COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, March 22, 2010, o'clock a.m. 6 - - - 7 8 9 10 BILL NO. 100117 - An ordinance adopting an Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2011. 11 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Anna C. Verna, Chair William K. Greenlee Jannie C. Blackwell Curtis Jones, Jr. Blondell Reynolds-Brown James F. Kenney Darrell L. Clarke Joan L. Krajewski Wilson W. Goode, Jr. Donna Reed Miller Bill Green Frank Rizzo - - - 2 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Good morning, everyone. This is a public hearing of the Committee of the Whole. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please read the title of Bill No. 100117. MR. McPHERSON: An ordinance 8 adopting an Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2011. And our first witness is the Mayor's Office. (Witness Clarence Armbrister comes forward.)
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. I am Clarence Armbrister, Mayor Nutter's Chief of Staff. Good morning, Council President Verna and other members of the City Council. I am Clarence Armbrister, Chief of Staff in the office of the Mayor. On behalf of Mayor Michael A. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 pleased to provide testimony on the proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget. The role of the Mayor's Office is to provide the necessary leadership, direction, and support to departments so that they may achieve success in their key areas of focus. The Fiscal Year 2011 budget has proposed to provide the necessary funding for the Mayor's Office to accomplish these objectives. 1 million in Class 100 funds to provide compensation for 39 employees, representing a decrease of $500,000 over the Fiscal Year 2010 original appropriation. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Funds by be another $125,000. In addressing the request to reduce the Fiscal Year '11 Mayor's Office Budget, Class 100 expenditures were reduced through the continuation of salary reductions for many of our staff and reduction of personnel through layoffs, attrition, and elimination of vacant positions. When compared to Fiscal Year '09, our first full year in office, we have reduced the Mayor's Office Budget by $2 million in Class 100 Funds and eliminated or transferred 40 positions from our budget. Other proposed General Fund appropriation levels, which are shown as being decreased during FY '11 include: $2,000 in Class 200 Funds and $18,500 in Class 400 Funds. These funds are being decreased as a result of IT consolidation. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 contribution to this consolidation. 7 million in Grants Revenue Funds to support the activities of the Mayor's Commission on Aging. This grant funding represents an increase of nearly $125,000 over FY 2010 levels and comes principally from the federal government to enable the Mayor's Commission on Aging to assist older adults with job counseling, training and placement, and health insurance counseling. Funding of $200,000 for the Mayor's Office Scholarship Program, which allows qualified Philadelphia students to attend classes at area colleges and universities is being level-funded, and we are once again recommending that no 21 reductions be made in this category. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 universities. Seventy-three percent of the students receiving these scholarships are currently attending ten colleges or universities located within the City of Philadelphia. The Mayor's Office is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent minority-, woman-, and 10 disabled-owned business participation in 11 City contracting. Although based on the 12 availability for contracting 13 opportunities, the Mayor's Office FY '11 14 participation goal is 20 percent. We 15 expect exceed that a goal in the coming 16 year. 17 You will be hearing testimony 18 from additional departments in the 19 Mayor's Office later today. The Mayor's 20 Office of Community Services will give 21 testimony as to how their agency helps to 22 move vulnerable Philadelphians towards 23 self-sufficiency. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 partnerships in the areas of education, health and human services, housing, economic development, workforce development, and criminal justice are well-coordinated and embrace common principles designed to create opportunities to advance the poor. The Mayor's Office has increased its focus on human capital development to ensure that low-income and poor Philadelphians are served to the best of our capabilities. MOCS will continue to play a role in this critical work. The Office of Housing and Community Development and the Office of Labor Relations will also present their Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget request later today. I want to thank you for your support, and I appreciate this opportunity to provide testimony regarding the Mayor's proposed Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget.
10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 happy to answer any questions that Council may have regarding my testimony.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Okay. Just checking. A couple of things. As we look back on last year's testimony, as we looked optimistically about the federal stimulus money, as we start to see the sun set on that, what impact will that have on your overall budgeting?
Well, in the Mayor's Office, in particular, it won't 9 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 have a direct effect on our Operating Budget, but it will have an effect on several programs that we've used the stimulus money to kind of generate; you will be hearing about some of those programs and testimony from the other areas. But certainly, in terms of our utilizing funds that have come through MOCS and things like that, that funding will go away, but we've actually ramped up training and programs. But at some point, when that money sunsets, we will not have those funds available to us. The goal, however, is that during the course that we do have these funds, that we can help get some training done for folks who utilize those funds so that when the economy does come back, they will be well trained and employable for the rebound that we all hope is coming.
Speaking of which, it's my understanding that the 10 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 federal stimulus program is going to shift to the job-training component and that MOCS is in a pivotal position to be the conduit for those dollars. Can we get some kind of heads- up on that that's going to be utilized, what we can anticipate, and how we can plug in people from our respective districts?
Sure. Mary -- I think Mary Mariner is going to be testifying later, but if you could wait until she comes up. And --
I heard Jennie is the real person on top of that, so... (Witness Jennie Sparadara comes forward.)
And in the workforce, in the training area in terms of my testimony, when I mentioned the Mayor's Office is taking a particular focus on investing in human capital development, I'm joined at the table now 11 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 by Jennie Sparandara, who is working in that area and who has provided a lot of leadership not only to the Mayor's Office but to the government in that area. And she can address some of those issues.
Good morning. That's right. That work really isn't coming out of MOCS but coming out of the Mayor's Office directly, where I'm sort of working with the workforce development agencies, PWDC, and the Workforce Investment Board around that plan. So absolutely, as we get a better sense as to what the regulations say, we are going to be coming to everybody here to talk about how this plan is developing and how we can make sure that businesses and job seekers in Philadelphia are all getting access to it.
Since we are on TV and that makes us transparent, it's my understanding that Pennsylvania is 12 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 eligible for about 5,000 jobs out of that program (indiscernible) formula?
There's $300 million at the state level approximately that can be utilized for these TANF emergency stimulus projects. The State has not provided a number for Philadelphia specifically; it's our responsibility to come to them with a proposal. One number that we've been putting out there just amongst our work group is 5,000, but that's all sort of generated here. (Timer bell rings.)
So if there were three things that we really probably -- and I -- one, we have a deadline of April what to submit the --
March 30th. So we're not even in April. So we have to look at that. And one of the clear needs is going to be supervision. Do you view 13 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 this being a strictly City of Philadelphia similar to the SETA program, or do you view creative partnerships with the private sector; maybe educational institutions could be brought to bear. And if that is, how do we get them in the application mix under these tight deadlines?
So it will be much broader than the City of Philadelphia. The positions can be public, private, or nonprofit organizations. And the goal would be to find as many employers as possible who could keep people long-term, because that would be the ideal situation, so that when the dollars run out, if a business had somebody who was working for them in a subsidized capacity, they'd recognize how useful it was to have that employee, and then they'd bring them on to their payroll, and that personnel has a permanent job. 14 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So we're lucky in that we don't have to have all of those details figured out for the application.
We need to have a process for engaging everybody, so that's what we're thinking through.
