you may watch live at sfgovtv.org. to participate by phone in public comment, please call 415-655-0001. access code, 187 388 9460. members of the public will have opportunities to participate during public comment. the public comment is asked to wait for the particular agenda item before making a comment on the item. comments will be addressed in the order they are received. when the moderator announces that the commission is taking public comment, members of the public can raise their hands by pressing star 3 and you would be cued. callers will hear silence while waiting for your turn to speak, operator when unmute you and then you will have three minutes to provide comment. be in a quiet location, speak

clearly, turnoff any tvs or radios around you. item one, roll call. (roll call) general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. address the commission as a whole and not individual commissioners or department personnel.

commissioners are not to enter into discussion. the lack of comment does not constitute agreement with or against public comment. there is nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: next item. thank you. >> clerk: approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve the minutes from the regular meeting on february 10th, 2021. >> president feinstein: are there any amendments or comments on the minutes? by any of the commissioners. anyone? no. is there a motion? >> madam president. >> president feinstein: a

second? >> i'll second. >> clerk: (roll call) the motion is unanimous and no public comment. item four chief of department's report. report from chief of department jeanine nicholson of the meeting february 10th, 2021, budget, special events, academy and outreach to other government agencies and the public. report from administration deputy chief jose velo on the administrative division, facility status update, finance,

support services and training within the department. >> good evening president feinstein, vice president rodriguez, commissioner nakajo, commissioner covington, commissioner cleaveland and staff. this is my report for february 24th, 2021. we are one year into covid response and fire department continues to step up in whatever way we can and whatever way we're asked to. we have filled different positions at the covid command. our folks have staffed shelter in place hotels and vaccinated folks. we have done just about everything there is to do and we have a lot to be proud of and i'm really, really happy with

how this department has stepped up for this. some days it feels like a whack a mole sometimes but we're really getting stuff done even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes. so our covid numbers have gone -- folks infected with covid have gone down a lot. our highest was 44. i believe we're at 8 or 9 right now. overall in the city, the city is doing very well. the reproductive number is around 0.7, which is great. you always want it below one. any time it is over one it will be spreading quickly. 0.7 is great. there are fewer than nine cases in 100,000. that's on the way back down as well. again, the city needs vaccines.

but we continue to communicate with the field about vaccinations and about opportunities to help with vaccinating and other things. it is ongoing. who would have thought we would be in a pandemic for a year. i didn't. that's for sure. budget. we have a meeting with the mayor's budget office this friday to go over some things on the budget. as you know, we have been asked to cut 7.5% with an additional contingent 2.5%. we will show the mayor's budget office what that looks like, what the cuts would impact and how it will impact operations. so we are bringing our story forward and we really can't afford anymore cuts.

we're down to the bone and we cut a lot last year as well. we want to be a good city partner but we also have a really important service that we need to continue. to provide. there are going to be further conversations on that and we'll update you at the next meeting with any further we have. the street crisis response team, ems team working with department of public health and some nonprofits on responding to the behavioral health crises in the city and taking all the calls over from the police, they're doing really well. so well that the media is going to be running a story on them i believe nbc and cnn and it maybe nbc today show, not sure yet.

they are going to be in a vehicle following the street crisis response team to calls this week and getting some interviews with folks and i'm sure they'll talk to the mayor as well. so i'm hopeful there will be national coverage. we'll see. we will then continue to get funding for proposition c which is where the funding has come for thus far. we met with the mta. we had a terrible incident where one of our members was injured pretty severely at an incident when a bus ran over a hose line. we have come out with our own training bulletin for our own folks to ensure that our people are empowered to hold up traffic and to make sure that traffic

doesn't come through when it's not appropriate for them. we are working with the mta on training offering training with their folks just like we do with the police department so they know exactly what to do and not to do when there's a fire scene. we had a good meeting with them and things are moving forward there. also, resigning his position, it came about a little suddenly but we have another doctor incoming interim director and i will invite both of them on as president feinstein sees fit for final and first words.

so i'm grateful to dr. yah for sticking with us as long as he has and grateful we have the interim and we'll take it from there. that is all i have for this evening. >> president feinstein: thank you chief nicholson. any questions or comments for the chief? commissioner covington? we can't hear you. i'm sorry commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you madam president. and thank you chief for your condensed report. i'm just concerned about the budget but there was good news printed in the chronicle last

week that there is $125 million that is now available in city coffers that was not available before. have you received any information regarding the new monies that have come in and how it will impact the sffd budget? >> yes, it is good news. because of sort of the uncertainty on some different things in terms of fema reimbursements, etc cetera, it's untouchable right now by us. the controller has been communicating with us and the mayor's budget office and it's good news but we are -- we're

not allowed to spend it right now. >> commissioner covington: so the mayor's office hasn't decided how it's going to be distributed yet. >> correct. there may be shortages in terms of fema reimbursements and the like. >> commissioner covington: i am hopeful some of the monies will be coming our way. all right. thank you for that. and dr. yah resigned his position when? >> i want to say in the last week we just did the on boarding for dr. lachoche.

