>> this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices, please. >> do you want to hit the gavel? >> our commission regular meeting, wednesday, figure 27th, and the five time is 5:00 p.m. item one, roll call. [roll call] >> general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to two minutes on any matter within the commission charge of jurisdiction, and does not appear in the agenda. speakers shall address the remark to the commission as a whole, and not to individual commissioners are department personnel. commissioners are not to enter

into debate with a speaker. the lack of a response by commissioners or personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> is there any member of the public who would wish to speak? [indiscernible] >> there's twaddle minutes for public comment. there will be a 32nd buzzer -- a 30 second buzzer that will sound. please approach. it is the one in the middle. thank you very much, i appreciate it. >> good evening, fire commission. my name is michelle, a former member of the san francisco fire department, station 49.

i wanted to come in and give my support for edna, i just felt like it was important to give the story behind how edna got to the station. i worked under irene who ran e.m.s. logistics at station 49, this was back in 2014 when i first started at the station off the ambulance. i want to let you know how edna came about being at station 49. in 2014, edna was a curious cat, and she came about our station in the yard where we haul -- have all of our abilene says, and she was loving to keep yourself warm sitting atop some of the ambulances that came in the night before. at that time, we were having a problem with mice droppings at the station. this was a biomed room and in the bernie shop at the station. we had asked our lieutenant for

some mousetraps. we put them out, and after a weekend had past, we came back on monday, and monday morning, and we would find traps with dead mice. we started bringing catch treats to edna, and leaving a little trail to our gurney shop, and edna would find them, and she would become more comfortable walking into the station through the big rollup doors. edna had made a space for herself atop a closed box of copy machine paper. and before her name was edna, the company was called hammer mill, and so we would call her mr. -- misses hammer mill. it was irene who named her edna. as time passed, edna would routinely walk in and meander, and me out for food -- >> thank you very much. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you very much.

next speaker, please. please identify yourself. if you haven't given public comment, there's a? right in front of the microphone that will indicate how much time you have left. >> my name is nadine. i was born and raised in san francisco. for the last 20 years or so i have been a volunteer with the feral cat program during neuter return. we trap them, we take them to the spca and get them fixed, vaccinated, the whole 9 yards and return them because they are feral, they do not reproduce, and because of that, the number of feral hats in san francisco has gone way, way down. some people, we still see kittens in san francisco. why is this, if there are active volunteers trapping all the time? i will tell you, because the mother and kittens show up and somebody charge a yard. somebody feeds them, some people do nothing, and some people take

the extra step to actually call for help and make sure the cat gets to the vet to be spayed, and the kittens get to animal care and control to be adopted, so that it doesn't continue to happen. the mother is spayed, the mother goes back. the people in station 49 did exactly this. they did the right thing. they didn't just think somebody else will do this, they did the right thing. in addition, as the previous speaker mentioned, obviously cats are huge deterrent to rats and mice, just their presence is enough. last but not least, i can't imagine any more stressful jobs than it being in the police department or being in the fire department. i can't imagine any better way to destress than to come home, come back to the station, and be

able to pet 11 cat, have the cat in your lap, i would encourage you to allow edna to stay at station 49, and you actually consider extending this possibility due other stations for the mental health of firefighters and police officers. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> my name is christine, and i live in san francisco. i was really upset when i heard about station 49 and edna. i am a cat person, but i really believe there is a purchase -- a reason for her being there, and i was hoping that i could get some comment from the fire department, but i got no information except the case was solved and she was going home with somebody, but i really think she needs to return to 49. there's no reason she shouldn't go there, and i would hope that you would consider, by an anonymous tip, i don't know what

that means, but the impact on the station by an anonymous tip, i would think that if that were troublesome to an individual than it should have been something that was discussed with the whole team. is not something that one individual decides for the whole station, and i'm just disappointed because i would hope that the fire department would do the right thing and bring edna back. if this person has trouble, that maybe they work out what the differences might be. but bring edna back to 49. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> hello, commissioners. i am a long-term resident of san francisco and many people of my generation are saying san francisco is losing its heart, and there are a lot of problems in san francisco, and those are being addressed, but there's a

