I just have a couple of quick questions. Well, you know, I think 3-1-1 is here to stay, and other cities are using it, and I remember when we had the hearings. And so, I think you're just going to continually grow and improve. But I do have a question. In your testimony, you said that the -- that eventually, you may want to offer new services in 3-1-1. And what would those services be? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I'm sorry. I didn't hear the last --
On of your testimony, the last sentence. 150 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mm-hmm.
"Customer feedback has been positive and Philly 3-1-1 is continually making efforts to improve and offering new services." MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Okay. You want to know what the new services are.
Yes. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I was referring there specifically to the use of the web in terms of being able to contact 3-1-1 via the web, not only for a service request but also for access to the knowledge base so you can get a question answered without having to go through an agent. So that's the first new service. The second new service that I'm hopeful we'll be able to at least pilot this year is the use of handheld devices to give 3-1-1 more information about what needs to be done so that it's a more proactive version of an individual 151 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET calling or going on the web. The handheld devices could be used by City employees who are in the field, it could be used by neighborhood associations, it could be used by block captains. So we really would like to pilot that technology to see if we can't increase the amount of information that we get into 3-1-1 so that we can manage it better through the departments. So those are primarily the new services that I think we're looking at for FY '10.
Right. Do you know how many cities across the country are now using 3-1-1? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I'll have to get an updated list, but we do have a map that shows some of the major cities, and I would say that on that map, we've got probably -- Rosetta knows -- over a hundred.
Yeah, pretty close to a hundred cities are using this type of 152 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET model for their constituents.
My name is Rosetta Carrington-Lue. I'm the 3-1-1 Contact Center Director.
Are you new to the City, or were you previously employed with the City of Philadelphia?
I'm new to the City of Philadelphia. It will be almost a year that I've been in the City of Philadelphia.
Oh, okay. Well, you know, a lot of us still don't know a lot of the staff, actually, have no idea. So it might be good to kind of introduce yourself to people so people will know. Someone told me that each office is assigned like a 3-1-1 coordinator; is that true, each Council office?
That is correct. Each Council office has a service area 153 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET coordinator.
And what I've been doing over the past month and also will be continually doing is going out, like you said, and introducing myself to the Council and staff. And I've met with at least three thus far to talk about the issues that are coming up here, how we could improve communication between 3-1-1 and the Council staff and the Councilmembers. And, again, a lot of it is report space, you know, how do we drive the information out to the public and also to the staff.
Okay. Well, that's good to hear and good to know. And since you brought that up, you know, lots of offices have actually been calling to meet with us, but if we're meeting with you in our office, then we're not here. This is a bad time 154 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET to try and set meetings up. And I'm not talking about you in particular, 'cause I've gotten requests from several different departments for meetings, and now we're in the middle of budget hearings. We should have did that before the budget hearings started. So at some point, we'll try to work it in, but it just means if we're meeting with you, we're not in the office and not in chambers, and that's what happens during our budget hearings time. So you might get a better response after the budget hearing's over. But I also have information about -- I just need information on what exactly has been reduced or eliminated through, I guess, through the Managing Director's Office and those various departments under the different deputy mayors such as Councilwoman Tasco did ask you about Town Watch, and I do know that there has been cuts there, and we all know that AVRP has been eliminated. 155 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET But what else is going on? You know, I get calls every now and then, and I got a call last week from a after- school -- from a organization that has a after-school program and summer day camp. (Timer bell rings.)
And they said they're being cut. So what are we cutting? 'Cause one minute you hear that we're not doing after-school, but then the organizations are calling and saying, we are doing -- you are cutting after-school. And these people, I believe, were funded through PHMC. We need the information. We need the information on what has changed. For example, SCOH, and that's going to impact a lot of -- well, SCOH is just one that I'm familiar with; it could be others. But that's going to impact a lot of our social-service providers. So we need to have updated information, and we're not getting it 156 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET unless a provider calls us with, "Can you help me?" MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Well, I'll make sure that we give you a kind of walk-through from all of the changes that have happened in the Managing Director's Office because I know it's confusing because there have been several things that have been eliminated at the same time that other things have been added. And we'll also try to look at SCOH, which is in the Health and Human Services area and not in the Managing Director's Office, but I'll be happy to provide that to you so that it's clear.
Okay. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I'll start back from when we started in January of 2008.
Great. That will be good. And I just want to -- you know, I'm a big cheerleader for YVRP. And we when we talk about what could potentially 157 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET be happening in the contingency plan, we need to look at ways that we can do what we need to do and leave the programs alone for children, 'cause I think that's what's going to ultimately help us hopefully decrease our public safety budget. So that's it. Unless you just want me to go on and on and on. I have more questions. (Councilwoman Tasco now chairing hearing.)
No. You're taking advantage of my not being over there.
