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.
Yes, ma'am, and also Deputy Chief of Staff. So we eliminated the Director of Communications position and it had not been filled, and we eliminated in our November rebalancing.
What is that? That's a person who is responsible for dealing with all media and press on a day-in-and-day-out basis. That person is Doug Oliver.
Mark McDonald is a Senior, I think his title is, 53 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Communications Specialist. If you look on there, he's in that cluster as well.
Let me go to relative to your contract for professional services.
I see you have nothing in that column in terms of companies you may use, but you have an amount there that would be determined.
So does that mean that all these contracts for professional services will be put out for bid?
But until you do that, do you maintain the relationship with these people? 54 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Given the needs that we have in Harrisburg with the Legislature to help us with the two items, the wage tax and pension, will these companies fulfill that service?
Okay. And so when do you plan to offer a rebidding on these contracts for 2010? When those contracts go out?
The contracts, we were trying to adjust them so that they all ended at the same time. When we came in, there were a mishmash of end dates and I think we tried to get them all to conclude June 30th of this year. So we'll probably be rebidding them out prior to the end of this year. 55 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
And so if you have not bid them out by June 30th, then they continue on through June?
Let me ask you about NTI. I see that you've eliminated positions for 2010? Well, 10 no. It says -- on . 11
Can you 13 help me with that? That's not the page I 14 want. I want . 15 So now, are there any employees 16 currently working in the NTI Empowerment 17 Zone project? 18
Well, the way 19 I would describe it is that it's probably no longer an NTI Empowerment Zone project. There are people who were classified as NTI Empowerment people who are still on staff, but we have tried to, with our reorganization of the Commerce Department, refocus their activities. We 56 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. have something called a Neighborhood Business Services Office. So we've been trying to restructure that, and part of the restructuring has been retooling a lot of those jobs in that area.
So the 8 positions that were credited to NTI, have 9 all of them been assigned to the 10 Department of Commerce? 11
That's where 12 they had been when we came in to the 13 Administration. All of the, 14 quote/unquote, NTI positions were 15 operating in the Commerce Department. 16 All those people were sitting in 17 Commerce. 18
Except for those -- we eliminated four positions in the November rebalancing and it's our anticipation to eliminate another nine or so in this FY10 budget.
Okay. 57 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I guess my question is going to be redundant. Good morning.
In your testimony you refer to the elimination of positions and position reductions. How many of these positions were filled?
I think of the positions that we did in the November rebalancing, I think five or six were filled. In the current FY10 budget, nine of them, I think, are filled.
On FY09, what was the exact number of filled positions and unfilled positions?
In the cuts 58 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that we made in the adjustment in 2009, there were actually six positions that were filled in the 2009 rebalancing and -- yeah, there were six.
Mr. Armbrister, during the hearing on the proposed Five-Year Plan, the Administration could not answer specific questions about Plan B reductions. These reductions would go into effect if the Administration is not successful in receiving the state's approval to extend the City's amortization of the unfunded 59 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. pension liability from years to 40 years and allow the City to increase its sales tax; is that correct? Didn't we talk about that?
The 8 Administration has assumed that the City 9 workers will not receive a pay increase 10 in any year of the Five-Year Plan, as 11 well as reduce the existing fringe 12 benefit costs by $25 million per year, 13 for a total savings of $305 million over 14 the life of the Plan, correct? 15
With 18 that being said and since we're agreeing 19 and we're so -- with that being said, in 20 order for these hearings to have any meaning, I personally think it is imperative that the departments are prepared to talk about the specifics of Plan B in detail. Would you agree?
Yes, and they 60 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. will be prepared to do that, Councilwoman.
Okay. I'm glad to hear that. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Mr. Armbrister.
I just have a couple of questions here. One is about NTI and Empowerment Zone. So I know the NTI was -- and someone may have already asked you this, but I'll ask it again. I know that the NTI people, folks moved over into Commerce, some of them anyway. What's happening with the Empowerment Zone? Is that no longer going to be in existence?
What we've done -- and Commerce will be able to expand upon this, Councilwoman Miller -- 61 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. is that we have retooled the Commerce Department and created an Office of Neighborhood Business Services, and our activities with respect to NTI and business development and other activities in the neighborhoods is going to be focused out of that office. So we've reorganized that office and are utilizing resources to develop that work there.
Is there still federal funding for the Empowerment Zone? Because I know that years and years ago there was a lot of activity around an Empowerment Zone and funding that came into the City. Does that funding still exist?
Okay. And on of your testimony you indicate that enhanced transparency would be reached by providing the Office of Attorney General and the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy budget authority to 62 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be independent. I guess I can somewhat understand the Office of the Attorney General, but what is it about the Office of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy that needs all this transparency?
Well, one of the things in reopening that office, we found -- at least I would suggest that Gary Steuer, the head of that office, found when he came to Philadelphia is that we had a lot of cultural and arts activities that were disparate throughout the government, and in order to kind of get a better handle and manage that, we thought it important to try to at least get as much of that under one umbrella as possible. So that way, if you want to have a question about what's going on in arts and culture -- there were activities in various departments of the government that were related to arts and culture. This is a way to kind of bring all those together so that you can look in one place and not have to look all over the 63 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. budget to find out what's going on in that area.
Okay. And in addition to just bringing everything together, I guess they just need to be transparent? That's kind of nuts to me. Okay. In looking through the budget also on , Section 2, can you explain the six positions totalling 420,507 and what do they do and how are they different from what you already have somewhere else?
These are positions that were a part of the Commerce Department, the NTI that you discussed, that were not eliminated but were retained, and for right now they are not yet filled. They are placeholders at this point. We haven't filled those at this point. So it's very possible that their scope and activities may change, but they're placeholders at this point.
So these 64 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. are vacant then; they're just on the book?
Well, as we continue to roll out our economic development strategy and other activities within the Mayor's Office, we will certainly look at that.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Green for a point of information.
Thank you. So Councilwoman Miller just identified a staff of six at $519,000, and it's now your testimony that these are NTI positions that are being retained even though the people are being transferred to another office. So, in essence, it's an increase in the Mayor's 65 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. budget of $519,559; isn't that correct?
No, that's not correct. These positions or these -- the folks in these jobs, these jobs will be eliminated and then they're being retained as placeholders. And the total is only $420,000, not 519, at least according to .
The budget detail has a new division called General, and what you're telling us is that you don't have an idea of what these positions will be, you can't identify who is going to be hired for them. It sounds like they're not necessary. What function is this $519,000 going to perform in the Mayor's Office?
Then why is it in the budget? Why are you asking us to appropriate money for which you have no function identified?
These 66 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. positions were brought over when we did the review of the Commerce Department, and we just thought in the first balancing act, that it wouldn't be prudent to cut out all those positions until we figured out what we were going to do with those --
I'm sorry. What functions are they going to perform? How are they going to --
Okay. I have a couple more. The contracts that come out of the Mayor's Office, are they no-bid contracts?
These are -- 67 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. they're done pursuant to RFPs.
Can you please -- and someone may have asked you this. I was a few minutes late. Can you please provide the Chair with a list of the contracts and what contracts are being eliminated and which ones went to minority and women and disabled firms?
Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Armbrister, I just want to go through some information that we compiled. I think it's pretty accurate, but we're going to actually ask you to review it and get back to us as to whether or not it's accurate. Briefly, it goes over the 68 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Mayor's budget, and what we did, we did an analysis of the last year of the last Administration versus where we are FY10, and it goes through the various departments. I won't go through them all, but I'll go through the larger ones within the Mayor's Office. It talks about the executive office. FY08, it was 631. Now it's 959, an increase of 52 percent. Chief of Staff, you actually weren't too bad, 433 to 535, percent increase. Office of 14 Scheduling, it's not a lot of money, but 15 it's a significant increase, from 123 to 16 227, an 83 percent. 17
I'll give 23 them to you and you can get a chance. I get five minutes and I got to get it in while I can. 69 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Office of Communications, 198, now it's 354, an increase of 78 percent. Office of Inspector General, 598, it's now 1.2 million, an increase of 103 percent. This kind of goes on pretty much, with the exception of two offices. There's actually increases, and the grand total is 2.9 in FY08 and 4.7 in FY10. Can you explain to me, given that the perception is that there's been a significant decrease in the Mayor's budget -- and based on these numbers, there seems to be a significant increase -- is this accurate or --
I don't know if it's accurate. I'd be happy to take a look at the information you have. I think the premise of comparing the last year of an administration to the beginning of a new administration is one that I might challenge in that in many of those instances, there are activities that are winding down a lot with respect 70 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. to the outgoing administration, particularly after eight years, and one of the things it would be interesting to see is the time at which those numbers were given. I don't know if those are the end of the fiscal year or if they're in transition as we were coming in, because one of the things that we noted --
It was the proposed FY08 budget. But, again, comparing the end of an eight-year administration to the beginning of a new administration is probably something that I would want to take a look at and make sure that people understood that. The other thing is that we made some conscious decisions about things that we wanted to invest in certainly in terms of things that we wanted to get done and try to operate as efficiently as we could, but sometimes it requires 71 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. investment, and one of the things that we've noticed in many areas throughout the government, and not just in the Mayor's Office, is there has been lack of investment in certain areas. So in those -- in certain areas, we've had to make investments, significant investments, to try to build up the level of activity that we would expect in our Administration to tackle.
I actually agree with you. I do believe that you should make investment in departments, particularly those departments that are responsible for setting policy, appropriating dollars, doing the things that need to be done to run a city. So I agree with you in that respect. And your reference to the end of the last Administration versus where you are now, that may have some validity. So I'll go from '09 to '10. You kind of in your last statement to some degree responded to this question. Based on that 72 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. information, there's actually a four percent decrease in the budget from '09 to '10. So it's not as broad as some people refer to. (Bell rung.)
It's a four percent and not a percent or not even 9 a ten percent, as Council has reduced its 10 budget. Would you agree with those 11 numbers? 12
Because while the Administration eliminated ten positions, you actually added 11.
But I'll 73 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. get you this, because I want you to review it. I think we're going to have some callbacks.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to ask about the -- and maybe they're going to testify at some point, but the Commission on Aging, the Mayor's Commission on Aging.
Are they 74 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. going to testify today?
I see that the budget is scheduled to finally get some dollars, and I'm happy about that. I appreciate your testimony at the issue of "aging in place," which is trying to design communities to deal with the aging population that many of us in this city face. What I wanted to know is if in fact you guys have been meeting regularly now and who is on that Commission and what is its primary mission as of late?
Our Commission continues to meet regularly, sir, with bimonthly meetings of the Commission itself. I'm assuming that you're referring to the committee of the Health 75 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Department that we had discussed that day?
That committee, under the direction of the Health Department, has not reconvened. The person who was the lead Director has been terminated and there has been some discussion with Philadelphia Corporation for Aging on convening a similar committee as we had discussed in the hearing, but that has not occurred. But within our own Commission, there is continued discussion about the aging-in-place communities.
So are these dollars scheduled to go to your Commission?
Yes. And those dollars, sir, come to your employment program through the federal government, and they represent stimulus money that will be directed to us and an increase in our regular grant from the federal 76 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. government.
Excuse me. I understand you have not identified yourself.
I'm sorry. Celeste Zappala, Director of the Mayor's Commission on Aging. Excuse me.
Yes, sir. Both of our grants -- the larger grant is the -- it's called the Senior Community Service Employment Program, and it helps to train and employ older adults, low-income older adults, and the other program is for education and outreach concerning health insurances for older adults.
Could you describe for this Council the relationship with the Health Department? You mentioned that briefly, and why they 77 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. have not met in reference to this?
What Councilman is referring to is a committee that had been convened by a physician from the Health Department to discuss and look at aging-in-place issues for older adults, meaning how can people in Philadelphia as they age maintain themselves in the community with services so that they are not forced to move into institutions. That committee met several times. There was a few subcommittees, but then when the Director of that effort, his position was eliminated, that then the Health Department has as of yet not made any recommitment to the effort.
It's my understanding -- and I appreciate what you would like to -- I guess that's where Mr. Armbrister comes in. My concern is that as a city who is gray and, in particular in the 4th Councilmanic District, we have the largest concentration of senior population in any 78 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. of the districts. In particular, if you look at City Avenue, we have a large number concentrated in assisted-living facilities. One of the things that we've tried to push forth is a concept called Aging in Place, allowing people to realize a graceful period of aging in the homes that they have grown up in or bought or purchased or raised families in. That activity, along with some other activities such as telemedicine where seniors can get medical relief in a local way and even up into their homes, is something that we want to put forth, and I'm hopeful that between the budget that is appropriated for the Mayor's Commission on Aging, the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging and whatever relationship with the Health Department, that we can move this forward. It's my understanding also that there's money in the stimulus package particularly for telemedicine, and I don't know who is coordinating this 79 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. effort, if this body needs that kind of coordination from the Administration. It seems to me that when we have resources that can complement a worthwhile activity, that we should jump on that.
I would hope that we agree, but let us know when we're going to reconvene around that, and could you let the President of this Council and other members that are interested in the concept know when we are actually going to make some progress on that issue?
Thank you. 80 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. I would like to say to the Office of Aging, formally thank you for the accessibility and availability of your office every fall when we do our eight-week senior forum. We do appreciate the presence of your office. It does not go unappreciated. Thank you.
In the budget schedule, there's no mention of the Office of Sustainability or the Office of Arts and Culture or the Secretary of Education. When are we going to have a chance to converse with them?
Each of them are here, if you'd like. I did mention the Office of Arts and Culture in the sense that that was one of the offices that we talked about that we moved out of 81 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the Mayor's Office. They have an independent budget. They are not independently scheduled. So Mr. Steuer is here, if you'd like to talk to him about it.
The Chief Education Officer, I think, Lori Shorr, is here as well, and I think Mark Alan Hughes was here. Yes, he's here as well. So all of those individuals are here and would be available if you have any questions for them.
Well, the office I'm prepared for today is Arts and Culture, and I'll wait to hear from the Secretary of Education when the School District comes before us.
Good 82 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. morning.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Gary Steuer, Chief Cultural Officer.
Congratulations, Gary. We know that you're now the leadership for the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. Are you able at this juncture to give us an update on what the strategic plan is around addressing the creative economy and how we're going to continue to capture that particular sector here in the City?
Well, it's perhaps a little early yet to give a comprehensive plan, but I can say it's 83 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. something that I've been looking at very carefully. I think one of the things that for me is very important about this office is that it stretches beyond the traditional focus just on the non-profit arts and culture sector but on the larger creative economy. So I've been meeting with a lot of the individuals and businesses in that area that would encompass graphic design, architecture, art galleries, music clubs, the whole array of activity that doesn't necessarily happen within the non-profit art sector. So this was an important part of forming the Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council. So those folks are represented on that Council, and we're in the process of looking at how we can build that sector. And I should add also working closely with Commerce too, because there's been a focus on the creative economy area within Commerce. So whatever we do will probably be done in close partnership with the Department 84 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. of Commerce.
Any discussions with Innovation Philadelphia, which did a lot of homework and research and actually rolled out reports around this sector?
Yes. In fact, I should have mentioned that as well. I've been meeting with them. I'm serving on the Planning Committee for their next major conference that will be taking place in Philadelphia this coming fall, and I've been having conversations with their staff leadership about how we can work in partnership with one another as we look at this area.
Okay. And can you give us an update on the Barnes exhibit?
Only that as far as I know, they are proceeding. I don't 85 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. have an update in terms of specific plans or timeline at this time.
Will there be a role for the City in that enterprise at all, to your knowledge?
In what sense? I mean, certainly we've got a role and a partnership with all the major cultural organizations in the City. So in that sense, certainly I would hope to talk to them and make sure that we are very much a part of their plans, but they're an independent non-profit arts organization.
Okay. We introduced a resolution urging them to be green and go green as they build that new structure, and with the limited reach then of the City, what is the reach of the City knowing that it is a separate private not-for-profit enterprise?
Well, we certainly always have the power of persuasion with organizations, but they will have their own Board and their own budget. I don't 86 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. know in terms of what other influence we have. They will be on City-owned land. So certainly with institutions where the City owns their building or owns their land, we have an enhanced level of control and influence over those institutions. I don't know in terms of the construction of their building at this point what status exists in terms of how green it is, and that's certainly something that I can look into for you.
And then, finally, any update you would want to provide to us on the Cultural Fund? Has there been any change in operations or funding levels of organizations, et cetera? (Bell rung.)
Sure. Well, I can say that the Cultural Fund is in the budget at this point for level funding. 87 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. It's one of those areas where the Administration felt it was very important to continue to support the cultural sector and the role they play in fostering jobs and fostering cultural tourism in neighborhoods. There are conversations taking place with the Board of the Cultural Fund that are looking at how we might allocate a portion of those funds for a targeted program to support youth initiatives, programs in the neighborhoods that are specifically working with youth through arts and culture, and we'd like to look at could we, in addition to the general support that comes from the Cultural Fund, look at how we could allocate a portion, a relatively small portion of those total funds, to really make a difference in supporting in a more significant level some specific programs.
Acknowledging that the bell has rung, I would only caution you to not work in a 88 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. narrow tunnel vision, but to be in touch with where those programs are and do they complement schools that don't have arts and culture programs, with rec centers that may or may not have arts and culture programming, so that it makes sense in where you ultimately spend those dollars.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Give me one second, please. Just to close the loop on the Office of Inspector General, could you please provide us the Class 100 OIG expenditure for FY09 and explain the differences to us, and then please 89 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. provide us with a breakdown of the source of the Class 100 funds used by the Inspector General for FY09 and FY10, just so I can understand what you're talking about about different departments contributing, which I guess makes the assumption that money is not fungible, which I don't quite understand, but I will look forward to that information. Specifically, with respect to the office, I'd like to go back through --
Councilman, I was just provided at least information with respect to the funding. I can provide that answer now, if you'd like. In terms of additional funds that were received outside of the Mayor's Office, there's a total of $545,000, 250,000 of which comes from the Department of DHS, 65,000 from the Health Department, 55 from Water, 60 from L&I, 60 from Streets and 60 from Revenue.
So except 90 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. for the Water, those are all General Fund dollars?
I'm not sure with respect to DHS. I'm not sure if those funds are General Fund or not. I don't know. We'll find out. We'll find out the sources for you.
You're taking money out of the General Fund dollars that could be used for any purpose and spending it on the Inspector General's Office.
We're shifting dollars to enhance the activities of the Inspector General's Office, that's correct. 91 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
So let's talk about that. Can you tell me what the three auditors do for the Inspector General's Office?
I'll have the Inspector General, Amy Kurland, come up and answer that question. (Witness approached witness table.)
There are two auditors in the Inspector General's Office currently. They conduct forensic audits, which are different from the Controller-type audits in that they focus on fraudulent activities. To give you an example, we discovered an account that belonged to one of the City departments where somebody was using that account to pay their personal bills. The auditor in the Inspector General's Office is reviewing account information trying to discover how that fraud occurred.
But I've spoken to the City Controller about this 92 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. and they're certainly capable of providing forensic audits or even hiring forensic auditors if that's a function that's needed within City government.
That's correct, and we are continuing to work with the City Controller's Office, where they do the broader audits that determine whether the departments are functioning the way they should function and then we do a smaller investigation that's part of the investigation with the auditing records.
And these people are eight hours a day, five days a week conducting forensic audits of our different departments?
They're conducting investigations, and part of that investigation requires auditing skills.
So how much 93 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. of their time is actually spent auditing and how much of their time is spent investigating?
I can't really separate that out because the investigation includes auditing-type activities. Maybe the term "auditor" is not really the correct term for what they actually do.
Well, that's what I'm trying to find out. What do they actually do?
They conduct investigations that involve -- where the investigation requires an expertise in examining records and doing audit-type functions, but it's mostly an investigatory job.
There are two Chief Investigators. They supervise a team of investigators. There's a Chief Investigator from DHS who supervises all 94 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the DHS-related investigations, and the other Chief Investigator supervises the basic investigators in the office.
I'm confused. The budget detail shows only one Chief Investigator.
The other Chief Investigator really -- I have made that person a supervisor even though their salary range is that of a regular investigator. She has her own investigations and she also supervises the other investigators.
She's like a chief of staff. She supervises everybody in the office and assists me in administrative matters.
So she 95 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. doesn't do any investigation?
How much of her time is spent in a supervisory capacity and how much of her time is spent in investigation? (Bell rung.)
And obviously Inspector General, you are primarily a supervisor?
I don't supervise -- I am part of supervising the direct investigations, but I also perform the liaison activities with our law enforcement partnerships in the DA's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the federal investigative agencies, as well as the Controller and my work with the Chief Integrity Officer.
Okay. And Inspector General Assistant, what does 96 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that person do?
That's our lawyer, and he supervises the Integrity Officer program, contracting issues and other legal issues that come up with regard to civil service appeals, administrative arbitration appeals and that type of thing.
I'm sorry. So what do you do in the area of administrative appeals? Is this if you fired somebody for cause? It's not a City Solicitor function?
If a department fires an employee based on our recommendation and that employee appeals, our investigators have to appear before the Civil Service Commission and the lawyer in our office represents our interest there.
An Investigative Analyst does computer database research. 97 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. When we get a complaint, say, that somebody doesn't live in the City, the Investigative Analyst will search the City records and the Lexis-Nexis type records and provide a report that goes back to the agency.
Eight investigators, can you describe their kind of daily job function?
Yes. They have a mix of administrative investigations and criminal investigations. The administrative investigations involve generally higher-level people within the departments who are alleged to have committed fraud, corruption, any other kind of misconduct. They interview people. They review documents. They search City records and such. On the criminal side, they do a preliminary investigation and then work 98 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. hand in hand with law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels to further the criminal investigation. So they have a mix.
Okay. So you've gone from to positions; is 8 that right? 9
There are -- yes, 10 but two of those positions are police 11 detectives who are detailed to the IG's 12 Office and one of them is detailed from 13 the Bureau of Prisons. So there's 16 -- 14 well, it's 19. 15
But those 16 wouldn't be included in your 19 here, 17 right? 18
So are they investigators to the police officers? Where are they in your chart here?
They're not in this chart because they are part of the Police Department and they operate -- 99 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Oh, I see. I'm sorry, sir. I misunderstood. They are not part of the 19. Part of this 7 includes some vacant positions. 8
Okay. How 9 many vacant positions are there right 10 now? 11
There are two 12 vacant investigator positions and one 13 vacant auditor position. 14
So you've 15 already gone up to 19 from 12 even though 16 we're not in FY10? I'm confused. 17
Right, but there were appropriations for 12 people in FY09. How are you spending more money than was appropriated?
I think the -- I'm not certain I understand. The money that has come from other departments is 100 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. what has been the increase.
No. There was a Memorandum of Understanding between the two departments, between the departments.
I'm sorry. Do you have a legal opinion that that's permitted?
We're allowing the Councilman to continue this line of questioning so his thoughts will not be broken. He's taking my time and we only have two people waiting, if that's okay with my colleagues. If you do not like that decision, that's all right.
Councilman, I think the answer is that as long as we stay within our overall appropriation, she's still part of the Mayor's Office, that we are able to effectuate the kinds of changes that Amy had talked about with 101 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. respect to those 12. And we're staying within the overall Mayor's appropriation because of other cuts in other departments, other parts of the Class 100 appropriation.
Because you've transferred essentially a large part of the burden to Commerce and other places --
That's the future. I thought you were talking about FY 2009.
Well, I am, but there's testimony here that there's already a Memorandum of Understanding in place and that dollars have been transferred from DHS for this purpose and other agencies. Would you please provide the Chair with a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding and all detail about how monies have flowed with respect to funding the Inspector General in FY 2009 rather than taking our time to figure out today? This is something we're going to 102 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. have to come back to.
