[indiscernible] -- we provide through our clients. we have a lack of bilingual staff which is heart-breaking. i know firsthand how difficult these programs are. i've seen my siblings struggling with addictions. i work in this field because i want to get back. that's why i achl here asking the city of san franciscom here city of san francisco to help us retain and attract valuable staff. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. my name is calia fernández.

i just wanted to say children's council [indiscernible] everyone in child care and it's very important for working parents and [indiscernible] parent voices. >> during the last recession i was running a program with a 40% pay cut. the amount was exactly that of my subsidized rent.

working in non-profit is joy and as my sister said, you earned your sacrifices already. i can afford to live in the city only because i have affordable housing. i have loaned my 401 k so i pay myself interest instead of visa or mastercard. we are not real angels. we need to pay rent, utility bills, we need to eat. i like the proposal of supervisor ronen.

there is a big pass on to those where the rubber hits the road. >> clerk: currently there are 44 callers and 30 in the queue. >> my name is carl krammer for the san francisco living wage coalition. one thing that supervisors could do relatively easy that would help ease the situation is fix some of the language in the ordinance. there is section 12(3)(p) that

reads -- [reading quickly] -- the original intent of this convoluted language in the m.c.o. is the departments that show they are in communication with non-profits on the costs that non-profit corporations calculate they will incur complying with the minimum compensation coordinates. we know that the increase slated for july 1, 2021, is 1.722% from 17.35 to 17.34.

the mayor's budget instructions was sufficient for the department's written confirmation. this was now -- the intent of the language was meant to be more than just a check off box, but a statement that the department had developed with the non-profits to identify any additional needs or funding non-profit require besides labor costs. >> i'm doug gary. thank you for this important hearing. our network joins 100% with what

brett and sherylyn shared. we need to highlight these economic inequities. currently many are not here because they are doing the front-line work. we need you to fully fund the m.co. including wage compaction and other mandates. we also need you to fund the wage for workers which is too low. many of our non-profits are under water. current fixes are necessary to do the work. thanks very much. my name is mia rabson.

i'm struggling because i'm working with homeless to help them become self-sufficient but i'm robbing peter to pay paul to survive in the bay area. my company had a high turn over. [indiscernible] -- to lower employee turnover for the recruiting and training costs. while i'm helping others, i'm getting more in debt. sometimes i'm depressed going to work with a smile on my face with an increase in pay having

to do my job better and more efficient. city workers and non-profit workers are doing the same job and not getting the same pay. we have the same goal to help others. non-profit also deals with a lot of mental illness and by me sitting at the front desk, i wear many faces dealing with my own mental anguish. >> i'm a co-chair of the housing

network. we need to provide services in the communities since 1974 and we support the non-profit emergency relief funding in addition to the 3% cost of doing business for the next three years. we continue to struggle to recruit and retain staff due to the inability to compete with city positions. it is critical that we have the dollars if we want to have any chance of limiting staff turnover. if we continue with the ongoing vacancies, we have fewer resources to operate effectively for those we're serving. >> i've been hearing intensely

and willed like the controller's office to do a needs assessment in which the controller's office puts a value to the labor. so we have a [indiscernible] who makes over $400,000. some of your sprrs chose to give the police association a pay raise, just give them a pass. when it comes to essential workers they are like slaves. this is like a slave plantation and the masters of the plantations are controller to

city attorney. now the city attorney is going to work where he will get a salary of over $400,000. who is going to have empathy for the essential workers? who? this is a slave plantation and somebody has blood on their hands. thank you so much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i am here today on behalf of the [indiscernible] a network of 26 neighborhood-population efforts invested to use their power [indiscernible] -- systemic racism affecting families already struggling before covid and the demand for

services has increased exponentially [indiscernible] families and community partnes [indiscernible] -- the city is asking non-profits to do more such as [indiscernible] -- the city doesn't provide the full cost of services. staff and building staff are under funded and they have to raise and leverage funds to have services.

our staff are absolutely critical in ensuring services for families. [indiscernible] -- including funding for raises inclusive. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, i am kevin lowe and a immigration lawyer. i am pleased with the services provided allows us to provide our services at no cost. i urge the city to increase the funding for non-profits because

it is increasingly difficult to live and work here. i had friends who had to give up jobs in non-profit because they couldn't afford to stay. there is no match for the cost of living and affordable housing in san francisco. people shouldn't have to scrimp on sofas to make it work. we recognize [indiscernible] to raise salaries without more funding. thank you for taking the time today to consider this important issue. >> clerk: currently there are 43 callers listening and 23 in the queue. again, if you wish to comment on this item, please press star 3 to be added to the queue.

