COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, April 6, 2009 10:30 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN WILLIAM GREENLEE COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILWOMAN MARIA QUINONES-SANCHEZ COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO BILLS 090212, 090213, 090214, 090215, 090218, 090219, 090220 and 090221 RESOLUTION 090226 - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning, everyone. This is a continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. I believe Mr. Armbrister is our first witness. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning, Council President. How are you this morning?
Good morning, Council President Verna, members of City 3 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Council. I am Clarence Armbrister, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Mayor. On behalf of Mayor Michael A. Nutter, I am pleased to provide testimony on the proposed Fiscal Year 2010 Operating Budget for the Mayor's Office. The role of the Mayor's Office is to provide the necessary leadership, direction and support to departments so that they may achieve success in their key areas of focus. The FY 2010 budget as proposed provides the necessary funding for the Mayor's Office to accomplish these objectives. 8 million in Class 100 funds to provide compensation for 51 employees, representing a decrease of nearly $2 million over the Fiscal Year 2009 estimated obligation level. The Mayor's Office implemented these reductions in response to two calls for targeted expenditure reductions: First during the 4 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. November rebalancing and second during the development of this FY10 budget. In addressing the request to reduce the FY09 Mayor's Office budget, Class 100 expenditures were reduced in several ways, including foregoing scheduled bonuses, salary reductions, mandatory furlough days, five in FY09 and another five in FY10, and the elimination of positions. To address the reduced target budget for FY10, the Mayor's Office reduced its Class 100 expenditures by a second round of position reductions. In addition to enhance transparency, the Offices of the Inspector General and the Arts and Culture and Creative Economy were provided budget authority independent of the Mayor's Office budget. Other proposed General Fund appropriation levels are also being decreased during FY 2010 and include a decrease of $141,877 in Class 200 funds for the purchase of services. This is a decrease of 17 percent from FY09. A 5 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. decrease of nearly $9,000 in Class 300 and 400 for materials, supplies and equipment, which is a 31 percent decrease from FY09. Additionally, a decrease of $4,221 in Class 500 funds for contributions, which is a 100 percent decrease from FY09. This decrease was taken from the Mayor's Office of Executive Division funds. Funding of $200,000 for the Mayor's Office Scholarship Program, which allows qualified Philadelphia students to attend classes at area colleges and universities, is being level-funded and no reductions are being recommended in this category. 14 million in Grants Revenue funds to support the activities of the Mayor's Commission on Aging. This grant funding represents an increase of $112,089 over FY 2009 levels and comes principally from the federal government to enable the Mayor's Commission on Aging to assist older adults with job 6 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. counseling, training and placement, and health insurance counseling. As requested by Council, I report that the Mayor's Office has achieved a percent participation rate 7 in contracting opportunities from 8 minority and female-owned businesses in 9 Fiscal Year 2010. It should be noted 10 that we anticipate decreasing our 11 contracts by at least nine percent during 12 Fiscal Year 2010. 13 You will be hearing testimony 14 from additional departments in the 15 Mayor's Office later today. The Mayor's Office of Community Services will give testimony as to how their agency helps to move vulnerable Philadelphians towards self-sufficiency. It is critical that Philadelphia's policies, programs and partnerships in the areas of education, health and human services, housing, economic development, workforce development and criminal justice are well coordinated and embrace common principles 7 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. designed to create opportunities to advance the poor. The Mayor's Office is undertaking a comprehensive examination of our anti-poverty work citywide to ensure that low-income and poor Philadelphians are served to the best of our capabilities.
MOCS will continue to play a role in this critical work. The Office of Housing and Community Development and the Office of Labor Relations will also present their Fiscal Year 2010 Operating Budget requests later today. I want to thank you again for your support and I appreciate this opportunity to provide testimony regarding the Mayor's proposed Fiscal Year 2010 Operating Budget. I will be happy to answer any questions that Council may have regarding my testimony.
