>> clerk: this meeting is being held by webex, pursuant to governor's executive orders and mayoral declarations declaring a local emergency. during the covid-19 emergency, the commission's regular meeting room is closed, and meetings of the fire commission will convene remotely. you may watch live at www.sfgovtv.org, and to participate in public commen

call 415-655-0001 and use access code 2498-070-1478. members of the public may participate in the item, but the commission would ask that you wait until the item is received. when the commission is taking public comment, members of the public may raise their hands by pressing star, three to enter the queue, and you will wait with your line in silence before being prompted to speak. when it is your turn to give public comment, speak slowly and clearly, call from a quiet

location, and turn down your speakers or devices. i'm now going to take roll call. [roll call] >> clerk: and the president of the fire commission will now read the land acknowledgement. >> president feinstein: the san francisco fire commission acknowledges that we are on the ancestral homelands of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula. as the original stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples to reside in their traditional

territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone community and by acknowledging their sovereign rights as first peoples. >> clerk: very good. item 2, resolution 2022-03. resolution making findings to allow teleconferenced meetings under california government code section 54953-e. >> president feinstein: all right. and do we have any public comment, madam secretary? >> clerk: there's nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. then public comment will be closed. do we have any comments, questions, anything from any of the commissioners.

>> commissioner covington: madam president, i'd like to move this item. >> president feinstein: thank you. do i have a second? >> commissioner cleaveland: i second. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. >> clerk: we have a motion and a second, and i will do a roll call vote. [roll call] >> clerk: the motion is unanimous. item three, 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. and there is nobody on our public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. thank you, madam secretary. public comment will be closed. next item, please. >> clerk: item 4, approval of the minutes. minutes from the regular meeting on january 26, 2022, and there's nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. public comment, again, is closed. any questions, comments, amendments, changes from any of the commissioners? i see no hands up. is there a motion? >> commissioner cleaveland: move to approve, madam president. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. second? >> commissioner morgan: commissioner morgan. i second it. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner morgan. >> clerk: i'll do a roll call

vote. [roll call] >> clerk: motion is unanimous. item 5, chief of department's report. report from chief of department, jeanine nicholson. report on current issues, activity is, and events within the department since the fire commission meeting on january 26, 2022, including budget, academies, special events, communications, and outreach to other government agencies and the public. in addition, report from operations deputy chief robert postel. report on overall field operations, including greater alarm fires, emergency medical services, bureau of fire

prevention and investigation, homeland security, and airport division. >> greetings and salutations, president feinstein, and commissioners, and i want to wish you a happy birthday, maureen. chief jeanine nicholson. this is my report since my last commission meeting. this morning, i will be excusing myself to attend the mayor's department head meeting. it apparently falls every month on the day of the operations presentation. that is at 9:30. i would like to congratulate commissioner covington on your reappointment. many of us from the command staff were able to attend your virtual swearing in last week, so congratulations again on that. although it was virtual, i thought it was very nice and

was happy to be there with you. >> commissioner covington: thank you. >> you're welcome. my command staff and i attended several events in chinatown over the last several weeks. [speaking cantonese language] >> happy year of the tiger. we are coming roaring back, as i've heard everyone say. it was nice to attend some in-person events and share some support, frankly, for small businesses and community members in this time of san francisco resurgence. omicron is still on a downward trend, and i'm hoping that chief postel can tell us how

many we currently have out. last month, it was upwards of 160. currently, last week, it was 31, so that is outstanding. i attended a women's meeting last week where female fire chiefs from across the country and have an opportunity to exchange ideas, and we heard that places elsewhere are having a hard time recruiting and that, you know, that e.m.s. has been challenging across the country for staffing, for response time, for hospital wall times, etc., etc., but it

is a really good place to exchange ideas and phone numbers and, you know, discuss or common challenges. we continue to work on our budget, and as you know, director corso is here today and will present on this, but we will continue. i will continue to keep you updated as budget measures in the mayor's office progress. we are advocating for our needs and also whether take direction from the mayor's budget office.

we are continuing to hire and staff up our community paramedic division, and i also have met with [indiscernible] and will continue to do that over the next several weeks. we're looking at starting another class later this fiscal year, and -- for h2 -- for suppression, and i believe we have another class coming up at the end of this month. this month, i believe there will be a pinning ceremony for the e.m.t. pinning, and that will take place virtually. you're all invited, and you're

all welcome to attend in person. it will be at our commission room at headquarters, and that completes my report, and i'm happy to take any questions. >> president feinstein: thank you, chief nicholson. do we have any public comment? >> clerk: there is nobody on the public comment line. >> president feinstein: all right. then we shall close public comment, and commissioners, any questions for the chief? commissioner covington with the pen. thank you. always catch my eye with that. thank you. i appreciate it. >> commissioner covington: i know. we're all just in our little boxes here. so thank you, chief, for your report, and i want to thank you, and, you know, all of the members of the command staff that joined the virtual swearing in for me last week.

it was greatly appreciated and very heartwarming. i just wanted to say that. chief, can you tell us how our numbers are, in terms of people being out with covid? >> yes. commissioner covington, i spoke about the meetings. the number's from yesterday, but let me just pull them up here for today, and our numbers have declined. 29 are off now, from a high of 160, so we are doing well. nine of those members are off greater than 30 days, so the majority of them are off less than 30 days, and we expect to see many of them back in the coming -- in the coming days,

and some next week. >> commissioner covington: i see. and based upon these folks being out more than 30 days, does the department's physician have any kind of prognosis as to when they might return? i'm talking about just as a group because there are more a few people that are out. >> for the folks -- commissioner covington, for the people who have been off longer than 30 days, it's really a case-by-case basis, depending on what their symptoms are. there's not one sort of -- there's no date for some of those folks to come back. i know we did have one member who retired after, you know,

being a longhauler with covid for more than a year, so i don't know the prognosis of these nine people. >> commissioner covington: is there any report that you see as a benefit? >> due to hipaa and the like, the physician's office can't put them all in a group together and to -- whatever -- to do whatever it may be, but they have been followed up by the physician's office on a regular basis and/or with their

own physicians on a regular basis. >> commissioner covington: i meant not in terms of actual medical support, but in terms of moral support. it might be beneficial for people to meet as a group and talk about how things are going for them, rather than them being siloed all over the bay area. it's just a thought. just trying to assist people going through this. >> thank you, commissioner covington. i will take that under advisement, and appreciate that thought. >> commissioner covington: okay. that's all i have right now.

>> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. ah, commissioner cleaveland? >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, president feinstein. chief nicholson, i had a conversation with another member of administration, and one of the things that we discussed was anyone in the rank-and-file members who wanted to represent the fire department in the gotc. have you given anymore thought to that, and would you let it go out? >> so thank you, commissioner cleaveland, for our advocacy for our old rigs and for your support of our fire department. i have not, but i will follow

up with miss scanlon on that. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you. that's all my questions on that. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. any further questions of the chief? and i'm not seeing any hands, so if i'm missing anybody, speak up, please. thank you, chief nicholson okay. next, we're moving on. >> clerk: and it's chief postel up next. >> president feinstein: good morning, chief postel.