>> good afternoon. my name is maria fandra. i am a member of [indiscernible] -- many other non-profits in addition to providing business accounts, they provided me with child care providers and leadership training to support my skills as a community leader. they followed up my case with a provider and always followed up immediately when i needed support. i am very grateful for the help i received and the ongoing services today. for me to work and provide social needs for my families. i am asking you to keep the [indiscernible] so they can keep

some families. non-profit cuts have big impacts and don't help these families. please fully fund the business and wages for non-profit employees as well. thank you and have a great day. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i work at the center of criminal and juvenile injustice and i run a cameo house for justice-involved homeless women here in san francisco with children. what i have learned in my time is that it's extremely hard to

keep staff at our facility and the reason for that is we can't afford as a city contract to pay a fair wage. and this is a travesty because the staff are the ones helping the clients to get their needs met. this is a bipoc community and i'm constantly losing staff who have to move on. it is a sad day when the case managers helping those to connect are helping them to get their jobs and the case managers are making more than those who helped them get there.

i think it is critical that the city does the cost of doing business increases and does what it can to ensure those in the non-profit sector get fair wage s. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is [indiscernible] -- -- budget

cuts and inflation. [indiscernible] -- >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is april young and i'm a member of parent voices. we offer a wide range of workshops and programs that i have attended with my children.

they have put on many programs. their parent café is still offered virtually which allowed me to create relationships with like-minded parents and share experiences and get helpful tips that i use with my family. i'm asking that you keep the whole budget for the non-profit children's council so they can offer these programs and keep families growing. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is bill hersh i serve as co-chair of the h.i.v.-aids provider network. the contractors with the city to provide an array of health services to those living with h.i.v. and aids. i want to thank you for holding

this hearing. i want to thank brett and sherylyn for their leadership on this issue. i feel like the city has slid on the goals of contracting reform of the forces years ago. i want to speak in support of this cost of doing business increase. i want to give a shout out to supervisor ronen for some of her comments earlier. there is a crisis in legal services. it is almost impossible to recruit and retain staff attorneys. i used to have over 100 applicants for a staff attorney position. now we're lucky if we get five. this is an issue that needs attention and i appreciate this opportunity today. thank you very much. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> my name is [indiscernible] -- i'm living by myself, before the pandemic, after the pandemic. for me non-profit organizations have been vital and children count because they not only connect you with resources for children, but also offered the food bank during the pandemic. they also offered other services, connected and sent us school supplies. i think if you cut resources for the non-profit organization, there are going to be negative

repercussions in the community. many of us essential workers, especially the latino and african-american population rely on all these resources for our children not only from 0 to 12. non-profit are necessary for the community and our children. please keep funding the non-profit organizations so we'll be able to survive this pandemic. thank you very much. >> clerk: we now have 36 listeners and 21 callers in the queue. next speaker, please.

>> [indiscernible] we had to look for it, to look for employment with other programs and them having to take a pay cut. the r.a.q. is [indiscernible] live and work in our communities and in the [indiscernible] -- i'm a parent of four and definitely can't afford to live and work in san francisco because the pay is just not competitive enough. i refuse to take a pay cut. i'm looking at the pay cut.

we don't have anything thereafter. we have families that are serviced again by the community non-profit organizations and we're all being affected. nobody is able to retain the employees that they have because they're looking for. the benefits that we have is not conducive to the work we're doing. that's pretty much what i have to say. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> [indiscernible] a decade ago. i've been on both sides of community labor and one thing is the high turnover in professionals. the pay out in those in housing and homelessness affects those services we rely on and deserve. the affordable rents in the city don't match the take-home pay. it's a joke when we see the rates coming through in the e-mail. it's expensive to help people overcome poverty especially when the systems are so empowered to take it down.

ask your non-profit worker how many people they've seen in the streets. i'm asking you to fund the cost of doing business and m.c.o. and do away standards that create inequities for workers. we need to have equity incomes for those most impacted in our streets and the communities. fund the workers, fund the change. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is kathleen kill being. i am the managing director of behavioral services for health 360. i am a current resident in district 5 where i was born and raised. i worked in several non-profits in san francisco throughout my life and i depend on them in my life. i currently oversee 20

behavioral programs in san francisco with 250 front-line workers. we have provided services for decades. this is a specialized service. this is one we do well and we have seen incredible programs in the pay equity issue. our staff are unique workers and provide incredible steps. we are bringing on a way that creates low-barrier employment and we are able to hire those who are looking to obtain work in civil service work. before the pandemic, we had many

staff leaving the bay area because they had to relocate because of the cost of living or wages and having really hard and unsustainable commutes. this past year has shown us and we've given [indiscernible] -- echo supervisor ronen's comments that it is common sense and seemingly obvious that this should move forward to improve pay equity for non-profit workers in particular. as we say in the treatment world, we want to be able to have our workers stick and say. >> the speaker's time has

elapsed. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> thank you, chair, for calling this hearing and thank you to the budget legislative analysts for working on this report. this report fails to provide any real solutions. the 2% to 3% cost of business rarely covers the costs of living. this issue impacts the ability to gain matches. non-profits will always be in a very difficult situation and without wage parity.

