. >> clerk: fire commission meeting may 26, 2021, and the time is 5:03. this meeting is being held via teleconferencing. this meeting is being held via

webex. during the coronavirus disease emergency, the fire commission's regular meeting room at city hall is closed and remote fire commission meetings will convene remotely. you may watch remotely at www.sfgovtv.org, and to participate via phone call 415-655-0001 and use access code 187-603-1257. members of the public will have the opportunity to participant via public comment. comments will be addressed in the order they are received. when the moderator announces that they are taking public comment, members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star, three and you will be queued.

callers will hear silence when waiting for your turn to speak. then operator will unmute you. the callers will have the standard three minutes to provide comment. ensure you are in a quiet location, speak clearly, and turnoff any radios or t.v.s around you. item one, roll call. [roll call]

>> clerk: item 2, general public comment. members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the commission's jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or department personnel. commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with a speaker. the lack of a response by the commissioners or department personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during public comment. >> president feinstein: all right. madam secretary, do we have any

public comment? >> clerk: we do not have -- let me see. we do not have any public comment. >> president feinstein: all right. then public comment will be closed. please call the next item. >> clerk: item three, approval of the minutes. discussion and possible action to approve meeting minutes of the regular meeting of may 12, 2021. >> president feinstein: all right. any proposed modifications to the draft minutes? [inaudible] >> president feinstein: i'm hearing something faintly, but maybe that's just me. i can't quite hear it. am i missing something? madam secretary? >> clerk: did you want to make

a comment? >> commissioner covington: this is still commissioner covington on the line. >> clerk: did you wish to make any changes to the minutes? >> commissioner covington: not at all. i'll move the minutes. >> commissioner cleaveland: second. >> president feinstein: thank you. commissioner cleaveland accepted the second. >> clerk: i'll do a roll call vote. [roll call] >> clerk: it's unanimous. >> president feinstein: thank you. >> clerk: item four, chief of department's report. report from chief of department, jeanine nicholson, on current issues, activities, and events within the department since the fire commission meeting on may 12, 2021, including budget,

academies, special events, communications, and outreach to other government agencies and the public, and report from administration, deputy chief jose velo on the administrative division, fleet and facility status and updates, finance, support services, and training within the department. >> president feinstein: chief. >> thank you. good evening, president feinstein, commissioners, command staff. chief jeanine nicholson. let me acknowledge that deputy chief mark [inaudible] is not here tonight. sitting in is deputy chief thompson tonight. thank you, deputy chief thompson. let me start with some important dating coming up.

on memorial day, i will be headed up to lincoln to speak at a memorial for firefighter steven brantley, who died a few weeks ago. memorial day is the day that we lost two firefighters two years ago at 133 berkeley way. all of you should have received an invitation to a ceremony we will be having at station 26. we will be doing things that day. at 9:00 a.m., we will be having an announcement date on our radio. all our units and all our stations to ring the chaplain's

bell and have a few moments of silence, and we have drills for that day that are related to this fire incident. june 15, you will also, commissioners, receive an invitation to the unveiling of [inaudible] jason cortez' name at headquarters. his family will be present. we've been in touch with his wife, and they will be here. it will not be a huge crowd, but we will have folks from station three and some others, but it won't be -- won't be a giant crowd. june 23 may be the ribbon cutting, although it may have changed, for the annual

ambulance ceremony. that may not even be the right date is what i'm hearing, so more to follow on that, but the e.m.s. is currently working out of the new station 49, the new a.b.f. graduation for our recruit class is scheduled for june 25. it will be at the scottish rites temple, and you will receive an invite to that, as well. this friday, i will be attending, with captain brent peoples, the city e.m.t. graduation, and that is a program that i've talked about several of bringing city kids in -- ad-risk city kids and giving them wrap-around services as well as an e.m.t. class and the opportunity to get their e.m.t. class, and

then, some of them will be coming to work with us as interns, paid internship on the ambulance, to more to follow on that, but that graduation is coming up this friday. june is pride month. on june 7, the mayor is going to be holding a ceremony raising the pride flag at city hall, and i will be attending that. and we're working on a video to send to our members celebrating diversity in the department, and this past week, i met with clair farley, who is the director of the office of transgender initiatives, to discuss ways in which we can work together. it was a really productive meeting, and i look forward to working with her in the future, and happy pride month, everybody, really soon.

i want to thank everyone for putting out a newsletter up there. the doctor and staff are doing a great job, and it's really appreciated. on may 25, i met with the black firefighters association to ensure the success of our recruits. we're talking about doing some mentorship and some other things, and our recruitment process, as well. right now, for i believe it's three days this week, we have many of our own firefighters, a diverse group of firefighters who are speaking with applicants for the h.q. position similar to what happened last year, and they

will be passing those recommendations onto my office. we will be having another class in august, hopefully 36, but still to be determined. we also are looking at having an em.t. class -- upcoming e.m.t. class between 20 and 25 members. we have so many new programs that we are working on, and, you know, and our call volume continues to rise, so we really need more graduates in the class of 25. okay. that's great. okay. so here's some really good news. yesterday, the board of supervisors passed the option

to purchase agreements for the prior training facility property site at terrell avenue. that will take several years with ceqa, so we went with the option with the lease to purchase. if the port piece of property falls through, we can just walk

