Okay. That leads me to a larger technology question that I think I'm going to use as a theme for so many of the departments now. So I understand you have a database that shares information with the state database. What other technology do you use at DHS and what do you need? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. And so, at DHS in terms of the technology we use, we have what is called the Philadelphia Family Data System that we call PFDS. And that data system actually contains information about families. So everything from when a call comes into the DHS hotline up until we close out of case, so very specific information about families, about the services that they received, whether it was inhome or placement services, so very specific, and it contains all that information is very confidential. In terms of what additional data or what additional technology that we need, we don't need any additional technology at this time. So DHS does have an IT department that certainly responds to any issues that we may have internally with either our database and the exchange with the state, because, remember, DHS has a hotline, but the state also has a child abuse hotline. And so, there's a data exchange when the state receives a call about a young person from Philadelphia. And so, our IT department at DHS certainly supports us in that.
Final question, thank you, was you talked about having fewer social workers, I believe because the work is being done by outside organizations because of the success that you're seeing, right. I may have missed this, but my understanding is unfortunately when there's families that are struggling and having problems, there's two paths you go. If DHS starts getting involved, the family gets resources. And if DHS is not involved, which is what we want, the family doesn't get resources. Do you have programs that give resources to families that aren't in care? And if not, is there a way to utilize social workers to give families the resources they need so they never come under DHS care? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. And so, the families that receive services on our prevention side, those services are provided to them by our community-based providers, some of which you are very familiar with. And so they provide services to the family outside of the child welfare system. However, families can access that service even without DHS involvement. We wanted to also ensure that families were aware of that. And so, we also in partnership with the Philadelphia Health Department stood up a support line because we want the child abuse hotline to be used for when a young person is either abused or neglected, and that the support line, mandated reporters can use it, community- based providers, community can use it so that they can call and request services. And so, DHS helps support the Health Department with community navigators as well as putting some concrete supports so families can get the services that they need outside of the formal child welfare system.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity, then Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all for your service. Of course, we all know that your jobs are not easy so we do appreciate you even though sometimes our questions are a little rough. But for the sake of time, just going to ask my questions real quick and you can answer what you can and get back to me on what you can't. So Human Services first. Last year in your testimony you stated that you rely on 165 million in federal funding. What changes did you see in FY26 and what should we expect for FY27? You mentioned that the department would continue to develop and implement new tools to evaluate juvenile justice diversion and detention alternatives in FY2026. Can you provide more information on what specific improvements were made? What measures are currently being taken to reduce juvenile recidivism? And what do the statistics look like today? And then for the Mayor's Office of Education, in light of the projected school closures, what role will your office play in helping the needs of the community when you close a school, for instance, like Memphis Street Academy, which is a charter school in a neighborhood that we're already closing three other schools? So just trying to figure out how we're going to fill not only the needs of our kids there, but also the needs that are being taken care of in the community by these schools through their interactions. COMMISSIONER ALI: So I'll have Nadine talk specifically about the federal funding, and then I'll go into the answers.
Sure. Thank you for your question. On the federal side, we haven't seen much of a shift in our overall federal funding. It's been pretty stable. Small shifts in the funding occur when our placement population changes because it's based on whoever's in care. But other than that, it's been fairly stable. And a significant portion, almost all of our federal funding is passed through the state. COMMISSIONER ALI: So in terms of the questions around diversion, community-based juvenile justice providers, so we do have a performance management and technology division that's responsible for doing all of our data reporting. We recognized in order to do more thorough and comprehensive, look at the impact, if you will, of particular services that we needed some additional capacity. And so, we issued an RFP, we selected a provider and we have been actively engaging that provider so that they can help us determine whether or not the services that we are providing on the juvenile side are actually working. I do want to also talk about the recidivism that you indicated. And so, we actually looked at over a five-year period. Over 4300 young people that were being held at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center, 85% of them did not recidivate after two years of their case being closed out. And so, we will continue to look at that and look at recidivism. We believe that the reason why there has been an impact is because our goal is to make detention more meaningful. We know that it's difficult for young people to be held at the PJJSC. And so, we offer a variety of programs to keep them engaged, a lot of which are vocational programming.
Yeah. I actually come up there and speak to the kids for PTTI. Shout- out to them, doing great work up there trying to get these kids interested in the trades. Thank you. And just if you could answer the question about schools.
Thank you so much, Councilmember. Thank you for your continuous advocacy. It's an important issue. I'll talk about Memphis real quickly and then get into the other question. So just to know -- and you know this, the transition process is a joint conversation between the school district and the charter school provider, so I'll have to defer that question specifically to the school district. And then the second question is about our office involvement. So as you know, the school district presents a plan to the board, and then the board votes on that plan and they're responsible to implement that plan, and we will be working alongside the board in the implementation of what they have to do.
So you have no real role in the schools being closed?
It's school district's plan. Okay. Just my concerns, as you can see, is that fact that it seems like certain areas get targeted and my area seems to get targeted a lot. And the fact that we're losing three of our schools and then on top of it, are going to lose our neighborhood charter school. If we're thinking about kids, I don't know what that is. But thank you for the time, Council President. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, the Minority Leader Kendra Brooks and then Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Council President. And thank you so much to the Mayor's Office of Education, Dr. Deb Carrera. Wonderful time at CCP at the CATC relative to the nondestructive testing and naval welding, first cohort graduation last week. Very quickly I also heard you mention the program Joyful Readers. And when I heard Joyful Readers, my ears perked because that is a wonderful, proven program to help young people increase their reading levels and their reading scores. And I can attest to it personally. This is my first experience and first year with Joyful Readers, a program I had never heard of before. And so, I want to give kudos to Joyful Readers and the work that you all are doing in the Mayor's Office of Education. I hope that that program can be extended to schools citywide. It's an excellent program. And then finally, I wanted to thank our Commissioner Kimberly Ali from the Department of Human Services, Council President. You always give her kudos from being from South Philadelphia. I must give her kudos for being a graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls. And we appreciate the work that you and your team are doing. I must do the thank-yous quickly. Katherine Garzon, who helps us with the CERC work; Gary Williams, you've been incredible, incredible over these last six years; and Cydney Irving-Dasent as well as the entire team at DHS, particularly the communications team as well who works with my team, and also Nadine, who's doing the heavy lifting with some of the things that I'll mention very quickly. I heard you say, Commissioner, that we are at over 3000 youth service and 79,000 visits for the Community Evening Resource Center. So thank you, thank you, thank you. That is an initiative that did not exist at the onset of the last term and together we were able to stand up that operation in large part due to the work of the team at DHS. I wanted to briefly mention, and I heard you talk about this earlier with another colleague, regarding the professional services contracts. Are you all one or two in city government with the amount of professional services contracts? Is it 1941? Are you one or two? How many professional services contracts over the life of the Five Year Plan?
So we have about 287, I think it is, professional services contracts. So I'm not --
Meaning, ranking. Meaning, city departments.
Okay. And I'm bringing that up for a reason. Because I heard you all say that you're at 93% conformance for Q1?
For Q1, Yes. We're at 100 now. I mean, everyone's been conformed now. But, yes, we were at 93 at Q1.
Right. No, I think that DHS is the gold standard in the Health and Human Services portfolio as it relates to contract conformance, getting the process through the pipeline. I'm sure the last --
I'm sorry. I'm sure the last 7% was probably related to provider challenges relative to invoicing on the backend. And so, I just wanted to give you all kudos because you have obviously, and I'll check this, the largest amount of professional services contracts in the Health and Human Service portfolio. And to have a 93% conformance rate in light of the recommendations that we have from the Pew/Bennett Midland report, I think is excellent. So I wanted to give you kudos for that. (Applause.)
I think this is probably a question more for Sabrina than for our Commissioner. But I heard you talk about the 20% vacancy rate. And we notice -- when you read the detail, you notice that there's an assumption baked in that the full Class 100 allocation will be utilized when we know that departments technically have a significant vacancy rate. And I heard you talk about the 221 new hires total. I read that in the detail, the 71 or 78 new social service managers, and then the additional complement of staff over at the JJSC as well, that was 31. And so, how does that impact FY27 Class 100 requests in particular because I did see the slight bump? This on the Five Year Plan. I saw the slight bump. And then how does it impact the Five Year Plan projections? And I think that's probably a question more for Sabrina, but if you all could address that because I think that's an ongoing challenge across departments over the plan. It's extra dollars baked into these Class 100 projections. And if we can get that tighter, I think that helps us get to a better end goal relative to realizing additional revenue that is right here. It's right here.
Understood. Thank you for that question. So first, I'll just say that we have been trying to take a conservative approach with addressing our vacancies and rightsizing our budget. So in FY27, we proposed a cut of positions. And so, 5 that's something that we're going 6 to continue to evaluate as a 7 department, but we made that 8 initial cut. So that's one way to 9 address it. The second way is -- 10
Okay. Because the 17 current estimate for FY26 and FY27 18 estimate, you know, it would be 19 hard to see the reduction in the 20 position because of the amount. 21 You know where I'm going. 22
I do, I do. 23 So what I would say is it's 24 counterbalanced by the fact that there were contractual raises in FY27 that were taken into consideration. So we have D.C. 33, D.C. 47, non-rep raises, so that's also baked into there. So that does cancel it out a little bit. But we are at least addressing the vacancies with the positions.
