>> executive orders and the mayor's proclamation declaring the existence of a local emergency. during the coronavirus disease emergency the fire commission regular meeting room at city hall is closed and meetings of the fire commission. you may watch this meeting live

at www.sfgovtv.org. participate during public comment by phone and please dial (415)655-0001 and use access code 146 122 0408. members of the public will have opportunities to participate during public comment. the public is asked to wait for the particular agenda item and before make a comment on that item. comments will be addressed in the order they are received. when the moderate era nounses that the commission is taking public comment, members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star 3 and you will be queued. callers will hear silence when waiting for your turn to speak. operator will unmute you when prompted, callers will have three minutes to provide comment. ensure you are in a quiet location, speak clearly and turn

off any tv. item 1, roll call. president covington, [roll call] [roll call] >> i'm wondering who james smith is? >> james smith is the i.t. from sfgovtv. >> got it, thank you. >> ok. item 2, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda.

speakers shall address the remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individuals commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with the speakers. the lack of a response by the commissioners or department personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or supports statements made during public comment. and i will check to see there is no one in the public comment line. let's close public comment. >> ok. item 3. approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve the regular meeting minutes on september 9th, 2020. there is nobody in the public comment section. >> public comment is closed. commissioners -- >> i move we approve, medicine

am president. >> thank you. >> i'll second. >> thank you. >> all vote. [roll call] yes. and commissioner nakajo. >> yes. >> the motion is unanimous. thank you. >> clerk: item 4. chief of department's report. jeannine nickolson on current issues, activities and the department since the fire commission meeting on september 9th, 2020 including budget academy and special events and communications and outreach to other government agencies and the public. and report from administration, deputy chief, joe a velo on administrative division, fleet and facility status and updates, finance, support services, and training within the department.

>> thank you very much, president covington, commissioners, mr. marine, command staff, chief nickolson. this is my report, we've had 28 covid positives in all, we still have people off work in quarantine and we had an issue with our wild land firefighters a couple of weeks ago and quite a few of them came back with covid and so we have adjusted our policies and we now have the latest group that came back, we didn't have any covid positive

so i believe we've addressed that really well. some really good news, a grant, we are working with fema. they've awarded us a grant and we're working with them, mark corso is and hopefully we'll be able to receive the funding some time later this year. it is a $13.7 million grant that will fund an academy class of 36 people and pay for their salaries for three years. so there will be no impact on the general fund. this is really great news. because we didn't think we were going to be able to hire anybody for several years. this will save us quite a bit in overtime money. >> we are also receiving a grant

for over $600,000 for three new mini pumpers. the mini pumpers are the small vehicles we drive into mclaren parks and other parks to put out grass fires. and we are definitely aged and this will be wonderful to have them replaced. it will take a while before we get them replaced. but those are the grants that mark korso is working on and i want to thank them for following. we have to meet with the mayor's budget office to get final approval but it's free money. we're hoping for the best. apologies, there goes my phone.

the chief has been working really hard on shared space platforms outside dining and park lets. i know he has been involved in extensive meetings this week with this growing program. we want to do our best to support all businesses that are reopening and we have to also ensure that they follow the fire code and that we have access both for fires and for patients to all these buildings. fire marshal, do you want to say anything further about that? >> >> yes, chief. good evening. we have our inspectors. they've been inspecting and surveying the districts and all the commercial areas and the platform construction and identifying any fire department

access issues and we put a team together with dpw and we have prioritized those that are most urgent and while working with the business owners and we have just began that. actually today. so, we're focused on it and it will be an ongoing review and i think we're in good shape. >> thank you, very much fire marshal. yes, we absolutely want to support the city's reopening and we want to do it in the safest, most reasonable way possible. i want to call them out again. they're doing some pretty incredible work in terms of getting people into the treatment programs that they need. they will also be -- we'll be ramping up a critical response

team so you may want to have either chief tom or simon pang give an update on that in the next month or so. they're just out there doing a lot of great work and really the mayor's office is happy with them and azzam i. and the want to note the chief is off this week so chief tang is in the house and he will happily answer them and i also want to introduce our newest member of the command staff. this is going to be assistant deputy chief of homeland security. and she has worked with nurture -- she has run nert single handlely for years and years and i'd just like her to say hello and say a few words.

>> i'm happy to have you here so thank you for saying yes. and just one last little note. let's all give a shout out to chief cochran who had a little knee reconstruction today. so, just think a good thought for him. and that concludes my report.

>> thank you, chief. madam secretary, are there any members of the public with comments or questions. >> public comment is closed and i will go to my fellow commissioners. commissioners,. >> i can't see everyone. >> thank you, very much, madam president. just awe couple of comments. i want to congratulate captain on her appointment as a chief of

homeland security. i'm very excited of that selection. and i'm very much am gratified. i wanted to congratulate director and the team chief (inaudible) for a fire academy. i think it's a major, major, major announcement. particularly since we weren't scheduled for any classes this year. i just can't think of anything better than that as a boost in the arm. congratulations for the result. that's all i have at this point madam president, thank you.

