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tv   Government Access Programming  SFGTV  August 11, 2018 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT

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fire department. i want to make sure that we don't step in that in going through this process with the building department and that we're being thoughtful of the interests of the stakeholders, as well, who are actually going to be creating this housing. because the end goal is to create the housing. let's make sure that we're incentivizing people to do that. safety now has a very strain
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rent regulations for pumps that
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are inside, and there would have to be a lot more equipment added to qualify this new fuel tank, but because of the limited space in front of station 16, there's a lot of utilities, and there's just not a lot of area to add more equipment. we were able to remedy it by adding -- by removing the pump from inside of the tank and putting it up on the wall, which kind of required a complete redesign. we have a -- public health is involved, d.p.h., d.b.i., it's kind of added a whole new dimension. and the tank had to be special ordered. so with that being said, we're now looking at early november as a completion date where our members could move in. >> what did that do to the increase in costs? >> so i believe that there's a
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document document there's a fixed cost, but there are liquidated damages for the contractor for possibly not doing his due diligence and being aware of new regulations. i think d.p.w. is currently working with the contractor and kind of finalizing that. we have not received a final cost or a -- some document showing all of the numbers at this point, but i believe that is happening currently. they've brought in deputy director of d.p.w. to be involved in this project to ensure that the funds are being used properly and that if there are any delays caused by, you know, the -- the contractor not doing his due diligence, it's not coming out of city covers. >> okay. if you could keep us updated.
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>> i absolutely will. i actually met yesterday with d.p.w. and the contractor and we're going to be getting some documentation by the end of the week, which would be happy to forward. >> commissioner veronese: and when we're keeping an eye on these tanks, we're keeping an eye on the cancer numbers on the firefighters? >> yes. there's extremely strict regulations with fuels, the way it's used, so we're abiding by all state and local regulations. >> commissioner veronese: okay. thank you for that report. finally, i just wanted to congratulate the chief on her award. it says something about san francisco, but more importantly, it says something about what her own colleagues throughout the nation think of her service, and so big props to the chief. we're very proud of you. she's not here today because
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she's seaccepting the award, s hopefully, she gets to spend some extra time in texas and gets some r & r. well deserved. >> i'm sure she'll watch this when she comes back. >>commissioner cleaveland: okay. thank you, commissioner veronese. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: just a follow up. thank you. urp talki you were talking about the ambulances and the delays. i agree with chief covington, i'd like to move it along, but i think it's very important for everybody involved, the ambulances to do this little test run and find out monday morning, the commissioners had a meeting down at the headquarters, and the great to see so many people involved. in other words, it wasn't just a top down thing. in other words, it wasn't just a lot of command staff, but looking at that ambulance, it was like a beehive.
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i was trying to stick my nose in a little as i was getting some coffee. but i like the fact that you bring people in. when you bring people in, you get an opinion on a lot of things, so that was good. i'm glad to see you going in the right direction, and i'm glad to see you didn't settle for something -- because i have heard some complaints about the small one being too small, so you've dealt with it, and good job on that. you satisfied for the on time for ambulances? you doing okay? you meeting your goals? i was reading the report, and i always like to get the expert to explain the report. it looks like we're doing all right. >> good morning, commissioners, chief. yeah, we're doing okay. we're making our response times well within the response times as you can see in our stats
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sheet. the staff shop is keeping the ambulances involved, and we are meeting our goals. >> commissioner hardeman: right. as commissioner covington was saying, it's nice to see us back on track. and then also talking about the difficulties in driving? san francisco, when i was on the public utilities commission, we had the -- the m.t.a. was part of the public utilities and didn't break off on its own. that was a big thing. driving the big bus, just like an ambulance driver or firefighter driving in this town, it's difficult. it's one of the most difficult cities in the world to navigate. all of the vehicles take a beating, and our ambulances are no exception to that. they take a beating, too. >> i would think the ambulances, the engines, the fire trucks, i would commend
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all of our members to be able to maneuver and get to the jobs on time. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner hardeman. you've obviously not driven in rome. >> commissioner hardeman: yeah, the seven hills of rome. >>commissioner cleaveland: vice president niakajo, you ha a question? >> commissioner nakajo: yeah. i was able to, with the president, observe and be in the smaller two rigs that we looked at. and so again, the reinforced comment of how tight it was, it was tight, just from my observation, not being a professional within that. in terms of the los angeles rig and what was out on monday, 'cause i wasn't there, i know they were talking about different -- different sizes.
