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tv   Government Access Programming  SFGTV  September 27, 2018 6:00am-7:01am PDT

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station 43, would have loved to be in that spot. that goes for all of the other stations in the city. every day someone does something outstanding. because you guys don't hear about it, don't think it doesn't happen. chief haze white asked if both of them -- both of the victim survived. they did survive. the first woman we got out was conscious when she came out. the second gentleman was unconscious. he survived because of the entire system. [ please please stand by ]
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>> which is a paramedic scale, but having a nurse right by your side is very helpful. thank you for that. >> it did not help having someone a couple of inches taller than me either to help out. [laughter]
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>> thinking. commissioner veronese, you had a question? his. >> commissioner veronese: you remember it does she mention station 43 is the best and i am sure they are all the best stations. but you must be very proud of yourself. let me tell you, you were put in that situation and not everybody would have done what you had done. and not everybody that has been trained to do what you do would have done what you did. so you should be very proud of yourself. your family should be proud of you. the san francisco family is certainly proud of you, which is one of the reasons why i enjoy doing these things, is because we get to show the real heroes and the people who are out there fighting the fires. and we don't hear about it as much. even as commissioners, we get text messages and we get updates on what is going on out in their
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fields but when you read it, it is never the same as what you guys have gone through. so it is my deepest appreciation to you for putting your lives on the line. for doing it every day and for doing it for us. because you don't do it for you. you don't get paid enough to do what you guys do. so my deepest appreciation, as a lifelong native san franciscan, i appreciate you being there while we sleep. and on behalf of san francisco, i thank you for what you do and what you did. >> thank you spee thank you commissioner. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: i think i got it straight. i said boy that was a screw up
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and nobody corrected me. it shows you how nice everybody is. i would think that steve would have been tapping on the shoulder with his strength and size. >> if you want to hear another story, i finish that off for you >> commissioner hardeman: go ahead. >> would call steve at no time steve because he has less than anyone else in this room. when we took -- when i took the hose off the engine and steve was upset that i was taking the hose from the front door so i could put out the fire, being with the no time, you didn't understand what was going on. so i dropped the line he picked it up and he thought he got something. [laughter] >> i would rather have steve carry me out of a building that myself. steve would have been a person for -- for that. but luck of the draw. >> president cleaveland: thank you bose both. remarkable. saving lives. the best thing about it is anyone who picks up on this
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broadcast now or later can see what the fire department does and how you risk your lives to save people. i was just informed by a firefighter, when i congratulated on his 12,000 last year, he said last year was 15,000. congratulations to you and thank you for starting out as a volunteer, again, like fire marshal pruitt did and continuing. i find my life -- that firefighters seem to volunteer a lot. when i coached t-ball through eighth grade, you could always count on firefighters being out there as coaches. and not just for baseball, but basketball as well. firefighters are great americans i think in this fire department, they are the greatest americans. thank you. >> thank you. >> president cleaveland: commissioner covington?
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>> commissioner covington: thank you, mr president. congratulations, gentlemen. i am happy that you were there and that everything worked out because, you know, i'm sure that that young boy was just terrified that his parents were still in that building and that you were able to bring them out safely. that is a tremendous accomplishment. and then, also, the burn foundation. i remember, what was it, four or five years ago we were talking about how to have more presence in the schools. and now that is done. it was done three or four years ago, i think. that is when the commission heard about it. so that it is also a very important endeavour. thank you, so much for your service, all three of you.