we look forward to continuing this conversation with you and your partners. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors and thanks for calling this hearing. i am the policy director at compass family services and a resident of district 8. we are requesting builds in the community be increased every two years and ongoing and increases for non-profit workers, as well as equitable increases for essential workers. there are so many adverse consequences to not allowing these increases. staff are burning out, commuting and working multiple jobs.

the reality is we're not paying fair wages. help would be lifting the minimum to $24 an hour. an hourly wage of $17.05 is an annual salary of $39,000 which is low according to the department of housing. there are some people one paycheck away from poverty. this has to start with the fully funded programs and services providing the care. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i am the executive director of the greater ferlons

association. i've been a part of the greater san francisco non-profit sector for 26 years now and we have a contract with children, youth, and their families to provide stem education around chooij and marine systems. we thousandlimate change and marine systems. we thousand -- i want to recognize supervisor ronen's comments. we are also in complete loinment with the major service provider coalitions. i really liked hearing from the different organizations. i just wanted to say the city should not be externalizing costs on the backs of our clients. at g.f.a. all of the other

resources are fully leveraged. the dcyf contract covers about 20% of our costs and we have to hold over positions when there is turnover because there is not enough to rehire. most of our staff live outside san francisco and we really do need the stability of a regular, annualized contribution of the increased wages and the cost of doing business. thanks for your consideration and i appreciate the opportunity to speak. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i just want to say and echo what has been said before [indiscernible] very high and

non-profit salaries [indiscernible] -- that is a very large cost that i have to take on for myself because of underfunded contracts. i would appreciate it if this went forward and did more to help non-profits in the city. thank you. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> hi there. first off, thanks to chair haney for calling this hearing. i'm a community organizer and community advocate at the tenderloin housing clinic which is very reliant on funding. i see the impact of low pay on both the community we serve and the workers firsthand. i often talk to tenants in non-profit housing.

taking support outside of case management because the high turnover eroded their confidence. who wouldn't get frustrated if every six months you have to bring people up to speed. of course people would lose faith and quality of service. in the two years i've been at the clinic, i've seen 15 or 16 come and go in my department, which at full staff is 10 people. every time a co-worker leaves, i ask myself why i am working for low pay and high stress. people should not have to choose between feeding their families and housing their families. me and my co-workers that are desk workers, janitors, case

workers, most of whom are people of color deserve better. the people we serve deserve better. the fact that the city doesn't do this is a failure because it's the minimum the city could do. the city can't say we do essential work and then say a small raise is too expensive. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. currently there are 27 callers listening and 14 in the queue. again, if you wish to provide public comment on this item, please press star 3 to be put in the queue. next caller, please. >> i've worked at a couple of non-profits while living in the

city and listening to this discussion has quite frankly been depressing to the extent i wondered whether i should hang up. here i am. i used to get those e-mails about subsidized housing which i thought were informational for clients, but they were for me and my co-workers. they were way too expensive for me and my co-workers. they weren't in san francisco. they were out in alameda or somewhere indeed the middle of nowhere. despite being subsidized, we never would be able to afford them. i understand a lot of the frustration going on. that being said, i feel like any sort of wage increase needs to come with some accountability

for non-profits. i've seen a lot of exploitation and unethical labor practices at non-profit organizations. i feel like there needs to be some degree that 3% wage increase -- by the way, 3%, my $17 an hour wage, 3% of that is not really going to do a whole lot. honestly, i don't know if you should bother giving me a 3% wage increase. i suspect that if you -- [indiscernible] goes to the lawyers and the management. everything always seems to go to the management. it's not going to go to the case workers, secretaries --

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is joe wilson co-chair of the homeless service provider association. the committee for bringing this hearing to the public. i want to call out supervisors haney and ronen for their important comments about setting the stage for what is full economic recovery for the city. a couple of points here. the covid crisis has proved beyond doubt that the essential workforce of the city really is part of the fundamental asset base of san francisco and should be regarded as such. one key number that should give

us pause is dating back to march 2020, more than 300,000 san franciscans have applied for unemployment, 300,000-plus. that means the potential pool of homelessness people is 300,000-plus people and full economic recovery for the city and county of san francisco requires a full economic recovery and requires us to invest fully in our workforce. the non-profit services will be essential on that. there was a question on how many non-profits leverage dollars in their budgets.

i would ask that in a different way. if the city has to replace the human services field in san francisco, who would they go to to do that and how much would it cost the city to do that? i'm fully supportive in investing in the cost of doing business allocation. i would recommend that we look at -- >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. welcome, caller. hello, caller.

