>> good morning. today is wednesday, december 18, 2019. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. please turn off electronic devices. first item is roll call. (roll call). we have a quorum. next item is presidents announcement. >> welcome to the building inspection commission for december 18, 2019. happy holidays. i am vice president filling in for president mccarthy who is

away dealing with a family matter. i spoke to him this morning, and as i will get to later, this is the last meeting for many of us, and he has some -- he asked me to pass along greetings, and i will when i get to that matter. i would like to thank the department staff who have been and still are attending the california building officials training classes this week. every year our staff members almost all of them are required to take classes and be up to speed on current code and issues in the building industry, and our staff attends these trainings at least once a year to refresh and enhance technical skills to continue to provide excellent customer service.

everyone in the city benefits from these continuing education opportunities. our opportunities that we on this commission enthusiastically support and encourage. it is important to stay up to speed because so many changes happen on a daily basis here in this industry. thank you to david letta of plumbing inspection who assisted a customer in resolving an issue with a sewer line. that is an issue for many as the rains come. we are in the final months of quarter four of 2019. it is time for the staff, supervisors and deputy directors to send in nominations for employee of the year. those who have performed outstanding service, please e-mail nominations to john patrick murray, all separated with periods at sfgovtv.

or to patty lee at sfgov.org to select quarter four winner. president mccarthy will announce this at the january 2020 meeting. finally, as i was saying before, if i get teary, i will talk through it. this is my final building inspection commission meeting. i would like to express my appreciation to the director. we worked together for many, many years and done amazing things in this department. i also want to express my appreciation and warmth to all my commissioners, many of whom we have sat on this commission together, done really important things. in my now more than 20 years of

serving on this commission, i know, time flies. i continued to be impressed with the dedication, hard work and professionalism of everyone working here. they perform vitalling safety professional services every day of the year, and our city and communities benefit tremendously from their commitment. new commissioners will be taking seats in january, i believe a lot of us will be leaving. i wish each and every one of-fellow commissioners every possible success with the boroversight responsibilities you will be assuming outside of this commission and the folks remaining on this commission. i also want to express my appreciation to bill strahan, he has been our communication director at d.b.i. for 13 years,

i believe, not an easy task. i am sure whenever your phone rings and it is the newspaper your heart beat goes up. mine certainly does. thank you so much for representing our department and our commission and our city to carry the message out to the public. there are so many wonderful staff folks, deputy directors, and especially the secretary who actually i have said this. she actually runs the department. >> no, i don't, don't get me in trouble. >> she certainly makes sure we are dealing with the issues that come before us and carry forward ideas. members of the public present, someone, our friend, jerry dratler, we need to commit do to

keeping our department accountable to the city. we are here to serve, to make sure that when projects come before us and folks building them need our help that we are here to serve, and we need to do it in an equitable, fair, even way, consistent and transparent. one of the things i want to put on record in public. i have been obsessed about the permit tracking system for the last -- actually 15 years. who is counting? i am still committed to making sure that the point of it, which is equitable, transparent delivery of service and maintenance of data so that not only those doing the work but those in our city who want

access to it can find it and know what is happening here. we need to be trusted by our city. i think we are getting there. it is one of the reasons i have been committed to that. i want to thank you. i want to thank the commissioners for serving. this is sometimes not an exciting commission, but it is so important the things we do here. i value having been here. i feel honored to have been able to work with all of you to carry forward this message, and i look forward to the next steps. i will probably come back but i will be out there. just warning you. i think that is it for now. thank you very much. i am sorry. when i was talking to president mccarthy, he wanted me to echo his appreciation for serving with you all.

the work that we do in support of him because the presidency does require a lot more attention, and he really appreciated the support from commissioners and the commitment you all have to our city. he will be back. he is away with family. our thoughts and prayers are with him. thank you. >> thank you. is there any public comment on the president's announcement? seeing none the next item. >> go ahead. >> department of building inspection. it is my honor to work with you for the last -- i worked with the city 30 years, 23 years in the department of building inspection. in 2012, you know, you appointed me as inspection director.

we have a lots of charge with all of the commissioner support. i think we don't make that many calls. i cannot guarantee you to make sure it works, but i would like to stay as long as i can to make sure that thing will run. hopefully we have an alternative way. i am not a computer expert. i have the department of technology and controller to help me. there is a problem with the consultant. fortunately they don't cooperate with us. that is why we have trouble right now. hopefully, once we move to the new building, then we will sit down to see how to move forward. you are welcome to come back to

guide us. we worked together for so long. all of the commission helped me, you know, to do my work, you know. hopefully in the future, our department will be improved, but i feel since 2012, our department is moving forward with strategic plan and everything, but, of course, a lots of areas to improve. maybe now is the time you have a second eye to look at how we can do better and call me anytime and we can work together and the other commissioners to help me to see what we can do, you know, or the other president mccarthy can tell me. thank you. >> thank you.