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>> president cleaveland: thank you, commissioner covington. i would like to wrap up by saying, when i heard you were being recognized, i said we need to have these gentlemen come to the commission so that everyone in this room and everyone in our city can know what fine examples of our fire department we have. so i want to commend you for your valour and commend you for your service and thank you for being part of the san francisco fire department. >> thank you, sir,. [applause] >> president cleaveland: is there any public comment on that item? being none, public comment is closed. let's ask our captain till men with the black firefighters association to come forward and give us a presentation on that
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fine organization. >> thank you, commissioners. if i may, i would be remiss if i did not bring up a couple things about the youth academy that were not brought up before the start. one was, as you can see, it is a very diverse group. and out of the 30, it is women, black, hispanic, asian, we have the rainbow coalition over there so we serve the whole community, not just a community in the bayview but all of san francisco the other thing is, we got funding this year from a grants that came from melia cohen a couple of years back. and after this year, that grabs will be gone. so we do need some type of grant or funding for next year. and, also, i think one of the items i was talking about is equipment. we just recently had a meeting
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with the command staff and the chief and others. all were all in favor of getting us equipment. i have just been in contact with another chief to get that equipment for the youth academy. i would like to congratulate -- not congratulate but thank the command staff for that. they have been very supportive of the youth academy and i would like to thank everyone for expressing their support for the youth academy and going forward, we need to have money. [laughter] all right. san francisco black firefighters , this is part of our executive board. we all just got elected here in may. we have been together about five months and this is our recording secretary firefighter, jacob pale. this is our sergeant of arms, john smith and our secretory -- secretary secretary, antoine
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davis. at the other members, a couple of them are on vacation at one took his mother out to dinner. so they could not be here. [laughter] >> by the other thing i would like to point out about these three young gentlemen is all three of them first started out as what we call executives at large. just getting to know how things are run and the way, -- of the new rebirth at the black firefighters will be. now they all have positions in executive -- not just a starting spot, but they all have -- he's like third in charge and everybody gets all up there, just because the work they have been doing. i cannot express how happy i am to be working with these young men. it has really been a godsend, to be honest. so we have a short video that we will show because videos speak a lot louder than words.
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actions speak louder than words and then we will answer any questions and go from there. [♪] [♪] [♪] [♪]
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[♪] [♪] >> you can't imagine. you have fire, you have smoked, you have the crackling, there is yelling going on. you feel that you are alone. >> many of us came out because of their contributions and their unfailing optimism for the diverse fire departments. [♪] >> those are some of the events that we have done over the summer. we did for backpack drives. we did a walk for sickle cell,
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we had a health fair for the neighborhood. street health checkups. we also were part of a backpack drive and a concerts. we did the burn relay. we have done quite a few other things. and i put that video in their up earl gage because he was the first black firefighter in san francisco. is one of the things that is important to all of us. that all that we are, we owe. without him we would not be here and all these young gentlemen here wouldn't be here also. and i think it's important that we recognize him and try to get something in the fire department , either a plot, a name, a building, a street, something to honor his memory. but i would like to not sit up
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here and take up all the time. i would like to talk upset -- talk about some of our events and if you have any questions. >> president cleaveland: if you have any questions or anything else about things you saw or any questions at all. >> thank you very much. chief hayes-white, you would like to have a few words. >> commissioner hayes-white: i would like to acknowledge the black firefighters association under the leadership of captain tillman for the rebirth. i have not seen the new headquarters. it looks amazing. great job. a fresh coat of paint and you're off to a great start. i believe i said at the last meeting, that i did report we matched with a black firefighters association executive board and how serious all of them are about getting involved, more involved in the
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community. there's a long history of the black firefighters association. is important to note that morning that captain tillman is the first president. there are definitely reasons why there was a division. he is a first president of the black firefighters association to his alkyl -- also a member of local 798. it says we have come a long way. but i am very proud of all the things you are endeavouring to do and you have already done. reaching out to the community, a great agenda that you put forward. as soon as sherman announced that he was taking over, he was very engaged. when we said we would like you to come in and have a meeting, it was a great meeting. i did let them know that you even brought a meal for the deputies and i. also very kind and not needed. i did not hire that president but i'm really proud to say that i handpicked john, antoine and jacob. i'm really proud. they don't have that much time in the department and they are already making huge, huge