>> yes. we will. if president feinstein wants him to come speak, we can make that happen. >> commissioner covington: all right. >> president feinstein: i'd be happy to. >> commissioner covington: how long was dr. yah with the department? >> i would have to look that up. maureen, do you have any idea? tom, do you know? >> commissioner covington: it's okay. it's not material to the conversation. i just know he was on board when i came on the commission some eight years ago now i think. he's had a good long tenure. and we appreciate everything he has done to help us, particularly with the homeless population. that's all on my part. >> president feinstein: thank you commissioner covington. any other questions or comments

from -- commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you madam president. thank you chief for your report. not any questions per se, but i wanted to follow up a little bit in commenting in terms of the announcement of dr. yah's departure and one of the questions was how many years and all i know is many, many years. i have been on board for 24. most significantly he has contributed -- i just want to make sure that -- i'm sure we did, show some appreciation and wish him well in terms of himself, his wife and children. that's my main thing, chief.

>> thank you. i just got word that he joined us in march of 2012. so nine years. >> president feinstein: thank you chief nicholson. did you have anything else commissioner nakajo on this item? no? anybody else? all right. is there any public comment? >> clerk: there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: then public comment shall be closed. >> clerk: and now it's the report from chief velo. >> good afternoon.

we are sharing the screens with each other. i'm going to share my presentation with you. the presentation highlights some of the points in my report and adds additional points that happened since the last meeting that we had. i'm hoping -- okay. firefighter cancer awareness month is this month. we know cancer is one of the leading causes of death for firefighters during the job and after they retire. we're doing our best to eliminate that. there are many things we're working on but this is the month for that. in regards to division of training, we have the 27th academy on week three, meaning

the folks from 49 have joined the academy. happy to report that no one has failed the first two weeks. we are doing a good job with that and hope to finish all 25. that's a promise they made to us when we met them, all 25 would finish. that would be fantastic to keep that going. this week we started with the first module of the academy. one of the goals is chief development and recently selected top 16 on the list and put them through a captains academy. consists of three modules. first is leadership and team building. next week is day two and so forth. they want to have the first leadership where we go through the scenarios of the mission of values with the department and how it affects the job they do

on a daily basis and can improve their skills. we have been progressive in making sure they have the tools needed to do their job better. we are very excited about the program and tends so be accepted very well so far. we continue to do -- over 600 emt's. we also have a very active committee of transit and what they do is transit drills and emergency drills. this is an example of the tunnel

drill they did where they assimilated in the tunnel and how we approach that. and working with our committee, they're very active and productive drills that were very successful. how do we approach an emergency, that is quite different. the different emergency and things we have to consider and safety considerations. it is very useful to have that. i'm happy to be present with the chief for the ems academy graduation. nine finished the course and they will be serving as paramedics in the department now. our nurse volunteers, continue to support food banks and participate in virtual drills due to covid but very active in

the vaccination site the city has set up. you'll see them giving out information and helping out and so forth. they have been busy this month. health safety and wellness chief continue to meet with the peer support group critical response teams, we have more training coming in the next month or so to increase the number of peer support team members and continue to reach out to other organizations that want to help and do studies, especially on this one. we met not just her but with the national public safety institute. they have a program called national fire operations reporting system. we have been invited to participate in the study. the study consists of tracking our data and letting our members

log in their incidents. they are create a record of the incidents and exposures to different chemicals and so forth and used to have a record of it. and then that can be very helpful for a workers comp case and so forth. we have been invited for a two year program. we are excited to have them. they can log in to our cat system and then all they have to do is click buttons and the numbers can track and we can track that too giving us raw data, too. continue to do work on mental health and hhs, mental health and first aid department with our incident response team and peer support group.