Received. No, no, I heard the bell and I'm going to honor the clock, but I received that. But I also know that we are working through, I guess, the labor reserve as well. So I'll come back to that on how we understand the Class 100 allocation for each department. It's not specific to DHS. But just thinking -- and I heard you answered with the 20% vacancy rate. And then looking at the estimates versus the proposed and then the position count, you try to make sense of the numbers to find where there's additional opportunity for revenue that's sitting right there. Because then we'll come back again next year and we'll be sitting with a surplus in the General Fund after we indicated that we believe will not be in a good space. Okay. So I just wanted to bring that to the attention of every department who's listening, not just for DHS. And then lastly, I just wanted to ask a question how are you all ensuring the safety and the permanency and the well-being of youth who need to remain at DHS overnight, say, if they're not able to get a placement? I wanted to bring that up. And then the very, very last question, Councilmember Bass brought up a case, and we don't have any specific cases, but I wanted to just reiterate that we have one particular constituent who I'm sure has contacted many Councilmembers. I will give you their contact information again, but just want's additional feedback, outreach from DHS. And I've given you all this case before. I know it's very delicate from a legal standpoint, but I'll resubmit it again because we received constant outreach. And I don't know whether or not the case is just stuck in the legal system or where it is, but I'll resend it again. COMMISSIONER ALI: Okay. Sounds good. Thank you for that. And so, I will take the question around the safety premising and well-being of young people who are in need of placement. And so, DHS is a 24/7 operation. And so, young people can come into DHS any time of the day, any day of the week and we receive them with open arms. And so, we do have a child care room. However, we had to look at the number of young people who were utilizing the child care room and implement a few strategies. First, let me say that there has been almost a 50% reduction in the utilization of the child care room, partly because we are laser-focused on making sure that young people are placed with individuals that they know. Also, we engage them to determine why are they disrupting from placement or why are they unable to return home. And so, that is also the result of our family engagement initiative that we have in partnership with the courts. And then finally, I will say this is one of the reasons why we do have the RFP out now for youth emergency services so that we can address the short-term needs of young people until we identify a more permanent placement or return them back to their families.
Received. Would that site be downtown or it depends on the response? COMMISSIONER ALI: It depends on the response.
You're not location specific? COMMISSIONER ALI: No, not at all.
Received. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Council President. COMMISSIONER ALI: Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Leader. Chair recognizes Minority Leader Kendra Brooks. Then we have Member Young and then we have Member Lozada.
Thank you, Council President. I have some questions for the Department of Human Services that I want to get on the record. I want to begin by thanking them for their commitment to connecting our foster youth to federal benefits. And we had a very productive conversation about this tough topic and I've been interested about this issue since I've been in Council. I'm going to go straight to it. So I have three clear questions. In terms of the accounts to hold this money, I know there have been several RFPs that have not worked out, and I want to thank you for that work that you have done. But can you let me know the status of the process of setting up those accounts? And if the RFP process isn't going to work, are there other workarounds that doesn't require an RFP? And could the city put that money directly into a savings account rather than having it gone through the General Fund first? And can you let us know what options you are thinking through? And the third question is, I know there have been some concerns about the tax implications for providing these funds and I appreciate this concern, but could these be classified as gifts or could these payments be made in parts rather than a lump sum?
Thank you for that question and thank you for your continued support here. There have been a few updates. First, I would say that you're correct, we had the unsuccessful RFP process two times. And so, we have decided that it would be best if we broke up the process, did as much as we could internally with the support of the Treasurer's Office to push out funding to individual youth and then create or build up a fiscal literacy program for youth within an existing provider. So that's our steps. Unfortunately, we have had some delays on actually writing checks to youth. So that is our goal, to be able to write checks to youth upon exiting care. We've looked into a grant option, a gift option, and I think now we're at a point where we would like to just be able to write checks directly to youth and then just provide them the information that they need so that they fully understand the possible implications of receiving those funds. So we just wanted to take our time with this and be sure that we weren't causing any greater issues for the youth or tax implications or worse, as they're transitioning out of care, that they're no longer able to qualify for benefits. So that was a major hurdle for us.
Benefits, you mean like health care or whatever or --
Mm-hmm. COMMISSIONER ALI: But I did want to state that we have been conserving those funds since January of 2025. And so, those funds are being conserved for young people who receive RSDI benefits. And so, we are still conserving the funds. We just need to get the money in the hands of the young people upon their exit.
So with the small lump sums, wouldn't that prevent them from having whatever amount of money they're allowed to earn in lieu of food stamps or health care? Is it a way we can parse out that money so it doesn't eliminate that but still gives them additional funding? Because if you're getting cash assistance, I don't know what that is, what $200? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yeah. And I will say this, we have been in conversations with our Law Department around what does this look like in terms of taxes, eligibility. And so, we have been walking lockstep with them so that we can make the right decision for young people and not jeopardize their ability to receive additional funds upon their exit.
Okay. Thank you. I have questions for the second round. I'll wait.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young and Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Mr. President. First question I have is for DHS. Can you tell us how many or what's the deficit in the number of resource families that we need in order to provide a home for all of the kids that need a home in the city? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yeah. So thank you for that question. We don't have a deficit in the number of resource homes for young people. We actually have more than enough resource homes. The issue comes if the resource parent is able to address the needs of the young people. And so, that's where you see the disconnect. And so, in order to address that disconnect, we actually partner with our colleagues at Community Behavioral Health so that we can provide additional skills to both kinship parents and foster parents around skills, around how to handle young people who have more challenging behaviors. And so, we started that maybe about a year and a half ago so that we can help build the capacity and the skills for foster parents and kinship care parents.
Thank you. Another thing -- I should have been more specific in my question. So I specifically want to ask about the 22nd police district because I'm getting information from our CUAs to say that they are in need of these families in those communities in North Philadelphia. So you're saying we have the capacity there. I just want to make sure that I'm understanding how to continue to help some of our CUAs. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yeah. So I don't know the capacity by district. I could get that by district in terms of resource parents. I will say to you when CUA case manager or DHS social workers talk about resource parents or foster parents, we also like to have the conversation around kinship parents first. And so, our goal is to place young people with individuals that they know or know the family. And when they don't, then we place that young person in foster care. But I don't know specific by zip code or district, but I certainly can get that. And I can have more conversation because the Community Umbrella Agency who is responsible for that area is NET, so Northeast Treatment Center, who's also a foster care provider. And so, I can have some conversations with them around their own foster care recruitment.
Thank you. And you mentioned kinship care. Can you talk to us about if there are any issues as far as housing habitability that takes kids away from their families? And what the city provides to those residents in order to get their house to a habitable state in order to keep their Family intact? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes, I can speak to that. And so, in terms of kinship care, again that is our goal, to place young people with someone that they know. We do not allow a housing situation to prevent young people from living with their kin. We have resources that can support that and we have a 60-day window in which we can support them. So there are times that we have to of course support with beds, because to have another young person into your home, you may not have an appropriate place for them to sleep. We help certainly with food, a whole number of things in order to help support that. There are even times that we may have to do minor repairs, if you will, in that particular home in order to make sure that young people are able to stay there. But even before that, if we have a parent who we received a report on and they need some assistance with housing, we certainly will support them in housing support. So that could be anywhere from rent arrears and we will support that, move-in costs, we will support that. We do whatever we need to do in order to make sure that young people stay with their families. We do not want housing to be the reason why young people come into care with the Department of Human Services.
And we were talking about youth summer jobs earlier today. And as we were actually talking about it, I got a text message from someone who said a 15- to 17-year-old boys, they need a summer job. Those kids need a summer job being in the communities where they are. I know they need to be doing something busy this summer, right. And so, we have parents who are desperately looking for these opportunities. Can you just give us what that number is so we can fund all 14,000 slots that's needed? Because I think in the long run as we're making these investments in our children now, it's going to pay off for us in the future. And so, I think we really need to figure out what that cost is because I can guarantee that we can fill 14,000 slots for young people who are looking for jobs. We can do that and we provide incentives. So my question is what type of incentives do we provide to the potential employer, to nonprofits in the city to host one of these young people at their sites? Do we give them some kind of tax credit? Do we give them some kind of grant other than -- I know C2L pays for the paycheck for the students, but are we providing something to the actual host businesses to incentivize them to want them to participate in this program?
Sure. Thank you for that question. So what I will say is I can tell you that the cost per slot is around $2,700. That slot includes the stipend for the youth to get paid over the summer or whenever the opportunity is and then also a provider compensation component. So the providers are compensated for taking the youth and giving them the opportunity so that --
It comes to about 1180 per slot. So of the 2680, around 1180 of it goes to the provider and then 1500 goes to the youth.
Thank you, Council President. I think most of my questions were asked by my colleagues, but I do have one question for the Office of Education and, that is, given all of the concerns that have been expressed by community members, all of our school community, given the fact that many of our school parent advisory boards have made very valid recommendations, have expressed very valid concerns, is there a way for your office to help support the voices of the students and these parents and slow this decision process down some kind of way where every community -- I mean, I'm speaking for the 7th because I've been able to attend many of the online and inperson meetings, I've been able to meet with some of the students who feel that they will be impacted in one way or another as a result of the changes that are being recommended in the plan. Is there a way for us to slow this process down until every action has been considered and until people feel like their input has been valued and respected, right? I am going to refer to the Moffet community, who was not a part of the original list of closures but who will be impacted, and it is a closure when you look at the decisions that are being made in their K through program. 5 How can your office help support our on-the-ground communities in the situation that we're in right now?
Thank you, Councilwoman Lozada. As I've said a few times, this is not easy at all. In 2017 when Parsons came and did an assessment of our facilities, the price tag was $7,000,000,000, 2017 -- we're in 2026 -- of repairs. So our buildings are old, but there's also been a disinvestment because we're underfunded. So I have to repeat that because I think we have to really understand that the state discontinued Plan Con, so we couldn't get those funds to get our buildings to a state where all kids should have. The district entered into a process and they're going to share them. You've heard them. They did -- we were on this facilities project team. They had 35 principal sessions. They've received 14,000 surveys. I'm also a parent of a student in the School District of Philadelphia and I received the emails and the contacts. And I'm not saying that our families have not been listened to. What I'm saying is that this is a really hard process. And I think if we asked anybody who wants to close their school, no one is going to raise their hands.