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it was the los angeles size something more that we're looking at or are we looking at something that's more custom built to our accommodation? i think if we are, we might have crossed the line -- i guess what i'm asking is are we looking for more of a custom design based on san francisco? >> that's a great question. good morning, commissioners, chief. chief tony riff i ra. so for example, los angeles currently uses type one, which is the chassis of a pickup truck, which is a stronger, heavy, chassis, and then, they put the box on the back. i think for san francisco, it would be challenging for us because it makes the vehicle longer and also, you don't have the ability to speak to members in the back. you'd have to hookup some type of electronic speaker where you
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wouldn't have eyes on the patient or the crew. what we've been looking at is similar to what we have, which is a van style, what's called a cut away with a box put on it. it's mostly used by privates like a.m.r., and they have not experienced any cracking of the i am frames, which is our biggest issue with the vehicle. there is the current design that's being used throughout the united states. there's hundreds of them in service. and i would just say there's going to be certain criteria that we're going to need in the ambulance specific to san francisco, but it is not going to be a fully custom vehicle just for san francisco to be able to be used anywhere or to go on deployment. but there are certain criteria that we do need in sffd to maintain our standard for
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vehicle. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much for that, chief. i think you pretty much got a flavor of the commissioners, in terms of what's best for us to go that route, what works best at this particular time. thank you very much, mr. president. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you very much, mr. vice president. chief gonzales, did you have a comment? >> a couple comments, mr. president. one, i might have mentioned that the bike medic was named choker, but it was larry pera, and choker was on that drill to train. and choker was there that day when we looked at the ambulances, and he was the one that i really -- i put a lot of weight into his opinion. he told us about the shooting that they had on the smaller ambulance, and that was tough for them. that sold me. let's go with what's safe for our members 679 secondly, i'd like to address a little of
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what commissioner veronese was alluding do about the a.d.u.s. absolutely, we don't want to stop the process. not to be overly dramatic, but i've been to a couple of fires where we pulled a couple of fatalities out of these units. so we want to make it safe moving forward, bottom line. there's other ways to expedite the process, as well. dan has, like san jose's model. it would cost the city more money for you to bring the plans there, and they can check off all the boxes at once, but that could cost the city. if the city really wants to get these units going, then there's an investment that you've got to put forth in order to do that. our concern is always the stast -- safety of our citizens and safety of us. i think it's going to happen. we're going to work well together, and i think after you see this flow chart, you're
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going to be convinced that we're putting our best foot forward. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, chief gonzales. i just had one question. of the number of cliff rescues a year, how many do you see in. >> i've got that number from michelle malik, but i have to put that all together. >>commissioner cleaveland: okay. good enough. i think we're all concerned about the speed with which a.d.u.s get approved through the fire department. at this point, what do you think is the average time? >> i'm going to have the fire marshal come up on this. he wanted to know how much time it takes the a.d.u.s to get through. >> good morning. right now, it's taken in and put in the bin for review, and it's first come, first serve. we are creating a separate section where it comes in, it goes right to that section. so right now, typically, it's eight weeks or so is the bin time. so i'd say on average, eight
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weeks, some, a little more, but with our new section, it'll be cut in half, if not better. it'll really expedite things. >>commissioner cleaveland: and how many do you have in right now? 60? >> yeah, but we eventually expect to have five or 600. what chief gonzales mentioned, i like san jose's model. they have an over the counter process, but they have a side room model, up to four hours type of review. what they do is they bring all departments, planning, building, fire, everything into one room. they'll bring the plans in, and they'll all look at the plans together and work through the plans and really comment right there. they're routing through each department. >>commissioner cleaveland: when you have height restrictions, do you have give an exemption for that? >> no.