>> commissioner rodriguez. >> so, i. confused here but it's nothing new. so, i wanted to make two points and i think it's regarding a grant but i don't know if it was mentioned regarding surgical masks and receipt pir eightor rs whoever is doing the grant writing. i have two daughters that are nurses, and the moral sometimes varies because of the availability of surgical mask and eye protection and stuff they need and when there's a shortage of that the moral is pretty bad. and then, not another note, my

wife is a director of a preschool and they've never been able to have someone that goes after grants and they're upset when they hear of other people applying for grants and getting them so you do have that person that does it. i wanted to say i think it's really important, like chief nickolson said, it's free money and it's out there and you just have to have the way to get it and i'm willing to add that president covington was telling me earlier that they fought for this and now you are seeing the reward. i just wanted to give a congratulations for the work that you are doing. >> thank you very much. commissioner cleaveland. >> i want to add this foresee curing these grants and i think they're fantastic. 13.7 fema grant is really huge

and to fund an academy class of 36 individuals for three years is an amazing accomplishment and i'm just delighted to hear this and -- >> there's through fema as well and we have a couple other applications pending but that was the most recent award with the firefighters grant program. >> keep up the good work, mark, your team are doing fantastic stuff. >> these times of budgetary constraints and almost every other department at the city we're so fortunate to get these grants.

i also wanted to congratulate captain erika on her new deputy chief status and homeland security and she will do a fantastic job so congratulations. i have a couple of questions for the chief. you mentioned chief, that the policies were changed (inaudible) because we had former firefighterses coming back who had covid. what changes policies did we change that needed a difference in so our guys and gals coming back (inaudible) are not catching covid now? what's different? >> commissioner, cleaveland, i'm going to turn this over to the chief who oversees the mutual aid. >> ok. >> good afternoon, mr. president, vice president (inaudible). so, after that incident, were at

three-fold. prior deployment, during deployment and after deployment. (inaudible) temperatures and questionnaires and make sure everyone had the proper p.p.e. while running the apparatus and during the deployment we make sure we are here to the cal fire or forest service policies we have our own policies to make sure everyone adheres to those too and everyone that gets back from a deployment gets tested regardless of the exposure or if they weren't sick but if members are supposed to member that is a sick or less members, or they get direct contact exposure then they get quarantined for five days and we require two negative tests prior to going to work. while the concerns we have is that not only they came to work as sick from deployment also bringing back to the fire house. they are deployment. we cover them. we believe that this is making a difference so far and i think we're doing a good job with

that. >> thank you, chief. chief, one other question and that deals with the difference between our em6 program and the critical response teams. what's the difference between the em6 and the critical response teams? what's the difference between those two? >> they are both community para medicine. ems6 is a small slice of the pie that deals with our frequent users of 9-1-1 and we work one-on-one with them to get them into services, connect them into services and get them the help and the stability that they need. some of these folks are homeless and some -- most of them are homeless and unhoused, and some of them do have a place to live. the crt, the critical response

team, what that will be is -- and again, ems6 goes out just with one paramedic captain. although we have partnered with public-health a couple of times. the critical response team will be a partnership with the department of public-health and an advanced healthcare practitioner and a peer support person. someone who has gone through homelessness or addiction or the like. we will respond to the calls that people were sent to and where it's not a law enforcement issue. and that it is, you know, social work or medical that is required. the department of emergency management, the police department, fire department, 311 there are different entities

working together to figure out how to get those calls and how to triage those calls differently instead of sending everything to the police department and there are 21,000 calls i believe last year for the police department that they want to sort of shift to a different type of response. >> are we going to have the capacity to deal with that? i mean, how many of these critical response teams are we going to have i mean to deal with 21,000 calls over a year and it sounds like we'll need more than one. we're going to need a lot of them. >> yes, we were budgeted somewhere over $2 million for this so we can higher new folks, how much ex will he were we putted for the critical response team. >> g. yes. in our budget allo case there was a 2 million line item for this program, however, it's the

intent that in conjunction with the work of dph this program and the related expansion of it will be funded by some of the prop c revenues that were recently just approved to be used from that revenues from a couple ballot measures ago and some of that revenue is anticipated to spur this program where the 2 million-dollar allocation we received in our budget is money to get started. we are hiring in earl and late winter so we will have the capacity to grow this program. >> how many critical response teams do you anticipate needing over the course of the next year? >> meals are marked, do you know how many we are shooting for?

>> we're going to start with one team as a pilot that will test some of the procedures we're going to use. we're developing a lot of community paramedic procedures along with public-health, how we're going to approach these calls and we're working on some of the dispatch product kohl's and in march the first thing was december to march is our ramp up phase. during that phase, and the initial that initial team will be captain's reassigned from other ems6 roles and it will be a good chance to have them sort of beating back since they're already community paramedics and

during that time we'll also be having our next community paramedic class where we anticipate training and additional 20 community paramedics. with 12 of them being slated to help us ramp up to have six units available. >> thank you very much, this is a important program which is why i'm asking these questions and why i'm asking how fast we can ram up and there's a lot of need out there. how quickly can we address that and do we have the funding to do so? i appreciate those time tables. thank you. >> that's all my questions. thank you, chief. >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you, commissioner cleaveland. i did see the voice president is there. do you have questions? >> i have a couple and i a