I get that. I understand that. That is a fair statement. No one wants their school closed. However, decisions have been made in specific communities that we know will negatively impact not just our student population, but our teaching staff as well. Because there's no teacher that's going to stay through the transition year or through the planning year if they know their jobs are not secure, right. And so, there's going to be a ripple effect in this decision-making if we don't slow down and really look at how this is impacting our system as a whole. Councilmember mentioned earlier, right, that there's a negative impact that is occurring in communities like mine and hers, right. But I think those communities are the communities that feel like the engagement that was necessary did not take place. And while they have all of these numbers that say X number of people took the surveys and responded, are those real numbers, right, or were those people that were surveyed in those neighborhoods part of the Administration or a select group of people? Because when I talk to my families, when we're knocking on doors and we're talking to our families, they didn't participate, right. They either don't speak the language, they didn't participate, weren't unaware, don't even know what is happening and are not comfortable moving their children out of their community where they go to school in a way that's walkable to another neighborhood where they're not going to be able to walk and they don't feel safe in that neighborhood, right. So how do we just pump the brakes a minute? We know that there's tension. We know that decisions are not going to be easy. We know that some of our buildings have not been invested in. Hell, the state mentioned that they had not invested in our school system for many, many years. How do we kind of just slow down and really do the necessary engagement where we allow for parents and families and young people to feel like they are not at fault, right? We're talking about underutilization, that you guys continue to say that we're not making this decision based on scores, but the children that are negatively being impacted are those schools that continuously show that they come out at the bottom, right? How do we do that? How do we do that together so that we're moving our school systems, our school district, our children, our families forward without them feeling like it is because of them?
Those are all -- thank you, Councilwoman, because those are all very valid concerns. And I will say this, and you know that I led Kensington High School. Even when I moved from my old building, I didn't -- the program moved, so I think that that's a part that we also have to understand in this process, because we're talking about buildings, we're talking about underenrollment, I hear what you're saying, engaging. But my program went into a different location. So I just want to say that. But it --
A point of information, Dr. Deborah Carrera, and that was a great point you made. When your program moved from one building to another building, did the progress change, did the progress improve because you're talking about continuity? And so, could you also talk about that in the context of you responding to Member Lozada?
That's a great point, question. And so, my staff moved. And the district had said that next year '26-27 was going to be a year of planning, what that's going to look like. So when I moved my program, my staff moved with me to this new facility. And so, that continuity that you're talking about, the counselors that the kids knew, my climate manager that the kids knew, me, the principal, has an important role in all of this work and they've been a part of these conversations. I was part of that move and --
But that's not what's happening right now. You just said how important that is, right, that not just the program moves, but that the leadership moves, that the children feel that they're supported by that move. That's not what's happening right now. And what I find interesting is that it happens all the time. Council President is going to attend something. Everybody goes up in front of him the days before, we're planning, we're cleaning it, we're making it look pretty, we're putting paint and we're making it look great. Same thing happens with the Mayor. Same thing happens with Superintendent, right. Superintendent is going to visit a school and they know exactly where they're going to walk him through, they know what hallways they're going to take, they know what stairwell they're going to take and the facilities folks go before him, they make sure they're clean, they make sure they smell good, they make sure that there's no paint chipping. But that's not the reality, right. And in order for our children and our families to feel supported, everything you just said has to happen, has to happen. And in this particular process, it is not happening. Because when you talk to our school teachers and our administrators, they don't even know what's going on. They're confused. They don't know what their future is going to be. And so, I think that we're putting ourselves in a situation where we're going to lose talent in our school district that we really can't afford to lose right now, given how sensitive the academic process is in our schools.
Well, speaking of support from our state officials as we work on a school facilities plan, I'd like to welcome to City Council chambers the Appropriations Chairman, State Representative Jordan Harris. (Applause.)
Thank you for joining us, sir. He also hails from that great part of the city known as Point Breeze, South Philadelphia. Thank you for stopping past here, sir. We will be breaking and I'm assuming, based upon the feedback from my members, you would like for them to come back for a second round? (Yes.)
I kind of figured that. And so, we will be back at 1:45. I will see everybody then. See you back. Thank you. (Lunch recess.)
Brief Round 2 with the Department of Human Services, Office of Children and Family Services and Education. Briefly. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. Before we get started, just some house rules. I'm asking all members just please be direct with your line of questioning. Short on commentary. Chair recognizes Councilman Jamie Gauth -- I'm sorry. Chair recognizes Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you, Mr. President. I have questions for the Free Library and Parks and Recreation. I can re-enter the queue if you'd like me to.
Any last outstanding questions you have for this panel?
All right. Thank you very much. Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips.
Thank you so much, Council President. I just wanted to state -- earlier today I got some more information. As stated, the budget includes $850,000 over five years with $250,000 allocated in the first year, along with the hiring of new staff positions to support 230,000 residents with student loan debt. I just wanted to get a better sense from you all, $100,000 is going to go towards staffing for a grant program that you're going to do an RFP for. What is going to be the role for the staff?
Dr. Deborah Carrera, Chief Education Officer. Thank you again, Councilmember Phillips, for your support. The $100,000 is for two administrative staff, and that is to support with the calls that we're going to take in addition to supporting the position that we are purchasing from our office in the many pieces to this work. Because what I didn't get to say in the beginning was that not only is this position going to support 231,000 residents, this position is also going to work with city employees through the public service loan forgiveness program. And so, that's going to be also a bucket of the work that's going to be really important.
Okay. That was helpful. Because one of the things I noticed, you had some other staff and some vacancies. I'm like would it be possible just to use the ones that were already budgeted in that regard? But that's pretty much only questions that I have. And I'll submit DHS on the record some other questions that I have. I want to thank Commissioner Ali. I also want to say I'm really a big fan of the afterschool program and thank you for your work with that. Thank you, Dr. Carrera, as well.
Okay. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. But before I ask any other questions, any other members who have questions for this panel, raise your hand? (Raised hands.)
Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you so first. And briefly, I just want to thank you, Commissioner Ali, for all of your partnership on the youth ombuds, on this body's GPS hearing and on your efforts at PJJSC. We appreciate you. I do have some questions as a follow-up to the recent GPS monitoring hearing. In the hearing, we learned that youth were being incarcerated due to technical violations related to the GPS monitor. And so, my questions are how many children were detained at the Juvenile Justice Services Center this year for technical violations related to a GPS monitor? And how do you plan to work with the courts and other systems partners to reduce the number of youth incarcerated due to technical violations? COMMISSIONER ALI: Thank you for that question, Councilmember. I don't have the data in terms of how many young people are being held at the PJJSC solely for technical violations. We will work with the courts in order to get that data. Because as you know, probation as well as the courts make the determination around whether or not young people will be held at the PJJSC. I will reiterate what I said earlier in terms of there has been a decrease in the number of young people held in detention. And so, when I look at the full year of 2025, we had 1325 young people held at the PJJSC. So that's individual youth. And that was a decrease of 13% from just the year before, which was Calendar Year 2024. At that particular time, it was 1524 young people being held there. But I don't have the specific information about the reason why they were held, whether it was a technical violation or based on one of their lead charges.
How long do you think it would take to gather that information from the courts? COMMISSIONER ALI: I'm not sure, but certainly my team is here and I'm sure they'll probably send in text messages in order to obtain that data.
Thank you. I look forward to receiving it. I also want to commend Councilmember Phillips and Councilmember Landau for holding that hearing, but I do think we have to kind of keep our foot on the gas. And so, it will be important to, on an ongoing basis, look at that data to ensure that young people aren't being incarcerated unnecessarily or due to minor technical violations. Thank you. COMMISSIONER ALI: Understood.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Cindy Bass and Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad. We'll wrap up with Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. I just really wanted to make a little bit more of a statement than a question that I have -- well, I do have one quick question. And that is around going back to the CUAs and the problem that we had with retention of staff. And my assumption is that the salary is what the problem is in terms of them being able to retain staff. So does the city have a minimum requirement for staffing for employees through CUAs? COMMISSIONER ALI: We do. And so, that minimum requirement for CUA case managers is in alignment with our social work service managers at DHS. And so, that minimum requirement is $60,000 a year because it's comparable to DHS employees.
Do we have a caseload requirement? COMMISSIONER ALI: The caseload requirement for CUA case managers is families to 1, which is lower than what the state recommendation is. The state recommends for ongoing service delivery, a 30-to-1.
So 7 do you monitor that? 8 COMMISSIONER ALI: Oh, 9 absolutely. 10
Okay. COMMISSIONER ALI: So we do monitor the caseload.
So if it's not the caseload and it's not the salary, then I would assume -- are you all looking into what is the problem, why are they having such a difficult time retaining staffing? Because clearly, there's a problem. It's not just one CUA or two CUAs. It seems to be, I don't know, maybe half of them or more. So if you could give us that in writing as to what DHS is doing to look at the staffing and turnover because it's a position that we need a steady hand on this. COMMISSIONER ALI: Absolutely. And so, I can say some brief statements and then I can submit it in writing in terms --
Well, real brief because I don't have a lot of time. COMMISSIONER ALI: I'm sorry. Do you want me to continue?
(Nodded affirmatively). COMMISSIONER ALI: We do utilize the same strategies we do internally in terms of CUA case managers and what we do with our own staff, supporting them around the training, number one, of their employees, also making sure that there is appropriate transfer and learning for CUA case manager staff, because it's very different from being in the classroom versus you knocking on the door and engaging families.
Well, let me -- because I want to just make a statement real quick. But I'll just say this, there's a problem and it doesn't seem to have been figured out. So if DHS could do some work on that and then report back to the President, that would be great so he can let us know. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes.
Please provide the information to the Chair at the appropriate time. Member Bass.