So what would be the impact to promoting good ethics in government accountability for the City workforce if you are budgeted at people or eight people so that we can 9 use these resources in the departments to 10 serve citizens? What would be the 11 impact? 12
The best example that I can give is DHS. The grand jury -- the DA's Office grand jury indictment indicted two employees of the City, but we followed up on that investigation and went up two chains of command and found significant misconduct, and based on that misconduct, we recommended that eight additional people be fired from DHS.
When did 103 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that happen?
I believe that was August and September of this past summer.
How many people were in the Inspector General's Office at that time?
I'm sorry, sir. I don't know the number off the top of my head. It was less than we had now. We had actually the entire office working on that case.
If you could provide that information to the Chair, I'd appreciate it. I have some questions for the Chief Integrity Officer, but I can do that on my next five minutes, Charlie.
Thank you, 104 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Madam President. I go back to my original question about space allocation. The Ethics Board, where are they located?
They're in rented space. I think it's on Chestnut Street. I don't have the address, but we can get that for you, but they are in a leased space at this point.
I do not personally, but we can get that information for you.
Okay. And I'd be interested in knowing how that 105 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. location was picked and whether or not it might be better to have them in consolidated space.
Well, as I mentioned to you in response to your earlier question, we've undertaken an entire review of that, all of our leased space, and the Public Property Commissioner is under direct orders from the Mayor to make sure that we can try to consolidate and get out of as much leased space as possible.
And let me just say the reason why I mention that specifically is that there's some other agencies that share that building and they're being told that they need to vacate because of the leased space and how much it costs the City of Philadelphia. So I was wondering if that is a uniformed decision or a decision that is arbitrary and capricious.
It was clearly not an arbitrary and capricious decision. 106 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. I mean, I actually saw the letters that the Public Property Commissioner sent out to every one of our land -- each one of our landlords that we have in leased space to try to get either a reduction in the rental rate or a reduction in our footprint to the extent that they would allow us to do that, and as I indicated, several of those landlords have indicated a willingness to work with the City to try to reduce those costs and/or footprints.
Well, it's my understanding that the City already pays for that space over in that location. I know --
Also, the other entity that was in there was PCDC. So I know exactly where the space is and 107 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. how much. And if they are being told that they need to vacate that space based on the fact that we're trying to reduce our rents, I'm curious as to why we wouldn't have a uniformed approach for all agencies within that building.
I'm not familiar with that particular situation, but I'm sure the Public Property Commissioner will be able to address it.
Thank you, Madam President. Could we please ask the -- while this is my personal opinion -- the guru for sustainability to come forward, Mark Alan Hughes.
Good morning. 108 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Mark Hughes, Director of Sustainability.
I'm good. I join the many on this Council who continue to be very, very excited about what this means for the City. If you had to ID a city that gets it and is well on their way to being what we aspire to be and, that is, the greenest city in America, who would you pick and why?
Well, if I may, let me give you a couple of answers to that question. I think that the city that is perhaps our closest peer in terms of a city that's like Philadelphia that we could aspire towards is City of Chicago. A city that is less obviously 109 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. comparable to the city we are now but that also provides a number of inspirational features to their sustainability policy would be probably the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.
Okay. I'm still very much a student in this area, but I would have selected Chicago as well, for the limited knowledge that I have. A number of members of Council have introduced different type of sustainability bills and we have not gotten any pushback, but we have gotten a caution as to how we proceed because your office is in the progress -- work in progress of coming up with a strategic plan of sorts. Give us an update on where that is and what your action steps are with regards to rollout.
Thank you very much. I welcome that opportunity. We are on track to release the 110 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. City's sustainability framework, as we're calling it, by the end of this month, April, and we've been working closely with several members of Council, including your office obviously, in developing that framework. The framework consists basically of six large goals and very 10 specific targets, as well as a list of 11 initiatives by which we'll seek to meet 12 those targets. And many of them relate 13 to issues that are near and dear to the 14 work of many Councilmembers; for example, 15 green buildings and so on.
But it's important to note that the framework won't be a set of tablets carved in stone and brought down from on high. It's very much a living document. And so really what will be released at the end of April is, for want of a better word, a snapshot of where we're at now, and there'll be lots of aspirations still in that document and 111 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. certainly lots of work to do after that release as we unroll and unwind years of work on this topic.
So there will be benchmarks, if you will, in terms of time posts?
Yes, ma'am. Absolutely. In fact, the 15th target is that we meet the preceding 14. And so we plan on having both a series of annual progress reports that will be the occasion for the City to, just much like the end of this month will be, to kind of pause, take a breath and see where we are, but also more frequently than that kind of old-school annual report type technique, we will also have things that look much more like realtime feedback in terms of where we're at, so that kind of web-based and other kinds of ways that people can access information about -- for example, to take only one example, the City's progress towards meeting its target of reducing energy consumption, so 112 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that we'll be able to report monthly where our energy consumption is at and how it tracks against our targets and so on.
Okay. Is the Office of Sustainability connected to or tied up with or, where appropriate, serving as the glue for like the Energy Coordinating Office or the Green Building Council or the Sustainability Business Network so that there's some -- each one of those worlds is important. It makes no sense if they're all operating independently. So is there some glue that sort of ties all those parts together?
Yes, ma'am. In fact, that's a terrific description of the kind of matrix management approach that we're trying to operate under both inside of government and with our partners outside of government. For, again, as you rightly point out, the City and the region are actually rich with 113 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. external partners in the private sector, the non-profit side. In fact, I would place that resource up against any of the cities, including Chicago and Vancouver, some of the pinnacles that we were talking about before, against any city in the United States in terms of the depth and breadth of the work and knowledge in those external partners, and for years really what they've looked to is who is sitting at the City's seat at that table. So that the Mayor's Office of Sustainability represents the opportunity to pull a chair up to that table. And because of the special nature of government, we do operate much like the glue. Everyone wants that public presence at that table. The framework operates in a similar kind of way. The framework really is an occasion not so much now in a table up to which we pull chairs, but a document where we try to combine different interests and work and so on. 114 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. The framework represents as well an occasion to inventory all of that work and put it on the same piece of paper, if you will, rather than just around the same table. So the framework is an opportunity to talk not just about what's going on in City government, but those strong partners on the outside as well. (Bell rung.)
Okay. The bell has rung, so on my next round, I'll have additional questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would just refer the Administration to Section 16 of the Operating Budget of Philadelphia, which is the General Provisions, which requires the kinds of changes that were just discussed, functions transferred from one 115 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. office to another, money transferred, et cetera, requires notification of Council or approval of Council, depending on the move. So I'm very concerned about the most recent testimony we've heard, and I would -- I just have one more question for the Inspector General and then the Chief Integrity Officer. (Witness approached witness table.)
You said that you have police officers that are essentially detailed to you. Are you conducting criminal investigations?
Yes, we are, in conjunction with federal and state law enforcement.
Can you compare that to, say, an Inspector General in the federal government or the federal level for a particular department? Do they conduct criminal investigations or do they refer them? 116 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. I'm talking that there's a difference between conducting the investigation and referring something for a criminal investigation, which is what I understand other Inspector Generals do. Like I'm not aware of an Inspector General at the federal level that has law enforcement officers reporting to them.
I think that I can compare the Inspector General's Office to that which exists in Chicago, in New York, in Miami and several other cities. Their Inspector General Offices, like ours, work hand in hand with law enforcement to conduct criminal investigations.
But law enforcement are reporting to you. Is that true in any other cities?
Yes. Yes. In fact, in Newark, the Inspector General's Office is made up completely of police officers who report directly to the Inspector General. 117 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Okay. It's very different from the way the position was described as we were looking to go out with a Charter amendment that would create an independent position. Do you think it is any kind of conflict to have the Mayor's Office conducting criminal investigations other than an independent agency?
Of course I think that an independent agency, there would be no appearance that the Mayor is in some way directing or influencing an investigation. Because we don't have that Charter change, this proposed new budget is an intermediate step towards that.
But maybe without that Charter change, it's not appropriate.
Okay. Thank you. 118 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Chief Integrity Officer, please. (Witness approached witness table.)
It is afternoon. Good afternoon. Joan Markman, Chief Integrity Officer.
I would describe my function consistent with the Executive Order that created it. It's a combination of -- it generally promotes integrity and transparency and honesty in the functions of City government, and to do that, I provide advice and resources to everyone within the executive department and actually on occasion when 119 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. called by people in City Council about particular contracts. I also review government procedures to try and make sure they're working right and to, where necessary, make some changes, and it generally has to do with the disposition mostly with City contracts, but also with the provision of City services.
So how does your office provide services about advice that would be any different from the Ethics Board?
We work closely together. However, there is a difference. The difference is is that I am somebody who works for the Mayor and provides resources, particularly in contracting. Let me give you some examples. I get calls -- actually, a good one is, the Mayor has set up a Private Sector Task Force, and as you know, the Administration is interested in getting private sector partners to help us with 120 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the functioning of City government and ways to make things more efficient. Although a number of those private sector -- the companies that provide this service are doing it free, they're doing it without charge to the City, it does raise not just the possibility of an actual conflict of interest but appearance of conflicts of interest. So I've worked with the Private Sector Task Force to develop policies and forums and assurances that there will be no 14 conflicts of interest in future contracting as a result of these companies coming in to help us in the present, and that is not something the Ethics Board gets involved with, because that's a function of the executive. (Bell rung.)
Well, yeah, but the Ethics Board could provide an opinion on whether or not something is a conflict of interest and provide the same sort of assurance. Also, we have an 121 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Inspector General that's got people now that has the resources to if there is an abuse of that process where people get contracts as a result of participating in the Private Sector Task Force, they can go after them. It just seems like an extraordinarily redundant function given the fact that we now are spending a million dollars on an Ethics Board and 1.39 million on an Inspector General to have somebody who is providing advice when -- when I need advice, I have to go to the Ethics Board. I'm not sure -- frankly, the position seems redundant to me.
It is not. 18 This is obviously a very, very high 19 priority for this Administration, and one of the other things that the Integrity Officer does is that she provides advice in advance and helps us set up procedures. The Inspector General often, not always but often, is kind of after the fact. It's kind of after something 122 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. has gone wrong, after we've had a problem, then you call in the Inspector General. What the Chief Integrity Officer does in many instances is that it allows us to make sure that we don't get to the point where we have a problem in the first place, so that provides guidance, monitoring, a lot of things within the executive branch that may not always be clearly apparent to the public, but certainly makes for the more highly -- a very high degree of integrity in the processes that we in fact undertake going forward as opposed to kind of trying to fix things that have happened in the past.
I know, but you're describing the mission statement of the Ethics Board. They have a whole procedure for requesting -- writing in opinions requesting whether or not it's ethical, and if it's with respect to something that's related to contracting or something that wouldn't technically be 123 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. under their mandate, the City Solicitor's Office under the Charter is required to provide that information, and they have the resources and people who already are available to provide opinions. So, once again, there's no 8 function that you've described that is not already performed by other departments.
But the two examples that you cited, one with the Ethics Board and one with the Law Department, really is a narrow function of legal interpretation. A lot of the times the activity of the Chief Integrity Officer is not necessarily legal. It's sometimes good policy and practice, and she brings that level of review, sensitivity and direction and a focus point, quite frankly, which is one that this Administration thinks very highly of. And so she doesn't operate in purely giving legal opinions. She gives a lot of advice and helps us -- helps the 124 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Administration maintain its integrity, which is a very, very high value for us.
Once again, I didn't hear anything you described that isn't performed by other people, and it seems like a redundant position to me. Thank you.
Thank you. I think Councilwoman Tasco was in the corridor. She indicated that she had a few questions to ask.
Sure. Mr. Hughes, please take the witness table. (Witness approached witness table.)
Could you 125 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. just tell us what the entire budget is for the Office of Sustainability within the Mayor's Office and then externally and where those resources come from?
Yes. Within the Mayor's Office, it's my salary, which used to be higher and now it's lower. It's 139. And the total budget counting that as well as -- most of the budget actually resides within the Managing Director's Office. So the total budget is -- we'll talk more about this tomorrow, but the total budget would be about $1.2 million. Over half of that is from external sources, and then the reduced amount that's not my salary that comes from the General Fund is actually a ten percent reduction on the Municipal Energy Office budget that we absorbed. So that's really where the main source of repurposed money from earlier budgets.
So grant funding, it's your testimony, is 600,000? It was 400,000 last year. 126 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Okay. If you could provide the detail of what grants are and other stuff, that would be great. And then the rest of the roughly 600,000 is from the General Fund?
Mr. Hughes, let's not forget about stimulus. You're going to give us a briefing, I'm told.
Yes, ma'am. I'm happy to do that. We're trying to schedule, I think, as soon as possible.
Yes. Thank you. I have one quick question. Do you plan to fund the Mayor's Commission on Construction Industry 127 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Diversity?
As you know, Councilwoman Tasco, that Commission, it's concluded its work and has delivered a report to both the Council President and to the Mayor, and there has been a suggestion, which the Administration has taken under advisement, that we would continue with some group, advisory group, if you will, and we have not made a decision, a final decision, on that, but it's certainly something that we're taking under advisement. It was a recommendation made by the Commission.
Then how does the Administration plan to support their goals, their suggested goals, of increased diversity?
Well, the plan was when that Commission was first -- was constituted was that they would basically hand over -- make a series of recommendations to an existing entity within the government, that being the 128 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Office of Equal Opportunity, OEO. So it had always been contemplated that the activities or recommendations that the Diversity Commission would make would be operationalized by the activities of Office of Economic Opportunity. As part of the recommendations that the Commission made, they suggested that they would have a continued advisory role, and we are taking that under advisement. We just got that recommendation a couple weeks ago.
Will the staff of the Office of Equal Opportunity be sufficient to support the -- to fulfill the goals that were set forth?
That's one of the reasons why we haven't made a decision yet. We're taking a look at that in the context of its overall ability.
129 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. You're welcome. The Chair again recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam Chair. If it's my turn, I do have additional questions.
Thank you. For Office of Sustainability, the briefing on the stimulus will be for Councilmembers as a group, correct?
The briefing on -- okay. So I can hold those questions until then. Councilman Jones introduced a measure around green enterprise zones. Let me ask a different question. You mention that the framework that you're going to share with us will cover a number of different areas. Is green jobs one of them? 130 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Zones as such only as a proposal, as a proposal that we've heard from Council.
Okay. Councilman Jim Kenney introduced a measure that is now law around green roofs. Is there any reporting? Is there any way we can get a handle on how effectively that new measure is being utilized in the City, its awareness of it, so that those who are doing new construction take advantage of that new measure?
Right. We have had discussion of that in the framework, and because it is about the take-up rate in that and trying to look for ways that we can identify that will improve the marketing and take-up rate of the -- because it's not well known, not nearly as well known as it should be. 131 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
In fact, I often in my talks, kind of a set-up when I'm talking to outside groups, is praise New York City's green roof tax credits and get everybody mumbling about wouldn't it be great if Philadelphia had such a thing, and then I'm able to point out to them that in fact we had it a year before New York did and theirs is largely modeled on Councilman Kenney's. So there needs to be some better marketing of that. The Revenue Department needs to change some of the forms actually that allows the credits be more easily implemented and so on.
So you make plain what another department could or should do. Is there some system in place which offers those recommendations and then does the follow-up or follow-through to make sure that that recommendation happens so that that 132 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. particular new opportunity can be utilized?
Exactly. That's what the Sustainability Working Group that several Councilmembers are -- Council staffers are active members that we meet monthly around across departments. There's about 75 people who meet and two dozen City departments, as well as some Council staff to kind of work through exactly those kind of implementation issues.
One moment, please. I believe the Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney for a point of information.
Thank you, Madam President. Relative to the point of information, just today I, just when I left the Chamber, had a meeting with a 133 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. person from a local bakery who was looking at the opportunity to put a green roof on their building and was not aware of the green roof tax credit. They are aware of it now, and I put them in the right direction. But the other issue I think is that what your Sustainability Office has to do is articulate to the private sector, to the commercial sector that this is not just good things for the environment, that this is going to save them money. As it relates to storm water runoff rates, management rates, those kind of things are money. Because we had an issue in here a couple years ago relative to a green roof requirement on a big-box store over 50,000 square feet and Councilmembers expressed some concern about the cost of that and the development community expressed concerns about the cost of it, but right now based on the state requirements for storm water management and the Water Department's new 134 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. requirement on rates, anybody who built a big-box store that had a green roof on it to begin with would be saving an awful lot of money in the future. So I think it's twofold. It's getting the information out to the existing companies, but also articulating to them that it's not just tree hugging, that it's good business and creates jobs and saves them money. Thank you.
With the green jobs component that we'll look forward to reading, is there a tie-in or link-in with Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation?
Yes. Absolutely. So that -- and there's actually a lot to say about both the green economy and the green jobs piece of this, especially on the workforce side, but there are a 135 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. couple things happening. One, using both public dollars through existing youth and adult titles in the workforce system itself, there is several examples of emerging curriculums. Some of the most familiar of our service providers on the workforce side; for example, JEVS, Impact and others, understand that this emerging market and the demand that both the federal recovery dollars but also just the big changes in the world are creating for -- these are the new jobs for which they need to be presenting, delivering training services. So using existing titles, also using new additions to existing titles coming from the federal recovery dollars, which are themselves targeted to some of these opportunities, there's a lot of activity emerging. Also, on the private side, the City was, as you know, Councilwoman, was the recipient of recently a $1.1 million grant from the Knight Foundation, a million dollars of which is focused on 136 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. opening up a new regional green jobs training center in Kensington with ECA, the Energy Coordinating Agency, that will ratchet up and eventually be in a position to train during the course of two years 800 new positions on a variety of things, from energy auditors to insulation installers and so on.
Okay. So my final comment would be, as you roll out the strategy, it's imperative that we honor what Van Jones talks about a lot, and, that is, making sure that young people are on the fringe and the underemployed and the homeless, et cetera, have some kind of pipeline to these opportunities, which don't require sophisticated skills and college degrees. And so I would hope that somewhere in there there is -- you tell us how we're going to capture that segment of our population. (Bell rung.)
Absolutely. In 137 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. fact, I think we were deeply flattered in Philadelphia that Van has started using a line that was first used by the Mayor, that the green economy represents opportunities for everyone, from the GED to the Ph.D., and it's our primary interest. While we've got plenty of spaces at the table through the Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners and the stuff that's going on at the Navy Yard and the universities and so on at one end of that distribution, it's really the other end that is our primary focus. It's those easily accessible jobs that can be -- and we're looking at school-based programs. We're looking at Community College-based programs for returners. We're looking at special -- much of the workforce system is oriented around dislocated and disconnected workers, people who have either never had a job or who do not now have a job and have dropped out of school. So there's lots of 138 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. provisions -- I'm sorry to be speaking so fast, but I know the bell has rung.
Oh, good. There are lots of provisions inside existing funding flows that if we seek to, we can connect with exactly the population that you're talking about. COUNCILWOMAN Brown: Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Councilwoman, there's a point of information. Councilman Jones.
Thank you. On the line of what my colleague talked about, would you agree that the more demand that we create for green, the more opportunity there is for businesspeople to fulfill that demand?
Yes, sir, with one slight proviso, which is that it matters 139 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. what level of government creates that demand. So that local levels of government, it's much more difficult for us to always play the demand creation game, because sometimes that could have -- that could backfire on us. Whereas, higher levels of government create level playing fields that can more successfully create some of that demand. But as a general matter, absolutely. Creating demand creates opportunity, yes, sir.
You know, one good thing about being an elected official, you know when you hear the spin, that it's either -- no matter what level creates the demand, the private sector responds to the marketplace by demand. So if there is a greater demand for green roofs, then the probability of the Horticultural Societies of the world will take advantage of that. The greater demand for solar will create manufacturers who actually start to 140 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. manufacture and assemble solar panels. So my point in that is that if we as a municipality at this level start to say like in the Silicon Valley that we are going to be the leader of green, then people making a business decision as to where they will locate a distribution hub or a factory may pick Philadelphia based on its commitment to that green. Secondly, there is stimulus money that is coming down for -- and it's hit the state now -- for wind, and that was just announced yesterday in yesterday's paper. To the degree that we can capitalize and brand ourselves and stop using the "big brother" syndrome of New York -- I understand that a lot of things -- we want to be New York. We want to be New York, but we can be the best Philadelphia by being trail blazers as opposed to imitators, and I would encourage us not to be afraid to do that. I know that we took their book and we looked at it and we said, Oh, we want to 141 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be like that, but if by definition we -- if we always follow the leader, we will always be behind the curve. And I think that we have a unique opportunity here to get ahead of the curve on some of these issues, to be trail blazers on some of these issues. You also mentioned that you're creating the pipeline on jobs. I would encourage we did the tour of the Randolph Skills Center up on Henry Avenue. We had a couple of unions. Dr. Ackerman also went up there. But that is last century's infrastructure that can be turned into this century's opportunity. But we got to get you up there. We got to get you to look at and to kind of help them design curriculums that are forward-thinking as opposed to just what we've experienced in the last century.
I'd love to go up. Thank you. I'd be very pleased to tour the center.
On green 142 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. zones, there are two ways to roam. There are a couple of ways if we think about it, and I want you to keep an open mind, because I know there's some other Councilpeople that when they recommend something, it's like the oceans part, and it's a little harder for freshmen's ideas to get a real good look, and I understand that, but we fight harder to do so. I want to look at places where we can concentrate activities so that people can actually see the physical result of our activities. So as we look at a broad-brush view, which I appreciate and understand your concept of, but there's some depressed areas that if we declared green zone, that could probably be stimulated a lot quicker by us concentrating those efforts in those areas. And I'm talking about Hunting Park, I'm talking about Parkside, I'm talking about American Street. And these are areas that if we kind of concentrated there, that we could 143 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. see a lot of activity attracted based on the fact of marketplace opportunity. And I'll just leave it at that.
You're welcome. Councilwoman Brown, your light is on. Are you finished?
Hi. Good afternoon. I just have a couple of questions regarding green jobs. That just seems to be a very popular phrase. Everywhere you read, everything you pick 144 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. up is green, green, green. So is there any place that has a listing or would you have a listing when you're talking about -- when you talk about creating a pipeline for green jobs? I had a constituent stop me over the weekend and he wanted to know what is a green job and what should he be doing right now to get prepared for what he thinks he can probably qualify for to get a green job and how soon. I mean, because that's what the bottom line is. People want to work, and when they hear green, the first thing I think of is landscaping, but I'm sure it must be more than that. I mean, who is going to install a green roof? During NTI when we went out and we looked at houses that needed to be demolished or eminently dangerous, when we saw grass growing and weeds growing out of like downspouts and those kind of things, we actually were very -- it was very important for us to contact the 145 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. owner to say, Hey, you're getting ready to destroy your property. But now we're talking about putting a green roof on. I do know there's a difference. Last year I did go over to the Flower Show, so I could see the difference between a green roof and weeds growing out. So I do know that. But, I mean, this is all new. The terminology is new. It's kind of fancy and it's not fancy, but the bottom line is, people want to work. What should they be doing?