away from this lease agreement, but i have high hopes, and it should be approximately seven or eight acres overall that we will be looking at getting, and i'll continue to keep you updated on this, but it is moving along, and it is going to take some time, but i am really proud of all the folks that have worked so hard on this, some who are here and some who aren't here. and then, we are in the final weeks of working on the mayor's budget. i will be going to that event,

and once it's introduced to the mayor, it goes before the board of supervisors for discussion and presentation. right now, we are scheduled to present to the board on june 17, and then, a week later, on june 24, and in june, director corso can present what will be presented to the board of supervisors, and i will be reaching out to many of the supervisors in the coming weeks. as you know, we are initially asked to cut 7.5% and an additional 2.5%, and that is no longer the case. we will, at the very least, remain whole, but we do have some additions in the budget that i'm hoping we will get through the board of supervisors for stuff that we really, really need.

so more to follow on that, and that is all i have on that right now. thank you very much. >> clerk: you're on mute. >> cannot hear you. >> clerk: we've unmuted you. >> president feinstein: i'm muted. was i okay? >> clerk: yeah. >> president feinstein: it's chief velo. he muted me -- just kidding. anybody have any questions -- i have a question for the chief, but does any other commissioner have a question for the chief? vice president rodriguez? good evening. >> commissioner rodriguez: good evening. chief, thank you for the report. a lot of tough coming up, and exciting. this is really simple. i think it was just a typo, but you know the resolution on page

4, for the property, it said there at the very bottom of page 4, whereas the option agreement the city will pay the owner $15,000 beginning june 1 until may 31, i think that should be flopped around or something. i don't know -- i don't think it's written in stone. >> yeah, may 31, 2022 is what it should say. >> okay. i thought i -- >> thank you for that, and yes, i will get that to them. >> commissioner rodriguez: okay. thank you for your report. >> president feinstein: very keen eye, vice president. thank you. >> clerk: he has keen eyes. >> president feinstein: he has keen eyes. any other questions for the

chief? commissioner nakajo? >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, president feinstein, and thank you, chief nicholson, for your report. you mentioned that there was going to be another class. could you please share what the timeline is on that, please? >> yes. that should be in august. >> commissioner nakajo: is that something that's going to happen or is that projected? >> mark corso, can you speak to that? director corso? >> thank you, chief. good evening, commissioners. yes, so that is anticipated to occur in august. part of that group of employees is a piece of the s.a.f.e.r. grant that we were recently awarded. due to social distancing rules, we weren't allowed to expand the size of the academy. that's why we were at

approximately 25 people, i believe. so we were funded for 36 employees, so those remaining employees will be part of this coming h.d.o. academy. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much, director corso. one more question through you, madam president. chief of department, you mentioned how you were going to do and your members of recruitment, sounds like the individual members in the stations are doing that. did we or don't we have a recruitment coordinator, or how does this work? >> so the work that has worked, that position is not currently filled, and we are looking at the racial equity action plan in terms of how to grow that out, and we've asked for some things in the budget, so we're -- it's a work in progress, and right now, what's happening is we have our

members in groups of three, as -- if you like panels, and they are meeting with prospective future firefighters with applicants, and they meet with them, and, you know, ask them some questions, have a conversation, and then, they recommend to my office if they believe that person would be a good fit as a firefighter. now i want you to know that these -- these panels are extremely diverse, both culturally, racially, and gender wise, so it is a good cross section of the department, and we did this last time, as well, and you can see, you know, this last class, we've got 23 out of 25 who's made it through, and it's a really good group of folks, and

i think we got really good candidates this way, and -- and a very diverse group of candidates, as well. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. thank you very much, chief. so i begin to comprehend that we're still doing two men on our level, and that the recruitment coordinator position is still yet to be filled, so i'm assuming -- [inaudible] >> commissioner nakajo: that's all that i have at this point. thank you, chief nicholson. >> thank you. >> president feinstein: any other commissioners with any questions? ah, thank you, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: thank you, madam president. i was finally able to get into the live meeting, a real

person. i don't have any questions, but i just want to, again, send appreciation to the team that put the deal together for the new training facility. we have been on pins and needles for years, wondering, you know, after our eviction from treasure island, where the training facility would be, so it is a tremendous relief, and i hope that all of the remaining negotiations go along swimmingly, so thank everyone for that. no questions for the chief. you're muted, madam president. >> president feinstein: thank you. thank you kindly. commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: madam president, thank you. chief, good to see you this afternoon. quick question on the recruitment. are we still doing national

testing to create any kind of list? do we -- are we working off an existing list? what's going on with that testing program? >> yeah, that testing program is constantly happening, and what happens is we determine a date that we want to pull the list, and then we get all those candidates off of that -- also off of that list, and that's how we begin. but we also are having conversations with the public safety testing unit about switching to a different test because my understanding, the n.t.m., it's nationwide, and it does have an impact on certain people, specifically, black,

african american, and women, so we are looking to switch to -- of course i can't remember the initials now? sctc? sctc? yeah, we're looking to switch to sctc, which is california based and does not have that disparate impact, so we're meeting with the sctc testing team inside d.h.r. now. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you. no more questions, madam president. thank you. >> president feinstein: thank you. i have a couple of questions for the chief, but if there are any other commissioners that wish to ask questions. i'm scanning my screen here for hands, and i'm not seeing any, so chief i'm going to go ahead. two quick questions here. one is regarding the training

center, and i really do want to commend all of those who worked on this, because boy, what an act of labor that was to secure the property, to go through what needed to be gone through, what lays ahead. i really need to commend you for a great situation. as everyone knows, san francisco doesn't have a lot of land. has a lot of buildings, a lot of things to catch fire. we've got a lot of emergency medical situations, but land, we don't have, so securing this really is going to be phenomenal, especially given the time and what its intended use is, so that's my comment.