our assignment office is busy. we have been helping out with the vaccination clinics, requiring staffing models for those. any time there's an extra operations we do outside of the regular schedule, they help with that. we have newly appointed captains, lieutenants and investigators and they're helping with that. and any member that has to be put off that was positive or quarantine. and as the chief reported, we're experiencing really good numbers down from the peak we had in late december and january. their work in that respect has diminished. education is very important and you might have seen a video we put out with chief of department regarding discussion about vaccine and information. we believe information is key

for our numbers to make sure they get vaccinated. as of today, we have 1150 vaccinated, approximately 65% of our members have been vaccinated. we want to get higher numbers but we're doing our best. i show you last time the quarantine by week and on the end of the chart, you don't see it because the numbers are down to zero. it's the work of everybody and command and po doing their part to help out. busy with program.

all negative and been assisting with conditional offer promotions. support services, on the facility's side, 19 requests were department related. 63 equipment repairs to be done. and generator replacements, we have 31 complete. station 2, a significant on the down side proposal. we'll issue that by the end of the month and station 19 looking for more funding to get it done. all the projects we have for replacement and roof replacement for those, station 6, 11, 12 and 21, the roof work has been done

and completed by the end of next month all will be completed. station 15 is the one we are keeping. station 35, the walls have been painted, completed. all the mechanical and electrical have been continued to be worked on. we have a delay on this project. delay is due to the point of connection from the new fire station into the main connection. so they're having some issues and we are pushing to get that data looked over now, updated and moved up a little bit.

this is some of the bay doors so firefighters working on station 35, when they get a call they can open the door. this is a ramp that connects the old station to the new station. some of the pictures are looking back from the work there at the new station.

finally, we received -- it's the one -- it was delayed. the factory had to shut down during covid for a period of time. now they can get the mobile unit back in shape and assembled together. the panel met last week. we are waiting the results of the selection of the bidder. there were two of them. and looking forward to working with them to make sure it starts

as soon as available and it's going to take about a year. we're happy to get that moving. crisis response van six of them. install wheelchair lifts on three of them. very soon we'll be on the streets again. some work -- last weekend on saturday, we had a pump station one drill. what we did, we used the pump to practice in case we have to use it in subwater from the bay and bring to the hydrant system. some of the issues with the motor overheating, that was really good. and then we also put water into the system. so we are able to see water coming from the bay into the pump and outside.

that will be the back up system. this was a good field to do that. and chief is here to answer any questions. that's all i have. thank you for your time. >> president feinstein: thank you chief velo. what i am seeing on the screen is not part of chief velo's report? that should be removed. that was an e-mail or something. why don't we first see if there's public comment on the report? >> clerk: there is nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: we'll close public comment and turn it

over to the commissioners. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you for your report. i have a couple of questions. on anthony boone's report, he lists safety requirements for academy. can we get a copy of it when it is put together? >> absolutely. >> commissioner cleaveland: okay. on case 36 he talked about attending a monthly meeting with building repair. met with them, i wonder how is

that conversation going with public works and are they going to give a little more rope to deal with our own repairs? >> we met with public works and we're having a little back and forth right now in terms of trying to work out maybe a pilot program. more to follow on that. there's a lot of moving parts and yeah, we had a good conversation. so -- if we start, we'll start with one person. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you chief. i know the budget is priority right now obviously but this is one of those long standing issues that hopefully we can start having serious conversations with.

perhaps with our new director of administration, we can get her to agree to loosen the reigns a little bit on dpw's hold on the fire department. i had a question on page 36 at fire station 8, the fire alarm panel was damaged. my question is how. how did that get damaged? >> chief? >> good evening. we don't really know how long it has been damaged or what exactly happened to it. we just need to repair it right now and replace it. we have bids out there to see who the is best fit for replacing the alarm panel. i don't know. >> commissioner cleaveland: it doesn't work, correct? >> correct.

>> commissioner cleaveland: that's important. do we have -- fire station 14, an estimate of the cost of replacing that generator. >> i can probably get that for you. i don't have it with me right now. it's dpw has a huge spreadsheet of all the estimated costs. they tend to cost between 2-600 thousand dollars depending on where they are. fire station 14 has to be moved to the roof. it used to live in the center of the firehouse and now we're no longer allowed to bring fuel in to fuel them through the firehouse. they have to be moved to the roof and the fuel port system has to be put on the outside of the firehouse. station 2, we're doing a similar change there and it did come back close to a million dollars the first time. i would imagine station 14 would be closer to 6-800,000 but don't