Yes, ma'am. That's a great question. As your question suggests, it's a number of things. There are some things that are literally green, like landscaping jobs, and there are a variety of activities that we could talk about there. There are another set of issues that are kind of a little bit more environmental, like composting and recycling and construction demolition and so on. But the one that I 146 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. would focus on these days, for a variety of reasons that we could talk at length about later, is related to weatherization. And that's -- let me just give two reasons why I think that. One is because there is so much attention right now in the federal recovery bill 9 around funding for that. To refer back to Councilman Jones' discussion of demand, that is where the demand is bankable, $5 billion on weatherization. Secondly, the second reason why for Philadelphians in particular is that we have inherited a bunch of buildings that are great candidates for weatherization, the 440,000 row houses that we have in this city, and virtually all of them need more attic insulation and more caulk around doors and windows, and so on and so on and so on. So that it's really, I think, work related to weatherization around buildings, especially on the residential side, is the best possible investment. That's the 147 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. preparation that we're talking about. And then we can be much more specific about what a certain individual might need. For example, to really move up the ladder that weatherization can represent, you need some basic math skills, because the second job after you've learned how to blow the attic insulation up, which you can do in a matter of just a few weeks and probably step in pretty quickly into a $12 to $14 an hour job, the next step on that ladder is to be the person who walks into that house and figures out how much attic insulation that house needs. And so there are a set of skills, still very attainable, but that can lead you more into like a $20 to $25 an hour job. It's one of the great advantages of this weatherization stuff, is that it builds real ladders for people.
Okay. So when do you think these jobs will actually start to happen? I mean, we keep -- 148 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Well, on the weatherization side, again, this is one of the advantages of having the -- I don't know what metaphor I want to use -- the sword swinging over our head of the federal recovery. We need to begin this work by September at the latest, because we will have lots of oversight and some very stringent requirements around having all of that money spent within months. 12
And I 13 think that I hear you say that the ECA 14 will actually be a part of this? 15
So 17 someone could actually -- we could 18 actually call ECA and find out what their recruiting mechanism is going to be?
ECA exists. That will probably be the most direct call. There are also -- I bet that there are few familiar service providers in the workforce system that people could call today, like JEVS, like Impact, like MCC, 149 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. like the settlements, who have not already begun to design a weatherization curriculum for their clients.
That's really good. That's good information. Thank you.
I'm going to recognize Councilwoman Blackwell because she hasn't had her turn yet. I think immediately after her line of questioning, we'll recess and come back. And, Mr. Armbrister, before I forget to mention, Council would like to have the copies of testimony from the various departments 48-hour business days before the public hearing. Also, I think we've asked several questions regarding the Five-Year Plan. As I speak, we have not received any responses. Can we have responses within hours, please. 23 The Chair recognizes 24 Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank 150 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you, Madam President. I'm referring to from our Operating Budget with regard to professional services. If we look there, we see that some $470,000 has been allocated, but it says "to be determined." Does that mean the other providers will not be considered people who have done work for the City for years? I see Whitten and Diamond. We all know them. In fact, Lucien worked with them for a while. Wojack and many others. And also as that relates to Bill 15 No. 090214, that purchase of services says $670,000. So we have a 200,000 shortfall in the middle. Can you reconcile that for us?
Councilwoman, I'm going to take your first question first. I'm not sure I understand your second one yet, but I'll go back to it. We talked a little bit about this earlier, but the fact that we've indicated "to be determined" is more of a 151 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. reflection of the fact that all of those lobbying contracts are coming to the end and we'll probably have to rebid those, but it does in no way indicate that those lobbyists who have served us well and long won't be reconsidered for continuing activity. And I think Councilwoman Tasco asked me in the absence of having those RFPs completed, will we continue with those services, and the answer is yes, we would, until the RFP is done. Now, with respect to your second question, I'm not sure I understood.
Yes. In the pink copy, the bill, the figure listed is 686,669, but here in our supportive detail in our budget book, the figure is 469,565. So there's a $200,000 difference.
Right. I think what's reflected here is a combination of a couple of things. One is that we reduced the expenditures that 152 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we're going to spend in that class, and the other reflects a transfer of about $55,000 of a contract that the IG has with an investigative arm that was transferred to what is going to be that budget. So I think that's the reflection of those monies.
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Mr. Armbrister.
You're welcome. It is now of 1:00. I 15 suggest we stand in recess until 1:30. 16 Thank you. 17 (Luncheon recess.) 18
The 19 Committee of the Whole is now back in 20 session. We'll continue where we left off. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 153 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. If you would come back to me, just give me two minutes to collect my papers, I'd appreciate it.
Madam President, I will yield my time. I've got the answer that I wanted.
Councilwoman Miller is not here. Councilman Green, there's no 14 one else to be recognized, if you're ready.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I would like to say to Ms. Kurland that my father would want me to extend his hello to you, and he has great affection for your family and your father, and I want you to understand that I'm just asking questions about the budget and the Kurlands have been great public servants in 154 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Pennsylvania, and we thank you for that, and I'm glad that you are continuing in service.
So with that said, I just have one -- I think the final question I had was about the 55,000 in Class 200 in the OIG's Office which was done, and I'll just sum up where I am on this testimony today by saying -- and I've said this many times -- governing is about choosing between competing ideas for good, and all dollars that come out of the General Fund are fungible. If we don't use them for one thing, we use them for another. We have identified $500,000 within the Mayor's Office budget that the Administration has stated that they have no specific purpose for that money and they don't know how that money will be spent, and I'd just like to give the Chief of Staff an opportunity to correct that if that expenditure has been 155 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. identified.
The first thing I'd like to correct, Councilman, I think the number, at least that showed on my budget sheets, is 420,000, not the 500,000.
That's just Class 100. There's also Class 200 dollars there.
The second thing is, we are looking at the potential use of those resources, and whether or not we ultimately use those resources will be determined between now and the end of the budget process.
So you won't ask us to appropriate them without having identified their use then; is that what you're saying?
Okay. Thank you. So as questioned this morning 156 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. from Councilmembers Miller, Clarke and others indicated, a significant portion of the supposed spending reductions in FY10 within the Mayor's Office budget has to do with shifting funding within the broader Mayor's group and other City departments. It appears that the Mayor's budget was reduced by far less than $2 million. As the Council President noted, our questions about these reductions go back to the questions asked of the Administration almost two weeks ago about the Five-Year Plan. I believe those questions started with Mr. McPherson. Council requested a detailed step-by-step review of funding by department and class, moving from the FY09 appropriations through the November 2008 rebalancing plan, through any further interim adjustments and to the proposed FY10 budget. In order to make responsible, informed decisions about the proposed 157 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. budget, we need to understand what changes actually have been made since the last year, what departments have in fact been cut and what the impacts have been of these changes. Thank you, Madam President.
Yes. The Council will be receiving those documents that Mr. Green certainly alluded to. And I want to just make it clear with respect to the Mayor's Office when we talked earlier, that from the FY09 adopted budget to the FY10 proposed budget, even taking into account the reductions that we identified through the reorganization for the Inspector General's Office as well as the Office of the Chief Cultural Officer, that that budget has been 158 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. reduced by about percent, and we'll be in a position to reflect that to the Council and to the membership when we send you our responses to the FY Five-Year Plan.
Thank 8 you. Thank you. 9 Are there any other questions 10 from members of the Committee? 11 (No response.) 12
Our 16 next department? MR. McPHERSON: The next department is the Mayor's Labor Relations Unit. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. 159 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Good afternoon, President Verna and members of City Council. My name is Joseph Tolan and I am the Director of the Office of Labor Relations. I am here to present the Office's request for our Fiscal Year 2010 Operating Budget. The mission of the Office of Labor Relations is to coordinate relations citywide between management and labor organizations representing City employees to create an effective partnership to better serve the public. Our objectives include facilitating dispute resolution and labor-management cooperation, educating managers and supervisors about labor law and the contracts, supporting collective bargaining efforts and providing strategic advice and contract interpretation to department heads and upper management. Among the areas that we focus in are collective bargaining. All four 160 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. of our contracts expired last year on June 30th. We entered into one-year contracts or one-year arbitration awards with the four major unions. Because of that, we are now currently back into the bargaining cycle, and we anticipate that through the remainder of this fiscal year and the first half of the next fiscal year, we'll focus much of our efforts and resources on contract negotiation and interest arbitration. We continue to work in the area of training. We provide regularly scheduled training to department supervisors and managers. We also work in the area of contract administration, where we provide advice and guidance to departments as they implement different changes in the work process. We help them understand the contract and understand how to manage change. We support dispute resolution. We serve as the final in-house step of grievances filed by both AFSCME District 161 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Councils. We receive approximately 100 grievances each year at our level. Typically we dispose of that amount. There was a smaller drop-off last year due to the intensity of the collective bargaining process. We also work in the area of labor-management cooperation, where we facilitate efforts by departments and their union representatives to change their work environment. We've worked in the Fire Communication Center to develop a new schedule, which has reduced some of our overtime costs and eliminated some absenteeism issues, while promoting productivity. We are requesting $485,415 in the FY10 General Fund budget, which represents a decrease of $58,935 from our FY09 estimated obligations. We are accomplishing that decrease by the mid-year elimination of one of our Deputy Director positions. The remainder of our budget 162 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. breaks down into the following categories: $457,501 in Class 100 to support the six filled positions for the entire year; $11,414 in Class 200; $16,500 in Classes 300 and 400 for materials, supplies and equipment. Although it's not specified in the written testimony that was submitted, for the sake of clarity, I wanted to say on the record that we have let no 12 contracts in FY09. We don't anticipate letting any contracts in FY10. So we're not in a position to report on any minority participation, because we simply haven't let any contracts. With that, I'm available to answer any questions you might have.
Mr. Tolan, it is my understanding that the Mayor has requested various work rule changes and that the unions have not been responsive. Is that correct?
I think it's premature to say that they haven't been 163 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. responsive. We're only at the beginning of the process of exchanging collective bargaining agreements with them. Traditionally with the police and fire unions we have very cursory kinds of discussions and then we move into the interest arbitration cycle, and we're doing that now. We've selected arbitration panels. We're arranging dates. We're doing the things that we have to do to get that process started. We will be meeting with the civilian units in the next couple of weeks and opening formal negotiations and having a formal discussion about the kinds of things that we think need to happen to help us reduce our costs.
Thank you. Can you tell us what it costs the City to negotiate its contract with the various unions? Just give us on an average, if you can.
My problem is that 164 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. so much of the cost is split up among other departments. The Finance Department kind of pays directly the bills of an interest arbitrator. Under Act 111, the City is responsible for paying the cost and the expenses of that process. It's not unusual to have that be $37,000 to $40,000 for the arbitrators' fees. In terms of what the Law Department supplies as support, contracts with outside experts, it's really difficult. I mean, in the last year, our budget is about $450,000, and we spent much of our time on that in the course of a year when we're doing contract negotiation.
So actually I guess in the City's budget, there is nowhere that you could refer us to that would give us what the amount would be?
No, I couldn't. (Witness approached witness 165 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. table.)
Not now, but we will put that together. I mean, it's in a few places, so we'll put it together and get back to you.
Mr. Tolan, if the Administration does not receive the concessions from the unions as assumed in the Five-Year Plan, do you know what the alternatives are?
Based on the Mayor's address and what I have heard here at these proceedings, there's an intention then to have to reduce the size of the workforce.
In the event that happens or should it happen, can you tell us when the Administration decides to implement the 166 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. layoffs of the City employees what is the process they must follow?
Under the collective bargaining agreements, there's a requirement that we give the unions about 30 days of notice. We meet with the unions. We talk to them about --
Mr. Tolan, can you pull the microphone closer? Thank you.
We're required under our contracts to give the unions 30 days of notice. We meet with them during that time and we explore alternatives, as well as discussing with them issues about possible out-placing of employees. We've gone through this process in the fall when we had our initial reduction in force. And while that's going on, operating departments are constructing layoff registers. They're being checked by the Office of Human Resources. Notice is being given to individual employees. The entire process for that first step 167 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. can take about six weeks. Employees are given an opportunity to elect to bump down, to demote to lower-level positions, if that's possible. That can start a second round of the process where we again give them notice, do scores, bump individuals down. I think we accomplished the layoffs in the fall within about a three-month period.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Krajewski.
Your testimony refers to the establishment and staffing of the 3-1-1 call center. How many City employees were transferred to the call center from other departments and agencies?
I don't have that 168 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. number. Our role in doing that was to support the department in dealing with the labor unions when we transferred individuals from other work locations in. District Council 33 is organized into ten locals by City departments. When we do a consolidation like that, some individuals move from one local to another. There are different work rules, different work schedules. We try to help work out those differences. I'm certain that we can get you the specifics on who was transferred, but our role there was more to facilitate working with the labor organizations.
Do you know the total number of employees working in the 3-1-1 call center?
No, I don't. I mean, we're not actively managing that. 169 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. We were helping during the transition process. But I'm sure that the Administration can get that number for you.
Well, I guess I'll have to get the answers from them.
Is there someone here that could answer that, Madam President?
Councilwoman Krajewski, we'll have that answer for you tomorrow when the Managing Director --
To the 170 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Chair.
Yes. But the Managing Director will be here in person, I think, tomorrow and can address those issues. I think it's even reflected in some of her testimony as well.
Yes; how many people work in the 3-1-1 call center and how many were transferred.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones. 171 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Thank you, Madam President. Director Tolan, as we start to look at how we achieve some of our cuts and dealing with efficiencies in government, one of the things I would like to know, is your office involved in management efficiencies? And one that came to mind was the fact that one of our large expenses, according to Risk Management, is sanitation workers who actually because of work-related injuries go out on disability, and one of the things that was considered was a different mechanism of collecting trash. Are you involved in those kinds of negotiations per department? This efficiency is something that was done in California with a single-lever truck. Those kinds of issues, would that come before you?
It's possible that they could. Usually when there's a change like that, we already have 172 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. departmentally based safety committees, and an issue like that might first be raised there as a safety issue. If it was felt that it was something that was going to ultimately end up, let's say, with different work configurations, work size, different work hours, then we would be called in to talk about the contract to talk to the union officials and to see if we could work out any disagreements that might arise over implementing it.
So the genesis of that would come first from the department maybe and then wind up in your department?
Okay. So as we start to look at other efficiencies that involve the use of technology and how we used to use paper-laden kind of operation and we go to, for example, scanners that might electronically transmit data as opposed to using a workforce, part of that negotiation is 173 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the redeployment of staff that might be displaced based on that contract?
That's correct. I mean, what you're talking about is usually referred to as something that's decisional bargaining, a place where we have the right to make the decision to make the change to implement the technology. Then we work with the unions talking about the effects on individual workers, where it may be a case where employees would have to be out-placed to other departments or agencies where these other parts of the contract that would come into play.
Finally, if management makes a decision to privatize something, are you involved in that negotiation?
Again, under our contracts, we have some specific language about privatization. We're permitted to do certain kinds of privatization, but we can't actually lay off employees. So to 174 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the extent that we work with the union again on an out-placement issue to try to find a new work assignment for individuals that are going to be displaced, yes, we would work with the union.
And, finally, would you be -- under the premise that in the contract does it say at all if we attempt to privatize something and we find out that it doesn't save the municipality money, is there a provision within the contract often that says it reverts back to?
In our last agreements with both of the AFSCME District Councils, at the direction of the Managing Director, we pursued an idea of competitive contracting, where what we want to do is both for new contracts and for contracts that are already let that we would periodically reexamine, try to have an opportunity for the workforce to, in effect, bid on the work. So we're 175 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. working out those kinds of procedures and standards for how that could operate.
I would be interested -- and I don't know if the rest of Council would. A lot of times we are under the belief that the private sector always does it better, and I would suggest to you maybe that might be true at first, but eventually they get to a place where, based on profit motive, costs incrementally increase to a point where they're made very whole, and I wanted to know if we are safeguarding ourselves as a municipality to be able to take those privatized processes back if in fact they don't achieve the savings that they are claiming in the beginning of the privatization.
Well, I think that that is, again, one of the reasons why the Managing Director was interested in periodically reexamining items, not just the first time that they're contracted out, but on a cycle, so that there could 176 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be an opportunity to review them and to make sure that the savings were still there.
Is there a list of such services and/or departments that have been over time outsourced and privatized that you can provide us?
I think I would have to work with the Budget Bureau to see if they could identify contracts. It's not really kept centrally in our office.
So do you know where they may be kept? I mean, if we're selling off chunks of government and we're not keeping track of whether the cost to government is increasing or decreasing, it just seems to me that we would want to keep an eye on that.
Well, I think, again, as they go through the budget process, the different departments identify items under that category heading of Class 200. 177 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. (Bell rung.)
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. You talk about the grievances. Can you speak to what -- is there a theme in the types of grievances that your office is dealing with?
We deal with a wide range of things. I mean, there's always a certain number of cases that deal with discipline where individuals -- anything from a written reprimand up to a discharge. They might choose to challenge it and instead of going through the civil service process, they may choose to take the grievance in arbitration process. There are circumstances where 178 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. employees believe that they're not paid properly, that they are, in effect, working out of class in a higher level classification. We look at issues like that as well. Certainly when there are decisions made about transferring employees or changing their work hours, different -- almost any item which is under the contract can feed into the system even if it ultimately doesn't rise to the level of being a contract violation.
Along the lines of Councilman Jones, how much oversight or how much intervention do you provide with services that we're outsourcing when there are labor disputes with people that departments are contracting with?
Again, we deal with the City workforce. So if it's already been contracted out, it's not within our purview.
So if 179 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we're contracting with folks who are not following our labor laws, whether it's living wage or others, you will not get involved in those disputes?
It would depend on the particular area that's being disputed. For example, if it was a question of contracting out on a construction project and there was an issue of paying prevailing wage, that would be referred to the Bureau of Labor Standards Unit, which would go out and do an investigation in that case. In other cases, it would depend on who was identified as the enforcement body.
That's on the construction side, but operationally in terms of the departments, that wouldn't come to you?
No. Our focus is on our own City employees who are 180 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. represented by the four major unions.
Okay. So who in the City monitors our outsourced activities to make sure that they're abiding by living wage or other standards that we require?
Well, I think that each department that lets out a contract is responsible for monitoring the performance of the contractors. So, I mean, we don't do that on a centralized basis. It would be the particular agency that ultimately let the contract and is responsible for seeing that the work is done properly in accordance with the contract terms.
So we don't have a mechanism in the City to do that?
Are there different departments who may or may not be up to labor -- know of our 181 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. labor laws to monitor outside contractors?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe it's actually Office of Labor Standards, which used to be in the Mayor's Office, which is now under the Managing Director's Office. So I don't know if the Mayor's Office wants to comment or whether the Managing Director's Office can comment tomorrow, but I believe the Office of Labor Standards is responsible for --
That's why I am trying to get clarity, because that's my understanding from the charge of Labor Standards, but --
It's definitely not Labor Relations. It would be Labor Standards before Labor 182 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Relations.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Could you please -- I only have one question. Can you please describe the difference between negotiating a contract that is not associated with binding arbitration, the difference in how you do that?
Well, the difference is, in the binding arbitration process, we form a tribunal. It's three arbitrators. One is selected by the City, one is selected by the union and then one is jointly selected from a limited list of names provided, for the most part, by the American Arbitration Association. We present evidence. We present expert witnesses, testimony. A 183 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. record is made. The three panel members then go off and in executive session work out the actual terms of the contract. So ultimately the control over the terms are given to this panel, and the deciding vote is a neutral who is from outside either the City's control or the union's control. In negotiation, we have the obligation to bargain in good faith and to try to come to agreement, to come to consensus on the different issues. So we try to educate each other. We try to find out if there are solutions that both sides can live with, but ultimately both sides have to say yes.
Is the entire contract negotiated in that environment or are there certain things that come forward that don't need to get to the arbitration point, like things that are agreed upon in advance of the arbitration?
Well, the 184 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. arbitration really applies to special units that are identified as being eligible for it. Police officers and firefighters are covered under Act 111, and the way that we resolve their contract is through interest arbitration, if there's a dispute. I mean, we could always negotiate to agreement, but our history has been that it's very difficult to do that with the availability of the arbitration process. So normally you either negotiate a contract or you go to interest arbitration.
Are there things that have been -- which I assume is a regular process. Are there things that have been agreed in binding arbitration that can be taken away or can they be negotiated away?
Well, I think that every time that our contract is up, there's an opportunity for the union and the City to agree to changes, and those changes may involve removing an item that 185 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. ended up in a past agreement or changing it in a significant way. If we can't agree, there's also the possibility that the arbitration panel, with the vote of the neutral, would direct us to reduce a benefit or to take something away. In the last round of interest arbitrations, the City's contribution for health insurance was rolled back significantly for both police and fire.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning -- good afternoon it is. You mention early in your testimony that you have not let any contracts yet. So is there a reason for 186 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that?
It's just that in our work there's very little contracting out that we do. Normally if experts are hired, they're hired by the Finance Department or the Law Department.
Following the Councilwoman's futuristic perspective on contracting, do you intend to hire legal counsel on behalf of the City to assist you in the negotiations going forward?
Well, we don't do that hiring, but the Law Department has already in fact hired the party from -- the same party as last year.
Shannon Farmer from 187 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Ballard Spahr is working as our chief labor counsel.
You're welcome. How many employees are in your department?
At the present time there are seven. We anticipate a reduction in force midway through the next fiscal year to bring us down to six.
There's a mixture. We have two civil service employees presently, five exempt employees.
So you have women and men and people of color, of all stripes? 188 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Well, we interface very closely with the Law Department during the collective bargaining process and dispute resolution. We interface closely with the Finance Department and the Managing Director on broader citywide issues. We interface with all of the operating departments, because at any time we can be asked for advice or guidance about anything from a problem employee to a request to change a work schedule. So we pretty much go everywhere that there are unionized employees in the government.
Okay. Any connect with, sit-down with, talk with OEO, Office of Equal Opportunity?
I have not had any occasion to talk directly with them, no. 24
So with that should one assume from that then 189 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that you have not received a copy of the recent report to see what role your office might play with the recommendations stipulated in that report?
I don't recall having seen that report. You know, I just don't recall having seen that. But normally our interfaces with them are when they come to us with a problem about what they do.
So that if they have an employee who they feel they need to discipline, we would become involved.
How will the discontinuation of the Deputy Director of Labor Relations, how would that affect your department, if at all?
It will affect our department. We have tried to time the 190 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. reduction in force to hopefully have concluded our collective bargaining process so that we would hope it would have a minimal effect on that. It will have an effect when we receive requests to assist departments when they're going through different problems and changes. We're going to have to be a little bit more selective about how much support we can give to the department when they're engaged in those kinds of changes. It could have an effect on our grievance handling and dispute resolution 15 process as we sort of shift duties around and people take on other responsibilities. And it could have an impact on our training. I believe we can continue to meet our scheduled formal training obligations, but when we're asked to come in and provide a special session to a department on some issues about discipline or working with the union, we're going to have to take a look at what we can do there. 191 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
The Law Department determines what law firm handles the business of your department?
Has there ever been -- how long have you been in your position?
I've been in the Office of Labor Relations since it was formed in January of 1997.
Has there ever been any opportunity, to your knowledge, where a law firm of color or female-owned law firm has done business with the Office of Labor Relations?
Yes. During the 2000 negotiations, there were a number of law firms, including some which were minority firms.
Well, because we're in a bargaining cycle, we don't do that every year. So it was 2000 was our -- I'm being reminded that we've also gotten some advice from John Nixon from Wolf Block on pension issues. John is a minority. I mean, there are other firms that assist, depending on the pieces that are in front of us, but the selection of the firms is left to the Law Department.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, 193 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Madam Chair. Just to follow up on questions, I can't remember who asked them, but when you provide data about the total cost of labor negotiations in FY09 and the anticipated cost in FY10, please just provide the City employees who are working on it by department, their role in that department, et cetera, salary, percent of time spent on it and also please provide a list of all outside contractors, including the name of the contractor, the scope of the work, term of the contract, when it was last renewed and the contract cost for FY09 and anticipated expenditures for FY10, identifying where the money is for the anticipated expenditures, if you got that. Okay. So the budget detail notes that OLR serves as the coordinating office for the Redesigning Government Initiative.
What work 194 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. was done on that in this year, FY09?
We haven't had any projects that have fallen under that term in the contract. The Redesigning Government Initiative is a special kind of labor-management cooperation effort, but it involves a commitment that there will really be no reduction in force as a result of it, and because of the different kinds of rebalancing efforts, we didn't feel like any of the projects that we worked on with the unions quite fit into that category where we could make that commitment.