apologize for being late and i don't like webex and it does not like me. which is -- i thank marine for her des pat attempts because they were successful in connecting me to the meeting. thank you maureen. another comment is i wanted to also welcome chief barteseros. i heart great things about you and i know you have big shoes to step into and everything tells me you will do a phenomenal job. i look forward to meeting you one day in person but your work is so important. the more i learn the more i realize that. so, thank you for being willing to step up and fill in. and in terms of questions i

have, oh, and i did want to also just commend mr. corso and his team for the money. boy, that is really something. i mean, we can call them grants, we can call them whatever we want, it's money. important money. you guys couldn't have done a better job so thank you. really, thank you. ok, chief, two questions for you. ready? >> yes, ma'am. >> ok. >> question number one. these park lets that i saw today walking there are two more going in. are we going to have now all parklets all over? is that a plan? are we going to limit the parklets? they're made of two by fours, i was watching the construction

of them and i would imagine they could pose a problem. based on how they're place and where they're placed, should there be a structure fire, should there be, you know, i saw one that was all set up and they're putting all these candles along the cubicals and they're multiplying at a rapid rate. i don't know the plan and i don't know if you know the plan. >> i don't know if you heard -- did you hear fire marshal speaking earlier? >> i did not. fire marshal, can you address the vice president, please.

>> absolutely. hell oh commissioner. yes, so we have a team in place. so, we're looking at fire department access. access to the site and it's our fire lane, fire access and staging at the site. we look at staging at the site is how do we access the building. that's why we have requirements for every 20 feet. we're supposed to have a three foot break. we will limit the overhead wires and those are the things we're looking at. the lead agency and the permitting agency for the public is department of public works not the fire department. we are there snow squalls a referral for fire clearance and fire department ak said operations and and up until the now, the -- some of the

platforms construction got a little bit of ahead of us. >> anything with open flame, candles or propane or heaters is a regulated activity in the fire code. if businesses are using those, they are required to get a permit from the fire department. there may be businesses out there with someone has gone ahead without that but that is why we are surveying these sites and hopefully catching all of those and communicating with the business owners and informing them what those requirements are. >> thank you. i think it's really important. they're springing up all over. i can see the problem that they might present. >> if i may vice president, this is new to all agencies, i want

to thank the fire marshal for awful his work on this and it's super important and he is the man. so, i've been down this road before in terms of dealing with folks on the street who need add cystance back in the 90s, this is not a new issue. and the involvement of the police department for lack thereof, or exclusion thereof, it is not a new issue.

my concern is i don't understand how whoever gets called if it's 9-1-1 or whomever will be able to sort through what information is getting and it tends not to be very much to know whether it's facing danger and it concerns me that you have people who are social workers, community workers, medics, and they may find themselves in a very bad situation and and i don't how the quick screening is going to be protect them so we ensure their safety. >> i know that is a concern as well of everyone and there have

been times, to your point, where we've showed up to a call and oh, this person just got shot. where are the police? what are we doing here? things sometimes fall through the tacks and i'm going to let the chief speak on this but it's a concern of everyone going in and -- >> thank you. >> thank you, chief. thank you commissioners. yeah, i was really just, before this on a meeting with chief pang and the folks at dem and folks from dph discussing during, wore going to take several approaches to this during the ramp up phase and we're looking at having the crisis response teams still co responding with police.

of the 20,000 calls how many of them can we safely say we don't need a police response. we know there's a significant amount where our crews will not face any danger and having done this crisis intervention work on the street as well, it also as we teach them we'll have focus on deescalation techniques and doing threat assessments.

>> thank you. well, i've been so excited about

these grants. it's just amazing. i don't know if our new commissioners are aware but we have, from time to time, been using a lot of people because we had mandatory overtime. we didn't have enough people and we had mandatory overtime and that i is a very expensive endeavor. to have a class we know will be paid for vicima for throw years, that is just so extent because that's money that does not have to come from our general fund and hopefully we can have money for other pressing needs. so that grant and the $600,000 grant is just fabulous, you

know. it has made my week. i'm happy for this money. that's good. kadokudos for all those that wre the grant. they have to write for approval and i cannot imagine any circumstance that could prevent that approval. this is exciting news. i want to welcome the deputy chief, i know her well from all of the very, very hard work that shea has done on our volunteer arm and she has been getting people out to work at the food banks anbanks and all of that.

it's really good to see her move to this position so welcome. >> thank you. i appreciate the warm words and i look forward to working more with you. >> very good. and i wish that chief cochran, a speedy recovery. with his surgery and we miss you and hopefully you will be back soon. i also wanted to ask the chief about the move and how things are going. >> hell oh commissioner. i'm still here. the one stop van ness. it's going well and we're

changing things up. as far as processing the applications, d bye has handled the fire-only applications. starting on monday to help with if sa tating the transition we'll process, meaning, call control check on intake and apply an application number and collecting fees for fire only and that should help speed things up and on another note, a positive note, the volume plans we're seeing an increase, a steady increase, we're not where we used to be but we're moving in the right direction and things are looking good. >> when you say the plans that are being presented, how focusing mostly on additional

dwelling units or are you just speaking broadly. >> >> we have a separate team that handles adus and that's a team that -- >> thank you, fire marshal. i also wanted to welcome chief tagarini. thank you for being here this evening. i appreciate your efforts. ems6. what is the roll out for the new configuration of that? >> so, the roll out for ems6 and

the critical response team. >> the critical response team. they're going to be six new teams, is that correct? >> not until next march. we'll roll one team out in december and it will be the pilot and we'll workout a lot of the kinks there and then it's going to take us time to train people up to hire some more folks and train some community paramedics up. we're hoping for march and dph is up staffing for them and and the first one in december. people need this assistance. thank you. i already asked for public comment. so, i will ask again just to

make sure no one is tuned in since i inquired last. no one on the public comment line. >> thank you, public comment is again closed and calling next item, please. >> we have the report from administration and. >> welcome, chiefs, this is my deputy chief administration and this is my report for the months of august and i'm going to share my presentation which highlights some of the events that happened in the month of let's see -- you can see it, can you? can you see it now?