we'll go back to this caller and take the next one. >> hello, can you hear me? >> clerk: yes, we can hear you. >> thank you for the opportunity. i am the executive director at fiscal house, a member of mega blacks, [indiscernible] and recently acquainted co-chair of the advisory committee [indiscernible] comments they made and to the extent i heard president walton chime in as well. i just wanted to talk about the support of the pay equity for those classes supporting black,

brown, and people of color, and there is a reason the non-profit s [indiscernible] with the services provided. with the current services provided, the work would be valued and encourages the wage and wealth gap and the historic pushing out of black, brown, and people of color and even native san franciscans. i hope the city supports this. i'd also like to raise the offer by asking the city to consider multi-year contracts with an embedded 3% to 4% cost of living increase anticipated when you release the r.f.p. i thank you for your time. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> i'm from a non-profit agency that provides youth services to those youth people in crisis and we were able to help those who need to be housed. with the cost of business aspect of the budget, we can mitigate the important issues. high turnover rates at our agency result in a low level of care. our work is foundational. our work all takes time, empathy, and inadequate

training. these resources much reach the front-line snrorks of these agencies and that is why it is good to add the resources needed. how the city decides to handle the budget in the m.c.o. and the cost cost of doing business further reflects the city's feelings, beliefs, and values of the clients we serve. we urge you to do the right thing. this is exploitation and the failure of logic as it relates to human health and well-being. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

the witness: we provide primary care and health services throughout san francisco. most of our staff have to commute long distances to get to work. there is not an adequate wage to finance sufficient residences in the city. our staff are burning out because of this commute. i work on hiring for our residential and outpatient programs. our positions across the board offer much lower pay than these

front-line workers would receive in other sectors. so this makes it extremely challenging to bring in qualified staff. with the growing opioid overdose crisis, our staff is working to save lives in the city and to improve the quality and scope of our services and we have taken on additional projects to support residents. we want the city to step up and provide support and invest in our non-profits. >> clerk: right now there are 21 callers listening and eight in the queue. a final reminder, if you wish to provide public comment on this item, please press star 3 to the queue. please wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. next caller, please. >> my name is kristy faxon and i am a community partner at

community housing partnership. every year we work incredibly hard to keep 1,900 of our most vulnerable san franciscans safely housed alongside our non-profit. every year the cost of this critical work increases. we ask that you base this 3% funding and that you include an additional 3% codb. we are asking that you stand shoulder to shoulder with our heroic staff who come to work every single day even in the face of a pandemic to keep our community safe. please do this improving the increase now and moving forward. show us that this staff and community matters to san francisco. thank you for your time.

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> this is tabatha allen with the housing clinic. i support the comments made. thc along with other non-profit organizations are not able to pay fair wages. we struggle to recruit and retain staff because of wages. people are no longer able to live in san francisco. people are choosing jobs in the east bay that are closer to their home where they don't have to commute. that affects the level of staffing and quality service -- and quality of service that we're able to provide and the

timeline for turning over vacant units. we need an annual cost of doing business increase and that to be the caselined so it can be used to increase wages. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon. thank you very much for this opportunity and for your consideration. my name is daniele cronenberg and i am a member of a program that serves high school students at san francisco unified school districts. i urge you to support cost of doing business and codb and then some. at the heart this is an equity issue. many of my staff are san francisco natives, went to public high school, are working to serve their communities, and cannot afford to live in san francisco. what is this saying to our

students, to our youth about their opportunities going forward in the future that a staff person who is a master's level person with high education and skills is making basically below poverty. the san francisco poverty line is $85,000 a year. that means that our staff are making very low income. i encourage you to support these efforts and then some. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is matthew goodlan. i work as a residential counselor. we serve san francisco residents from all walks of life. some may be family or friends with moderate to severe illness and coming out of crisis trying to get back on their feet. the wlooeming majority of our

clients are homeless and now taking that courageous step. the work available is being round the clock hours that we must then translate into current documentation to maintain funding. not to mention the covid guidelines. we live paycheck to paycheck. burnout and turnover is affecting our reality. we are losing staff to other

high-paying jobs. this work is healing for the clients and our community, but it is laborious and demanding. our commendation does not equal our work. i urge you to fund this and minimize the pay compaction.

>> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> it's time that we find the political will and way to ensure these critical services will be kept sustainably into the future so long as we are supporting our workers. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> my name is dion roberts and i'm calling from mary elizabeth, a non-profit s.r.o. funding

provider funded by h.r.h. i want to ask the question of what other non-city resources are non-profits receiving? please know northward the monitoring guidelines, the city expects non-profit to have at least 15% revenue in non-city funds so that city funds are only 85% of the program. in our case as an s.r.o. housing provider. we can help to diversify our revenue and cover the cost of wages. us executive directors, we're doing our best to be fiscally responsible, but when the tenant's rent portion is reduced and then where wage increases

are imposed on us, it makes us dependant on more city resources. so i would like the city to remember that, the board of supervisors, and thank you for having this meeting. but do remember that there are other sources of revenue that are coming from tenant portion of rent. we are in a situation where the city is being asked to pay for the tenant portion of rent as well as operating costs. this is why there is such a great disparity in terms of being able to pay a meaningful wage to our valued workers. thank you for this time to speak. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> ashley lee, a behavioral health counselor with a

non-profit contractor of the city's. i've been there for 20 months. i work with a program that is funded by h.s.a. and provides help to mental health participants who need care and these participants may be connected to [indiscernible] -- related to domestic violence. i've seen firsthand how underfunding san francisco non-profit hurts community-based mental health care in high turnover as our program struggles to maintain quality mental health clinicians and for example, one of my spanish-speaking staff lost for a higher-paying job because your salaries are not not to live in

the city. this is critical because our program needs spanish-speaking clinicians and there are many who left for higher-paying jobs and there are others at the program who i've spoken with who had to add a second job to maintain their living in the city. our program needs funding, especially if it supports improving our jobs so we can stay and provide better care to our communities. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. there are three callers left in the queue. again, if you have called in and would like to speak, press star 3 now. next caller, please. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i work with connor house and we provide supportive housing and

health services along with other services to our community. i would like to request the cost of doing business to be allocated in our contracts and in terms of equity i understand that for-profit contracts with the c.d. already have this. i think in terms of equity it will be good to include that in our non-profit contracts. we also appreciate the benefit that the city offers to city employees. unfortunately non-profits can't compete with that, which is a barrier for our employees. that is something i would like for you to consider and it may

be just to get together to find solutions to be more acknowledgement that the lack of financial resources that non-profits have and the strife we all have and especially now in this pandemic if it's not visible, it's definitely hurtful at least for me as a non-profit employee to see that the city would not necessarily consider our requests. and i agree with everything that everyone said. thank you. good-bye. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please. >> i am the c.e.o. of ram. i appreciate the opportunity to speak today. we provide critical mental health services throughout san

francisco and a significant portion of our budget is through city contracting. we'd just like to stand in unity with our non-profit partners that have spoke and some of the staff members that have spoken so we can be baselined and to offer our staff members pay equity. >> clerk: thank you for your comments. next speaker, please.

>> meeting on april 28th, 2021, and the time is 5:01. this meeting is being held by webex pursuant to the governor's executive orders declaring the existence of a local emergency. during covid-19 emergency, the fire commission's regular meeting room at city hall is closed and meetings of the fire commission will convene remotely. you may watch live at www.sfgovtv.org and to participate during public comment, please call

(415) 655-0001 and use access code 187 700 4408. members of the public will have opportunities to participate during public comment. the public is asked to wait for the particular agenda item before making public comment on that 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 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 the standard 3 minutes to provide comment. please ensure you are in a quiet location, speak clearly, and turn off 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 3 minutes on any item within the commission's jurisdiction. that does not appear on the agenda. speaker shall address their remarks to the department as a whole and not to individual personnel. commissioners may not enter into debate or discussion with the speaker. the lack of response by the commission or the department personnel is not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. i will check the public comment

line. and there is nobody on the public comment line. >> president: all right. thank you, madam secretary. public comment will be closed. >> secretary: item 3, approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve the meeting minutes of the regular meeting of april 14th, 2021. and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president: all right. public comment is closed and i see commissioner covington. yes. >> commissioner: regarding the minutes, i would like to have included your statements regarding the possibility of setting up a committee. you were suggesting a committee

to review slow streets. and that isn't reflected in the minutes. also, i would suggest that slow streets since it is a term of art be capitalized. capital "s" and capital "s." >> president: any further comments on the minutes? >> commissioner: and i would like to move the minutes with those additions. >> president: let me just see if any other commissioners have any amendments, modifications, comments. i'm not seeing any hands. >> commissioner: i'll second the motion by. >> commissioner: covington. >> president: all right. thank you, commissioner cleveland. >> secretary: and i will take roll call vote. [roll call]

it's unanimous. i will amended the minutes as suggested and post them later this week. item 4. chief of department's report. report from chief of department jeanine nicholson including budget academies, special events, communications, and outreach to other government agencies of the public and reports on administration deputy chief jose vello on administrative divisions. fleet and facility status updates including updates from chief thomas o'connor on the auxiliary water supply system. finance support services and training within the department.