>> good morning, president feinstein. congratulations, commissioner covington, to your reappointment to the greatest commission in the city. >> commissioner covington: thank you. >> this is my report for the week of february 9, 2022. we had no greater alarm fires, and this is a testament to the work being done by our training staff and training and preparedness for these incidents, so i'd like to commend all of them. we responded to a total of 14,303 incidents in january. 14% were a combined response, 27 response were an e.m.s. only response. we also responded to five water

rescues and ten cliff rescues. on january 10, there was a tsunami event. prior to that event, our crews provided a vital public service by going out to ocean beach, china beach, and warned that the tsunami was coming and get the public out of the way. there was minimal damage, and no injuries were reported as a result of that, and it's a good preparation for a significant event for our people. those were the significant incidents of the month. the p.i.o., in his report, you can see a very good synopsis of all the significant incidents citywide during this period. lieutenant baxter continued to do a great job with his outreach and public relations with the tsunami event and continued to keep the public informed with what was going on there. e.m.s.

e.m.s. continues to be extremely active, as we all know. during the first of the month, we had a surge of calls associated with the omicron variant and other things. at the same time, we suffered a staffing shortage due to our own members being out, covid related quarantine, so we have a large number of medic incidents, really strained the system. the chief had to make a public announcement, but we got through it, and things are back to near normal by now, so that was a tough time. the class of -- number 29 graduated. medic to follow calls reduced to single digits literally the day after they graduated and were put on the ambulances, so that was a great improvement

for us. we're looking forward to future graduates, including a class on february 22. [indiscernible] was promoted to an h-33, and he's going to work at the emergency operations center as an hsoc commander. chief mike mason has been detailed to work with the mayor's office on the tenderloin emergency initiative. [indiscernible] and dustin chianello are going to work as fire incident commanders. [indiscernible] really smart guy, excellent firefighter, and he requested to be reassigned to work with community paramedicine, so we moved him over there. he has a masters from u.c.

berkeley in public health, so this is right in his wheel house, and he's doing really good work over there as a data and policy analyst for community medicine. [indiscernible] and they've highlighted a few points in the narratives that i'm sure you read. street crisis response team has 418 encounters out of 811 requests for service. the street overdose response team had 202 encounters. 62 of those had been confirmed overdose. one of those was 2022 was a year that we marked a decrease in overdose deaths, so it appears to be working.

responding to well-being checks of people in public places on the street level, which will take some of the load off of companies and ambulances and their ability to do that. drills and fire investigation. they continued their overall investigations with inspections, permits, that type of thing. they're also playing a vital role managing this ever changing streetscape that we're dealing with. they're clbting with sfmta, the transportation and advisory state committee and the street design advisory team to ensure the needs of the sffd are accounted for in street design changes. this is on going and monumental

and very time-consuming, and a.d.c. and our fire marshal is doing a great job on staying on top of this. on january 28, i participated in a kick off meeting with [indiscernible], sfmta, and a private firm, fair and pure, and this is a study that is going to take about six months, and it's focused on our increased response times in certain areas of the city, and trying to evaluate what effect some of these different street changes are having on our response times and solutions for these problems being funded by the m.t.a. we'll be meeting twice monthly on this, and hopefully, we get some good answers coming out of it on the backside. division training, also incredibly busy, and now working under cd-2 instead of cd-3. they graduated the h-3 level

class on january 21, and i mentioned the great impact it had on us. the 128 recruitment academy began on january 18. so far, they've done a lot. in-service training continues with burn drills and roof rescue operations. they trained 111 members during this time, and they're preparing for the e.m.s. bump-up academy, and they're also going to have the h-3 level two academy starting on 22 february. in addition, they conduct training weekly with the 129 recruit class. s.f.o.

s.f.o. conducted a [indiscernible] program. they made their annual [indiscernible] of their existing members and newly reassigned members out at the airport. they conducted their live [indiscernible] training that was conducted at half moon bay and edwards air force base, and i was able to get my feet wet, following that up with them, and i look forward to meeting with them in the future, and that concludes my report. >> president feinstein: thank you very much, chief postel. i know that i have a couple of questions, but let me please defer to my fellow commissioners first.

questions for chief postel? yes, commissioner cleaveland. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, president feinstein, and thank you, chief postel. i'm glad that you're so organized and the detail. i really appreciate that. i think it's good to have firefighter nick oxford detailed as a policy and data analyst for community paramedicine division, and i look forward to, in the future, having that gentleman come to our commission and giving us some in-depth and background reports on just how we are succeeding on the streets, if you will, with our community paramedicine program.

looking at page 17, i see we're developing a policy and training that would deal with that particular issue, and i wonder if that could be something else that you can bring back and share with the commission when it's finalized. i don't know if you want to comment on that or not, but then moving along on the same page, under social services, i'd like to have a little bit more of a collaboration on what exactly we're dealing with in

terms of [indiscernible]. >> hi, president feinstein, vice president nakajo, chief nicholson, who's not here right now. assistant deputy chief sandy tong, and chief pang is not here today. he actually has the week off with his family, however, i can try and answer a few of your questions, commissioner cleaveland. in regards to the 5150 program, that essentially is our -- at least currently, we're going to be training our community paramedic rescue captains in how to administer a 5150 hold. so it's not very different than what the police or community

[indiscernible] do. for, you know, any of the other clients, we could be -- or they could be special calls to put a 5150 hold on a client if necessary, so that is what that training is about. >> commissioner cleaveland: thank you, chief tong, and i'm sorry to always put you on the hotseat. the training is what 5150 is, and training at the department level, and we can share what that policy is. >> actually, the training is being developed with d.p.h., so they're helping us with the training module for our folks to get trained, and then, we'll be conducting some of that training, and the video will be

available for us to be able to do so. if it's a really successful program, we may expand that training to other paramedics, community paramedics, but for now, we're going to limit it with the community paramedic rescue captains, and from there, we'll see how it works. >> commissioner cleaveland: i think it would be of interest to me and some of my colleagues if you would bring what we are training in and how to react to a possible 5150 situation. i think i'd certainly be interested in knowing how we are helping to train our personnel to deal with those kinds of situations. >> okay.

>> commissioner cleaveland: it's always shocking. i see how you deal with these individuals on the street that have called us 200 times in the past three years or 213 times, and all of these 911 activations. it's just sad, sad to see such a tiny percentage of our city's population, a very small handful, really, of people, that cause and cost our city. it's really shocking, and i don't know if how many of our citizens out there really realize how much we spend on so few in our city. on page 20, i noticed you listed the total encounters of

202, and i wonder how many out of that 202 were dead when we arrived at the scene or were all of those alive and those are the people that we resuscitated in total? >> yes, i believe those are folks who, you know, received narcan or responded to a possible opiate overdose. >> commissioner cleaveland: so if anyone is given narcan, they don't die? >> no, we give narcan and sometimes it doesn't revive them. we give narcan in every situation, but sometimes, it means that that person does not live. >> commissioner cleaveland: but all 202 of those were all resuscitated to life? >> i'll have to confirm that. i think that is true, but i'll

confirm that. >> commissioner cleaveland: okay. i know that we had this homeward bound program. when we put someone in the program, do we ever checkup on them? >> i believe we do, but i'll checkup on that to make sure they get safely connected to their family. >> commissioner cleaveland: very good. one more question, and then, i will defer to my fellow commissioners. the project narcan friend distribution efforts, how are these narcan supplies distributed throughout the community? >> so the project friend

project is a project where they provide us kits at the e.m.s. division. we get these kits that are available on our ambulances that then the crews can then distribute out to the public whenever they come in contact with, you know, a potential overdose, and then, they can provide this for their families or their friends who happen to be there so they can supply that for them. >> commissioner cleaveland: sorry. just wanted to know if the project friend narcan distribution worked three other community organizations as well as through the fire department? >> as far as i know, the project friend is something that we're doing. it is a program that came through one of the doctors, dr. mercer, and she's been helping us to work with that distribution. there are also other city

departments that provide narcan to various city groups and everything. the narcan is out there for sort of our first responders to be able to provide that to clients, patients, friends that we come in contact with. >> commissioner cleaveland: and one final question. i promise this will be my last. i know that we're going to be -- we have not already opens up a facility where people can use drugs with supervision. are we going to be staffing that in any way with our personnel? >> no, not at this time. >> commissioner cleaveland: okay. that's all my questions, madam president. thank you, chief tong, for your information. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner cleaveland. any other -- ah, commissioner covington. >> commissioner covington: yes. thank you, madam president.