One last question or statement that I wanted to make regarding schools and school closures. And I just really wanted to say on the record that, as there were questions earlier, this is really quite a self-created problem where the district changed the requirements to special admit schools. And as a result, you can see how the enrollment dropped year after year after year. So now, we're in this sort of crisis phase where you have some really good schools like a Lankenau, like a Parkway, like some of these other schools that are being identified as they have to close because of low enrollment. The reason we're here is because of the work done by the district in the first place. And so, rather than going back to look at the work and look at the changes that were made and saying we need to reverse those changes or we need to do something different, the first thought was just shut them down, just close them, which is really quite a disservice to our communities and to our young people. I often say if you create the conditions, you're responsible for the results. And I believe the district is responsible for these results. There were other options. We didn't have to go immediately to we have to close the schools. Again, we could have revisited the special admit policy, made corrections to ensure quality educational options were available in every neighborhood and then we could move students, we could transport students to spaces to preserve schools and neighborhoods with less attendance and provide transit. And I don't understand why that's not an option. But if you look at a map of the city of Philadelphia and you look straight down the line of Broad Street, years ago when schools were closed or 13 years ago, whatever it was when schools were closed, most of the schools closed were on the west side of Broad Street, which is where there's declining population. Most of the schools that were kept open were on -- actually all the schools pretty much, I believe, on the east side of Broad Street were kept open, which is where growth in the city was happening. But at the same time, you can't say, well, just because that's where the population growth is, that's where we're going to close schools. There has to be educational options for every neighborhood. Because what happens when, you know, let's say if we take some of these buildings and we build them into residential housing units, are we going to say that families without kids only because there's no 3 educational options or there's limited educational options --
Thank you. Briefly, Dr. Deborah, have we entertained one-for-one schools where you tear down the school and rebuild a smaller school so the school could stay inside the neighborhood in the process of the school district's $2.8 billion initiative? Has that been a serious thought? Because I understand clearly what you're saying, if we have a school -- my understanding, Lankenau has the school built for 800 and it's only 300 kids inside the school right now. I do understand that part because that's also a public safety issue with a little bit of kids inside a school that's pretty much empty. Anything could happen. And if something did happen, we would be having a different conversation in this room 11 as to why you have a whole bunch of kids -- why you have kids in a building that's pretty much empty. And if something does happen, we would be having a different conversation. But I guess my question is, has the Administration approached the district and had a conversation saying, okay, this building was built for 1000 students, there's only 300 students in that building, but as an excellent academic program as opposed to us relocating, combining, how about as part of that $2.8 billion budget, we tear the school down, not sell it to a developer, tear the school down, rebuild another school at the same site, maybe add a rec center, maybe add a health center, right, on that same campus, right. So now, you have a smaller footprint, the overhead is much, much less. And out of that $2.8 billion strategy, the neighborhood doesn't lose the school. Temporarily, the kids are inside another building, maybe a trailer for that particular point in time, but they get to come back to that very same neighborhood with a smaller footprint of a school. Have we actually explored that or do you know if that has been explored?
Thank you for that commentary, President Johnson. So I will say that this process has been a two-year process of engaging with different stakeholders. And so --
I want to say respectfully, and I know Mr. Chairman of the school board always says we are just doing what y'all asked us to do, but there has not been a two-year engagement of the members of this City Council. Now, it might have been every time they may have come in front of this body and say, hey, we're going to rightsize the schools, but in terms of an actual sit-down engagement and saying, here's our plan, here's how we're rolling out in the near future -- and I know the surveys have been done, town halls have been done, but I'm just talking about active conversations with this body in terms of what we would like to see from a facilities plan standpoint. To be quite frank with you, that hasn't happened in terms of this body, maybe other stakeholders, but I will stand and say that hasn't happened. So I just was wondering has a one-for-one type of option been put in place like, okay, Lankenau, very, very nice campus. We know, right, realistically, a school built for 800 kids and you only have 300 in there probably may not be the best fit, right. But however, has the option been it's a nice campus, let's work on tearing the building down and build up a smaller one, more modern building?
Not that I know of, that option. But I just want to reiterate respectfully that the enrollment decline has been happening for 10 years. It didn't just happen a year ago, two years, but 10 years. And so, I just want to --
I'm agreeing with you on that. I understand --
Point of information. So while there have been declines over the years, the last 10 years or whatever, there were steep declines after the changes made by the district. So, you know, a drop in students here or there is 19 different from a 50, you know, 20 based on just naturally going to a charter or whatever is much different than a school seeing a 50% drop based on changes that were made by the school district. And that's why I keep saying that the district needs to go back to the drawing board and take a look at when those big drops happened and what were the changes that happened that got them there in the first place. Thank you.
I want to ask this because this is going to be a very lively conversation in the future. And if y'all want to do a callback throughout this process to continue this conversation, you're more than willing to do a callback so we can get to the next panel. And then I also want to ask Ms. Deborah Carrera, if you and your team can have a conversation with our Chair of Education and the members who have different issues and concerns so we can work collaboratively, right. It's not an adversarial thing. They're all of our children. So we were just working the best that we can to get it right. And I heard you say a couple different times, which I think most or all of us understand, there's a structural deficit. We get it, right. We know the politics in Harrisburg. They do want us to come up there with an actual plan that we're working on addressing this issue, right. I also remind them though, but all politics are local so I rely on our Chair of Appropriations, our Speaker of the House, our Governor Josh Shapiro to do what they need to do, right, and we're going to do we need to do on our end. So at the end of the day, their politics won't dictate ours, right, because we're on the ground and we want to make sure we're protecting our children and supporting our families. But I do understand the reality of how we address it, but we still want to get it done right so we don't have even worse of a problem two, three, four, five years, and we're sitting at this table and we're saying, well, they got rid of the special admit programs and this is a result of what actually happened. But I do want to follow up and have a more concrete conversation with members of Council and the Administration, particularly around this issue, if that's okay. And one small one, Commissioner Ali. I know a couple CUAs had to be shut down because of the insurance issue, the liability issue. What's the current status and how are we addressing that issue? Because at one point, I thought all the CUAs would not be in existence because of the cost of insurance. COMMISSIONER ALI: Yeah. And so, you're correct in terms of two CUAs making a decision that they no longer wanted to provide services. So I want to also reiterate that we had a seamless process in terms of transferring all of those families as well as the staff to the other CUA providers that were newly identified. And, yes, they made their business decision based on insurance. We continue as a city to monitor liability assurance because it is a nationwide issue and we'll continue to work with the state. But to date, both the city and the state has certainly paid all the insurance premiums for not only Community Umbrella Agencies but placement providers as well.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Dr. Nina Ahmad and then we'll wrap up with Councilmember Kendra Brooks and go into our next panel discussion.
Thank you, Council President. Very quickly, just to follow up on the CUA point, and I'm glad Council President brought that up, so the CUAs are getting their insurance premiums paid in the contract that they're doing, correct? Am I understanding that correctly? COMMISSIONER ALI: That's correct.
What percentage of that contract is spent on insurance premiums? COMMISSIONER ALI: 16% of the contract.
That's a large amount of their budget. And also, we talked about the whole salary of social workers who are people with Master's in terms of in your office, but what is the requirement for CUA social workers? And second is how much oversight do you actually give now that you're actually not in the business of doing what the CUAs did, because that's what you did before. Now, you're just investigatory and then just a follow-up. I want to know, because what I've heard from CUAs is there's not a lot of oversight in person. There are meetings, but they're not onsite with actual families and engagement. So correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the feedback I got. So I want to be clear publicly, what exactly is your engagement with CUA in terms of supervision and what they're required in their social workers to produce? COMMISSIONER ALI: So all social workers at Community Umbrella Agencies as well as DHS have the same requirements around having a Bachelor's degree in social work or a like profession, if you will. The social work supervisors and the CUA supervisors, they are required to have a Master's degree in social work. So the Master's degree in social work for both CUAs as well as DHS supervisors. We receive the same training, so it's the exact same training for DHS as well as the Community Umbrella Agencies. So everything is the same in that regard. In terms of the oversight, so we do significant oversight of the Community Umbrella Agencies, one of which rolls up into this CUA scorecard where we look at over 2000 families each year to determine whether or not they are receiving the appropriate services and we rank them according to domains, and that's what you see in the CUA scorecard. So that is completed by DHS's performance management and technology division. So they are DHS staff that actually monitor the CUAs. On the ground, we have practice specialists. They are employees under my DHS universities, so under my training arm that provides technical assistance. As you can see from the CUA scorecard, most of the CUAs scored four or five bells, so they have been doing fairly well in terms of the CUA scorecard and the practices that they provide and the services that they provide to children, youth and families. And so, the technical assistance looks different. So for the CUAs who achieved the three bells, the two that achieved the three bells, we provide more hands- on, on-the-ground technical assistance than the ones who are achieving much better. In addition, we also have the family team conferencing model at DHS, so as DHS supervisors that facilitate team meetings, so we bring together the family, the Community Umbrella Agency to see the progress of the case. So that is our way of also making sure that families are receiving the services that they deserve.
So we'll circle back later, because I'm visiting each of the CUAs and getting feedback on each of them. So we'll provide you with what we saw and heard and how it shows up. Quickly before I let you go, I wanted to revisit the 8.6 million. I didn't understand it. There's 8.6 million that jumped from 2.7 million. And you said that was state money that was coming in. But then why is it on the budget?
It's a combination. It's state and General Fund. The entire budget that we have for DHS is leveraged. So every line item that you see in here is a combination of state and General Fund dollars, so that represents a portion of that funding and then we got the full year funding. That's how our requests work with the state. And none of that has been awarded yet. So we currently have an RFP out right now, and then we're hoping to award that soon.
So the 8.6 is a combination of General Fund money and state money?