>> good evening, president feinstein and other commissioners. greetings everyone. let's start with our vaccine update. we are at approximately 75% and slowly climbing and i think we're seeing this in many places where there are some who are reluctant to still get it, but we are still putting the message out for our folks that it is still available to them and hoping that the people that have said "yes" will sign up for it. we are continuing to have conversations regarding the up coming budget and lots of fruitful conversations especially around the vision that we have for the department

and community paramedicine for one and community paramedic division in this department because we have been so successful of what we do with ems6 and now with the street crisis response team that there are more and more requests and our conversation has been that we need all the support in place for this division, administrative and otherwise to make it if they want it to keep going. it's really challenging to have one person at the top running it and, you know, and everybody else out on the street and not a ton of support because we need the bodies. so we are continuing to have those conversations being heard about the paramedic division

and our street crisis response team was filmed again with chief simon pang by cbs this week and, as you know, it was filmed by nbc nightly news a week or so ago. so, again, we're having those conversations with the mayor's budget office and really trying to figure out a path forward and i'll keep you updated with those conversations as they move forward. i recently had the opportunity to spend some time with district supervisor connie chan. she is the of the district. i took her to her district's stations. president finestein i know it

maddens you that those are not in particular order on the map so let me just say it's out in the richmond district. >> president: that's all right, chief. we'll fix it. >> yeah. and she and i had the opportunity to discuss some of the needs of the department and then on saturday in golden gate park. was so kind to attend our demonstration and some other folks organized and we provided a field demonstration of those hose tenders. so, you know, so the supervisor -- so it's hard to understand what a hose tender is if you don't see what happens. so she has a good understanding of that now and of our operations and how we would respond in a situation where we

don't have all the water that we need. and then, you may have seen i was on nbc, i can't remember when either this week or

we have interdepartmental training on the 5th. we have been working with them to come up with training so we can better understand each other's operations basically. so they can understand about, you know, where we need to go and what we need to do when we're on the scene of a fire in terms of, you know, not running over our hose lines and alike but also if you're going to pull over, you know, make sure you're not pulling over where one of our vehicles needs to be whether it's an arial truck or what have you. so we are going to have a -- it's a little bit of a modified version from what we did with police because we had awhile there where police would get to the fire first and park right in front or park at a hydrant

or some other thing and it was challenging for us. so we've had really good conversations in classes with police. and so that program is being modified and taught to the mta and, you know, they asked if we could train the trainer for them so they could actually deliver this class and we said, no, we would rather actually always have someone from the fingerprint in that room so we can have a subject matter there to talk them through some things. and, i believe that is all i have for this evening. so thank you, commissioners. >> president: thank you, chief. any questions for the chief of the department?

commissioner rodriguez. you could be chief but i don't know that you'd like that job so we'll keep you as vice president. you're muted. >> commissioner: okay. sorry. just out of curiosity, we received a letter about i guess a hostile environment from the party and i guess these issues have come up before about trying to privatize some of the medical services that the fire department is doing. so is there any response to this or is this just an ongoing process that we are really -- in other words, are we taking any action against this to show that this is going on and we want to not have our members working in this environment? or i would just like to be

enlightened on it i guess. >> through the president, vice president rodriguez, is this a letter that was sent from our -- from local 798? i'm not sure what you're referring to. >> commissioner: it says this is set by the san francisco democratic party and i guess it's to stop the hostile work environment of the paramedics of the san francisco fire department and these continued efforts to privatize public emergency medical services. >> president: this matter is actually not on the agenda. >> commissioner: okay. >> secretary: so i don't know how far we can go into it. the letter hasn't been posted. >> commissioner: okay. i understand. maybe at the end of the meeting i'll request we can put this on the agenda.

>> i'm happy to brief you off line as well, vice president. i know exactly what you're speaking of and i'm happy to talk to you afterward. >> commissioner: okay. >> president: questions from any commissioners? comments? i'm not seeing any. i'm sorry. commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner: thank you, madam president. this is not a question, but just a comment and an expression. in terms of p.r., chief, i thought the department [inaudible] crisis team have gotten great press, good press, on the national news. i also think that's positive in terms of our endeavors as well as the show cases confidence of our team. the other thing i wanted to say

is i'm very appreciative of you as the chief of the department. you appear on national news. i caught that segment when you were being interviewed and i think that equally is good in the sense of definitely having representation of our department, but the fact that we have a woman fire chief in san francisco, i thought spoke volumes in terms of the national exposure. the other thing i wanted to say is i really appreciate chief o'connor for last saturday's drill. yes, and having me join so i wouldn't have any [inaudible] and was greeted by the members in terms of chief o'connor, but also, correct me if i'm wrong chief rubenstein but i think it was stations 12 and 22. and the last thing is that

chief nicholson, these presentations by the various components of the department, for example, battalion chief parks, the [inaudible] of that as every package gives help in terms of wellness in terms of services. i'm really looking forward to chief o'connor's presentation. but that's where everybody gets the substance of the material. thank you, madam president. >> president: thank you, commissioner nakajo. further comments for any commissioners? madam secretary, do we have any public comment? >> secretary: there is no public comment. >> president: all right. public comment is also closed. and i believe we go on to chief

bellow. >> good afternoon, president feinstein. chief nicholson. this is my report on the month of march. let me share my presentation. can you all see it? >> president: yes. >> thank you. again, for what i do my report is highlight some of the items that my report and also those item that is because my report is at the end of the month, i've seen the last time as reported. so going into training, a lot of projects going on right now and in combination with chief arecedos it's been hard to get some of these classes to our members. additionally, we've hosted a class in instant management training not only for our members, but other agencies and we've also had the team develop their skills for the class, it was well attended.