i'm really glad that commissioner cleaveland brought up a question regarding narcan because i had a couple of questions. and one pertains to how commissioners can be trained in the use of narcan. you know, we are out and about in this city as citizens, and it occurred to me when i was on muni the other day, someone was just having problems with coughing, you know, and catching his breath. but for the first time, it occurred to me, suppose he was having something related to an overdose, and there, i'm sitting. i have nothing to help, except my cell phone to call you. is there a way that

commissioners who are interested in this orientation can do that? i'm talking about on page -- i guess it's on page 4. narcan safety is mentioned in the report, so i guess it's a question for chief postel. >> chief tong would probably be better equipped to answer that. >> commissioner covington: yes. it says narcan safety and abuse. >> let me see if i can see that on my report. >> commissioner covington: it's just a blurb on page 4. >> maybe in the p.i.o. report, maybe? >> commissioner covington: outreach. it's under outreach, page 4. >> i don't know what that is specifically, but we can look into, you know, what are --

what the availability is of narcan and then, you know, in terms of being able to distribute to -- to any of you who might be interested and then getting that training. i'll have to do some investigation on what that could be and what that process might look like. >> commissioner covington: okay. other commissioners may not be interested, but as anyone knows me, trying to get into these meetings, trying to get in doesn't always necessarily work out that way. and then, i had another question about the e.m.s.

team -- never mind. i'll hold that one in abeyance and do some research myself so that i can ask an intelligent question regarding this. okay. that's all i have. >> president feinstein: thank you, commissioner covington. yes. vice president nakajo? >> commissioner nakajo: thank you very much, madam president. thank you very much, chief postel, for your comprehensive report. as it turns out, in terms of my preference, chief postel, when it comes to my preference of

reports, since there's five of us commissioners, and we're all a part of the commission, we all have a particular point of view, which is valuable. from my point, i always enjoy having commissioner cleaveland go first because of his multiple thorough questions, and because of that, there's many questions and subject matters that i was going to talk to that he hits, so it saves time. i also have a preference in terms of our veteran commissioner. congratulations, commissioner covington. -- in terms of our questions and lines on the spot in terms of what our parameters are as a commission, and i generally like to have her go so it saves questions or comments, even though i'm going to make it any way. but respectfully to commissioner morgan, any time he wants to ask his questions, as well, and any time you want

to, commissioner morgan, please let me know that, and hopefully, it won't take up a lot of time since our commissioners have asked other questions. chief postel, i'm going to ask the public information officer -- chief tong, because chief pang is not here -- i'm probably going to make a comment to chief brown and to training, as well. last meeting, when we had our commission report and [indiscernible] presented, i thought at the time that the public information officer, lowing that lieutenant baxter went back to the field, so it

appears that the packet [indiscernible] i think you're muted, chief. >> the p.i.o. is under cd-3. we did not get that into this put. we put that in here because we did not fully make the transition. so beginning in march, the p.i.o. report will be under cd-3. i apologize for the situation. >> thank you for that, chief postel.

chief postel, i'm going to move over to e.m.s., and so basically, chief tong, i know that chief pang is not here, so i'm just going to make some references to my questions to you, and i know i may begin -- i may make some references to commissioner cleaveland in terms of referral. i had some questions about the monthly fire report, page 16. on one, two, three, four paragraph, street overdose response team, street wellness response team. it looks like every one of those areas have been implemented, with january 24

being the last one. is that correct? >> thank you, vice president nakajo. yes, those are all correct. >> commissioner nakajo: i also appreciate it because when i ask the question, sometimes, i think, why am i asking it because it's right here? but on page 12, respectfully, chief postel, it talked about the tenderloin emergency initiative, and i know i, along with the public, watched t.v. and read reports about it. it says that chief michael -- i'm not going to say the name

correctly, chief postel, captain james [indiscernible]. >> yeah, they are kitarski and tunnell. >> commissioner nakajo: just so i'm not confused, are these three acting captains assigned to the tenderloin emergency initiative? >> i'll answer, chief postel. >> yes, please. >> so acting captain hardeman is assigned to the hsoc initiative, and that's the daily tent encampment process, where they go to locations where there's tent encampments, and they try to relocate them. the other operations, this is seven-day-a-week acting conditions where they're helping to lead operations to

go through the tenderloin area that they can help refer folks back over to the linkage center. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. are our folks working specifically in that area of the tenderloin emergency initiative? >> both [indiscernible] and then, the hsoc will go to different locations in the city? >> commissioner nakajo: okay. and is that their only assignment or is the e.m.s., is it part of their responsibility -- is this an additional responsibility? >> no, they're dedicated to this effort. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. and this is new, right? >> yes, this is new with the linkage center. it's all connected. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. with all of the resources with the linkage center and the tenderloin emergency initiative, these three captains, i'm assuming, are off our payroll, so we don't get any reimbursement for their

work assignment. we're offering them up as a partnership without any revenue consideration? >> i'd have to refer that to mr. corso. >> thank you, vice president nakajo. this was funded originally through -- i think it still is -- through fema reimbursement, and it was agreed that it would extend through the fema period. we are working very closely with the mayor's office. we've been asked to track our costs specifically related to our costs with this and

specifically cost centers, project codes, so all of our responses are being tracked separately, and we're working request the mayor -- working with the mayor's office for reimbursement for that. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. thank you. i'm just trying to absorb, with my colleagues on the commission, what our responsibility is in terms of the fire department and also understand and get educated on exactly what is the tenderloin emergency initiative. also, chief tong, i know i should know it, but what's the new identification called that's just started by the mayor's office, public health? >> i think i'm still -- >> commissioner nakajo: is that the linkage center?

>> yes. that's where they can get referred to emergency referrals and services. >> commissioner nakajo: okay. i think that's all of my questions so i don't take too much time, but i also wanted to comment, both commissioners brought out this information of a 5150. i also would be interested in that in terms of myself. we didn't have that authority previously, so for us, commissioners, this is a big deal for us as far as i'm concerned, chief postel, now that our personnel has the authority to issue a 5150, and exactly what is a 5150, again, coming from senior services? i know quite a bit about it in

some instances, but it's not the easiest thing in the world in terms of how those work, but i also want to let you know that i've reached out for this. on page 18, there's some references on what commissioner cleaveland references were in terms of client success, what i call scenarios, and i think this is why my references come to points of view in terms of commissioners. not that we're different in terms of our point of view, but my point of view, again, and i understand the tragedies in terms of these individuals, but also in terms of the issue of time, money, and energy that it takes, and for me, all of these

cases provide these kinds of numbers of, like, 160 times in three years or 174 times, 220 times, in the second paragraph, they used our ambulance over four years. when i look at these, and i look at these kinds of numbers, it supports the data. but basically, for myself, as well, and to commissioner cleaveland, my colleague, is that it's sad, it's a tragedy, but it's also a fact of life within the city and county of san francisco. and for me particularly, i think that it's a minority population, if you will, that drives our numbers and our costs to our personnel. but i think our department and our city is overwhelmed with the issue, and it's just not our problem. it's a problem of the city and county of san francisco, in my estimation, to the state, to

the country, of the homeless population. the mental health and drug addiction seems to be lumped all into one, but it all falls to our department because we're the department of public service. i see it, it's a tragedy. it's got to be a better element, so that's why i'm so interested in all of these initiatives and the linkage center. it still hasn't been approved, the drug injection center, and all of its operations. if the greater public could see that, there's a great benefit at one point when it's going to be appropriate, if we could do a ride along, if you will, with the paramedics and e.m.s.-6 because every time i do a ride

along, i see the problems and such. but in terms of my social worker responsibility and nature, i see a lot of broken lives and tragedies with individuals that i don't even think they realize that it's not their fault, and drug addiction is a terrible thing. i'm interested in all the things that we commissioners are talking about. commissioner covington, i know that you're a proactive individual for all that you do. to be honest, i get nervous when i see somebody choking, i wish i could do the heimlich so that i could do it. when i was at the airport, i started looking at those -- what are they called, the little things?