If you separate them, what is the General Fund money because that's what will reflect in our budget? So if we are reducing it by the amount the state gives, that means we have more dollars available. I just want to understand that number.
Sure. So from the 8.6 million, about 2 million -- about 1.6 million, I'm sorry. Around 1.6 million is General Fund dollars.
So that means we have more resources. I'm just trying to have an accounting conversation to say what are we showing on the ledger to show how much money is available in the General Fund. If it's so much money, it's like $7 million, that's a lot more revenue that we have sitting in General Fund to do other things with. That's the clarification.
I understand. However, you can't access all of that money without matching, right. So --
-- in order to put that General Fund -- in order to receive that state funding, we have to put the General Fund up and then spend all of it together.
I understand. But we need to be clear, what is the revenue that we are having to generate for our General Fund to give services. And that's only 1.6 of the 8.6. Just for clarity, I wanted to make sure. Because the numbers that we're -- we're looking for efficiencies, right. We're looking to see how tightly we are running our budget so that people know how their dollars are being used.
There's no way for the public to know this. There's absolutely no 22 way to look at the budget and say, oh, it's actually only 1.6 coming from the General Fund. I think we need to be absolutely clear how we're using tax dollars, and this clarification needs to be evident in some way in the budget with an asterisk or something because that is very misleading. And it's jumped from 1. something to 8.6, immediately alarm bells for us. So thank you very much for that clarification. Thank you, Council President. I'm done.
Thank you very much. Councilmember Kendra Brooks.
I am going to finish up the line of questioning I started before. It was really again about the amount of benefits that you've earned while in the foster program. We know it's large, so providing kids with money that they need to support their education or start a career. I want to know can we talk about what kind of planning work you -- you mentioned it briefly, we're having with the kids about what to do this money, how to spend the money. Having young kids have large lump sums of money at one time can be pretty difficult so I would love to hear what are you doing to provide them with that education? And I know it's a complicated process and I want to thank you for working through this. And I would like to know the timeline for the next steps. And will you be willing to sit with my office and advocates from the vendor's office about the details of the next step. And the last one is we want to work with stakeholders to understand the gaps in community-based services and kind of work with you guys to help recruit providers to fill in some of those gaps. And I would love to also have a convening with stakeholders about how we can fill in the gaps of services to make sure nothing slips in?
Thank you for that question. So as far as the next steps, right now we're working with the Law Department to explore the writing checks directly to youth. We're not starting accounts. We're just going to write checks directly to youth. So we've already worked with the Treasurer's Department. Now, we're moving in the Law Department -- well, we're continuing to work with the Law Department on that, and the hope is that that can move along quickly. And then we also want to ensure that we are setting our youth up for success. And so, that is that financial literacy that we're talking about. And we've been working internally to see if we can route that through one of our existing providers. And then that would be, here's how to set up an account once you receive this money, here are how you could budget for this money and next steps on how to be fiscally responsible with this money, and then also the effects of receiving a lump sum amount of money. So that is currently our plan. COMMISSIONER ALI: And in terms of working with your office, absolutely. I know we've had some conversations in the past in terms of the RSDI benefits. So, yes, we are committed to continuing to work with both your office as well as advocates around this issue. And I do understand that there is some energy at the state level as well, so we're waiting for some further guidance around that too.
All right. Thank you so much. I have one for the Office of Education for Dr. Carrera. One of the programs under the Mayor's Office of Education is Octavius Catto scholarship at CCP. As a CCP alum, I often encourage young people to apply for the CATTO scholarship. One issue that frequently comes up is that the scholarship is limited to full-time students. In my experience, the students that most need the scholarship are those working at least part-time and they aren't able to take on a full course load. Has it been any discussion about these scholarships being available part-time? I was a part-time student at CCP for seven years before I went to Temple to finish out my first degree. So I know the significance of access. So limiting young people or not so young people, because I know it's expanded now, the opportunity to acquire the education because they're not able to go full-time seems kind of unfair and kind of against what we're trying to capture. So is there any talk about that?
Thank you for that question, Councilmember, and glad to hear that you're a CCP grad. My sisters are too. And so thankful that they went to CCP because I went to Temple because of them. But we have had conversations, because to your point it is a real issue. So we are having conversations with the Community College of Philadelphia about that, because I know that there are certain standards that the college uses or that there are certain standards that assess the college. And so, we have had those conversations. We've been a little creative around the teachers. So we have the CATTO scholarship that is supporting some teachers and we're looking at how we can create a full-time schedule for them, even if they're working during the day. It is an issue that we're looking at and we're trying to be creative around it.
Thank you very much. I want to just say thank you for your time today. Also, I just want to get y'all a shout-out to just thank you for your extreme professionalism under three, four hours of line of questioning. And so, it's all in the effort of moving our great City of Philadelphia forward. Chair will briefly acknowledge Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.
Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to note for the record that we'll be submitting a couple more questions in writing for this panel as well, and we'll welcome a callback as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much. That will be noted. Thank you very much. Have a great day. Ms. Loughead, please call the next panel.
We have Sue Slawson, Commissioner for Parks & Rec; and Kelly Richards, President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and please begin. I know you're not going to start and you see the young lady sitting next to you. I know your mom/Nana taught you better than that. Ladies first. Commissioner Sue Slawson, welcome to City Council today. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Good morning, Council President -- good afternoon, Council President and members of City Council. My name is Susan Slawson, Commissioner for Parks and Recreation.
Good afternoon, Council President, members of City Council. My name is Kelly Richards, President and Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Please begin your testimony. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. My name is Susan Slawson, Commissioner of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. Joining me today are my colleagues Marissa Washington, First Deputy Commissioner and Susan Buck, Deputy Commissioner for Operations. It's a privilege to be here. I appear before you to present our proposed operating budget for Fiscal Year 2027. We are proposing a General Fund obligation of $89,318,447, a decrease of $518,345 from Fiscal Year 2026 estimated obligation levels. This decrease is primarily due to one-time payments for contracted bonuses and site preparation costs associated with 2026 special events. Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, PPR, is entrusted to manage recreation centers and public spaces equitably, sustainably and responsibly. We fulfill that responsibility by delivering programs and services that strengthen the health, safety and provide economic opportunity, advancing Mayor Parker's vision of neighborhoods that are safe, clean and green with economic opportunity for every resident. We are proud to partner closely with OHR on recruitment, workforce planning and job specification revisions, resulting in expanded candidate pools and stronger development pathways for staff. Their ongoing support, including job fairs, onsite recruitment efforts and strategic planning has helped drive significant hiring progress and together, we remain committed to finding creative and innovative ways to further reduce our vacancies. As stewards of Philadelphia's natural lands, our sustainability unit maintains, increases and protects natural resources across the city. We recognize the importance of minimizing the use of herbicides and pesticides wherever possible, while also ensuring that our management practices are effective in controlling invasive species and supporting the long-term health of our natural landscapes. Our compost program at the organic recycle center directly advances the Mayor's clean and green vision of diverting over 5000 tons of organic material from landfill each year and creating beneficial products like mulch, wood chips and compost. Residents and city departments receive free services, improving environmental outcomes while delivering visible community-level benefits, such as cleaner parks, reduce waste, workforce opportunities and long- term cost savings for the city. PPR isn't just maintaining its tree canopy. It's growing a healthier, more equitable future for everyone. Tree canopy provides shade, cleaner air, improved water quality and mental health benefits. The reality is that not all neighborhoods experience those benefits equally. Low canopy correlates directly to extreme heat, higher asthma rates and fewer public spaces, and some areas can be degrees hotter than other parts of the city. Our urban forestry unit's focus has shifted from simply planting trees to building systems that help people feel supported, viewing maintenance as a critical form of trust-building, with an estimate of 1025 trees to be planted in 2026. We are addressing environmental justice through the urban forestry unit. We know there are fewer trees where there is more poverty. To date, our partnership with the Department of Commerce has trained 40 Taking Care of Business ambassadors to care for over 460 newly-planted trees on commercial corridors. In FY27, we will expand our natural land restoration, building on the 3600-plus trees and shrubs planted last year. Summer is our most critical season for service delivery and our greatest opportunity for impact. And as we plan, we use key points from the blueprint of a Safer Philadelphia. PPR will provide more than 800,000 meals to children and families, ensuring consistent access to nutritious food.
Through Career Connected Learning, PHL C2L is what we call it, we will provide approximately 1100 jobs for teens, supporting workforce development and economic mobility. We're preparing for a full season of pools, Playstreets and our summer camps. Our recruitment for the American Red Cross certified lifeguards begins earlier each year, utilizing social media and community partnerships to ensure all 63 outdoor pools can open safely. This summer to enhance our boxing programs throughout our system, the youth sports anti- violence funding will be used to upgrade equipment, further support the vital efforts of volunteer coaches that have served for years with incentives. Safety remains our top priority. Our targeted enforcement program supported by PPR rangers and Philadelphia Police Department will continue to operate from Memorial Day through September. Philadelphia Police Department has also agreed to train our park rangers on the five new electric bikes that we are purchasing and train them in de-escalation tactics. We remain deeply committed to the Mayor's initiatives in Kensington. Through the Play Parks initiative, we provide consistent programming at McPherson, Hissey and Harrowgate Park. These aren't just parks. They are essential sanctuaries for working families and people that live in the communities. I'd like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my amazing, talented staff that I'm privileged to work with at Parks and Recreation. Thank you for this opportunity to present our 2027 budget testimony and we welcome any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much. Please begin your testimony.