quote me. i'll get you the numbers. >> commissioner cleaveland: and my last question in the report, talking about the ambulance deployment facilities ribbon cutting and rather than being in march it's going to be in may now. but at least we have more or less a date when we'll be able to cut ribbon for the impressive new facility. that's all my questions madam president. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you commissioner cleaveland. other questions from the commissioners? commissioner rodriguez. >> vice president rodriguez: okay. i'd like to thank everyone for the report. the first question -- i have

three questions. the first is actually on page 2 regarding the duties of the training, the position that is open. i noticed one on page 2, verify requirements and authorize state fire marshal certifications. is that regarding for members of the fire department to know what they're certified for, state fire marshal. i'm not too clear on what that encompasses. >> which page? >> vice president rodriguez: page 2. >> yes. many of the specifications that we have for firefighters office

and so forth is governed by the state fire marshal's office. they have a training division that oversees a lot of the certification. we have different for officer training and they have a path for fire marshal and investigators and so forth. it's how you go to the next level basically. we issue certifications when firefighters leave the academy and then when they finish probation and we can issue other certifications if we have certified officers doing the class. >> vice president rodriguez: so it's basically for certificates for in house. the other question i have, page 18, what is -- there's a

respirator, what is that used for? >> with the pandemic, we use n-95 as one of the main ones. we had some firefighters and emt's, the fit was not proper. weary doing this and trying a pilot program with the masks that are reusable that will fit small faces. we have six and see how it works. >> vice president rodriguez: one more. say again? so the last one i had was on page 24. i don't know how far you can go

into this, you had random drug testing and how does that work? >> we have a contract with the company that has all our personnel working on a daily basis. every day, they do it so it's unbias, they select members and they notify our captain in charge of the bureau and he goes to the station where they're working and he does the tests for them. drug tests, alcohol as well. >> vice president rodriguez: okay. thank you very much and thank you for your report. >> president feinstein: commissioner nakajo, did you wish to make a comment or ask a question? >> commissioner nakajo: yes, i do. thank you madam president. my first question, and thank you

chief velo for your report and the rest of the chiefs in terms of contributions. division of training and i think this might be directed at the chief of the department, but we all know the reassignment back to the field, my question is in terms of replacement, what is the thinking or process of replacing in the division of training. anything you can chair with us chief nicholson? >> thank you commissioner nakajo. we have received applications and we are going through them to determine who will be getting an interview and interviews are i believe march the 8th -- so we will have more information after that date. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you for the update. chief velocity velo, i want to

go through some of the reports. i would like to ask -- for the airport division, chief johnson, are you on the line? >> yes, commissioner. >> commissioner nakajo: good evening. my first reference question in the report, number one you talk about faa red cap exercise. there was one drill, could you share with the commissioners what is a red cap drill. >> the red cap drill is just the monthly readiness drill, agencies throughout the airport. most of the time they're more or less focused on the fire department responses but sometimes they do have things. as an example, one for next month is a major water break

that would involve taking down several systems of the airport and response to different agencies. we are only doing that once per month. >> commissioner nakajo: originally when i read it, it says requesting items on commission meetings, i was thinking of asking her a question of chief dewitt to present support services, that was before your report and you did a heck of a job in that particular section. but i think at some point i'll and chief nicholson, to have an update from support services

about chief dewitt. to update what is going on. i'm not talking about the reputation of the report, but an opportunity to share with the commissioners challenges perhaps. i'm going to stop there madam president. i also put in a request with the fire marshal because the section is so large -- various units at the department present to the

commission. thank you very much. >> president feinstein: commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you madam president. chief velo thank you for your report and thank you very much for a very robust glossary of terms. it is very helpful. so chief velo, could you please tell us more about the captain's academy. how it works, how long it is and how many are participating? >> it consists of three, eight

hour days. first 12 hours is leadership and team building and next four hours is training, how to conduct drills properly and day three is operations and administration. chief dewitt is coming out on that day to help them understand how to manage a house and how to make sure it runs smoothly. the way we did it, in three different days so we can capture as many on duty personnel as possible. today we didn't have anybody off duty coming into the class. but also, allows us to capture as many people as we can. we captured the top six in the academy. next week is module two and the same process will follow for

that, too. >> commissioner covington: how many people are in the captain's academy? >> 60. >> commissioner covington: so all of them go through the academy? >> all on the promotional list. >> commissioner covington: how many people approximately? >> 78 or so. >> commissioner covington: quite a few people. that's very good. is this the first time there's been a captain's academy? >> no, it's not the first time but in 2008 we had the officer academy that lasted for a whole week and we appointed 165 lieutenants on day one. that was a huge project we put

together. additionally on the newly published promotional list, we have the leadership building coming up in march as well, too. so the captains on the promotional list will receive this training as well, too. our call is all the offices in the department will have received the leadership and team building training. >> commissioner covington: very good. i think it's wonderful that the chief of the department and you chief velo have seen fit to have this kind of training. it makes a big difference when you have people going through the same training. so you can reinforce each other and actually it's a wonderful way to team build.