>> commissioner walker very clearly stated the feelings that i share when she called out all of the same people that, you know, have made my service, you know, short that it is compared to hers, one of the most wonderful experiences i could have asked for. not only thanking the staff, my colleagues, as she pointed out, the public who show up regularly represented by mr. d ratler today. for their reminders, the information they give and passion they bring. these are all critical things that helped us to try to do the best job we can, and i know you will continue to be here to help on that. as she said, we will probably be out there doing the same thing.

obviously, i would also like to thank mayor breed, wh who as president of the board did my original appointment and reappointed me and gave me this opportunity. really what i wanted to focus on today was really thanking debra walker for the most extraordinary service to have given this length of time with such passion, such commitment, such dedication really is the model that i think we all look to in trying to see how we can best serve our city so if we can, you know, i am sorry we don't have one, water or

whatever to toast her to thank her for her absolutely extraordinary service. >> where is the camera? there we go. thank you. >> commissioner walker, i count you as one of my friends. i know you were appointed by the board of supervisors and i was appointed by the mayor's office. we see each other supporting different candidates. i know you remember that. we remained friendly and i appreciate that, and when you came back on the commission, i got to say you helped stabilize this commission. i will take you back 15 years. you remember how difficult it was, but when you came back on, i really appreciated what you did. you were a partner in getting the department to where it is today.

i thank you for that. >> one more. debra, as you know, i am not a great public speaker. we talked about this. >> them of an engineer, though. >> what i want to comment on is maybe a bit specific, but i have found when we have the aab meetings and we are stuck between a rock and hard place, which way do we go? i am amazed how you come up with a third way to save the day. i appreciate that. it goes well beyond my capacity to understanding issues. you understand them quite well, and i want to acknowledge that and commend you for that, and you will be missed. >> thank you. i appreciate that. that really makes me cry. >> next item.

>> thank you for your comments. we are going to bring our commissioners back next month for some comments. next is item 4. commissioner's questions and matters. a -- sorry. item three. general public comment. i apologize. we will take public comment on matters not part of this agenda. >> i would like to thank all commissioners for service.

[ inaudible ] >> i am jerry dratler. [ inaudible ] the revocation to the board of appeals. it was heard on december 4th. >> i will not read d.b.i.'s responses. question one. how many violations were public safety issues? this was asked repeatedly. why did d.b.i. revoke the permits versus suspend? question three. building permits were revoked on same day the two novs were issued. why was there no 30-day period before they were revoked.

last question. did the building code violations at 3426 22nd street rise to the level of severity of past permit revocation cases? moving to 25 17th avenue. on november 18th. i submitted a complaint that building permits be revoked due to numerous violations which resulted in the house occupying two properties for las last yea. they closed it on november 27th stating the outstanding issues had been addressed when they had not been. the very same day, november 22, the project manager showed up at d.b.i. and you approved a 300,000 remodel permit over-the-counter. he approved the permit denied by

two d.b.i. employees. first over counter denial occurred on november 19th. you have a copy of a december memo inquiring into the unusual set of events. the second employee who does not work in the area denied the permit and issued comments for the whole description on the december 12th copy of the permit. you have a copy. as of december 17, 2019, the second denial of comments have been removed for pts. this is a plug forgetting acella working. you have the facts. it is up to the inspection commission to decide if senior management acted correctly and if policy changes should be made and internal controls over permit revocations and over-the-counter permit

approvals need to be approved. thank you very much. have a great holiday. >> thank you. this will be passed along. >> any additional public comment? seeing none. item four. commissioner's questions and matters. a. inquiries to staff. at this time commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies and practices and procedures, which are of interest to the commission. i believe that the 9:00 a.m. meeting time is not most equitable time to have the building inspection commission. i want to know what we can do to consider having it at a different time. the planning being the afternoon. the overwhelming majority of my

generation can make meetings in the afternoon. we have complicated, frustrating generational land use issues that are coming up to a boil in the city, and to be frank, i would like to give our citizens the biggest opportunity to attend and comment. that said, i have no idea what to do past that. is there a mechanism for that? >> you are doing that. that will be an agenda item to discuss. >> we can put it on the agenda for next month. >> any other commissioners? >> i would love, since i am not going to be here to bring it up later, i think it would be good