my question is this: when i look at the property, from what i've seen, it appears that the port portion of the property, it's, like, a weird triangle, you know, on one side. i don't think it's on carroll avenue. anybody feel free to jump in and correct me, but there's, like, a triangle that i can't much is useful for much to the port, and i'm not sure what their opinions are or feelings are about this property or what it could possibly be used for, given its strange shape and location. that's question one. do you have any knowledge about that or thoughts about it -- or does anybody else? i don't mean to just put it on

you, chief. >> thank you, president feinstein. yes, it is a strange set up there with that triangular piece of property. we do need it for the training center to be effective, and frankly, i don't believe the port would be using it for anything. i mean, they haven't been, so i feel like this is a win-win for everyone. you know, we get that property, and obviously, they have to report to the state lands commission. it can't just be given to us, and they have to go through the legislature. all of those ducks are in a row. it's being set up to make it

that way. but i don't think there's really any access to it, either. >> president feinstein: i would ask that if you would come forward and if the commission in the future can be of any assistance. i do know what the process is for using -- not using, but acquiring or utilizing, i should say, port property, and if the commission can be of any assistance, i think that -- i'm just speaking for myself, but also for my fellow commissioners, i understand why you need that one triangle out of the parcel, and i hope you would come forward and ask us if you need any help with that because the process is brutal, and i know that, and probably

unnecessarily so, but it is. and, you know, you -- i think we probably would all agree that this is a necessity, and we would all be willing to go to bat for the department if that's necessary. >> yes, thank you very much. as i said, we've got all our ducks in a row, and we are expediting this process with ceqa as well as, you know, state lands and the state legislature. we're getting it added to an omnibus bill. so we're dealing with so many different entities, but we are managing to juggle them all, and, you know, we've had a great partner in the department of real estate.

enrico pena and elaine forbes and everybody have put their heart into this. we are expediting this because we only have a year to get that done, and typically, it would take much longer than that, and typically, we are expecting to get that done in less than a year. >> president feinstein: if i can just follow up with one question, chief, do you believe that all the obstacles -- and i'm using that word carefully but accurately, i think, that obtaining and utilizing the property as part of the port training center has at least been identified, and have the obstacles that need to be overcome pursuant to you've got

state land. i don't know if you've got bcdc, what -- i know this is along the old yosemite slough. i don't know if you've got it figured out or you've got a strategy to deal with each of them. that piece of property cannot be of any use to the port whatsoever, so to me, it's selling a car without tires or without wheels, but i want to make sure that if there's anything we can do, we do that as a commission. >> thank you, president feinstein. we are squared away and dialed in, and we know exactly the

steps we need to take. we've identified the potential obstacles and we've been really proactive in speaking with folks at the state, at state lands commission, the lobbyists, i mean everybody. we've spoken to everybody and identified all the potential obstacles, and yeah. we have a good strategy moving forward, and it has, you know, begun to be implemented, and really, ceqa is the biggest hurdle. but we've already submitted that paperwork, so the planning department is working on it, and they know it is a priority for us, so all -- all systems are go right now, and if we come into any troubles or challenges with anything, i will be reaching out to you if there is anything that you all can do for us.

. >> president feinstein: please do, please do, because we stand ready to assist. all right. i think we're looking at my agenda here. probably should have done this first -- oh. >> clerk: i'm here. >> president feinstein: sorry. i'm looking at a number of you. i apologize. and we did not take public comment on this. that was my fault, not the -- >> clerk: it's okay. we're still on the same item number, so there is nobody on the call-in line. >> president feinstein: lucky for me because i would have messed it up otherwise. okay. so public comment will be closed, and if we can have the next item, please. >> clerk: and that would be report from administration, deputy chief jose velo.

>> good evening, president feinstein, vice president rodriguez. vice chief velo, and this is my report that highlights the events happening in april and some other events, too. let's start with the training division. extremely busy in the training division. we have secured many opportunities for our members to train, and due to the uwase funding, many trainings were free to our members.