>> the automatic defibrillators. >> commissioner nakajo: yeah. with narcan, to be honest, i'd be the one calling the department and waiting for the department or something like that, but i'm just trying to be realistic in terms of all of these endeavors. i'm going to stop right there because it's a big issue, but it's an issue that, unfortunately, that our department -- i'm not going to say unfortunately, but in terms of suppression, it's what we do. i'm going to get off this box right now. let me move over to changing the subject now, chief kaufman. in terms of page 27. it's a referral that talks about administrative hearings, and there's a chart there with a whole bunch of dates or a

whole bunch of violations and decisions and statuses, comments, 56, etc. can you kind of explain that to us or to me, because i know you do it or the department does it, but these are all -- i'm going to stop right there. chief -- fire marshal, could you give a little narrative explanation as to what all of this means? [please stand by]

>> it keeps them from selling the building and official notification they are not in

compliance. we have done an order to abate we have to rescind that order to abate. they have up to 180 days. we can do it when they start in progress. if they need more time to give us information we will do a 30-day continuance. we have hearings every two weeks. they work on that cycle, 14 days. >> thank you. is there incentive to take care of business, monetary penalty? >> the whole process is fee, not fines. it is fee based. go out there for reinspection of violation. they pay up to two hours of inspection. each step they are referred to hearing. they have to pay administrative fine for the hearing process. they are charged $390 for

administration of hearing and to abate. there are fees and fines. you got so far as to go to hearing the fines and fees would be between $690 to $1,000. not to get there we do everything to work with the building owner or the client to ensure they don't -- this is only the process for those who pretty much choose not to start working on the problem. >> thank you very much, chief. two more questions. chief david brown. on page 39 i just want to make a comment particularly page 37. i appreciate the pictures of the airport. when i saw that picture on 37.

i didn't know what that was. then i began to realize it is a member with a bicycle. for me it is that is a lot of baggage on that bicycle. how can they do that? then i turn the page. chief did you want to comment in terms of that unit with the bikes in the airports? >> thank you, commissioner. madam president and command staff. it takes skill to maneuver one of those bikes around the airport terminal. there is a lot of equipment they are responsible to carry for an emergency emergency. paramedics over the past month and we will continue to have

them shadow current bike medics with rideouts so they become proficient. we hope to add at least one to the current ranks. we currently run with three bike medics. we are budgeted for five. because of reduced ridership it is hard to justify the full five. we do anticipate adding one additional to our ranks. probably by the end of this month. ride shift is 50% what it was before covid. we are seeing a steady increase with the steady decline of the omicron variant. we also look forward to march. basically the start of the travel, summer travel time at the airport. if you have any questions, i will be glad to answer them. >> how many members on the bike

unit? what hours do you have those members working? >> right now we have three. the hours are staggered. it ranges between 5:00 to 5:00 and 12:00 to 12:00. >> my last question on training. basically not so much a question but comment that page 42, 43, 44 and the report in general. i do appreciate the photos. it helps get an idea what is going on. page 44 i thought automatically was ti but on page 44 when i see the members doing the drills i see the rigs. i am not sure that is gi.

i appreciate this report. did you want to describe and confirm is this the training facility at treasure island? >> good morning, president feinstein and commissioners, chief, and command staff. thank you for your question, sir. i am looking at the report as we speak. i will pull up those photos for you. thank you for bringing up the photos. it is important to have a visual what we are doing on the island. i do see the photo now. that is treasure island training facility and those are the apparatus kept at the island for use of training. >> those rigs out there are for

training? that's correct, sir. >> thank you very much, chief. madam president. i will conclude. thank you. >> thank you very much, vice vie president nakajo. anything further from commissioners? i have a few questions myself. not seeing any hands. i will just dig in. i am going to jump around a little bit. i thank you, chief, for your report. it contained a lot of information that was very helpful. before i get into the report i also want to comment and thank you for taking the initiative to put out a memo on what a working fire is.

as you know, we received alerts. something as a working fire and it turns out not to be. i think your memo clarified that is i for one do read those memos to the extent i can understand them. i certainly understood that one. it is important. i thank you for taking that initiative. that is just an aside here. i have something in my craw about this. i wanted to bring this to your attention. i realize you are new to your position, but cliff rescues. i notice that in the month of january that there were five. three of them were at fort f un

gston. is the defendant doing anything to work with -- is the department doing anything to work with rec and park or what entity, but there is clearly a safety problem there. i know sometimes people step over the railing. you know, they take their selfie backing up or something. having seen a cliff rescue, it is a very dangerous proposition for the members. i just am out there and i don't think anybody would disagree. i think that we do need to work with whomever is responsible for

the property to ensure greater safety. we are not seeing this. this has been for the entire time i have been on the commission. it is always that fort that leads the way and these cliff rescues. >> thank you for the question. a number of the -- half or better of the fort rescues are cliff rescues for dogs. fencing is not going to keep the dog from wandering down the trail where the dog can't get out that is a big percentage of those cliff rescues that we go to. >> do we then charge the dog owner for the rescue? >> no, we do not.

>> public service. i am a dog person. it would be nice if they were leashed and couldn't wander down the cliff. thank you for that. i have -- if i might direct my next couple questions to chief tong. is that all right? >> let me find her. good morning, chief tong. i noted in the report that you so thoroughly prepared here that there is just one sentence. it says all of the community --

page 17. all of the community paramedic programs were negatively impacted by illness, exposure and quarantine of members due to covid-19. i am wondering if that number was included in the number given to us by chief nicholson or whether that is a separate number. when we say all of the community paramedic programs, how many people are we talking about here? we have talked about sort and skirt and sort. what are we looking at? i understand why they would be in a high exposure arena, but i am trying to place how that number

fits in with the chief's number. >> thank you for that question. i don't believe we currently have any of the community paramedics who are out on covid right now. this is from previous weeks and months of folks exposed, that having ill or quarantined. i don't believe we currently have anybody out right now. >> that is amazing. good. good job. >> turning to the 5150s, are those that are going to be trained in determining whether someone is 5150, my understanding of california state law is that as of now police and medical doctors can

5150 people. it makes perfect sense to make paramedics be able to do this. i am trying to figure out when i believe you earlier referenced clinicians on some of the rigs at some of the units. i lost your square. when you referenced the clinician are we talking about a medical doctor? >> these are the behavioral health clinicians. i believe many are social workers or clinicians with medical social work. some are physicians and some nurse-practitioners. a variety of medically trained

behavioral clinicians that ride with ems. i believe they ride with them as well as with the street crisis response team have clinicians that ride with them. >> thank you. that is helpful to know. i just want to express. i don't know those who may have seen the article in the chronicle on sunday regarding the conservatorship numbers which that falls to the court and the public guardian's office. in the past year there were two conservatorships granted, and the year before there was one. we all know that there are far more people that would benefit from being conserved. i don't know that falls within

the rubric of the police -- i mean of the fire commission, but it just seems to me that the fire department. i am echoing vice president n akajo. it feels like we are asked to do more and more interaction and treatment of people that ought to be conserved. i don't know if there is a way to bring forward the fact that, you know, to put pressure that these conservatorships be pursued. if they are not pursued by the public guardian, why have a conservatorship court when you end up after a year with two

people? it would be like one of our services being out on the street all of the time and ending up serving two people in a year. we wouldn't maintain the program. i just wanted to express that to the extent that it comes up. i don't know if it does or doesn't under your bailiwick, but it is something that we need to look at because it is a lot of fire department resources that are going to this, and the people cycle through and cycle through and cycle through. the work that the community paramedicine folks are doing is phenomenal. it has got to get followed up on the back end or we are right back where we started. i am not suggesting that this is your responsibility or the

chief's responsibility but it feels like the issue needs to be brought forward and come to the table. i thank you for that. i have one other question. that is for our fire marshal. there he is. good morning. how many people work under you? >> fully staffed approximately 100. >> i have to say i am blown away by the numbers and all of these different tasks that are undertaken every month. i have to commend them for all

of these inspections and everything. there is such a diversity. i really, you know, you may sit down and give me a tutorial on some of this. it seems like the range is so broad. >> it is and it has expanded over the years. new legislation and new program starts for the city. things get added on. working with s.f.m.t.a. with street design changes, office of cannabis, shared spaces. then we vs. state mandated sections. in addition to prevention we are investigation. >> i am surprised it is just 100 people doing this. i will pursue further education

at a later time because i am probably the only one that needs a special tutorial. thank you very much. i had one question for chief kyla. he left me. maybe chief postal you can answer my question. i know we have an ongoing academy class now. have we had any departures or failures? >> we have not lost anybody out of the class yet. we are only three weeks in. >> it is a tough three weeks. >> we have a couple not doing as well as they should but we haven't lost anybody yet. >> i assume they are worked with to try to get them help? >> they are. >> very good.