continuing to do the training that was given to us by the state. i'll show you some pictures of that that was done. we also have 30 members that have been trained to drive those vehicles when we go to fires. as you said, this a busy month

training. in addition to that, we had and thanks to lieutenant fogul we had more training. in april, we did some night training as well too which is very important for us so we can operate day and night in different environments and we had good results in golden gate park. we have 23 out of the 25

recruits still in the class. week 12 out of the twentyth class. two more weeks of our san francisco skills testing. these are the skills, the ladders, the hoses, appliances that we do on a regular basis and we have ten weeks of testing for that. after that, there's some additional training the crews have to go to which includes hazmat, fire survival that require to complete the firefighter 1 curriculum. once they're finished with that, there's the state testing where a certified firefighter academy to the firefighter 1 program to the state fire marshal office. so we need to do a state test too. so that's why it takes 20 weeks for someone to finish the academy. we're looking forward to graduation on june 25th and depending on the situation, hopefully we all can be there. some of the things we've learned these past few weeks. what you're seeing here is just a mock-up of a house that by

introducing fire and ventilation topics and moving windows or roof openings, you see how the smoke travels and the fire travels. it's very important to understand that. it's a great conceptual idea and you need to understand when you ventilate at the wrong time the wrong sequence. from them then, they'll move on to actual training. they will have live fire and spoke and everything. depending how you effect ventilation on a fire. the training staff held a training day with deputy sheriffs at the facility. there are many times the first one we develop the skills the reason being is the facilities they have, we arrive there. in order for them to be safe and operating the situation, we held the training for them. they were very thankful for

that too. these are some of the pictures they did with them as well. this will be the first one on this apparatus i just want to rephrase how important. not only vaccination sites. this is one we have been doing now for a few saturdays, supervisor haney was there too. they come in for training, special training they do. and, like the chief mentioned and the virtual tour that happened two saturdays ago and commissioner nakajo, you were there too and other staff and office department staff was there too. a couple of meetings ago

continues to push classes for our members and mental health, first aid. it's very involved in the firefighter cancer cohort study. we're trying to track our new recruits coming in to the academy, female recruits and seeing in their careers what is the effect of fire fighting with this gear. should have a baseline for them and in the meantime, we also study core members of the department too. to contain the information and wellness that we have. we continue to have meetings for the eap rfp. we're working on that to improve it to have a really good culture [inaudible] of counselors that we can help our members whether it's ptsd and all the issues they have too. so we're fine tuning that. and we continue to have safety meetings with different parties to make sure we're addressing all the issues we have.

this is a picture that we have this past week at stanford. there's been a cancer study. we're doing research on the pfas exposure which is something we've found in the fire fighting gear. we are seeing what that effect is and also has been for awhile to see what kind of levels they have. what we're doing is demanding that the next generation of turn-out codes we have, we're asking the manufacturers and we're in the process right now of producing and giving us gear that doesn't have pfos on it. it is a repellant. it was used if more years in the industry, but we also found it's cancer producing too. so we're trying to eliminate that and the industry is coming to that now where we have offers and materials that can do that, so we're really excited to see that and our contract we're doing now trials with exactly that pfas

materials. so we're happy with that. so we continue to be busy with the help of vaccination sites. we have a continue to staff this covid response units and we work with the chief of operations in field. like the chief mentioned, we're up to they never reported it and i'll continue to try to work the members who said no. so we expect these numbers continue to climb. but we continue to climb too. i hope you are receiving good

information. showing different topics of health and safety for the members. so it's good to get members engaged in that. stephanie has been collected some of the recipes to our daily routine in the fire house. we are already planning for the fall for the flu vaccine. we understand this year, the flu season has been very small due to everyone wearing masks, but we're planning for the next season and they're working on that too and we're able to vaccinate those members that are not reachable through different events. we're going to try to get even a higher number than last year. last year, before covid-19 was up to 70%. so we want to get high on that. we tested 71 members, randomly tested through a random program. o-negative. we conducted four tests and they were o-negative and continues to work on alcohol