[inaudible] taught by one of our members, and next week, we're holding one class on the firefighter federal rights, so we've been very proactive to get all the training classes that we have. the interest is definitely there, so we continue to do that. on the 27 academy, as you know, 35 recruits remain. week 16 out of 20, and we're very confident that they'll complete the academy on june 25. what we do now as we complete the training for the sffd training and protocols, there is state training that the firefighters need to be certified by the state fire marshal right now. wildlife training, survival

training, and that's what's going on at this time. there's some pictures of recruits doing p.t. we also had a day where we had pg&e's emergency response and how do we do that? we had a propane tank exploded there and how do we deal with that? we have a new prop in the bottom right picture. it's actually a prop that we can assemble, dissemble any time. the next thing is practicing on a roof without being on a real roof before we go into a building and prothat, so that's also on folsom street.

we practiced the engine class, which is the class for a [inaudible] to take an engine on a job. they're back practicing skills, and they're very happy to be able to do that, especially with the new academy. they're there. commissioner feinstein, you almost made it to this. occasionally, we get some structures that members of the public will offer to us for demo before their remodelling purposes, and through the real estate department and us, we were able to sign agreements that we can use it, practicing our skills.

in this case, we're practicing our ventilation skills, and securing a victim from the roof, so it's very helpful to do it on actual structures, so i want to commend them to that and the training team, the effort that they did to put this together. our effort continues to do drills, focus on some medical training, c.p.r. training, critical care transport training so they continue to do the required drills. this is the time of year, even though wild land fire season has started, we have almost 200 folks that are trained to go on [inaudible] deployments. so every year, they are required to go to this annual training. we put them in different parts of the city, mclaren park, and we put them through things that they have to do.

we go on engine six training, and this is our main vehicle that will be used for wild land training. this was provided free by the assistant in order to assist the state in times of need, so there is continuous weekly training for those folks. there's a required training that they have to have. and this month, also, this happens to be the month that we also do the drills for the season. it's our serve rescue training, and in addition, we also have i.c.s. rescue training, which includes the chief officers inside and outside, how to rescue the incidents from a highly, highly risky evolution from the water here or on ocean beach. recently, we had a transbay two

training. [inaudible] weekends in a row. we do it in the middle of the night on a saturday and sunday morning, do a transbay training drill, where we simulate an incident with the transbay two and the b.a.r.t. train, and last year, the chief of oakland was able to attend on the other end, so we communicate with each other and know exactly what to do in the case of our events. so we never stop training. this is our life, and we do it all the time. hazmat. all members that are hazmat certified, they have to go to training every year, and you can see the uniforms that they wear that protect them from any incidents. so you can see that it's been an extremely busy month. our nert teams -- if you recall, april 24 was nert appreciation week, and we're

very appreciative for the nert volunteers and all the work that they do. this is just an example of the tremendous work that all these folks are doing. even [inaudible] notice of when vaccinations were coming to the island. whether it's earthquake or any hazard, they come and help out all the time. chief parks from the wild land division has been extremely busy. some of the topics that he's focusing on, peer support training, community health and safety meetings. we do an occupational health and safety roundtable meeting we hold on a monthly basis. we do some osha updates and just being extremely busy. in addition, working with the

doctor's office on many things, you're going to see a slide that chief nicholson and director's office put together. we [inaudible] supporting the vaccinations and also crisis response teams are responding to those who need vaccinated. we go to them instead of them coming to us. director's office, the vaccination centers. 87% of members are vaccinated, so it's creeping up. in april, we had no new cases.

after hour, our division chief conduct tests, and they all tested negative, too. chief with has been very busy. most of the requests were for plumbing again. that's an issue that we have,

again, with our old plumbing, but we also completed 169 service orders, so we're really streamlining the process. station 49 update, but as you heard from the chief, the folks from 49 already moved in may 10. we'll have a final ribbon cutting in mid-june. station 35, president feinstein, i wanted to let you know about this. so the electrical work has started. we have six bolts that have been connected for the pg&e connection to go into the p.u.c. connection to go into station 35, so that work is on going. there's only one bolt that's on what's called the pothole stage. that's digging in and looking at what's in there.

[inaudible] and some of the other perspectives on the station, so it's going to be a beautiful building, and we're looking forward to that. the captain has been extremely busy. we have finalized the mutual buggy layer. there was a delay on the chassis to arrive, and now we're looking at mid point inspection of the vehicle in june. there was a delay at the factory for luciana ferrara,

and so we're waiting for those to come. we're asking if it goes beyond the year, make sure we get the extended warrant. we'll push for that, obviously, and we have some cargo plans that have been submitted to us here for review. i want to commend captain chris vaughn and the folks at space station 16, lieutenant [inaudible] has been working on this and travelled to seattle to make sure that this vehicle was appropriate for us, and it was transported either today or tomorrow and will provide tomorrow. as you recall, we have a study that's in the draft stage and final draft submitted to the board of supes on the visibility of the water station on the pump side. we have several exercises with

p.u.c. basically creating a water scenario. what interactions between fire and p.u.c. to address any of the issues that may happen, like 89 where the mains broke? it's really good we continue to do those, and we have people coming in from the fields. major incident, we're going to have to [inaudible] if we have one, chief connor can not be [inaudible] and the role that we established with chief connor on major, major events go to the water department's operations center to forward operations there. and with that, we continue to update our protocols with those two agencies. and i want to finish our report to remind everybody about

e.m.s. week, and i want to remind everyone of the hard work of station 49 and the hard work of all the stations that we have. it's just one week, but command staff appreciation them all year. this year has been really, really challenging for all of them, and it's put a strain on them, not just physically, but mentally, and i want to conclude my report with that. so if you have any questions, i'm happy to answer them. >> president feinstein: commissioners? i see commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: madam president, thank you, chief velo, for your report.