thank you. that concludes my questions. i don't want to be reprimanded by the commission secretary because i did overlook one thing. any public comment? >> nobody on the public comment line. >> okay. i should have done that first. okay. public comment will be closed. >> item 6. draft operating budget fiscal years 2022-223/2023-2024. discussion and possible action to adopt the fire department's operating budget for fiscal years 2022-23/23-24. >> there is no public comment. >> we will move to mr. corso.

>> good morning. my mans and planning -- finance and planning. if you would pass me the sharing ball there. one moment and i will share my brief presentation. review and discussion and possible approval of fiscal year 22-23 budget. couple notes. this is a work in progress. at the time the data was submitted we were three weeks out from the close of the

deadline for budget submitting. there are quite a few items we will work on now until february but over the past few months leading up to the mayor's budget. this is the supporting document is different format. we had a new budget system which we were granted access to back in december. we have been working to integrate that to our systems and our interfaces. we haven't figured it out yet but we have provided basic summary details. some of the high level items. i am joined on the call by the cfo walters. if you have details not included in the report we will dive into it. we have highlighted the changes at high level. also some of the specifics. if there is any questions please feel free to let me know.

we will have time for questions at the end of the presentation. we will highlight the key issues and proposals and key items that may being up the budget. there will be some changes no real policy calls or things to change before submits. i know there is a lot on the commission plate. i am happy to get into any detail you like. there is going to be moving pieces we will work closely with the mayor's office on in the next few months we will keep the commission updated as we move forward. this is a brief overview. some of these were touched on last meeting time lines and process. update current year. we have had budget changes occur during the fiscal year. i will give a brief update on those and talk how those lead to the two year budgets. over the highlights of what is

proposed and what we are currently discussed. fleet, capital, it, where we go from here. the brief highlight and reminder of the instructions. we are back on normal pre-covid budget timeline. today is a meeting for review with the commission. budgets due to the mayor's office on february 22. departments and mayor's office consolidate proposals and work on initiatives and that is due to the board balanced budget from the mayor's office on june 1st. then we will have the budget and finance committee hearings in june. not sure if those are in person or virtual. when that is complete they will vote on the budget and then go to the mayor. generally signed last week in july or first week in august.

more standard timeframe interrupted by covid. we hope to be back on track. from the mayor's office we highlighted what we received in december. no mandatory reductions requested of departments. there was a budget surplus $108 million. some of that has been attributed to the supplementals going forward. in general no reductions were requested. departments were kind of tasked with finding efficiencies and working in their existing budgets. if there was a new program to implement can you find existing funding by reallocating the funding to fund initiatives. anything proposed should align with the mayoral priorities. public safety, recovery of the city. we will get into that a little bit, too. as update for the current fiscal year. covid is a big piece of it. both as far as how it impacts staffing and the initiatives the

department and the city have under taken related to resources and how they are allocated for covid. there were new initiatives last fiscal budget that was approved in july that we are in the process of implementing. that was a lot of expansion that was touched on during the chief's report. i will touch on it in a bit. in addition to that there was a large changes for 50 f.t.e.s. that was in process and approved by the mayor and the board in early january. we are in the process of implementing that. hiring is a big piece. supplemental was $2.5 million to expand and cover the whole year as those employees are becoming full-time staff. those implementations of that

initiative rolls into the next two fiscal years. in addition to that a ton of hiring underway both for new positions which we will get into obviously and backfilling existing vacancies contributing to the staff issues. to highlight what is before you is a work in progress. we are working on a number of things. work orders, staffing, retirement projections. we will continue to make adjustments up to submittal. no major policy changes from my understanding you would be from my interpretation would be material to the commission. we will continue to work. we are working on covid, impact of covid. they have quite a bit of staffing impact in the current year. how much carries over. a couple years not going away.

what does that look like. we will work with the mayor's office. we are working with the mayor's office since budget approved last year. because of issues in the current year and new initiatives proposed. we will continue that. we have been working closely to submits. the main piece will happen over the next few months when the budget office gets all city proposals and puts together consolidated budget looking at the city overall. we will work closely with them over the next few months on initiatives i will highlight shortly. in addition we will update the commission to the fullest extent we can. also happy to take feedback from the commission not just at this meeting but future meetings as we continue negotiations with the mayor's office. a few things we are working on. looking at hiring staffing. there is a ton of hiring

currently and projected. i will get into what is proposed over the next couple years in a moment. that is a big piece of it. the impactses of covid to staffing and personnel levels. we are looking at fee revenue models as the city recovers and additional programs may become available. fire prevention as the city begins economic recovery what does that mean for plan review, special events. ems as we anticipate call volume continuing to increase to pre-pandemic level. what impact does that have on revenues and the additional staff will that have? there are other administrative staffing on the uniform side that would be very needed to support the day-to-day operations. we are working on solidifying with the mayor's office. supporting hiring initiative. there is quite a bit of hiring

now and projected. we want to make sure we are accommodating and supporting that correctly. sufficient instructors, equipment, logistics a huge hurdle. we want to support that to make sure all candidates provide the most successful environment during their academy. working with other departments on work order negotiations. covid impacts what kind of continues to the next couple years what changes has the city recovers and continues coming out of the pandemic. as far as what is before you, the major highlights and priorities for the department. no major operational changes proposed outside what is approved last year's budget or in the current year. as mentioned the ems added 50

f.t.e. to ambulance staffing. in addition to 10 approved during the budget and finance phase last year. that is 60. that represents 30% increase in ems ambulance staffing over the past year. that is a huge benefit to the department. that is incorporated to the budget going forward. we want to restore staffing level to address operational issues. we have had issues hiring during covid. higher number of retirements. being able to backfill existing positions is priority for the department. aligning request with mayoral priorities and supporting front line fire and ems operations. that is the service we provide and we want sufficient personnel, equipment, any efforts to support them. we want to support uniform and civilian employees off and on

duties. mental health initiatives, fig cal health initiatives. that is a priority for the department. advocating for equity and inclusion initiatives across the board for recruitment and policies implemented. we want to advocate for equity aligning one of our priorities. as far as the major highlights. we have hiring for fire suppression. we are currently there is an academy now. another proposed academy starting in may to bring back a number of people. during covid we fell behind in hiring and staffing due to covid. budget reductions was one reason when the city was looking at $1.5 billion deficit. we had funding reduced. that was the academy in the

budget. we restored. we are doing catchup. when we were able to put on the academy we were letted by social distancing. it was not as large as we would normally have. that contributed to the deficit here. we had a large number of retirements as we looked back at the past couple years. we are ramping up hiring. now as proposed we have two h2 firefighter academies in each fiscal year for a total of four. in addition we have the academy starting in may of this year graduate in the fall of fiscal year 23. in addition we have the grant which is currently running through fiscal year 24 providing fiscal relief for the folk through that. we submitted last week an application on the new round of