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contributions. i know all of you have a bright future and i really appreciate you when you come to work each and every day but taking on these leadership roles. we talked about excellent role models for those that come after you. and i know that antoine, you told us that day. my memory is decent but not as good as it used to be. you are just embarking upon next week which will be a 25th. is not right great born in 1993. i remembered to because you are to release younger than my son. i'm really proud of the work. we really look forward to the combined efforts. thank you. thank you to the youth fire academy, training, potential members of our department. great job. >> thank you, chief. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: you are filling big shoes with the battalion chief smith who you
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are taking over for. and bringing 18 young people. -- and bringing in the young people. i was very young when i started. it was a big advantage when i got older because i had a lot of aggression when i was young and i had to calm down a little as i learned the job a little more. i watched your program last night. i don't know if anyone saw it, on the mayo clinic. it was fascinating. ken burns cocky is one of those public t.v. people. the mayo clinic is a greatest organization around. it was just fantastic. it goes back 100 and something years. but just to show how bad the discrimination was for your parents and grandparents. it was. nobody in the room denies it. and in 1979, it was the first
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black doctor hired by the mayo clinic which is really amazing when this is considered like the premier medical institution may be in the world. but that is just the way it was. it was tragic. especially, if you are a person of color. that is why we have these four different organizations, the asian and latino. it is understandable. this fire department, not to me, this fire department before me and continuing it, has bent over backwards to try and correct the problems that blacks, in particular in this country have faced with discrimination. not just this department, but i'm talking about the mayo clinic. i mean, you go back to jackie robinson and you think that all those years later, the organization like that would have had a black surgeon.
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i am not criticizing them, i am just saying the world his, in this country, was not treating black people fairly. the organization that you work with, the 798 and the other groups, it is wonderful because you all have a common bond. you are all firefighters. you all have the same goal. and i apologize for my ancestors if my ancestors -- i think they were the greatest people in the world and i hope that joe should they not raise me to be a bigot. i know that. i hope that society can put this behind us and continue in making amends. if this means you are outdoing your population, so be it. because your roots, you have a right. you have rights that a lot of
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people like me were awarded. when i was young, i got any job i wanted. i don't know, i don't think a black person did. i graduated from high school and i was able to pick my job. i always wanted to be a football player but i never put any effort into it so that didn't happen. my second choice was signed painting so i became a sign painter. that is the way it was. i hope society, by the time my grandchildren grow up, will have opportunities that are equal for everybody. thank you for stepping up and taking leadership in your organization. >> thank you. >> president cleaveland: thank you, commissioner. commissioner veronese? >> commissioner veronese: captain tillman, i met with you about a month ago and you adjust taking your leadership position and you are smart after i met you but i did not realize how smart, surrounding yourself with young and good-looking firemen who will be to take this organization to the next level. i was really pleased to hear
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that you are a member of local 798. that is important. i don't want -- i think the chief mentioning it because it was important to her. i do not want to understate how important that is. because being a part of local 798 -- they are a great institution. but you guys bring certain things to your organization that need to be shared with other organizations as well. they don't have what you have and you don't have what they have. so, i am really happy that you are putting new effort behind growing this organization at a time when the african-american population in san francisco is dwindling. i remember coming out of the cappuccino that we shared thinking how many are we hiring and how many african-americans are we hiring in san francisco. i asked the chief to send me the
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last ten academy classes. and a lot of credit to this chief. she has done an amazing job creating one of the most diverse fire departments in the nation. but there is always more work to do. especially -- it is a hard job to hire african-americans and people of color into these particular jobs because you have years and years and years of institutional racism that prevent people from thinking they are qualified, or getting the qualifications they need to get to these positions. your institution, i understand, is not only training african-americans to do better on some of the testing, but also have opened it up to other people and you guys have some training that you do at your club that trains people to take these tests that department gives. and that says a lot about