Again, I would like to remind my colleagues the first go-around, each Councilmember will be given five minutes 8 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. and then we'll have the second go-around. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Mr. Armbrister.
On your testimony, you said, "As requested by Council, I reported the Mayor's Office has achieved a percent participation 14 rate in contract opportunities for 15 minority and female-owned businesses in Fiscal Year 2010." I'm assuming you didn't mean 2010.
I'm sorry. You're right. That's 2009. I'm sorry. Thank you.
And I note from past MBEC reports as late as last June, the numbers for the Mayor's Office in the previous year were actually zero percent because there was zero percent 9 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. contracting. Can you tell me what type of contracting occurred in Fiscal Year '09 that did not occur in Fiscal Year '08?
I'm not sure what didn't occur in Fiscal Year '08, but I can tell you what happened in '09, is that we had contracts for lobbying contracts, and one of our lobbying contracts is with a minority-owned business, and that accounts for the 13 percent. 14
So all of 15 the contracts were lobbying contracts in the Mayor's Office?
Yes. Well, all -- yes, sir, all of those that are reflected there. There are lobbying contracts and there's also a contract for investigative services that is managed by the Inspector General.
And what is the goal for Fiscal Year '10 in terms of DBE participation? 10 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
It's expected to be in the similar range at this point. We are looking to go back and take a look at our lobbying contract, so it's possible that could change, but for now, we would expect it to be not much different than what it is now.
Are you aware what the overall participation goal was for the City for Fiscal Year '09?
It actually was to 28 percent for all 16 disadvantaged businesses, yet the Mayor's 17 Office itself came in at only about 15 18 percent and is seemingly setting the same 19 goal for next year. 20 Is it possible to attain a 21 higher participation rate for DBEs 22 under -- 23
It clearly is 24 possible, and as I mentioned, we are 25 looking at redoing our lobbying contracts 11 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. and we'll make a concerted effort to try to reach the City goal.
Observation is that if all departments are being pushed to reach to 28 percent for this 11 year and a similar goal for next year, 12 shouldn't the Mayor's Office be leading 13 by example? 14
19 You're welcome. 20 The Chair recognizes Councilman 21 Jones. 22
Good morning, 12 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Councilman. How are you this morning?
One of the questions I would have is, as we start to look at 10, and 30 percent scenarios, 6 this will have an impact on where we 7 house our staff as a city. And has there 8 been a corresponding study to look at 9 space allocation by department and space 10 consolidation, more importantly? 11
Yes. And when 12 you get to the Public Property budget, 13 I'm sure the Commissioner will be able to 14 talk to you about her efforts in that 15 regard. 16 A couple of things have 17 happened in that regard. The Public 18 Property Commissioner during our internal 19 budget discussions was tasked by the 20 Mayor to go back and look at all of our leased space. We still continue to have a lot of leased space outside of space that we control and pay for, and the Mayor instructed the Public Property Commissioner to go back and talk to each 13 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. one of our lessors and ask them to reduce our rent, and they could do that by either reducing the rent or the footprint that we're able to pay for. Those letters have gone out, and we have actually gotten some positive responses from some of our landlords. The corollary to that, of course, is that if we're going to take people out of space, we need to have space here in the facilities that we control, and I understand that the Public Property Commissioner, along with the Managing Director's Office, is undergoing a restacking plan analysis with respect to One Parkway and the Municipal Services Building, and we're constantly looking at how we can highly utilize -- more efficiently utilize our space. So that's a very key part of what we're doing.
Well, can we start with the groups that are here today by way of -- I think one of the things, that this is an opportunity for us to 14 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. take a look at how we provide services and with whom we should cluster offices to get greater efficiency out of the space that they use, and I would like to know basically if you can provide the Chairperson how much we've spent on renovations, build-out of office space that we, A, lease or, B, within the Public Property purview of properties that we own.
So if I just make sure I understand your question, how much have we spent on renovations on space that we lease?