grants. we are extending further. we are working with the mayor's office on the need for further academies. that is a huge challenge looking at retirements as we move forward. we are not only trying to catch up we are maintaining that as we continue hiring. look at demographics. from now until the end of the two year budget year from now until june 30, 2024, that would be in june 145 members that have minimum 55 years of service. 107 that have 30 plus years of experience. there is overlap. we are monitoring the retirements and demographics of our department. people don't necessarily wait until 55 or have 30 years of service. that pattern has changed over the years. people go earlier for reasons

personal or work related. main point we are working closely on monitoring that projecting retirements and new hires going forward with the mayor's office. on the ems side. as i mentioned we assume starting two periods we have been able to hire and ramp up all of the positions approved so far. that is 60 in process. so that we would have full ems ambulance side staffing of 260 by july 1st of 2022. there is a huge lift here i want to thanks the deputy chiefs for them and their staffs for meeting the challenges. it is nonstop hiring. it will continue to do so, which is obviously very exciting for the department but a ton of work and a lot of logistical planning

and resources required. that will continue this year as we ramp-up with new hires. that is an additional 60 people for the ambulances. in addition to the budget last year approximately 40 more people for paramedicine. that requires people to be hired before they move to community paramedicine. those programs are up and running. they are expanding to the full amount of positions. that is a work in process to the end of the fiscal year. additional trainings and other requirements to do that. those academies are ongoing and pretty much running in succession until that time. those are the major highlights of hiring. being able to catch up to what we have been budgeted for. other areas.

fire prevention. it has been very much involved in a lot of the recovery efforts, shared spaces, we want to make sure they are resourced. the mayoral initiatives and sprinkler legislation. they have a co-changed cycle coming up. we want to make sure they are resourced for that. we are working with the mayor's office on that. training. we support division training in all of the hiring. we are heavy on academy and schedules that takes a lot of work, instructors, planning. we want to support them as well. employee resources we want to support mental and physical health. covid is very trying. people are stressed out. we want to provide as many resources as possible. example we are working with health services.

they are doing a joint public safety employee assistance program geared towards first responders to be rolled out on july 1 as well. a number of initiatives in that vein. after revenue reductions we are looking at revenue increasing as city recovers. we are monitoring specifically on the ems side there are a couple piece of legislation that could result in additional revenue we are working with representatives of the state on implementation and timelines. we will closely monitor that. fleet real quickly. back in 2016-17. mayor lee implemented the five year equipment replacement program. that ended back in fiscal year 2021 last year. last year during the budget

process the mayor's office committed a new five year equipment plan and set the baseline funding at $3.5 million per year over the next five years. in the current year 21-22 that was the first year of the five year plan we were able to get $7.2 million. they exceeded the baseline commitment. that is great. we will work closely with the mayor's budget office to increase that going forward. that is a big priority for equipment, fleet, we have a number of pieces to be replease. we are looking not only at the fleet equipment but other things related not necessarily vehicles per se. replacement of p.p.e. for members. panel pants, coats. breathing apparatus that we want to replace more regularly.

in addition there are a couple programs for ems and fire prevention that took revenues collected and reallocated to equipment for those programs. it is incorporated into the fee structure for those programs. those equipment allocations as we saw with revenue decrease over the covid pandemic were cut. we are proposing to restore. that would bring additional vehicles for fire prevention and gurneys for ems. the other parallel path for the approvals are capital and it. they go through separate committees. capital planning commit to and coit for it projects. they are given funding scenarios

depending on a low, medium and high funding. depending where the mayor's office winds up one of those will be selected. even some of the more beneficial scenarios will be implemented. that remains to be seen. we will work with both committees on our projects. capitol funds projects are handed by general obligation. our requests are projects outside of the scope. this is a general fund allocation. we have a couple it projects related to efficiencies, especially during the pandemic. there have been a leaning on technology for remote work,

improved securities we are working with the department of technology on network upgrade for the fire department stations and working with department of emergency management in the middle of cad displacement of the entire dispatch system. we are heavily involved in each of the projects. we want to make sure that we have what we need as far as infrastructure to successfully implement the projects as we move forward. next steps. we are continuing and have been continuing to work up to february 22 budget. we are updating staffing, hiring and revenue. monitoring covid impact. we met with capital planning this week and we will meet with the coit committee in the next

month or so. we have an opportunity to present in april to give our justification and further background and information what is proposed. we keep the commission appraised of that. as i mentioned we will continue our discussions with the mayor's office over the next few months on our budget and any other city initiatives to impact our budget in advance of june 1st budget. we should have a better idea as those get identified and made by the mayor's office in may or so we will work very closely with them going forward. anything relevant for the condition we will bring back. any feedback and going forward as we wrap up our committee meetings there. i want to highlight we are

working closely with the mayor's office. there is a lot of big pieces in the current year we are working through. main focus is hiring to make sure we are bringing up staffing to current level. that is the conclusion of my presentation. i am happy to answer any questions. >> thank you very much, mr. corso. madam secretary did i forget to ask for public comment? >> now is the time and there is nobody on public comment line. >> i didn't mess up. all right. public comment is closed. very good. excellent presentation for those not budget people. i appreciate what you put together for us. i did try to go through the

operating budget that was also included in our packet and it was totally hopeless. i mean i was just hopeless. perhaps other commissioners are more skilled in this and would like to ask questions, but i have none other than just thank you for the simplification of it and the direction. it gives us an excellent overview. thank you very much. >> we normally do have a larger budget book with more detail online items the. i am happy to answer any questions. i will provide anything you like. >> i need a lot more detail than what is already here. >> commissioner cleveland.

>> thank you, madam president and thank you for your excellent report. it is illustrative of department expenses and income. very helpful to commissioners and general public. in making decisions on hiring and what not, how do you determine what you are anticipating the number of retirements will be? do they differ between e.m.t. paramedics and firefighters in any way? >> we look at all of our demographic data as far as the population of the department. age and years of service and make educated guesses. there are people that aren't necessarily waiting for the full age and years of service to

retire. some go beyond and some don't. we have seen that trend change in the past 10 years. we are closely monitoring and looking at historical hiring, too. depending what you look at 25, 30 years ago there were breaks that we're hired at that time to anticipate a larger number of people retiring at the same time because they were highered at the same time as well. we look at previous hiring and trends and demographic information going forward. >> do we do a survey rang and file. when do you expect or plan to retire kind of questions? >> to my knowledge we do not. chief nicholson, do you have any insight on that? >> commissioner cleveland, no, we do not.

we look at how long people have been in, their age, and sort of project from there. we also look at their retirement seminars, two are held each year by local 798. we get information from that in terms how many sign up for that. >> chief nicholson to follow up and i am not certain of this. i am not sure we can as that question of members. my old legal knowledge is coming back to me, but i am not sure that we can ask people what their retirement plans are. for a variety of reasons. i don't know that the fact we

haven't done it puts us in peril other than not being exactly sure how many people are going to retire. >> good minute. it is something to work through the city attorney's office before a survey. we would have to ask the city attorney to make sure we cross the ts dot our i's. for fees increases for the next fiscal year for fire prevention do we have estimate on the fee increase percentage? >> increase in the revenues is mostly projected for new

activity like recovery. city recovers. fee increase there is language for the fire code dictating around fee increases and we generally are close to cpi. i believe that is pegged at about 3%. that will be final over the next few months that is the estimate from the controller's office. >> on the missed revenues. what percentage do we recover on the 911 calls? >> you mean per call approximately? >> per call in general. the cost of the nine 11 calls versus revenue we received or pay back after the fact what percentage of that do we get? >> that is general estimate we receive about 20% recovery as far as amount collected as the

amount for fees charged. that covers the wide variety of insurance makeup and uninsured makeup of the population. >> it is a good number to know. it is a vital service. it is good to know we only receive about 20% back in charge-backs that we get for service. it is a true outlay of our city's resources to provide the ems services that we do provide. i really appreciate your detailed report, director.