So what kinds of things have been subjects of Redesigning Government Initiative in the past?
In the past, one example would be the Police Forensic Laboratory when they were building a new facility where the workers, along with management, helped to design a system to better handle evidence and to increase 195 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the processing capability of the laboratory. In the past, the Revenue Department was considering contracting out its travel audits, audits that took place outside of the Philadelphia region to find out whether or not firms doing business here in fact owed us more taxes. We worked out a system with the union to facilitate the travel of our employees to these sites. They also assisted in developing new pre-audit work techniques to make it more efficient so that we would have to spend less time out of the office. Those are two projects that just come to mind easily.
Have you done anything in the area of implementation of technology in the Redesigning Government Initiative or are there any proposals or projects before you along those lines?
Well, right now we 196 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. don't really have any proposals before us. There's been work in different agencies, which were looking at different types of computer information systems. In the Health Department there was a desire to develop kind of a comprehensive database for accessing information to be used in the mental health field. There was some assistance at one time, although some of the technology problems had proved to be a little bit more difficult to accomplish only in this model.
So are you in the loop as people are talking about those changes?
The structure that's in the contract is that there's a citywide committee and that if either the union or some element of management wants to pursue an RGI, they need to apply and present it to the committee, which is a joint labor-management committee, which then decides whether or not it's suitable. 197 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Will you please provide to the Chair all such requests for FY09?
None? You were just mentioning one in the Health Department which --
Oh, no, no. I thought you were asking for examples of places where we've worked in the past. We have no request for FY09.
So there are no initiatives to redesign government or make it more efficient that have been proposed?
Okay. Do you think that you have the resources to really deal with Redesigning Government Initiatives?
Again, it's going to be a challenge because that's not 198 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. traditionally one of our core areas and especially when we're in the middle of our contract negotiation cycle. I mean, our resources are going to be focused at the bargaining table and through the interest arbitration process. So our resources are limited.
Do you think that that's reflected in this sort of binary choice of service cuts or tax increases?
The sort of binary choice that we have in the budget this year is service cuts or tax increases as opposed to implementing technology or doing other things that would increase efficiency in government; for example, $13 million or the efficiencies identified in our $3.84 billion budget. So do you think that the lack of resources and focus on efficiencies is because you don't have the resources or 199 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. should the work be done elsewhere or is it being done elsewhere in government that you're not aware of?
Well, I think the Redesigning Government Initiative that we talk about is something that's contained in our collective bargaining agreements and it's very specific as to how it's to operate. Ultimately it guarantees that there will be no economic harm suffered by an individual who participates in it. Given the problems that we have, it's difficult to see us entering into a project where we wouldn't at the end of the day want to see fewer people doing a certain process. So it just doesn't seem to fit at this time with that contract language.
So are we prevented from efficiencies or can we unilaterally put them in place?
No. I think that we're not limited. I think that as well the City has solicited, both from the 200 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. unions through the Managing Director's meetings with them, has solicited ideas for efficiencies and is reviewing those. We have opportunities to talk to the union, both at the department level and citywide, about ideas that individuals have. We have opportunities to work together. It's just that the Redesigning Government Initiative is something that's very specific in how it's conducted.
Right, but my question is, when we make changes that cause efficiencies, does that have to be negotiated every time?
No, it doesn't have to be. Again, it's an issue where many of them are ultimately our decision to do if we have a bargaining obligation that follows after that based on the impact on individuals.
Based on the impact on individuals, but not based on the fact that we're creating efficiencies? 201 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Thank you. Last year you trained -- or I guess in FY07, you trained 183 City employees and aimed to train 180 employees in FY08 and FY09. Did you meet your goals?
No, we didn't. We weren't able to meet our goals in terms of the training, because, again, with the collective bargaining cycle, there were times when we had our training sessions scheduled but had to cancel them in favor of the interest arbitration process. (Bell rung.)
The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell. 202 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Thank you, Madam President. I refer to the documentation we received regarding alternative plans. In each one, in each plan, one, two or three, there is listed $125 million. For the Five-Year Plan, it says "employee benefit savings," and we want to know how you -- what your plans are to achieve these savings to the tune of million a 12 year. 13
We have made 14 proposals that are formal and open 15 proposals to the FOP and to the 16 firefighters for changes in such areas as 17 contributions for pensions. We've made 18 proposals for changes in work rules 19 governing overtime. We think that there 20 are a number of areas there that as we go 21 through the process with the unions, we 22 may be able to come up with solutions 23 that they can live with and we can live 24 with that will reduce the cost of 25 per-employee compensation. I mean, 203 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that's part of our challenge in this round of negotiations. So we have not yet formally exchanged proposals with AFSCME. We expect to do that in the next couple of weeks, but the proposals that were exchanged with police and fire I think demonstrate some of the areas we think that there's an opportunity to capture some significant money.
Well, in the worst-case scenario, if they're not received -- unions, everybody feels squeezed on this economy -- what happens then, since these are part of your budget figures?
Again, that's part of the Administration's, I assume, alternative plans for how to deal with it if we can't close the gap in other ways. I mean, my job is to sit with the labor unions and to see if we can agree on ways that we can in fact close the gap and see if we can approach those target numbers. 204 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Thank you. You touched on it briefly there. Many of the things that exist now in the contract, police, fire, who actually puts the list that you negotiate to put in or to extract from a contract? Do the operating departments submit a list to you and you negotiate those things in or out? How does that work?
Well, for police and fire, it's a combination of factors. One is, we sit with the Finance Director, the Chief of Staff, the Managing Director to identify some areas that we think that there's a possibility to get savings. We also do sit with the Fire Commissioner and his senior staff to identify things that they think if we change them in the contract, they would be helpful and help 205 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. them bring costs down. When we talk about the civilian unions, we do survey the departments and we ask them for ideas. We ask them for things that they found that are problems. We review our grievance history during the year. We review the kinds of decisions that have come out and that have cost us money to try to identify areas that we think we can get savings or improve operations by putting them into our proposals.
The reason I ask that, I keep -- every time we ask a question why is something -- why is this done the way it is, well, the Administration comes back and says, It's in the contract. Well, if it's in the contract and they agree that certain things could be better done in a different way, is it the Police Department or Fire Department that comes back and says, We'd like you to try to get this out of our contract? 206 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Yes. I mean, they'll come to us and they'll say, We'd like a change in the way that overtime is paid for court appearance in the Police Department. But since it's an economic benefit, we negotiate with the union. If they don't agree with us, we have to put our case on at arbitration and hope for the best results.
Okay. An example: What about jobs that are done by uniform police officers that could be done by civilians; is that an economic benefit?
It's not, but it's an issue of bargaining unit work, where if a union typically and traditionally performs a certain set of duties, you have to work to get their agreement to take those duties away from them. We have had some language in the past to give us some rights to broaden civilianization, but it's something that we do have to work out through the 207 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. negotiation process, and if we can't get it there, we have to try to get it through the interest arbitration process.
You're welcome. Are there any other questions of this witness? (No response.)
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: The next department is the Mayor's Office of Community Services. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Welcome. Kindly identify 208 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and members of City Council. , Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Community Services. Today I will provide you with a brief description of the work that this agency does and present the proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2010. The Mayor's Office of Community Services requests a Fiscal Year 2010 appropriation of $17,289,477. This figure includes a potential $6 million stimulus allocation, which is demonstrated in the budget detail as split between Class 100 and Class 200, all from the Grants Revenue Fund. The Mayor's Office of Community Services is the Community Action Agency for the City and County of Philadelphia. We are 100 percent grant funded. None of our dollars come from the General Fund. 209 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Our major grant is Community Service Block Grant, which requires us to provide services to individuals and families that live at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty level. An applicant's income may not exceed 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. A family or individual's income is to be based on the total family unit income for the 30-day period immediately prior to the date of service. In Fiscal Year 2009, MOCS provided services to 55,134 people. Beginning July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008, MOCS was under a six-month contract and provided services during this period to 32,991 individuals. To provide these services and oversee subcontracts, MOCS has a staff of 72, ten of which are bilingual. The following are the programs and services that MOCS provides directly or supports with grants: The Community Engagement Unit 210 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. staff is deployed to target high crime in low-income neighborhoods to facilitate and support the wide range of activities related to initiatives which are designed to reduce the devastation that has plagued these neighborhoods in recent times. CEU staff, Community Engagement Unit staff, assists residents with a menu of services and supports designed to strengthen families and communities. These services include preparation of federal and state income tax returns, a completion of entitlement applications for LIHEAP, Crisis and completion of senior citizen entitlement applications for PACE, property tax/rent rebates and water discounts. The CEU staff also provides residents with the necessary referrals to emergency services and/or linkages to meet their needs. The Community Engagement staff also helps to organize neighborhoods by identifying and 211 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. recruiting individuals interested in becoming block captains, Town Watch members or neighborhood advocates to ensure that the Philadelphia's low-income individuals feel empowered to take ownership of their communities. In cases where individuals are unable to advocate for themselves, trained staff will act as their voice, providing them with the skills, supports and resources necessary to tackle the issues affecting their families and communities. Participation in our Fatherhood Initiative Program results in responsible fathers who demonstrate a new understanding of their role as parents. This program annually offers 609 custodial fathers a safe environment, where the men come together with trained staff to identify what their children need in a father. As they move through the 12 weeks of workshops, they discover how to approach fatherhood with the newly developed skills that enable them to 212 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. guide, protect and financially provide for their children. Charged with meeting critical community needs, the Foster Grandparent Program is strengthening communities by utilizing untapped resources of older adults, mobilizing them to serve in local schools and community-based organizations, filling significant gaps and enabling these organizations to expand their capacity.
Over 110 foster grandparents volunteer, representing the diversity of Philadelphia neighborhoods. They are on the front lines of service, providing loving support to this most special population. Our WorkWise Program provides job readiness classes and job placement for TANF recipients who are referred by the County Assistance Office. TANF recipients referred to this program are some of the program's most vulnerable, because they have been unsuccessful in other programs, have successful health 213 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. issues or have children who have been classified as incorrigible. In addition to the programs that we provide and support directly, MOCS also engages with subcontractors for the following programs and services: The North Philadelphia Human Services Development Corporation provides limited case management, linkages and emergency services to residents of North Philadelphia. The Campaign for Working Families provides technical support to MOCS during the income tax season. Workforce 2000 provides low-income individuals with International Computer Drivers License training. Office of Supportive Housing, through this partnership MOCS, supports the services offered at three shelters. The Department of Health Lead Abatement Program, we support this program by MOU, or Memorandum of Understanding, which we support lead abatement of services for at-risk families. The Department of 214 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Recreation with MOCS, we support six older adult centers located throughout the City of Philadelphia. Philadelphia Gas Works, as a result of this contract, the Philadelphia Gas Works provides grants to 300 low-income families whose gas services have been terminated or may be terminated for non-payment. And with the Office of Housing and Community Development, we work closely with them with the mortgage foreclosure and housing counseling for 250 households. We sometimes have special events. In the last year, the agency hosted a variety of special programs targeted at youth enrichment activities. These programs included trips to the Philadelphia Zoo and to the Please Touch Museum and provided low-income families with toys, school supplies and gift certificates for food. We estimate that we have reached nearly 2,500 young people through these one-time programs. For our future program plans, 215 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we do anticipate additional funding as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, we have yet to receive concrete guidance on how those funds will be allocated at the local level. An increase in CSBG funds as a result of the recovery may result in as much as 6 million in additional local CSBG fundings, which is noted in the Five-Year Plan. One thing we know for sure is that the new Recovery Act dollars will allow us to serve individuals and families at or below 200 percent of the poverty level. This expands the pool of individuals and families -- this expands the pool of Philadelphians eligible for our services and represents an exciting opportunity. We look forward to hearing more about this funding from our state and federal partners in the coming weeks. While we await further detail on the recovery funding, our work continues. One program that MOCS will be piloting is the program to address 216 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. critical food shortage issues. Philabundance will pilot the Choice Food Cupboard program in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Community Services in the basement of the Philadelphia Library, the Lehigh branch at 2700 North 6th Street. This program will offer individuals and families the opportunity to select items they need from the cupboard instead of just receiving a generic bag or box of food that they may not need or like. In addition to the free items available in the pantry, the CFC will also have staple food items available for sale at low prices for clients to purchase using food stamps or credit or debit cards.
And just to make mention of that, that would probably be a second phase of the food cupboard. This mixture of free and for-purchase products will allow clients to maximize their ability to feed their families affordably. MOCS is also conducting a needs 217 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. assessment with the assistance of Temple University. Once the needs assessment is completed, we plan to identify and develop programs and services to fill the gaps identified by the assessment. We have completed a study of best practices by Community Action Agencies across the country and have identified several program areas of interest. They include employment and training programs for non-custodial parents, family literacy programs, financial literacy programs, micro-enterprise programs for ex-offenders, youth employment projects and youth scholarship programs as well. I will be happy to answer any questions that you or any other member of Council may have. Thank you.
Thank you very much. You are requesting $6,744,000 in personal services for FY10, correct?
Can you tell us what employee benefits they are entitled to?
Well, the 72 full-time employees are entitled to all the benefits that the City has. These are all exempt employees or employees with the exempt status. So health benefits -- well, the full range of health benefits that the City offers to most employees.
Well, you're also requesting $311,000 in fringe benefits for FY10, correct?
Our calculation is that this represents only 4.81 percent of your payroll. This doesn't even cover the City's share for Social Security. Can you tell us who 219 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. pays the difference in these costs?
Actually, the Mayor's Office of Community Services through our grants actually pays a lot of the additional fringe benefits.
Excuse me for one minute. (Witness approached witness table.)
We pay that portion, and the balance is covered by the City of Philadelphia.
Well, why doesn't the grant cover the full cost of employee benefits? (Witness approached witness table.)
My name is Mary Mariner. I'm with the Mayor's Office of Community Services. And the reason that the grant doesn't pick it up is because of an administrative cap with the grant.
What happens is, the grant has very little flexibility, and the City -- because the City gets this Community Service Block Grant money, the City puts something toward, so to speak, toward the operation of the grant. So the percentage that the City pays for our benefits is their in-kind for the grant. (Witness approached witness table.)
Sorry for the delay. Now, last year we had an opportunity to cover fringes. Was that the total fringes? 221 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Could you just answer. Please take a microphone and respond.
Shirley Miller, Fiscal Director, Mayor's Office of Community Services. In the previous years, the grantor did give us the opportunity to pay additional monies towards our fringe benefits. So we did pay about 60 percent of the total fringe benefits for our agency.
Could you not reduce your administrative cost to where the grant covers 100 percent of the total cost?
We could do that, but we would have to put in place a cost allocation plan certified by the federal government, and we have not done that as of yet.
Do you plan to do that, and if you do, when do you plan to do it? 222 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Well, we can actually pursue that and put that together. We can go over the guidelines and get back to you with when we would be able to look at doing something like that. We're going to review the guidelines so that we can come up with if we would be able to do that and reduce those administrative costs.
I'd suggest you review your administrative costs, too.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. 223 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. In light of the fact that we have a recession, I think that it's more important that anti-poverty programs like yours be in full effect and be geared up to deal with some of the onslaught of newly determined poor people, and I wanted to know if you've seen an uptick in some of the people needing services from your agency over the course of the last months. 12
Primarily, yes, 13 we have, and it primarily has been the 14 working poor. 15
And would you say percentage-wise how much of an increase have you experienced over the last --
I would have to get you the percentage. I will happily get that for you.
Are you working with -- I heard some of the people that you're working with, like the Recreation Department to provide 224 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. services, senior centers to provide services. I was wondering what your relationship is with the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Do you have a relationship with them?
Are you able to look at -- I mean, obviously when people live in public housing, they are probably in concert with your guidelines, 125 percent below the poverty guideline.
So there might be some synergy with programs that might be available?
What I'd like you to do is consider Abbotsford projects, housing projects, which we had an opportunity to go up there. They have a brand new community center there, brand new community center. One of the 225 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. problems they have is an inability to provide program dollars for young people in that center as well as seniors in that center, because those are the two dominant populations there, young people and seniors. There's no after-school program there. There's nothing like that, a feeding program there, and I think it would make a perfect match between some resources and particularly pathways out of poverty into work training, work programs. So I'd like to see if you would consider taking a look at that. And we're pulling together a meeting with interested stakeholders and I wanted to know if your agency would participate in that.
Thank you. We have a list of stakeholders that we're looking to have partnerships with. We were planning to reach out with PHA to have some discussions in the future. One of the things that we really want to do, it would be great to look at the 226 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. asset-building portion of -- financial literacy is a part we really need. We feel like we really need to focus on as one of the things that's very important. When we look at some of the best practices models that we've seen across the country, a lot of the Community Action Agencies are non-profit and privates, and they actually develop all their programs dealing with housing, housing counseling, housing issues themselves. But we see the opportunity to work with PHA to develop that.
We're going to ask you to participate in that and we look forward to working with you on it. Another opportunity I understand in the stimulus package particularly surrounding your work with seniors, there is money for telemedicine, which is -- I mentioned this to the Mayor's commission for seniors. This might be another opportunity for your program to go into a joint venture with 227 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. probably PCA, Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging, or one of the youth programs and be able to provide that kind of access to medical care for people that meet your poverty guidelines. And I think in light of the fact that we're having problems particular with health centers and figuring out how to fund them, telemedicine is a time that has come, and innovative projects like this could be sought after and used in low-income areas in a way that we haven't seen in the past. So I would encourage you guys to take advantage of that. A couple of other pieces. Our formula for reimbursement for CDBG dollars is based on that poverty level within the City of Philadelphia. I think it's hovering around percent of the 21 population. 22
Is your funding based on that as well? 228 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
So to what degree are we working with the Census Bureau to get an accurate count? Because often we are undercounted in urban areas and, therefore, we aren't drawing down as much money from the federal government as we could get if we got an accurate count, and I wanted to know if there is any working relationship with you and the Census Bureau.
Yeah. We recently started to work with them around four months ago.
We are working with them on several levels. One is employment for our clients, for the people who come to us, obviously employment opportunities. The other opportunity is, we certainly will be an outreach arm to get the word out. We'll 229 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. work with the Census Bureau, as we did in 2000 and as we did ten years prior to that. So we have a history of working with them, and we will be using our Community Engagement Unit as an outreach arm and to get the word out about the importance of the census and using some community forums to get the community involved in the census to take the stigma away.
Interesting, an eligible fund that the Census Bureau will pay for is a gathering -- and I don't want to use the word "party" -- a gathering for people who are in underserved, undercounted client levels, whether they are ex-offenders, whether they are people with physical disabilities.
They will pay for gatherings to try to bring those people in to get a fair count.
Usually community 230 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. forums, yes.
And then finally, I know one near and dear to Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, in what way are you working to find pathways into the green economy and for folk who are in underserved communities? (Witness approached witness table.)
We just want to add that Izzy Colon has been working with the Census Bureau as well and just wanted to say a couple points.
My name is Isreal "Izzy" Colon and I work with the Mayor's Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs and I'm a member of the MOCS, some of you as 231 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. well, some of the Councilmembers. Yes, the census issue. I think that's very important, Councilman, because we are in fact developing our own operational plan to look at how we can reach some of those hard-to-count areas that were evidenced in 2000. The MOCS has already started establishing the basic relationships like everyone else. I'm assuming that the Council has already had some discussion with the Census as well. The question for us is how do we develop a comprehensive plan that will be a citywide initiative, and those things are already in the works. So you're going to hear a lot about the census and how we reach. We did not do -- despite what the US Census says, even though there was an improvement in the response rate in 1990, in 2000 our response rate was about 56 percent. Now --
Fifty-six 232 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. percent of --
Fifty-six percent was the response rate, including the long form. Now, as you know, in 2000 they had a short form that was sent out as well as a long form. That's the average. The long form was sent out to one in six members of the residents of the City. But this year I think the Census thought about it quite well, and that's going to change. I think it's only going to be a short form this time. They are spending about $15 billion this year. So you know it's going to be one of the most expensive census in history. And I expect that Philadelphia is going to get its fair share of the resources that are needed to reach out in those communities that traditionally have been missed. And we know who they are.
It's my understanding that they've hired close to a thousand people to do this count, and I would encourage any of my colleagues to 233 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. find out how their particular district or areas --
Actually, in 2000 there was 7,000 enumerated hired in the region. The thousand you're talking about is the beginning now, because I think what they're doing now is addressing verifications. They gear up, and, yes, the trick to the census is getting people from the neighborhood. This is not a hierarchical strategy. It can't be from the up down. It has to be from the neighborhoods, people that you know. And I would think that the Council, every District Councilmember would have a vested interest, not only because it engages neighbors and gets jobs, right, and brings in additional dollars to areas that are needed, but as you know, the census is primary data used for reapportionment.
Just one last question. If you had to break it down by the ten districts, which district 234 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. would represent the highest population of people under the poverty guidelines in the City of Philadelphia?
In this body, that is an important statistic that has been drilled in all members' heads.
I'm sure you're going to hear which one before the day is done. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Mayor's Office. It's clear that your office is indeed a safety net for those that are living on 235 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the margin and struggle to take care of their family. Let me first follow up on the question raised by Councilman Jones, and the statement has been made that it behooves all of us to start early to capture the attention of citizens, because this ultimately does impact federal dollars to come from DC. So with that being said, you're working on a strategic plan around PREP and revving up for the census? What did I hear the answer was to that question?
Well, there's a combination of things that go along with that, and I'd like to, if I may, go to a broader picture which ties into census. We and the Administration are developing an overarching poverty strategy to encompass all the issues particularly around poverty in the City of Philadelphia that we face. As you know, with our needs assessment, as was mentioned earlier, we have met with Temple University, and they are providing 236 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the needs assessment to us at no cost. They are training our people. They're going to train volunteers so that we can get that actually started, who consists of having forums and focus groups, along with surveys, which will help us to get the plans started. Once we move the needs assessment forward, developing the strategic plan and working with all those stakeholders, particularly with the Census Bureau to identify those areas, that's a huge part of what we're doing with this entire strategic plan. So part of what we're doing is working with the census group, and it's a very important part, but we have a much broader picture that we're trying to do.
That's, I'm sure, a very noble undertaking. My immediate response would be, we know what the problems are. I mean, we know that we have an abysmal dropout rate. We know that we got 4,000 children in foster 237 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. care. We know we don't have all the people in after-school programming. So it's important that we do that and gather information. I guess my only argument would be -- I guess the good news is, we don't have to pay for it and hear and get the expertise of the Temple University. So I'll leave that there. Let's, if we would, go to -- is your office included in -- well, let me look at this way. Six thousand dollars are coming for the recovery funds.
Six million. Is it too premature to say how you anticipate using those dollars?
Let me narrow the question. Any consideration being given to capturing those on the fringes, those underemployed when it comes to connecting them with the Office of Sustainability and the strategy they 238 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. are rolling out around green jobs?
Yeah. I think that when we take a look at it, certainly one of the things that we'd like to do is -- and that's under strong consideration -- is to develop an additional job training program that would encompass the green job situation. We've met with and had discussions with a number of people, particularly -- if you're familiar with -- and as a matter of fact, I shouldn't even ask if you're familiar with. I should tell you that you definitely are familiar with Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes, because you actually played a part in bringing her into the City over a year ago to discuss the green job situation, sustainability issues. We've actually had maybe it was a two-hour conference call with her to help us kind of get some direction. One of the things that -- prior to knowing that these dollars are actually going to come in, we were 239 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. looking at some of the things that would help us do what we do better, and one of the things that we noted very early is the job training program that we actually have is extremely limited. Since it deals with TANF recipients and it deals with referrals from the County Assistance Office, if someone has need, they can't get immediate need from there. They have to go into that system and actually be referred. So to us, that's a gap. So to be able to develop a strong job training module -- and we believe that the program that Dr. Pinderhughes put together, that Pinderhughes model kind of fits with what we'd like to do, so we've been looking at that. That doesn't mean that tomorrow we're going to have that in place.