Councilman Jones, are you finished? 15 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
You're welcome, sir. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam President -- or I guess Madam Chair today. The testimony indicates that expenditures have gone down in Class 100, I guess, by close to 2 million. It looks like 58 percent of this is from the elimination of the NTI Empowerment Zone program. Were any of those people moved elsewhere in government or were the positions actually eliminated?
With respect to the NTI from my notes here, during the November rebalancing that we undertook, 16 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. there were four positions eliminated that were -- that could be described as being related to NTI, the predecessor to NTI. In the current FY10 budget proposed, there were an additional nine positions that were eliminated from NTI, that would have been described as NTI.
No. With respect to the first four, I think those were layoffs, and then the other positions are going to be cut and they will in fact be part of a reorganization of Commerce with respect to some other activities that they're working on.
So you're transferring the nine people to the Commerce budget?
I'm confused by what you just said. You're eliminating maybe the job function that 17 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. they performed, but all nine people will continue to be employed by --
No. We've eliminated the positions, and based on a reorganization that Commerce is undertaking with respect to its neighborhood activities and it involves PCDC, that the functions will be continued, but those positions and those dollars will be eliminated.
I'm still not sure I understand. Will those nine people continue to be employed by the City?
Those positions will be eliminated. And whether or not those folks are retained, they will be retained possibly through other funding sources, but those jobs will be eliminated.
Okay. But the point is that we're not actually saving the money because they'll be employed elsewhere? 18 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
No, that's not true. We are in fact saving the money. We've eliminated those positions and those jobs will be in fact cut.
Please tell me -- and if you don't know off the top of your head, because it sounds like you don't, provide to the Chair a specific person-by-person description of what their position was and where they're going in Philadelphia government.
So we can keep track of where these costs are going. Also, another significant part of the, quote/unquote, 2 million reduction is moving the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Arts and Culture out of the Mayor's budget. So could you tell us for the record when you add them back into the Mayor's budget how much the budget was actually cut?
The transfer 19 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. to the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy is about $192,000 and the reductions related to -- I just don't have the IG broken out, but I can total that for you and get it to you. I have the individual positions. I just don't have it totaled.
I haven't totaled it, but I can total it for you and get that to you.
I will. If you give me a chance, I can total that up and get you the budget total for you.
We'll go ahead and add it up and let you know. In Class 200 you mentioned that that was being cut by 17 percent, but I note that there's Class 200 spending in at least the Inspector General's Office.
Right. It's 20 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. about --
So that spending is still going on. More than half of 141,000 has just been transferred sort of from the Mayor's Office to the Inspector General's Office, which is now a separate line item. So when you add back in the Inspector General's Class 200 money and any Class 200 money that exists in the Office of Arts and Culture, how much was the real decrease in terms of percentage decrease in Class 200?
Okay. It just seems when we're talking about cuts and saving the City money, we ought to be talking apples to apples and not apples to oranges, because overall spending is going from 7 million to roughly 6.6, not 5, for the same exact functions that were performed last year, and I think it's important that everybody recognize that. 21 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
And, Councilman, we made it very clear and as I mentioned in my testimony, we're not trying to hide the ball. We indicated that the reorganization took place. We indicated that the reorganization took place and that those expenditures were recurring. But with respect to the IG budget, it includes about $385,000 for the Class 100, and then the transfer to the Office of Arts and Culture was $192,625.
Okay. During last year's budget hearings, I think the Administration testified that it planned to move some lobbying functions in-house. Can you update us on lobbying functions and the expenditures? You also said that --
Councilman, can I go back? I just want to clarify one other point --
-- that the 22 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Finance Director just reminded me of, which is with respect to the expenditures with respect to IG and you mentioned some numbers in excess of a million dollars, that a lot of that money comes from other departments that were transferred from -- like DHS. So those aren't all Mayor's Office expenditures. The Mayor's Office expenditures that I just identified, which were in the range of about $385,000, and then the Office of Arts and Culture was about $195,000. So it's much less than the million dollars that you identified.