>> i am delighted to see we were doubled on what we were expecting to get on the fleet request. does that apply to hose tenders? in the past system we need 20 proposed new hose tenders. i believe we only had two approved in the most recent fiscal year. do we anticipate increasing those numbers so we can better provide backup fire protection to the west side of our city? >> yes, as far as budget in the civil grand jury there was a recommendation for 20. we have been as of right now allocated for five. three on order and under construction, two are right behind that. i think there are challenges if we receive 20 of those today

from a stays logistical. we are advocating for more funding. that is included incorporated into the overall equipment number we received. generally, we make our case for the variety of equipment and whatever we end up receiving we can move around. we are working closely with the mayor's office to increase to the extent we can. >> i know it is an important item to a lot of our citizens in the city. dealing with the it upgrades. can you elaborate more what we need to do to upgrade it of our department? >> absolutely. as far as infrastructure we had a meeting yesterday about it. department of technology and capital mapping. one of the major upgrades up

great to network infrastructure. the networks at the stations were designed 20 years ago for handling the dispatch system, but not necessarily all of the applications we need today and use. let alone what we will use as the city relies more and more on the technology going forward. to upgrade we have people like if a member at the station has issues. we have issues accessing video for training the, things like that not really efficient. if we want to look at thinks. the chief has a number of ideas as far as additional video training or exercises. right now from infrastructure it is impossible to transmit to members. a number of upgrades there in addition to new cad system. we need upgrades there. just the basic infrastructure of

wiring and electrical that will be needed at the stations. >> do you have any estimate on the time that it will take when this might be completed? >> i don't. that is one of the topics of conversation with capital planning and department of technology. they have been a great partner for us and recognize the need for it. especially was we move forward with the training facility. having that accessibility throughout the department. it helps as far as network security, reliability. they are very much advocates for our projects and we are working closely with them. >> any of the technology upgrades do we propose to move to a lot more use of hand held devices for reporting data? >> we do have that currently. we have rolled out an entire

mobile network. we are trying to upgrade that given tablets in the field for making charts, transmitting data, the ones on the vehicles. mobile is more and more emphasis. we want to have the proper networks set up to support it. >> i concur 100%. final question. any upgrades or money proposed to upgrade the historic chief's residence? >> if you look on the list there is an allocation for chief's residence. it is a very important historic building. it hasn't been included in the program. we use it every day there. are basic infrastructure needs it is lacking from electrical. we are very much hoping to secure some funding for that. >> thank you again for your

excellent report. i appreciate it. that is all my questions. >> thank you, commissioner cleveland. any further questions for director corso? vice president nakajo. >> thank you very much, director. i have an observation comment rather than a question. on your report in terms of major budget highlights pages 7, 8 and 9 you through this report narrate the working relationship with the mayor's office which i think is key. i think it deserves recognition of the support the mayor's office has given us as a department. through my comment, chief

nicholson and the commands force of whatever the city has been asking of the mayor's office. with a discussion that we had recently previous and ems in terms of the paramedic systems and all of the crisis teams with the discussion in terms of san francisco for wholeness. my observation is that it has been ongoing throughout the year so the relationships between ourselves and the mayor's office and our department is not on annual basis but continuum basis with what i am seeing with every request in terms of cooperation and our response through the chief and command force and membership in trying to adhere to the remedies the city is trying to address, the issues. for me it seems that observation

of relationship and work relationship, trust and confidence is building throughout the year through major budget highlights. i feel strong about confident that the mayor's office understands what we are about in the department. my comments earlier about what is going on in terms of homeless or mental health. fire department are first responders but direct service with case management. it feels like our ems division is almost evolving to a separate department, if you will, attached with the fire department. the other thing is the crisis

teams are worse with the health department or department of homeless or should be. our request for revenue source to me makes sense if there is an adjustment within the various departments. i am not saying they don't do a good job, department of public health or homeless services. we are be beginning with the observation of our abilities of addressing the general folks that are out there in terms of the need. do you want to make a comment on my observation in terms of continuing relationship with the mayor's office. i don't want to walk away thinking something different. i am hopeful that there is more support and insight. director corss. >> i will let the chief address that. >> thank you.

>> yes, community paramedicine, as we call it, is a growing part of our department. i look at it a bit like fire prevention. it is not ems, it is getting paramedics in. we are having regular check ins with the mayor's budget office and others around these positions. as you know proposition c has been used for funding a lot of this. we are still collecting data on everything. we just started the wellness team last month. it is going for maybe three weeks now. really looking at what our contribution is and how it benefits the city as a whole.

yes, we are always having those conversations and reassessing and the like. >> thank you very much, chief. i am concluded. >> thank you very much. mr. corso, you don't get to go yet. i have one follow-up question. i am a city resident with insurance. if i call and need an ambulance and i need paramedics, i need an ems response, who pays for that? does my insurance company pay for that? i am just curious to know. i know it is expensive. when you call an ambulance, i

will tell you, you get four people arrive, engine folks arrive. they are quick. i am wondering. does my insurance company reimburse the department or howw does that work? >> speaking for the fire department. when you call 911, calls for ambulance would be sent to pick you up. that is not necessarily the fire department. there are two private providers that we have. you don't have say who shows up. chances up it will be given the percentage of resources fire suppression would be there to start medical as needed services.

then an ambulance would follow if you need transport. yes, we make a patient report record. take as much information as we can from the patient upon transport including insurance. we have a billing company that handles insurance for us. they do runs on the information that we have for individuals. they will be able to find your insurance information and send notice to whatever information they have. we have been expanding our relationship with local hospitals to improve electronic information sharing. if you are sent to general or something like that and you are not able to give your information on the ride we would follow up with the hospital at a later date to get that information as well. we due process billings through insurance companies to the extent the information is available. >> does your office do that, the fire department? >> we have a contract with the

provider through the fire department. fire department has the contact with the provider to provide a number of services related to ems revenue. they handle the technical billing of insurance companies. >> department is reimbursed. it is like receiving any other medical bill. tylenol in the hospital one pill costs $8. you can buy a bottle for $5 at the drugstore. i don't understand how this whole provision of medical services works. i just don't. the department is reimbursed at least for some portion of the cost or all of the cost? it just depends?

>> yes. the short answer. our fees are set up in a way to capture all of the costs of providing medical services to patients. then divided by the number of calls we anticipate we get an average rate established through the board. that increases every year or decreeses through medical cpi. that impacts the fee structure depending on the insurance type you may have will dictate revenue we may receive. for example if a patient has medicare there is caps of $450 for medicare transport. that remaining balance of the fee would be written off and that would be the limit we would have. medical it is 125 or $130 per call regardless of how the fees are charges. there are certain limits based on insurance. related to that it is recognized industry wide those level from the federal or state governments

are not sufficiently covering jurisdiction cost for providing services. there are a few reimbursement programs through the state we are working with closely on. those hopefully look to expand in the near future. we closely monitor that. there are opportunities for additional revenues. your original question depending on insurance and structure dictates how much reimbursement the department can receive. >> this is something you do routinely, correct? >> correct, yes. >> thank you. >> madam secretary. >> public comment. there is no public comment. >> public comment is closed. >> i apologize. >> an action item.

if it is i would like to put this in motion if it is an action item. >> it is an action item. >> thank you. it is. >> i will second the motion to adopt. >> thank you commissioner cleveland. >> i will do a roll call vote. president feinstein. >> aye. >> commissioner covington. >> aye. >> commissioner morgan. >> aye. >> the budget has been adopted unanimously. >> excellent.

item 7. agenda for next and future fire commission meetings. >> all right. do we have any public comment? >> there is somebody on the public comment line. >> caller one would you like to make a public comment on the budget? the agenda for the next meeting? >> the caller is not answering. >> further public comment.