everyone knows what the rules are and knows how to follow the rules. especially since captains move around so frequently. that sounds like a good addition to things people are going through in terms of training. >> if i may add one more thing. the chief really believes in training our members. so we develop instructors. right now the academy, there's no one coming from the outside teaching. our own experienced officers have been training. we have 15-18 members instructors on this topic. they will be teaching our folks. we have very good department and do things well and we can teach ourselves how to do things and mentorship and coaching is part of that, too. it provides a really good model.

>> commissioner covington: so you're applauding along with me. okay. very good. i think that it's also -- well, never mind, i'm bringing up a topic for another time. kudos on that. i'm happy to hear that nert has been deployed to work at the large injection sighteinjection. it is a huge undertaking on a massive scale. it's amazing. it's like a new city within the city of san francisco. thanks again to all of the volunteers who do so much handing out food and filling in wherever needed. i encourage everyone to go through the nert training and help us be prepared for

something that we didn't know could happen to us. that's good to know. and it's good to hear there are zero new cases within the department. we seem to be doing the right things. the new station 35 is glorious. it's so attractive. i hope when shelter in place is over and june or july, after some of the wrinkles have been ironed out at the new 35, that we will have a wonderful celebration. we have this pint up need to

celebrate something good. can you tell us chief velo a little more and give us the numbers. numbers were given to us last year as to how many tenders would be ideal for the department and how many we have and how many are on order. >> as you recall -- >> commissioner covington: and refresh our memories to what a hose tender is? >> it's an apparatus we have in the department, carriers a large amount of water to set up a portable system above ground. it is what saved the marina back in '89. that apparatus needed to carry the hose is what we call the hose standards.

right now we don't have a pump. they can't pump the water in the system to pressure rise it. the ones we're getting now, they have the pump. they are dual purpose, not just carrying the hose, but have pumps so we can set up at different points of the system and pump into the system so you have equal pressure on all sides and you can use the system when the low pressure system fails or other needs arise. you have above ground, in case the ones below ground fail. we were granted five on the last budget. we have three out to bid. one came from state funding and two came from city funds. that's what we have right now in the bids and we're waiting for the results of the panel that reviewed the bids. we haven't gotten the results

yet. we hope to get the results soon. and the pumps are high capacity. unlike our current engines, they're almost 5,000 to put a lot of pressure in the system and carry water a long ways. the further it goes, the more pressure is lost. finding a higher capacity to carry water through long distances and in case we need high pressure for higher rotations, we can use it for that purpose as well, too. >> commissioner covington: very good. thank you for that. that sounds like a tremendous increase in capacity to some of the old ones. will the old ones be retired or the new ones are just being added to the fleet of hose tenders? >> they're being added to the fleet. as you can imagine, we'll have them in the system for a while

until we get the budget to purchase over the years more and more and eventually should retire but until we have enough for the capacity we need in the city, we need to keep them. the hose they have is absolutely needed for us to carry and set up the systems we need. >> commissioner covington: okay. thank you again for that explanation. i'm just looking at the information that you sent to the commissioners and unfortunately i don't have my glasses here with me. so -- the training -- the in person training protocols with chief parks. i think it would be great to have a presentation from mr. -- (please stand by...)

>> commissioner covington: i think you showed us photos of that. any complaints of the orange? any soreness? >> none so far. >> commissioner covington: glad to hear it. and the -- let's see...the drone evaluation on page nine now, the drone evaluation exercise, is that of the people or of the equipment, the evaluation? >> i believe it's the people, so let me turn it over to chief

articeros. >> commissioner covington: hi there, chief articeros. [inaudible] >> president feinstein: can you turn your volume up? >> can you hear me now? >> president feinstein: yes. >> so our member, tom fogle, has worked hard to get himself certified for training for additional members. we have about nine members in our quadrant that will be certified to get pulled up for operational support and for planned events, as well. >> commissioner covington: and so all of them are -- they've gone through drone school? >> correct.