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opening it up to other people. it says a lot about who you guys are the type of leadership that you show, not only within the african-american community but within the fire department community at large. hats off to you guys for doing that. there's a lot of work, as you and i discussed, that needs to be done. and the organization that you showed us here today, the young kids, i looked at those kids and i thought to myself, that is one of the most diverse groups of people i have seen in any one organization. you have people from all different walks of life in that organization. it is so important that they are taught, at such a young age to have these leadership skills. they are looking up to you guys and they are thinking, god, this is what i want to be. and as the commissioners had mentioned, that is a complete 180 of what has happened in
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society over the last 100 years. you guys are leading the way, doing that and making it easier for this chief to choose from a pool of people that are stepping up. because you guys are bringing them out to become part of this great organization. hats off to you. there's still a lot of work to be done, obviously, because the numbers of african-americans in san francisco have dwindled since i was going up in this city, and that is a real shame. but it is a great effort to. it a great reason to invigorate your institutions. to find those kids so that they can look up to what you are doing and become part of this great institution. and chief, hats off to you. you are obviously choosing a great group of people to become part of this. not an easy job given the pool of people that i imagine, african-americans and people of color are not as predominant in
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the ranks of the people that are on the list that you choose from especially, i think one thing we need to take a look at is a list of people that are coming in through the e.m.s. divisions. because those, in particular, i imagine those numbers are much lower. and they dilute when they come into our department. they dilute the number of african-americans in this community and then over years and years and years, now, we want to make sure we don't find ourselves in the same position we were in years ago where we were pushing. i remember going to fire stations with my mother, handing out letters to firefighters. they weren't happy that we were doing it. i remember that the time thinking this and she was teaching me a lesson about the consent of greek. it is people like my mother -- because -- consent agree. it's people like my mother.
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you guys are fighting for the african-american community in the fire department. congratulations to you. to all four of you for doing the job that you do and for the assistant fire marshal for the great work he is doing with the youngsters. congratulations. in any way that i can help you with your foundation, let me know. on the issue of earl gage, this is a guy who came into the department -- i cannot even imagine the way he was treated when he came into this department. i spoke with commissioner covington last year and bad on me for not following up, but i said, we have to do something to honor that gentleman for sustaining what he did and making it through some pretty tough times. so you are right. i mentioned to you when i met you earlier, we need to do something for him. whether it is a plaque or something. i am willing to work on that with you and i am sure it will
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not be much of a tough sell to the rest of the commission but i will work with you in any way i can to honor the service of earl gage. thank you all again. and i hope the other commissioner say something because they all do you want to -- this is a great organization. keep up the good work. >> president cleaveland: thank you, commissioner. commissioner covington? >> commissioner covington: thank you mr president. thank you as well commissioner. >> commissioner veronese: . commissioner veronese, when he gives his word that he is willing to help, means if you are in the trenches, he will be there with you. these are not just words that he speaks. i will be right there with him in the trenches. i want to congratulate you all, captain tillman on having this new position and taking the bull
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by the horns and getting in there to do the work that still needs to be done. and to bill smith go -- hill, smith, and davis, thank you for stepping up. even though the chief describe you as youngsters, it is really good to see that you are so engaged. i was sharing this with commissioner veronese about how i've been hearing over the years of my tenure here on the commission, about the openness of the black firefighters association and your willingness to help prepare anyone who is interested in being in the field , to help them prepare for exams cocked to help them with agility tests and all of that. just getting them in shape and just as importantly, encouraging them. no matter which community they come from, that you have always
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had open arms. and because of you, there are so many people in the department who are not african-american who have gone through those preparation classes. and they are very forthcoming and very candid about their appreciation for your efforts that have led to them being successfully success -- successfully selected by the chief of the department to be a firefighter in this illustrious department that we all serve. so you are on a nice path. [laughter] >> commissioner covington: i am very proud of you. thank you for being here today. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioner covington. vice president nakajo. >> vice-president nakajo: thank you mr president. a little bit more.