>> we can see it. there you go. perfect. >> thank you. >> so, again my report for the month of august, i'm going to start way brief update on a situation right now that we are assisting the state. we have right now 37 members deployed and 36 at the creek fire which is northeast of fresno and south of yo sem tee with eight engines and -- so we have four leaders and this fire is 32% contained and you see the size of it. one of the 26 fires right now, major fires in the state of california. good news is the fires that we were dealing with recently, on the area here of santa cruz, it's contained and the su on the alameda county and in the east bay is also contained as well too so they're doing a good job

with that so it's been going everywhere else. the crews have been rotating. this we've been here for a month now. we have a two-week policy we rotate our crews for their safety and people will get more experience too and we just launched a single resource planning so fourth so this is a perfect way for us.

>> this is some of our crews working on the creek fire and and 10 firefighters from new jersey forest service coming to help california and the state of need and they went up north to fight the fires up north so that was interesting. thank you very much for your support and we are happy to assist oes in this endeavor. they completed six months test and will move to their new provision ari aria signment. even though chief and his staff thought they would be a quiet on the training division it won't be happening so we're ramping up

for that next class. we have applications and in service training cam tin and interviews were conducted and they will be announced in the next couple of days and the captain is returning to the field and and ems training conducted several session of tack kickal medical train ing our partners at sfpd and the ser i have's office and they're well received and it's great to work together and we know the players we will know who is working with them and exactly what to do and all the fires and training we've been doing with covid, have been reduced and we continue to do provision ary training and company training and so we continue to do that. here are some of the puck tures on the left hand bottom, you have training happening and the right top and the right top is a building where we can practice opening up in case of a emergency and president covington, you will be happy to know those are props for drone

training. we've had drone and we drop something from the drone and it takes a picture so our drone technicians can get more proficient. i want to welcome our canines to the department. jax son cassie and their handlers. they graduated from the academy and members of the department as well and working with task force streets. our alert team, sad to lose our long-time captain and i'm so happy to see her, after this procession and they've been doing awards led by her and assistant covid on test sites and food banks, all over the city and this is national nerd week.

not just in emergencies and earthquakes and they were able to set up so we're grateful for them. and just in time she got a scratch we'vvan.she has a brandn that is able to go to the training and this is a day the keefchief handed the keys too. our chief of health is enjoying a nice few days off right now on vacation and we're working hard with the peer support and the response teams that we have created for our team and the next slide what the flow chart would be. this past week was the suicide prevention week and we sent information from our members to review and make sure they're aware of that and they can identify all the members that may have issues and they continue to work on the update from the prevention policy but the peer support teams if you recall from the presentations we have about 40 members on the peer support and about 20 of

those became sirt members and they've been going through training thanks to the former commissioner and so let's say we have a traumatic event and the officer of the member or the member it goes through the division chief and different avenues. that is the goal for that for support when the event overwhelms the understaffed, we can support with special training and do mass debriefings so that is the goal their this

sirt team. it was an injury and also busy working remotely and we have scheduled flu vaccinations not just at her quarters but the stations doing a lot of exams, physicals and have monitored which is a new set she's been producing and lots of information about covid and all the focus of mental health as well too and she also did some visits before her accident. so, october 7th, throughout of month of october we are really focusing in case our numbers of the vaccination and we have headquarters for our members clinic so that we can have some flue vaccinations but we're going to the station and having different stations for members to come in and our goal is to get 70% or higher and and and busy with random tests and all

negative it's tracking all the members that are assisting in covid response so we can get them back. our planning and moving into people for the new positions and preparing for the vacancy bid and next step is a the vacancy bid coming up and completed the vacancy for station 49 and we have six new engines with the completion date of october and rotate them and the policy has been that the stations get him and slower stations get other new engines that they have a couple years so we can they

don't take and they do the bigger stations one and three and they get a lot of those so we have a plan, the chief operations to approve this plan and to other stations so going through some issues that we find on the first rack and our goal is to make sure all the issues and problems and adjustments are clear from the first track and then the six next once will come on the same way the same issues solved so it's no other issues so we're working with the vendor and we hopefully get this solved soon. they have been delivered and we close the bid, we had the bids for the host enders.

>> we're get fog so that is good news is they're now waiting for decals and that's good news because our fleet replaced or this grant really helps us out too. facility and we talk about the host hours and have been removed and we working the roof that has left the holes and the tower has. part of the community and even though we'll take down the rebuild to safe standards and station and the neighborhood and we also work on some underground

fuel tanks for stations 8 or 9 and what we're doing on station 49 and this is the latest particular tures on the left is the facades and the right you have the field docking station and we can feel the ambulance there and you have the storage and the lockers on station 49. station 35, working well with that station and you see on our beautiful orange we had a week and a half ago and that we're working and interior now we have pictures of the first floor and second floor so progress is o doing well and projections in march of next year that's all i have. a lot of information object my report and i'm happy to answer questions that you may have and that concludes my presentation.

