there'll be three shell fuel stations that are going to have the hydrogen filling dispenser installed. [please stand by]

so i've been working with the department of the environment through a grant that they have to procure tax -- hydrogen powered taxi cabs and i'm trying to get the fire department on to that grant so we would at least get one vehicle from there. actually i'm meeting with them next week so i'll have more updated information. >> ok. i think that this is an area that the commission might be able to help you with. >> yes, sir. >> particularly with toyota. i think it is a great opportunity for collaboration in terms of their product in this department. i'm almost complete. i'd like to picture at the end in terms of photo in front of bureau of equipment with staff. i never saw a tow truck before so it helps us to be able to see there.

i particularly like the tow truck and its size. i really love the emblem on the side of this tow truck. the police commission talked a lot about turnout coves. there was some discussion on the commission level that we needed a [inaudible] and perhaps the commission needs the adopt a resolution in terms of the turnout coves with the concerns of pmfa. that's why i appreciate the commissioner's questions in terms of that. it seems like the department is on it. is that an accurate statement? do you think just a straight question that the commission needs to put an adoption of a resolution in terms of this concern about pfoas in terms of turnout coves? >> i think that anything that memorializes the commission and this administration's concern for a firefighter's safety is

an absolute bonus and it memorializes exactly what our intentions are and our feelings are. i would support it 100%. >> chief? >> yes, absolutely in support of that. >> thank you. i just wanted to ask that question because that occurrence might occur within the confines of the commission. one other subject matter, i know it is not on the table, but the discussion came of quote-unquote the chief's residence. i know that we have some discussions and some concerns about the chief's residence as a point of information in our interviews. one of the questions on our interview questions would the candidate be willing to live in the chief's residence? we were always under the mind -- i'm using a generalization and talking for the commission -- that we owned -- well, we control the chief's residence. we know there is a certain amount of costs that have to go into that to make it quote-unquote livable. but i think at some point we might need that information coming back to us as to where

those costs are, where they come from and we're being made aware of this new entity that we're kind of concerns us that the chief of the department might be charged for living in the residence of a building that we thought that we owned. which is new to us or new to any of us. and definitely is a concern for moist. -- for myself. i'm speaking as a part of the colleague on this commission. but we definitely think we'll return to that subject matter or do some of our own further asking of questions in terms of the quote-unquote chief's residence. i just wanted to put that out there that that subject matter is coming down the road. thank you very much, captain. with all the jurisdictions that we have, i think i saw your presence in meetings with the city as well. and i know that responsibility levels, antique vehicles,

placement, moving vehicle, parades, participation, without department participation within your unit and lieutenant wong seems like an impossibility. i know that our members are the boots on the ground. but in earlies y the -- in terms of getting to our suppressions or medical emergency, if we don't have the gas or the tools, it hurts us. so there is much appreciation coming from this commission. thank you very much, chief rivera. thank you very much, lieutenant. >> commissioner hardeman? >> thank you for all of your remarks. all to the point. the one thing that -- oh, i don't know whether it was last year some time on the turnouts there was a -- something to do with the manufacturer and what

the components are of the turnouts. but i certainly want to vote to thwart our attempts to discourage more than a discovery. theres a big pot of gold for somebody waiting to invent a turnout that protects and keeps you cool. though are the two biggest problems. and the way they're manufactured now, like i said when i first became a commissioner because i'm a hot-blooded person and it's 50° out and i put that turnout on and with the wrap-around because the general public doesn't know, but you get a wrap around the sleeve and you are taped with tape. it's very thick. very tight. because they don't want any flames to get up there. actually, i thought immediately i could take this to my cleaners and have her cut that off. i thought, oooh, i'd probably get in trouble. but that's part of the keeping you from making you get hot.