and drug tests for promotional and all the results all were negative. so that's good news. super services. moving along. the finishing touches are being done at the station, we'll continue to have the point of contact issue that we're now actually digging on the ground so the project is moving forward with that. it's caused a little bit of a delay. internally, things are moving along. the walls are giving up and finishing up. you see that on the bay are really almost done and we are really finishing up pretty soon with that second floor. commissioner finestein as you said is a beautiful area. i think members are going to be extremely happy at that station once they move in. 49 is moving along as well. the staff of ems is working, already has a plan to move in next month. slowly moving with a final date and hopefully a nicer morning

in june. so we are only a few months away from seeing the final station 49, but everything's almost complete right now. it's just -- we can't shut down operations so we have to do it progressive moving and the staff 49 under the directive of the chief is working out really well. some of the entire your pictures. some of the kitchen area, the locker room and the storage racks in the main bay of the station. it looks very well almost completed. we're finishing our vehicle. this vehicle will take some of our mini pumpers or engines. so we're happy to get a new one there. we received a grant for four mini pumpers. and we have several already looking at different models that will work for us. we have twelve engines and

contracts. five of them will be delivered this week. they come to us, we put in our performance center shops. so it takes a long time to get these engines and trucks built. we have to make sure they work forrous in our hills and our areas. so we go through vigorous testing process and so we expect those five to be delivered this week. they have some additional equipment to be installed in them and the rest of them should be here by mid may. we still have seven trucks one of them is back to louisiana like i mentioned before, every apparatus that we purchase goes to test the first one. once we have those kinks worked out, then we plan it just like this one. we're on the first one now, we have some issues with it and now they're working and the manufacturer is coming down from louisiana to make the

chassie into that. there was a protest, i believe we're working on that and it should be closed pretty soon too. just a difference depending on the one that lost the bed argued about the other one. we should be moving with that pretty soon too. another boat that we're getting and the latest picture we go from that is close to completion as well and we do expect to see some tests up in seattle up in may and we're going up there to do that. so happy to get a new vessel in the fleet of the fire department. we have electric fans that are ordered. a little history on the fans that we have is we used to have gas powered fans to evacuate smoke and whatnot. so we've been slowly facing in electric fans. they do have very powerful fans that we can use. so now we have an order to outfit all of the trucks with

electric fans. after a fire, we can evacuate some of the smoke for any of the structures visa these fans and we can wait to start the clean up of that so we don't expose our firefighters to smoke when it's not needed. we're also purchasing new gear, safety gear that we have to get. so that's going there. we have received some rescue boats. surf has been a popular sport. but any manufacturer we tapped in to, they were back ordered and we have new chain saws, ventilation saws, currently expect to have those out very soon and get those out to our truck company. i'm going to talk about what chief o'connor's going to talk about. he'll speak about some of the

projects especially the ones that were due in june to the board supervisors and studies. welcome that. all events continue to support the vaccination site at treasure island for other awhile, until the end of the month. our members keep going there. we have a nice event where we did the event and also the chief painted that were just due and painted the golden hydrant. so that was a nice event and it was mentioned already, but thank you again, commissioner nakajo, it was important for us to expect how our systems work. it helps us immensely through this. that concludes my report. >> president: thank you. shall we first see any questions from the commissioners for chief velo before we move on to chief

o'connor's report? >> secretary: and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president: thank you. public comment will be closed and i see commissioner

>> our infrastructure is aging and i think we're starting to see some early signs of aging infrastructure and the need to start changing out some of these pipes. i just approved having station 28 lateral redone. so we're trying to move on those and then, in those stations where we're seeing repeated backups where we've gone to monthly or quarterly snaking of these pipes, we'll send a camera down there and there was more than just grease, there was plaque build-up over time. again, it's just age. and during the pandemic, we had more wipes being used. there were wipes being flushed down. winter is probably our worst month. >> commissioner: okay. and you can probably answers the next one chief de witt and that's dealing with the hose tower at station 15 on ocean

avenue. why did we select that one to be replaced as opposed to the rest of them being torn down? why'd we decide to keep that one? >> my understanding is that that fire station in particular, there's a mural on it and they wanted to leave one hose tower that represented the history of the city. so basically the rest of the tear downs were contingent and to put up a new tower that's sizably safe. that's why that one goes down and up again. >> commissioner: so the hose tower at station 15 is supposed to be historic. >> i know there's a beautiful mural on it and perhaps that's why it's chosen. it's also on bedrock. it's also one of the smaller towers. the whole project and that was

the one that was chosen. i don't have the why. >> commissioner: yeah. that was my question, chief dewitt is it historic? because it doesn't look historic to me, it was rather new. so we're saving the new one and tearing down the historic one. that's just my comment. that's all my comments, madam president, at this moment. >> president: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. chief velo. >> it's historic from the 50s. >> president: like the rest of us. not you, but us. okay. >> [ laughter ]. >> president: all right. i'm sorry. commissioner nakajo. thank you for your patience. >> commissioner: thank you very much,