very comprehensive and as usual, appreciated. i have a question that could be directed to chief dewitt because it's going to deal with facility maintenance issues. i wonder if we as a department could put deadlines on when a project needs to be completed, like a plumbing project that we're waiting for labor. i see it hear, fire station 28 waiting for labor from d.p.w. can't we tell the public works department that it needs to be completed within a month or two weeks, some kind of deadline, so that if it doesn't get done by them within a certain amount of time, we will go out and get a qualified bid from a qualified contractor already

registered with the city? >> so i will ask chief dewitt, but on station 49, that work has already been completed, so that's good news. we have to go first to d.p.w. and if they don't have labor, then, we go to that. we have to go through this process. chief dewitt? >> a.d.c. support services dawn dewitt. yes, commissioner cleaveland. we actually are working pretty closely with d.p.w. i have no complaints with plumbing. their turnaround time has been very good with us. the communication has been excellent. they've really stepped up their communication. the station 21 work, we did have a timeline. they actually finished early, and then because they were underbid, they were able to replace more of the lines than just the one sewer main, so we have a lot of the laterals

replaced. [inaudible] is different. they don't have the availability, so we've been working closely with them and if they can't finish a project in an appropriate timeline, they are releasing work so we can go out and get outside bits. i'm asking that we get quotes for work so we don't get a surprise bill at the end of a project for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars without having anticipated that. we go through the list each month, and if they just can't get to that, they are readily releasing work for the few outside vendors that we have to complete some projects, so that pretty is moving pretty well right now. >> i'm very glad to hear that, cleve dewitt, very glad. our firefighters and paramedics don't have to live with toilets

that don't work or plumbing back ups for undue lengths of time, so that's good news. i'm delighted to hear that public works is working with us instead of against us. >> yeah, the emergencying repairs are always dealt with very timely. they come out after hours. they will set aside work. any kind of sewage work, they come out immediately, so happy with that. >> commissioner cleaveland: good to know. i noticed on the hvac, you said a quote was denied for fire station 17 on a turnout drying home heater. what does that mean when you deny a quote? >> so they had -- so this one room in the station where members hang their turnout coats to dry, and historically, it's sometimes been the boiler room. it's not very common that we have drying rooms. the drying heater is an obsolete heater.

it's gas, so looking to replace that for the amount of money that they'd quoted us, i'd like to see if there's an electrical option that we can do for less money. and it made sense to include that portion in an entire package, rather than just one piece at a time as they had been doing, so i just want to see if there are other alternatives that don't cost as much as one small heater that we could use a space heater with a fan rather than using $10,000 to replace a heater to use in one room. >> commissioner cleaveland: so how does that work? >> so they use space heaters. in the past, they've used space heaters. in the boiler room, traditionally, that's when we

used to hang our turnouts to dry. >> commissioner cleaveland: i was amused to read your pest station record, station 26, having to abate raccoons from a housing generator. >> they're everywhere. >> commissioner cleaveland: that was very funny. i imagine rats or mice, but raccoons? that's interesting. under -- >> president feinstein: commissioner cleaveland, i have lots of them around here. any time. >> commissioner cleaveland: not in my backyard. any way, dealing with painting the red curb at fire station number nine, you put in a request of how long does it take them to come out and paint -- put some red paint on the curb?

>> that one is done, so it was within a week or so. they were quick with that one. >> commissioner cleaveland: okay. work pending, so it's been done. good. >> yes, sir. >> commissioner cleaveland: all right. 'cause i was going to say, let's get some red paint and give it to the firefighters and have them do it themselves. move a lot faster. dealing with the fleet management logistics report from captain serrano, the host tender bid is complete, but it's in a protest phase. what does that mean? >> so commissioner, there were two manufacturers that bid. it was awarded to one of them, and the other one protested, basically saying that the terms of the bid -- it's just a tactic of competition.

we're very confident that that's not going to go anywhere, and the prevailing bid will be the winning bid, but this is a process that we have to go through. >> commissioner cleaveland: it holds up the process is what you're saying. >> unfortunately, yeah, but we don't think it's going to be too long. >> commissioner cleaveland: you talk about new ambulance specs and researching some multiple options, what kind of ambulance specs are we looking at for our department? >> so right now, we have a van chassis. basically, a box put inside a van, and we are changing brakes on that more frequently, much more than anything else. in the past, there's been some cracks to the [inaudible] itself, too, and the chassis. so what other agencies have is a truck chassis.

it's a truck chassis with a box mounted on it [inaudible] and we're looking at what options we have for that. that's the two options that we have for ambulances, a van chassis -- it's amazing how fast those brakes go on a van than we can save much more money and time being out of service on a truck chassis when they're out of service. >> commissioner cleaveland: i'm delighted, chief, that you have the paramedics and e.m.t.s that drive the ambulances in this conversation and how we created the next generation, if you will, of ambulances. [inaudible] >> -- but we also have drivers on the engines that drive the specs for future engines, too, so absolutely very important.