p.r. problem as well, and that's where the fire department comes in. a city built of wood and houses loves its fire department, well, mostly wooden houses. i have particular reason myself, here is a personal story, watch out, sorry about this, for one aspect of the fire department. i was making bread one day because i decided i would make san francisco sourdough, god dammit, and i had a batch of sourdough. eight loaves it was going to be, i was just getting ready to shape it, and my heart started going, and i said what the hell? i called 911. i shoves the bread in the refrigerator, and the fire department arrived. down, they were good. they took care of it. they dropped me off at emergency and they said nothing wrong that we could do and they sent me a bill because it was out-of-network. it seems to me, that in addition

to being love for yourselves, you have a great p.r. opportunity. i think edna should be given a title and an honor, and to be an honorary member of the san francisco fire department. thank you. >> thank you very much. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am one of a stream of people speaking in favor of edna. i understand that in an organization like the fire department, there are rules that are important and must be followed for the operational safety and functionality of the department. the case about edna, certainly based on what the newspapers reported as the information from the p.i.o. didn't seem to meet that standard.

i was particularly stunned to see comments about the risk of contamination to medical supplies. if the medical supplies are stored in such a way that a cat in the station can contaminate them, there are much bigger problems, and from what i've seen from the fire department staff i have met, i don't think that sort of problem exists. i think you've got a really good, well-trained, dedicated bunch of people. i speak as a cat owner. there's a myth that cats are independent, that's a myth. cats bond with people, they bond with their family, and yes, they don't demand constant attention, they're not like a dog, but there's a real bond that forms between the people and the cat, and i encourage you to reconsider the decision about edna. i think that you are doing a

disservice not only to the cat, but to the firefighters at 49. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> next speaker, please. >> hello, this is my first time being in here. i have been arrested of san francisco for 35 years, but i am here for -- >> please identify yourself. >> sorry, my name is liza, and i am here for the support for edna to return to fire station 49. edna brings so much more to the fire station than emotional support. as the previous owner speakers have said, she controls the infestation of rodents and critters in the station, and in my research, the united states

military has been recruiting cats to be part of their forces because they are great animals who keep rodents and critters at bay, so i have a couple of cats that i like to introduce you to. i have like to introduce you to officer was oh. officer was a worked with united states air force at the air force base, and his title is weapon systems all right -- operator. he works in the same capacity as -- capacity as edna, but a bigger scale. his job is to protect weapons for deployment, and from my readings, the cost to keep a cat is so much less cost-effective to to be safer to put rodents.

i like to introduce you to officer buffy who works for the air force base in north dakota, and this officer's job is to have supports and emotional welfare for the soldiers. i want to bring that to your attention. i think san francisco being the military, is starting to recruit for cats to be in the military. i think san francisco, being a progressive city -- >> thank you very much. >> next speaker, please. >> hello, my name is linda. i am a relative newcomer to san francisco. i have lived here for seven years, and i have to say that i

find it odd because growing up as a child, every firehouse fire house that i knew had a dog, with respect to edna, i was absolutely amazed when i first moved here to see dogs were in safe ways, they were in c.v.s., i've seen them in food carts, in whole foods, and i hear this thing about service dogs, pomeranians to me are not service dogs, that's for starters. second, you have a very, very serious health problem with the homeless. i know because i worked between fifth and sixth for three years, and i saw things that were just beyond believe when it came to hygiene. it seems to be getting worse than better. my husband was critically ill at the end of may, and the fire medics came to our place of employment, and they were

superb. i really can say that if it hadn't been for them and their swift response, i don't know if he would be here today. so i think that in the case of edna, this is someone -- this is a cat that they have kept, i'm sorry, i this is a cat they have kept within the strict bounds hygienically and so forth. i have three cats, i know what it is like to take care of them and to keep them healthy and safe, and i think it is a great therapeutic value to the firemen at 49. >> thank you very much. any other members of the public who wish to speak at this time? seeing none, public comment is closed. madame secretary. >> item two, approval of the minutes, discussion and possible action to approve meeting

minutes from the special meeting on february 8th, 2019. >> commissioners, first of all, i will ask for public comment on the approval of the minutes. any public comment on the approval of the minutes? seeing none, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> mr. president, i had a minor change. i forwarded that to -- minor thing that involved -- >> this is the special meeting. >> excuse me, i'm sorry. >> that's okay. >> okay. all right, at this point, i need a motion to approve the special meeting of february eighth. >> move to approve. >> it has been moved. it has been seconded. all in favor say i mac? >> i mac.