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i think it is a great thing, since we had every meeting with captain tillman, in terms of this presentation that i know i am not the only one responsible. there's a lot of things that as a listen to you and i talk about comments with the commissioners and i will try and put it in some order. but basically, this format that you are using for the executive board to make the change of the young energy of the membership, in terms of the black firefighters is a good plan. some folks think that one of these days, african-american or asian american will come. our day has come. it has been here. as far as i am concerned, in terms of the black firefighters and the leadership and your involvement in that, it is about time. i welcome you to do that. it is impressive to the point of the presentation of the cadet program.
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i am glad that commissioner commissioners pointed it out. that was what was obvious as well. we say it black firefighters and not all of the cadets are african-american. they are women, latinos, there is a spread. there is asians. it shows how far we have come. when you talk to me about earl gage, it is a name. it is a memory. i agree with you in terms of remembrance. but earl gage or whoever it is, that name should be burned into your soul for the point of view for the black firefighters, that somebody had to pay the price to be able to get here. for myself, is a commissioner, part of that, and we mentioned it was part of the consent agree i remember the day when firefighters, what is called the plaintiff his against disagreement. it was a really clear definition of what your associations stood for on an asian level at an african-american level or latino level. part of that was diversity.
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or an opportunity to have members of our community to serve within this requirement. it does not necessarily have to be african-american, but in this state and this presentation, the point of information -- of the we said that many times. its may 24th year as a fire commissioner but i was a first asian-american vice president of the san francisco fire commission in 140 years. i remember that. i e-mailed my son in japan where he was studying and told him, guess what? i became the first asian-american vice president of the fire commission. and in that same light as being a member of the san francisco fire commission as a president, i am, the first asian-american. i can get it down and bring it down categorically and say japanese-american. i can talk about other commissioners who came in under frank jordan. what i'm saying in terms of the consent agreement, it wasn't that long ago. in terms of that, i understand
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the principles of what we all fought for and what we want to see, but i think mentioning here as well is the agree of that presence. so to me, in terms of the question of what was -- it was in terms of that h2, h3 lieutenants, captains, battalion chiefs, cheap officers. i, for one at this stage of our existence, in terms of the spirit of diversity would like to know what those numbers look like. what kind of african-american men, women, how many asian-american? how many latinos? how many folks do we have within the officer his ranks can -- that can reflect a self in this administration in terms of the future? these are the kinds of things that go in my mind. i am just excited. just thrilled and proud in terms of the presentation. it is interesting because some of the videos and some of the degree of the members of the department, it gets more than
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hipper than hip. the music is cool to each week. but part of that, when it comes up with a sign that says rebirth , that is no joke. for this commissioner to see those people present what they're doing with the african-american firefighters, the web and in, the veterans, and i just attended the afa to do the same kind of request. come to the commission and share what you are doing. but the -- because the reflection of what you are involved with is a much more diverse attraction. again, i think we have to keep our hindsight for the folks of color to be able to look at that and see where we are in terms of our presence, and in terms of advancements as well. i made this -- made these various comments. i hope it makes some sense but i totally support this. the leadership you are exhibiting and what you are
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showing. i know everyone of you and i know what you are capable of. i know where your heart is and i know where your community spirit is. i know it just does not fly. i know your heart and your spirit and your community is all of us. again, i honor you. i am there to work with you as well. thank you, very much. >> president cleaveland: thank you vice president. i will wrap it up again by thanking you for your presentation. thank you for your leadership, each of you. you are an inspiration to all of us and keep up the good work. thank you for being here tonight is there any public comment on this item? >> i would like to say that 93 was a good year. [laughter] >> president cleaveland: thank you. [laughter]
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>> is that the year he was born? >> yes. >> president cleaveland: is there any public comment on the item? seeing none, a public comment is closed. madam secretary, would you call the next item? >> clerk: item six, the report from the chief of the department on current issues, activities and events within the department since the fired -- commission meeting on september 12, including budget, academy, special events, communications and outreach to other government agencies and the public. and report from administration, the deputy chief on the administrative division status,
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finance, support services, homeland security and training within the department. >> good evening, again. >> commissioner hayes-white: this is my report since our last meeting of september 12, regarding the budget. you will notice that mr corso is not here. he is on a well-deserved vacation for a few days with his family in hawaii. but before he left we chatted about the budget. i do have great news for you that i will get to any moment. regarding the budget, as reported at the last meeting, we are working with the controller posten his office and the mayor pushed's office on the final closeout of the fiscal year budget. we finish the fiscal year without any issues that we are currently working on the carryforward of funds for projects and other expenditures that are in the process and will be completed in the 18, 19 fiscal year. it is anticipated that closeout and rollover of the funds for the department will be completed over the next few weeks.