>> nobody else on the public comment line. >> public comment will be closed. >> any requests or suggestions for future commission meetings? i will bring be to everybody's attention as the commissioners know. commissioners are about to assume a relatively significant workload on a number of hearings we have scheduled. i realize they are separate from the agenda. i don't want our commissioners requiring any ems services

including me. it is my intent to try to keep the agendas a little on the light side if we can. if there is something anybody wants on the agenda, any of the commissioners, don't hesitate. we will put it on if we can. commissioner covington. >> yes, madam president and madam secretary. could you please let us know what some of the future items are so far? >> i believe you have requested a grant supplied for and received update. homeland security overview. guardians of the city update.

do we have any more budget presentations that need to go on, mark? >> not at this time. thank you. >> all right. we should get through the list that we already have before we add anything else. >> i agree. but if a commissioner wishes to add something to the proposed agenda, of course, we willed it to the list and try to figure out the agenda. i promise everybody this commission will be working hard over the next month or so. >> we will go to the next item. item 8.

public comment on item 9. public comment on all items pertaining to 9a, b, c, d whether to hold those item this is closed session. i will check the caller online one. would you like to make public comment on item 9? caller. would you like to make public comment on item 9? okay. they are not responding. >> public comment shall be closed on item 9. >> possible closed session regarding personnel matters and

existing litigation. vote on whether to conduct items 9b, c, d in closed session. the commission may hear 9b, c, and d pursuant to add enough code section 67.10b and may hear item 9d in closed session pursuant to 54956.9a and add enough code section 67.10d. >> is there a motion. >> thank you. i assume you are making a motion, commissioner covington? >> yes. i move that these items be held in closed session. >> i second that motion, madam president. >> thank you, commissioner cleveland. >> we have first and second president feinstein how do you

vote? >> closed session. >> nakajo. >> aye. >> morgan. >> closed session. we are now going to closed session >> as specified in california government code the san francisco administrative code 67.12b. >> is there a motion. >> are we reporting out any action? >> you are correct. sorry. i am losing track of my agenda here. we are not. >> okay. item 11. nothing to report on item 10.

11. vote to elect whether to disclose any or all discussions held in closed session. >> i move not to disclose. >> thank you, chair covington. >> second. >> thank you, commissioner morgan. roll call. president feinstein how do you vote. >> not to disclose. >> vice president nakajo. >> note to disclose. >> commissioner cleveland, how do you vote? >> not to disclose. unanimous. >> item 12 adjournment. >> i move we adjourn. >> second. president nakajo. i would just like to move to

disclose in honor and with thanks to our commission secretary for whom it happens to be a special day. >> thank you very much. >> happy birthday. >> we are adjourning at 11:46 a.m. >> thank you everybody. take care.

>> i try to start every day not looking at my phone by doing something that is grounding. that is usually meditation. i have a gym set up in my garage, and that is usually breathing and movement and putting my mind towards something else. surfing is my absolute favorite thing to do. it is the most cleansing thing that i'm able to do. i live near the beach, so whenever i can get out, i do. unfortunately, surfing isn't a daily practice for me, but i've been able to get out weekly, and it's something that i've been incredibly grateful for. [♪♪♪]

>> i started working for the city in 2005. at the time, my kids were pretty young but i think had started school. i was offered a temporarily position as an analyst to work on some of the programs that were funded through homeland security. i ultimately spent almost five years at the health department coordinating emergency programs. it was something that i really enjoyed and turned out i was pretty good at. thinking about glass ceiling, some of that is really related to being a mother and self-supposed in some ways that i did not feel that i could allow myself to pursue responsibility; that i accepted treading water in my career when my kids were young. and as they got older, i felt more comfortable, i suppose, moving forward. in my career, i have been asked to step forward.

i wish that i had earlier stepped forward myself, and i feel really strongly, like i am 100% the right person for this job. i cannot imagine a harder time to be in this role. i'm humbled and privileged but also very confident. so here at moscone center, this is the covid command center, or the c.c.c. here is what we calledun -- call unified command. this is where we have physically been since march, and then, in july, we developed this unified structure. so it's the department of emergency management, the department of public health, and our human services hughesing partners, so primarily the department of homelessness and supportive housing and human services agency. so it's sort of a three-headed

command in which we are coordinating and operating everything related to covid response. and now, of course, in this final phase, it's mass vaccination. the first year was before the pandemic was extremely busy. the fires, obviously, that both we were able to provide mutual support but also the impact of air quality. we had, in 2018, the worst air quality ten or 11 days here in the city. i'm sure you all remember it, and then, finally, the day the sun didn't come out in san francisco, which was in october. the orange skies, it felt apocalyptic, super scary for people. you know, all of those things, people depend on government to say what's happening.

are we safe? what do i do? and that's a lot of what department of emergency management's role is. public service is truly that. it is such an incredible and effective way that we can make change for the most vulnerable. i spend a lot of my day in problem solving mode, so there's a lot of conversations with people making connections, identifying gaps in resources or whatever it might be, and trying to adjust that. the pace of the pandemic has been nonstop for 11 months. it is unrelenting, long days, more than what we're used to, most of us. honestly, i'm not sure how we're getting through it. this is beyond what any of us ever expected to experience in our lifetime. what we discover is how strong we are, and really, the depth

of our resilience, and i say that for every single city employee that has been working around the clock for the last 11 months, and i also speak about myself. every day, i have to sort of have that moment of, like, okay, i'm really tired, i'm weary, but we've got to keep going. it is, i would say, the biggest challenge that i have had personally and professionally to be the best mom that i can be but also the best public certify chant in whatever role i'm in. i just wish that i, as my younger self, could have had someone tell me you can give it and to give a little more nudge. so indirectly, people have helped me because they have seen something in me that i did

not see in myself. there's clear data that women have lost their jobs and their income because they had to take care of their safety nets. all of those things that we depend on, schools and daycare and sharing, you know, being together with other kids isn't available. i've often thought oh, if my kids were younger, i couldn't do this job, but that's unacceptable. a person that's younger than me that has three children, we want them in leadership positions, so it shouldn't be limiting. women need to assume that they're more capable than they think they are. men will go for a job whether they're qualified or not. we tend to want to be 110% qualified before we tend to step forward. i think we need to be a little more brave, a little more exploratory in stepping up for positions. the other thing is, when given

an opportunity, really think twice before you put in front of you the reasons why you should not take that leadership position. we all need to step up so that we can show the person behind us that it's doable and so that we have the power to make the changes for other women that is going to make the possibility for their paths easier than ours. other women see me in it, and i hope that they see me, and they understand, like, if i can do it, they can do it because the higher you get, the more leadership you have, and power. the more power and leadership we have that we can put out shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges

residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within neighborhood. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. where will you shop and dine in the 49? san francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. each corridor has its own personality. our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. >> you are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping small businesses grow. >> it is more environmentally friendly. >> shopping local is very important. i have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. by shopping here and supporting

us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. it is really good for everybody. >> shopping locally is crucial. without that support, small business can't survive, and if we lose small business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. >> it is important to dine and shop locally. it allows us to maintain traditions. it makes the neighborhood. >> i think san francisco should shop local as much as they can. the retail marketplace is

changes. we are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. >> the fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. there are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. at the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. >> shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the business owners to thrive in the community. we see more small businesses going away. we need to shop locally to keep the small business alive in san

francisco. >> shop and dine in the 49 is a cool initiative. you can see the banners in the streets around town. it is great. anything that can showcase and legitimize small businesses is a legitimize small businesses is a

>> on behalf of the san francisco office and historical society, our partners and sponsors, welcome to the 2022 black history month kickoff program. i am aloe williams, president of the society's board of directors. the society was founded in 1955. in 1958, it merged with a local chapter of the association for the study of african-american life and history, which is better known