>> commissioner cleaveland: last question, and is dealing with the awss system. and we received a letter that -- this week from one individual that talked about using salt water for an emergency through the awss system, and my question is, i know that it is damaging to use salt water as opposed to fresh water, but if we do use salt water, we can flush the system out, correct, and still use the awss system in the future. it's not ruined by using salt water, is that correct? >> that statement is correct, and we indeed use salt water drawn from the bay. this particular process that you're talking about is what we've been working with chief [inaudible] on and will be presented to the board of supervisors by june 30.

it's a study of whether it's feasible, financially or otherwise, for pump stations. [inaudible] presented to the board. so it's required by the grand jury report, and it's being done, and chief o'connor, you may add something to it, but as you'll recall from his presentation last time, it's extremely [inaudible] but just the cost of it is not really practical. chief o'connor? >> commissioner cleaveland: all right. chief, thank you very much for your response, and madam president, that's all my questions. >> president feinstein: thank you very much. any -- ah, vice president rodriguez, please. thank you. >> commissioner rodriguez: chief velo, thank you for your report. i've got a question. i think i brought this up last

month, regarding the emergency firefighting water system. you know, there's some work being done on claren street over by the ballpark, and there's another on vicente street, but this one says firefighting water system will be installed as a change order. and reading change orders all my life, change orders cost money. i'm just wondering, if this was being done already, why is it -- if we knew the work is happening, why was it all of a sudden the -- why was it put in as a change order? >> thank you, vice president, for your question. i will tell you that the work that's being done for the

[inaudible] system is actually done by p.u.c., so this is -- you're talking about the vicente pipeline? >> commissioner rodriguez: correct. >> i'm not sure where it happened, but it's not coming from us, it's coming from p.u.c. chief, you want to add something to it? >> sure. [inaudible] so instead of digging the street up twice, we started putting piping down for the new efws system going forward, so it's actually a cost saving system if there was one. >> commissioner rodriguez: i didn't know there was one. that's it for me. >> president feinstein: that's news to you, isn't it, vice president?

>> commissioner rodriguez: yeah. i've never heard that before. >> president feinstein: do any of the other commissioners -- right now, i'm just -- my computer skills are limited. i can only see commissioner cleaveland and commissioner rodriguez and a few members of the command staff. >> commissioner covington: madam president, i would like to say something. >> president feinstein: okay. commissioner covington, thank you. you popped up. thank you. >> commissioner covington: thank you. okay. so thanks for the report. things are moving right along, which is always nice to know. chief velo, i wanted you to give us a little bit more about the fleet disorders work that's being done and the shift work and how that impacts people, and then, i also saw that there was a meeting and video

interview about sleep, so can you give us some more information about that? >> thank you for your question, commissioner covington. absolutely. as you'll recall, one of the goals of the administration with the new doctor is just focus on some health and wellness issues for the members, and she's been working really hard to identify some of those issues that can affect basically the health and -- of our members. >> commissioner covington: dr. brokaw. >> yes, dr. brokaw. so through this, all the q&a and webinars, she contacted a doctor that specialized in sleep disorders. i don't want to ruin the video that you're going to be sent in the next few days, but she sent all the questions to a doctor to answer all of these issues. what it is is shift work, 24-hours work disrupts your

sleep rhythms, and how you can do that. and also, those folks that have sleep apnea, what can they do to help themselves and adjust to that 24-hour shift. so it's about 35 minutes of q&a from the doctor to chief parks, so we're really thankful that she's reaching out to other areas, not just focusing on just getting back to work issues but health and wellness issues, working with chief parks, identifying education, what can we do to help them out, and information is always valuable for our board members, so that's basically what that's about, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: okay. because that's good because good sleep or sleep in general impacts everyone's quality of life. anyone who's ever had a newborn

knows about that. sleep deprivation is not fun, so i'm glad to see the emphasis on this, and you say that we will be receiving a video? >> yes. i'm working with chief parks and chief [inaudible] who put together a video on how to deliver it. we also have an internal video process that we're doing, and you can actually load it up on your phone and play it, so you'll be seeing in the next couple of days a link from the doctor for the video. so we can't enjoy the disruptions from the 24-hour shift or a call in the middle of the night, but we can recover from that disruption. >> commissioner covington: yeah. that's better than each

individual doing what they think might be helpful. okay. i will stop there, chief velo. >> thanks. >> commissioner covington: thank you, chief velo. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. further questions from any of the commissioners? madam secretary, you'll let me know if i'm missing anything. i have a big jose velo, and a few small people, but no commissioners. >> clerk: okay. nobody's raising their hand, and there's nobody on the public call-in line. >> president feinstein: well, there you go, and now i have a small chief velo there, and we're going to close public comment, and i think we are ready to move onto the next item. madam secretary, thank you. >> clerk: item five, commission report. report on commission activities since last meeting of may 12,

2021. >> president feinstein: all right. commissioners -- wait, first. do i need public comment first, madam secretary? >> clerk: there is no one on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: also, how would they know what they did? but any way, i'll continue on. commissioners, do any of you have anything to report? i'm sorry, maureen, i can see commissioner rodriguez and commissioner covington and not my fellow commissioners. >> clerk: commissioner nakajo has his hand up. >> president feinstein: okay. commissioner nakajo, with my apologies, and i'm not sure why i couldn't see your hand up. please. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you, madam president. i'm not sure if i'm coming through clearly, but i have a

question through to the commission secretary -- >> commissioner covington: commissioner nakajo, could you speak up, please? >> commissioner nakajo: i'm having problems with my microphone and the whole connection piece. can you hear me in. >> commissioner covington: oh, i see. you're faint, but we can hear you. >> commissioner nakajo: you're breaking up, as well. >> president feinstein: i'm sorry, i can't. it's -- for some reason, it seems to be very interrupted. i don't know if i'm the only person. i'll leave it to my fellow commissioners, but i can't hear -- i can't hear it cogently. [inaudible] >> clerk: it sounds like he's talking underwater. >> commissioner covington: we've lost video, too.