What was the Mayor's Office budget for the Inspector General's Office in FY09?
I can get you that number. It's not broken out as a separate budget, but we can get you the number of what the expenditures that they totaled. They were part of our budget. They had personnel costs, and one of the things that the Inspector General has 23 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. done -- and she's here to talk about it if you'd like to hear from her -- is that she has gone out and gotten other departments to contribute resources to her activities. So one of the things that she's done is not -- those aren't all resources that come from the Mayor's Office budget. Those are resources that she has gotten other departments to contribute to her activity. So, for example, in the aftermath of that horrible case at DHS, one of the things that they were able to do was get dedicated resources from DHS to the Inspector General's Office budget. So the increase that you're noting in the Inspector General's budget cannot be all attributable to expenditures that were transferred from the Mayor's Office budget. I just wanted to make that clear.
Well, but the point is, the function exists. We're spending dollars that could be used for a 24 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. rec center or a pool or a library or other things from the City budget. I'm not really concerned about where the dollars come from, because the dollars are being spent in a function that is a Mayor's Office function from last year. So the point is, that very large budget takes dollars from elsewhere. So the total spending for the functions that were last year performed by the Mayor's Office is 6.6, not 5.
I'm sorry, but you're making one assumption that I think I would challenge the premise, which is that you're saying it's the same amount of functions. One of the things that the Inspector General's Office, quite frankly, has done is expanded the work that she's been able to do, and in large part, that's done because she's been able to expand her resources to departments outside of the Mayor's Office. I just wanted to make it clear that the increase that you're talking 25 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. about cannot be totally attributable to the Mayor's Office, because she has gotten allocations of resources from other departments. That's the only point I just wanted to make for the record.
The whole point of these budget discussions is you start with a large pool of money called the General Fund and we decide what to do with those resources and then we make choices about where that money goes. And we've made the choice to spend them -- whether it's through another department or directly is sort of a shell game. We've made the choice to spend a certain amount and increase the Office of the Inspector General. That's the choice we made, and we made that choice at the expense of other things that citizens are interested in, like rec centers and pools.
That's not entirely the case either, because some of the resources that the Inspector General 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. has gotten is also from Enterprise funds. So it's not all General Fund transfers that have happened as well. So we just need to keep all those facts in mind.
What is the breakdown of Enterprise money versus General Fund dollars for the Inspector General's Office?
Councilman Green, I've given you a lot of latitude.
Good morning, Councilman. How are you? 27 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
In your testimony you reference a percent 4 participation rate in contracting 5 opportunities. Exactly what does that 6 reflect? 7
That reflects 8 a contract with a minority-owned lobbying 9 firm. 10
Yes, sir. We 13 have very little contracts that we let 14 directly, and the only -- the limited 15 contracts that we've let in the last year have been for lobbying services and there was one contract that our office -- that the Inspector General utilized for investigative services. Those are the only contracts.
So the contract out of the Mayor's Office as compared with contract in the City generally is what? One percent, if that?
I wouldn't 28 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. know. I could get that for you. I don't know what the total contracting is.
So do you have numbers? During the course of the budget hearing, will you be able to present numbers on the broader participation rates?
Yes. One of the things that we've asked -- and I think it was at the request of Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown. She asked each of the departments to make sure that they come prepared to say what their participation rates are, and we are certainly going to summarize and accumulate that information.
Can you summarize it for me? Because we may have missed part of that testimony.
When you say 15 percent, you say the Mayor's Office, a lot of people think the Mayor's Office is the entire government and 29 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that's kind of misleading.
No. That represents about -- it's about $400,000 worth of contracts.
Out of multi millions. It's about only $400,000 worth of contracts, right.