I hear you over there, I see you. All right, Councilwoman Sanchez. And then you're next, Councilman O'Neill. She yielded to --
To the senior member. Thank you. I agree with Councilman Kenney. 158 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET There's a lot of expectations on 3-1-1, and I have faith that we're going to get the system to the maximum level of participation, 'cause we're all -- the City would be better. I mean, I think the ability to track -- more importantly, track our delivery of services is an important management tool. One of the things that, when I was exploring 3-1-1 and, in fact, Councilman Kenney shared a lot of information with me, was the issue of City Council's access to the 3-1-1 system. And I've met several times with the operations folks. Where are we in giving the ability to Council offices to plug in -- right into the 3-1-1 system? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: That's one of the reasons that we're setting up individual meetings, because now that we have it available on the web, it's available to you. (Addressing Ms. Lue.) Do you 159 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET want to add anything else to that?
Sure. Rosetta Carrington-Lue, 3-1-1 Contact Center Director. In fact, we had advanced Council staff training during the week of -- within the last week, so we do have -- the staff has the ability to go on the web to actually research the data, the knowledge information that's on there. They can also create a service request, and they can also track the status. So we have expanded the offerings that were provided, you know, less than 60 days ago.
Okay. One of the things that works in Chicago -- and this I get from a couple of friends of mines that are aldermen -- is that there's a priority order to when things come from the offices of elected officials. Is this system going to have the same feature? 'cause it's used in Chicago and New York. 160 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET
This system can give priority, but within our operations, we are constantly responding to the requests that we receive, especially we respond on the same day. So we have the -- in the situation for the Council, they have the service-area coordinators who are monitoring the account, making sure that everything is going through the system, as we promised, and making sure that nothing falls through the cracks. So we do provide that service across the board.
Will we be getting reports of when a service is completed?
Okay. So that would come with the system once we start using it.
We're looking forward to being able to use that 161 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET and, again, try to help in making this as efficient as possible. My other question was around the data management and having it by district, 'cause I do look at that. I have a question. Councilwoman Krajewski talked about the night schedule; are we paying people straight time or overtime during the 24-hour service?
At night, there is a premium that is paid. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: It's not overtime; it's a shift differential.
Yes. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: That means you get paid more for that particular night shift than you would if you were working the regular day shift.
So it rotates? 162 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: It's to compensate people for the shift that's the least popular, but it is not overtime; it's less than overtime. So their, quote, straight time is actually larger than others' straight time.
Just a quick point of information. I want to underscore what Councilwoman Sanchez was saying and offer a different perspective. I'm a big supporter of 3-1-1. I'm glad that it exists. But some of the stated purposes behind it I have a 163 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET problem with. In terms of people assuming that Councilpeople doing constituent service in the past was simply for political purposes. And/or by creating 3-1-1, we're depoliticizing constituent services or that it's simply supposed to be a management tool for the executive branch. At the end of the day, we're the ones who tax people, we're the ones who approve a budget. So if we're going to tax businesses, if we're going to tax workers, if we're going to tax homeowners, if we're going to tax people when they purchase things, and then we're going to take that money and approve it in the budget, we have a responsibility to the taxpayers to make sure they are getting those services delivered. So there should never be a disconnect, and there absolutely should be a prioritization in terms of what City Council wants in terms of what's getting done in terms of constituent services. 164 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET And that's not a question; that's actually a statement. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning. I was glad to hear yesterday that the operating departments eventually come under you. I was told otherwise on several occasions by different people. The main reason is that you probably -- I don't think probably. Since almost 60 years of the City Charter, I believe you have probably three times the professional city- management experience of all of the other managing directors combined, and that could be a lot more than three times. I just know it's a whole time more, 'cause we generally have not had professional 165 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET city managers in that position. That's why I want to point out a program to you that is vital to the quality of life in this city, to neighborhoods, and to our offices responding to constituents. And that's our graffiti problem. I'm going to tell you, the prior two -- Ed Rendell's midterm in the mid-'90s and at least going back to the '70s, when I was a juvenile probation officer, before I -- we had no handle on graffiti at all. We had an anti-graffiti network, we went out and had PR sessions. We just couldn't get our arms around it. " The City was covered with graffiti. All of a sudden, out of, you know, Phoenix rising, mid-'90s, this city became the best in the world at dealing with graffiti, 'cause you can't get any better than 24 hours. We were able to 166 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET remove graffiti within 24 hours anywhere in this city repeatedly. And that went on at least through the end of the Rendell Administration. Something changed. I believe the -- and a key part of this, Mr. Tom Conway's only job when he came into the City was setting this up in the Mayor's Office as opposed to under a department, and that was one of the keys of it, the flexibility that that gave him. But it didn't matter what Mr. Conway did or how good he was at this job. It was that we had -- I believe it was six police officers, three teams citywide, six officers out of over 6,000, that all they did was graffiti. They got intelligence from these arrests, they got intelligence from information that came in. They knew this stuff as well as any graffiti writer knew it. And it was tying the justice system into Mr. Conway's operation with the six officers. 167 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET And then we had a program where every police officer in the City was pulled off for a program called -- I believe it was Safe Streets. They were pulled off, like a lot of other non-crime fighting officers, and they were never put back. I'm telling you, Mr. Conway could start this again tomorrow and have it be a world model, 'cause it's kind of the flip side of a Mural Arts. We're internationally known for Mural Arts; we should be internationally known for graffiti wipeout and zero tolerance and 24-hour removal. All it took was six officers. They've never been put back. That is a -- in the size of our budget and in the size of that problem, all it will take is duplicating a program that we already did perfectly. And, believe me, when Mr. Conway or the officers would come to community meetings, it was the best-received 168 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET program and the most impressive from an elected official's standpoint, hearing what we were doing about a problem that previously had seemed to be intractable. And I just ask you, when you come back here next year, your management skills, you've got some experience, you've got more control over the police department than I thought, 'cause it's not important for the police department themselves. This is a big picture, where six officers make a huge difference. And -- but it is from the Managing Director's standpoint. And I would just ask you to put your experience to work and your talents and see if we can't come back a year later and have zero tolerance and 24-hour removal, 'cause we've done it, and we done it when it was a lot worse than it is today, but it's very bad right now. )
The 169 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET Chair recognizes Councilman Goode for a point of information.