Well, that's encouraging, because it has been our experience -- and I've been worked with many people in this room in regard to that, that they leave it out there nebulous, and then we try to specifically address things, and we're way over here when we should be in the absolute other direction. If that is the case, if we get inquiries now from individuals and on institutions, can we collect that data and forward it to you?
Certainly. That would be great. And then, as soon as we kind of crystallize the process, we should talk 15 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 about how to make sure that we're then out there in the communities and getting the word out through every channel possible.
Without you speaking for the federal government, when do you anticipate us rolling out the first job?
It's tough. What we need to get through first is the State approving the plan, so I think a little bit of it will depend on their ability to turn around our plan as quickly as possible. I know they have a real interest in getting these dollars moving also.
Sounds kind of like Brown versus the Board of Education with all the (inaudible). Is there any guesstimate?
They -- I mean, it depends on who you ask right now. Certainly, the dollars need to be spent by September 30th, so I would just 16 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 say as soon as possible, as soon as physically possible.
That is absolutely the best news I've heard about stimulus money thus far.
Councilman Jones, your time is up. Mr. Armbrister, can you tell us the positions that you are transferring to the Community Development Fund? It's on .
Oh. That represents the transfer for the salary of the Senior Advisor to the Mayor for Economic Development, which is --
That represents the transfer of dollars to pay for the salary of the Senior Advisor to 17 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the Mayor for Economic Development, which also serves as the Executive Director of the Redevelopment Authority. So that's Terry Gillen's salary. So that salary is paid outside of the Mayor's Office.
If you take into consideration the $147,000 transfer to Community Development, the Mayor's Office is really not cutting its budget but transferring costs to the other areas of the budget; isn't that correct?
No, that's not quite correct. This year, as part of the budget process going into the rebalancing, we are reducing our budget by $125,000 in combination with $375,000 that we reduced prior to last year's budget. So if you look on page... Let's see... If you look on , section 2, compared to our obligation 18 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 level, Fiscal Year 2011 to the original appropriation, that's $500,000, of which another $125,000 is coming out this year. We have also decreased and gotten rid of other positions beyond that transfer. So that's not the only transfer for the Mayor's Office this year, Council President.
Can you tell us what the Administration plans on spending for lobbying services for FY 2010 and 2011?
Sure. On of the budget book, the lobbying firms 16 are listed as -- for 2010 are listed as: 17 Loper & Associates, Bearfield & Associates, Borski & Associates, American Continental, Bojack, Whitman Diamond. And those totaled -- that totals about $200,000. For the current fiscal years that's budgeted, we had budgeted about -- we had a budget of about $300,000 for lobbying services, . 19 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I have that. And then consultant services, to be determined, are 120,000. And miscellaneous, 100,000.
Right. Some of those were carryovers -- we -- in the last year, we moved the IG's Office and other departments outside of the Mayor's Office. So some of those funds were to cover some of those departments' contracts.
Well, it's interesting that you would ask, Council President. We are actually in the midst of an RFP process. So currently, we are in the process of finalizing contracts on our state lobbying contract for three. And then we have one under contract for federal. And we are in the midst of a process to add additional lobbying 20 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 services to our federal stable.
Can you tell us, what value has the City received from these services?
Well, certainly, in the course of last year in particular, with the budget process and getting the additional authorization from the State, they were invaluable to us in terms of keeping us abreast of what was going on in Harrisburg, making sure that legislators knew our position, and keeping us in contact. So they were really invaluable to us last year in particular.
Would you please detail what the IT Funds you are transferring to the Division of Technology are for?
Yes. This is a part of the overall IT consolidation that the Chief Technology Officer and the Administration are undergoing. And this was an opportunity to try to bring under 21 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 one umbrella, for coordination purposes and hopefully for efficiencies, all of the IT costs that are embedded in each of the individual departments. So the costs that you see here are those costs that might have been used to purchase computers or go into individual contracts with departments. And we are trying to make sure that departments don't do that anymore, that departments work through the Chief Technical Officer and get all of their IT purchases, whether they be for software, hardware, and to make sure that we are in a much more coordinated basis. So that was the Mayor's Office contribution to that effort.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a number of questions 22 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that I'd rather go through serially. I will wait until everybody else is finished and then take my turn.
A couple of questions, one regarding the Mayor's Office scholarship program. Briefly for the record, discuss the review selection process. And are these scholarships needs-based?
My recollection is that they are, in fact, need-based, that they have to apply, and that there's a committee. I don't know all of the details of that committee, but I could certainly get that information to you.
Might 23 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 there be someone from that office here that could --
Well, I'm not sure -- I don't think that the person who runs that program is here today, but she might be. Hold on a second. (Witness Lorri Shorr comes forward.)
I'm Lorri Shorr, the Mayor's Chief Education Officer. There is a committee that reviews all of the applications. There's a scoring rubric that's used, and there are several readers for each application.
Readers? 24 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
There is an essay; yes, there is. And this is actually -- there is a person who sits at the library that is in charge of administering the scholarship program.
I see. Awareness of the scholarship program, how does that happen?
Well, we have it currently now on the Philly Goes to College website. And I'm not sure what other -- I'm sure they send things out to the counselors at the schools, but I can get some more detailed information on how they publicize them to you.
Okay. Just curious. And the only other observation I made is that the range was from 1,000 to 1240. So, again, that's driven by 25 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 need and available dollars, I would imagine, or no?
Okay, all right. Thank you. Mr. Armbrister, you mention in your testimony that, currently, the Mayor's Office expects to exceed the goal of percent participation with MWDSBE 12 contracting opportunities. Do you expect 13 that you will reach the goal of 25 14 percent? 15
That certainly 19 is our hope and expectation. 20 With the contracts that I've listed -- that I told the -- in response to the Council President, we are in excess of 20 percent as we speak.
Not much more; 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 we're at about percent. 3
All right 10 then. 11 And then, lastly, there's an 12 increase of two part-time positions in 13 the Mayor's Office. 14
Those are 18 part-time receptionists in the Mayor's 19 Office. 20
Thank you, Madam President. 27 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Administration -- I'm sorry, Mr. McPherson. I think I'm the last person. If I'm not, then I -- MR. McPHERSON: (Inaudible, off-mic.)
Oh, okay. The Administration has testified that in preparing the proposed FY '11 budget, it asked departments to prepare a 2-and-a-half percent, 5 percent, and 7-and-a-half percent budget-reduction scenarios. We finally got that information late Friday night and are going through it, and we appreciate that. Did the Mayor's Office prepare 2-and-a-half, 5, and 7-and-a-half percent budget-reduction scenarios?
We submitted, 28 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 I think, a percent scenario to the -- 3
Yes. It was to eliminate two vacant positions for about $116,000. We were going to reduce our Class 200 by $34,233, and reduce our Class 300 spending by $3,390, for a total of just under $200,000.