to in the tenancy have that voice be heard. we have a robust code enforcement outreach to work with non-profits from the landlord and tenant side to resolve issues so tenancy is not disrupted in the process of code enforcement, and i would love to have the commission discuss the program. the goals, how to do better at reaching it. there is a lot of construction that involves older rent control buildings in general, and i think it would be really good to get a presentation from all of those partners about the work and how they feel they are doing and maybe what is needed. i would suggest that. clearly it would be good to

agendize updates as much as possible in our move into the new building and the appropriate business practices and tracking systems. you know, our permit tracking system process as we move so that the commission is involved with it. i would just leave that as markers. i think all of these things help to some of the issues we deal with constantly about keeping track of projects, access to the data. it is good it is happening now in terms of the building. better updates. that is what i would suggest for the agenda. hopefully, somebody can approve it when i am not here. >> thank you. next item 4b future meetings and

agendas. at this time the commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a special meeting and/or derm those items that could be placed on the agenda. >> the committee appointments for the commissioners comes up so we have the litigation committee, appointments committee that you factor that into the new group of folks coming in and make sure we don't lose track of that. >> we definitely will and february we will vote on committee members at the february meeting. >> is the litigation in january? >> there is one scheduled in january. it would be something to consider. maybe we have to move it up. i didn't think about that. the election of officers. >> i know but it is important

because litigation is an important committee to not skip. maybe you have to talk about doing that in january when we have new people in. maybe talk about how that works. >> that is a good idea. i will follow up on that. is there any further commissioner comments? >> jim. >> is anybody who has been to these knows, one of my deepest concerns is that we build a close relationship with our colleagues and the planning commission, and i know that in response to prior request to have some additional joint sessions that president mccarthy

is working with president melgar to do so, and just this one last time i would like to have the marker down to be sure that such a session occurs, and, hopefully, that we almost formalize it to either semi annual calendared event. i believe that is a critical piece of making our reach effective, coordinated, and certainly goes in step with our now sharing physical facilities together. to that the only thing i would add, mr. dratler brought up a couple specific cases. while the direction of the joint

session that i proposed was to have a comprehensive evaluation of all of the kind of problem child cases to understand how they have been resolved, if they are still unresolved or not, i do feel that the specifics of the two cases that mr. dratler has brought forward now several times do warrant to be calendared and to have a specific response. i would urge that it get on an agenda early in the new term. >> thank you. is there any public comment on item 4a and b? seeing none the next item is item 5.

director's report. 5-a. update on d.b.i.'s finances. >> good morning, commissioners. deputy director for the department of building inspection. before you is the november 2019 financial report providing revenues and expenditures for the first drive months july through november 2019. i will go over the highlights and they sound familiar. i have been saying the same thing every month. revenues are $28.7 million compared to $29.3 million last year. pretty much revenues are pretty much stable. a slight decrease is due not because of lower collection from permits but because last year at this time the controller's office had entered interest. expensedyters 27.2 reflecting an

increase in salary that went up this work in salaries and work orders that is where you see th increase. we have an increase in expenditures from the cb o. they are turning in invoices earlier. other than that we are remaining on the right path. our revenues are stable. we are always keeping spending within our budget, and i am happy to answer any questions. >> commissioners. >> seeing none. thank you for being consistent. that is what we aim at. >> 5-b. update on proposed or recently enacted state or local legislation. >> good morning, bill strong legislative and public affairs. as you know, we completed the trcode revocation and adoption.

that means come january 1, we will have a new set of codes for the next three years. that part is on the correct path. we have also taken a look at supervisor peskin's modifications for the housing code for heat improvements to make sure tenants are getting the heat that is required legally. that was passed at the board yesterday. it will go into effect in the next 30-days. i guess the only other item that i wanted to mention was on the state energy commission having passed unanimously the recommendations on a number of cities around california are making to switch away from gas appliances and to have all electric. as you know, berkeley and a few

other municipalities have voted for new buildings to do that. san francisco is actually passing an ordinance on municipal buildings. it was very clear from the public testimony at the board a lot of people are ready for addressing the carbon and climate situation by stepping away from gas. how that will play out with building remains to be seen, but as we know we have a lot of homes in san francisco using mixed fuels. i think that is something that will be engaged with for some time to come. other than that, i think if you have any questions, i am happy to take them. >> construction has to be gas? >> well, that is what they are proposed at the state level. in some municipalities like

berkeley the city council passed the ordinance already. it is a matter of implementation. i think it is at least a year away before they start implementing it. >> that is new construction? >> on new construction, right. nobody addressed the retrofitting that will also be an issue. thank you. >> we will be gone, bill. >> next item 5-c. update on major projects. >> good morning. department of building inspection. compared to last reporting period is increase 3.6%. i think it is due to if new code changes and also somebody talking about indexing of the planning, but that is major

thing is the code change to meet the permit. any questions? >> okay. 5-d. update on code enforcement. >> good morning, commissioners. ed see sweeney. 5338 building inspections performed. complaints 413. complaints with the first notice violation 51. complaints received without no nov253. beta complaints 34. second notice of violations 38. housing inspections performed 714. complaints received 292. complaint responses within 24 to 72 hours 284.