Quick point of information. Councilman O'Neill, I think Councilman Green might take issue with grouping all of the managing directors into one category. I think his father's managing director was actually Wharton School-trained. (Laughter.)
(Inaudible, off-mic.) ... I covered myself pretty well with the one-third. (Laughter.)
And I was going to say more than all of them combined by, you know, leaps and bounds. But no, no, I agree with that. And your dad was probably the most hands-on that we've ever had. I mean, I don't -- I don't think anybody will dispute that. He was everywhere when there was something going on. 170 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET Thank you. Madam Chair?
(Inaudible, off-mic.) ... a year from now, but if the Managing Director could please give me a monthly report on that, I'd appreciate it. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I'd be glad to.
And send it through the President -- MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Sure.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Green. It's your turn.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And this is still my point of information, so don't turn the clock on, 171 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET Charlie. (Laughter.)
We've talked about management, and Councilman Kelly talked about what other people do. Do many people on Council perceive a -- there's a lack of confidence in, like, who is making a decision. So please if -- who would make the decision and who would be involved and what would happen in a decision to take six police officers and put them on graffiti? How would that -- who's going do make that decision? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Well, ultimately, the Mayor would make that decision based on the recommendation of his senior staff, which would include me and the other deputy mayors, as well as the police commissioner and probably the commissioner of sanitation -- I mean, streets. 172 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET One of the things that we try to do is to function effectively as a team. That requires us to work together and to share information. And one of the things that is particularly important that this illustrates is that the work between and among departments, so that we're working together inside of in silos, is really an important management approach. So we would make recommendations -- we would discuss it as a team, we'd make recommendations, and ultimately, that would be the Mayor's call to move --
So the decision -- MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: -- resources.
So just to so we're clear, it used to be the Managing Director would just coordinate the departments, 'cause they're in charge of them all. 173 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET And so now what you're saying is that it takes the Managing Director, in consultation with four deputy mayors and two different department commissioners all being on the same page, or close to a same page, to make a recommendation to the Mayor to move six police officers. That seems extraordinarily inefficient, and it just seems to be -- this is exactly what we're talking about when we say decisions don't seem to be getting made. People, we -- there really is a feeling among us, among the development community especially, and they're the people who are waiting for permits to create jobs in this recession, that no 19 decisions are getting made by this government because it's a government by committee; but ultimately, that committee has to get the Mayor's approval, including the decision to move six police officers. That level of detail should not 174 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET be at the Mayor's level. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Well, we make --
And that's just my view. You run the government however you want, but I'm saying that seems extraordinarily inefficient. And I'm not really asking you to respond to that. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I could tell.
I mean, if you'd like to. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Well, I do have a difference in opinion about how you complex organizations. I believe that complex organizations, such as a city government, are not managed by simply chains of command. I think that military, bureaucratic structure, although easy for us to understand because there are a lot of organizations that are managed that way, is actually not the most effective 175 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET way. Sometimes a team approach to things may take a little longer, but I find that the decisions are better and they last longer. So I don't find them to be inefficient if you look at how the organization is actually managed. So what I try to do in terms of managing the organization is to manage through creating new systems of accountability and new joint approaches to not only doing the work but holding ourselves accountable for it. I believe that works; I don't believe it's inefficient.