You talk about the Mayor's Office providing direction for policy and services. How does that -- because this flow chart from the beginning, it confused me in the beginning and I'm still confused by it. Who actually determines, as an example, what we do in neighborhoods? And I tell you why. Saturday we were out in a part of my district doing the clean-up, the annual clean-up, and the Mayor -- I was with the Mayor. We were doing a good job. He was doing a good job and giving out recycling bins, but I tell you, I was a little dismayed, because the focus 30 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. seemed to be primarily on the recycling bins, and it should have been, because that's a laudable effort, but the conditions on those two blocks that we walked, frankly speaking, were pretty bad. This is an understatement. And I didn't get a sense that anybody was focused on that part of the whole tour. It was more people worrying about the press aspect and the recycling bin aspect of this whole event, and I actually had to get the Mayor himself to come over and look at a couple of things, because I didn't really get a sense that anybody else out there was paying attention to the conditions in those neighborhoods. Who is in charge of that? I mean, how does this all work? Because I don't -- I'm like a long-term member of government and I'm used to when you're out in the neighborhood, somebody is out there looking to see if there's some things that need to be done separate and aside from the particular issue at hand. 31 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. How does that work?
Well, our neighborhood strategy, if you will, operates through the level of the Managing Director's Office down through the Deputy Mayors. And so it really is a kind of matrix kind of management system in which broad authority is given to the Deputy Mayors, who have clusters for which they are responsible. So in, for example --
Well, when I say "clusters for which they're responsible," in an organizational chart on of the Five-Year Plan would indicate that, for example, with respect to streets, that's under the purview of Deputy Mayor Rina Cutler. And the idea is that the Deputy Mayors will coordinate, with the direction of the Managing Director and the Mayor's Office, the level of activities that we need. So 32 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the idea is to cluster like-minded departments, Water, Streets, Airport, under the Deputy Mayor for Transportation, public safety under the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, police, fire --
Mr. Armbrister, you don't have to get into that level of detail. My point is, I'm trying to get a sense -- if we go out in the neighborhood -- and I don't know if anybody was there from the Managing Director's Office. If there was, I didn't know them -- particularly on the day that we're talking about the annual clean-up. I think that there should be somebody there to look at the conditions of the neighborhood as opposed to a significant number of people there to deal with the press aspect of it. And they did a good job, because they had every imaginable camera out there. I mean, do you get a sense that we should be paying a little more 33 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. attention to some of the things, these day-to-day conditions of people in some of these neighborhoods?
I think with the resources that we have, Councilman, we are, and those responsibilities lie, as they have traditionally, with the various Commissioners coordinated through the Deputy Mayors and the Managing Director's Office. (Bell rung.)
But nobody was from the Managing Director's Office. Nobody was there from the Deputy Mayor's Office that I can see, that I know, because there are a lot of new people. Who was responsible?
I'm not sure who was at that activity. Let me find out and I'll be able to get back to you on that. But the activities of providing services to our citizens is really not much different in that the Commissioners, along with the coordinated efforts of the 34 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Managing Directors, are responsible for making sure that we address the needs of the citizens in those areas. So, I mean, we still have a Public Property Commissioner. We still have a Streets Commissioner. We still have --
I know all of that. I'm talking about a policy, because we're talking about --
And I hate to belabor this point, but it was just a little amazing. We're knocking on the door of a person, knocking on the door and we give them a recycling bucket. Next to that property there was a property that was wide open, no door, no 20 windows, trash and debris, and I'm almost willing to bet that nobody took that address down. They haven't cleaned it still.
Councilman Clarke kind of reminded me. I've been dying to ask this question. I remember when a Managing Director used to run the operating departments.
I remember when the Managing Director ran the ten operating departments. What does the Managing Director manage now?
The Managing Director is responsible through our organizational chart for -- to help the management of those departments, along with the Deputy Mayors. She'll be here tomorrow. I think she's testifying tomorrow.
Who is in 36 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. charge? I mean, of the Streets Department, who is in charge of the Streets Department?