Okay. During the Five-Year Plan hearing and in subsequent e-mails, I informed the Budget Office -- or asked them to have each department planning to fill a currently vacant position by the end of FY '10 or 29 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 in FY '11 or to create a new position in that period come to its budget hearing prepared to discuss those newly-filled or new positions. Specifically, I asked that departments detail how long the position has been vacant, what specific job duties would be fulfilled by the position, and how those job duties have been handled while the position has been vacant. With respect to those two vacant positions that were not eliminated, can you answer those questions for me?
I could -- I can try. The two vacant positions that are identified in our budget are related to -- I guess they're project manager positions that don't have specific duties assigned to them at this point.
Okay. So the question is: How long have the positions been vacant? 30 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Um... Well, it's a... It's a confusing question in part because the vacancies occurred -- these are vacancies that occurred from our last budget testimony.
They've never actually been filled position; isn't that right?
I'm not sure that they've never been filled, but they haven't been filled probably in the last year because of the NTI reorganization we did.
Okay. What specific job duties would be filled by the position?
At this point, there's a director position and a project 31 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 manager position in our General Budget.
And what are the job duties of those people if you fill them?
There are no 9 job duties defined, okay. And so, I guess the next question is: How have these duties been handled while a position has been vacant? sort of answers itself. The Mayor's Executive Office Budget includes a senior advisor position that was filled as of the end of FY '09, budgeted for FY '10 at $144,000 per year, unfilled as of November 2009, and is budgeted for FY '11.
I'm sorry. I should have pointed that out. That's a mistake in the sense that that position should not be there. That position was 32 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 eliminated.
Okay. So there was no salary allocation for the position?
That's why they missed the position. They took the salary but they didn't take the position.
Okay. So during last year's budget hearings, I asked about the purpose of the new General Division being created by the Mayor's Office, and I never received an answer to the purpose of that division. In fact, I recall, in your testimony, you said there's no 17 clearly-defined purpose to that division yet. And at any rate, I don't think the question was answered before the budget process ended. Under the FY '10 budget, the General Division was to have a staff of six and an annual budget of $519,000. It doesn't appear that any of these positions were filled this fiscal 33 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 year; is that correct?
Well, those positions were all eliminated. Most of those positions were eliminated.
Right, but it doesn't appear that they were filled this fiscal year.
So, essentially, when you say that there is a half-a-million-dollar reduction in the salary, it really is positions that were never, ever filled that this Council raised questions about last year because they weren't defined; is that unfair?
A little unfair in that we eliminated last year about, let's see -- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I think we eliminated nine positions -- or we 34 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 removed from our budget nine positions, of which one, two, three, four have been vacant, only four have been vacant. So there was one person who was laid off, another person resigned. And so, you know, there were -- there were people who were with us last year, who are not here this year. But there were four vacant positions that were eliminated; that's correct.
We'll get to positions being performed -- or being paid for by other departments in a second. During last year's budget hearings -- sorry. So the FY '11 budget continues two of the six positions: $88,000 per year, director; and $73,000 per year, program manager. Are those positions filled currently?
No. Those would be those positions that we were 35 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 discussing, the general manager positions that I said don't have, uh...
Okay. So there are not clearly-defined job duties for those positions at the moment, okay.
And let's see. In a press release last month, the Administration announced several staffing changes, including the former Director of Private-Sector Initiatives, Mary Horstmann, who was assuming a new role as the Deputy Director of Policy and Planning Coordination in the Mayor's Office. I must say I've had the pleasure of working with Mary on the Private-Sector Outreach Board and want to note that these questions are about 36 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 budgeting, not her performance. She's very capable, and I enjoy working with her. Is that new position budgeted?
I think it was retained in her former department, which was the Managing Director's Office.
In the Managing Director's Office. And what's her salary?
I don't off -- I don't remember offhand, but we can get that for you.
Okay. So we can add that essentially to the Mayor's Office Budget, fairly?
Sure, if you'd 37 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 like to, I guess.
No, of the job -- the Deputy Director of Policy and Planning Coordination in the Mayor's Office.
She works under the supervision of the Policy Director, Susan B. Miller.
And who was 38 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 performing those duties prior to the new position being created?
The press release also noted that the private- sector initiatives position had been in the Managing Director's Office. My understanding, from the budget detail, was that the position was funded out of -- I'm sorry. I'll skip that. Who is going to be performing the job functions of the Director of Private-Sector Initiatives going forward?
Well, I think what we've done is that Mr. Abernathy, who is now in the Managing Director's Office, is working on a lot of those issues. The Managing Director will be here tomorrow and can tell you.
I think it's on the Managing Director's Office budget. 39 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I just don't know offhand; I wouldn't want to give you bad information.
Okay. In the same press release, the Administration announced several additions to the Office of Legislative and Governmental Affairs. I understand that one position is being shared with the Finance Department and is on the Finance Department's budget. But the budget detail does not indicate the other position, Coordinator, External Affairs and Community Engagement, which is being filled by Erica Atwood, who previously served as the Deputy City Representative.
Again, this is not about the staff people, who I know and respect, but about budgeting. Is the coordinator position 40 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 budgeted?
No. She resides on the Commerce Department staff budget. She still maintains --
Okay. So the salary is as reflected in the City Rep's budget?
And both those positions are on the second floor, really? 41 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Okay. So we can add up those salaries and say, you know, for transparency sake --
-- include them in the Mayor's budget. Okay. Let's see. The budget detail indicates that the Mayor's Office is projected to spend $120,000 in FY '10 and FY '11 on consultants services. The contractor name is listed as "to be determined." Could you treat that contractor consulting services position as if it's a vacant position and describe to us what duties the contractor would perform?
I probably can't treat it as a vacant position. No, I wouldn't be in a position to do that, no, not at all.
Well, okay, what services do you expect to contract for? 42 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Again, it was a placeholder. From time to time, the Mayor's Office needs to contract. We have very limited contracting ability, so it's a placeholder for contracting services.
Okay. I asked the Administration to provide department-specific cost-allocation information for fringe benefits, and I did this in writing over a week ago, for each department and asked that this be available at the hearings. So it's department-specific cost-allocation information for fringe benefits, fleet use, DPP, both space rental and maintenance, and energy use, prior to each department's budget hearing. Do you have that information 43 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 available today for the Mayor's Office?
I do not, but I think Mr. Agostini may have a response. (Budget Director Stephen Agostini comes forward.)
Good morning. Steve Agostini, Budget Director. That table with those allocations is being prepared and should be available probably in the next few days. The other information you requested with respect to the positions as of December, which was the last run rate vacancies, what's being done to fill those, that is also being prepared. We sent out a survey to departments after we received a question from you on the 10th, and we anticipate having all of that back and ready to review this week.
That's great. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair. 44 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
You're welcome. Are there any other questions for Mr. Armbrister? The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Mr. Armbrister.
Good. Last year, in your testimony, you indicated that there is an anticipated 9 percent decrease in contracts. What contracts did you eliminate and why?
I'm sorry. Your question again? I'm sorry, Councilwoman Miller.
Last year, in your testimony, you stated that you anticipated a 9 percent decrease in contracts. If you did -- since it was an anticipated decrease, did you, in fact, decrease them? And what contracts were 45 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 they? What contracts did you eliminate and why?