Okay. Well, I -- I mean, I appreciate that. So I also want to go on record as saying I too favor -- I'm looking forward to 3-1-1 being fully functional and operational, but it incumbent upon us, and, you know, we are a separate body, ask that's called the division of powers. And, naturally, sometimes that 176 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET leads to division. And, frankly, that's our job to hold people accountable for the performance currently of a system that we're taking librarians and making them 3-1-1 operators. If that's our choice as a government then, you know, we should properly be questioning the effectiveness and efficiency of that operation. So I hope you don't think that we don't want 3-1-1 to be successful; I certainly do. I've talked to you about it since your first week in office, especially Philly Stat. Now, what I would like to ask about, though, is -- what we've talked about is efficiencies from gaining data from just a constituent-services sort of thing, citizens calling in. But most of what we do is not related to responsive citizens calling in. We're aware of where our own potholes are 'cause our Streets Department records it, other stuff like 177 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET that. The biggest efficiencies we're going to get in government in terms of the data and how it's going to allow us to change our operation of government is the data for what we do ourselves. So when is that going to be electronic, with a tracking system? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Some of it is already. And one of the things that we are doing is posting all of the information for Philly Stat, including the background information, on the web, so that if someone wants to track, they'll be able to do that. (Timer bell rings.) MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: With our GIS system, using the geographic information system in new ways, we will be able to not only track the performance measures but also the location to begin to see the interrelationships of one service to another. We do some of that now just in 178 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET the reports that we do for Philly Stat, and they are posted on the web. Having it so that it's further automated is a few steps away, but it's certainly the intent, in terms of data management, to drive the management of the City. An one more comment on 3-1-1. I really hope that the Council and anyone else who has experience with 3-1-1 will tell us what your experience is. We like hearing the compliments, but we also need to know what we need to improve. So I consider this to be very constructive feedback, and I want to urge you to keep giving it to us.
Thank you. All right. I think what we'll do is recognize Councilwoman Blackwell and Councilman Clarke, and then we'll recess for about an hour. So at this time, the Chair 179 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I note that on of your testimony, you mention a first deputy for administration. So is this someone who works for you? Is this someone who is like a deputy mayor? Is this someone with whom we interact or someone who's just your person? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I'd like to introduce you to the First Deputy for Administration. This is Dave Wilson, and he'll describe what he does, but I can assure you he works for me. (Witness comes forward.) 1st DEP. MANAGING DIR.: Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. 1st DEP. MANAGING DIR.: Good afternoon, Madam President and Councilwoman. My name is Dave Wilson. I'm the First Deputy Managing Director 180 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET for Administration. The role that the first deputy plays is one in which he oversees a portfolio of operations that include the Administrative Division, or Administrative Offices, which includes Procurement, Records, Fleet Management, the Performance Management System, and Human Resources. I was blinking there for a minute.
Yes, thank you. That answers that question. Thank you. Nice to know who you are. Thank you very much. Madam Managing Director, on 3, you mention: "An additional division will be created to house the newly-formed Department of Parks and Recreation, which will be composed of salary support." What does "salary support" mean? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: That's Michael DeBerardinaris's salary.
I 181 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET don't -- what does that mean? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: That means his salary is funded out of this particular division -- or will be out of my budget for FY '09.
Do we know what that is? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: What his salary is?
Yes. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Yes. It's approximately $160,000, minus the 5 percent cut, minus the furlough days that we all took.
Okay. Thank you very much. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: You're welcome.
We're also going to ask you -- I know we've all been talking about graffiti and Mural Arts, and we would like to know what their budget will be, hoping that you will give them part -- as Councilwoman 182 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET Blondell Reynolds-Brown spoke about them and myself, with how well they're integrated into the society, we'd also like them to be in charge of art in City Hall on these floors, second and fourth floor. I've only been talking about that for about years, but we'd like for 9 them to do that. 10 And we hope that you will 11 consider about 15 percent of the 1 12 percent art and then maybe you can tell 13 us where they are in their budget. 14 MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: 15 Certainly.
All right. Thank you. If you'll get that the President, she will certainly give us that information. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mm-hmm.
And I heard my colleague Councilwoman Miller mention the Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership listed as the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. Do we assume that 183 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET this program is operational at this point, and that this is only with regard to a possible budget cut? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Yes. Let me distinguish for you the Adolescent Violence Reduction Program versus the Youth Violence Reduction Program, because they're not the same thing.
Okay. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: The Youth Violence Reduction Partnership continues, but the adolescent does not, and I think I've got a deputy mayor here for help and an opportunity to explain that.
Great. Thank you. (Witness comes forward.) MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mostly the reason that we have decreased the adolescent program is because we didn't have as much demand for that from the courts, but the Deputy Mayor can discuss that more fully. 184 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET
Good afternoon. Don Schwartz, Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity. As the Council may recall in the briefing that I provided during the summer, we talked about both the funding for the Adolescent Violence Reduction Program, which was a part of prevention within the Department of Human Services, and we talked about the utilization of those services. And while we had hoped that we would preserve a part of that program, as we went into the fall, as budget -- the rebudgeting was required, the program was removed. And I'm happy to provide again the briefing materials. I've talked with, as you know, the providers of those services over time, and we're monitoring fairly closely the rates of youth-related both violence and other crime within the 185 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET neighborhoods where the program had been targeted before.