But it's one of the things that we're looking at, we're discussing, we're working with that. We've also had discussions with 240 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the Sustainable Business Network as well, who likes the concept, likes the idea and is also interested in working with us as a stakeholder and possibly a partner to help develop that. And all these discussions, although we've had these discussions, these discussions are small and tight for us, but they've been larger discussions that that's a part of with the Administration on the whole.
Well, the ask would be that you keep Councilmembers informed as you go forward and how and what you plan to do around this whole new world and new industry called green jobs.
Thank you. I only have a very fast question. Where are the six older adult 241 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. centers located and are there any located in the Northeast?
There's one located on Castor Avenue in the Far Northeast; Juniata, the one in Juniata Park; the Mann Center at 5th and Allegheny; South Philadelphia; the Martin Luther King Center; and the West Oak Lane Senior Center.
Thank you, Madam President. I think it's important to note that the Mayor's Office of Community Services' funding is one based on our poverty, and it's the agency that's supposed to focus in on our anti-poverty 242 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. efforts. With that said, it is going to be one of those departments that potentially can receive the most grant money through the stimulus. In fact, in your own estimates, the $6 million, which is a 72 percent increase on your budget, what would you consider are going to be the top projects that you're going to undertake with that new money, whether it's to support existing projects or new projects?
Well, it's definitely to support what we have. Some of the things that we'd like to do certainly with the job -- the green job discussion, those dollars could be a kick-off to initiate that development, and if we do it right, which we will, we will be eligible for other dollars from the weatherization stream. We also have had some discussions for a need for the Mayor's Office of Community Services to do more 243 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. in the community and be more present in the community. There was a time in which there were multiple offices or satellite offices throughout the City of Philadelphia, and for different reasons over the years, they've dwindled from -- 9
-- to one 11 satellite office, which happens to be at 12 6th and Lehigh.
But, I mean, that's just -- that's one idea. We feel that one of the programs that we lack in adult education, GED-type program, we don't have. We've met with the Center for Literacy and had some discussions around that, and a lot of these discussions occurred prior to knowing that these dollars were actually coming. So I think we have a number of things that we are looking to do that the money 244 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. will actually help us do and put in place and actually help the population that we serve.
As it relates to your green jobs, what have been your discussions with our own Office of Sustainability? Where do you see those jobs and how are you guys going to help create a pipeline?
Well, we've had a number of discussions with them and have been very active. As a matter of fact, when we had the discussion with Dr. Pinderhughes -- Dr. Pinderhughes is out of California and apparently has been given the credit for coining the phrase "green jobs" -- she mentioned our own Dr. Mark Alan Hughes as someone we needed to work with. I'm not sure if she realized that he was heading the City of Philadelphia's Sustainability Office. So we met with them. We also have shared the research that we have done, letting them know that we've been looking at the 245 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Pinderhughes model, which he was familiar with as well. So I think that the opportunity is there. I think that we're definitely in the pipeline.
One of the issues that came up in last year's budget was the fact that the Mayor's Office had kind of become the place where a lot of different positions were kind of in the budget line. What progress have you made in moving some of those folks to the departments, the fact that we had a lot of staff at MOCS that wasn't MOCS necessarily?
Right. Well, I think in all fairness, being brand new when we last met in this forum, one of the things that we found was that there were a large number of employees in other portions that were actually attributed to our office because of the payroll number, the payroll code. So they weren't actually coming off the grant and 246 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. actually weren't even a part of -- they weren't even expenditure transfers. But one of the things that we actually did, we were paying a number of the -- the Mayor's Action Center and the state was really talking to us about that quite often. One of the things is, we're federal dollars, we're regulated by the state and we answer to the City. So in order to fix some of that, that office was dissolved, and that really helped us a lot with the state, and they appreciated that. (Bell rung.)
Okay. I wanted to know how was the MOCS office relating to our 3-1-1 center and constituent services. I wanted to know, is there an articulated kind of flow? 247 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Well, we are another tool. When a call comes into 3-1-1 and they need services, particular services that we provide, then they will direct those people to us. A number of our people have been trained in the 3-1-1 system, and periodically we have assisted 3-1-1 in calls. That was very early in its beginning.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
I just 248 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. have a couple questions just for some clarity. I know you mentioned that in the future, you'll basically be looking at doing employment and training programs.
Do you still fund employment and training programs? I do know that there were programs in the past you used to get funded under MOCS. Do you still do that, or you have your own?
Currently, we don't have any additional programs funded for employment and training, but you're correct, in the past we have funded programs like Impact Services, JEVS, those different types of programs. We currently do not fund any of those programs, as our resources are all allocated elsewhere.
When you get your anticipated stimulus dollars, do you think that might be something that 249 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you might start up again or will you be training people in the area of green jobs?
Well, although we've talked about green jobs as a singular entity today, initially we were looking at a job training program, and I think that we're looking at developing a job training program that has a green job component. So I would say yes. I don't know if we would fund others or partner with others. Those are all under consideration.
So if you do green training, job training for green jobs, have you decided what specific type of training you'll do?
Just one note, in going back to our stimulus dollars, we're still kind of waiting on the guidance from the state on what we're actually going to be able to do.
Right. Oh, okay. 250 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
But having said that, there are -- and I probably would like to send a list to you. We have, is it, about types of jobs that come out. 6
About 20 types 8 that come out of the green job 9 categories, from -- some are kind of 10 along the lines of carpentry, some are 11 bike repair, and then the more detailed 12 like solar panel installations and -- 13
-- heater repair, 15 changing of the electrical grids. 16 There's a whole range, and what we would 17 look at, just to kind of give you an idea 18 if we were, we would probably go with 19 more along the lines of carpentry items 20 first. They are -- it's easier to train people to pick that skill up. And then once they learn that, we feel that they will be able to move to the next level. And for costs, the type of job -- these type of jobs generate about $15 per hour, 251 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. and in the next level that they would move to, it actually goes to about $25 an hour.
Well, that's really good. So if we have someone, a constituent, that's interested in getting started, should we refer them to your office, or what should we do?
Certainly you can refer them to us for discussions. There's not a program at present.
But to give them some direction and type of things that they should look at, we certainly would be able to do that.
Right. And maybe you'd be building a waiting list or some type of list that when something gets started, you'll be outreaching to folk. You know why? 252 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Because, see, everybody in the world keeps talking about green jobs. Well, people need to make it real. We're going to have green jobs. We either are or we're not, and if we are, how do we get people into the whole process, how do they get involved so that when these jobs are created or their training programs start, that they will already be there, they'll be enrolled or at least on a list somewhere. You understand what I'm saying?
So I just want to be able to absolutely refer our constituents. We have people looking for jobs all over the place. We get more calls now than we've gotten in years, and we want to refer people to the right -- we want to put them in the right direction. This morning I asked a question about the Empowerment Zone, and are you still getting funding from the 253 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Empowerment Zone? (Bell rung.)
I must still answer that. It's a pass-through for us. We don't get the dollars. We don't use the dollars. It just shows up on our budget. And the reason why that is is because in the past, it did come through MOCS. That has not been changed. It's something that has to be dealt with, and will be.
So it just shows up on your budget, but it's not actually money?
No. It shows up on the budget. It's money. It's just not our money. We don't get to utilize it. It's a pass-through.
So it actually -- presently, the Empowerment Zone money is in the Commerce Department.
Commerce, 254 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. okay. Okay. That's what we were told. I just have one short question.
In the MOCS Office, not just you but everybody always says, it talks about the 125 percent federal poverty guidelines.
What exactly does that mean? How does that translate into dollars and cents? It says an applicant's income may not exceed 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, and then the new number that you may be able to do under the Recovery Act dollars is 200 percent.
I can give you -- let's say for a family of four, the 125 percent of the poverty guideline would be $26,500. That would be the amount that that family receives that would make them eligible.
That's 255 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. under the 125?
Right. For the 200 percent, I will be able to get back to you with that.
Okay. Because -- all right. Because I think it's easier -- well, it's easier when -- I just asked a couple of my staff members downstairs if they understood what the 125 percent meant, and they did not. So actually we pulled the 2009 Health and Human Service Poverty Guidelines out of the Internet right before I came up just so we can at least get a look at the guidelines, the dollar amount. But sometimes when you do that, people don't quite understand what that means. We've been hearing that for years and years and years.
Sure. And I guess what we'll do in our conversations is to give examples. Like one family is about 13,000, so...
All 256 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Unless you have time for me to ask more questions, I'm finished.
Thank you. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The testimony on notes that the Community Engagement Unit helps citizens prepare federal and state tax returns, LIHEAP and Crisis utility grants, PACE, property tax/rent rebates and water discounts. How many clients did CEU assist last year in applying for these programs?
In the CEU unit working? 257 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Okay. So obviously I'm looking to see how many people ten people are serving on an annual basis. So is CEU the central point of contact within government for citizens seeking benefits?
So what's the interaction between CEU and BenePhilly that the Mayor launched last year?
With BenePhiladelphia we actually helped with the planning. We did not participate in the actual implementation. We helped with the planning of it.
So where does BenePhilly's funding come from right now; do you know?
Not your 258 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. office?
So isn't BenePhilly's function to basically help people sign up for all these programs? Like when any person comes in seeking benefits, the purpose of BenePhilly is to have them sign up for every single available program? (Witness approached witness table.)
Councilman, I'm Pauline Abernathy from the Mayor's Office. With the BenePhilly initiative, particularly that of last fall, the funding all came from the state through the Department of Aging, and it was a specific targeted initiative, that phase of it, to focus on senior citizens who, using state databases, we could tell were likely eligible for one or more of four programs, federal and state benefit 259 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. programs, and then we mailed them letters, did robo calls and then followed up with a proactive outreach over the phone and enrolled them in many times over the phone rather than having them send paperwork backwards and forwards and have to go to the office. So that's what the BenePhilly initiative last fall was about. We're in the process of raising public and private money to continue that and expand it, because it was so successful, and are working closely with MOCS to do that.
Their testimony just a second ago was that they weren't aware of what was going on with BenePhilly.
Well, right now, for a variety of reasons, partly based on when benefit deadlines are, we're not doing active proactive calling 260 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. right now. We'll start up again with a variety of different initiatives as the year progresses.
It's not in any department. It was a partnership of multiple departments working with the state and a non-profit organization that received funding from the state to do the proactive outreach. But, again, it was really a partnership driven by the Mayor's Office with a whole range of City agencies because so many are involved, but they're all federal and state benefit programs.
Right. The concept of BenePhilly initially -- I mean, it seems to me that CEU is the natural place -- is where everybody goes now who is seeking those benefits that were the subject of BenePhilly, and I just wonder who are the experts, who are the people in which departments doing 261 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. BenePhilly versus CEU? Do you understand what I'm saying?
It's not clear to me. We did this press conference about BenePhilly and what it was going to do, and it sounds like basically that it was described as BenePhilly doing CEU does, and I just --
I can explain. There are a variety of different ways to do benefit enrollment, and no one way gets the job done. You have to go at it in multiple different approaches. There are different populations. BenePhilly was an overarching initiative and we decided to focus initially on the elderly. MOCS is doing benefits enrollment for a whole variety of different populations. And specifically the component last fall with the campaign you're referring to was an approach to using databases to target and over the 262 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. phone and through mailings try to enroll people. What MOCS is doing is doing a broader population using a whole variety of different other techniques, but part of the reason we had MOCS at the table with a whole range of agencies was to try to determine what is the best way to leverage these databases with different offices and experiences, and we're continuing that work today. (Bell rung.)
Well, right now BenePhilly is not operating, but you can provide the Chair with information about who did what in which department to support BenePhilly, where the funding came from, how many people were reached out to on a proactive basis and what the response rate was?
And it sounds to me like MOCS is a reactive organization. People call in and they help. And BenePhilly was a proactive 263 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. effort. Is that --
I mean, I think MOCS probably does a combination. It's just different.
MOCS does a combination of we react, but we are proactive as well. But in this particular situation, that was an actual concentrated program.
Right. I'm asking about MOCS now. So could you please provide to the Chair what you do on a proactive basis?
As opposed to -- so when you're differentiating clients that you served last year, if you could have one column be for people that you were reacting to and the other for people you served based on your outreach.
Right. We can break down our numbers by program and type of services and provide that to the body. 264 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones for a point of information.
Thank you, Madam President. In addition, I understood in a hearing we did on the Benefit Bank about 12 months ago that there's a quantitative figure that averages out that an average person on assistance can get in by way of tangible benefits and there was a dollar amount attached to that. I think, if I recall, it was somewhere around an additional $12,000 per family, and if that is in case in fact true, that was the estimate, I'd like to know what it actually measures out to per participant in a Benefit Bank style so that if in fact it means $12,000 to a person under the poverty guideline, that's a hell of an infusion of resources to a family. So 265 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. I'd like to measure that, if you would.
Yeah. I would be glad to provide you that. But just briefly, it really depends on the population. So whether it's a family, an elderly person, they are eligible for different programs family size, but it is a significant amount of dollars, which is why we've devoted significant energy to increasing our enrollment and participation in these federal and state programs that are all federal and state dollars.
Even though I know there are different populations that can apply for different programs, there's a mean. There's a mode of what people actually receive by way of tangible benefit, and I would love to know what that is based on that codification of all of those services that they are eligible for.
And I know 266 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. it's tangible. I'd like to measure it, that's all. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. What linkages do you have with the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives?
Well, not only do we work closely with the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, but we work closely with many, many religious organizations throughout the City, churches, to use their food cupboards.
Tell me what that means, you work closely with the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. What does that mean?
Well, we accept referrals from them and provide services to the people who contact them. Some of 267 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. our staff work programs with them.
Okay. of your testimony where you talk about the Foster Grandparent Program, what tie-in do you have with DHS and other kinship care organizations that are providing similar services?
The Foster Grandparent Program is funded by the national corporation and it is funded for 110 seniors to do volunteer services 13 hours a week to receive a stipend at host 14 institutions. We don't connect with DHS 15 or any other kinship care program, 16 because it's funded directly for those 17 services. 18
Are you 19 familiar with Experience Corps that is in 20 the same business?
Because 268 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the broader point I think it's important to make is, the extent to which we get systems to talk with each other in a substantive way, we do a better job in capturing those who might fall through the net. So I put Experience Corps on the table because they do the exact same thing, but their focus is in schools.
That's important to know. How do families get referred to -- bottom of , Special Events. How do families get referred to these type of activities?
When we put together one of these programs, a type of program; for instance, the Please Touch Museum was a holiday party, we remained 269 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. contact with -- we had worked closely with the School District for the referral of children who were at need. When we did the Easter egg hunt at -- we did an Easter egg hunt at the Zoo. We worked with the shelter systems to identify the children that were in need.
Are you open to receiving recommendations from District Council offices and Council offices --
-- who come in contact with families that are desperate for things for their children?
And actually when we start to do a number of these things, we make contact. If it's going to be in particular areas, we'll contact that District Council person to try to involve them in the process.
All right. I know that the Fatherhood Initiative Program has come before us many times. 270 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. What can you say now about the success and track record? I've never been able to get hard numbers that say as a result of this program, X number of fathers are back on track doing X, Y, Z with their children, and it's been funded for many years. So what internal systems do you have in place that sort of track and quantify or qualify the value of the program? And further, are you tied in to the program at 1218 Chestnut Street? I can't recall the name of it. It doesn't matter. So do you keep numbers --
-- that you can speak to what your success rate has been?
Please provide that to the Chair. 271 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
That would be helpful. Community Engagement Unit -- different question. On LIHEAP, I continue to be amazed at still the many citizens who are not aware, A, that it exists and, B, more importantly, what the deadlines are. So consequently they miss out on taking advantage of that particular program. So what do you do internally with regards to marketing and promotion and outreach of LIHEAP so that families who qualify indeed get the benefit that it offers?
We've done some outreach on the program. We've done door knockers. Over the last two years we did 10,000 door knockers. With a limited staff of ten, it's hard to get a lot of outreach done.
And so is there any relationship with the senior citizen programs that you run?
Absolutely. All of the senior citizen centers receive the services of our Community Engagement Unit, the six that we fund especially through the Department of Recreation.
And in addition to that, we have a location at 1231 -- well, WorkWise Program is at 1231 North Broad Street. So we have information there. Then we also have information at our 6th and Lehigh site. We also have information and employees working out of 22nd and Somerset, at that location as well.
I missed in your testimony how many sites you have. How many sites do you have?
Well, we have -- well, 990 is our main site. That's where the bulk of our employees are. We have a 273 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. satellite office at 6th and Lehigh where we have two people. (Bell rung.)
The WorkWise Program presently is at 1231 North Broad Street, and then we have three people who are in the 22nd and Somerset.
You're welcome. I think this will be the last line of questioning. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam President. On of the testimony, it's indicated that CEU, quote, "also 274 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. provides residents with the necessary referrals to emergency services and/or linkages to meet their needs." When CEU staff are in contact with a citizen, what do they do to assess the person's full scope of needs and eligibility for benefits and services?
Well, they complete our intake form. They talk to the client, ask the client what their needs are. They assess what the client's needs are through meeting, face-to-face meeting with the client. If the client does not have or we do not have the availability to photocopy income documentation to certify they're income eligible, we have a self-certification form that we use so we can keep them in the client's file. The client then -- they assess what the clients needs are and they give them referrals or set up linkages, meetings or counselors to address their immediate emergency needs, and then ideally the staff contacts them 275 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. a few days after that to make certain that they've gone and gotten whatever service they needed, that their emergency has been ameliorated or that they've connected with their linkage without our support. If they haven't, then the staff then provides them additional supports so they can connect that linkage.
Okay. So can you please provide the Chair with information on everybody that you have helped and your assessment of what other benefits that they were entitled to receive and then either -- I don't know whether you track this or not, but if you track it, the benefits that were actually received by your customers last year, which raises a question -- provide to the Chair, please -- does the CEU track the success of these referrals, both in terms of the citizen following up -- following through with the citizens and following through with the referred-to agency providers so that you would have that 276 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. data?
There is a tracking system in place. It definitely needs to be upgraded and improved.
The system itself. There is a practice. The intake forms allows them to track what they do. As one of the things we noticed very early, we're looking at two -- well, we're looking at one system and we're looking at --
For the sake of time, if it's okay with you, unless you feel the need to explain, if you could provide the answer to that question to the Chair also.
Thank you. So outcome measures, and I'm referring to of your testimony, on the subject of measuring outcomes, I just have a few questions on your chart. The 277 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. left-hand column lists different services provided by MOCS. Could you describe briefly, review the categories listed and describe the services provided.
Sure. Employment is employment and training services. It's job readiness training, time management, conflict resolution, job search, anything that would go into helping a person obtain employment, obtain and maintain employment.
And the second and fourth column reflected outcomes achieved. What does that mean?
Those are the numbers of clients who at or below 125 percent who achieved the outcome. So in this particular case, in the first one, 1,723 people received the service, 711 people achieved the outcome. That's 711 below the poverty level achieved the outcome. They obtained employment.
Okay. In the emergency services and linkages 278 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. categories, the chart indicates that outcomes were achieved for 100 percent of clients. How did you measure this? (Bell rung.)
The staff measure it and they report it to us. I should note too that all of our data is tracked manually. We do not have a data-tracking system.
Okay. How much time do you think that costs you in terms of --
So you think you could generate significant efficiencies if you were to have an automated intake system?
Okay. Could you please provide to the Chair an estimate of what it would cost to provide you with an automated system and what the expected efficiencies would be?
Okay. Just a few more. So I'm talking about your testimony on and reference to the Community Services Block Grant, and it's mentioned that we don't know what we'll receive under the federal Recovery Act, but we do know that the income eligibility level for new funding is being increased from 125 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. How many additional Philadelphians will this make eligible for services from MOCS?
We'll have to get that number for you. 280 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
And how are you ramping up to serve this expanded population?
Well, as I talked about a couple of the things that we were looking to do earlier to increase our ability to provide direct services, a number of the -- talking about developing additional job training programs, we think that if we're able to do that --
Rather than repeat that testimony, just for the sake of time -- and it's not because I don't think this is very important -- if you could provide an answer to the Chair about what your business plan is to provide services to many more Philadelphians, and include in that your view of whether or not the implementation of technology would allow your staff to serve citizens rather than push paper, and maybe that's one way to help you ramp up for this. So your testimony noted that 281 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you're performing a needs assessment in conjunction with Temple University to help it develop programs and services to fill identified gaps. How is this assessment being performed?
We're performing the assessment with -- we've just completed a needs assessment survey, a survey that would identify areas that the client -- that the residents feel they need services in. We're going to conduct forums, community forums. We're going 14 to conduct one large community meeting to 15 get information. We'll do it online. We'll conduct a survey through our partners, our stakeholders in the community, other community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and then we will work with Temple to analyze this data.
Okay. And so have Councilmembers been given notice of these forums?
We don't have 282 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. them identified yet, but we certainly are willing to work with any Councilmember who has an idea of where they would like a forum in your area.
When you have a schedule or you're setting it up, would you please let the Council President's Office know what the plan is for these forums around the City. I'm 11 sure many Councilpeople would be 12 interested in participating. 13 So there are no findings with 14 respect to this needs assessment yet; is 15 that correct?
When all of that information is finalized, please provide the President's Office a copy of the end result. Finally, your testimony says that MOCS has completed a study of best practices by Community Action Agencies across the country and identified several 283 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. areas of interest. Is this study in writing?
It's nowhere in writing, so how have you -- is it anecdotal?
Okay. If you could maybe put your conclusions on paper and provide them to the President. Okay. That's all I have, Madam President.
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: The next department is the Mayor's Office of Housing and -- or I should say the Commerce Director - Housing and Community 284 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Development. (Witness approached witness table.)
Please identify yourself for the record. MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm Deborah McColloch, Director of Housing. Good afternoon, President Verna and members of the Council. I am Deborah McColloch and I am the Director of Housing. I am here today to present testimony on the Office of Housing and Community Development, OHCD, proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2010. The proposed Operating Budget under the Community Development Fund, Grants Revenue Fund, Housing Trust Fund and General Fund will also be presented in the spring to the Finance Committee at its hearing on the Consolidated Plan. That hearing will authorize the 285 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. submission to HUD of the Consolidated Plan that includes the budget for the Community Development Block Grant and other housing programs for Fiscal Year 2010, Community Development Block Grant Year 35. Ideally, the Consolidated Plan hearing should occur prior to the consideration of the Operating Budget by City Council. However, as in the past 12 years, the hearings are reversed. Should 13 the results of the Consolidated Plan 14 hearing require adjustment to OHCD's 15 Operating Budget as adopted by Council, 16 there will still be time subsequent to the adoption of the Consolidated Plan to amend the Operating Budget. The complete Fiscal Year 2010 proposed budget will be presented as part of the Consolidated Plan hearing. Due to the nature of its funding, OHCD is required to plan its annual budget to comply with the federal objectives as outlined in the annual 286 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Consolidated Plan. HUD's mandated goals are the creation of suitable living environments, the provision of decent, affordable housing, and the creation of economic opportunities. These federal goals inform the agency's commitment to improve the quality of life for residents and businesses of the City of Philadelphia. This commitment is demonstrated through OHCD's support of the Philadelphia Plan service goals of economic recovery and jobs to promote Philadelphia's growth as a green city, enhancing public safety to make Philadelphia the safest large city in the country, investing in youth and protecting the most vulnerable City population, and reforming City government to work better and cost less. Reductions in federal funding in recent years have had an impact on the community development programs in Philadelphia. Federal funding has decreased by 25 percent over the past 287 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. seven years, and at this time, we have not yet been informed of our Year 35 award amount. However, additional funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program are anticipated in FY10 for a planned eight percent increase in funding for Class 200 activities. 4 million to support the vacant land stabilization and maintenance activities of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and 400,000 to support the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program and Vacancy Prevention activities. This total has been reduced from the original FY 2009 budget of 5 million and the FY 2009 rebalanced budget of 4 million, resulting in a reduced funding for greening activities and the Utility 288 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Emergency Services Fund. 5 million to the Housing Trust Fund for its activities. 8 million in the General Fund. This Operating Budget represents the cost for all housing programs as well as salaries for all OHCD, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, PHDC, and Redevelopment Authority staff, rents, materials, supplies and so forth. The decrease in budget Class 100 is the result of OHCD's plan to reduce its budgeted positions by a minimum of 11, from 90 in FY09 to 79 in FY10. The increase in budget Class 200 is primarily the result of 289 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. anticipated funding and the related activities from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Neighborhood Stabilization Programs.