What we did is, during the course of the budget rebalancing, we actually went back to several of our contractors and asked them to take cuts in their contracts. So we were able to get some savings in renegotiating contracts and reauthorizing contracts at lower levels. And that was primarily in our lobbying area.
Okay. So but you kept the contracts but you eliminated the costs.
Okay. Wait a minute. I think we do a good job when we give children scholarships, but I thought you had to use those scholarships -- I thought you can get the scholarship if you were attending a local school. And you report that 73 percent 46 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of the students attended local universities or colleges. And where is the others? I thought everybody had to attend --
Yeah, we can get you a list. Apparently, that is not the case, per my testimony, that that is not a requirement of the scholarships. But we can give you a list of where every student is attending.
Okay. Well, I don't want to be, you know, fully embarrassed here, but I always thought that those scholarships were given to young people that were going to stay in Philadelphia or attend, you know, local colleges. Okay. The Mayor's goal for contract participation is currently 20 percent. And I know, when I read your testimony, you did make a statement that it's 20, but it will be percent, correct? 24
It's our hope 25 and expectation that we will exceed the 47 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 20 percent. As I said in response to a question by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown, that at the current levels of the current contracts, we are currently at percent, and we still 7 have an RFP out for additional lobbying 8 services. 9 So it's a very good chance that 10 if we select a MBWBE firm that that 11 number could go up significantly. 12
Okay. 13 I'd like to get some information 14 regarding workforce in terms of 15 minorities. 16 What is the minority, woman, 17 and disabled employee count of the 18 current full and part-time administrative 19 staff? Can you get us information and 20 include the title of those staff? 21
Sure, we can 22 get that information to you, Councilwoman.
Okay. And I don't think you do, but does this 48 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 administration have anyone that is charged with minority recruitment for the City of Philadelphia? You know, most businesses have minority recruitment and minority-business recruiters.
I don't know that we have a person. That may be a question better to put to Al D'Attilio, our Human Resources Director. But one of the things that the Administration is, in fact, trying to do is to make sure that opportunities for all citizens, all is embedded in everything that we do, be it contract, be it hiring. We are always and constantly looking to make sure that we reflect the city that we serve. So I don't know if they have someone over in HR that does it. I'm familiar with the term "diversity officers"; many firms now have diversity officers, I know many of the law firms have diversity officers. I'm not sure we have a 49 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 diversity officer, but we certainly are trying to embed that throughout the Administration and through the government.
Okay. Well, you know, I know that there's a extremely long workforce, but I'm really interested in seeing administratively what we're doing and what we look like.
Excuse me, Councilwoman. You want that for the government, or do you want it for the department? You want it department-by- department; is that what you would like?
Thank 50 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you. Are there any other questions for Mr. Armbrister? (No further questions.)
I'm sorry, Madam Chair. I have one final question. I apologize. Thank you. Mr. Armbrister, you talked about the lobbying within the Mayor's Office. Is there a lobbying budget, or does any department have separate money contracting, Class 200 set aside for lobbying services?
I'm not sure what the total is. We tried -- I guess, 51 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 when we came into office in 2008, there were a number of departments who were funding the lobbying efforts. We tried to consolidate that number and we had it at about $300,000 that we had budgeted and allocated. And we were not looking to go outside of the department for lobbying services. Our experience has told us that there are ways to maximize our lobbying efforts outside the General Fund. So, for example, down at the Airport, where there is heavy, you know, interest in what goes on in the federal government and for which we utilize our lobbyists for a lot of their services, it would not be inappropriate to ask the Airport revenue -- you know, the Airport cost center to supply us some funds for lobbying. So as part of this year going forward, the Administration has about $300,000 or so budgeted for lobbying, and I think we have a commitment from the 52 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Airport to provide maybe another 75 to $100,000 for our lobbying. That is the universe of the lobbying that I'm aware of. I'm not aware of any other independent departments that do lobbying beyond those two sources.
Could you just provide the Chair, please, the total throughout the City Budget for lobbying --
And the breakdown of how those dollars are going to be spent by which lobbyists.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Armbrister. 53 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 The Inspector General's Office, please. (Witnesses Amy Kurland and William Brown come forward.)
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. Good morning, President Verna and members of City Council. I am Amy Kurland, the Inspector General for the City of Philadelphia.
Welcome. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Thank you. With me is William Brown, who is the Budget Officer for our office. I am pleased to appear before you for the first time to report on the budget and the accomplishments of the Office of Inspector General. It's been slightly over two years since I began as Inspector General, and I'm proud to report that the Inspector General's 54 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Office is a very different and much-improved office. The proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the OIG totals $1.3 million approximately in the General Fund. The budget contains no increases from the office's initial Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Approximately 1.2 million, or 93 percent, of the budget support the current full-time positions, plus 2 12 additional investigators, and contains no 13 provision for overtime costs. 14 $75,000, or 6 percent, of the 15 budget is for the purpose of professional 16 services, of which $55,000 is for the 17 contracted services of a retired Internal Revenue services investigator. This contract will expire on June 30, 2010, and the OIG plans to coordinate the upcoming bid with the Office of Economic Opportunity and has partnered with them in building alliances with minority-, women-, or disabled-owned businesses in the Philadelphia community. 55 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 $20,000 of the professional services budget is for staff training; and the remaining 1 percent, or $15,000, is budgeted for office supplies and equipment. In addition, a cost-effective surveillance program has been developed with other City departments that augments and optimizes OIG staff in conducting investigations. This use of private investigators also promotes efficiency by freeing up investigators to perform more complex investigations. If I may now move to the improvements in the OIG investigations. I believe that the Office of Inspector General is in the process of being transformed into a top-quality investigative agency. We have changed the OIG's priorities, procedures, and methods from top to bottom and have added substantially more experience to the office. The results from last year show 56 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that the OIG now has the ability to successfully work more advanced types of investigations and that our investigative product is more reliable and more fair. The number of criminal prosecutions produced by the office has jumped exponentially, and we are pleased with the first federal charges resulting from the first ever federal OIG joint investigations.
Excuse me, Miss Kurland. I've been asked by a couple of the Councilmembers if you could abbreviate your testimony. A copy of your written testimony will be given to the stenographer and it will be transcribed in full. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Certainly, Councilwoman. Thank you.