Yes. I would like more information on the difference between them. And also the program that the police department -- in fact, I went every Saturday, the one that the police department ran for youth also and some younger age, up to teenage years. (Timer bell rings.) MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Hold on. I'll let the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety also address those issues for you. (Witness comes forward.)
Thank you. So that gives us three programs that maybe we can understand the difference in. DEP. COMM. GILLISON: That was the JET program that was run down by -- with now-Deputy Commissioner Bethel had in the 17th District, and he was going to 186 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET expand it. And we have now taken the good parts of that program and have really gotten buy-in to the police department to the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. And we're taking that program into another district. It is our hope we will be expanding that program to another district. So we are providing intensified police services, much like they had with JET, along with the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, thus, you know, in a holistic way just really putting our money where we know we can get the best bang.
That's the program -- we had Charlotte (indiscernible) out in my district (inaudible). DEP. COMM. GILLISON: That's correct.
What's the JET -- 187 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET DEP. COMM. GILLISON: It would be the JET program. And I don't -- and that's one of those that -- I usually have the acronym-free zone, and don't have the -- I only have the acronym today, but I will get that to you as soon as my BlackBerry goes off, I'm sure.
Thanks. And I understand they're still trying to do that program this summer. DEP. COMM. GILLISON: We are trying to do that program. We actually are going to be announcing -- or there's an announcement today about one half of what the police are doing. The other half is our prevention piece. And we're going to probably seek to do something and have a briefing with Council and also Councilwoman Miller and Public Safety about some of the activities we're going to do for the summer. That's going to become --
And 188 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET you'll let us know the difference -- DEP. COMM. GILLISON: Oh, absolutely.
-- between the three programs; what it is and what it isn't and remind us why? DEP. COMM. GILLISON: Yes, absolutely.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm going to ask Mr. Gillison to please stay. DEP. COMM. GILLISON: Okay.
Real quick, 'cause I want to ask some questions about the surveillance camera program. But real quick, a couple of statements. One, I just want to clarify 189 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET my issue with respects to the, quote/unquote, the flow chart and the disassembling or assembling of new or different departments. My issue has really nothing to do with where these people are, but my issues has to do with the possibility of reducing staffing levels and resources associated with that work. So that's my concern. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: With the surveillance?
No, just on this issue. A couple of members of Council raised some questions about flow charts. I don't really care where people work, either; I just want to make sure that, in moving those people, and in disassembling those departments, in doing the, quote/unquote, shell game, that we don't lose resources and people to make sure that that work gets done. Second, I just want to concur 190 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET with Councilman O'Neill with respects to the graffiti network. And actually, in my neighborhood, it's a little incident happened, and I don't recommend it, but a person kind of played the role as a police officer. And I know that's not legal, but he did his own surveillance. He caught the individuals. And, unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on how you look at it -- he beat 'em up. And there's no more graffiti in the neighborhood. And so, I think if the police department were in a position to legally -- MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: (Inaudible, off-mic.)
Yeah. I mean, he did what he had to do. He was 191 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET telling me about it, and I really didn't want to hear it, but, you know, he insisted on telling me. The surveillance program, a program near and dear to Councilwoman Miller and my heart, because we were -- we had started -- had sponsored the referendum to get it on the ballot to make sure that it was okay with the citizens, and Councilmembers supported it vigorously. And we moved on the process. I understood we hired a firm that apparently did not do that great a job in terms of laying out the strategy for rolling the system out. My concern is that since then, we have apparently, in terms of how we're going to do this from a technology standpoint, is not being driven by the crime statistics in the police department. And what I'm seeing, 'cause I've talked to people a lot about this, because this is important to me, is that 192 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET we're placing cameras, the few cameras that we've placed so far, and I understand there are a number to be rolled out, in locations that fit the technology-related issues as in how far they are away from the spine that runs down Broad Street or a similar type of activity. But it has no relationship to the plan that the police department laid out and forwarded information to all of the Councilmember when we initiated this program. And from my perspective and my Council District, I can tell that you that they were spot-on in 90 percent of the locations that they referenced where cameras should go, 'cause the crime continues in those areas. But because we took this technology approach, the cameras are, frankly speaking, not where they need to be. I talked to you about Temple University the other day. 193 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET DEP.
There's like more than cameras placed on Temple's 6 campus. It is a waste of cameras 'cause 7 Temple already has a surveillance system. 8 I asked you about Frankford and 9 Girard. 10 DEP.
There's a 16 camera there. So my concern is, who -- 17 again, who is responsible for that 18 program? 19 DEP. COMM. GILLISON: I am. 20
So -- DEP. COMM. GILLISON: With the (indiscernible) police, because the police actually report to me.