>> can you hear me now? thank you for your report. i did ask the commission secretary if there were any numbers of the public. i will check. i would like to speak. there's no one on the line. >> thank you so public comment is closed and commissioners, i'll go to you to see if you have.

>> thank you, chief, for your report and and overseeing and i want to thank you for your leadership of them and we're moving ahead on different levels to address different kinds of problems and i try to redo a bathroom and it takes a year. hats off to you that we know you have a great team behind you but

this is really quite an impressive report and it's going to keep our department in the right direction so -- >> thank you, commissioner. >> thank you, very much, madam president. thank you very much chief and thank you very much for as a vice president as row marks i wanted to take advantage of these conference calls and if you will and i find myself doing a lot of reading for the reports

so i do enjoy it. i have two questions. one question is out of the airport division and the chief on the front part of your item 1 is says there were three (inaudible) drills in august. as a point of information, could you please describe what are red cap drills? >> johnson, the major drills >> this is chief mark johnson. the red cap drills are sent to the battalion drill and essentially they encompass all the different agencies around the airport from the police,

f.b.i., airfield safety, we troy to have a drill that are particular to it and particular agency and it will be facilities or something and they tend to go more and airplane type of incident and it's something that the required by the faa that we do it every month as part of the aftermath of aish ian a crash. >> i think you are muted. >> thank you, chief. are there any question is, off the report of a recruitment, with firefighters keith and we'll probably refer the questions to one of our colleagues and talks about and

in this report, he talks about 45 members with 35 participants. about two-thirds of the participants were new and in this report, my name is mentioned commissioner cleaveland participated for a portion of the class and spoke as well and commissioner cleaveland, could you share your response with this august recruitment event so we can get an inside how it went as you participated. absolutely. i thought the power points were put up were instructive and

having gone through the ranks and what new recruits should expect in the department. i was impressed with the scope, if you will, of the presentation, and i want to see a lot more of that so, you did a good job in my opinion. >> that's all questions i have, thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> i will go back to commissioner cleaveland. there is an opportunity to talk about anything? >> oh, you bet. thank you, very much. madam chair. back to those red cap drills, were are they called red cap drills? >> chief johnson?

>> that's a good question. the first person that did it 30 years ago had a red cap on. i don't think it was anything particular. [laughter] >> ok. i had a question of who is going to replace erika now at nirt? as the head of nirt? do we have candidates or can we announce that yet? >> we just opened that. obviously with the announcement of her selection we put a general order out for candidates and it will be interviews and i believe the closest application period and then we'll go through the interview process and see who would like to be that team. it will be hard shoes to fill obviously. >> you bet. >> i guess you have a list of qualifications for that position, correct? >> absolutely, yeah. >> so you will be looking at those. you talked about the canine program and i had a question on

that. we have how many dogs do we have work forgeroworking for the dept currently? >> we have four now. >> are they considered members of the department? are the dogs members of the department? >> so yes and no. yes, they are able to be deployed to the departments. they're also part of california task force three. they stay in the fire house and then when california task force 3 calls them and who is next on the rotation and we call but they never got called. >> my question row solves around who pays for those canines and the vet costs and pays for the food and the upkeep for the

canines? >> we have an agreement. california task force three and through fema we get reimbursed for the cost. we are handling maintain it so (inaudible) and they get the row i areimbursement. >> the firefighters that do have these canines get reimbursed for the cost of the canines? medical care and you will that d of stuff. it wasn't clear that that was happening. what's in the (inaudible). >> it's a ems6 will deploy off. so it's a suburban or a ford that they can handle the crow going to the response for ems6. >> it's a little ambulance?

a smaller version of our ambulance or what? >> it's a small s.u.v. >> ok, s.u.v. >> they don't transport. >> we talk about the flu shot and we will hope to ram up up under the previous doctor less than half of our rank-and-file got flu shots and i hope ta will be 100 per if it was not for the department they will get them through their healthcare providers. my question to you, is it mapped tory that you are rank-and-file and every pem of the department get flu shots and i understand from cdc and other sources this year will be critical for everyone to get a flue shot due to the covid and the resurgence that is possible to have in the future from covid is mandatory?

>> >> the answer is no. we are keeping to make sure that they have high percentage of complete they can chose for our community and they're hrms system that they have to also comply and say whether they're taking it or not. and if they refuse, it's a privacy and they have to acknowledge that and what are you going to do as much as we can to increase those numbers and they think 50% is not enough and we want 100% but we want 150. >> >> is it not possible we can make it mandatory and is it not allowed? >> >> why think commission. >> for the public safety or their own? i just find it odd we can't require that as a condition of employment. >> what about getting van scenes for shingles and what not? is that also required or not required?