and when i buttoned it up and went to the first couple of fires, i was soaking wet and it's like maybe 55° out and 55 late at night and i -- i just feel for firefighters all over the country that have these very, very warm, especially if they're like me where i like cool weather, and typical san franciscan and i think maybe it is something about me, but -- so i really admire firefighters that have to wear it. when i go to a fire now, i just wear my -- i stay away. i don't go across the street. i stay a distance so i don't have to wear my turnout. there is a fortune to be made if someone can invent the lightweight. like we talked about the wildland fires, how there's no complaints, even though it might be hot because it's generally hot. they have the very light fabric turnout that they wear that's -- i don't know if you would even consider it a turnout from

an urban fire department. but when you get out of town, you can wear those and that is one advantage they have is they don't have to have that turnout. i just brought that up that we're not the only ones that program and i was watching and talking about how the same thing i just said that there is something to be -- if somebody could invent something, that eventually could keep you cool and protect you from the fire, it's a money-maker. so, i'm sure they're doing everything they can to make money. it's not about protecting anybody. if we want to make money, we'll do it. thank you. and sorry to keep that going. >> thank you very much, commissioner hardeman and chief, and captain, lieutenant. madame secretary? >> item five, overview of fire department budget. update and overview from director mark corso on the public budget. >> that is for after your presentation.

>> good morning. thank you, commissioners, chief. i'm here to give a brief overview of the department's proposed budget. the mayor proposed for budget back on may 31 and i know you all have been involved with many of the various meetings that we've had with supervisors and other city officials. so, thank you again for your efforts. some of this may be hold to you, but i just wanted to give a brief overview and answer any questions and set out a timeline going forward. so here's a brief overview kind of by fund for our breakdown of our budget. you can see generally general fund operations is our main funding allocation that contains day-to-day operations of the fire department and administratively and operationally. we have some annual projects and continuing projects. those are mainly for special

capital projects or other i.t., things like that. our work order fund is for services we provide to other departments and currently our biggest ticket item in here is the work order for the port and services provided to them. we have the capital planning fund which deals with planning for the upcoming geo bond. that is a special city allocation and then we have our overall allocation to the airport. in total, our proposed budget sits at $424 million in the next upcoming year. that is an increase for the coming year for a variety of factors and i can answer any questions to that extent. this is justs a brief overview by type of expenditure for the department. as we talked about a number of times the majority of our funding goes to salary and fringe benefits for department members, leaving the remainder for things such as equipment, supplies, and other services. we have a lot of -- the work orders with other departments and that is mainly through big ticket items there are work

orders with central shops that the chief touched on a little bit with our work with central shops as well as the worker's compensation fun. just a brief review of our submittal. back in february, the commission approved the department's submittal to the mayor's office. there was a joint letter with the department and the commission advocating for departmental needs. laborer. so 798 and the budget committee at the time looked at three main priorities which was e.m.s., incident support specialist and equipment and then when chief nick -- nicholson came on board, she had items she wanted to stress to the mayor's office so they have been the discussion for the past month leading up to the budget submittal to the mayor's office. so as a kind of high-level overview of what we were actually allocated, the first part is hiring. it is a continuation of the mayor's public safety hiring plan. we're looking at 1h2 firefighter academy in each of the two years and in addition we have one e.m.t.s paramedic

academy incorporated in both of the those years to sustain what our staffing levels are as well as replace staff members transitioning over to that h2 academy so our hiring has leveled out to one academy per year as we've stabilize staffing after years of just ramping up to catch up quite a bit. that's something obviously we're always reviewing with the mayor's office both on the suppression and e.m.s. side and those discussions will continue. right now we're looking at -- we've been allocated to maintain staffing levels. on the e.m.s. side, there were significant investments in ems-6. we were allocated five additional ems-6f.t.e.s to sub mrement operational staffing that we currently have. we have one program administrator and one 12-hour shift per day dedicated to ems-6. so, these five additional personnel will dramatically increase the amount of operational coverage that we have related to ems-6. ems-6 has been discussed quite

a bit at the commission. it has been a very successful program for the department. the issue mainly has been bhanlds -- has been bandwidth with the members that we have. we're hoping to expand the program and reach a whole -- more of the population that is in need of our services. so, in additions to the five f.t.e.s, we've also been allocated funding for ems-6 training. there are certain requirements as far as what training the members participating in it need to have. and so that's both for full-time staff allocated as well as the pool of individuals that are working in those positions on as-needed basis. so the four-week training, we were allocated funding to run some additional personnel through that. and we've also been allocated an upgrade of the ems-6 manager position, just continued mainly due to the increased scope of work from collaboration with other departments, working with the state, large policy implications and decisions being made. so that position has been upgraded due to the change in scope.