Thank you. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that the Office of the Inspector General has accomplished in the last year. Since our budget has been separated from that of the Mayor's Office and we operate as an independent office, we have had substantial accomplishments. What this means, having a separate budget, is that we make decisions about what to investigate based soley on the seriousness of the alleged misconduct and the significance of any potential misconduct finding, the feasibility of using our available resources to successfully investigate. We make decisions about what to investigate or not to investigate based soley on what we believe is the right thing to do. And, additionally, we are very strict about keeping investigative information from complainants and others extremely confidential. I believe this is what makes us a strong and credible office. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 resources on investigations involving relatively low-level misconduct, and we have changed that. We recognize now that low-level misconduct is often the result of ineffective supervision, and we have worked with the departments to ensure that the supervisory personnel are closely monitoring their subordinates. We have begun to focus on much more serious misconduct that may be criminal in nature on situations when people with discretionary authority are abusing their position for their own benefit or to give preferential treatment to others and to other more serious misconduct. Third, we have been using much more sophisticated investigative techniques, and we have adopted a more patient approach that insists on very strong corroborating evidence before a case is completed. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 parts of City government primarily because there was no specialization in the office. We have now -- we now have investigators who specialize in certain cases within certain departments, and they have begun to build expertise regarding specific departments of the City. And this has made the OIG much more knowledgeable and has led to much smarter investigations. Fifth, when I began two years ago, the investigators were drowning in absurdly high caseloads; there were approximately 40 to 50 cases per investigator. No matter how hardworking an investigator may be, little progress can be made in this environment. We are now diligent about keeping the caseloads much more manageable. In 2009, we received 688 complaints. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 investigator. This is still too high. While our investigations are now more complex and thorough, we have seen the older investigations begin to decrease. Good investigations take lots of time and are resource-intensive, but we believe that the results that come from investigating the right way are definitely worth it. Number six, we have adopted very strong internal procedures to ensure that evidence is sufficient before a case is sustained. We recognize the seriousness of recommending discipline against an employee, and we believe it's important that these recommendations not be made arbitrarily. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 disciplinary recommendation. This process of providing a written explanation of our reasoning is critical in making the Inspector General's Office accountable for its actions. Seven, we have greatly improved accountability by holding periodic performance management sessions with the leadership team and with each employee. We make sure that cases are moving appropriately and that the right cases are being given the right amount of resources. Eight, part of our transparency and accountability involves providing more investigation to the public. Even though we are an investigative body that conducts confidential investigations, we have moved in this direction with our website, which provides detailed information about our office, its organization, background, and legal framework.
10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 In the last two years, we have published annual reports that provide statistics and other information about the office's operations in the prior year, and we expect to continue to provide more information on the website in the future. These reforms and improvement have directly resulted in a stronger and more efficient performance by the Inspector General's Office. I'd like to just briefly discuss our results, which are outlined in much more detail in our annual report that I believe has been provided to all Councilmembers. First, in criminal cases, the number of criminal prosecutions has increased dramatically: individuals 21 have been charge criminally, resulting 22 from Inspector General investigations; 23 all of these were felony cases. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 office's investigation. And this huge increase is significant because it shows that the office is focusing on more significant cases and has the ability to satisfy prosecutors, both federal and state, that the evidence and the investigation is sufficient to meet the higher criminal standard of proof. We believe that investigating these large fraud cases not only helps bring criminals to justice but also have great potential for returning to the City treasury fraudulently-obtained City funds. And these cases are made possible by combining experience with smart, efficient use of investigative resources that focuses on significant investigations. Regarding our administrative and disciplinary case, we have recommended discipline. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 discipline. And when there are appeals, the Civil Service Commission has upheld the imposition of the discipline. In 2009, we recommended disciplinary action against 47 employees; of these cases, 34 employees were terminated and were suspended or 9 demoted. Other actions such as 10 reprimands were taken in 33 cases. 11 Additionally, in many cases, employees 12 have resigned when faced with an OIG 13 investigations. These statistics show that, among other things, the departments agree that OIG investigations were based on strong evidence. We consider this a strong statements of the quality of our disciplinary investigations that the OIG has been sending to departments. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that the evidence in OIG investigations is strong and reliable and that OIG disciplinary recommendations are reasonable. Briefly looking ahead, in 2010, we will be implementing several new initiatives. We will be increasingly focusing on the issue of supervisory accountability in City government. We believe that misconduct flourishes when supervision is lax, and we expect to ask the questions in every case about whether the supervisor was, in fact, doing their job, and did the supervisor know whether or not the misconduct was occurring. If supervisors get the message and they begin to act in a more responsible fashion as supervisor, we believe that the amount of employee misconduct will decrease significantly. S. Attorney's Office, and also by seeking cost recovery more frequently with the Law Department. We will be placing a greater priority on investigating contract fraud. Conducting complicated fraud investigations and forensic audits requires training and experience, and increasing the training we give our young fraud investigators should pay dividends in terms of money saved for the City when fraudulent contractors are caught. And, finally, we will be increasing the use of technology in the office. A great deal of upgrading is needed to make maximum use of the resources. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 process. In conclusion, although it will take time before the impact of these changes is visible, I believe that they are already beginning to bear fruit, and we are well on the way to becoming a national model of an independent professional office that uncovers corruption, fraud, waste, and inefficiency.
Thank you, Councilwoman, and thank you, members of Council. I welcome any questions.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, Miss Kurland. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Good morning.
Miss Kurland, in your written testimony, 68 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you say that the OIG plans to coordinate an upcoming bid with the Office of Economic Opportunity and, thus, partner with them in building alliances with minority-, women-, or disabled-owned business in the Philadelphia community. What does that mean? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: What that means, Councilman Goode, is that one of our contracts, which is currently being held by a retired Internal Revenue Service investigator, will be up again. And as we did with the surveillance contracts, we will be sending them out -- we will be putting out an RFP and we will work with the Office of Economic Opportunity to make sure that we have minority representation and that that's taken into consideration when awarding the contracts.
So that's something that you will do in the future? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 69 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Yes, but if I can say, we really have done that already, in the past. Of the City surveillance contracts that are out, there is 6 percent minority participation there. We 7 do very little contracting; and so, we 8 have also made an effort for our office 9 makeup to represent minority 10 participation. 11
So you do 12 very little contracting, but you do some 13 contracting? 14 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 15 Yes, we do. 16
But you set 17 no goals for that contracting? 18 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 19 Excuse me. 20
You've set no goals for that contracting in terms of women-, or disabled-owned businesses. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We currently have a 20 percent minority participation. 70 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
But you are not required to set goals as a part of that budgeting process? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes, we have set goals. If I could just have a moment. While my Budget Officer is looking it up, I just want to point out regarding our office makeup: Regarding racial makeup, we have a 40 percent minority participation. And regarding gender, we have a 55 percent women working in the office. Our goals? (Ms. Kurland confers off the record with OIG Budget Officer Brown.) Councilman Goode, overall, our goal is 78.57 percent.
For Fiscal Year '11? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: For Fiscal Year '11.
Okay. One last question: Do you consider it to be 71 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 corrupt or fraud or wasteful for a procurement official to not contract with minority, women, or disabled businesses? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think that that would depend on what the participation was. I mean, I don't know whether there would be any criminal statutes involved that would be fraud or corruption. There may be violations of City policy that we would look into if that was the case.
Have you ever looked into that? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We have not had a case like that, no. 17
If there is contracting that happens, a significant portion of our budget of a billion dollars goes toward contracting, and there are procurement officials who have never done business with disadvantaged business, is that possibly corrupt? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: That is possibly corrupt. 72 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And if I can backtrack a second, because I'm not sure this is directly in response to your question, but we do have several investigations where a contractor claims to have minority participation, but what we finding is that it really is not minority participation, that there may be a minority subcontractor in name only or a minority in name only who owns the business.