>> approval of the minutes from the regular meeting on february 13th 2019. >> any public comment on the minutes of the regular meeting on february 13th? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> before we go, some minor changes that only involve me that i forwarded to you and the secretary. she has taken care of it. i want those noted. do you want them read or do you want to just move on? >> basically let me confirm with the sec. that you have received correspondence from the commissioner -- >> i made the changes in forwarded them to you and the vice president. >> okay. >> with that, i would move to approve the minutes. >> thank you very much.

>> it will be seconded. let me ask first before we go, any questions or comments from the commissioners? >> just a point of clarification i'm not sure we can vote on -- [indiscernible] >> it was i had put that it was -- hello? whose microphone? >> i fixed it. >> that i had put that his union was not under, or was under the consent decree, and it was not. >> okay. with that amendment -- >> there was a change because we changed the spelling of his name. >> then on page 5, the paragraph it says 75 million, i believe that was 100 million instead of 75.

i would move to change that to 100, and with the amendment, i would move to make those two amendments and second the changes as well. >> commissioners, again, acknowledge in terms of that amendment. any comment on that as well? i do believe we have a motion, as well as a second. any opposed? none, thank you. madame secretary. >> approval of the special meeting on february 14th, 2019. >> on the special meeting minutes of february the 14th, is there any comments from the public? seeing none, public comment is closed. your name is up here for a comment for the february 14th meeting. >> i removed it. >> thank you very much. commissioners, have comments, or

else i will ask for a motion and a second. >> second. >> all right. we have it moved. i will call for the question. all in favor say i mac. >> i mac. >> thank you very much. might him sec. >> i should four, chief chief of department's reports. report on current issues, activities, and events within the department since the fire commission meeting on february 13th, 2019, including the budget, academy special events, communications, and outreach other government agencies and the public, and report from the ministration on the ministration of divisions, facility status, and updates, finance, support services, homeland security, training within the department, update on m.o.u. between the department of guardians of the city and m.o.u. at update on

m.o.u. between departments and ports regarding station 35. >> thank you. as in our tradition, the chief for have you give your report first. as for public comment on the report, any questions from the commissioners, then we will move on. good evening, chief. >> good evening. this is my report since our last meeting on february 13th. related to the budget. you had a full briefing from director corso on our budget submittal. i didn't want to inform you that we, in a timely basis, submitted our budget on february 21st, last week. i would like to acknowledge the director for the work he has put into that year after year since he has had the role of overseeing the budget process. i also wanted to make you aware, and if we didn't provide you a copy, i will send you one to look at now.

we will e-mail if we haven't already. both the president and i cosigned a letter which is similar to letters previously with other presidents of the commission, acknowledging the budget being delivered over to the mayor's office, indicating that we are team players, but the instructions in the budget office were to reduce respective general order departments' budgets by a certain amount, 2% of the each of the next two fiscal years. we found we were not able to meet that request, so we laid out the reasons why, in addition, we highlighted a variety of needs that were identified during the budget committee process, and highlighted three in particular for priorities the department would like to see enhanced. one being increased emergency medical services resources, both for the front-line ambulances and personnel, as well as the

e.m.s. program, which has seen great success. field operations on -- not a rotational basis, but he faced in basis. as well as disaster preparedness in the form of hose ten thirds. -- tenders. i'm happy to send that around for you. we will e-mail a copy if we did not do so next week. with regards to the academies, the hundred 25th classes in their first week. they did have testing last week. there were 52 members in that academy and it is a 20 week academy. the graduation will be mid june. we have an hh per diem e.m.t. paramedic class in progress to bolster up the numbers of per diem medics particularly during periods of absenteeism and

essentially during surge capacity. we are anticipating a class of entry-level e.m.t.s to come in after the first part of the fiscal year in july. i have a date for you soon, and then we will also have 126 h2 academy that we anticipate beginning in the fall, with 54 members, 42 off of the list, and another 12 coming from station 49. we anticipate, and i will work with my successor on calling for an updated eligibility list, probably for people that have tested through the end of this month, and so that list will be refreshed for selection for the 126 academy, that will be work on my end, but in conjunction with the new chief. and then just a rundown of activity is since our last