So how is this being rolled out in a way that has 194 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET no relationship to where the crime stats? DEP. COMM. GILLISON: Well, actually, what -- and one of the things that -- and I know that I've been in touch with you and your office and also with the other Council people. A lot of the cameras that went up went up quickly because we were trying to -- and that's when the other provider was trying to be in compliance with the contract that they had. They began hanging cameras along the new technology that we had adopted. When we came in, we did an assessment of the program. I sat down and we -- and as of last year at this time, there were seven cameras that basically were up and working in the City.
We now have over a hundred. And we have over a hundred because we went to what other cities had always had: a mesh network 195 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET between fiber and wireless working together to enable us to get into different areas. In order to be able to prove the efficacy of the program, I told them to try and use the areas that the police had rolled out, had already identified on the dots on the chart, and to say move the cameras and use the Broad Street line as your first wave of getting these things up. And then use the police data, 'cause it's always about it being data-driven, in order to make sure that those cameras were done. When we were working with the previous provider along with the people, as we were beginning to take over hanging those particular things, the provider did put up the cameras that you referenced to me. I went back out the other day, when we were at Temple University, saw where Temple's camera was, and saw where our cameras was and said it's stupid for it to be there. 196 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET We should be working with Temple University to provide -- and we now have a bigger map that shows currently where every video camera is with a business and/or a university, where their cameras are, looking at where our cameras our.
Please, please, 'cause you're taking up my five minutes. DEP.
My question is: When are we going to get to the camera placement for the locations that were referenced by the police two years ago? DEP.
And that's what we we're waiting on doing. (Indiscernible; parties talking over each other.) DEP. COMM. GILLISON: Well, I 197 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET know that we will have 250 cameras up by October 1st.
Okay. Mr. Gillison, I hear you. You say you have a hundred cameras up. DEP.
I could tell you, probably of 'em that you up have 10 in my district have no correlation to the 11 crime stats. 12 (Timer bell rings.) 13
So my 14 question is: When are the cameras going 15 to go to the areas where we have the 16 crime? And not to -- and then the 17 follow-up question to that is: Where are 18 we at in terms of monitoring the cameras. 19 'Cause I understand that 20 there's -- well, I'll let you answer that 21 question. 22 DEP.
'Cause 24 that's a problem. 25 DEP. COMM. GILLISON: The 198 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET cameras are going to go where the police have told us the cameras need to be. That's the protocol, that's what we're following. That's first.
That is happening. That is happening. (Indiscernible; parties talking over each other.)
So you're going to take those cameras off of 14 Temple's campus and put 'em where they 15 need to go. 16 DEP. COMM. GILLISON: We are 17 going to -- I don't know if we're going 18 to take those down in the next six 19 months. What we're trying to do is put 20 the cameras where the police indicate that they need to be.
So what's going to happen with the cameras on Temple's campus -- DEP.
You got a count. You only get so many cameras in your district. DEP.
And I don't want of 'em on Temple's campus. 11 DEP. COMM. GILLISON: We will 12 take those and we will look at it and 13 make sure the cameras are going to be 14 where the police indicated they need to 15 be. 16 They were not -- I mean, there 17 was a mistake that was made. I'm going 18 to rectify that mistake -- 19 (Indiscernible; parties talking 20 over each other.) DEP.
And I will take those out, especially the one at 16th Street.
All right. DEP. COMM. GILLISON: As to who 200 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET is monitoring, we currently have a freeze, as you know, on the civilians, so we're not hiring people to monitor with the police that are in the police video room. We have -- and we have sworn officers that are on desk duty that are currently being -- that are monitoring those cameras now. And for the -- at least for this budget coming up, it looks like that's who's going to be monitoring the cameras for the next year, in 2010.
Can we do what we did -- and sorry to go over the limit. Can do -- can we take the approach that we did with the 3-1-1? 'Cause I think having surveillance on crime in these targeted areas is as important as answering the phone for potholes, if not more important. Can we take the same approach that if there's an employee that's going to be laid off or if there's a reduction in staff, have those persons go to the 201 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET surveillance room at Eighth and Race and be trained to monitor a camera and get the policemen back out on the street? DEP. COMM. GILLISON: I can -- I'll look at that. The reason why we have -- and it's unfortunate to say, but we do have a lot of police officers that are IOD, that are injured on duty. And those are the officers that we're using for both light-duty and also injured officers. Since they've already been trained in policing techniques, we're using those officers now. And unfortunately, again, we have a number of those officers, so the supply is really not an issue. What it is an issue is when those officers begin to cycle back out.
But I'm saying we're paying -- 202 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET (Indiscernible; parties talking over each other.) DEP. COMM. GILLISON: That's exactly right. So I agree with you, Councilman. I know that we will deal with that, and we will get an answer as to how we're going forward. But right now, it looks like we will be using the officers who were injured on duty.