the next area i'd like to highlight is fire prevention. we've been allocated three additional inspector positions to deal with the increased workloads and it has been year-over-year increase for the bureau. it's not just regular permitting and plan review, but there has been a number of executive directives and legislation that have gone through the board and from city hall, pertaining to a.d.u.s and affordable housing. a number of efforts where we've been asked to increase our scope and have an increased workload for the bureau. so, the chief has done a great job kind of collaborating and organizing those efforts. and part of that is kind of a reorganization in the bureau and improve the span of control and efficiency for sign-off and the work flow of various projects. so, we've been in addition to the three new inspectors, we've

been allocated funding for three substitutions to assistant fire marshal from other officer positionsen that will allow for a kind of strategic reorganization of the bureau and that will streamline all these efforts that the chief is running. so those are all both the new positions and the substitutions are recovered through fee revenues. so, not really an impact to the general fund. just mainly due to the increased workloads that we would have. also on the radar, over the next year and definitely over the next two years, is the transition to the one-stopper mitt center. 49 south van ness for the city. they are looking at number of departments collaboration to have a one-stopper mitt sfrr for -- permit center for the city, as well as plan review and operational permits. we're working closely with the city administrator's office and city partners on that transition over the next year or so. the next allocation that i

wanted to highlight was the inclusion of assistant deputy chief to serve as the health and safety chief of the department. this is a very important position that would manage the department's cancer prevention recovery units and serve as our oshea liaison and policy development and oversight of physicians office and oversight of our worker's comp carve-out. the long-term goal would be to overall obviously improve health and safety of our members. there is a number of efforts that are under way. chief rivera mentioned a few with regards to kind of environmentally and health and safety of our members. so, i two ub a departmental coordinator would work in tandem with the current resources we have. other city departments and outside resources as well to overall improve health and safety of our members. we're looking at a significant increase in our worker's compensation allocation and that is due to a number of

incidents related to cancer and improve behaviours and resources available to members to make use of and make it an easy way for them to access those resources. equipment is one of the other priorities for the departments. this two-year budgets a continuation of the mayor's fleet and equipment plan from a few years ago. we were allocated $9 million over the last two years specific to equipment and the equipment plan. that is about $6 million in the first year and $3.3 million in the second year. and that is mainly for the purchase of engines, trucks and other needed equipment to replace currently what we have in our fleet. we've made significant improvements in our -- the health of our overall fleet. we have a number of vehicles on order currently from previous allocations. but there is still quiek of work to do and so in order to replace that we need to continue the efforts of the equipment plan and that's

what's been allocated in the budget so far. we have a number of allocations as far as vehicles, ambulance, defibrillator by e.m.s. and those are an annual allocation as well. chief rivera mentioned the host tenders and previously the allocation of four in our budget currently and those would be a great improvement to the current water supply system as well as help tremendously the department operationally. here's a detailed look at our equipment showing the allocation by type and by unit for obviously fire engines, ladder trucks, etc. the total allocation including tenders and revenue-funded equipment is about $11.5 million in the first years and close to $5 in the second. we've been allocated one senior

administrative analysts to assist with e.m.s. billing and we talked a bit about e.m.s. billing. there is a number of things we're doing currently to extract the most revenue we can out of the current programs. just in the normal cycle of billing. but there is also a number of initiatives at the state and federal levels that are coming online to kind of open up additional avenues of reimbursement without any change operationally. there's some legislation passed at the state to enhance the amount of revenue that jurisdictions can receive for both medicare and medi-cal accounts so we feel they would more than pay for themselves with it being cost reporting or other research into those avenues. there is definitely new revenue streams for the department that this position would be assigned to. in addition, we have been allocated executive secretary position to assist with the increased administrative deened mas in the department and that is pretty much been all over,