meeting on the 13th, on the 13th, that evening i attended a fundraiser for zuckerberg at san francisco general hospital, the hearts and heroes event. they have moved off their fundraising for the new hospital because that has been fully funded, but they are now focusing on mental health and behavioural health. so that was attended by over 1200 people and i think it is an excellent because. then on the 14th, like i do every year, this will be my last you're doing it in uniform, it is congenital heart disease awareness day. i went to the children's hospital where my% has been a patient many times and it is an awareness date for pediatric cases -- where might son has been a patient many times and it is a know where to stay for pediatric cases of heart disease. i attended a meeting that the mayor had with fire marshals, and it was the mayor's meeting

where she brought together all stakeholders including for the chase centre arena, including the warriors, but also all the departments, such as planning, d.b.i., ourselves, m.t.a., to make sure, collectively, everyone is on track for the delivery of that project which is anticipated around august 1st. it will be occupied by the warriors' management and ownership and one of the first events. the nba -- nba season does not start until october, but there will be some nonbasketball related events starting as early as september. mayor brayden wanted to make sure all the department his are working together collaboratively with the wires -- warriors to make it a reality in the coming months. on five-year 19th, chief gonzalez anti- attended a labour-management meeting.

so that was the first meeting that i was able to attend with the new president. i attended the -- every two weeks they have the meetings. they help the operations committee meetings. there's a general meeting first from 11:00 am until 1145 and then a policy group meeting with department heads. they are ongoing every two weeks to check in on how we are working together and keeping our streets as clean and healthy as we can. then a number of us attended, that afternoon, an overview of the traffic plan for chase centre, as well as a tour of the facility as it stands at this time. we have direct -- representatives -- we had people

from division iii, his aid, there was about seven or eight of us, and the section chief to get an idea of our response protocols and patterns related to responding to that centre. and as well, if there is an emergency in and around that area, how we will navigate through. it will be congested back, but all the planning that is being done ahead of time will be paying off. on the 22nd, the assistant deputy chief and deputy chief nicholson and i attended an event that we were guests at the asian firefighter association, which was the coalition of asian-american government employees in chinatown to celebrate the year of the bore.

we attended that events. then later that afternoon, and i know commissioners responded when they got back into town, it was a lengthy response out to the area. we had a large response. it was a very tragic event where there was a woman that was walking on the beach with a friend and her dog, and the study cliff above her gave way and trapped her and her huge amounts of sand. valiant efforts of our members were unsuccessful in trying to locate her. we had one of our own k-9 teams come in at south city and works that incident for a number of hours. the assistant chief was the working -- the i see working closely with -- and chief nicholson responded, as did i.

to date, there has been no -- the victim, a young woman, has not been located, although i have been in touch with her family, and her father expressed appreciation. he had seen some of the footage, and acknowledge how difficult it was for our crews, because we are in the business of saving lives in rescuing people, and we were not able to achieve that that day. he was very appreciative of that response. i wanted to let you know about that. and on february 23rd, on saturday, it was a busy day. i'm finishing strong, like i told you i would. rec and park had their opening day. it is one of the -- it is largest in the bay area opening season for baseball and boys and girls. ricky qe is our firefighter that oversees the flame program. it is a joint collaboration

between our department and wreck and parked. -- recreation and park. we collectively throughout the first pitch to some of the players. we participated in that. later that morning, i am a big fan of the special olympics, and law enforcement has a lot of events with special olympics, so i joined the police chief, and a number of law enforcement members in a polar plunge, jumping into the bay bay to raise money for special olympics we did that, and there was a lot of water that day, and then the reopening of balboa pool after several years. mayor breed was there as well. it was capped off by the chinese new year his parade. you for coming. i know you stayed and we would like to acknowledge the asian firefighters association. every year they host a dinner. this time there were several

tables of us in chinatown. made up of members, commissioners, reserves, and their families. i would like to pay particular things to the president of the asian firefighters association who gave talk about the importance of being in the community and remaining active. that is john choi. thank you to firefighter and president of the a.f.a. john choi, and all of his members for hosting us, and all of the members of the command staff that attended. it was an enjoyable night. a little chilly, but no rain. it worked out really well. and then starting with today, i was at mission 11. we did regal out today. the month of march, they did it a little early for schools. it is another thing that i like to do, but i like to have members come out and read books. we read to a class of first-graders.