Okay. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: And I'd also assure the Councilman that we monitor this monthly at the Philly Stat sessions. And one of the other things that we've done is to coordinate the camera placement with our street lighting placement program so that we are not putting cameras where you can't see 'cause there's no light. So we are trying to look at this in a much more holistic fashion so that it becomes the tool that it needs to be. 203 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET
Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
I only wanted to add that we were promised from the Attorney General that in the Mantua area, they promised us cameras. They even promised to help us if we would make a part of the school, we would do criminal just. They promised us cameras 'cause the City could not set up a process to receive 'em, so here we have free cameras. So I will get you the information. DEP. COMM. GILLISON: If you will, please, because I've been going to pretty much everywhere and everyone. And anyone that has ever offered me to get especially money for cameras and/or help, 204 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET I have met with them. So I would appreciate that. And I thank you for that.
You're welcome. I understand Councilman Kelly has a very brief question.
Dr. Barnett, I don't have a question, but what I do have, I'm going to ask you a favor. I'm going to count on your expertise in government. I know you've been doing a lot of changes, streamlining government and whatever, but I want to ask you to give some thought about moving animal care out of the Health Department. Look, I'm sure Dr. Schwartz Has 205 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET a lot of higher priorities, a lot of important things that he has to do with the Health Department to provide better health care to our -- to Philadelphians. But I also think that this is a quality-of-life issue, and it's important to a lot of other Philadelphians who have pets in the City. And I would like you to give some thought about moving it out of that department, if you could. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: (Nods head.)
You're welcome. The committee will stand in recess until 2 o'clock, at which time we will continue to hear testimony from the Managing Director's Office and then Procurement. Thank you. (Lunch break taken at 1:10 p.m.) * * * 206 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET (Proceedings resume.)
The Committee of the Whole is now back in session. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
May I ask the Managing Director to please come back to the table.
Good afternoon, Managing Director. I just wanted to follow up on an observation that I have with 3-1-1. And you indicated the numbers -- thousands of calls that go to 3-1-1. I believe it's thousands? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Yes. We've had 300,000 so far, in the last 90 days. 207 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET
The expectation of our constituents, your constituents, mine, are to get a reasonable response. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mm-hmm.
Now, I tested the system myself, and I've pinpointed maybe a dozen different things that 3-1-1 does. An example, a pothole. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mm-hmm.
I reported one over a month ago. It's still not filled. I have reported barricades that were left behind by the police department at a specific location; still not picked up. I've -- and 3-1-1 is a great concept, but the operating departments have to be on board, or this is going to blow up on us eventually. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Mm-hmm.
If we have 300,000 calls and the work isn't going to 208 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET be completed, that could be devastating, that could be very hurtful -- MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: That's true.
-- to the 3-1-1 process. So I'm concerned about the work is conducted after the fine job that the 3-1-1 center does. If you don't have the people available now to deal with all of this, like I've noticed the deterioration of line-painting on some of our City streets, center lines are faded away, dangerous conditions. I'm just concerned about the amount of work now that's in queue that's not getting done. I mean, to have a pothole on Market Street -- and I know I'm going to hear from one of the deputy mayors that it was referred to PennDOT, but our job is to stay on 'em. If PennDOT's not going to put the lane markings on the off-ramp to I-95 at Columbus Boulevard and it becomes a 209 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET dangerous highway condition, I don't care whose responsibility it is; it's still the City of Philadelphia. So I don't see a lot of the things -- and I put a very nice list together, and I'm just waiting, and I'm going to start checking them off when the first one gets done. MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: Councilman, that's exactly the kind of feedback we need on 3-1-1. I'd really like to see your list so we can follow up.
No, I'm going to wait -- MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: I know that the deputy mayor has some response to the specific example that you quoted, but our turnaround time, which is in the 3-1-1 system for potholes, is hours, 22 so we should -- 23
Unless it's a 24 PennDOT job, right? And would East Market Street be 210 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET a PennDOT job, Deputy Mayor Cutler? MANAGING DIR. BARNETT: And so -- well, let's respond to that particular one.
Okay. So we report to PennDOT. Before you arrived here, if you called the Streets Department, they would give you PennDOT's phone number to call. I mean, could you believe it? People would go to the effort to report a pothole before Deputy Mayor Cutler and I had a conversation, and they would say, "Oh, that's a State highway. Call PennDOT." That's fixed now, you know, and I don't want to look back. But I'm still concerned about this volume of work. It seems impossible to deal with 300,000 issues and they're all going to get done within 24 hours. I'm a pretty realistic guy, and I don't 211 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET know how many of them are potholes, but I'd like to -- I'll start pointing out potholes from today on that have been in existence for more than a week. DEP.