whether it's increased demands for e.m.s. or for housing and other special projects. we have a lot of operational people doing administrative tasks, which is not the best use of their time and resources. so, in a matter of efficiency, we have been allocated an additional administrative position to assist with those efforts. in addition, there were a few physician reclassifications during the -- in the budget just to realign with actual scopes of work. there a few outside of the operational day-to-day operations. there are a number of projects. this table highlights the kind of difference types. we have our capital projects for storage tank and general facility maintenance. we have a number of allocation of projects for bond-related projects, both for ff&e and projects for those coming online, specifically the new ambulance deployment facility and fire station 35. and in addition, we were allocated funding out of the city's capital fund to pay for some planning related to the

new easter bond. we have an allocation of $200,000 for digitizization project. we'll be work on that in the coming year. and in addition, we've kind of broken off a couple of more technical projects. one was a city college m.o.u. that came before the commission a couple of months ago. we're setting up a special promise for that, revenue expense as well as for mutual aid to separate it out of our regular operating budget. just as timelines for the remainder of the budget process. so, may 31 as i mentioned, mayor breed released her budget, presented it to the board of supervisors. we have our first hearing at budget and finance where chief nicholson will give a budget presentation tomorrow at the board of supervisors, budgets and finance committee. along with a number of other city departments. we also have a second hearing scheduled for the 20th and that will be more of a follow-up discussion with the budget

analyst in that regard. june 21 has been set as the day for public comment on the budget. so, during the departmental presentations there is not an opportunity for public comment and has been done in previous years lumped into one day. so it is one day of public comment and that is on the 21st. after that process, the budget and finance committee of the board will finalize their recommendations and deliberations on their side the week of the 24th. and that will eventually roll into a final budget that's approved at the budgets and finance committee and moves forward to the full board. so, that currently the first vote on the final budget is scheduled for july 23rd with a second vote that is required the following week and after that it would be over to the mayor for approval. so, with that, i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you very much, director. commissioners?

commissioner cleveland? >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. thank you for your report. i'm always impressed by the numbers you put together and how you present them and we're fortunate in our department to have you as our c.f.o. >> thank you. >> thank you for the information. pretty remarkable when you look at the budget of the fire department and proposed budget. when $371 million goes to salary and benefits we really only have $353 million a year that we can work with to make improvements if you will. it's a task. i had a couple of requests on fire prevention. i know that we're going to add some inspectors, three inspectors to the department and that is very important. and perhaps our fire marshal can tell us exactly what kind

of fee increases the public can expect to pay for these improve. . -- improvements in service. so i know that you have to -- it is a cost recovery effort. so what's that going to translate into, increase in fees. >> absolutely. i can answer that question. the department is proposing a very small fee increase of about 4%. it's mainly for cost of living. and various increases over the past couple of years. we did not increase fees last year. but in both of the years, last year and the proposal for next year, there's been increases in salary and wages increase. so, we kept our fee increases very small. mainly the increase in revenue is due to more volume and more activity. so, we're ensuring that we cover our costs but also are cogny -- cognizant of the fee situation. >> i'm impressed. that will go into effect when? >> after the budget approval. it usually comes late august when it goes into effect.

>> late august. >> good job, fire marshal. on the health and safety issues, the assistant deputy chief position will be created, which we definitely need. i have a question. is that position going to have oversight over the department's doctor? because right now the commissioner receives that position and we don't -- i don't think we do a very good job in terms of day-to-day oversight of our physicians. we just don't. would this person have that more -- day-to-day oversight? >> yes. that is our intention. oversight of that, of our worker's comp carve-out, of any behavioral health initiatives, peer support unit. so yes. >> i think that's a good -- very good. and i appreciate that.