Sure. Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I'm Kelly Richards, President, Director of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Joining me later today is Sade Olanipekun- Lewis, Chair and Board of Trustees. I'm pleased to provide testimony on the Free Library's Fiscal Year 2027 operating budget. The library's mission of the Free Library of Philadelphia is to advance literacy, guide learning, inspire curiosity, as part of the Mayor's vision, to provide world-class educational opportunities for Philadelphians of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. A plan for the Fiscal Year 2027, libraries are open doors to opportunity in every neighborhood in Philadelphia. Each of our 54 libraries provide trusted public spaces where people can gain job skills, explore new ideas, connect with their neighbors and participate in the civic life of our city. Every day Philadelphians come to the Free Library to learn, to grow and to find opportunity. We're grateful for the city's continued investment in the Free Library and have been able to expand public service hours across the system. We now offer Saturday service at libraries citywide. This is a major step forward in making our services more accessible to working families, students and seniors. Building on that progress, we are preparing to launch Sunday hours at several libraries next year, further expanding access to critical community resources. At the same time, we must continue to invest in the safety and accessibility of our buildings. Many of our libraries are historic and beloved neighborhood landmarks, but they require ongoing investment to address life safety needs, building systems, accessibility improvements. Ensuring that every branch is safe, welcoming and accessible is essential to keeping libraries open and available for communities that rely on them. We're pleased to see that in addition to this operating budget, the Mayor's capital budget for Fiscal Year '27 through '32 dedicates 33 million for replacing HVAC systems to keep our libraries open. This is a big step toward making our libraries more accessible throughout the year. Equally important is investing in the workforce that keep our libraries running. Our staff provides programming, technology assistance, literacy support and community services that make the free library such a vital resource. A continued investment in our workforce allows us to keep libraries' doors open, provide excellent service and meet the involving needs of Philadelphians. Over the past year, we've also strengthened how we communicate and engage with our community. We've expanded outreach, improved how we share information about programs and building operations and upgraded internal communications to better support our staff across the system. These improvements help ensure that Philadelphians know about the opportunities available to them at their neighborhood library. The Free Library does not do this work alone. We partner with hundreds of community organizations, civic groups, schools and other city departments. Libraries are places where many of the city's priorities come together, from workforce development, afterschool enrichment, cultural programming. We also join with the citywide efforts to provide needed warmth in the winter and cooling centers in the summer to help save lives. In this way, the library helps weave together the social fabric of Philadelphia. This work aligns closely with Mayor Parker's vision of a safer, cleaner, greener Philadelphia with economic opportunity for all. Libraries provide safe and welcoming spaces in every neighborhood. They are where access meets opportunity. They support educational and economic mobility, encourage people to explore new ideas and hobbies and connect residents with city services and strengthen communities. When libraries are strong, our neighborhoods are stronger. So thank you for your continued partnership and support for the Free Library of Philadelphia.
We look forward to continuing this work together on behalf of the people of our city. And I brought my great, fantastic team with me too today.
Thank you very much. Just a brief remark and I'll turn it over to my members. I just want to thank Commissioner Sue Slawson for always answering my phone calls, being very, very responsive. Even when you're on vacation, even when you were out on personal time, you still would return the phone call and make sure I get the issues and concerns addressed. I want to give a shout out also to Frank Fabey as well. He's on speed dial, thank him. Thank Aparna Palantino, thank the work that she's doing very much as well as Chris Klinman as well, and also Francesco for also responding when I'm trying to get my design right, as we build new playgrounds and I have different edits that 6 I would like to do, his patience 7 and always making sure that we get 8 it right. And so, to the whole 9 Parks & Rec team, just want to say 10 continue to keep up the good work 11 as well as Kelly Richards, the work 12 that you and your team is doing to 13 make sure that we continue to have 14 seven days a week when it comes to 15 opening up our libraries throughout 16 the City of Philadelphia. 17 But also, I'm excited 18 about the capital investment to 19 make sure our young people have 20 high quality libraries to enjoy themselves. Our libraries are our hubs, right, for growth and development and academic achievement as well as workforce development as well. The same way as our parks and our recreational facilities are our safe havens for our young people. Just give me an idea, Commissioner Slawson, as the weather breaks we already know the issue of public safety is number one when it comes to making sure our young people are safe at our recreation centers and our playgrounds. What is our strategy? What is our plan as we go into summer 2026 to keep our babies safe? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Council President Johnson. We truly have been following that blueprint for a safer Philadelphia, and we are -- our afterschool program, we're going to be hosting 2400 kids. We're serving 300,000 meals during the school year alone. So for Parks and Recreation, we can't just think about youth for the summer. We ramp up in the summer, but this is all year-round for us. The plan is for us to serve at least 800,000 meals. We're going to offer 1100 jobs with our C2L. Some of the things that we're doing as far as safety is we are working with the Philadelphia Police Department. We already have scheduled our annual meeting with the command staff, our leaders, our program directors, phone numbers exchange and we're doing programming together. The police department has just stepped in. And in those neighborhoods where it's really tough where we need extra support, they are supporting us. We have the necessary media, social media also this summer where we're trying to ensure -- what we don't want to hear is parents saying, I don't have anything for my kids to do. We have multiple programs. It's not just for the young people that their parents are looking for them to have something to do. We have visual arts. We have performing arts programs. That's separate from our sports opportunity. And I think one of the big things, Council President, that I'm excited about this summer is we're rolling out -- we are focusing on our boxing. I believe -- and we're using the Mayor's anti-funding to equip all 12 of our boxing sites with brand new equipment. We're going to set aside funding --
Okay. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Because you have coaches, you have boxing instructors that have been training these young people for years and all they've received was a thank-you. But we're trying to increase the number of young people that come into our boxing facilities, guys and girls, because we believe that if we can figure out another alternative to picking up a gun, I think boxing is one of those alternatives. I had the opportunity to have Rob Jackson, our new Deputy Commissioner, he took Anne Marie's place, Rob Jackson is over here, and he's overseeing our boxing program. I think this is going to be a huge opportunity. Another thing that I'm doing, I am starting a teen program for girls, specifically for girls --
Okay. Ladies gone clap for that? The ladies get some support. (Applause.)
Because I was in a roundtable discussion the other day and they said, we keep having all these programs for the guys and the boys, and what about the girls. They be out there carrying on and doing the flashmobs too. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: They're struggling just like our boys. And I think it's an opportunity for us to -- the Teen Girls Safety and Empowerment program is a trauma-informed initiative designed to equip young women across Philadelphia with the tools, awareness and confidence to navigate real-world safety challenges. Grounded in both physical safety and mental wellbeing, this pilot prioritizes de-escalation, situational awareness. Sometimes our young girls are in friendships with people that are dangerous and they don't know. We want to try to give them some skills and teach them what to look out for. Self- advocacy, you have to speak up for yourself. You have to be comfortable saying, here's my boundary, don't step over it, core skills alongside introductory self- defense techniques. It's going to be a pilot. I'm going to pick three centers to get it started. We're going to have 10 to young girls 20 in each cohort. But the best part about this program is that this is not going to be funded by the city. I reached out to a friend of mine. The name of his company is Jobology, it's an IT company, and he's gathering a number of his friends and they're going to sponsor and fund this. And hopefully, as time goes on they'll raise additional money so I can spread this across Parks and Recreation. But it's to promote safety and de-escalation, to build confidence and just practical skills that we assume that our young girls have. But what we're seeing as a result of some of the crime that's happening, they don't. And so, those are some of the things that we're doing to ensure that we're providing opportunities. And of course, you know, we need lifeguards. We need PMAs, pool maintenance attendants. There are opportunities for our young people to work at Parks and Recreation. So moms, dads, we have these doors for you to walk into.
Thank you. I'm going to advocate for the boxing program. I'll follow up with Mr. Jackson. I'm a strong advocate of the James Shuler Boxing Gym as well as Marian Anderson Boxing Academy as well. And so, this is an opportune time. And I'm an advocate for Play It Safe in the 8th regarding the young ladies program, to make sure that we are empowering our young people and Play It Safe in the 8th is a model. At some point in time, it's probably going to go citywide because it does what you're talking about, partnering with local community organizations, Parks & Rec, to really make sure we're keeping our young people active during these summer hours. With that being said, the Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, then the Chair of Parks & Rec Dr. Anthony Phillips, and then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you very much, Council President, and thank you both for your testimony. You know that we typically meet and speak throughout the years. So I wanted to start again with our thank-yous, and obviously to our Parks & Rec Commissioner Susan Slawson, thank you so much to you and to your amazing team, particularly this winter, and for the communities that we work with; Sue Buck, our Deputy Commissioner who works with Beth on my team very often; Erica Smith, one of the city foresters, Frank Fabey, emergency tree removal inspection and facility maintenance, and all of the tree management information team members who handled the special email around requesting tree inspections and supply updates, and particularly Yanni Rodriguez and Damien Yasipour. I hope I got that correct. But to the entire team, we appreciate you. You know I have to include in there Faye and the entire team at the Dell Music Center. They are fabulous and doing wonderful work. And to our team at the Free Library of Philadelphia, to our President Kelly Richards, thank you, thank you, thank you. You have certainly been a breath of fresh air since being here in Philadelphia. We truly appreciate the work you've been doing at the library; Christina Patton Kelly to Priscilla Suero, Mary and Ethel at Wynnefield Library, because I know they're listening, I know they are listening right now. So I'm shouting you out, Mary and Ethel at the Wynnefield Library, and the wonderful autism program they have, and Monique Moore Pryor and the whole Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation team. They have had wonderful events, particularly at the main branch. So really quickly, I just wanted to put a few things on the record, and I was waiting for my District Councilmember, Councilmember Jones, so I'll have to get this on because we don't have a recreation center in Wynnefield, and I've been seeing the construction progress happening at the John C. Anderson Cultural Center. So I wanted to get it on the record. One, if there's any update around Wynnefield Library, and I know we did the project that's in the middle of the courtyard. And then also at the John C. Anderson Cultural Center right next door, updates on the progress, where the capital projects there. And then again, I'm asking everybody the same question relative to your vacancy rate, how many positions have been filled, your Class 100 estimated obligations for this fiscal year for FY26 and if they meet or exceed your FY26 adopted budget allocation, and if you'll have any overspend in Class 100? And if not, how many unfilled positions do you have? And then just your overall vacancy rate? I'll start there. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson. I'm going to ask for First Deputy Commissioner Marissa Washington to come and she will be responding to the vacancy -- so let's talk about Anderson first. We are super excited, grateful that we were able to come back this budget hearing and talk about the fact that the roof is being repaired. And once the roof is repaired, one, what's most important is that it's fully funded, which is what we had been waiting for to ensure that the work could be done. So it's fully funded to not just do the outer, the roof. The inside work will start once the outer roof is complete. I don't have a date. Aparna may know when it will be completed. Would you like for Aparna to come?