later this morning, myself, and olivia, as well as the p.u.c. director, and the d.b. -- d.p.w. director met with the ingleside group of neighbourhoods to talk about their concerns. we met with them before, but they were very appreciative. they have concerns because the pg anti- transmission lines run right through their neighborhood. they had an open discussion. we answered what we could. they suggested i would be the -- the liaison and having a high-level representation to come out to their community meetings to answer the questions that are to answer regarding gas shut off, response times, and so forth. i think that was a productive meeting as well.

that is all i have at this time. thank you. >> chief, at this particular point, will ask for public comment. does any member of the public wish to give public comment on the chief's report? seeing then, public comment is closed. commissioners? >> thank you. chief, hasn't been any discussions or any plans made with regards to a new station in south of market, particularly around the chase centre that will be opening soon? hasn't been any discussions about a mission bay, or an additional mission bay station? >> commissioner, we are fortunate that one of the stations, one of the newest stations that opened a few years ago in conjunction with the safety building, where the police headquarters is and where seven station is a station for.

we have a nine-member staff there every day, and it is literally two blocks from chase centre. that is a response from that side, and then the nearest engine company coming in on the other side would be engine 25, which is just off of third and cesar chavez. we don't have any plans for additional staffing right there. when candlestick point gets more further developed, we do anticipate a double station engine and truck in that area, as well as a single station up on the hill -- towards visitation valley. >> at this time, any questions for the chief's report? we will start now with report from the administration and the deputy chief.

welcome, good evening. >> good evening, commissioners. deputy chief janine nicholson. this is my report from the administrative side. the physician's office conducted 56 promotional and permanent physicals in multiple ranks, as well as 40 return to work evaluations. the i.s.p. investigative services bureau conducted 90 drug and alcohol tests, all negative. in terms of support services, we had over 120 facility requests, and so we are still working

closely with public works to get that list down. we meet with them pretty frequently and we are streamlining communications and operations, and we will continue to do that in order to get things fixed for our members. the bureau of equipment has handled 70 plus field and equipment repairs, as well as hundreds of other requests for equipment, service needs, and materials. in terms of our fleet, central shops are filled for the january fleet repair and gent -- and maintenance with $501,000. and we continue to work with central shops in order to create efficiencies with that, with repair and maintenance. six brand-new engines are being outfitted by central shops, and the bureau of equipment, and there are a couple of paint

blemishes and imperfections that the vendor is having to fix. that has been a little bit of a delay, and we are hoping to get two engines, two of the engines out. they should be completed within the next two weeks. they will be going to station two and station eight. they will be replacing engine a 42 engine 44. we have a little bit of movement on that. we do have five more ordered, and that request is in process. but it will need to get approved by the board of supervisors. ambulances, we had an inspection of first of the 15 ambulances that we are going to be getting that has a smaller footprint that complies with vision zero, and we are waiting on a final design of the loading ramp and

the keyboard. i don't have a timeframe for those, but it is a work in progress. our fire department operations centre, our room on the second floor, in the case of a large disaster is currently being updated, and the communications, to video, all of it is being upgraded, and it will give us great ability to be able to see what is going on in the city, as well as effective communications i went to the capital planning meeting on monday, and the easter bond was discussed and passed through the 2020 easter bond that was passed by the capital planning committee, and that includes $150 million for our training facility, and hundred $25 million for what was

called aws s., which is now ef ws, emergency firefighting water supply. so that is on its way to the board of supervisors next. our ambulance deployment facility test piles have been installed, so basically they've put in test piles to determine the exact link and total amount of piles that are needed, so that is a work in progress. and then station 16, we are waiting on a couple items. one is, we are working with mda to get the paint done in the street outside of station 16, as well as signs on the street, indicating it was a fire station station five, there has not been

an official update yet, but what i am understanding is that the contractor is likely to ask for an extension of seven days, but that is not yet official. as soon as we hear, we will let you know. our moose boat is still docked at the hyde street. it will be moved soon because we have many of our members who are almost complete with their training. we will be able to put it up where the rescue is. the jet dock is about 60 days out. the training division, all the training staff underwent implicit bias training, and then most of the command staff as well has undergone implicit bias training. that 123rd class has completed their probation in early february, so they are eight full-fledged members now.