let me see if i have any other things here. i also appreciate the fact that you have put in one senior administrative position to ramp up our e.m.s. billing practices of -- i know there is a great deal of money that we cannot collect on our 9-1-1 calls and if we can find a way to increases that cost recovery, it will always -- it will be to our benefit. so i'm glad that that's been added and that the mayor's budgets -- preliminary budget has agreed to include that. >> yes. >>'s always been a bone of contention for many of us commissioners to see how much money goes out the door on 9-1-1 calls that we can't collect back. so -- >> absolutely. some of that we won't be able to regardless due to regulations but there are a number of programs we can take

advantage of for additional revenue streams. >> in summary, thank you for your report. >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you. commissioner hareman? >> thank you, president. as usual, very concise and well-written report. thank you. >> thank you. >> we have a meeting scheduled for supervisors, each commissioner has been assigned to meet with two supervisors. i haven't had a formal meeting with supervisor peskin and supervisor asafai, but i have had numerous discussions with them and i think they're favor tonight the fire department's, without specifically picking anything out they didn't like. so, hopefully it's going well because there is no things that have reached them that they seem to have a problem with at

this time. so, that is good. but very nice report and all the new staffing to keep up with the responsibilities that the fire department has is increased population and number of people and as we talked -- as i mentioned the last meeting, 17% increase. that was in a couple of years and the homeless population, as it's called, i like to refer to them as street people, but nevertheless, how many of them are counted. and in the formula they used to say most [inaudible] san franciscans, but sometimes that's rfring to someone who's lived here for two yearses. but that is not my prerogative. i just read the reports. but i saw since the last meeting where it went up 40% in that same amount of time that we went up 17%. so they're really taking a hit. so, all the resources have to

increase, all the dollars deal with that. and your budget does a very good job in helping deal with that. so, good job. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, commissioner hardeman. that the particular point, chief nicholson, you wanted to make any comment at this point? vice president covington, thank you. director corso, thank you very much for this comprehensive update. just so i'm clear, we're talking about the mayor's proposed budget information. so all of these positions are approved, just for clarity, by the mayor's office, budget office. >> yes, sir. >> with this plan, we're going into the process of the board of supervisor process, the budget committee has well as the general overall board. >> correct. so, we've been having our back and forth with the budget analyst. we started that. we haven't received any recommendations or anything like that yet. as i mentioned t chief has the

presentation at the hearing tomorrow. and that will continue over the next couple of weeks. >> all right. just so that -- i know that, again, because this is a process of steps approved by the mayor's budget office as we go forward. i know that this input in terms of the different departments of [inaudible] came from the various course of your budget meetings and discussions from the various chiefs in terms of their needs. in terms of e.m.s., it says funding of the ems-6 four weeks, talk about and increase of six active members in terms of ems-6. >> five active members, yes. [please stand by] [please stand by]

>> chief nicholson: so it's a position we had that was unfunded that we're bumping up, and that will report to deputy chief of administration. >> president nakajo: i know that commissioner hardeman made some reference to the commission. i'm going to need some coordination and clarity to that because i understand that according to the charter we are in charge of that position. so if that's the case, direct supervision and such with this additional position, i think there just needs to be a real clear line of coordination and communication as to how that's

going to specifically work as infrastructure position on the division. >> chief nicholson: yeah. what i can say is the physician's office on day-to-day matters works with the administration. >> president nakajo: okay. i think that's important to hear. thank you, director corso. did i take public comment on this, madam secretary? >> clerk: not yet. >> president nakajo: any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. madam secretary?

>> clerk: item 6, report of chief of department. report by chief jeanine nicholson including budget, academies, communications, and outreach to other government agencies in the public and report from deputy chief victor wyrsch including updates on greater alarm fires, bureau fire prevention and investigation, and airport division. >> president nakajo: thank you, madam secretary. as in tradition, chief nicholson, we'll ask for you to go through your report first, and ask questions, and then we'll go to deputy wyrsch for his report. i appreciate there's an update to the drone program that commissioner veronese asked for, so i appreciate that being part of your report.