drone school. the pilot was actually an [inaudible]. >> commissioner covington: very good, and we have, is it seven drones? how many drones do we have currently? >> we have one primary drone, and we have two smaller drones. we just completed our operational report. it's in review, and it will be available for supporting incidents. >> commissioner covington: and is there a separate incident command center for the drones and pilots or how -- how is that handled during an actual incident? >> so during an incident on our chief's list, the drone pilots

who are on that day, they'll be listed, so the chief will know at the start of that shift if they're working that day. [inaudible] so we're going to start with outfitting batallion seven [inaudible] so they will know the drone will be located with them, and they will know how and when to call up a drone pilot to support an incident that's [inaudible]. >> commissioner covington: so if no drone pilot is on duty that day, you'll have to call one in or how does that work? >> it depends on the type of incident. so if it's an incident where we have time for that to take place, yes. but in the case of a small

incident that may be resolved more quickly, then, we would not have an operator. our end goal is to certify more pilots so that we are not in that [inaudible]. >> commissioner covington: has any thought been going to rotating people to make sure there's a drone pilot on duty? >> the drone pilot is voluntary, and it's not planned courage to move people from their -- it's not planned currently to move people from their assignment to be a drone pilot. we assign people based on [inaudible]. >> commissioner covington: i didn't meant that they -- >> right, a change in schedule would be that they move them. as long as it wouldn't be disruptive to that member. >> commissioner covington:

right. we don't want to discourage volunteering. okay. thank you for that information. >> thank you for your question. >> commissioner covington: you're more than welcome. okay. i see there's a video -- this is back to chief velo. i see there's a video filming, and what is the subject of the video on page 10? >> we had a member of e.m.s. training staff that is very capable of doing video. so the video that you saw was edited by ben [inaudible] who is our in-house expert on editing videos. >> commissioner covington: okay. but what -- you listed it here, so i wondered what the subject matter of the video was? >> well, in this case, the

interview, the q&a interview, it is a conception for the -- >> commissioner covington: oh, i see. you didn't report out last month, so it's a -- i thought it was a new video. >> yes. >> commissioner covington: okay. the video was very good. okay. i just have a couple more here. i wanted to know a little more about -- it says new coordinators for neighborhood emergency response team. >> uh-huh. >> commissioner covington: and i think it would be very good, madam president, to also have the new nert person for the department to come in and say a few words and us to become familiar with who that person is. and we had chief articeros for

quite a long time. we were very fortunate in that, and i hope this person will be able to serve in that capacity for an amount of time, as well, so introductions are in order, i believe, for that. >> president feinstein: very good. >> commissioner covington: okay, and let me see...i'm almost done. oh, how are things going with the cone situation in terms of finding a place? >> [inaudible] okay. so we're still doing -- the good things about city college is we're able to use that side, the reservoirs. we're still using cow palace. we're still finding anyplace that we can. unfortunately, space is tight in the city to find a large

place. we're using some city college sites in the area until we find some. the area in the city is tight here, but there's room for brass. >> commissioner covington: okay. all right. that's such an important thing. it's not something you can do on a tabletop. you actually need to be out there, on the cones. i hope we can find a more stable situation instead of having to move camp all the time. all right. that's all i have right now. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. any other comments, questions from the commissioners? i don't see any. i had just a couple questions

or comments. thank you, chief velo, and everybody for your reports, and i always learn a lot, including new acronyms every meeting, so i appreciate that. thank you. i was also going to comment on the cone testing. also -- my only question was what does the sfpd do? i know they don't have equipment that's at large. i mean, a fire truck is a big piece of equipment, but is there any hope of sharing a space or being able to do anything with them because i know this has been plaguing you for a number of months, so i was just wondering -- or another jurisdiction? >> we are currently looking at all options. the problem with the p.d. is

where they have the cone set up already. in order for us to use it, we would have to dismantle it, and it would take three or four hours on each end to do it, which would limit the time we can do it. we're just trying to find whatever we can. i'm going to other jurisdictions, trying to respond in the case of an emergency, so that's also a factor, as well. >> president feinstein: all right. that -- i can understand that. i also had a question just because i don't know what it means for chief parks, and that is what is the mental health first aid class? what -- who -- who is that intended to serve? this is on page 17. it was the last entry. >> so it's meant to serve our folks. this is a class that's being