Sure. And I turned around and I saw Aparna in the gallery. And of course, wanted to thank you for the work that you all did on the courtyard project. The neighbors are truly excited and waiting to utilize the courtyard, which is separate from Anderson, but the two properties meet sort of where the courtyard is located. So just any updates on the utilization of the courtyard, number one? And then we're seeing the work in realtime. So just wanted to put it on the record that we're thankful. I'm sure Councilmember Jones will say the same. So on behalf of Councilmember Jones, my District colleague and Councilmember, and myself, thank you very much because we do not have a recreation center in Wynnefield, and the cultural center is all we have.
All the rich people live in Wynnefield though.
You know my family's from Arlington Street and 53rd and Lebanon though, but I support my Majority Leader. How are you doing, Aparna?
Doing well. Thank you. Good afternoon, Council President, members of City Council. Happy to report as you're aware, Wynnefield Library, the courtyard is complete. As part of the Rebuild project, there was a roof replacement and some interior work that was done. With FY27 funding, we'll be able to address the HVAC system, which is currently in design for the library. With regards to the John C. Anderson Cultural Center, the roof, if you've driven by recently, is under construction. So as the Commissioner mentioned, we will wait for the roof and some waterproofing to occur and then we will go deal with the interior renovations that are required in the facility. The roof will be completed by May, and then the construction on the interior will begin. We expect it to take about 8 to 10 months because there's a lot of work that is required due to the ongoing roof issues.
Received. And I heard the bell and I'll honor the clock, but I just wanted to put on the record does the roofing project at the cultural center impact the ability to open the courtyard? I want to get that on the record.
We've been coordinating with the library, but I'll defer to the library.
Because it's so close I think that it may impact it. And I just want to make sure I can say that on the record for the community members who will be listening for the reason why we cannot open the courtyard due to safety protocols. I just want to make sure I understand that.
We don't believe that's going to be an issue to open the courtyard.
So we'll be able to utilize the courtyard? Okay.
We've been coordinating with the adjacent property owner as well as the library for the work.
Right, and we talked about that. So thank you all very, very much. And to honor the clock and Council President and also my colleagues, I would just request that I'll submit the balance of the questions that I did verbally state as well as others to the Council President for written response so that we have an opportunity for other colleagues as well. So thank you. Thank you very much. And I was going to ask about LEAP, but I'll submit them for the record. Okay. Thank you.
We got time today, Madam Leader. Just ask that question before I go on to Dr. Phillips.
Thank you so much, Council President. Of course, I'm going to ask about the LEAP program. I formerly served as a teen leadership assistant as a teenager at Wynnefield Library, so just wanted to ask about the LEAP program. We work with the Free Library every single year on this program. You all have been stellar with recruiting young people from different communities and schools. So just wanted to get an update on leap and if we need to ensure that they have any additional funding as a result of the Career Connected Learning goals.
Actually, Councilwoman, I actually got some pretty good news about LEAP. We've created a part time position utilizing the assistant rec leader position for afterschool leaders to support the LEAP program year- round. That's been something we've been trying to do for a long time, so we didn't lose good talent. So there'll be permanent part-time all year-round, and this will provide our youth with continuous Out-of- School Time programming that fosters inclusive and formal learning for our children and teens and families. Right now we currently have 94 TLAs supporting the LEAP program, and every library has at least two teen library assistants who engage in this professional development opportunity for them where they can actually do homework assistance, but also gain job skills on their own. So as you're aware, it's a great program and we're doing our best to make it greater.
That is awesome news. It's awesome news because you're creating the pipeline of young people who will transfer into larger roles and positions of leadership and responsibility in city government. And so, that is exciting. I'm grateful for that work and thankful that we are expanding and continuing to fully fund the LEAP program. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you very much. Dr. Anthony Phillips, Jamie Gauthier and I see Mr. Harrity just came back in the room, and Mr. Harrity.
Thank you, Council President. I want to start this round of questioning with the Commissioner of Parks & Rec, Susan Slawson. I want to thank Commissioner Slawson for all of her incredible work that she's been doing to lead the Parks & Rec system. It's not easy, but it is very challenging, but she has made it seem very seamless and she's working every day to make it better. Also want to thank her team, Sue Buck, Frank Fabey and Marissa, for all of their work as well. Over the past several months, I also just briefed all of our members. We've been working closely with our union as well as Parks & Rec to kind of address different challenges in the Parks & Rec system. And I also want to thank you for working with me as the Chair to navigate these conversations. In addition, I just want to start off with just some things that I hope that we can facilitate more conversation on how we can strengthen our Parks & Rec system that I would love for us to be on the record on. We recognize in the city of Philadelphia, a lot of our offices and certainly the 9th District, we receive a high volume of calls related to tree maintenance and removal, with neighbors waiting months and sometimes longer for service, including in cases that raise safety concerns. Just wanted to know if you can put on the record how many trees are on the list currently for pruning and how many trees are on the list currently for a removal, right? And what is the service agreement that neighbors should understand on when they make a request how long that should take? And then also, I noticed that there is a $15,000 contract budgeted for or expense made for tree arborist, a contracting company, and around $450,000 for tree cutting and pruning. I just want to know that's citywide, right? That's not just residential trees, correct? I had three questions in that.
Hello. Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. My name is Erica Smith-Fichman. I'm the city forester here at Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. So I'm going to try to remember and answer the questions that you just asked. The first one was?
How many are in the end of the pipeline for tree pruning and how many are for tree removal? And what is the service level agreement that neighbors should understand when requesting tree pruning and tree removal?
Yes. So citywide we have a record of about 25,000 trees that need to be pruned. That's outside of the ones that will be pruned this season, this year, which is about 1700. The reason that is so high is in part because when we receive a request to prune a tree on a block, we actually inspect the entire block to list every tree that needs pruning. Often the trees are around the same age, they will all need pruning. And so, it kind of exponentially increases that list. It's also cost-effective for our contractors to go and prune an entire block as opposed to ping- ponging around the city to do individuals. So the pruning backlog is about 25,000 trees. That's about $5 million. That's across the entire city. And then our removal backlog is smaller. That's about 3500 trees and about $3 million.
So the question I -- when we talk about a government that people can see, touch and feel, right, I think that we get more frustration from a Council office where people are like, my tree is about to fall down, right. I just wanted to see how if we were to reflect that in the budget, why wasn't that necessarily reflected in this year's budget? I guess there's many reasons for that. But if we reflected it in this budget this year, that $8 million, do you believe that we can in an annual calendar year complete the entire backlog?
It's a complicated answer. I will try to do it shortly. The backlog, the list of trees that need to be worked on is constantly growing. So we will never eliminate it 100%. Also, the capacity that our team has and the contractors have, we do need to give them more than one year to increase it, because we spend about $1 million on tree work across the city, street tree work specifically across the city each year. And so, to multiply that by eight times, we would need to give them time to increase their capacity to do that. So it would take multiple years to get up to that, that period.
And that's the part I was just trying to say, how do we create a service level agreement with our residents so we can basically balance their expectations so they don't believe that they can get this done, because I feel like we have -- are you thinking about a strategic plan that we could do to work on addressing this tree problem?
So our plan -- within the Philly tree plan, one of the goals is to transition from a reactive to a proactive system. So that would be inspecting all of our trees on a regular schedule. That is going to require staff. And we are currently, my HR colleagues and I, are doing an amazing job of actually filling vacancies and increasing the number of inspectors we have for our street tree canopy. So we will be hiring four new people in the next few months. So increasing our own capacity is part of that, increasing our contractor capacity is another part of that, and communication with residents is a huge part of that as well. I was really excited to hear Councilmember Gilmore Richardson shouting out Yanni and Damien at the street tree office, because we have four full-time people who are answering residents' questions, and we have done a lot of work to try to increase the way the amount of communication and the quality of communication to make people understand that we're triaging what we have, no pun intended, but we have trees that are in various stages of critical, hazardous, poor condition. If someone's tree is not in the most hazardous condition, it's not going to be removed immediately. And so, because that is a moving target, it is hard to communicate about but we are doing a really I would say good job of communicating about that, increasing the way that we communicate about it and the number of staff we have to answer people's questions.
I have another question, but I just want to quickly say that I just know that this budget doesn't really reflect a strategic plan on how do you accomplish that goal. And it's very important to residents in the city of Philadelphia, and I believe there should be a plan and there should be a level and investment for that. And I know you want to do it. But if you don't have the investment, it's not going to happen any time soon. So I got to wrap up, but I will come around for a second round of questions. Thank you. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: If I can respond to a little bit of that question. Would we love $8 million? Absolutely. If you gave us $8 million and the expectation was for us to come back here next year and this work to be done, it would not be. It is a process that will have to be staggered because of the backlog, because of the great need. And so, it is about giving us X amount of dollars over X amount of years for us to actually get the work done. So I just wanted to make sure I got that on the record that, yes, funding is needed. But could we complete it all in one year? We could not.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President. I'll come back for the second round.
Thank you very much. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, then Jim Harrity, then Councilmember Bass.