And so your officers are investigating -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We are investigating those types of cases.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you. 73 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Good morning, Miss Kurland. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Good morning, Councilman Greenlee.
Just quickly. And I don't want to rehash the whole hearing from last week, but there was concern raised by both the District Attorney's Office and the City Controller's Office around sort of duplication and bumping up against certain other duties. I see you mentioned in your testimony the District Attorney's Office and working with them. Are there times that you've worked with the Controller's Office in either information from them to you, or you to them? What interaction is there with the Controller's Office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Certainly, our mission overlaps the Controller's Office mission, which is to ensure that the City operates honestly and efficiently.
Mm-hmm. 74 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We have not had joint cases with the Controller's Office. My view, Councilman, what I would hope will happen in the future is that we will have a system of referral back and forth. Oftentimes, when we investigate a fraud case and we find that somebody stole money from a department, we would anticipate referring the matter then to the Controller's Office to go in and do a full audit of that department.
Okay. Why hasn't that be done yet? You said you anticipate. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We are -- we don't have anything in place right now where we work with the Controller's Office. Again, I hope that that will happen. But to date, it has not.
Mm-hmm. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam President. 75 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Miss Kurland. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Good morning.
So the fraud cases that you mentioned that are the subject of your report that you put out last week, et cetera, you have not referred those cases to date, with details, to the Controller's Office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Some of the -- I'm not sure what fraud cases you're talking about, Councilman.
Well -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: When there's a criminal case, we don't do an official referral. The matter is public. If somebody is indicted, it's public information that a person from a 76 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 department was indicted.
So you don't send over a report, with your files, to the Controller when you've discovered that there's been some, you know, inefficiency or waste, fraud, or abuse in a department so that the Controller then has that information to begin with, so that they can then go conduct their own investigation, without having to start over; is what that what you're testifying? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We've -- there have been occasions when the Controller's Office has asked us for information about a particular case and we have provided that. But we don't turn over files on a wholesale matter because they contain lots of confidential information, such as the identification of informants and bank-account information, and that sort of thing.
Well, okay. 77 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So I'm not asking you to turn over all of your files. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right.
I'm asking you to turn over pertinent information which would allow the Controller to go ahead and conduct an appropriate audit of the department. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes, and we certainly will -- we have done that in the past and we --
When they have requested it -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
Do you think that ought to be a matter of departmental policy, that when you conduct -- complete an investigation, you turn it over to somebody who has also jurisdiction so that they can then do their job? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We would be happy to do that. I mean, the way it works right now -- 78 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
You will do that, going forward; is that what you're testifying? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. The way it works right now, once we discover something like that, we work hand-in-hand with the department head to try and, you know, explain, based on our investigation, what we found that allowed the fraud to occur.
No, I know, but your testimony was that in the future, you hope to do that, but there's no policy in place. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No. 17 When the Controller's Office -- we will turn our information over to the Controller's Office when they go to do a performance audit; that certainly is not a problem.
Miss Kurland, does your office use the services of the Police Department? 79 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We do, Councilwoman. We have two police detectives who are detailed to our office.
Is that reflected in your budget, or does it -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No. 10 These police officers are paid for by the Police Department.
The Police Department? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: They report to the Police Department. They assist us in criminal investigations.
And are they full-time? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. There is no overtime for those police officers, however.
Point of information. 80 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Thank you, Madam Chair. When you say they assist you in criminal investigations, that's confusing to me because your authority is civil; of course, the Police Department's authority is criminal. So, technically, aren't you assisting the Police Department in criminal investigations that -- where you may have identified some criminal activity? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think our authority is civil and criminal. In criminal cases, we work with the District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office from very early on in the investigation.
I'm confused, though. I mean, the Mayor's Office -- so, okay. So you -- the Inspector General's Office, in your view, 81 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 has civil and criminal authority. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
And where does it get the criminal authority other than cooperation with agencies that actually, you know, are supposed to prosecute or investigate crimes? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, I think the authority is in our executive order, which is 4-94.
So the Mayor can authorize any person within City government to investigate crimes, whether or not they're a sworn officer? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, we investigate misconduct, fraud, and corruption among City employees and anybody doing business with the City. Sometimes those turn out to be administrative cases, but sometimes they turn out to be criminal cases, and I think that's where our authority comes from.
But then 82 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 it's the police that conduct the criminal investigation or the D.A.'s Office, right? I mean, they're working and coordinating with you, but in terms of putting together the criminal case, is that what your agency does, or is that what the D.A. and Police do? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We put together the criminal case, having been given direction from the prosecutors as to what's needed to make a successful criminal case.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm following up on that line of questioning that my colleague Councilman Green pursued, and that is: On , number 1, you said that you operate your budget separate 83 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 from that of the Mayor, as you have an independent office. And my question again is: Well, then, to whom do you report, and to whom are you accountable? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Thank you, Councilwoman.
Thank you. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We report to the Mayor, and we are accountable to the Mayor. The reason I use the word "independent" is because Mayor Nutter has given us -- he has supported our working independently, and we don't take direction from him as to what cases to investigate or what not to investigate. He's given us the authority to make those decisions. So that's what I mean when I say "independent," but we do answer to the Mayor.
Thank you. 84 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 When this office was created by Executive Order 1084 of May 22, 1984, by former Mayor Goode, one of the under-functions, one of them was to prevent -- it says to prevent and detect fraught fraud and abuse. Do you have preventive programs as well? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes, we do. I, along with the Chief Integrity Officer, have spoken to every single department head and every single inspector in the City of Philadelphia, in the Streets Department, in L&I, and DHS, and we have outlined ethical rules, criminal rules, and what City employees may and may not do specifically, that they may not take money. We also have integrity officers in every department, and we work closely with the integrity officers; we provide training for them, and the integrity officers then go back to their respective 85 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 departments and emphasize the prevention of corruption and misconduct.
Thank you. We raise that question because I note that you say you have a much- improved office and with disciplinary action against 47 employees, 34 of which were terminated, and suspended or 11 demoted; we know that aspect of it. 12 But that is why I asked about 13 prevention, since we have so many more prosecutions and so many more disciplinary actions. So we wondered how you viewed your office in terms of if it is mainly and almost soley prosecution. And also, coupled with that, could you explain to the Council how you work with the integrity officers that are under the Mayor's Office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: The statistics are strange because when you say that we have so many prosecutions, 86 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 does that mean that there are more bad people, or does it mean that we have an improved office? And it's hard to measure that. But I think that I can say confidently that for every person who is prosecuted or disciplined, there are many, many more that are prevented. And that's because I think that when a prosecution or a disciplinary procedure occurs, you're sending a message to City employees and to people who may do business with the City, that we will not tolerate misconduct. So that's the first thing. The second thing, in working with integrity officers, because the integrity officers are active in the department, we have seen a high increase in the number of people reporting misconduct. We have had probably five or six people -- I don't have the exact number -- this year alone who have come forward to say, "Somebody has tried to 87 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 bribe me. Somebody has tried to offer me money." And we have a system where, when that happens, the Mayor sends outs a letter of commendation to the City employee. I think also that the department heads, with whom we work closely, such as DHS, L&I, and those organizations, would say that they have seen less -- fewer problems in their departments.