>> commissioner vaughn: o recommended if. >> >> we require tb testing. some things that we require is part of the condition employment. >> we require tb shots but not flu shots. >> we require tb testing but not flu shots. and we do hearing testing and they're not mandatory for the general population but we encourage our responders to have that. >> i conquer, chief. and frankly i think it should be a condition or mapped tory and a condition of employment to have these vaccines for their own welfare as well as the public. you talked about throw fire station main lines being reported out of sir vis and i didn't understand what that meant under the support services report and i wonders what they

are and what were the mainland out of service reports all about and why do they happen and what were they more specifically? >> so the mainland is our main telephone line and they have the structure for our main lan is obsolete and it's needed repairs and we do get them more frequent than before and they need to be prepared. now we are transitioning to a digital system in the near future and so there's structures and the it's already in place and we have to look it up. telephone lines are aging and they need repairs and that group is within less than 24 hours they're repaired. we have back up communication systems and our line snitch that was my follow-up question was back up, yeah. >> you talked about these towers

being removed or have been removed, correct? >> correct. >> was there any discussion prior to removing them? what's the cost to remove each of these towers? >> what's the cost? on the average? >> i can look at those numbers and i don't have it in front of me. it was earthquake safety. >> right. >> i was wondering why there wasn't a way to wrap them with steel wire or someway to encase them so they would not fall down and crumble in the event of an earthquake. was there no other decision to remove them and no other discussion of maybe to keep them and to reinforce them and make them not able to fall down. >> those are our partners that recommended that we remove the towers for safety purposes. so we follow their guidelines for building construction. >> when you talk about the

production and inspections from the apparatus are still delayed due to the covid-19 pandemic, what can be done there? has that factory already started up again, right and are we going to be back on schedule with these vehicles first in. >> it started a little bit but what dew is we transported the truck that was pulled there into a riverside facility and from there we transported into the city so the first place is we talked last month was already here. everything is delayed and we have minimum staff interesting. as today ram ups up and the changes we're building from them we hope that things are faster. >> hopefully next month you will have an updated delivery for

inspections as well. >> i will. >> thank you very much for your report, chief. >> thank you. >> and your questions madam president. >> ok, thank you. i'd like to go to commissioner rodriguez. >> so, you are one of the last and everything you were going to ask are covered. i would like to thank you for your report. also, vice president feinstine said i'm amazed at all the different hats you wear and that you have to deal with. it's a learning process and i just want to give you my thanks for being this professional and as confident as you are. the last thing, not so much for the chief, for i've gle neglecto

congratulate for accepting the position you did and stepping forward and i hope that i can meet you in the future. and that's almost everything i was going to say anyway. thank you, very much. >> thank you. thank you for your report chief. you said that 37 members of the department were deployed and eight engines are -- are you able to tell us what it is that might have led to the high numbers of infection at the very beginning? >> so, we did some contact traceing and obviously there's some hipa issues here but obviously working in the conditions that the folks work, they came from the same engine

company in an enclosed cab going from the fire area back to camp so that was a factor too and then they work together in short spaces whether they're building fire lines so space yourself and a fire fire too. >> this is a question for the chief of the department. chief nickolson, there's been a lot of press given to the fact there are people who are incarcerated on the frontlines and that the governor has now issued an edict that says people that have done their time that can be considered to work in the various departments and san

francisco and so chief nickolson, i think that there's one person who has left every department in the past few years who actually was a person who was able to turn his life around and became a member of the department. are there any other people who have become members of the department? formally incarcerated people? >> >> so, president, you are speaking of assembly bill 2147, which does allow a formally incarcerated individual who was a firefighters while incarcerated to petition the judge to have their record expunged. deputy develo vello and i partid in a forum a week or two ago about this very issue with some

van jones and a bunch of others of the just to sort of talk about this -- it hadn't been signed at that point. it has since been signed. and, we also met with formerly incarcerated individuals two men and a woman who were firefighters while they were incarcerated and what they're doing with their lives now and i would have hired any one of them. they were incredible people. they really -- they are everything that we look for in firefighters. so, i am looking forward to seeing what we can do in the future. >> very good. it might be something that can be included in firefighters

(inaudible) pitch to get the word out that this is something that is new for all those departments within the state and so there are people who might still be able to become firefighters who heretofore would have not even thought that would be a possible profession for them. >> thank you. and let's see, i'm going to go back to the chief. >> i love the drone props but i don't understand how they work. [laughter] >> so, the way they work is that you place in those buckets out in the field or the yard and then the drone operator has to navigate the drone to a point

where they can see inside the bucket. so the camera focuses. that's where the angle was. >> i see. >> you demonstrate their skill level when able to do all the buckets. >> so they're able to be spot on >> yes. >> and hold it in the right spot. >> yes, yes. >> ok. >> and, we had how many people go through a drone training. was it six? >> i believe so. i believe so, yes. >> i can't remember the number. but they've all been certified now? >> i think some have been certified and i'm wait forgeron two mors reports and that's homd security but yeah. >> that's very good to have the drone and the people. kudos for that. and of the flu vaccines, i heard

commissioner cleaveland's comments regarding the flu vaccine. i think we're going to have a higher rate of inoculations now that you can get the flu shot in the fire house. i think that's a very, very good thing. if you have to go to headquarters and the hours are limited and by the time you get home, all of the drug stores are closed but doing it in the fire house i think our numbers will go up considerably. all right. and, i think that's all that i have for you. oh, i wan i wanted to say that e arrival of the firefighters from new york -- that here jet and

then the equipment that rolled out of it was amazing. leave it to new yorkers, right. i'm a new yorker by birth. [laughter] so, it was like really. you guys are showing out here. so, thank you for showing that to us. >> thank you. >> madam secretary next item, please. >> clerk: item 5 resolution 2020-01, discussion and action proposed resolution 2020-01 recommending that the board of supervisors authorization a san francisco fire department to retroactively accept and expend a grant in the amount of $883,145.45 from the federal emergency management agency to purchase personal protective equipment related to its covid-19 response efforts.