The Streets Commissioner, who reports up through the Deputy Mayor and to the Managing Director.
So the Managing Director is in charge of all the operating departments?
Ultimately she is the Chief Operating Officer of the City under the Charter.
Councilman Clarke, that was just a point of information. Are you finished?
I'll come 37 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. back. I have some other subject matter.
I too have in my questions here material on area already covered by Councilman Goode and Councilman Clarke, and, in fact, my question was exactly the same: Shouldn't the Mayor's Office be leading by example. So let me do a quick follow-up. You state in your testimony on that the Mayor's Office has done a 15 percent participation rate, but then you say in your last sentence that it should be noted that we anticipate decreasing our contracts by at least nine percent. So are you referring to the MBE/WBE?
No. We're referring to just the level of expenditure for those contracts, not the 38 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. percentage of the WBE.
Okay, then. So let me underscore that as department heads prepare their testimony around MBE/WBE participation, the new and different question is also indicate what prime -- the prime contractors versus the subcontractors. I'm pleased to see that the Mayor's Office Scholarship Program will continue to receive $200,000 and no cuts have been made. Update us, if you will, on the criteria you're using to select students who are awarded those scholarships and where does that office -- who is heading up that selection process.
To answer your last question first, I forget the office that heads that up. We have an office that heads that up. The criteria are SAT, GPA and essay and community activity and financial need, are the criteria that we 39 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. utilize for the delivery of those scholarships. And I'll get you the name of the person. I had it written down and then I lost that sheet. I'm sorry.
The deadline, does your material reflect when that deadline is?
The deadline for next year? No, it does not, but I can get you the deadline.
Okay, then. Thank you very much. That takes care of this office. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.
My 40 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. questions are going to revolve around the Mayor's Office, and when I say the Mayor's Office, I mean when we hear from the Mayor's Office, that these are the only employees that we control. I know it's not just the employees in the Mayor's Office. They're the employees under the Mayor's control that aren't controlled by other independent electeds or union contracts. I mean, that's usually what comes across. So they're the people I'm talking about. And I think a lot of people just believe because of title changes that you have a bloated staff throughout that group. I don't believe it's true, but I hear a lot of people talk about going into meetings with different members of the Administration and there's six people throwing cards out, business cards out, with titles they never heard before that are very, very impressive and it seems like overload in terms of the management-level people. I just want to 41 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be able to tell people that that's not true. So what I'd like you to get for me -- and I hope it's not too difficult -- is a list of every one of those employees that I just referred to, beginning with yourself and the Managing Director, and listing their title and their salary, and then giving me a list -- or giving the President a list of the same group of employees under the previous Administration, those that we would generally refer to as these are the only ones the Mayor directly controls. So that's what I'm interested in. And some of them are going to be Commissioners that are Charter mandated. That's fine. Leave them in there.
I just want to be clear, Councilman. When you say the ones that the Mayor controls, are you talking about all exempt employees? Is that -- or are you talking about --
Well, you 42 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. tell me what you're referring to as an office, as an Administration, when you say we don't control all the employees, unfortunately.
Okay? In other words, if you ordered a furlough, you couldn't order the unions.
Within that is a subset. The one group that always gets mentioned in your change from the last Administration to this one is the Public Relations staff. So I specifically want to know -- I hear you have eight people just doing public relations, and I can't believe that.
I think it's an outrageous number, particularly in this day and age of our financial situation. But I don't know if the last 43 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Administration had 16. So if you could show me what you have, what their titles are -- this would be a subset of that, but I really want it highlighted -- and what the last Administration had in the same way in their Public Relations, Communications. And you know again what I'm talking about, people in the Mayor's Office that interface with the press.
Yes. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green for a point of information.