taught to our peer support teams critical response teams to help identify some of the items that they may be going through, so it's just another set of tools for them to help them do their job. >> president feinstein: i think that's really terrific because they deserve it. you know, i can say just getting the alerts that we get, which i know aren't all the alerts that all of you receive, i find myself getting sometimes stressed out just looking at, you know, the -- the wide variety of events that, you know, members of the department need to deal with, so i think that's really terrific. so thank you, and chief parks, thank you, because i think that would be a great addition to the department. and then, my only other comment, i was going to make a

comment that chief dewitt could be a plumber on her off days. do we have old plumbing or is it defective plumbing? i mean, of the requests, there are really quite a lot of them, or so it seems to me. am i right or is this just standard? >> chief dewitt? >> president feinstein, good evening. i can't speak to the history of it, but we do have old pipes. our infrastructure is very old. most of our buildings have been built in the 1950s and 60s. over times, the build up in the

pipes gets worse and worse, and the space inside the pipe gets smaller and smaller, and it's gold weather. that affects the pipes, as well. >> president feinstein: [inaudible] one of the questions i had has to do with station 35, and it says the extension submission by d.b.e. due the revised plan by pg&e is under review, and that seems to be delaying the inauguration -- or i don't know what we'd call that for a station. is there anything we can do to sit on pg&e to get this done? i mean, i don't understand quite what the problem is, but that seems after all the work

that's gone into building this beautiful station, to not have it hooked up to pg&e, i guess i don't understand the real issue here. >> the real issue is the point of connection that was identified during the initial design process was found to be inefficient in the amount of flow that it can supply, so we're looking for alternatives, and pg&e and the builder are talking to each other to find out what happened. in the meantime, we're waiting for the station to be hooked up and connected. the low was found to be later not deficient [inaudible]. >> president feinstein: yeah, and is that on the contractor, chief velo? >> it's one of those situations where they're pointing the

finger at each other. when they designed the project, that was the main issue right there. >> president feinstein: got it, thank you. >> we will ultimately end up paying for it however. >> president feinstein: are you sure, chief nicholson? >> yes. chief dewitt, isn't that correct? >> pretty much. i think we or the bond ends up paying for all the delays. you know, it will cost us money for d.p.w.s time during the delay. actually, the contractor -- because it's a pg&e utility delay, according to the contract, that is a force majeure, so they cannot ask for any delays from the d.b.e., which would be the delay build entity, but the delay does ultimately cost us money in all of the teams that are out there and project management teams that are out there until october. hopefully, if we get it done,

we can get the date in early summer. that's the okay. >> president feinstein: okay. thank you, thank you, thank you. okay. and my final-final question, i think it came to us via memo, what's the story on the counterfeit masks? . >> it's just -- this is a nationwide issue that's been identified, that there was a counterfeit, and like everything else, [inaudible] luckily, we were able to identify them and get rid of them as soon as possible. [inaudible]. >> president feinstein: and they were purchased by the covid command, they were not

purchased -- your hands are [inaudible] chief nicholson. okay. so you're protected. it's just that there's a lot going on. i really want to commend everybody. the chief said in the beginning, you know, we're a year into this pandemic, and it's, i think, wearing on everybody, and the department is just stepping right up to the plate in every way that it can, and yeah, i'm just really proud of you for all the effort that you've got to do your regular duties and jobs, and it feels to me as if this pandemic has brought on a whole host of other -- you know, encampment fires and people taking their own lives.

it -- just vandalism and all sorts of things. it's just -- in a -- in a way, it's such a sad time for us, and in another way, it's just a time to be really proud that this department has the capacity that it has, and i just wanted to thank everybody, and those who are -- are in the field because they're keeping us all safer and healthier. >> thank you, president. >> clerk: okay. let me check -- there is somebody. let me see. caller, did you want to make

public comment? caller is not answering, so there's no public comment. >> president feinstein: all right. then public comment is closed. >> clerk: all right. commission report. report on commission activities since last meeting on february 10, 2021. >> president feinstein: anybody have anything to report? seeing no hands go up, i'm going to close that. public comment? >> clerk: caller, would you like to make public comment on

item 5, and the caller is not answering, so i'm assuming no. >> president feinstein: all right. we will close public comment on item 5. our next item, please. >> clerk: item 6, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> president feinstein: i know we had a request for our new nert coordinator. i understand that it may not be possible for -- for that to occur at the next meeting. i would like to, you know, keep it, maureen, so that when the person is able to appear, that we do keep it on an agenda.