>> chief nicholson: thank you, president nakajo, commissioners, maureen. so the command staff and i, as i told you the -- at -- at the previous commission meeting, deputy chief velo and myself and deputy chief wyrsch have been visiting the fire stations as well as having a town hall at station 49. we're continuing to do that, and we're getting good feedback, good communications with everyone, and as they say, sometimes the best ideas happen over a cup of coffee and we're really getting some good ideas and some good conversations have begun. so we're getting some really good ideas from the stations and once we get that, we'll setup a plan for command staff

to go to all of the stations. members have until june 17 to apply for the committee and work groups that we are going to be reorganizing and reestablishing. we've had several committees and work groups over the years, and not all of them have been active. and what we would like to see -- basically, there's too much work for the command staff to handle, and we also know that members in the field have a lot of intel. they are the subject matter experts, so when it comes to revising our manuals, coming up with new equipment ideas, all sorts of things, we're going to have committees really -- we're going to have some starts and parameters and requirements in

place for those committees so they can do some of the work that we need. talk about the heat wave. it had some impacts on us operationally, as well as e.m.s. on the suppression side, and we are continuing to make the -- make the story known to different supervisors, and i will, as well, at the meeting tomorrow in front of the board of supervisors budget committee just in terms of what's going on in e.m.s. and has been going on in e.m.s. for a while. so our time on task is up 27% since 2014. so what does that mean? that means that the people in -- our members in the

ambulances are spending 27% more time on their work at hand, and there's all sorts of reasons for that, right? traffic -- increased traffic within the city, more documentation requirements, and, really, the hospitals are overwhelmed. their triage systems are back ups, and so we're upstaffing the hospitals by waiting in triage lines for extended periods of time. so we are looking to work collaboratively with the hospital council, department of public health, and others on this to come up with solutions, and we're bringing the story --

i will be bringing the story to the budget committee tomorrow. and as you know, our call volume is up since 2014, as well. 13% overall, but 24% for our e.m.s. units. so we're monitoring and tracking all of that and making the appropriate asks. because as you know, we all run e.m.s. calls, both suppress and parts of the department. we are running calls 24 hours a day, and our full costs go up -- fuel costs go up, doors, etc., etc. it has an impact all over the department. speaking of d.p.h., we're meeting today with d.p.h.,

department of public health director, dr. colfax today, to talk about all sorts of thing, e.m.s. requirements, department response, to foster a working collaboration with them. you may have heard of opportunities for all. it has come out of the mayor's office of economic and workforce development, and we are looking to hire four young people through that program this summer, one for nert and three at e.m.s., so we'll let you know when those young folks are on board. give young people an opportunity to see what things are like and how things work. we are continuing to work with the chase center. we are also in conversations with the m.t.a. and others on our access not just to the

chase center but surrounding areas during event. it's challenging. there's limited access in terms of infrastructure and streets, and we are making our voice heard, and we want to ensure that we have the proper access to the chase center and to the surrounding neighbors when there are events there. and also, pg&e, we we -- we'reg with the department of emergency management and others throughout the city. we need more information from pg&e about the rolling electric shutdowns that they'll be doing on us. assistant deputy chief cochran has been hard at work on this issue, and there is a giant tabletop tomorrow, large-scale drill tomorrow with different city agencies and pg&e run by

the department of emergency management that we'll be taking part in. as you know, it's budget, budget, budget, so that's been a lot of what i've been working on, and with your assistance, as well, commissioners, meeting with different supervisors on the budget to make sure that our voice is heard and our story is told. and i'll be presenting tomorrow. and then, this friday, we have the mayor's -- the women's summit is happening this friday. however, i'll be going to our very own 125th class graduation is that morning at 9:00 a.m. at the scottish rites center at 19th and sloat. hope to see you all there, and

then, after that, i'll be going to the mayor's women's summit. and then, after that, you're invited to the juneteenth celebration. we are meeting at 10:45 a.m. at 762 fulton street, and we'll be marching at 11:00. and then, just lastly, we are in the process of making our h-2 and h-3 level one selections, and i wish we could make everyone happy with that, but it's a very competitive process, and we have really just so many good names, so we will be conducting some conversations with those -- with those possible recruits in the near future, and that concludes my report for right now. >> president nakajo: thank you

very much, chief nicholson. at this point, i will ask for public comment on the chief's report, item 6. seeing none from the public, public comment is closed. commissioners, commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, mr. president, and thank you, chief nicholson, for your report. a number of questions, starting with all your visits and the meeting that you conducted at station 59. with the questions from the rank-and-file, what kinds of questions did they provide you that will help you as our new chief? >> chief nicholson: so thank you for that question, and we -- initially, i was getting more sort of a dumbfounded look, like wow? you guys are coming to talk to us. and so i've gotten -- and i