oh, there he is. >> president feinstein: oh, there he is, good. we see you, commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner nakajo: still have a problem with the video. so if you can hear me, i'll ask my question, if not, i'll forgo. >> commissioner covington: i can hear you. >> president feinstein: i can hear you, to. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. basically, what i was asking, commission secretary, is there any word on when we would return to the office? >> clerk: no, there is not. from what i understand, it's probably going to be more towards the end of the year. >> commissioner nakajo: [inaudible] fortunate to be able to connect to the meeting, but i've been experiencing lots of problems with connections as you all have. thank you. >> if i may, madam president, i believe it is planned for

september for meetings to go back to city hall if all goes well, but i can get you more information on that. >> president feinstein: thank you. it's much appreciated. i realize things are still in flux, but to the extend that you still have information, chief, and can share it with us, i think that'll be helpful for everybody's planning purposes. >> president feinstein: am i missing any other commissioners that wish to report on their activity? >> clerk: no, nobody has their hand up. >> president feinstein: okay. i do. now i do. i -- i -- i did have the opportunity to do a couple of things, and i'll work backwards here. i -- i, in golden gate park

yesterday, was able to see for the first time, the 6 engine yesterday and training with the captain and working, you know, the hydrants. yeah, i've only seen those vehicles, you know, in pictures and what-have-you, but they were out there and in training, and it was impressive, so i was pleased to stumble upon them and of course inserted myself immediately for a tutorial and learned how they differ from regular equipment, so it was very helpful to me. i really appreciated it, so i wanted to just comment upon that. i also hope to attend the -- a

search training this weekend. i know it's more than search and rescue friday, but i'm looking forward to that since i've been a person that's really -- it surprises me the number of surf rescues that we get. it just knocks my socks off, so surf rescue, i'm looking forward to be able to attend that training. and i had one question.

perhaps it's not fair to you, chief, but i wonder, from based on what was included in your report on the vaccination rate of the members, if we're going to become maskless, so to speak, on june 15, is there any concern about those members that have not been vaccinated, and do we have any idea why they're hesitating to get vaccinated? the rest of us are clamoring, clamoring, clamoring, and we have members of the department that are exposed more significantly than any of us are, and they're not getting vaccinated. do you have any thoughts on that that you can share? >> so thank you, president. we're going to follow city d.p.h. guidelines which follows

california d.p.h. guidelines, and also, we have cal-osha to deal with. so cal-osha is not forcing vaccinations yet, but they're not lifting the mask mandates yet. so once we get the guidelines from the city, we're going to see what we're going to get. in answering the question about why members aren't getting vaccinated, it's a personal choice. as you have heard maybe, from santa clara county, it's a different county, but they're asking for the [inaudible] there yet, and my understanding is that city d.p.h. is not going to that yet, from what i

understand, so we'll keep track of that and let you know. >> president feinstein: and one more thing. the vaccination rate is concerning. it's low enough that it's concerning. can the department, in and of itself, institute a mask mandate within the station? >> that's a good question. we'll have to rely, again, on public health, to give us some guidance on that, too. at this time, we have approximately 242 members that are not vaccinated and they said they will not get vaccinated. we can err on the side of health in order to protect our members and cal-osha mandates that, we'll have to abide by that until otherwise told, but other than that, we cannot risk

the lives of our members, but other than that, we have to follow our guidelines. >> president feinstein: okay. i understand. thank you for that. that is all i have. do we have further comments, madam secretary? >> clerk: i don't see anybody waving or have their hands up. >> president feinstein: thank you. okay. so we may call the next item. >> clerk: item six, agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> president feinstein: all right. again, madam secretary, i'm not quite sure why -- i do have this on grid mode -- ah, i see commissioner covington and commissioner -- [inaudible] >> commissioner covington: thank you, madam president. okay. thank you, madam president. i know that we were able to

have the head of m.t.a. and some key staff members come to our -- i guess it was our last meeting or the meeting before last, and i guess a number of us didn't get a chance to ask questions and to give input into slow streets specifically, and i do believe the head of m.t.a. intimated that he would be, you know, happy to come back at another time since we had run out of time. so i don't want too much time to pass before we issue another invitation to come, and we will be more mindful of the time that he is able to spend with us next time around. >> president feinstein: all right. thank you. thank you. >> commissioner covington: thank you.