So what is that process like? Does the integrity officer go to his or her supervisor, and the supervisor approaches you? Or what's that process about? I think it says in here that every department has an integrity officer assigned. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
So how do those complaints get to you? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: The integrity officers, first of all, they 88 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 meet at the Inspector General's Office every month, where we provide training and follow-up on various cases. (Timer bell rings.) When a City employee has a complaint, they go to the integrity officer. The integrity officer then brings the complaint to us. We review it and we decide whether it's something that we will handle in the Inspector General's Office or whether we will refer it back to the integrity officer to handle, with our assistance.
Thank you. I note my time is up. Thank you, Miss Kurland.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. 89 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Good morning, Councilman.
Being around the government for as long as I have, I have heard of cases where people have gotten themselves in trouble because of poor departmental policies. You mentioned earlier supervision and following up on the preventive side of what you do, because you'd like to put yourself out of business, I'm sure, and have an honest government that works well. But what happens -- and, you know, I have a few cases in my mind, and I'm not going to say it publicly, and it's something going to talk to you about privately, is that I don't think some of these people would have done what they did if, in fact, they were well- supervised. And I think they did what they did because there were no policies that could prevent them from being caught. 90 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And I'm struggling with this 'cause I don't want to -- I think you understand what I'm trying to say. What do you do with the operating departments, after you do have someone either suspended or fired or prosecuted, to prevent someone else from doing something similar like that in the future? I know you put the fear of God into the rest of the folks. But every department -- and there's issues that I could talk to you about all day that, because of lack of good policies and good information, allow people to do what they do. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yeah, I agree with you completely, Councilman. Some departments have very well spelled-out policies; some departments do not. And I don't believe that we can recommend discipline for somebody for violating a policy if a policy doesn't exist. 91 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So, in order for us to recommend discipline, there has to be a policy, and the person has to have violated that policy. And we -- I think we stick with that
Well -- and I don't want to take too long on this, but if information isn't available to supervisors about certain aspects of a person's job because of just poor management, that, I believe, after you do your investigation, that somebody has to -- a light bulb has to go on and say, Well, we've got to if I can that so nobody else does it eight years from now. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right.
Anyone would be stupid to do it six months or a year later, after someone, you know, is taken out in handcuffs. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
But my point 92 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 is that there are so many things in the government that, because of policies and because of management and because of procedures, people say, you know, "I can get around and benefit by this lack of good management." INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Mm-hmm.
And I'm sure you see that. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Mm-hmm.
And I'm sure that part of your job would be to recommend to employing officers, I call them -- commissioners and heads of department -- that they've got to fix this after you detect it. Is that a part of the process? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Absolutely. And the best example that I can give you is with DHS after the unfortunate situation with Danieal Kelly. When a number of people were indicted, we 93 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 then took over that case on an administrative level, and we reviewed up two different chains of supervisors. We recommended that eight supervisors be fired basically because they were not doing their job; and, in part, that's what allowed that situation to happen. Those eight supervisors were fired. And we now work hand-in-hand with the Commissioner. In many of our DHS cases, we recommend different training policies, different supervisory procedures, recommendations that supervisors meet with social workers more often, that they review paperwork. And we've put those recommendations in writing. And, in fact, next week, I'll be speak to the DHS staff about these new procedures.
Just one last thing, an example, and I'll talk about it because it's already public. 94 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 If the process was better- managed and supervised, should the cell phone issue that occurred have ever occurred? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It's hard to speculate, sir. I think that probably, if there had been a situation in place where every single cell phone was accounted for, and there was somebody in place to make sure that the records all matched, that wouldn't have happened.
How do you get authorization to make undercover recordings? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Councilwoman, we don't have authorization to make undercover recordings. That 95 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 occurs in situations where we are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office or the District Attorney's Office. And then we are a part of a case where there are undercover recordings. But my office does not have the authorization to do that.
I was going to ask who makes that determination for, you know, for probable cause. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right. It's made by the U.S. Attorney or the D.A.
And I assume you'd have to have judicial approval? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: If the rules are different -- on the State level, there is a requirement for judicial approval; on the federal level, the U.S. Attorney may authorize that.
I'm just looking at your testimony. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. 96 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Is that on ? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: In my testimony, I said that we are making more use of that type of investigatory technique, and I'm sorry if I was not clear on that. What I meant was that in cases that are initiated by the Inspector General's Office that then become criminal, those techniques are used when authorized by law enforcement.
Thank you. Also, you state that you need to create a case-management system within your office and that you have begun to establish one. Are the requested appropriations in this year's Operating Budget; and if so, what is the amount? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. The case management system that we have begun, we're working with the Department of Technology to do that. 97 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 They are developing a case-management system that I think will be of use in six or seven different departments. We're being used sort of as a test case for that. Mr. Frank tells me that the approximate cost of this, which will be spread among the different departments, is in the neighborhood of $20,000.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to continue follow-up to Councilwoman Blackwell's questions. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
Where you indicated that there are integrity officer in each department. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
So these are staff persons who also have the role 98 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of integrity duties? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. These are people who have other jobs within their own respective departments, but they also serve as an integrity officer, as a liaison to the Inspector General's Office.
And so, are they recruited? do they volunteer? do they go through orientation? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It's a little bit of each. We, of course, have high standards for who can be an integrity officer. Usually what happens is, the department will come to me and say, We'd like this person to be the together officer. And then, you know, we usually say yes.
I see. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: And then when they come to the Inspector General's Office for their periodic meetings, that's when they receive 99 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 training.
Mm-hmm. Has it been customary for there to be two detectives assigned to your office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Previously --
Or is that a new practice? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Previously, before I started, there was a unit in the Police Department called the Internal Investigations Unit, and there were seven detectives in that unit.
I see. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: But they were up in the Northeast, and it was difficult to work cases together with them. So two of them are now detailed to the Inspector General's Office, and the other five have other jobs throughout the Police Department.
I see. In your testimony, you state 100 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 also how, on occasion, you have to partner with the federal government on investigations. How do you -- what process or -- it wouldn't be a strategy. What process do you use to break down the costs, those tied to the feds and those tied to your office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I'm not certain how the cost is broken down because we have full-time investigators, and the federal authorities also have full-time people.
Mm-hmm. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It's just part of what the caseload is.
I see. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I will say, though, that in certain -- the example I would give is the case of Brenda Wilkins, who was indicted basically for stealing a house. She took a house that was supposed to be low- to moderate-income people, and she moved it into a different program and gave it to 101 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 her daughter. When we began investigating that case, we determined that she really should be charged with a crime rather than just fired. She was indicted, she was convicted; and at her sentencing, we requested restitution to the City, and the judge did order that she pay -- I believe it was approximately $65,000 back to the City. So in a case like that, while the costs of investigation were probably equally borne by my office and the U.S. Attorney's Office, because of our involvement, we were able to get able restitution to the City in the end. And then after that, we worked with the Law Department and the Pension Department, and Miss Wilkins has now forfeited her pension, which is worth about $550,000. So the costs that come back to the government, back to the City, because of our investigation, I think, are really 102 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 substantial.