know deputy chief wyrsch and velo have gotten really good feedback. they are really happy that we're opening the lines of communication and having conversations and that we're willing to listen and that -- you know, and that they want to hear what it is about what we're doing. and then, there are, you know, some things that come up that -- that we can address easily. and you know, a lot of -- as -- as you may well know, problems get started or happen because of either no communication or miscommunication, and so -- but a couple of the sort of small things that have come out of it that i think can really help us is we're going to look at having our fire inspectors -- our district inspectors meet

regularly with our batallion chiefs so they each know what the other is doing, what the concerns are, what they're working on. so opening up that line of communication is really helpful. also, just getting communication out to the field about how we choose to -- what order we go in in terms of replacing rigs because there are all sorts of theories out there. but assistant deputy chief rivera has a very factual plan laid out in terms of these are the number of miles, these are the number of hours, these are the repair costs, so we're going to get that kind of information out to the field, so it's been really positive from our vantage point. >> commissioner cleaveland: i thank you for getting that

feedback and continue that go on an ongoing basis will be really value. when you talk about forming work groups, will the information that comes out of those work groups be funneled into our supplement, our strategic plan? >> so yes. a lot of what they will be working on is -- will be directives from that strategic plan, absolutely. >> commissioner cleaveland: response times are up 27% since 2014, and the reasons are increased traffic and back ups at the hospitals. what does that mean in terms of number of minutes? when you say time on task for an e.m.s. or 911 call, what does that mean in terms of minutes? >> i can look it up for you and get it to you.

>> commissioner cleaveland: but 27% would be, to you, can you estimate five minutes? ten minutes? >> chief nicholson: no, i would estimate more than that. >> commissioner cleaveland: just interested in what it means more in real-time. >> chief nicholson: and what that means is we're doing over a quarter more time on each call that we are working on, and so the turnover of available ambulances is an issue, and we just don't want to get back to where we were five years ago. >> commissioner cleaveland: i agree. i agree. just to reiterate, 70% of our emergency calls are medical emergency. >> chief nicholson: yeah, i believe. clae >> commissioner cleaveland: of those, roughly 35% have

unidentifiable addresses. >> chief nicholson: mm-hmm. >> commissioner cleaveland: that's something i think the public needs to know. the chase center, when the chase center is operating, how many ambulances will we have stationed nearby to deal with any sort of emergencies? >> chief nicholson: so we don't have any ambulances dedicated to the chase center? and as you know, our ambulances are dynamically deployed throughout the city, and it depends on our staffing levels and how many ambulances are at the hospitals and how many ambulances are on call. but we will need to get in and around that area. >> commissioner cleaveland: okay. and on the budget, i just want to congratulate you. i've been to several budget meetings with the supervisors with the new chief, and she's very eloquent when it comes to

defending our budget increase request and when it comes to explaining explaining our budget to the supervisors and where our priorities are, so i just want to congratulate you into your initial foray into the budget and for defending our increases as eloquently as you do. >> chief nicholson: yes. as i like to say, show me the money. if you will allow me, i neglected to speak about the drone, so if you would allow me to do so. >> president nakajo: proceed, chief. >> chief nicholson: so we are waiting on fema to approve this drone for us, but i'm going to ask if assistant deputy chief cochran can come up and give you a quick update on the drone program. >> president nakajo: thank you,

chief. deputy chief cochran. >> assistant deputy chief mike cochran. so in order to make the purchase, an approved aviation request form is required from cal-oes. the request was submitted on april 5 for cal-oes to review. a follow up was made on may 3 with no response. an additional follow up was made on may 26 with no response. at that time, i e-mailed them directly, and received the following answer. hi, michael. we have not heard back from fema yet, and i'll keep mary posted. so we're awaiting fema. that's what they said. >> president nakajo: all right.