the 124th class has completed their six-month evaluation testing, and as you know, the 125th class is currently in, and they have just split into engine and truck groups, 5050. provision aerate drilling and training and practice and testing for 777 hours in january. includes pump operations, aerial operations, grieving -- driving pretests, and all of their six-month and one-year evaluations. in service training -- training, conducted fire control fire training so that we are looking forward, it is probably still a couple months away, but having live fire training in the boxes that are out there. we trained our trainers on that,

our training staff on that, and we also put 33 members into 378 hours of training. that is then on probationary, that his regular firefighters. other training activities that happened to the assistant deputy chief was involved with a branch of the army called the 95th. they had a full-scale exercise that we partook in. it was a weapons of mass destruction practice attack on alcatraz island. we had a group there, we also had a group that we set up at the hyde street. we also set up a mass he can't station at. thirty-three. we are constantly, we are continually training to make sure that we are ready if and when something does happen.

then our e.m.s. academy put through over 1600 members through over 6,000 hours, including ambulance training for our suppression members, i think i mentioned that last time, but the suppression members are allowed to work overtime on the ambulance, and it is a great opportunity for them, and a great opportunity for us to work more closely with members from station 49. the h. eight per diem academy has begun. they're in their first of two weeks and there are 27 of them, and then they will begin their ride out evaluations in march. our fire reserves, as always, 193 hours of drills and volunteer work, including battalion drills, and a barge drill with the transit committee, and a big shout out to them. that is in the middle of the night that they volunteer for that. we really appreciate it.

we have had 13 events, classes, and outreach presentations and meetings in january. and we talk a little bit about outreach and recruitment. our firefighter he was the outreach coordinator and our lieutenant to is our p.i.o., they have gone to several different events. they did the city job fair in january. three information sessions at the d.o.t., and we are now working with high schools, and specifically, we worked with mission high school in january. we are working towards getting a public safety paris or sought -- career software -- career pathway so they don't have to go elsewhere for those classes. that is a work in progress as well. our homeland security chief was involved in that large exercise

on alcatraz. he's also been heading up our fuel meetings with the department of emergency management, so to ensure that we have enough fuel in the event of a disaster, they've worked out the operational periods and who gets fuel first, police, fire, and the hospitals are the ones who get priority. that is ongoing. he had also gone to the third ally mike geary and parker, as did many members of the command staff. just briefly, the g. otc, i don't know if any of you have been updated on the latest, we sat down and had a meeting with them late last year with the guardians of the city.

president cleveland, it was president cleveland at the time. we all attended. we met with them to discuss the m.o.u. and steps forward. search of what we have realized is the m.o.u. is very complicated, and it will really take some time to hash it all out. in the meanwhile, we came up with an interim plan for the next 12 months, and basically, the ministration will need to sit down and finalize that so we will have a meeting scheduled in the next two weeks to do that. in that plan, we talk about a communications plan, in terms of who they communicate with at headquarters with specific e-mails, phone numbers, and names. we talk about the twelve-month plan and we need in a list of

events on what they would like to attend -- attend. is about better communication, and we worked closely with them on storing the antique vehicles on treasure island. and then, in terms of the department and the port, i know that the chief spoke with the director of the port, and has tasked mark corso with a moving the process forward with mike martin from the port, and we are also working with the mayor

charge a budget office in terms of finalizing that. i'm sorry i don't have all the details on that. maybe you can speak a little bit more to that, chief. >> sure. you are absolutely on target. i did a productive discussion with the porch director related to their requirement that rent be charged, even though it hasn't been in the past, and now we are doing work on permits. there is an obligation for the port to be fair and consistent, so we are trying to work with the mayor's budget office, we don't have the funding for it, but it is something that i believe all other tenants pay a certain rent. they pay us as well for the support that we provide in terms of the fireboat officer. the fireboat pilot, and the fireboat engineer, the marine

engineer, and they also pay for dry docking. it is complicated. it is a work in progress that we are working closely with the port on. >> that concludes my reports. i am happy to take any questions. >> thank you very much. at this point, we will ask for public comment on the report. please approach. please state your name. >> hello my name is tom a. i got here late for the public comment section. can i still have general? >> not at this time. you would only be able to comment off chief nicholson's report. >> can i at the end of the meeting? >> at the end of this meeting, there is no area for public comment. we acknowledge her presence, and i am assuming --