The changes in budget Class 300 and 400 are for increased appropriation authority for overhead costs associated with housing operations. OHCD, together with the delegate agencies of PHDC and the Redevelopment Authority who are funded in this budget, awarded $76 million in contracts to non-governmental vendors in Fiscal Year 2008, of which approximately million, or 29 percent, went to 17 disadvantaged firms. 18 OHCD is committed to providing 19 housing and community development 20 services in a professional and ethical 21 manner to support the City's plan to 22 improve the quality of life for the residents of Philadelphia. I'm happy to answer any questions that you and other members of 290 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Council may have.
Thank you, Ms. McColloch. I was actually cued up to ask you questions about fourth and I won't take advantage of sitting in the big chair, so I'll call on Councilwoman Brown.
Good afternoon. Thank you for the numbers regarding the disadvantaged businesses. The good news is that that's partially what we asked for. The bad news is that it's not detailed enough. So if you would please indicate -- and you may not have gotten this heads-up, that we want it broke down by prime and subcontract. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay.
And more specifically, women and minority owned. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay. We have that information. I can provide it.
Terrific. Childcare Facilities Fund, what do you understand that the purpose and 291 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. function of that program? MS. McCOLLOCH: The Childcare Facilities Fund provides grants to childcare providers to make improvements to their facilities in order to bring them up to state code or help them get certified by the state to be -- or licensed, I should say, by the state to be childcare providers, and it also provides technical assistance to childcare providers to help them create a business plan or other activities so that they will be able to be licensed by the state.
And a budget cut has been proposed for the Childcare Facilities Fund; is that correct? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
And that budget amount is? MS. McCOLLOCH: In the current fiscal year, it has $200,000 budgeted and in FY10 there's no capital program -- 292 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. excuse me; General Fund money proposed.
How does that align with the Mayor's commitment that services to children and youth will not be negatively impacted? MS. McCOLLOCH: It is in alignment because there's still approximately $2.3 million in the Childcare Facilities Fund that is unspent. So it will have funding to spend throughout the next fiscal year.
With the anticipated stimulus dollars, would it be proper to assume that -- and in learning that, if I remember correctly, the stimulus dollars, their use is very, very narrow and very defined. Would the function of the Childcare Facilities Fund fit into the appropriate use of the stimulus dollars? MS. McCOLLOCH: I believe you're referring to the Community Development Block Grant part of the recovery dollars, the stimulus dollars? 293 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Yes. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. We do not yet have the guidance from HUD on how those funds may be spent. We're awaiting it from HUD. But assuming that the guidance is similar to the current Community Development Block Grant guidance, it would be an eligible activity.
So is it safe to assume that because they have X number of dollars that are unspent, that that led to the $200,000 cut? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
And was that conveyed to them in writing, If you don't use the money, you lose the money? MS. McCOLLOCH: No, it was not conveyed in writing.
So they discovered this at the time of the departments making decisions around budget cuts? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, through 294 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. conversations, but it was not conveyed in writing.
What is the standard operating procedure in departments when programs have to face budget cuts or when programs are going to be notified about budget cuts, number one, and, number two, are reasons given so that program managers can get a heads-up and do the internal fixing that they need to do so that they don't lose the dollars, which are there to service the very constituencies they're trying to serve? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, we have conversations with them throughout the year. These funds, the specific funds that you're referring to, are placed under contract to PHDC, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, and PHDC in turn holds the contract with the Non-Profit Finance Fund, which carries out the Childcare Facilities Fund program. And so there have been ongoing 295 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. conversations throughout this whole fiscal year between PHDC and NFF about the Childcare Facilities Fund program and what some of the concerns have been about moving the program forward and trying to spend the money more quickly.
And what are the dilemmas, what are the glitches, what are the bumps that are preventing it from spending those dollars in a way that they then do not lose those dollars? (Bell rung.) MS. McCOLLOCH: There have been a series of concerns about that the contract -- that they've had to negotiate the contract between PHDC and NFF. Some of them have been around what activities we will support with the Community Development Block Grant funds, because our goal has been to support as much of the actual facilities work as possible, that that's what we really had allocated the funds for, the actual, if you will, capital grants to the daycare providers, 296 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. childcare providers, and there have been some -- there's been a lot of negotiation about what's the appropriate split between how much should be spent on technical assistance and how much should be spent on the capital improvements. And I don't know all the details of all those negotiations, but I know that's been part of the ongoing conversation between NFF and PHDC.
The bell has rung. I have to honor it, but I'll circle back, period. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilwoman Brown. Councilman Goode, you no longer want to ask -- Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. McColloch, of the $74 million that you say in contracts are non-governmental vendors in Fiscal Year 2009, what is that $74 million? Is that 297 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. part of the over $200 million under Class 200 or is that a subset of that $200 million? What does that $74 million represent? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry, Councilman. I'm not sure I --
On your testimony, it says, "OHCD, together with the delegate agencies of PHDC and RDA who are funded in this budget, awarded $74 million in contracts to non-governmental vendors in Fiscal Year 2009, of which approximately million, 15 32 percent, went to disadvantaged firms." 16 I'm asking, what's the source 17 of that $74 million? Is that a subset of 18 the $200 million in Class 200? Is that 19 simply money under the Community 20 Development Fund, the $85.5 million, or 21 is that part of the Grant Revenue Fund? 22 Is that part of the total $200 million? 23 MS. McCOLLOCH: It's part of the total, yes.
And what 298 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. other part of that $200 million is not accounted for and why is it not accounted for? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. (Witness approached witness table.)
Hello. My name is William Yurkow. I'm the Director of Finance and Administration for OHCD. The $74 million awarded contract is actual contracts awarded in FY09 to date, and that is a subset of the Class 200 total there. We exclude contracts to non-profits, which OHCD mainly does business with, because non-profits aren't part of the ratio that we calculate here. So we break out of the 200 class contracts only for private --
Well, non-profits are not part of a basis for MBEC 299 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. requirements when we do those formulas.
Well, basically my understanding is the MBEC requirements relate to private vendors and contractors. Non-profits are non-profit contractors not owned by anybody.
Per Charter change that was passed a few years ago per the Finance Department's requirement to set annual participation goals, there are actually goals set for non-profits in terms of for-profit contracts they have, and if -- I mean, as Council has dealt with this issue, as we now deal with issues related to disadvantaged business participation, why we aren't counting those opportunities related to non-profits, particularly since we're contracting with non-profits, they then contract with for-profits. That's still money that we gave to them under contract. So why would we not be setting 300 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. goals --
I can't answer why goals aren't being set, but I can certainly say we will go back and provide that information.
Because the first year that we asked for goals to be set for for-profit activity under non-profits, the goal was just symbolically set at five percent, which makes no sense. And I don't know what the goal is going to be in the next report, but clearly, these are taxpayer dollars, like any other taxpayer dollars. There's no reason simply because they're going to a non-profit entity. If a non-profit entity is still purchasing goods and services from for-profits, they should be held just as accountable as the for-profits.
Great. 301 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. MS. McCOLLOCH: We'll get the information for you, Councilman.
Thank you very much. Normally I would have waited until our next session with OHCD and Deb McColloch when we talk about the Consolidated Plan, et cetera, but I have a time issue. I wanted to raise the issue of -- everybody knows, you know too obviously, Mr. Chairman, about our relocation efforts in Mantua, and I understand we have a deadline Thursday as our funds run out, our federal funds. That deadline is the 10th. So I want to bring the issue up. I've learned that there may be some glitch to see if we could get some clarification on our relocation. There's only five 302 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. properties, but we have some issues, and I'm hoping that we can resolve them. It's been so long, and we're just there, and I didn't know if there's any way we could be helpful to clarifying this situation. But we're just there and need to do what we can to resolve any issue. (Witness approached witness table.)
Hi. I'm Terry Gillen, the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority. I had a conversation with Carl Greene several hours ago, so we are aware of his issue, and it is, in short, that he's trying to get the folks relocated this week and had anticipated that the new houses would be built. They're not built. So Deb and I talked about it in fact over the weekend, and I think I can say today we're going to get a resolution 23 either way. So we're on it, and I think we'll be able to figure it out. I can't say right now what the resolution will 303 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be, but I think tomorrow I could report back to you when we've figured it out.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, Ms. Gillen. Thanks, Deb. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was looking in the testimony and there's a portion of $400,000 for Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion, and I wanted to know how that was going to be applied, what you were going to do with those dollars. I'm glad to see it there, but what are you going to do with them? MS. McCOLLOCH: Those funds are going to be used to support the hotline that we use for the program. The funds will be put under contract to Community 304 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Legal Services, which is the contractor for the hotline.
Have you gotten any recent statistics on how that program has worked? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. I don't have them with me today, but we have -- I can provide you with detailed reports on how the program has been operating.
By way of the stimulus dollars, I heard there was a difference between what the Block Grant money is now and what the criteria for the spending under the Recovery Act is. What are the general salient differences? MS. McCOLLOCH: We don't know yet. My only point was that the guidance from HUD has not yet been issued for, as we're calling it, the ARRA Community Development Block Grant funds, the CDBG funds that will come out under the Recovery Act. HUD is going to issue a set of specific guidelines for that funding, which we don't yet have, so I 305 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. don't know if it's going to be identical to the existing Community Development Block Grant funds or not, because we don't have the guidance yet.
Now, this is different than the, I think it's, 32 million we had for the Stabilization Fund. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, it's different.
So that's in addition? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. We're getting $14 million in Community Development Block Grant funds under the Recovery Act, but we don't yet have the guidance from HUD on whether the regulations governing how those monies can be spent will be identical to the current CDBG regulations or if there will be changes.
So let's take a snapshot from a year ago. We've received one infusion of capital ranging 306 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. about $32 million from the federal government for stabilization. MS. McCOLLOCH: No. For the Neighborhood Stabilization Program? 6 million. That's now being spent. 7
And then in 8 the CDBG allocation, we are asking for 9 what amount? 10 MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, we don't 11 have our allocation yet for Year 35. 12 That will be the Consolidated Plan that 13 comes back to Council. We don't yet have 14 that number from HUD about what our Year 15 35 number will be, but separate from 16 that, we're going to have the additional 14 million in Recovery Act CDBG funds.
So do you anticipate it being at least what it was last year or more? MS. McCOLLOCH: I anticipate it being the same or similar.
So that was 307 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. 53 million? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yeah, almost 53 million.
Do we have any deadlines on spending that 7 million, like another stimulus package? 8 MS. McCOLLOCH: The 16 million 9 of the Neighborhood Stabilization 10 Program, yes. 11
What is the 12 timeframe for that? 13 MS. McCOLLOCH: For the 14 Neighborhood Stabilization Program? Two 15 years. 16
And so we have identified properties. Do we have to in any way work with some of the property disposition agencies in order to do some of this? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, the funds have been put under contract to the Redevelopment Authority, and the Redevelopment Authority has, in conjunction with OHCD, issued a request 308 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. for qualifications from developers, which are being reviewed. And then once folks have sort of gotten through that part of the -- after the RFQ review, then we're working together to identify properties that would be appropriate for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
We've identified properties and forwarded them on to the Administration and are hopeful that -- how are we matching that with, for example, money that PHA is putting into a neighborhood? Are we matching that with money that PHFA is putting into a neighborhood? Is there an overarching plan that kind of gives some direction to how we allocate those dollars in a way that will actually play off of other money that's being put in to stabilize certain neighborhoods? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, we submitted an application to HUD for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program that identified the zip codes in the City that 309 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. would be eligible to receive the NSP funds. That had to go in last fall. And within those zip codes, as we get the list of properties that are eligible for the program, the foreclosed-upon properties, we're doing the review of the block and the property to ensure that if we rehabilitate and sell a property, we're not selling one house in a row of vacants or something like that. We're looking at properties that will have an impact on the neighborhood, on the block in which it's located. (Bell rung.)
All right. I'm going to end it. To what degree are we working with PHA, PHFA to coordinate resources? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, insofar 310 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. as they're within those neighborhoods, we're working in neighborhoods where there are foreclosed-upon properties and we're looking at those properties, but we we're looking at the properties on the blocks and seeing the overall strategy for that block.
Thank you. Ms. McColloch, can you tell us why OHCD is now under the Commerce Department instead of the Mayor's Office, as it has been in the past? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, OHCD is still part of the Mayor's Office, but the Deputy Mayor to which I report is Andrew Altman. All of the departments are within report to specific Deputy Mayors, and the Deputy Mayor to which I report and OHCD reports is Andrew Altman, who is the Deputy Mayor for Commerce and Economic Development. 311 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
But doesn't the ordinance say to the Commerce Director, not the Mayor? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. The ordinance?
Doesn't the ordinance say to the Commerce Director? It doesn't say anything about this being under the Mayor's Office. MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. I'm -- (Witness approached witness table.)
Hi. Rob Dubow. Yeah. I think that was mislabeled in the ordinance and we'll need to change that before the process is over. We need to change it back to the Mayor's Office.
We will do that before this process is over. I'm assuming there may be other changes that 312 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we have to make and we'll do it at the same time.
Okay. Thank you. Ms. McColloch, where are the additional funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program budgeted in the FY10 request before us? MS. McCOLLOCH: They're just included in the appropriations request. They're not specifically detailed yet because we don't yet have the guidance on what I was just describing, the $14 million of CDBG funds. So we're requesting the appropriations authority at this time.
Where? By what class? MS. McCOLLOCH: Hold on. (Witness approached witness table.)
Hi. I'm Paul Cesario. I'm Fiscal Officer. 313 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. The appropriations for the $14 million is in the Community Development Grant. It's an allotment of $35 million, which is part -- the City requires us to liquidate prior year obligations every two years. So that amount was 8 million, and then we added an additional 9 15 million for this proposed increase, 10 for a total reserve appropriation of $40 11 million. So it's included on Section 12 1005, . You'll see "OHCD reserve 13 appropriations." That $36 million, part 14 of that is an allowance for the $14 15 million that we're expecting under that 16 program. And the 12 million for 17 Neighborhood Stabilization is in the 18 Grants Revenue Fund, and that is . 19
Can 20 you tell us how you are proposing to use 21 these funds? 22 MS. McCOLLOCH: The 23 Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds 24 are the ones that I was just explaining 25 in which we, with the Redevelopment 314 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Authority, issued an RFQ for developers. The Neighborhood Stabilization funds are going to rehabilitate vacant foreclosed-upon properties and resell them. The $14 million in CDBG funds we have not yet put out a plan for because we don't yet have the guidance from HUD, and when we get that guidance from HUD, then we will prepare -- we will prepare, depending on the timing of it, either an amendment to the Consolidated Plan or it will be in the proposed Consolidated Plan that we bring before this Council later in the spring.
Thank you. You indicate in your testimony that you have reduced or eliminated your General Fund funding for greening activities and the Utility Emergency Services Fund. Can you tell us what you have reduced it from to what is being requested in FY10? MS. McCOLLOCH: In the -- 315 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
You say you've reduced. MS. McCOLLOCH: In the greening activities, the FY09 budget was originally 4 million, and then in the rebalancing, it went to 3 million. And so what's proposed here for the greening activities is 2.4 million in General Fund, and we hope to supplement that with Community Development Block Grant funds. That would be presented as part of the proposed Consolidated Plan that we'll bring back to City Council. And for the Utility Emergency Services Fund, that fund receives $525,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. That will remain, and that will be part of the proposed plan again that we bring to you, and the million dollars in General Fund is being eliminated.
The $2.8 million that you are requesting from the General Fund for FY10, is any of that eligible for funding from the Recovery 316 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Act? MS. McCOLLOCH: Are any of the activities that we're supporting with General Fund also eligible for --
The $2.8 million that you're requesting from the General Fund for FY10, is any of that eligible for funding from the Recovery Act? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. Some of the same activities that we're supporting -- that are being requested for support from General Fund may be eligible for support under the Recovery Act. Again, the part with which I am familiar is the 14 million of the Community Development Block Grant funds, and that's the portion that we don't yet have the guidance from HUD. So I can't guarantee it, because we don't have the guidance yet.
Also, you are requesting $124,733,000 in the Grants Revenue Fund for Fiscal '10, 317 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. correct? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
Paul Cesario. These numbers are just appropriations authority. As I alluded to earlier, part of the amounts that are included here are requirements by the City, which they require us to liquidate any prior year obligations. So in order to restore these obligations in the upcoming year, we need to have appropriations authority to reestablish the funds that we had to liquidate in May of the prior year. I would say about a third of our funding is just bringing balances forward.
Well, let me ask a question. Why shouldn't the 318 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. uncertain amount be placed in the Grants Fund reserve for unanticipated grants?
We do have some appropriations for unanticipated grants, but these specific grants have a life expectancy of five years or more and they will be rolled forward into the same grant. They have specific -- each grant has a specific purpose, whether it's HOME or HOPWA. So when you liquidate a grant, you have to restore it in the same grant. So we will have additional appropriations in HOME and HOPWA. In state appropriations there's a reserve to carry forward the prior year liquidated amounts.
You might as well stay up there. You're requesting $85,465,000 in the Community Development Fund, correct? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
How much of this request is a certainty? 319 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
I would say we have a reserve of about $40 million. So take $40 million off. About 55 million is real new award amounts.
I'm sorry? MS. McCOLLOCH: This is the number that I just mentioned we don't have our actual allocation from HUD yet for the next fiscal year. So we are assuming that our Community Development Block Grant funding will be approximately the same next fiscal year as it is currently. So that's approximately $53 million. So of the 85.5, approximately -- I mean, again, at this moment, because we don't have the allocation from HUD, I can't tell you what the exact number is, but assuming that the number is similar.
When do you think you would know what the allocation you would be receiving from 320 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. HUD? MS. McCOLLOCH: I would have thought that we would have had it by now. So we are simply awaiting it from the federal government, from HUD.
Yes. My name is William Yurkow. I'm Director of Finance and Administration at OHCD. I think the best way of answering your question is simply to give you the information when we go back to the office. Any budget is a mix of certainty, funds coming in that we know about, and some projections, and we can certainly give you the projections in our budget as soon as we get back to the office.
Thank you. 321 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon. MS. McCOLLOCH: Good afternoon.
I wanted to ask you a question to some degree following up on the Council President's Office about the new flow chart, and I continue to ask pretty much all the departments about this flow chart. You are in the flow chart under the Office of Commerce, am I correct, or you report to the Commerce Director? How does that -- MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. I --
You report to the Deputy Mayor. MS. McCOLLOCH: I report to Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman.
But he's also the Commerce Director? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
What is 322 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. your relationship with the Redevelopment Authority in that flow chart? MS. McCOLLOCH: The Redevelopment Authority, there's a contract between the Office of Housing and Community Development and the Redevelopment Authority. The Office of Housing and Community Development is the major funder of the Redevelopment Authority.
So that's the same as past years, where they're essentially contracting -- the bulk of their financing comes through the Office of Housing? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
In terms of policy relating to housing, relating to disposition, anything relating to the prior contract -- because I'm assuming most of the property that was acquired through the Redevelopment Authority was acquired based on the contract with OHCD; am I correct? 323 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
In terms of policy as it relates to land disposition, who determines how that land is disposed and the formula with respect to nominal consideration, market rate, some flexibility, since that money to purchase that land was contracted from OHCD? MS. McCOLLOCH: The policy is set by the Deputy Mayor, Andrew Altman.
So in years past, that policy was set by whom? MS. McCOLLOCH: It would have been last year -- well, it would have been the Secretary of Housing. That was the position before that.
So OHCD was never in a position to determine -- MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, OHCD has held the contract with the Redevelopment Authority. So it's -- I mean, OHCD is setting the policy. The City is setting the policy. That is carried out with the Redevelopment Authority. Now, the 324 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Redevelopment Authority also has land that the Redevelopment Authority owns that could be --
Prior to OHCD's contract? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. The Redevelopment Authority owns land that it acquired before the contract with OHCD, yes.
This is my issue. You know what my issue is. If land was acquired with Block Grant dollars or some other dollars coming from the federal government that was part of a contract between OH and RDA, shouldn't the contracting entity and the entity that provided the funding determine how that land should be disposed of? MS. McCOLLOCH: If I understand the question, the RDA acquired some properties using --
For you guys. MS. McCOLLOCH: -- on behalf of 325 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. OHCD using the guidelines in the contract and so forth of OHCD.
Then they should be disposed of based on OHCD's policy. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
Okay. I just want to get some clarity. With respect to housing, other related issues that contracts -- that you contract with RDA -- and I'm assuming all the contracts as relates to the non-profit or the for-profit, when you go to closing and settlement on the actual contract itself, that's done between OH and the RDA? They're also your contracting entity? MS. McCOLLOCH: Right. OHCD holds a contract with the Redevelopment Authority. The Redevelopment Authority in turn contracts with other entities to actually carry out the work. So, for 326 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. example, the Cecil B. Moore Homeownership Zone, the RDA holds loan documents with Herb's CDC to actually carry out the work of the Cecil B. Moore Homeownership Zone, but OHCD provides the funds to the Redevelopment Authority through a contract. So the money flows from the federal government to the City, OHCD; from OHCD to the Redevelopment Authority; from the Redevelopment Authority to the entity that's actually carrying out the work.
And is there any direction given from OHCD to the Redevelopment Authority? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, as part of the contract between OHCD and the Redevelopment Authority.
All right. So if there are issues with respect to timing, policy, disposition, those issues should be directed to OHCD? MS. McCOLLOCH: Correct.
And not to 327 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the RDA? MS. McCOLLOCH: We work with the RDA, but, yes.
Because when Mr. Altman was here, I was trying to find out who I should talk to and he was unclear. He was saying it's this multi-tiered level of responsible entities, and I think near the end he kind of whispered that he was ultimately responsible for all of the departments. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
Okay. I know the bell is going to ring on me in a minute. I'm going to start this -- (Bell rung.)
Okay. I'm going to come back on some of this 328 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. NTI-related stuff.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just following up on Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, who was talking about the Childcare Facilities Fund, do these cuts impact the capacity at all? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. I just didn't hear the question.
Do the cuts in the Childcare Facilities Fund impact capacity at all? MS. McCOLLOCH: Impact the capacity of the Childcare Facilities Fund?
No; impact the Childcare Facilities to house Philadelphia school students. Is there an analysis of the impact of the failure to provide this funding to facilities and the potential loss of facilities that 329 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. should care for children in the City? Is there a connection between reducing the fund by 200,000 and the capacity available that's Philadelphia Childcare Facilities? MS. McCOLLOCH: Now I understand the question. There was not an analysis of that because there is so much unspent money in the Childcare Facilities Fund.
Okay. So the answer is, you don't believe there will be an impact on capacity? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't believe there will be, because there's so much unspent money that it will have sufficient funds to carry it through the next fiscal year.