>> thank you, madam secretary. mr. corsos. >> yes, good evening, madam president, commissioners, staff, finance and planning to speak on the next item and continue one of the themes from this meeting with regards to grants. this is to have fire commissioner approval and recommendation to the board for allocation of recent award of the fiscal year 20 assistance to fire year supplemental grant program through fema. as part of the cares act legislation a few months ago the federal government outlined a program for fema grant programs specifically for fire departments to request approval and allocations for p.p.e., personal protective equipment as it relates to the covid pandemic for the midst of the response that it's currently going through as well as planning for the fall and continuation of just having general supplies of p.p.e. for preparedness.

the department that requested the close to a million dollar allocation for items such as gloves, masks, gowns, et cetera, and main front line p.p.e. equipment and so, we are the department was happy to be awarded 883 in federal funds an- [please stand by]

[roll call vote] it's unanimous. >> president covington: thank you. next item please. >> item 6. commission report, report on commission activities since last meeting september 9, 2020.

>> president covington: commissi oners? >> commissioner cleaveland: i was part of that zoom meeting on recruitment. thank you for letting me make those remarks. >> president covington: are there any other commissioners that would like to report out? >> vice president feinstein: i

had my first covid safe field trip since i've been a member of the commission. escorted quite nicely by chief cochran and captain smith. firwhich was fire station 5 and. they were quite different. it was very interesting to see how they operated differently. it was as fascinating to see things like the old -- [indiscernible] -- just lot of tradition. you can really since it in the station. also, we paid a visit to the fire folks.

it was a beautiful day. we got lucky it wasn't smoky and the sun was out. that was really nice. it was really nice to see that again. then from captain smith got really a great tutorial on the water system and then a tour of the pump room. i have so much more to learn about it.

was enthralling to me, especially not having any kind of science or physics background, just the way the system was designed, what the backup measures are -- i was just -- i thought it would be way over my head. it probably is because it was a tutorial for me. i learned so much. it made me realize how complicated and difficult it is to fight a fire in this city and all the things that can go wrong. as the chief says, everything needs to be duplicated, you see the many different ways water comes and goes and where it

flows. it was really exciting morning for me. i'm going to try to rope someone else into taking me somewhere else for a day. i really would like to see ems6. but not right now. i think i want to wait a little while longer. got to get out to the airport and see all the cool stuff they have. i have a whole list of fire stations i'm determined to go to every single one of them as i can. i figure i can just knock on the door and introduce myself. i have to say, i'm sorry, i got

to see a ladder drill at station 5. that is really something worth seeing if anybody hasn't seen it. better them than me. it was really -- it was something to be really proud of. it was cleaning day and everything was sparkling and shiny and there was a discipli discipline. the accomplishment of this group and way they work together was really impressive to me. i had no idea about -- ladder is a ladder. not so. i'm learning. i'm just very grateful to those

people who took their time to help start he learning process. >> president covington: that's fantastic. we're going to have to -- hopefully we'll keep up with vice president feinstein. >> commissioner nakajo: just a few remarks. as you have remarked, wish the best to chief michael cochran in his speedy recovery. only other thing i wanted to remark is we received a letter of appreciation and thanks from the chief [indiscernible]

>> president covington: thank you. commissioner rodriguez? >> commissioner rodriguez: ident ify been quarantined -- i've been quarantined at home. i don't really have much to report. >> president covington: i understand. we all understand. thank you commissioner rodriguez. we have the vice president and i, we are reviving our tradition of meeting with the chief of the

department before our large commission meeting. that's going on. whenever people can get out or join any of the various meetings that go on within the department, i think that's very good. commissioner feinstein was able to probably really understand the tremendous tradition that exist in the department without wooden ladders, with the leather helmets. there's so much tradition in the department and then as you mingle with the members, you get more of an idea of how these traditions originated. we will always be meeting

remotely. at least i hope not. soon we'll be all be able to get out and about. any last comments? madam secretary? >> there's nobody on the attendee line. i did get notification from sfgov tv that once the 415 number is not working correctly. i don't know if that's a problem. vice president feinstein tried to call in using that number. sfgov tv is working on that problem. i apologize to anybody that tried to call in and was unable to. >> president covington: to anyone who tried to call in and wasn't successful, please just drop a note to the commission secretary and someone will answer your questions.

thank you. next item please. item 7-[indiscernible]. >> commissioner nakajo: i do the chief being part of our meeting this evening. i thought that when she comes back, perhaps we can get a brief update. >> president covington: thank you. any other commissioner?