>> president feinstein: and, again -- >> clerk: commissioner rodriguez has his hand up. >> president feinstein: thank you. commissioner rodriguez, please. >> commissioner rodriguez: i agree with commissioner covington. i think we're all aware that there was a lot of people that didn't call in that did send letters in that were really concerned about the slow streets, and i feel that a lot of us are also, especially -- found it very interesting about the one about the great highway, so i would like another presentation or just a chance to ask more questions, and then, at that point, the commission -- you know, maybe the commission would write a letter or do something, if we agree, to the board of

supervisors. i'm sure the chief has, given the fire department's opinion on this, but i think it's important that the commission also voices their opinion on this, so i agree with commissioner covington. the other one that i would like to bring up is, you know, i guess assistant deputy chief fire marshall, what is this, kenneth coughland, so it would be nice to arrange where he -- he? yeah, it's a he -- that he would come before the commission to introduce himself, and we could ask him some questions regarding his thoughts or qualifications -- not his qualifications, but his thoughts on the position, so

that's my point. >> president feinstein: thank you, vice president rodriguez. any further -- ah, commissioner nakajo. >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much, madam president. i want to be careful because this is an item that talked about future fire commission meetings, and we're dialoguing a little bit in terms of a concern i had, also. i wanted to affirm commissioner covington's remarks as well as commissioner rodriguez when it comes to the dialogue of slow streets or permanent slow streets. i don't want to take from the commission or myself because it's hard to advocate for our

positions and what we do, and for example, what d.p.a. may be doing or m.t.a. may be doing, and i don't want to perceive it -- i'm going to choose my words carefully -- in terms of what they're trying to accomplish, but we do have our mission, as well. and clearly, for myself, what i understood in terms of m.t.a. and staff that came with the director, in terms of what they're trying to establish, i heard a lot of that, and i think we tried to reiterate what our principles and points were, so i'd really like to have it agendized when it's appropriate because i began to think in the afterthought, like many of you, is realizing we have a clash of conflict or permanent. slow streets is slow streets, permanent. i don't want to be critical, but also, our fire department

has our mission, which is to get to our community during a fire emergency or situation. i appreciate the public calling in, but like the vice president pointed out, we didn't have a chance to get a lot of it in, as well. i just want to make sure that as the director of m.t.a. says, they're cooperating with us, and i somewhat felt that, but i felt that our points and emphasis -- i don't want to say not listened to, because he said that he listened to all departments and officers, but i just want to make sure that what we're concerned about is taken into consideration. i felt at one point or another, this is the way it's done, this is m.t.a.s way, and we're going to have to adjust.

now, i'm paraphrasing, and i may get in trouble with that, and in the context of the commission, i'll stop. >> president feinstein: no, you know, please, commissioner nakajo, and unless there's other commissioners that wish to comment, i do wish to comment because i agree with you. and does anybody else wish to comment on it, on the slow streets presentation with m.t.a.? yeah, commissioner nakajo. >> clerk: i'm not sure we can actually get into that under this agenda item. >> commissioner nakajo: that's what i was referring to. i wanted to be careful we didn't agendize that. >> clerk: i don't any we can have a robust discussion at this point. >> commissioner nakajo: i was following the suggestion of what can be taken off the agenda -- >> president feinstein: okay. okay. then let me ask this. you know, we've gotten out, and i've read in the paper today, there's now slow streets and

the proposal that there be permanent shared spaces, and i know that falls under a different department, but poses sort of the same issue -- you know, i'm sure everybody read that, in seattle, there was, you know, what is bound to happen, which is somebody at night, you know, making a turn or not making a turn and smashing into one of these shared spaces where people are dining. and narrowing our streets is not helpful when you're in a city of narrow streets, and i just, i want to know if that should be something that we invite m.t.a. or if that's d.p.w., i think, and to also

ask our fire marshal, before he leaves us, if he could give us some numbers and perhaps express some concerns. are you there, fire marshal dicosio, or did you leave us? oh, hello. >> hello, president feinstein. absolutely. be happy to have this conversation at the next meeting. >> clerk: unfortunately, the next meeting, we have deliberations, a closed session, so i don't know if we'll have room to add something this robust on our next meeting, but probably the second meeting in june. >> president feinstein: well, i think that we can take that off the agenda at a later time and figure that out. and i'm sorry, commissioner nakajo.

i do see your hand. i didn't mean to not recognize you. thank you. >> commissioner nakajo: yeah. thank you, madam president. i want to be respectful to all of us, but this item right now we're talking about, putting this on the subject matter item, and right now, i think we're getting into some robust discussions that i don't think is probably -- it's not properly agendized. i don't want to be an item killer, but i don't know how far you want to take it, and i am getting uncomfortable with how far this discussion is going. >> president feinstein: i just want to get it agendized and slow spaces and streets, as well. [inaudible]

>> commissioner nakajo: -- to affirm that i would like to see it itemized, as well, or whatever is proper protocol at this time. whenever it's agendized, we can have a robust discussion. i would point that out respectfully. >> president feinstein: i'm too robust, commissioner nakajo. all right. >> clerk: and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: okay. then public comment shall be closed. and -- oh, okay. never mind. save it. next item, please. >> clerk: item 7, adjournment. >> president feinstein: well, i don't -- i don't want to get into a robust discussion, either, but does anybody have a

motion? >> commissioner cleaveland: i move to adjourn. >> commissioner covington: i move to -- okay. i second. >> president feinstein: okay. commissioner cleaveland is moving, and commissioner covington is seconding, if i understand correctly. >> clerk: correct. >> president feinstein: roll call vote, madam secretary. [roll call] >> clerk: this meeting is adjourned at 6:30.