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the good news, and i alluded to it yesterday, at a special meeting that we had, the department was awarded over $3 million in federal grant funds over the past few weeks for three separate grant projects. we are really grateful for these awards. i would like to acknowledge all members that participated in this under the direction of the deputy director of finance, mr corso. we were allocated funds from two grants. the breakdown is fiscal year 2018 port security grant, and i know this is -- $399,562 for a new rescue boat for the department. then we received news last week for the fiscal year 2017 distanced to firefighters grants it was two-point -- $2,733,591 for the purchase of new rescue tools as well as new
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defibrillators for department apparatus. and i know support services and the assistant deputy assisted and gave great input for that. in total, with a piece grants resulted in the acceptance of $3.133 million in federal funds. to address much needed equipment for the department his' overall operations. these grant programs contain small matching requirements as conditions of acceptance. the department has identified these funds to meet our obligation. and of course, we will have more information available when these grants are brought forward for your formal acceptance. it will be to action items. to more. one of the two meetings -- at one of the two meetings next month. that is great news. that is even without our official grant writer. mr corso has added he thought this would come up.
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and so i am anticipating the question about the grant writer. mr corso said he is working on finishing the job description for the grant writer. he hopes to have it. i told him he did not need to do before he went on vacation. i hope to have it for the internal review shortly and he will forward a copy to the commission. he has not quite completely did it yet. he hopes to complete it before the next commission meeting. with regard to the division of training, we have a bump up academy that we started with 26 and we are now at 23. we hope to graduate and bump up 23 members of our department. we are on track, and members are going through physical appointments at this time and we are hiring 24 new entry-level e.m.t. into the department later in october. the division of training is planning for an officer his training class and as i reported at the last meeting, we are
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projecting a class of 54 h. to firefighters in january of 2019. that is from a list that was adopted september 10th for tests taken through july 28th. the department sent out a survey to the 2,075 eligible people. that date has closed and we are compiling information from that survey. and a wrap up of events since the last meeting. as you no kak it is busy here just like it is busy tonight for another event by the city hosted a global climate action summit. i attended two events to support that effort on the 12th of september. and then on september 17th, myself and members of the staff attended a meeting on the auxiliary water supply system. that afternoon i attended a housing meeting with about six other department heads and the
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mayor to talk about the collaborative nature of the work that needs to be done in an effort to streamline the housing process. at the building process and the permitting process. that evening, the assistant deputy chief and the deputy chief and i arrived a little bit late because i was coming from the meeting with the mayor. we hosted a division of training and the broad foundation. it is an all-day relay -- relay that they have from the peninsula up to the city. with the help of the san francisco fire credit union and also a big boost to tony rivera and other members. i wanted to call him out for his other large donation. we were able to donate $6,500 to the burn foundation on behalf of the fire department members and the credit union. i did want to give a shout out. they may have left but the block
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firefighters association. as they have done for several years, the cooked dinner and it was jacob held that spearheaded that efforts. at the end of the day, there is probably 40 or 50 people there. they were fed and appreciated the hosting by the division of training. i'm sure she will mention it in her report, the deputy chief attended an event honouring those members that self dispatched but in a very brave and courageous way to 911-2001, including our own assistant job e.g. chief. last week, on the 18th, the deputies and i attended a labour-management meeting. the commission secretary handed you two items. the commission graciously approved by travel which was paid for, not by the city but by the national fire protection association. there is two documents i handed
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you. one is the report from the nfpa. i was proud to be selected as a member. the last time i did it was in 2008. i don't travel that often. i have been asked and it just wasn't working out. this year i was able to attend and adopt a number of position papers including on active after hours reports. and using data to report response capability and resilience. smart cities and active shooter and hostile threat assessments. always very valuable to meet with my colleagues. there was about eight big city, large urban city chiefs. most of them got 2 feet -- meet a few new ones. i found that to be very valuable thank you for that support of the endeavour. and i wanted to point out the great selection -- i'm really proud of this document. there is not a day that goes by that i don't think of the loss of tony valerio.