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all these a.d.u.s have to be within the shell of the building already. >>commissioner cleaveland: but they have to dig it out if the garage is not high enough, and you have to have -- how many feet -- >> yeah. so -- for the height clearance -- yeah, but we haven't done into that problem. again, our problem has been the single exit. when they want to utilize the single exit. the code does allow for the single exit. we're not making this up. it's when the designer cannot meet all of the requirements for the single exit. the requirement is you fully sprinkler the building. if i want a single exit, now, i have to springle the entire billion. so -- sprinkle the entire building. so what we're asking for is something they have to do already any way. they have to bring in water and install sprinklers. so we're saying give us a
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protected, fire rated passionage way, give us a fire alarm throughout the building, where most of those don't have fire alarms. the california fire code and building code, you don't need a fire alarm in an r 2 until you hit 17 units. in san francisco in the late 80's, there was an amendment that once you hit seven units, you have to have a fire aremain la, but that was only after buildings built after '88. but we have a number of buildings built before up to 16 units. but what this is going to do, we're going to have a fire alarm panel that's going to be monitored off-site for early warning and quite response by the fire department. we're going to have a much safer building than we do today. >>commissioner cleaveland: what do you think it costs to put a sprinkler system in on the first floor? >> it depends, if you do a 13 or 13-r fire system.
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i think it's 25,000 just for the tieing. it's expensive. if you have a 13-r, you can have a combination service meaning for domestic and fire service -- a combination meter. so a number of these buildings may have adequate size line coming in. it's just a matter of changing over to a combination service for sprinklering 13-r. >>commissioner cleaveland: these accessory dwelling units starts with planning, how long does it take -- >> that's the biggest hurdle i've been told. once it gets to building, once it gets to fire, it's relatively quick, but planning, that's the biggest one. i'd like to say these requirements in the code, for
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at d.u -- for a.d.u.s, it's th law. we can come up with equivalencies, and that's what we're trying to do. we're trying to give theum acan't alternative plans to take and not just shutdown the project, so that's what we're trying to do here. >>commissioner cleaveland: i appreciate you working with the department of building inspection and coming up with kind of a joint process to make it a little more expedited than normal. >> we're very close. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you for that. i look forward, and i think our commission looks forward to reading the advisement that you're putting together. >> thank you. >>commissioner cleaveland: i think we're all really proud of our fire chief named by the international association of fire chiefs the professional or career fire chief of the year, so kudos to joanne hayes-white.
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all right. madam clerk, would you read the next item. krerk clerk resolution 2018-03. resolution recommending that the board of supervisors authorize the san francisco fire department to accept a donation of a prove prop valued at $24,417 from j.n.j. roof prop for the department's training division. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you. sl any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam clerk, would you read the resolution in the record? >> clerk: i believe chief sotto was going to come up and explain that. >> good morning. phil sotto, director of training. we're asking for you to> pass
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resolution for a donated rof top at 19th and fulton. this allows us to vary the types of roofs that we practice on. it could be ground level, we could adjust the pitch of the roof to different steepness, to, you know, get our firefighters used to different angles. and it's very helpful once we have all our fixed props at 19th and folsom and treasure island. our firefighters go out there several times a year and get used to it. this will allow to increase the level of training. >>commissioner cleaveland: did you have a presentation that u you wanted to show us? >> i just have a flier.
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>> clerk: can you turn on the overhead? there you go. >> that's just a brochure from the company, and their donation would also include installation, and labor costs. >>commissioner cleaveland: okay. did we want to read that resolution into the record? >> yeah. >>commissioner cleaveland: and i'm sure we'll have you come back in a second to answer any questions. >> clerk: whereas j.n.j. roof prop has gifted the san francisco fire department with a roof prop training valued at 24,417. and whereas j.n.j. roof prop used knowledge from active firefighters to design a roof prop to aallow fire departments to conduct realistic training scenarios, and it assists with providing members a simulation of cutting ventilation holes in a roof that are not easily duplicated in a training environment and whereas the fire department's intent for
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the use of this prop would be to provide additional tools for its division of training to improve hands on training for its members. now therefore be it resolved that the fire commission recommends that the board of supervisors accept the gift of a roof prop values at $24,417 from j.n.j. roof prop for the san francisco fire department's training division and further, the san francisco fire department extend their thanks to j.n.j. roof prop. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, madam clerk. commissioner covington, you had a question or a comment? >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. president, and thank you, mr. -- excuse me, chief sotto, for your report. this is quite a nice gift for the training unit, the training
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division. so i see here the brochure they had the price for wall mount being very high, in $7,900, and the price range for freestanding, the highest would be $12,500. but the units referred to in the resolution is $24,000. so are there two separate units? are there multiple units or is this some super duper unit created for this department? >> this is one of the freestanding unit. the price variance is because of the size, but they're also including in their delivery and installation of the unit.