thank you, deputy chief cochran, chief nicholson. any additional questions? vice president covington? >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. president. just to piggyback on the discussion with the drone. you know, with all of the inclement weather and the floods and all of that, fema is pressed to the wall right now, so i think when things settle down a little bit, they will be more responsive, but you know, the tornados, 12 in a row in one state just day after day after day, and about a couple of million people have been impacted, so i can understand, they've probably cleared everybody connected with fema out of the west and put them in the midwest and the south.

so i think we -- we have no choice but to be patient, and i appreciate chief cochran staying on top of it so when people do return to their desk, hopefully, we can get this done fairly quickly. >> yes, ma'am. as you said, it's an outside agency, and unfortunately because it's a grant, we're going to have to wait. >> commissioner covington: yes. and a federal agency, they have a wider scope of responsibility, so we just have to be patient. is there anything in the meantime that we can do? i mean, not on the regulatory side, but training or anything of that nature because i understand right outside of phoenix, they have a -- i don't know if you've attended that -- that training, but they have

derailed trains and planes and everything. i can't remember the name of the facility, but cbs did a wonderful package -- what we used to call a wonderful package -- a segment on that particular location just this past week. >> i do not, ma'am, but we really need the drone to train, but my alma mater, which i'll say, is going to assist when we get it, so that'll be local, but i do not know that facility. >> commissioner covington: okay. very good. because they showed a drone that was, like, carbon and round and with all the bells and whistles. and i'm like, i know when chief

cochran sees this, he's going to want one. all right. thank you, chief cochran. just stay positive it's on its way. >> yes, ma'am. >> commissioner covington: i'll also tell commissioner veronese to remain positive when he returns. that's going to be on his mind. >> president nakajo: all right. thank you for your questions, vice president covington. commissioner hardeman? >> commissioner hardeman: i don't know if the public realizes how important your position is, but your position is very important to the safety of all san franciscans. you work with every part of city government, everybody in the fire department, so you have your hands full all the time. the drone issue, you've been ready to move on that for a

long time. you have a lift of that in your background before that came to the fire department -- list of that in your background before that came to the fire department, so with your history, i'd say you're sort of lucky that commissioner veronese isn't here because he wants you to move this along. but we all know you, and you are hamstrung, just like commissioner covington just said. but the next big event would probably be the pride parade? that's what, the 28th or something? that will keep you busy, i'm sure. >> yes, that's the 30th. >> commissioner hardeman: the 30th? okay. >> our new assistant chief, sandy tong is working with me on that. there will be a large amount of resources, large amount of people. all the agencies are preparing, yes, sir. >> commissioner hardeman: i might be marching in that. it's been a few years, but i

might be marching, so thank you. and that was it for me. should i ask chief wyrsch, do you want to -- >> president nakajo: yes, thank you very much, commissioner hardeman -- >> commissioner hardeman: oh, i just wanted to ask chief nicholson some questions. the oracle park, at&t, the former giants ballpark, is it a.m.r. or american, do they have a contract with the giants for those ambulances they have out there right off of -- >> chief nicholson: king, king american. >> commissioner hardeman: oh, king american, because i also talked to those fellows that are walking around the stadium, the ballpark. so that's a deal with the giants themselves, so chase, i'm assuming, because just not to answer a question i don't know the answer to, but i

assume chase is going to have a similar thing where they hire king or american or whoever -- a.m.r. or whoever -- so that was anticipated? okay. that was the answer to the question. those fellows are very interesting, talkative, informative. also, i think there's three or four dogs going around every game, that the giants hire. nothing to do with us, but they do that every game. thank you, president nakajo. >> president nakajo: thank you, commissioner hardeman. i did not allow commissioner covington to finish her questions, so we're going to return to vice president covington to allow her to finish her questions. vice president covington, my

apologies. >> commissioner covington: no problem. chief, can you tell me what the top three items are regarding the budget, what your top three asks are right now? >> chief nicholson: are you talking top three in terms of dollar value? >> commissioner covington: in terms of importance to the department. what is it that we absolutely cannot do without that we may need to push a little more on? 'cause i've met with you and other senior staff and two of the supervisors who are very, very confident that they would be able to answer if people had questions. i think it's important for the public to know if there's a priority, what the top three things would be. >> chief nicholson: so everything i asked forn