>> clerk: okay. we do have rescue presenting at our next meeting. >> president feinstein: okay. all right. very good. and yes, commissioner covington? can't hear you, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: okay. so i did request, during this meeting, that chief parks and mr. bloom, at some point, giving us words of wisdom what they're doing. and we, usually at the first meeting in january, do the statement of purpose. that statement is purpose is still hanging out there, and we need to vote on it.

>> president feinstein: i'm well aware of that, and it's on our next agenda. >> commissioner covington: okay. that's all i had. >> president feinstein: okay. one question for the chief. dr. yea and the new doctor whose last name escapes me at present, at what point did you want to introduce them to the commission? >> that's entirely up to you. >> president feinstein: all right. >> yeah. >> president feinstein: we can discuss that offline, then. all right. i'm sorry. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: yes, thank you, madam president. i had one request. we had this e-mail this past week regarding the status of one of our fireboats, and i think it'd be good to have an

update on the condition of our three different boats at a future meeting. >> president feinstein: chief nicholson, do you have a -- an issue with that? >> no. i mean, we can give you an offline -- some information offline, as well, but yeah, that's fine. >> president feinstein: okay. we'll figure it out. i don't want to pile the agenda because then, we're six hours into the meeting, and everybody is antsy, but we'll -- but i definitely need to hear it, and, you know, we should space these things out so that, you know, we can give everything our full attention. i'm sorry. commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, madam president.

just as a consideration in terms of future meeting agendas, i made a statement during the commission of thinking that chief dewitt appear and do a more updated extensive report. through the course of this meeting today, i did realize that each commissioner can ask questions to all the chiefs that are within this division of administration, so i would like to -- i'll be happy to discuss it with the chief of the department about the feasibility of that because i don't want to seek things that are already on hand for us. my intention was just because support services are so large, i think the boats are also under your prerogative, chief

dewitt, in terms of force services, and i just wanted to say i'll wait until i comment with chief dewitt on that, as well. i did remark that the fire marshal in this area has a wide array of responsibilities and tasks, that perhaps at an appropriate level, we can ask the fire marshal to submit, as well, but i want to have a conference discussion with the chief because i know we're all required to have a formal conversation with her, so i'd just like to wait until then before i make further reports. >> president feinstein: very good. thank you, commissioner nakajo. >> we have that meeting tomorrow, commissioner nakajo, you and i do. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you for acknowledging that,

chief, and i just wanted to mention that in terms of what i brought up and where we can go with it. >> president feinstein: all right. thank you. >> clerk: i'll check the public comment line. caller, would you like to make public comment? and the caller is not responding. >> president feinstein: all right. public comment will be closed. thank you. >> clerk: okay. item 7. public comment on item 8, public comment on all matters pertaining to item 8-b below, including public comment on whether to hold item 8-b in closed session. and i will check. caller, did you want to make public comment on item 9-b?

okay. not talking. >> president feinstein: all right. then i guess there's no public comment on that. item 8. >> clerk: vote on whether to conduct item 8-b in closed session. the commission may hear item 9-b in closed session pursuant to government code section 54957-b and administrative code section 67.10-b. >> president feinstein: commissioner covington? >> commissioner covington: thank you. i move that we go into closed session. >> president feinstein: all right. >> commissioner cleaveland: i second that. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. >> clerk: are there any objections? seeing none, the motion is

>> president feinstein: all right. back in open session -- i'm sorry. commissioner covington? >> commissioner covington: yes. i move that we not disclose. >> president feinstein: oh, i'm not there yet. >> commissioner covington: oh, sorry. >> clerk: this is on report on any action. are we reporting on any action? >> president feinstein: that the settlement was approved. that's what we can disclose. >> clerk: okay. item 10, vote to elect whether

to disclose any or all discussions held in closed session as specified in san francisco administrative code section 67.12-a. [roll call] >> clerk: it is unanimous. item 11, adjournment. >> president feinstein: commissioner nakajo's hand went up first. >> commissioner nakajo: i so move, madam president. >> president feinstein: commissioner cleaveland, i give this one to vice president rodriguez. all right. if there's no objection, we are adjourned at 6:36.

preflt>> chairman: good morning. the meeting will come to order. welcome to the thursday, february 25th meeting of the public safety & neighborhood services. i'm supervisor gordon mar, the chair of this committee. i'm joined by catherine stefani and matt haney. thank you to john carroll mr. clerk, do you have any announcements. >> clerk: thank you, mr. chair. in order to protect the public, board members and city employees during the covid-19 emergency, the legislative chamber and committee room are closed. committee members will attend this meeting through video conference and participate asif