Is there any impact on external funding as a result of these cuts? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know.
If you would provide that answer to the Chair. 330 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. So during public budget testimony last Wednesday evening when City Council was out in the 5th Councilmanic District, Gina Koo of the Non-Profit Finance Fund, which manages the CCFF, testified that the Administration planned to launch a new after-school plan that focused on licensed facilities only. Is there sufficient capacity in terms of licensed facilities for all of Philadelphia school kids? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know.
Okay. Are you aware of any support aside from the Childcare Facilities Fund available to help facilities improve their facilities so they can become licensed? MS. McCOLLOCH: No, I'm not aware of another fund.
Okay. If there are any, if you'd provide that to the Chair. With respect to the cuts to 331 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Community Legal Services, their funding has been reduced by 300,000. Was that funding for foreclosure prevention work? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
So we're increasing property taxes by percent 8 at least, assuming we don't go into 9 contingency Plan B. What is the impact 10 of cutting this funding on foreclosure 11 prevention in the City of Philadelphia? 12 MS. McCOLLOCH: My expectation 13 is that some of those funds could be made 14 up once we get the guidance from HUD 15 either through the American Recovery and 16 Reinvestment Act funds or if the new 17 round of Neighborhood Stabilization 18 Program funds when that comes out, we're 19 also anticipating that foreclosure prevention will be an eligible activity, so that the funding that was reduced here can be made up through other sources of funding.
And will you come before -- do you have to come before 332 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Council to do that again? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes.
Okay. So you don't know how many additional foreclosures there will be as a result of the $300,000 drop in their budget, though? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't.
-- get an estimate and provide it to the Chair. Last week I had some questions and Councilman Jones had some questions for the RDA. I sent Ms. Gillen an e-mail or one of my staff members sent Ms. Gillen an e-mail. So the questions were the amount of commercial property in the City, City-owned property inventory, the value of that property -- these are Councilman Jones' questions -- and the projected ability of that property to 333 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. create tax revenue. Do we have answers to these questions that were asked last week? (Witness approached witness table.)
Hi. I'm Terry Gillen. We're working on getting you answers. The data that we have is not fabulous. We're in the process of trying to get it to be fabulous, but it's not there yet. So I can tell you that roughly 14 percent maybe of the RDA's portfolio is commercial, but we think we can break it out by Council district or at least by zip code. We don't actually have things by Council district, but we think we can give you zip code approximations. So we think by the end of this week we'll be able to get you a rough list. And I have had a conversation with Councilman Jones about that.
So would the 334 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. same apply to the questions that I asked that were in the e-mail? I don't want to press you. If we're going to have them by the end of the week, I can certainly wait until the end of the week.
I can't remember what they were. I remember looking at them and thinking they were all doable.
Okay. Well, whether the RDA knows the location, value and status of all City-owned property.
The status of a citywide database reflecting this information for all City-owned property and the cost of the City building its own database versus buying an off-the-shelf commercial property management system and whether the City has explored a program similar to the SCOPE Program in Baltimore.
Yeah. I can tell you on the last two, we think that the 335 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. investments that the City has already made in its database, which is the VPMIS database, are probably worth building on.
And how much would a commercial off-the-shelf system be, that what then private companies would be maintaining it rather than us maintaining our own system? Have you looked at the long-term operating costs of having our own unique system versus using a commercial system that private companies are --
Right. The new head of DOT is actually asking that same question, so we're -- the first goal for us would be to try to get the existing system to work. So if we can get the existing investment without any new money, we're going to try to do that. If the answer is we've got to make new 336 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. investment, Councilman, then we're going to ask that question, which is, should we continue to put money into this system or should we do an off-the-shelf. And the truth is, the technology world has changed so much in the last four to five years that it's actually a good time for us to ask that question. But right now we're still trying to just get the $4 million investment to work and see what that gives us.
But, I mean, we continue to spend additional resources on that system, don't we?
It means -- well, I mean additional resources in the sense of staff time, but we're not spending any money on outside systems or outside experts.
It's an opportunity cost for other things the 337 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. staff could be doing, like figuring out how much commercial property the City owns, what it's worth and how quickly we can move it.
Sure. Yeah. But having $4 million sunk in the system, I think we're trying to salvage it, if we can.
Sunk cost is sometimes is sunk cost. We have to move forward, and I can tell you that commercial off-the-shelf systems are not that expensive and the ongoing maintenance of them is provided by a third party rather than our own in-house IT staff, and it's far cheaper, because the cost of maintenance, of course, is spread around every customer of that software company versus just the City of Philadelphia. So I urge you to begin looking and stop using staff resources to try to fix what's broken. Maybe it's time to move on.
I hear you, but I 338 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. don't want to suggest that it's broken. I think we haven't quite reached that conclusion yet.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez.
Thank you, Madam President. As it relates to -- and I'll start this by saying the Vacant Land Stabilization and Maintenance activities are very, very, very important to me. Why is it that we take some of that money from the General Fund and not from our CDBG money? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. Why are we spending General Fund money on Vacant Stabilization? 339 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Right. MS. McCOLLOCH: There's some activities that are not eligible for CDBG. For example, the Community Land Care Program is not an eligible Community Development Block Grant program. If we're going to fund that program, it needs to be funded with General Fund. And there have just been a lot of demands on the Community Development Block Grant program, so any support that we can garner from the General Fund to support these sorts of activities, we use.
How are we doing -- one of the discussions we had last year was how do we make the program more efficient in terms of liening some of the work that in the past there was a technicality with because PHS was doing the work, they didn't have the authority to lien. Where are we in those discussions? MS. McCOLLOCH: We have had conversations with the Law Department and 340 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. it's under review at the Law Department now.
Is there a timeframe for that given the importance of the program? MS. McCOLLOCH: I can follow up with the Law Department. I'm not sure when -- I'm not sure exactly where it is, but there have been some meetings about it.
With the stimulus money, what part of the Land Care work is done that is not CDBG eligible? MS. McCOLLOCH: The Community Land Care Program, which is the program that PHS runs with small -- tends to be small non-profits, such as Ready, Willing and Able, some others, that go in and clean -- they clean and green the lots as opposed to what we call the Vacant Land Stabilization, which is sort of a more in-depth program. It's the program that you would recognize as putting up the 341 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. wooden fences around lots and also planting trees and doing some other work on the stabilized lots. That program, the Vacant Land Stabilization, one with the fences, that would be CDBG eligible. The Community Land Care Program is not.
What would your estimate be of our potential revenue had we had the ability to lien some of the work that's been done? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. I don't know. I'd have to get you that answer. I don't know what it is.
Would you say it would be hundreds of thousands of dollars? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, but I don't want to -- I don't know without going back to look at it.
Okay. I think it's important, especially when you come before us for the Consolidated Plan, that some of those questions to that be done, because the idea about being able 342 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. to find a legal way to have PHA lien these properties goes to how do we create a revolving fund to sustain the project. So I think that is so important. So I want to stress the urgency of it. One of the things that happened in the rebalancing act, we cut any new work to be done. How does your reduced budget impact that or are you looking to subsidize that with some of the stabilization? Because I have a real concern that we stopped all new activities in the neighborhood. MS. McCOLLOCH: The budget that's anticipated here, again, is just maintaining what we've been doing.
We will not have the ability to do any of the hundred or so lots that were identified for the spring that were postponed for next year? MS. McCOLLOCH: If they were included in the current Community Land Care contracts or in the current 343 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Stabilization contracts, they would continue to be stabilized or cleaned. If they were new ones that haven't been touched yet, this budget does not anticipate being able to move forward with those, because there's no -- this isn't any new resources. This is maintaining the level that we're at.
How many lots were identified, new lots were identified, that we wanted to do in the last year? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know, but I could find out, because I know they went to PHS.
I have a serious concern, because part of what the contention has been is that we are going to continue these efforts when in fact we're not doing -- we've reduced severely these efforts. How much would you say we've reduced our efforts as it related to land stabilization? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, clearly, 344 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we've reduced our efforts because the funding last year was million and the 4 funding proposed for next year is 2.4 million of General Fund and last year it was 4 million of General Fund. So it is clearly a reduction. (Bell rung.)
Because I want to clarify that, because we keep saying that we're not cutting any services, when in fact we have cut severely on our ability to do this work. MS. McCOLLOCH: In this program there's clearly been a cut in services.
Thank you. Mr. Armbrister, I understand you wanted to make an announcement? (Witness approached witness table.)
Yes. Thank 345 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you, Council president. I wanted to inform the Council that there has been a fire across the street at the Municipal Services Building. Based on the information that I have, which is very limited, it was found in a closet on the 16th Floor. It did initiate the fire suppression system; i.e., the water sprinklers did come on, and so there is some damage in the building. The building has in fact been evacuated, and at this time, I don't know the condition of the building. And the Administration, because the Budget and Finance Office is located there, would respectfully request your patience and indulgence as we try to sort this out, particularly with respect to our ability to respond as quickly as you had asked with respect to the questions you've asked. So we will continue to work. We will keep you and this body informed as to what transpires, but at this point in time, they have not allowed the 346 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. building to be reoccupied.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, Ms. McColloch. MS. McCOLLOCH: Good afternoon, Councilwoman.
I want to support Councilwoman Sanchez's advocacy for the Vacant Lot Maintenance Program. I think that's a very important program, and I support all that she said regarding the funding for that. Prior to NTI, we used OHCD for acquisition of properties. Can we do that now? MS. McCOLLOCH: It's an eligible activity.
Okay. Great. Because we've been waiting for 347 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. about a year for the audit to be completed on our acquisition funds. So do you have dollars there? How much do you have? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry?
Do you have any funding available for acquisitions in your budget today? MS. McCOLLOCH: No. Are there currently Community Development Block Grant dollars allocated for acquisition?
Okay. What about in your upcoming budget? MS. McCOLLOCH: It hasn't been -- that budget hasn't been released yet. I expect the preliminary Consolidated Plan budget to be released in the next couple of weeks.
I'm sorry. I didn't hear the end. MS. McCOLLOCH: I expect the preliminary Consolidated Plan budget to 348 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. be released in a couple of weeks. As you know, we release a preliminary plan and then we have a hearing, and then we work on it and then we submit a proposed plan that comes to City Council, and City Council has a hearing on the proposed plan, and hopefully you all approve it by June 18th and we send it off to HUD.
All right. Can you provide the Chair with a list of housing development that's going on citywide? Sometimes I feel like nothing is happening, but then if I drive through certain sections of Philadelphia, I do see housing, new housing, being built. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, of course we can provide it.
I'd just like to know what's actually going on. MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. Yes.
Great. And with the green jobs with OHCD or CDBG or the stimulus funds that will go into 349 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the green jobs, how will that work? Right now -- and if you're funding ECA, I know that my office does a lot of workshops, energy, weatherization workshops in the community, and when ECA sends someone to do the actual workshop to show residents how to actually do weatherization, they provide I thought and I think a really good kit of materials, plastic, all kinds of stuff. Will stimulus dollars continue -- or will stimulus dollars fund those weatherization kits or will they just fund the people that will be going in to actually do the weatherization, or both? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, the piece that I'm familiar with is the 14 million of Community Development Block Grant, and we have not -- since we don't have the guidance from HUD, we don't yet know how that 14 million will be allocated, will be spent.
Okay. Great. But if you -- if you can, the 350 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. kits that ECA actually gives to residents is so useful, they're so useful that people really appreciate getting that start, and some of what they give, you can't even find in any of the stores, like a Home Depot or Lowe's. They give really good window kits, and I know because we've tried to buy them. We've tried to purchase the plastic, the same type of window kit that's given away in the weatherization workshops, and we just can't find them at all. So I think that's a worthwhile project that we need to continue to do. And that's it. I mean, we'll have questions later when we have the other hearing in a month or so, but that's all that I need to ask today, except that we do need OHCD's money for acquisition if RDA is still going to be sitting around waiting for this audit. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank 351 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. In keeping with the Mayor's goal to make Philadelphia the greenest city, what type of requirements or new stipulations are you putting on developers with the restoration and new development that they are doing, those who are receiving contracts from OHCD or PHDC, or has there been any discussion about amending your RFP so that new homeowners can get Energy Star appliances, et cetera, et cetera? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. That's all part -- we revised our technical specifications actually two years ago to ensure that the rehabilitation and new construction that we carry out are brought up to Energy Star standards. So we already are doing that and have been doing that. So there are very specific 352 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. requirements that the contractors who build or rehab houses supported with funds from OHCD have to meet.
Are there evaluation procedures in place so what they say they will do actually happens? MS. McCOLLOCH: There are inspectors that inspect all of the work to ensure that what's in the technical specifications is carried out as part of the rehab.
All right, then. We've talked about the green jobs. All my questions have been -- no. 17 The Children's Fund, the Childcare Facilities Fund, who is responsible for providing the technical assistance to those childcare agencies to ensure that they access those dollars, spend those dollars for the purposes intended? MS. McCOLLOCH: NFF, Non-Profit Finance Fund, holds the contract with PHDC. I don't know -- I just don't know 353 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. if Non-Profit Finance Fund in turn has a subcontract with someone else to provide technical assistance or if Non-Profit Finance Fund provides technical assistance itself.
So would it be more appropriate to ask that question of PHDC? MS. McCOLLOCH: Well, I just don't know sitting here how Non-Profit Finance Fund carries out its technical assistance responsibilities, but I can provide that information to you.
We need to know that if that is a factor impacting the decision to decrease those dollars. MS. McCOLLOCH: The only -- I can find it out. The only relevant point for decreasing the dollars is that there's $2.3 million unspent in the fund. So the belief was that that would be sufficient resources to carry Non-Profit Finance Fund, the Childcare Facilities Fund, through the next fiscal year to 354 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. continue its program, but that it didn't need additional resources because it had over 2 million unspent in the fund now.
Can we clarify the difference between encumbered as in there's an intended use of it and it being in the fund? Because are you telling me that there's $2.3 million that they have not identified for uses? Because my understanding is some of it is encumbered, there's projected projects for it. There's a difference between we have an agreement to use it and it being unused. MS. McCOLLOCH: I can find that out. What I know is that there's 2.3 million unspent in the fund.
But that 355 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. doesn't mean it's not allocated or -- MS. McCOLLOCH: I do not know. They may have identified some providers to draw down that money. I'm not disagreeing with that. I'm assuming they have or the money would just continue to sit there. I'm just saying sitting in the fund right now is 2.3 million.
But to my point is because you're making the notion that they don't need additional funds, and so for me it would be clear to understand the reason some of that money is unspent is because the Childcare Fund in some cases doesn't fund the whole renovations of a project. So I want there to be a difference in my mind -- and I think that's where the Councilwoman is going too -- between the difference between allocated and spent.
Right. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay. I can provide that information.
And, Madam 356 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. President, my ask would be that we not wait to get that in writing. My ask would be that you return at some designated time during the budget hearing schedule and we hear from you directly on the record what the procedures are and what percentage of that is encumbered and what percentage of that is not and who is responsible for the manner in which technical assistance is provided. So often we do hear back from departments, but it's long after the hearings are over and we've moved on to our next duty. So my ask in this instance is that you come back at some point during the budget hearing process and report back your findings. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, 357 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Madam President. You've been a trooper, Deb. You've been through a number of these, so you're hanging in there. NACs, Neighborhood Action Committees. At the height of NACs and their funding, how many did the City of Philadelphia have? MS. McCOLLOCH: At the height?
Roughly. MS. McCOLLOCH: At the height, 35 maybe, 36, something like that.
And these were spread around the City of Philadelphia to assist OHCD, PHDC and their housing production? MS. McCOLLOCH: To provide neighborhood planning and information and referral services in income-eligible neighborhoods.
And at that point, what was the level of housing production in the City of Philadelphia? MS. McCOLLOCH: Housing 358 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. production or you mean support, CDBG funds?
No, not funds. The number of units produced during that year, subsidized housing, neighborhood housing. MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know off the top of my head, but it's been many years since we've supported as many as 35 NACs.
How many do we have now? MS. McCOLLOCH: I believe -- and I can get you the exact number -- I think it's 23, but I can tell you right now. I'm sorry. I just need to look it up.
That's okay. MS. McCOLLOCH: Twenty-three. I was right. Twenty-three.
You're good, 23. Would you say housing 359 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. production is down since -- MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes, because we have fewer resources. At the height of 35 NACs we were getting $72 or $75 million in CDBG funds. We're now getting 53 million.
So in the 4th, there's Carroll Park and Haddington. Are those the two funded NACs? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. Achievability, Haddington, Cobbs Creek CDC, Carroll Park Community Council. That's all.
And some of them are in the direct production of housing? MS. McCOLLOCH: No. NACs do not --
So they just refer? MS. McCOLLOCH: Correct. NACs are not housing producers in that sense. NACs are -- they serve as ombudsman in the neighborhoods. They provide 360 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. information and referral services. They do neighborhood planning. They engage in other sorts of community organizing activities, but they don't produce housing units.
How many subsidized housing units were produced last year citywide? MS. McCOLLOCH: About 600 from these funds, OHCD funds.
How many were produced in the 4th Councilmanic District? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know that off the top of my head. I can provide it for you.
Okay. That would be important, and I think it might be helpful if we broke it down by district so that this Council could get a better sense of how subsidized housing is spread throughout the City of Philadelphia, and I would ask that based on who was very much utilized last, that 361 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. last shall be first and -- I'm not saying the first should be last, but at least all of us should get some, and I'd like to see those numbers. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay. We can provide it.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Sanchez. Councilman Clarke, your light went off.
Thank you, 362 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. my friend and colleague.
Councilwoman Sanchez is yielding to Councilman Clarke.
We're a very collegial bunch. I don't care what anybody says. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Ms. McColloch, just quickly following up on the last line of questioning with respect to the contractual relationship with the Redevelopment Authority. Are we obligated by law to contract with the Redevelopment Authority for the work that needs to be done through OH, be it acquisitions, contracts for housing? MS. McCOLLOCH: We're not obligated by law, but there's certain activities that the Redevelopment Authority has the authority to carry out that we can't contract with anybody else to perform those services. 363 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
Like what? MS. McCOLLOCH: We don't have anybody else to perform those services.
Like what? MS. McCOLLOCH: Such as acquisition through eminent domain, condemnation and urban renewal takings.
So you're saying there's no other entity in government, not just local government but in government, that can use eminent domain? MS. McCOLLOCH: In --
I don't think that's accurate. MS. McCOLLOCH: In the City of Philadelphia that's who has the authority to carry out eminent domain and urban renewal takings.
Doesn't the Housing Authority have the authority to carry out eminent domain? MS. McCOLLOCH: I'm sorry. I don't know, but I can find out. 364 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
I believe they do, because I had actually asked that question earlier. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay.
And there are a number of other government entities that may not be appropriate, like the School District actually has the authority. MS. McCOLLOCH: The School District has that.
We're probably not going to do that through the purposes that we need. So there are other agencies. MS. McCOLLOCH: That's what I'm saying. It's a choice by the Administration to contract with the Redevelopment Authority to carry out a certain set of activities.
So with respect to that, then we automatically renew our contractual relationship with the Redevelopment Authority every year 365 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. without looking for options that may be cheaper or more efficient? MS. McCOLLOCH: We enter into new contracts each year with the Redevelopment Authority, yes.
I understand, but I'm saying, do we look at other possibilities? I mean, if there is -- MS. McCOLLOCH: We have not looked at other possibilities.
But we're not prohibited by law to do that? MS. McCOLLOCH: We're not prohibited, no. 17
As it relates to getting out of the acquisition issue, because that is somewhat limited in terms of who can actually do that, with respect to contractual relationships to provide housing opportunities; i.e., contracts with the developers, be it for-profit or non-profit, would you say that there are probably a lot of entities 366 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that may be able to carry out that function other than the Redevelopment Authority or possibly doing it internally within OHCD? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yes. There are other entities besides the Redevelopment Authority that could carry it out, or in past years, at times the City, OHCD, held those contracts itself. There are a whole series of constraints for the City to hold contracts and how the City -- what the -- how the City can hold contracts, how those contracts can be renewed and so forth that make it easier to have another entity hold those contracts, and we've chosen to have that entity be the Redevelopment Authority.
So in that particular aspect, since we're in the time of reform and being fiscally prudent, could it possibly -- and I'm not asking you to say one way or another -- make sense that we may want to look at other ways, more efficient, less costly 367 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. ways to have some entity other than the Redevelopment Authority provide contractual relationships with organizations that do housing for the City of Philadelphia? MS. McCOLLOCH: We could do that. That was part of -- the housing reorganization study that was done in 2005 looked at a couple of different options for how to carry out housing programs in the City. So there's been a lot of work on that particular score.
Can you dig that up and find that out? Because I'd be interested. MS. McCOLLOCH: Of course.
Since we're in the time of streamlining and finding 368 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. other ways, not necessarily saying better ways, but other ways to do things in a less costly way. MS. McCOLLOCH: I can provide you with a copy of the report. It was from 2005.
That would be very helpful. I'm going to try this one more time. With respect to NTI budget acquisition/disposition, this is actually almost a year to a day since members of the Administration met with Council and informed us that they were suspending all of the NTI acquisition funds, and here we are a year from now, a year from that point, where we still haven't gotten a clear sense of where we're going with this, and I'm a little concerned, amazed, whatever type of terms, that in a year's time that we cannot figure out in the auditing process and the strategy to move forward. Do you have any sense of -- (Bell rung.) 369 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. MS. McCOLLOCH: It's my understanding the audit is, well, clearly underway and I think nearing completion, but I am not responsible for carrying out the audit, so I don't want to say that.
Who is responsible? MS. McCOLLOCH: It's the Controller, the Controller's Office.
And the Controller does it based on information provided. Isn't it -- since Council President is going to let me go on, I'm going to go on -- that they can only audit what information is provided to them? MS. McCOLLOCH: Yeah. They've been auditing information that's been provided through the Redevelopment Authority. The Controller is carrying out the audit. Information is being provided by the Redevelopment Authority, and anyone else who has been asked to provide information has been providing 370 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. information.
So this has been going on for a year? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't believe the audit itself has been going on that -- I mean, it's been a year since this was presented to City Council and -- or whatever the date was that you just told me.
It was April of last year. MS. McCOLLOCH: I trust you. And so the auditors have been -- there was a whole process by which an auditor was selected, but as I say, it's being carried out through the Controller's Office, not through OHCD. So I don't want to speak to the details of it, because I don't know.
You don't know, okay. Well, the bell rang, but I'm going to come back to that issue. We may need to get the Redevelopment Authority to respond in a little more detail. 371 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay.
Point of information, Councilman Green. It's your turn anyway.
Well, this is my point of information time. Does the Administration believe that opportunity cost is a real cost? In other words, the failure to spend money for the last year, how many jobs has that cost Philadelphians, NTI money? MS. McCOLLOCH: I don't know how many jobs it's cost.
Maybe you can do a calculation and provide that to the Chair. The other question I have is, what does an audit have to do with 372 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. spending money that's available in accounts for NTI? In other words, green dollars are green dollars. Money is fungible. The money is available. However it was managed properly or not in the past is not relevant to how this Administration is going to manage it. Why can't that money be spent today? (Witness approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Clarence Armbrister. Councilman, the audit about which we were just speaking was initiated in large part because of our concerns about the proceeds of the NTI bonds. As you probably know, when you borrow money on a tax-exempt basis, there are very strict rules about how that money can be expended. There was not sufficient record-keeping for the Administration when we came in for us to be able to have confidence in how the funds were 373 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. expended, bond proceeds versus other proceeds. So we sought out the idea of trying to do an audit. We understood, I think, that this Council had in fact engaged or at least worked with the Controller to think about an audit, and so in order to not duplicate or reinvent the wheel, we agreed to allow the Controller to take the lead on that audit. He selected the auditor. We talked about the parameters of that audit, and the audit, although it's taking much longer than any one of us would have liked, has really been outside the control of the Administration. We understand -- at least I understand, I should say, from reports that the audit is near completion, and hopefully upon its completion we will have a much better idea about the allocation of the tax-exempt bond proceeds from other proceeds so that we don't run afoul of the federal tax-exempt law. So that was the purpose of the 374 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. audit, as I understand it.
