be something that -- that should be covered by the city personally. internet certainly. i hear what you're saying and we'll see what can be done. >> commissioner veronese: thank you chief.

and then one final item i wanted to -- that we did discuss at the budget meeting. i looked at the chart in the document here, has an 1832, has two under your department. >> 1823 to clarify. >> commissioner veronese: thank you chief. i'm dyslexic over here. are those in your department filled or new positions or are they vacant positions and are we getting a grant writer out of one of those positions, if not, where are we getting a grant writer this year? >> so currently one position is filled. they're not new positions. we had somebody in a long-term leave in one of them that separated. that position is open and we're

currently recruiting for it and the idea is that position would work on contracts and grants to assist with those two areas that have been identified as needs for the department. that's currently what we're looking at given current resources. part of the needs assessment as discussed here and budget committee is the need for additional position for grant writer specifically. there's not a specific for grant writers, it's usually analyst with experience or supply training to fulfill that -- those goals and that job duty. but we're simultaneously looking at current resources, what we can do to fund some type of resources for grant writing as well as at the same time advocate for additional resources. >> commissioner veronese: so what i didn't hear you say, that's going to be a grant writer. is that going to be a grant

writer? >> it is anticipated that will be a part of the person's function. >> commissioner veronese: so this time next year we will have a grant writer in the department. >> we hope to expand to other personnel as well through training or through other kinds of means to have additional grant writing resources. that position we hope to have it filled and part of that responsibility for that position will be grant writing. >> commissioner veronese: what does that mean? are you going to fill it with a grant writer? >> correct. i don't think their sole job duty is writing grants but it would be scope of that person's responsibility. >> commissioner veronese: okay. and what would that position do other than grant writing? >> grant administration as well, the financial end of it, reporting, those duties and in addition to relates to grants as

well. contracting. the city has a complex contracting process and we definitely need additional resources in that area. the idea would be that person's duties would be split between grant writing, administration and contracts. >> commissioner veronese: so most of the duties of that position will be a grant writer. grant-related. >> grant-related yes, and contracts related to grants. >> commissioner veronese: when do you anticipate having them hired? >> we're working with currently an eligibility list open, i have to check with hr but we hope over the next month to be able to solicit resumes and set up interviews and be able to bring somebody on board. >> commissioner veronese: you will ensure they have experience in grant writing and grant -- >> yes.

>> commissioner veronese: thank you chief. >> if i may commissioner, i'm going to pass out, i did ask mr. corso -- we could always improve and for a skill set for the grant writing we will, i'm going to pass down -- if commissioner hardeman would assist -- we can always get better but 33.66 and there's one for commission secretary as well if there's an extra. just to frame the discussion.

>> commissioner veronese: do you know how much the police department received last year? >> i don't but there are more grant writing opportunities for police than fire services. i don't know. i'm not sure if you do -- >> commissioner veronese: i don't. i wasn't setting you up. i would guess three or four times than what we're getting if not more. >> possibly. and again, i know there are more grant opportunities that are out there for law enforcement. >> commissioner veronese: i would say especially since the way we have seen fires in california over the past year, there's probably more out there. that said, what i'm hearing from this department is there's going to be a grant writer in the next three or four months and i'm pleased to hear that. on the issue of just generally on the budget, as i mentioned

before -- this is not specifically to you, you can stand there but this is not directed at you. i was not put on this commission to waste my time. none of us are on here to waste our time. i'm not here to go along -- and get along if i see something that i don't think is right. this budget is an opportunity and this budget comes around once a year. it's an opportunity for this commission to stand up and say this is the direction we want to see this department go because where money flows, things get done. it's not our duty to every year rubber stamp what the department is handing us and say yes, department, you're doing a great job, we're going to do the same thing again next year.

i don't believe when someone says playing within the rules or a box, i don't think that this is not about rules, it's about playing within the box. i don't think there is a box. i think our job as commissioners is to deliver a state of the art fire department to the people of the city. and this is where we do it in this budget. the health department has a $2.5 billion budget and they anticipate they will be $400 million in deficit this year. we have a 300 -- i believe $336 million budget and as we saw, we're losing $100 million, almost a third, $100 million a year because our station 49 is doing an amazing job at providi providing 911 service to people who need it and we're not able to collect it because i imagine a lot of those people who need it also can't afford it.

that's fine. that's what we're about, we're the city of st. francis and we do that and this department does an amazing job to do that. but i'm not here to rubber stamp my budget and that's not my job and frankly commissioners, it's not your job either. you should look at the budget and say this is where we need help. as i look at the wish list that we have come up with, the department has come up with, this is not us, the department has come up with it and some of it is our input, we have things on there that's absolutely necessary for the city. a lot of the stations are rundown. the firefighters who live there love them dearly but a lot of them are run down. a lot of the trucks are breaking down and through the leadership of this commission, you guys did a great job of being the squeaky

wheel before i got here to make sure we get more people and more rigs but the reason it happened is because you spoke out, not because you rubber-stamped a budget and that's your job and you guys did a great job of doing that. but there is more to be done for this department. as we saw from department of emergency management, we play a key role in making sure that this city doesn't fall apart when there's an emergency. a key role, and frankly, we need a lot more money to do that to our absolute best. and that's just my opinion and some of these things in here are absolutely necessary. they're not things that we should be saying let's wait until next year. a dedicated marine unit. we have seen over the past year since i have been on here, i get a text two or three times a week of someone on a cliff or in the water, i imagine 10 years ago

that wasn't true. i have seen the state department's marine unit, they have new boats and everything. it's down at the pier. we should be looking at being a part of that, being the als portion of their marine unit, combining marine units or doing our own. but it's one thing to put it on this list every year and it's another to absolutely demand that it happens because we want to be a state of the art department. there are other things on here, a majority of what's on this list and the reason i speak about a grant writer because a majority of what is on the list could be dealt with with grant writers. we shouldn't have to go to the mayor's office begging for money every year. because we have a grant writer we can get things like mobile air replacements, i mean, why

does our department not have a mobile air replacement. we should absolutely have that. and i believe if i'm correct, these are the mobile -- these vehicles that replenish air tanks when they're in the field. i see our drone program is on here as well. we don't have any drones. we are the center of technology in the world and we don't have drones. i think a grant writer is absolutely necessary. i don't think that's something we should approve the budget without. i will not vote yes for this budget unless i'm assured as i have been that we'll have a grant writer. and there are other things we should stand our ground on, when the time comes you speak to the

mayor about this. i don't think budget is finalized because the union is going to request a bunch of things as well. i hope that part of what the union is asking for is an increase in membership of the unit, there is no more important unit than the stress unit in the department. that's my opinion. i see he there is one member of the stress unit currently there. and in the next two weeks i'm going to be distributing to the commission, the chief and to the unions, a minimum standards for the stress unit. it's a six page document that details exactly the type of stuff that we should be doing as a stress unit in san francisco. it will be a state of the art stress unit, minimum standards, probably doesn't exist anywhere in the united states but what it does do, it says we care about our members at the