complaints with notice of violations issued 112. beta complaints 261. number of cases cents to director hearing 30. routine inspection 63. code enforcement cases 165 to director. abatements issued 40. cases under advisement 13. cases abatessed 179. code enforcement 321. number of cases referred to bic litigation committee two. we didn't send anything to city attorney. code enforcement outreach total 16,663 reached out to. counseling 1050. community program 2502. cases resolved 313. these are the numbers for

november. >> thank you n.public comment on the director's report. seeing none. item 6. review approval of the minutes of the regular meeting november 20, 2019. >> move to approve. >> second. >> motion and second. any public comment on the minutes? are all commissioners in favor? any opposed. okay. the minutes approved. 7. discussion and possible action on the annual performance evaluation for the director. continued from the october 16, 2019 meeting. any public comment? seeing none. is there a motion to go to closed session? >> moved to go to closed second. >> second. >> motion and second. all commissioners in favor.

aye. we are in closed session at 10:10 a.m. we will >> we are ready to reconvene. this is the building inspection commission continuing our closed session item number 7. this item d reconvene in open session to vote on whether to disclose any our all discussions held in closed discussion. >> i move that we do not disclose. >> second. >> there is a motion and second to not disclose the items in closed session. any public comment? no. all commissioners in favor, aye. >> next is item 8 adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> move. >> second. >> all in favor.

>> aye. >> we are now adjourned at 11:0. >> welcome to another episode of safety on today is episode we'll show you how 0 retroactive you're home let's go inside and take a look. >> hi and patrick chief officer

and director of earthquake for the city and county of san francisco welcome to another episode of stay safe in our model home with matt we'll talk about plywood. >> great thanks. >> where are we we if you notice bare studs those are prone to failure in an earthquake we need to stabilize those they don't lean over and plywood is effective as long as you nail along every edge of the plywood for the framing we'll nail along the sides and top and on the bottom 0 immediately you'll see a problem in a typical san francisco construction because nothing to nail the bottom of the plywood we've got to wind block between the studs and we'll secure this

to the mud sill with nails or surface screws something to nail the bottom of the plywood. >> i notice we have not bolted the foundation in the previous episode thorough goes through options with different products so, now we have the blocking we'll a xoich attach the plywood. >> the third thing we'll attach the floor framing of the house above so the top of the braced walls one to have a steel angle on top of this wall and types of to the top of the wall with nails into the top plate and the nails in this direction driving a nail it difficult unless you have a specialized tool so this makes that easy

this is good, good for about 5 hundred pounds of earthquake swinging before and after that mount to the face of wall it secures the top of wall and nailed into the top plate of the with triple wall and this gives us a secure to resist the forces. >> so you now see the space is totally available to dots blocking that he bottom and bolted the foundation in corneas what the code in the next

>> this is the transportation committee. we hope to be joined by voice chair commissioner mandelman. our clerk is here. would you please call the roll. (roll call) we have a quorum. >> please read the next item.

>> approve the minutes of the december 5, meeting. this is an action meeting. >> any changing or comment on the minutes. any public comment on this item? seeing none. we are joined by vice-chairman delman and commissioner mandelman, we are approving the commentexhibit minutes from dec5 is there a motion? >> motion made by commissioner ronen. why don't you call the rolling othe roll onthat. (roll call). >> we have final approval. >> next item, please. >> item 3. remember adoption of rail program manager job classification and revised organization chart. >> good morning. we convene once a year on personnel related items. last december i brought before

you staff reorganization plan with updated job description and reclassification of six positions and asked for a salary structure increase as well for all staff except for executive director. october 2018 the board had asked staff to convene a disciplinary panel review to review the current and alternative oversight project delivery of the downtown rail extension. this board received the final report in november 2019. one of the directions was to help the tjpa reset the project working in drawing upon the transportation agencies in the bay area. we are seeking a new job position to oversee and coordinate the project