Thank you. Mr. Armbrister, approximately three weeks ago, maybe a month now, this issue about utilizing NTI bonds came up in a conversation about the Administration using, I think it was, a million two, whatever it was, for the stabilization program, the whole foreclosure issue, the money that we got from the feds, and somehow more than a million dollars was available for that out of the NTI funds, and I asked in that meeting, how was that money available to use in spite of the fact that we had this whole QRB tax-exempt issue, but yet the money that the Councilmembers had in their respective budgets can't be available, and that question was never answered. So like Councilman Green said, 375 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. that if the money -- we should be in a position to proceed with spending money as witnessed when this one point something million dollars as relates to the stabilization program, that money was made available. It was a long question, but I think you know what I'm talking about.
I do. I think I do know what you're talking about. I'm not sure under what rubric or rules that that money was allowed to be expended. I know that with respect to the acquisition pieces of the funds, that certain funds needed to be at fair market value and certain didn't -- needed to be at nominal value. That was the primary focus of our audit. With respect to the Neighborhood Stabilization, I'm not sure under all of the rules that that was expended and how that had been allocated by the Finance Department.
Well, I 376 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. asked that question three weeks ago.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So, Mr. Armbrister, I just would like to follow up on the question that I asked the Director of OHCD. Does the Administration believe that opportunity cost is a real cost?
Well, the failure to spend a dollar today has an impact lasting forever. The failure to spend dollars a year ago has an impact lasting forever. In other words, there are people who can be employed, could be employed right now, with respect to NTI dollars, other dollars that the 377 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Administration is not spending, and the longer -- indecision is in fact a decision. It's not the status quo.
I would agree with you, and the Administration has not been indecisive. The Administration has been waiting the results but for the monies that Councilman Clarke mentioned for that to be done. So that has been --
Could you please provide us with some legal authority that the money can't be spent today, anything that's currently in your possession in writing, e-mail, whatever, that says that that money can't go to Councilmembers. And if no such authority exists, let us know that, what exists today, and then --
When you say "legal authority," I'm not sure I understand.
I mean, we've 378 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. certainly done analyses within the Administration.
Please provide anything in writing on this issue, anything, e-mails back and forth between the RDA, OHCD, any place in the Administration, everything in writing on this NTI audit to the Chair, please. Also, I've heard -- what people are saying is that there's no responsibility on the Administration for the length of this audit. So please provide us with a list of all material and information that the Controller requested of the RDA in order to conduct this audit, the date that that information was requested and the date that that information was provided, or let us know it hasn't been provided yet. Because obviously half of the audit has to -- as Councilman Clarke 379 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. was suggesting, the speed in which the audit can be done is directly related to the speed at which the information is provided to the Controller.
And I would add one other factor. The speed at which information can be provided is sometimes a function of whether or not that information exists in forms that can be delivered. So there was a lot that had to be done to reconstruct records and things like that, but -- so that's another factor involved in the length of the audit. I can't tell you why it's taking so long, but I will certainly reach out to the Controller's Office and try to get those answers for you.
Well, also presumably the RDA would keep a record of when information was requested of them. So the RDA should provide information to that request also. One final question. Do you 380 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. believe the lack of an audit trail -- do you believe the implementation of technology at the RDA and other places in the City where every transaction had to take place electronically would provide an audit trail that would allow government to function more efficiently? Going forward, shouldn't none of this product be on paper? In other words, if all of this information of everything the RDA did had to go into a database and not on a paper form, wouldn't this audit be over?
Thank you, Madam President. For the purposes of time, I wanted to put a couple of questions that I hope that OHCD can answer when it comes in with its Consolidated time, because 381 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. I'm aware that we have two other units that want to testify this evening, but I wanted to put them on the record. One is an update on the reorg and the 2005 report that Ms. McColloch referenced, and if we can have that update in writing prior to that Consolidated Plan, that would be helpful, because part of that reorg included the "due to's" between RDA, for instance, and the City. So I want to request that update now so that we have it when we go to the Consolidated Plan. The other thing is that it is important that in the testimony we get clarity again on -- I'm going back to the points of where we've made significant reductions during our rebalancing act and clarifying that as we move forward for 2010, and specifically I want to look at, for instance, the Utility Emergency Services Fund, because, again, part of what's been discussed publicly is that there are no cuts in certain services, 382 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. when in fact in our rebalancing act we did, and I'm particularly concerned about the Utility Emergency Services Fund given the economy and what's going on. So I'm going to leave those questions for that time, but I want to make sure that they go on the record. All of the cuts that were made in the rebalancing act, that they be outlined as to which of those cuts are going to be sustained in 2010 and the impact that they have on services given the economic downturn. So I'm looking at lot stabilization, Land Care trust, Utility Emergency Services Fund. Councilman Jones talked a little bit about the Community Development Block Grants. Any of that stuff that impacts, I'd like to get those before, again, going to -- before the hearings for the Consolidated Plan. And then I'll leave that there, but I want to get those before. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay.
Because 383 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. there's been a contention made that there are no additional service cuts, but we have not spoken to the cuts that were done during the rebalancing and how they impact this year. MS. McCOLLOCH: Okay.
Thank you. Any other questions? Councilman Clarke, your light is not on.
Yeah. Actually, I was going to ask -- I was going to ask for a list of transactions by the Redevelopment Authority for calendar year '07, '08 and '09, but I'm actually going to do it in a letter form. I'll send that in a letter form, because it's not clear to me who that should go to. Thank you.
Thank 384 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. you. Ms. McColloch, you're off the hot seat. MS. McCOLLOCH: Thank you.
We will now hear from the Youth Commission. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. I'm De'ara Balenger, Executive Director of the Youth Commission.
385 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Please proceed.
Sure. This past January marked the Youth Commission's first full calendar year since its inception. The Youth Commission is working tirelessly to find its place in City Hall, and with that, we are becoming more familiar with the needs of our youth constituents and what type of budget we need to serve them effectively. After ten months in operation, the Youth Commission hired myself to navigate budget details and create a plan to foster the Youth Commission's sustainability. After considering the budget of other Youth Commissions and Youth Councils in other large cities, we find that the allocations of funds provided is reflective of best practices using similarly situated cities. So this budget detail goes over the changes in budget classes, our budget narrative for Fiscal Year 2010 and our significant accomplishments, as well as 386 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. our goals for Fiscal Year 2010. Just briefly, the changes in our budget class, we petitioned essentially Council to have -- to transfer monies into Class 300 and 400 for us so we could buy a computer, supplies, you name it, that we need just to be functional administratively, and that was passed. So we do thank you for that. And so as the budget narrative details, we basically now have 47,000 in Class 100 for employee compensation, $50,200 in personal services, which is allocated as follows: 4,000 for printed materials; 6,000 for contracts that assist us in youth engagement and leadership; 1,000 for postage; 3,000 for activities and conferences relevant to youth civic engagement; 1,000 for design and format of outreach literature -- just stop me whenever you may -- 3,000 in promotional items such as T-shirts, banners, et cetera; 3,000 for advertising activities; a thousand for website 387 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. maintenance; $25,000 for a strategic planning retreat.
I'm sorry; 2,500, excuse me, for a strategic planning retreat. The remainder hopefully will be used to acquire a part-time programming person, which would alleviate some of the administrative duties that I have, which leaves about $8,700 or so for miscellaneous projects that may arise; again, a thousand for materials and supplies; 1,800 for a computer. We hope to also get a laser printer and just accompanying software for computers. I'm going to let Mr. Hill take it away with the significant accomplishments.
Well, over the past year, we've done a lot. We've hosted a youth forum in collaboration with America Speaks at the Mayor's Reception Room. In 388 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. excess of maybe 200 young people came out to voice their opinion on the budget cuts and make recommendations to the Mayor on what should be included and what should be scrapped. We hosted a community building reception with many leaders from different organizations and businesses. We co-hosted -- well, we co-sponsored an outreach event with City Year at the Phillies stadium. We hosted a voter registration drive at City Hall, in addition to having a voter registration drive at 61 of the public high schools. We had a meeting with the Baghdad City Council on setting up a youth-friendly governmental agency, and we also partnered with Mothers in Charge to advocate for the City to establish its own gun laws. In addition, looking ahead and going forward, we hope to establish a Youth Commission Leadership Scholarship in partnership with other organizations, 389 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. with private donations. We are focusing on making sure that youth are included in the green economy and making sure that youth have access to training for green jobs. We're also working on the state level with State Representative Tony Peyton to establish a Pennsylvania Youth Commission, which will advise at the state level on issues of concern to youth. We're also pushing House Bill 12 520, which has now been renamed to House Bill 259, which will allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they're going to be in the corresponding general 16 election. We're also pushing on the 17 federal level, along with Senator Robert 18 Casey, to push through the Youth Promise Act, which increases funding for intervention, education and mentorship to curb youth delinquency. So that's basically what we've been doing over the past year. We've only had the Executive Director for the past five months, so a lot of it has been 390 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. planning, a lot of it has been setting up a whole new city agency, which is very difficult, but we think we've managed it to be successful with the events we've thrown. And we thank you for the opportunity to present to you.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. I only have five minutes, so I'm going to cover as much as I can, because I'm due in a conference call. Let me first congratulate you on the youth forum, which I believe was a great testimony to the notion that young people can and should have a voice in government, contrary to what members of the media thought was not a good thing to do for young people. That's number one. Number two, a couple of questions. You said that you're trying 391 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. to find your place in City Hall, and you say -- my concern is that you set goals that are Philadelphia centric. I mean, you mention something in here about what's happening in Baghdad, Harrisburg. And so I would suggest that you factor in some of the very, very specific goals the Mayor has outlined, like decreasing the dropout rate, increasing college-going rate, trying to find big sisters and big brothers for young people in our city and look to see where you can align what you are doing with what the Mayor has on track for improving the lives of Philadelphia's children. And then secondly, or lastly, I would can ask that -- let me ask you this: What role do you see for the Youth Commissioners when it comes to leading by example for other young people?
Sure. Can you clarify what should -- what qualities should they possess?
What type 392 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. of quality young person should we be looking for to serve on the Youth Commission?
And how about those qualities that require us to treat people the way we want to be treated?
Okay. So I would ask that some kind of training happens with young people on the Youth Commission where they are taught to understand that there are thousands of young people across this city who want to be where they are, and to the extent that that is a fact, it is important for those who are already there treat other young people with respect and dignity and embrace those who aspire to become Youth Commissioners. It starts from the top. 393 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. It needs to resonate with all of the Youth Commissioners. Lastly, you're a sophomore at Georgetown, Washington, DC?
Okay. Because my question was going to be how that important duty that you have in college complement, enhance the enormous duties you have of the Youth Commission. But there is --
There is no 15 conflict. I live in Philadelphia right now. And my term is up in August, when I return to school.
As you frame out what you want to be about, factor in high school students, because you all are leaders for tomorrow, and there are many who want to be where you are, and you can be a real role model for young people in high school who have a sense but really don't know how to do it. 394 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. So as you frame out what you want your priority activities to be, remember the young people in Philadelphia high schools and charter schools.
Let me just address that quickly. In January we spent a month going to different high schools. So Dobbins, Randolph, Ben Franklin, Masterman, Girls High, Central. So we did spend some time and we do spend time in fact really searching for young high school students to be on the Youth Commission and, two, just to actively engage high school students in general.
How many positions are vacant right now on the Youth Commission?
Well, what I would prefer is for young people to send us a resume, if they have one. If they do not, that's fine. But just a general 395 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. statement of interest, so something short and sweet.
So have you alerted the Councilmembers that you have those vacancies, that those vacancies exist so that we can inform the worlds that we represent that these opportunities exist on the Youth Commission?
Yes, but the first part of it was, there's some appointees who haven't been quite active, but I still very much wanted to engage those young people, and so I didn't want to necessarily come on board and just start, you know, kind of cutting the cord.
So how are you informing young people that these opportunities are open?
We have informed all a list of youth organizations. So City Year, Philadelphia Student Union, Youth Action, Mural Arts Program. You 396 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. name it, they know we have vacancies.
So if we have young people that we think are suitable and have that kind of aspiration, we should direct them to send in a letter to you?
Absolutely. And I think another component of this, what we're trying to do, is to -- just so we have a real representation of Philadelphia's youth is, we're also doing planning committees. And so if there isn't a space perhaps in the district where this person, where they live, there's other ways to engage these young people. We definitely want to be connected to them.
So definitely. Even if you have a Commissioner already that's an appointee, if there are young people you are finding who are interested in civic engagement, definitely send them our way. 397 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have one quick question, and, that is, when the Charter provision was passed creating the Youth Commission, part of the Youth Commission's duties were to provide advice on every piece of legislation coming before Council, and I don't think that's happened yet and I want to know when you guys will be doing that.
Well, actually, it just so happens that your office has 398 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. been very, very helpful with us, and your appointee, Leon Stimpson, has been very active in terms of even now we get the legislation that comes through Council. And so we didn't have a chance to comment on the curfew bill, and we hope that we can kind of get in the loop before things come, because we're getting the calendar, I think, the week before things come to Council and it's hard to coordinate because of their busy schedules to get them in here to testify. So I think maybe -- I mean, that's probably an aside conversation to figure out how we can best get on -- just be informed of the legislation.
I would recommend that you contact the Chief Clerk's Office and they can put you on the distribution when bills are introduced. And if you start when they're introduced, you'll probably be able to --
That would be 399 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. preferred. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, congratulations on a successful year. For a new commission, it's hard enough to take over the reins of an existing commission, but to start it, create bylaws and operating procedures is phenomenal and it lets me know that our future in Philadelphia is bright with leadership in the wings ready to take over and do us proud. A couple of questions. Do you interact with the Philadelphia Students Union at all?
Yes, we do. They actually were really -- we had -- when we did the youth forum -- I'm sorry; the forum on the budget, we had a planning committee. And so the planning committee for that forum to include 400 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. everyone were members of Philadelphia Student Union, members of Mural Arts Program, members of Youth Actions, students from Girls High, students from -- it was basically just a collaboration really of young folks in the City that put the forum on. It just wasn't the Youth Commission. So that has been a part of our mission now, to include as many young folks as we can in whatever process that we have going on.
Just to add one thing. We've had numerous meetings with representatives of the student union. In fact, when we took our high school tour traveling from Ben Franklin to Randolph to Masterman, et cetera, we met with representatives of that organization and we also met with them at their office in West Philadelphia. So they're a great organization, and we've partnered with them on the budget forum in addition to making recommendations on the School District's strategic plan, Imagine 2014. 401 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
They seem to be doing dynamic things and I was glad to hear that you are working with them. If you had to define for this Council on the record three things that are pressing to young people, what are they?
Well, one of the things that the budget forum allowed us to do was to poll the hundreds of young people that were in the room. The number one concern of young people was public safety. The second was employment, so summer employment, which ties into our green jobs efforts. And the third was education. So those are the three main concerns of youth at this time, and that's what we're trying to focus on as we build our plan going forward.
Thank you. Thank you very much. 402 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
We will now hear from the Board of Ethics. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Thank you. Good afternoon. I guess I should say good evening at this point, Council President Verna and members of City Council. My name is Richard Glazer. I'm Chair of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the proposed budget for the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. With me today at my right is Shane Creamer, Executive Director to the Board. I am very proud of the work accomplished by the Board of Ethics since 403 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. we've appeared before you last year. The Board has made large strides toward restoring and maintaining public confidence in the integrity of City government. Recent newspaper editorials have recognized the Board as an ethics watchdog and attested to the Board's work in changing the political culture in Philadelphia. The Inquirer noted as recently as March 27th that the Board's record of success so far probably offers the best evidence of real reform since Mayor Nutter took office on a "change-the-culture pledge," close quotes. During the past year, we expanded our staff from four to nine. As a result, we increased and improved our in-person ethics training and offered 41 ethics classes in our office to more than 700 officials and employees. We began in December just past to provide campaign finance training to prospective candidates in the 2009 election for 404 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. District Attorney and Controller. With our expanded staff, we were able to provide advice and guidance more quickly to employees and officials, and we continued our vigorous investigative and enforcement activity. The Board believes that this work is essential to creating an ethical culture in Philadelphia so that citizens have confidence in their government. Our accomplishments in the past year are set forth in much greater detail in our annual report that has been filed just in the last few days with the Mayor, and hopefully every member of City Council has also received a copy. The Ethics Board's proposed Operating Budget for FY10 is 810,000. Parenthetically, it's 20 percent less than the million-dollar Operating Budget that was guaranteed by the Charter for the Board's first two fiscal years. The budget currently includes 732,600 for personnel, 58,900 for services and 405 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. $18,500 for materials, supplies and equipment. These are the class totals that are included in the budget book. The Board has asked that the class totals that currently appear in the FY10 budget be changed to accurately reflect the budget request that was submitted in January. This change will reallocate funds from Class 100 to Class 200 because we will not, under existing budget constraints, fill two key positions. The adjusted FY10 class totals requested by the Board are provided in the addendum to this testimony. The Board understands that the magnitude of the budget crisis requires that we adapt to a new fiscal reality, and you have our assurance that we will, even with reduced resources, do our utmost to maintain the high level of performance the citizens of Philadelphia have come to expect from us. But we wish to note that we believe that the budget cuts have a disproportionate impact on 406 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. our small agency, which relies almost exclusively upon direct person-to-person contacts by our staff with City officials, employees and the public. At the FY10 spending level of $810,000, the Board proposes to maintain its current staff level of nine and hopes to preserve its core education, advice and enforcement mandates. We had expected to reach a staffing level of 11 in FY09, but as the budget situation unfolded, the Board did not hire staff for two budgeted investigative positions. We are, therefore, already operating with two fewer staff members than anticipated and expect to continue to do so. We have modified and reallocated the work of our existing staff to adjust to this reduced staff level.
Because of its limited staff resources, the Board will not be able to develop a widespread public outreach program, including outreach to the business community that is mandated by 407 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the City Code. Spending on equipment will be all but eliminated in FY10. No 4 funds will be spent on travel, except where necessary to provide mandated ethics training. This is especially unfortunate, because it is critical for our staff to remain involved in the national community of ethics agencies. Such activity not only exposes Board staff to development and new approaches in the field of government ethics, but also raises awareness and visibility of Philadelphia's accomplishments on the national level. I do personally note that two of our staff members participated as panelists, moderators and facilitators during a national ethics conference in Chicago in December of 2008 and, at some personal sacrifice on their part, spent their own funds for travel and lodging, because they recognized the importance of their attendance. They anticipate doing the same thing in FY10. 408 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. The primary impact of the reduced FY10 appropriation will be on the Board's ability to conduct core investigative and litigation activity. The amount in the Board's FY10 proposed budget for investigation and litigation-related tasks at this time for all matters is $42,000. Even with the technical change that we have requested to increase the funding in Class 200, the amount is inadequate to sustain multiple complex investigations and potential resulting litigation. For example, in an investigation of a potential election law violation, there are costs associated with locating and serving subpoenas on witnesses who were associated with a candidate or campaign. Once located, witnesses must be deposed and their testimony must be preserved in a transcript. An investigation may require forensic examination and analysis of computer equipment. There is no way at 409 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. the outset of an investigation to know what these costs may be. The Board may, therefore, be forced to reduce, suspend or eliminate investigative activity if the investigative costs are too high. This will cripple the Board's investigative and enforcement mandate. Further, because the Board is not represented by the City Solicitor, it will be impossible in the FY10 budget to hire outside counsel to represent the Board should it be faced with an outside legal challenge. In the past two years, there have been several such challenges brought against the Board. We were fortunate to be represented in these matters by pro bono counsel, but the Board is realistically concerned that such generous volunteer legal services may no longer be available, especially in this economic climate. If forced into court in FY10 without pro bono counsel, the Board and its mandates will be disadvantaged, as a total FY10 410 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. appropriation of $810,000 will not be sufficient to meet the costs of outside legal services. We will be forced to suspend other critical Board activity to permit existing staff to focus only on the litigation. In just over two years of existence, the Board has imposed civil penalties on candidate political committees and PACs totalling almost $100,000. When collected, the amounts are deposited directly into the General Fund. The Board stands ready to enforce these penalties if any party fails to pay. Even with the constraints imposed by the reduced FY10 budget, the Board of Ethics is excited to continue its efforts to implement and promote the City's public integrity laws. We take very seriously our mission to restore and maintain public confidence in the integrity of City government and will do everything we can to maximize our 411 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. resources to accomplish this task. Thank you. I'd be happy to take any questions.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Madam President. Very quickly, you talk about the investigations you do. How many of your nine positions are actually investigators?
Well, we have a Director of Enforcement. We have two -- and our Executive Director participates as well, and we have two folks that participate to some extent in investigations. So I would say probably two and a half.
Could you just send an outline to the President of the nine positions and kind of what their duties are, if that's possible. 412 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
The only other question I have, you talked about the penalties you've assessed. Is that based on set guidelines or you kind of use your judgement given each case?
Yes. Right now the maximum penalty for a violation is $1,900. However, in the course of settlement agreements, we will occasionally negotiate down that penalty.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. 413 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. Mr. Creamer, Mr. Glazer, how are you this afternoon? Thank you for your patience. Let me ask a couple of questions by way of the investigations. Did you come up with the standard of investigation or was it modeled after another agency? You mentioned the federal ethics kind of associations that you tend to get accreditation through.
Shane Creamer, Executive Director to the Ethics Board. We do use COGEL, is the agency that you're referring to. It's the Conference of Government Ethics Laws. It's an international government ethics association. We do go to its members, which include the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, the New York Conflict of Interest Board, the Chicago Ethics Board, to name just a few, and see how they conduct investigations. In fact, previously when I worked for the old Advisory Ethics Board, I went and visited 414 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. each of these organizations to learn how they conduct investigations.
And pretty much is there a standard, industry standard, on how they go about conducting certain types of investigations?
I don't know if it's correct to say there's an industry standard. It depends on the jurisdiction and authority of each of the agencies, and I think each of them have evolved and developed in their own sort of microclimates, if you will. For example, in New York, the Conflict of Interest Board, which is the Ethics Board equivalent, lacks jurisdiction to conduct any investigations. They have to ask the Office of -- I forget the name of it. I think it's Investigations -- to conduct investigations for them. Similarly, the Conflict of Interest Board does not have jurisdiction over campaign finance law. There's a separate agency in New York that has jurisdiction for that. 415 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. In Los Angeles, it's a little bit different, because the Los Angeles Ethics Commission is not independent of the City Solicitor, so they have to go to the city Law Department for legal advice and interpretation.
That's correct, we're different. So my point is that each of these agencies around the country have evolved a little bit differently and so the way they conduct investigations will depend on their authority.
I would just state in addition that the Code section under which the Board operates provides some skeletal information as to how investigations should take place, and in connection with that, requests that the Board create its own rules and regulations. And, in fact, our Regulation 2 sets forth in some detail how our investigations are undertaken. 416 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc.
In those investigations, is it common for the principal of the investigation to be interviewed?
Is it common? Is that the practice nationally? Is that some practice that -- I mean, in your experience over the last months 12 or so, is it common that you meet with 13 the principal or subject of the 14 investigation? 15
Okay. And in most of those cases when you don't, it's because of what?
It's because we already have enough information and 417 4/6/09 - WHOLE - BILL 090212, etc. evidence to proceed with the enforcement. We take all statements under oath, which requires a