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>> commissioner covington: i see, okay. so delivery and installation. so that's a number of man hours that's going to -- okay. and is there any -- thank you, commissioner veronese, thank you. i'm sitting here -- is there anything that they expect from us in terms of advertising for them? i think just an acknowledgement or a letter of appreciation. >> commissioner covington: a letter of appreciation, okay, so they would put that in their portfolio as they're going around, selling these. all right. i think it's a very good idea, and i would like to move this item. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you very much, commissioner covington. is there a second? >> seconded. >>commissioner cleaveland: and for further discussion, i think chief gonzales wanted to ask something or add something? >> thanks, president. i just want to formally thank on the record j.n.j. roofing. thank you very much.
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much appreciated. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you. and vice president nakajo, you had a comment? >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much. in terms of this, it has a brisbane, california address. is this manufacturer a local bay area product manufacturer? >> i believe so. i believe they state in there it is made in the bay area. it is designed by some firefighters in the sonoma area, i believe, but the manufacturer's in this area. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. i think that would be something important to us, that a local vendor manufactured this, but in terms of the donation and who's donating, again, from the line of work that i've done for years is that whoever donates, i know a letter of appreciation is part of that, but that would be really good for us to know who they are so we can
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recitizenship row indicar reciprocate in emergency roter forward. thank you, mr. president. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, vice president nakajo. i think this is an example of things that we need as our training if a ilt is. if you have a wish list, as commissioners, we'll make sure this gets out, so maybe we'll have additional contributions and donations. again, thanks to j.n.j. roof properties for providing this to four trainees. so we had a motion by commissioner covington, seconded by commissioner hardeman. all in favor of accepting this gift, say aye? passed. >> clerk: commission report, report on commission activities since last meeting on july 25,
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2018. >>commissioner cleaveland: is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, anything to report? i see no names here. i do have one thing. i met with officials from the academy of art this last week regarding one of our very deteriorat deteriorated historic fire department engines, and we're hoping the academy of art will adopt it and restore it, and hopefully, there are other companies out there in the city that would be willing to adopt one of our historic engines and fire trucks and fire apparatuses that are desperately in need of being rebuilt and restored, so if there's other companies out there listening, we hope that you'll adopt one of our fire department historic vehicles and restore it, as well. so thank you very much. madam secretary, i guess, call the next item. >> clerk: item seven, agenda
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for next and future fire commission meetings. >>commissioner cleaveland: is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioner veronese? >> commissioner veronese: thank you. i think the commission should -- as commissioner nakajo had said earlier, acknowledge the service of ann kronenberg who's been a servant to san francisco for 30 years -- i've known ann for at least 25 years when i worked with her husband in the d.a.'s office. he has since passed. he was a great man, but ann, also, is a wonderful lady and a great servant to this city, and it would be great if this city or the commission, perhaps, sent a letter to ann, acknowledging -- i know we spoke earlier, this may have been last year, about doing certificates of sorts, but --
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from the commission, but at the very least, i think a letter to ann, thanking her for her service would be appropriate. secondly, i wanted to -- the stress unit needs to be -- stress unit, a resolution needs to be agendaized for a future meeting. i would also like to put on that list to calendar for a future meeting a future discussion on the housing issue. i know that as the commissioner covington had just mentioned to me, that because this issue is so important to the mayor's office and to the city, and would perhaps even come up in the -- would come up as a -- an issue when the commission has its retreat discussing the priorities of the mayor's office, this is something that is going to require our attention, so i would like this to be further calendared at a