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through the good work of our department and with assistance from an external investigation, there were a number of areas that we found could have been improved in terms of -- it is always a risky environment when we are responding to fires. in one of the areas that we honed in on was a failure of the accord on the -- the court on the portable radios of our members. so what i was surprised to learn is there is no standard related to the ratings of the makeup of the radio. so it took over five years but there was a committee. we asked the national fire protection association to examine this come up with the standard if they thought one was needed. they basted on the line of duty death of our members. and someone that had participated in our department on the safety investigation and taken an interest -- and i
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believe is a director of training at time. i had put him and suggested he be part of this committee. and as you see, it has not fully been adopted. it has been an open comment. as it says at the beginning, for the past five years, firefighters, manufacturers, and experts have met across the u.s. to set a new standard for portable radios. what is being proposed is a standard onto a portable voice communication devices for use by emergency services personnel in hazard zones. that exactly the conditions that were faced by tony and vince and the passage of this indicates that they do not die in vain. it is very difficult circumstances. it weighs very heavily on me. as a chief of department losing to members. i am gratified to see there will
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be changes made in the industry based on this. i did want to share that with you. and just finishing up since the last reporting period to, the deputy and i were in a meeting on the 24th this week with peggy sugarman who is the head of the department of human resources to talk about new initiatives that they are working on with the city departments as well as the labour unions representing the members of those departments. it is all good news. let's see. we had the retreat yesterday, as you know. and a few things on the horizon this weekend. that the deputy chief nicholson will be representing the members of the fire department at the 16 th annual california firefighter memorial ceremony in sacramento. i have gone in previous years. d.c. gonzalez will be out of the state so i will remain in the city while he is out.
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we will be attending the ceremony. there are 38 members inducted at that ceremony and two of our members who passed away last year will be added and affixed to the wall. there there's a formal ceremony that takes place where the members of their families receive flags and the highest honours. thank you to chief nicholson for attending that next week. it will be a very busy week. great planning done by homeland security. they have been attending a lot of meetings. the two of them are like glue. they stick together and get work done. i appreciate all the hard work that you do on that. it will be interesting because
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we did receive for today, i don't have a lot of information on it, but the transbay centre is going to be closed for least a couple of weeks. definitely next week. it will add to the difficulty in navigating your way through the city. this week is busy with a dream for his convention. and next week with fleet week. more to follow on that. but the main thing is that we want everyone to be safe that is utilizing that facility. fleet week will be capped off on sunday, october 8th. you are all invited to attend. and participate with us at the italian heritage parade on october 8th. that concludes my reports. thank you. >> president cleaveland: thank you, chief. is there any public comment on the chief's report? seeing non, commissioners? any questions for the chief at this point before we go into chief nicholson's report? >> commissioner veronese: i wanted to ask you about the two grants that we received.