development efforts on rail projects as we will discuss in the work program in the next item. after a short transition period for this position, we anticipate that we would reduce reliance on an call engineering for the rail project management oversight. in terms of the title of this position we would like to total this position as the rail program manager, and increase the agency from 46 pull time positions to 47 full-time positions. in terms of fiscal impact. we anticipate recruitment in january to bring this person on around april and i would anticipate a budget increase of $68,905 in the next fiscal year. we would anticipate total increase of $275,620 for this position including salary and

benefits. >> are there questions or comments procolleagues? >> relative to the notion of transition from on call nonstaff members to an in house position, what do you think that period of transition looks like? what period of time are we talking about where we pay for two rather than one? >> thank you, chair peskin. we have had the benefit of the long time rail consultant for over 10 years. i think that we need louise to finish off the oversight of central subway. there after i think with the new rail program manager we would shift the new responsibilities to the new person. in any case, we will be assisted by a team of on call consultants

that these people would help us manage. >> on the one hand, i am a big fan of independent oversight that can be brought by the ta by and through the staff or consultants. on the other hand, one of the findings of the expert paneling has to do with collaboration between a number of agencies and ultimately in the structure that the government structure they recommended hiring an independent party. i want to understand how this rail position works with that independent party and whether or not this should come out of solely out of our funds or whether or not it should also receive some of the other agencies that are interested or

vested in dtx or what we have a working title called dtx? >> it is the dtx program of projects i should clarify. our wholesales tax program is transit programming is two-thirds is transit. the oversight functions that he performs in addition to the dtx include the municipal they lrv or capital program. this person would really need to work on ta assignments. on a particular capital projector program of projects like the dtx to include penn avenue and the second crossing and the second tube planning with the capital corridor. that whole set of projects including the business plan going south would be needed. iit would be hard to ask other

agencies to pay into that even though they benefit from that. that is part of the coordination roll for san francisco on rail matters. i think we will ask for contributions from the other agencies to support the dtx rail program and projects. we each need to staff up as pointed out not only by the peer review but the peer review that everyone needs to staff up on rail. the staffs is thin. now we see the renaissance of an interest in pursuing the agenda. we need to build capacity. >> mr. wil labr un. >> good morning, supervisors. thank you for taking care of this issue, which is long

overdue. it seems to me with what is happening with the central subway and involving the project from last 10 years expanding that contract for another two years is not the smartest thing to do. with regard to costs, if you terminate these contracts instead of expanding two years, you are probably looking at a saving of $2 million. now with regard to the proposal of the position, this is so important to the city of san francisco that i think that the position of rail manager eventually reporting the deputy of the capital projects is not appropriate. what you want is a new division

reporting directly to deal purely with rail. the tube, the pennsylvania expense and dtx and future of the central subway. that individual should be drawing it from all other branches and actually build up a group of five or six people who basically will continue with the existing responsibilities but really start getting on board as far as rail is concerned. that is my two cents. thank you very much. >> any other members of public to testify on item three? public comment is closed. i hear what you are saying. i think you have to walk before you can run. getting all of these different organizations to cooperate is our imperative. motion to adopt the job

classification and revised organization chart made by commissioner mandelman? if no objection same house same call. could you please read the next item. >> item one go into closed session evaluation of public employee performance. this is an action item. >> any public comment on this item? seeing none. public comment is closed. we will convene in closed session. >> we will reconvene in open session. mr. clerk, could you please read item 5. >> item 5. remember adoption every viced salary struck turand setting the annual compensation. >> we called item 4.

personnel committee met to discuss the performance evaluation and remember approval of the executive director's performance objectors. his work has been exceptionally good. the personnel committee recommended a salary structure range of 217,893,000 to $304,712, a 15% increase in the salary range. and amended the employment agreement to extend from december 31, 2019 to 2222 and increase the compensation in 2020 in the amount of a 5% increase results in a salary of $267,417. is there a motion to recommend adoption of the revised salary

structure amended the existing employment agreement and setting the compensation for the executive director? i should also note the personnel committee requested that did $15,000 of unspent professional development money from 2019 be rolled over to 2020. the other funds that were for relocation in the previous contract have been used and will not be renewed. so is there a motion to that effect? made by commissioner ronen. can we take that same house same call? any introduction of new items? seeing none. any general public comment. >> seeing none the personnel committee of the transportation committee is adjourned.

>> good morning and welcome to the san francisco county transportation authority for our last meeting of the 2019 calendar year. today is tuesday, december 17th , 2019. could you please call a rollback -- could you please call roll call? [roll call] we have a quorum.