Good afternoon to all of you. Thank you so much for the work that you do every day. I wasn't going to really talk about trees, but I just want to support my colleague quickly, because I think this is more than just an issue of how it looks or an issue of what the tree is doing to the sidewalk or something like that. It's a public safety issue. I can remember two instances last year where trees fell on people, right. I know one of the gentlemen who was playing chess in Fairmount Park and the tree fell on four elderly people who were playing chess in the park. And then I believe there was another incident a couple of months after that. And so, I think it's worth doing the planning. I know that you all are doing what you're doing. And a part of this is that you have not had the appropriate appropriation. But I think it's worth upping our budget for this. And I think it's worth having that actual strategic plan on this because this can endanger people's lives, right. And so, I support the line of questioning. But I want to talk about Rebuild. After years of waiting, I'm really glad that my constituents in West and Southwest are finally seeing their beloved public spaces reopen after long Rebuild construction periods. You and I, Commissioner, were both at Kingsessing at the ribbon-cutting for Kingsessing Rec Center a couple of weeks ago, which was just amazing. And I know it's one of the biggest Rebuild projects in the city and I'm grateful for that. I'm also excited for the reopening of Johnny Sample Rec in Cobbs Creek. And so, with this in mind, can you give us a summary of how staffing assignments are going to change in FY27 for those of us with Council Districts that are seeing their sites reopened? Can you tell us if we're adding new staff to account for Rebuild sites reopening or will non-Rebuild sites lose full-time or part-time staffers? I've heard rumblings about staffing going down at some of the smaller sites in my district that didn't get Rebuild money. And I'm worried that they're going to have fewer services and shorter hours now that the larger Rebuild sites are reopening. So if you could tell us how we're balancing that and approaching that? And then I have a few questions about capital projects. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for the question, Councilmember Gauthier. We will not be taking from smaller sites once these facilities open. One of the things that had to happen is when those sites closed, we had to place staff in different locations. Some of the staff will be coming back, some of the staff will be going to different locations. So, no, I'm grateful you brought that up so we could kind of squash that rumor. It is important that when we open these facilities that they are fully staffed. I think one of the things that was brought up by Councilmember Gilmore Richardson is the rate of vacancies, and we've been working really hard at trying to bring up our vacancies. And so, we're in the process of hiring additional staff to ensure that those facilities that are reopening will have the necessary people so you won't lose staff.
That's so awesome. In some cases, when we had larger sites closed, I was able to get those staff transferred to our smaller sites. And so, I was worried that we were going to have our numbers go down again. So thank you so much for that. On the topic of capital projects, I'm inspired by what our capital programs office can accomplish. Going back to Kingsessing, we now have a block in Southwest with both a restored rec center and a restored library directly next to one another, and it's hard to state how transformative that is for a neighborhood that's been waiting a long time for that. Now that the majority of the Rebuild initiative has been completed, can you tell us -- or we're making good progress rather. Can you tell us in as much detail as possible how much of the FY27 budget for parks and libraries is finishing out Rebuild projects versus new money for capital projects? I'm sure I'm not the only District Councilmember that still has many large sites in my district that desperately need multiple millions of dollars of help that were not even a part of Rebuild, and that would take ages to fundraise for if we're relying on competitive grants in order to get the capital funding necessary for those renovations. So are we budgeting beyond the money that has to go to completing Rebuild projects? Are we budgeting for big capital projects in the FY27 budget, particularly for sites that were never a part of the Rebuild program? I'd like to hear more about that. Hi, Aparna. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: I'm going to pass this over to Aparna. I want to just make a note, thinking of the staff, thinking of the size of the facilities that are now coming on board. Some of them are double the sizes of the facilities that they replaced. And so, when you think about staffing and you think about the three full-time people that you may have, now you may have two floors, you may have boxing going on, basketball going on upstairs. There is going to be a need for additional staff because we are bringing on larger facilities. We are bringing on additional opportunities for community members to come in. And so, that is something that we have been having conversations about because we recognize that the sites are changing, the size of the sites are changing. The number of people that we will need to manage also has to change.
Thank you. Aparna Palantino, Deputy Managing Director of Capital Program Office. Thank you for both your comments and your question, Councilmember Gauthier. With regards to the FY27 budget, there aren't many asks for the Rebuild projects. The reason for that is, as you know Rebuild was funded through roughly a $300 million bond initiative, William Penn funding and then grants. We are still spending down that money. So at this time, there's not a substantial ask in the capital budget for Rebuild projects. If and when a particular project comes up, we often work with the District Councilmember to then identify that need, and then if need be include it in that year's capital budget. But FY27 doesn't necessarily have that much for Rebuild.
Thank you. I just want to encourage us to keep pushing, right, for this budget year and beyond. I think we got to what, 97 of the projects that we originally wanted to get to?
So there were 72 sites in the original ordinance. 43 have been completed. About are in construction. At 5 the moment, the rest are in design 6 engagement or planning. So as we 7 continue to roll out projects, 8 we're identifying the need. But at 9 this moment, there are still bond 10 funds allocated to those sites that 11 we are spending down on. 12
13 Okay. In closing, I just want us 14 to continue to keep pushing on this 15 capital project budget issue. We 16 are going to get to 72 projects, 17 and a program that originally I think envisioned 250 and it's still historic, it's still the biggest, you know, renovation of our public sites that we've ever had. But we needed Rebuild because we weren't continually investing in our spaces and we don't want to get to that place again. So I just encourage us every year to make sure that we're putting in enough resources so that we don't ever need a rebuild. We're just taking care of our stuff. Thank you.
Thank you. Perhaps you may start thinking in the future about a new funding source. I'm thinking tofu. But Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity, then Councilmember Cindy Bass, then Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young, then Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Good afternoon, everyone first. Ms. Slawson, just got to say thank you to you for the changes that you made from our hearing. Shout-out to Cindy Bass, the originator of our HOPS legislation. When we have problems, we asked you in public, so we should also thank you in public when things are getting done. So I thank you for that. And could you please just run me through the changes that you have made, kind of take the victory lap on what we're doing now for our children to keep them safe? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Councilmember Harrity. Sue Buck, Deputy Commissioner of Operations is going to come up and respond.
Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and other Councilmembers --
Let me take a moment, first of all, to acknowledge Sue Buck. Sue got one of them big awards from the city before, like the -- what was it, National Citizens Award so many years ago. Yeah, it was a while ago. I remember, Sue. I just want to say hello. How you doing today?
No, I'm fine. Appreciate it. So we took into account our conversation last fall and we met with your staff as well as Councilwoman Bass's. And our first method is obviously mechanical, we try to do that. We made commitments and we're following through with them. We're not spraying ball fields at all this year. We went from 50 feet to 100 feet of play equipment. We're not spraying farms, gardens rather, food-producing or otherwise. We're posting signage and we are keeping records. And I think you will see a significant decrease in the amount of pesticide spraying that we are doing on parks -- I should say, passive parks and recreation centers.
Yeah, I was very excited and happy for our kids. I mean, you know how I feel about that chemical and it's really nasty stuff, that 2,4-D, which is basically Agent Orange. But again, when we bring you in here and ask you questions and we put you on the spot, we definitely have to praise you when you turn around and do what we ask. So while I think we still have a little bit more to go, I am very happy for our children and for our parks. I know the coach is probably happy. Right, Coach?
But I appreciate all you're doing over there in Parks & Rec to keep our kids safe. And I really appreciate the fact that we're really cutting that chemical out for real now. The 100 feet is big around the rec equipment because it has a tendency to stick around. So I thank you again. And that's all I have, Council President.
And I'm sorry, Sue. I was thinking about Barbara McCabe with the Dilworth Award. But I know you do --
-- good work. I know. Yeah. But, Sue, I know you're a big-wig, so I appreciate your support though. Thank you for being responsive when we call. At this time the Chair recognizes Deputy Majority Whip Councilmember Cindy Bass, then we will have Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young, then Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. How's everybody doing? It's good to see you all. I want to give a big thank you to each and every one of you and really everyone who's here from the departments because we work very closely together. We do a lot together, as Jimmy just -- excuse me, Councilman Harrity just mentioned about the HOPS bill and the importance and the work that we've done on that together for years, the work in the 8th District with our recreation centers and getting the attention that we so desperately have needed for a long time, the work in our libraries. Particularly Nicetown-Tioga, we're still working on that one. But really, all of our libraries and getting them attention is greatly appreciated. So I just had a couple of questions for you all. And the first actually is in 2013 with the then members of Council, my office worked with them -- I was then the Chair of Parks & Rec. I worked with them to allocate funding from their ITEF funds for cameras in every rec center. And I know we've made tremendous progress. I think we had something like cameras in 19 the whole system in 2013. And I 20 know we were just about done at last year's budget hearing. I think almost everything had been done. So is that project complete? COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: Thank you for that question, Councilmember Bass. I was actually here and excited when you met with your colleagues and came up with this idea. I actually used that same idea with Councilmember Phillips about the lighting and I shared with him that I got that from you, because you said we need to get together and make sure we have cameras. So thank you for that.
And to that end, if there's an effort to put money in from our ITEF funds for lighting, I'm certainly -- sign me up. I'm in. COMMISSIONER SLAWSON: We're going to sign you. So the security camera sonic devices have currently been installed at 178 sites with an approximate total of 2357 cameras installed. That's an increase of 309. There are 9 sites that are under construction. 7 sites are in the design phase, and 27 sites remain to be designed with a cost of $1.25 million. And one of the things that we have been mentioning is that when we started the camera process back then, we didn't think about maintenance, we didn't think about them getting old, we didn't think about replacing, repairing. So now, when we have the conversations about the cameras, we have to have -- because technology changes so quick, we can't just pay for cameras. We have to pay for cameras, pay for maintenance and pay for service. So right now there are 27 sites that remain to be designed, and that $1.25 million are just for the cameras.