>> commissioner cleaveland: i noted in our package we had a letter complaining about noise from the fire engines or the fire trucks within that neighborhood. my question to you, maybe something the chief can address in the next meeting, what is the protocols for cueing alerts or blasting fire engine horns and what not. i don't know what they are. i know the person that wrote this letter said something about a memo that went out from the previous -- [indiscernible] -- regarding use of the horns. in particular fire stations in various residential areas. i thought that might be -- what's going on here and what are the rules regarding the big

horn. i have no idea what kind of horns all these trucks and fire engines have. apparently it's upsetting some of our citizens. >> president covington: that's something i will forward. commissioner rodriguez, did you have something? >> commissioner rodriguez: no. >> president covington: it would be a good idea to talk about our granting push and to meet the new branch writer. i know commissioner cleaveland has been eager to meet her, perhaps that's something we can do at the next meeting. that way all the commissioners

have an opportunity to meet her. then something else that was mentioned earlier in the meeting that someone said will be good for our next meeting. i can't find it in immediately. it is something that when i find it, i will alert the commission secretary to it. >> we also have rescue and united fire service women. presenting at the next meeting. >> president covington: i think probably one of them would be good rather than two. we don't know what the rest of the agenda may look like. all of the employee groups have stated a preference for the morning meeting as opposed to our evening meeting. it's going to take us a little

while longer to get through to all of them. you and i can decide offline which one for the next meeting, madam secretary. anything else? >> vice president feinstein: jus t a question, they were going to reschedule to present. i understand there was a deployment and a captain test. i understand why they weren't able to present when scheduled before. it would be nice to have them come in as well, however we're going to do this. i don't want to see them left behind.

>> president covington: they certainly won't be left behind. is there any other business? seeing none. i will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> so moved. >> second. >> president covington: thank you. madam select, roll call. [roll call vote] it's unanimous. >> president covington: thank you all very much.

>> he is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. brought this department together like never before. i am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the san francisco fire department, ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome, jeanine nicholson. (applause). >> i grew up total tomboy,

athlete. i loved a good crisis, a good challenge. i grew up across the street from the fire station. my dad used to take me there to vote. i never saw any female firefighters because there weren't any in the 1970s. i didn't know i could be a fire fighter. when i moved to san francisco in 1990, some things opened up. i saw women doing things they hadn't been doing when i was growing up. one thing was firefighting. a woman recruited me at the gay-pride parade in 1991. it was a perfect fit. i liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. in terms of coming in after another female chief, i don't think anybody says that about men. you are coming in after another

man, chief, what is that like. i understand why it is asked. it is unusual to have a woman in this position. i think san francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. i worked my way up. i came in january of 1994. i built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. working out of firehouses. the fire department is a family. we live together, eat together,

sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. when i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. i didn't want to talk to any of my civilian friends. they couldn't understand what i was going through. the firefighters knew, they understood. they had been there. it is a different relationship. we have to rely on one another. in terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. that hasn't been there for a while. part of the reason that i am

getting along well with the field now is because i was there. i worked there. people know me and because i know what we need. i know what they need to be successful. >> i have known jeanine nicholson since we worked together at station 15. i have always held her in the highest regard. since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. she is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. i appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the fire department today. >> there is a retired captain who started the cancer prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were

getting cancer. he started looking into it. in 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the san francisco fire department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. it was a higher rate than the general population. we were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didn't have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. the turnout gear was covered with suit. it was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. the dirtier you were the harder you worked. that is a cancer causeser.

it -- casser. it is not -- cancer causer. there islassic everywhere. we had to reduce our exposure. we washed our gear more often, we didn't take gear where we were eating or sleeping. we started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. i have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. it is not if or when. it is who is the next person. it is like a cancer sniper out there. who is going to get it next. one of the things i love about the fire department. it is always a team effort. you are my family. i love the city and department and i love being of service.

i vow to work hard -- to work hard to carry out the vision of the san francisco fire department and to move us forward in a positive way. if i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. you never know what door is going to open next. you really don't. [cheers and >> the office of controllers whistle blower program is how city employees and recipient sound the alarm an fraud address wait in city government charitable complaints results in

investigation that improves the efficiency of city government that. >> you can below the what if anything, by assess though the club program website arrest call 4147 or 311 and stating you wishing to file and complaint point controller's office the charitable program also accepts complaints by e-mail or 0 folk you can file a complaint or provide contact information seen by whistle blower investigates some examples of issues to be recorded to the whistle blower program face of misuse of city government money equipment supplies or materials exposure activities by city clez deficiencies the quality and delivery of city government

services waste and inefficient government practices when you submit a complaint to the charitable online complaint form you'll receive a unique tracking number that inturgz to detector or determine in investigators need additional information by law the city employee that provide information to the whistle blower program are protected and an employer may not retaliate against an employee that is a whistle blower any employee that retaliates against another that employee is subjected up to including submittal employees that retaliate will personal be liable please visit the sf ethics.org and information on reporting retaliation that when fraud is loudly to continue it jeopardizes the

level of service that city government can provide in you hear or see any dishelicopter behavior boy an employee please report it to say whistle blower program more information and the whistle blower protections please seek www.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w.w. >> supervisor fewer: the meeting come to order. this is the september 23, 2020 rescheduled budget finance and committee meeting. i am sandra lee fewer, chair of the budget and finance committee. i'm joined by supervisors walton and mandelman. i'd like to thank sfgovtv for broadcasting. madame clerk, any announcements? >> yes, due to the health emergency