Thank you. I am told that in past years, much to Councilman O'Neill's point, there was an increase and decrease schedule that came with the budget detail, and I would think that the schedule would detail each individual decrease and show Council as well as the public so we can understand the changes that are happening in each department and where those 44 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. functions and resources are going. If you take a look at of the budget detail with respect to OIG, you can't understand the department's adjustment. So for all future testimony for this department -- you can provide us this detail on the Mayor's Office, but for every department, please provide a detailed listing of each adjustment the offices made, and I'd request that each department that come before us give us that schedule at least a week in advance prior to their testimony so that we can truly understand what's going on in each department and where. And we'll follow up with this request in writing as well to you and each department. Thank you, Madam President.
But I think in the budget book and the budget detail there is a listing of positions. There's a listing of positions in the budget book 45 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that shows changes in position levels. I'm not sure if the budget book goes back as far as to the prior Administration.
Well, for example, in the Mayor's Office section, it would be in Section 2, , and 10 12, I believe. Yes. 11
Excuse me. This doesn't agree with the detail, the Five-Year Plan.
I'm not sure I understand, you say it doesn't agree with the detail.
The position levels do not agree with the Five-Year Plan as in the detail.
So specifically on , for example, that 46 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. detail is not nearly as detailed as it has been previously. That's in Section 4 2, . So we've got an $866,000 adjustment, reductions, reorganization of divisions without the detail of who went where, how, why, et cetera, and that's -- there's no detail here with respect to all these changes. And they're significant changes. That is what we're looking for.
But, Councilman, if I would draw your attention to the pages that I noted, which were pages in Section 2, Pages 10, 11 and 12, it does show that detail for prior years as well.
When you say "narrative," Councilwoman, I mean, this is the way the budget book has been done -- 47 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
What were the adjustments? (Witness approached witness table.)
Mr. Dubow, you've been around here a long time. Do you think that this budget reflects prior budgets and how they've been detailed?
I think it does, but we can provide you -- I think it does, but we can provide you with an extra summary of what has gone on in places where there are lots of moving parts, like in the Mayor's Office.
And I do believe that when you were up here for the Five-Year Plan, we did ask that the detailed budget reflect the information that we were all seeking, and you said no 22 problem.
Right. And this is the kind of detail we're talking about, but we can give you an extra description. 48 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
But when are we going to get this? Time is running short.
Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Armbrister, that information I asked for, could we have that by 5 o'clock today? Is that doable?
I don't know. I'll have to check with the staff, but we certainly have in the -- between the budget book --
I know, but I want you to pull it out rather than -- because they're your employees, they're not mine. I hope you can get it by the end of the day. And this really, Madam President, is a general question as well. 49 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. If we can't get information back, if not by the end of the day, certainly within hours, the information gets stale. 5 We're on another department. We're two, 6 three weeks down the road sometimes in 7 the budget process and we're getting a 8 stack of responses to questions from 9 different Councilmembers, and unless you 10 have a context of memory that you 11 remember that question and that answer, 12 whatever it was -- and there's usually a 13 lot of questions before and after that 14 aren't in that particular question that 15 you're now getting a response to, along 16 with a lot of others. I hope there's a 17 way of tightening that. I think there's 18 already been some communication about it, 19 but I would hope if it's not by the end 20 of the day for a morning hearing, it's 21 certainly 24 hours if it's later in the 22 day. 23
Councilman, 24 we'll certainly have it to you within 24 hours. 50 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Okay. Could your office monitor that, Council President?
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
There are two questions I have. Going back to -- and you'll probably show this this afternoon when you present the information to Councilman O'Neill's question. I see five people assigned to the Office of Communications. You in '08 and '09 had a Director of Communications. Has that position been eliminated? 51 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
The position has been eliminated. It's being filled by somebody who was already on staff. So they're filling two jobs. So the position was eliminated from the budget and then we used someone who was already on staff to fill that position.
Their salary would be, if you look under the Chief of Staff's position over on , Line 13, Deputy Chief of Staff, that person serves both positions, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Communications.
Patricia Enright? 52 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.