Well, it would be useful to have your list, because if you call 3-1-1, you do get a tracking number and you are, then, able to track the time. I don't know how many of the 300,000 calls are potholes either, but they are not, obviously, that large a number. But we do track all of the pothole calls that come into either 3-1-1 or to the department on that work- tracking system. And our current fill rate for potholes -- current fill rate for Streets Department -- is something like 96 percent. So -- within hours. 22
Maybe, 23 maybe -- and I don't know the reason. 24 I'll just give you one off the top of my head. Columbus Boulevard; is 212 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET that a State highway? DEP.
It seems like the problem that I'm experiencing is State highway-related, that when we forward them to PennDOT, do we just kind of end the tracking of that? DEP.
Well, we end the tracking, but I assure you, as you referenced, because we had that conversation about two years ago, as it relates to where the Streets Department ends and PennDOT begins, that there was a program place in PennDOT, and I believe it still exists, where they have also made a commitment to do their potholes. And I think there's is three days.
And they also have a tracking system, so I'm trying to figure out whether or not you're calling and getting into the queue through either 3-1-1 or PennDOT. I am happy to have a discussion 213 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET with 3-1-1 so that they are aware of what the interaction is between the City and PennDOT. (Timer bell rings.)
I hope so, because what I'm seeing is a trend in the jobs that are referred to PennDOT. Okay, I'll give you one right off the top of my head. Columbus Boulevard had a water leak at the off-ramp of I-95 southbound. The temporary repair is to the point where it has deteriorated. The police barricades were there to block the street while the leak was ongoing. The police barricades are still there, and the hole that the Water Department temporarily repaired is now a crater. And it's been reported many times -- DEP.
No, the 214 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET Streets Department still has their own customer service operation; it has not integrated yet, from what I understand, with 3-1-1. It's been processed through the electronic system and it's been called in by me personally many, many times. And no Councilman, none of that, just "Joe Citizen," and all I can tell you is that there's still a very dangerous condition there, and the police barricades are still thrown against the curb, and the traffic cones and the construction barrel. DEP.
Well, I'm happy to take care of it. Perhaps we need to go back to our previous deal, where you sent me an e-mail directly, and I took care of the problem.
Listen, I appreciate that, but that doesn't mean that the public is going to be satisfied with that. DEP.
Absolutely. 215 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET
There's only Councilmen. You know, they don't -- 4 DEP.
Absolutely. 5 I guess my point is, at some point, we 6 need to try to focus our attention on 7 what our city responsibilities are. 8 I'm happy to integrate 3-1-1 as 9 best I can into the PennDOT system, 10 because they do have a number, and they 11 do have a tracking system. 12 But ultimately, if you've got a 13 situation like you just described, where 14 it's been there for some period of time, 15 and there is no response, I will reach 16 out and -- 17
Could that be -- could the 3-1-1 Center maybe -- is there a relationship between PennDOT and 3-1-1? DEP.
So, in other words, every call that we've made that's on a State highway isn't going anywhere? 216 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET DEP.
Well, even if it is, all we're doing would be reporting it to PennDOT, I'm assuming.
'Cause there's a lot -- how many miles of State highway are there in the City? DEP.
Hi. I'm Rosetta Carrington-Lue, the 3-1-1 Contact Center Director. We just had a meeting last week with the Streets Department regarding this type of situation, where we receive a request for -- it starts off as a pothole, but now it needs to be referred to PennDOT or another agency. The process, as the Streets Department handles that, and they have the relationship with those agencies because they are supposed to hold them 217 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET accountable for meeting their service-level goals.
Well, what happens to a person that's doing what they're told, to call 3-1-1 to report a pothole on a State highway? Do you know how embarrassing it is when a Council office calls and reports a -- an excavation that was not properly backfilled by a utility company, and then nothing happens because it's a State highway?
No. What we're doing is, the Streets Department are -- they're updating our systems with the status. What we need to do -- and the discussion really centered around closing the communication gap with the customer, because it will seem like it went into a black hole and nothing's happening. But that's where we need to get 218 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET better, is to let the customer, caller, constituent know that here is the status on your request.
But I'm still not hearing if someone calls 3-1-1 and it's a problem that the State PennDOT is responsible for, what do you do with that request? 3-1-1, not Streets Department, 3-1-1.
That information goes to Streets. We don't do -- what we're -- we don't do anything with it right now because it's being worked on by that department. What we agreed to do with that department, though, is to say when the status changes, where you now, instead of the original service level agreement was one day, now it's going to be a little bit longer for that issue to be resolved, we -- 3-1-1 will now make sure that the customer is contacted by us personally, or they can actually go on the web if they have the means to look at the 219 4/7/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - 2010 BUDGET tracking status.
I appreciate that, and I know I'm a couple seconds over. Boy, but if I lose my train of thought here --
Well, this is like the timeline for a pothole; it takes a little longer sometimes. What I want to hear is, I call 3-1-1 today. What do you do with the problem on Columbus Boulevard? What do you do with that; do you give it to the Streets Department?
And you have to rely on the Streets Department to report it to PennDOT. I think that needs to be able fixed.