>> i came to support another fire cat going back. i'm sorry, i took munimobile and i was caught underground. >> i believe we understand that. >> thank you. [indiscernible] >> i appreciate it very much, it's fine. thank you very much. chief, in terms of public comment, public comment is closed at this point. is any commissioners at this point? did you want to chime in at this point? >> i did want to acknowledge the chiefs for once again working collaboratively on putting together a stellar e.a.p. event action plan for the chinese new year. as you witnessed, there's hundreds of thousands of people out for that parade, once again, they did good work and putting it together. i wanted to add to the report on

the easter 2020 bond, it is slated to be 600 million, and we have three parts to it. as you said, the hundred $50 million for the training facility, a hundred 25 million for the emergency firefighting water supply, and the third police, which i'm not sure if i hurried or not, but just let you know, is a neighborhood the neighborhood fire station's ongoing work on seismic work in other structural work to the neighborhood fire stood -- neighborhood fire station. roughly a 600 million bond. >> can you please repeat the breakdown? >> it will be slated to be $600 million, of which 400-mile -- million would be for firefighting and the fire department concerns. 150 million for the training facility, 125 million four the emergency firefighting water supply system, and 125 million for their neighborhood system.

>> at this point, commissioner cleveland? >> thank you, mr. president. and thank you for the comprehensive report. i think that the chief just answered my question on the bond for 2020. originally i felt we would have our training bond for this year, for this november november 2019. i think now we can see they were all bunched together. this year we will have a housing bond. so i understand that. we have 28 programs that started. what is the washout, generally speaking when you go through the training, background review, what not? >> we will have the chief take

this one. >> good evening, chief. >> good evening, commissioners. for the academy, it is a very high washout right mac. they are expected to be crackerjack paramedics from the day they start the academy. this is not paramedic school. they do not get many chances to get things wrong. we expect them to be able to perform from day one. the academy is a very hard one. the testing is very difficult. once they're out in the field doing their ride along, they're not students. they are expected to be competent and skilled paramedics.

we're dealing with volunteer organization in this herding cats sometimes. but i hope that we'll eventually have the m.o.u. i hope we can get this one year interim agreement agreed to by both parties and they'll understand exactly what their responsibilities are and we'll understand what our responsibilities are as a fire department. it's a really important part of our history to maintain and exhibit, if you will, our historic fire engines and fire apparatuses, so we need healthy partnerships between those two

organizations. i look to you and to our next chief to make that happen. thank you for that report. >> yes, sir. >> thank you, very much commissioner cleveland. >> chief, what is the update on the drones? >> yes, the drones. so, we just got an update from the city attorney. the policy should be back from the city attorney and approved by next week. is that correct? and we are ready to move things forward. i can get deputy chief cochran can give you further -- >> as he is walking up here, you said the policy is being looked at by the city attorney. it has been passed by the commission so what is the city attorney doing with it?

>> you want to speak to that, mark? >> good evening, commissioners. mark corso. so the policy had comments that was circulated internally and from the commission as well. that final feedback combined with the original round of city attorney comments were incorporated, sent back from final review. that's what is being reviewed for a final approval from the city attorney. to answer your question that maybe what chief cochran would be saying, when that is approved from the city's perspective we're requesting one piece of waiver that we need to receive from the state, which is paperwork and we're working closely with you on that and we will be able to begin the procurement. when we have procurement completed and we have an actual piece of equipment that is the last piece needed for our f.a.a. waiver authorization. we'll input that serial number

into that and receive the waiver. >> so, just to be clear, i hear what you are saying about the policy has to be in place. this commission voted on that policy. that policy is in place. i don't understand what it's doing at the city attorney's office. the city attorney's role is to giffigive input to the commissin prior to the adoption of the policy. if the policy is going to be changed, it would come back before the commission so we can see the policy. you are looking at the policy-setting department. >> from the city attorney perspective, before we can formally have the waivers and everything from the f.a.a., they need to sign off on the policy as well. >> they who? >> the city attorney. >> didn't the city attorney sign off on it before we adopted it? >> they made comments which were