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future meeting to see exactly what the city or the fire department has come up with with the planning and the building department to make sure that it was in fact consistent with the goals of this mayor's office and it would further those goals. in addition, i would like to add an item on a future agenda. i'm not sure whether, but last week, i noticed that the chief had issued additional orders regarding wild land fires and the process of signing up and how the city is responding to wild land fires. i think that i would like to hear from experts or constituents, stakeholders, in the area of cancer and cancer prevention. i know that the 798 has a -- a cancer nonprofit. perhaps we can get somebody to come speak to the commission. i want to make sure that this
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general order, since it's being adopted -- or revised is being revised in a way that anticipates how these wild land fires have become urban fires in a lot of ways and how our firefighters are not only breathing in burned trees and brush but they're also breathing in burned homes and everything that comes along with those. so i want to make sure that we are being thoughtful about this general order. i know the chief is always thoughtful. i'm not accusing her of otherwise, but i'd like to hear from an expert on this particular issue, and if there's something we can do further to further protect our firefighters, whether it's different gear or whatever it is, that we're being thoughtful about that because these fires are becoming year-round deals. and as our climate is -- is changing around us, we should also be changing to reflect some of those new issues that we're addressing in these nier fires. that's it.
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>>commissioner cleaveland: commissioner veronese, did you wish to mention your stair climb which benefits firefighters? >> commissioner veronese: yes. our stair climb, as each of you has received an invitation. it's to benefit firefighters for ptsd. last year it was just to firefighters in california. this year, we're going to -- it's not firefighters, it's for first responders, and that includes fire, police, dispatchers, as well as e.m.s. so it's on september 8. you can find more information on sfstairclimb.com. it would be great if the commission put together a team. we can all virtually climb together or actually climb together, but i expect to see a lot of firefighters out there. we've already surpassed last year's climbing registration.
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i anticipate we'll more than double what happened last year, and it's an all in all great event happen between 8:00 and 12:00 at 555 california. kids can also climb this year, at eight years old and older. it's just a great event, whether or not you climb or not, it would be great to see you. >>commissioner cleaveland: so it is open to the public or not. >> commissioner veronese: it is absolutely open to the public, as long as you're over the age of eight. >>commissioner cleaveland: how do you sign up? >> commissioner veronese: you sign up at sfstairclimb.com. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you. commissioner covington? >> commissioner covington: thank you, i would like to at a future meeting have a presentation by the san francisco black firefighters youth academy so we get a little more information on the trainings that the youth are
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getting. >>commissioner cleaveland: absolutely. is that it? >> commissioner covington: that's it. >>commissioner cleaveland: commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: thank you, president cleaveland. i have no future presentation, but i will tell commissioner veronese that i will be climbing the hills of maui the week of the 18th. five stories is about my max, thanks. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner hardeman. okay. madam secretary, would you call the next item. >> clerk: item eight, possible closed session regarding existing litigation, vote on whether to conduct items 8-b in closed session. >>commissioner cleaveland: is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, what's your pleasure with regards to this closed session -- potential closed session?
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>> so moved, we'll go into closed session, mr. president. >>commissioner cleaveland: all right. it's moved by commissioner hardeman. >> second. >>commissioner cleaveland: seconded by commissioner covington. we go in ckul . >> clerk: we are now back in open session. the time is 10:59 and this is in regards to item 8-b, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, madam secretary. >> clerk: item 9, report on any action in closed session. >>commissioner cleaveland: thank you, madam secretary. commissioners, do you wish to report anything out on this other than a settlement was made and agreed to? motion to keep our conversations private? >> i move to not disclose.
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>>commissioner cleaveland: thank you good. thank you, commissioner hardeman. >> commissioner covington: second. >>commissioner cleaveland: commissioner covington, thank you. all in favor? [voting] >> clerk: item 11 is adjournment. >>commissioner cleaveland: ic would like to adjourn or meeting in memory of captain brian hughes and brandon garney of mariposa. it's really tragic that these two people have died, and it's tragic that we have these fires, so our condolences are sent out to both of these -- the families of both of these firefighters, and i here by adjourn this meeting.
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