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did we apply for those grants? somebody within the department applied for this grant screen. >> commissioner hayes-white: we do not pass that many opportunities that come our way that we think -- that have any chance of getting. we regularly, not just occasionally, we are aware of the grant season, if you will. there are safer grants and i don't think there has been a year that we have not applied for. anywhere in a low of four or five or up to about ten or 12 spee 60 had mentioned to me something about the grant writer , that we had that approved for 100%. is that true? >> commissioner hayes-white: i was referring to your clear direction that that person be working full-time on the grants, to the extent that that can be done. but what i was conveying is that , yes, we do have some want
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to work full-time on grants. if there is a down. , which there is. because 100% of the time, we don't believe that there will be -- that person will be fully working on grants. we will obviously utilize that person to assist with other duties as needed. that their main objective were to be to search for and apply for what we always have applied for but to extend and expand what we are looking at. >> commissioner veronese: i am looking forward to the grants, like money falling from the sky that we get once we have a grant writer that would be dedicated to that. the particular grant for the equipment, is there anything in there that prevents us from using that on drones? do you know? >> commissioner hayes-white: the rescue boat, obviously not. the other grant, the $2.7 million, the purchase of
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new rescue tools. i think those are specific. the jaws of -- we will get the jobs of light that are hydraulically powered. we specified that in the grants. the other piece of the grant is for defibrillators. those two are identified or spoken for, if you will. >> commissioner veronese: ok. and then as far as a grant writer, are we any closer to finding someone to fill that position? >> commissioner hayes-white: i think the two commissioners we are speaking with when i presented that piece, just briefly, i did allow the director of planning to go on a vacation. he has promised you a viewing of the job description. he is continuing to finish the job description. the position is funded it right around this time. it was not funded beginning july 1st. they are finishing the job description and he will send it for internal review and he will forward it to the commission.
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not completed yet but his goal is to have a copy for your review prior to the next meeting >> commissioner veronese: and on the process, does it go to civil service? >> there is an 18 clock 23 list. there is a list and then we do a review of the list and we can call for resumes and review the resumes and go through the interview process. i believe we definitely want to have the person and by the end of this year, realistically because it does take a little time. >> commissioner veronese: thank you, chief. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioners. >> commissioner hardeman: briefly, mr president, very good report, chief. i enjoyed hearing about the grants. and that they guarantee they are coming. that is good. yesterday at the meeting, i
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thought it was well done by you, delegating cd to n.c.d. three. chiefs nicholson and gonzalez to handle it. it was very good. i thought it was done well. i think they are in line with local 798, which is very encouraging to see the italian chief and president of 798 there we have not seen him in a meeting for a while but he was there yesterday. and outside of your staff he probably spoke the most, which i really enjoyed. it i want to hear what you guys have to say because he represents a tremendous amount of workers of your workforce. that is it. the other thing is i -- we did not discuss much yesterday about
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training and conferences, with those are two of my favourite things when you give us our agendas and i see two or three or four people going to conferences and agendas at two different programs to learn education. it is terrific and i know you are a big supporter of that. that is good too. thank you. >> president cleaveland: thank you commissioners. thank you chief for your reports i would like to commend you on working on that and improving standards for firefighter radios it is very important. we had a tragedy but we diagnose that tragedy and we are coming up with a standard that can be used nationwide, in fact worldwide to protect firefighters by having a standard for the radios that are being used in emergencies. kudos to you for leading that effort and making it happen. we look forward to that standard being approved by the nfpa. ok.
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no other questions. chief nicholson, will you please come up. give us your administrative report. welcome. >> thank you. good evening. i'm the deputy chief of administration, janine nicholson on my report from the ministry tip side. i would like to first thank commissioner covington for spearheading that meeting yesterday. i thought it was super helpful for me to have that interaction with you all. i am sort of -- on sort of a less formal manner. thank you for that. so up just briefly with my administrative divisions, we conducted 50 promotional and permanent physicals in multiple ranks