Yes. With the heightened role and visibility of your office, what are the trends? Are we seeing fewer investigations or more, or what? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think we're seeing more sophisticated investigations. We're spending less time doing minor personnel matters. We do fewer residency cases than we initially did. And we are spending a great deal of our time doing much more complex fraud cases.
And what might you attribute fewer residency cases to? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We have a very effective surveillance program now. When I started as Inspector General, the investigators in the office spent a substantial amount of their time conducting surveillance. You can imagine 103 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that's very time-intensive to determine whether or not somebody lives in the City. Now, my office does all of the background investigation when we have a residency complaint. We determine where the person pays their taxes, where their water bills are paid, where their children go to school; we do all of that background information. And then we ask the department whether they would like to pay for surveillance.
I see. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: And that minimizes the cost of a residency investigation, because the surveillance companies do it and bill the department.
With those surveillance companies, are there or is there representation of MBE/WBEs? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. It's 20 percent representation right now.
Okay, 104 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 then. Thank you for your testimony. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Thank you.
Councilwoman Blackwell, did you want to be recognized?
Yes, Madam President. We are concerned. During these budgetary times, it appears that we have five departments who may overlap. Obviously, the Inspector General, the Integrity Officer, we have the Ethics Board, we have the District Attorney's Office, and the Controller. So that is five areas. And we really would like clarity on -- and my colleagues here were talking about it, on how they differ and how they're the same during these harsh budget times, so we better understand what their role is and how we should support them. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 105 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Councilwoman, I can very briefly describe the differences. And then I have a chart that's been prepared that outlines the details a little bit more, with some examples. But just basically, the Ethics Board, their jurisdiction is the Ethics Code, and they investigate and impose penalties for violations of the Ethics Code. The District Attorney's Office has authority over criminal investigations, not any kind of administrative investigations or misconduct that's not criminal. The Controller's Office, as I understand it, conducts broad performance audits of every department, and they are bound by accounting standards and are looking in a bigger picture to see if departments are being run officially. The Chief Integrity Officer works very closely with me. She is responsible, I believe, for prevention, 106 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 for education. She receives complaints of problems that may occur and then refers them to my office for investigation. We work with her to make recommendations for better contracting policies and better department policies. I think that's all.
Sure. While our witness looks through that document, I would underscore the request to actually see those departments because a visual grid is very, very useful. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I can hand it to --
If you could forward to Madam Chair, she'll make sure we get a copy.
107 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Councilwoman Blackwell, are you finished?
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess we're officially in the afternoon, so instead of "good morning," I'll say "good afternoon." In response to budget questions last year, the office provided copies of memorandums of understandings that it has with the Police Department, the Prison System, the Department of Human Services, et cetera. The one with DHS provides that DHS will transfer $250,000 per year to OIG to fund several investigator and support positions. Having looked at the budget detail for both OIG and DHS, I'm not clear how this $250,000 is reflected in 108 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the budget. Neither department indicates an interdepartmental transfer with the other. Can you address that? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes, Councilman. I don't believe that we are operating under those memoranda of understanding anymore. The Budget Officer can answer that in more detail as to how our budget was arrived at. But when we did not have a separate budget from the Mayor's Office, we worked through those memoranda of understanding. Now, as we have a separate budget, I don't think that there's any transfer going on from one department to us. But, again, Mr. Agostini can answer that in more detail.
Okay. So can somebody confirm that those memoranda of understanding are no longer in effect? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: They're in effect just to the extent that we have the same goals and we work 109 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 together. And I believe that part of our budget comes from other departments, but I see Mr. Agostini coming. (Budget Director Stephen Agostini comes forward.)
Thank you. Well, I mean, what I want to understand is, if, during the course of the next year, in addition to what you're being allocated, that memorandum of understanding would allow an additional essential transfer of $250,000 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, no. It's my understanding that there is no additional money coming from any memorandum of understanding. Our budget is what's before you right now.
So that provision of the memorandum of understanding has been deleted, or it still exists in the memorandum of understanding? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I guess the memoranda are out there, but we 110 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 don't operate under them.
Councilmember, Miss Kurland's representations are what we've done in the budget. While the memoranda may still be out there, we had no plans to make additional expenditure transfers or resource transfers in addition to what's here. We thought, at the time last year, that those memorandums, while it made sense to have them, created a very cumbersome way to try and track dollars and track what was happening. We thought it would just make the most sense to just set aside money for the purposes of funding the office.
Thank you. 111 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Miss Kurland, you indicated earlier -- maybe I didn't understand it clearly -- that you need to be authorized to surveil, for surveillance. Does that apply to residency? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: The surveillance contracts that we have are used in residency cases.
Okay. You indicated that the monies for that surveillance have to be paid by the operating departments? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: That's the way we work, that's the way the contract works.
Where does that show on paper? Where is that budgeted in the other departments? How significant -- how much money are we talking about? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We're not talking about much money. (Ms. Kurland confers off the record with OIG Budget Officer Brown.) 112 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 In each case where surveillance is authorized by the department, the cap would be $500.
And that comes out of an operating department's budget? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
I'd like to know, when the Budget Director gets back to the table, is that miscellaneous? I mean, how is it shown in the Streets Department or -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, It'sless than 15,000 per year. So I believe that would be under Personal Services.
Thank you. That answers the question. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. Just for clarification, there 113 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 was an MOU at the Prison System that provides that a Prisons employee will be detailed as an OIG investigator; is that still in effect? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: That's still in effect, yes.
So, in addition to the positions in your 10 budget, there are from 2 from Police and 11 1 from Prisons? 12 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 13 That's correct. 14
Is there any 15 other staff detailed to the OIG from 16 other departments or offices? 17 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, 18 that's it; it's those three. 19
Is there any planned for the next year? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, there wasn't. Oh, I apologize there is one more. There is a position in the Budget Office, in the Recovery Office, for a 114 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 accountant/auditor financial investigator, who is part of our Compliance and Control Program that we are doing with regard to ARRA money. So that person will be paid for by the Recovery Office but detailed to the Inspector General's Office. That has not happened yet, but that's in the next year. And it would be for two years during the ARRA funding.
And that person's duties will be...? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Compliance and Control Program.
With respect to federal stimulus money only or -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: With respect -- Yes, yes.
Okay. The OIG's budget detail indicates several positions, including a second deputy. You may have heard my conversation with Mr. Armbrister, where we asked that if there were any vacant 115 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 positions that you be prepared to tell us how long those positions have been vacant, what the specific job duties are of those vacant positions, and how those functions have been performed while those positions have been vacant. And it's in that context that I these questions. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay.
The OIG's budget detail indicates several positions, including a second Deputy Inspector General, an investigative analyst, and two investigators that are either new positions or have been vacant for an extended period of time. What job duties will be performed by each of these positions? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. Councilman, because we have just started our budget, they have only been vacant since the creation of our separate budget, which would be during this fiscal 116 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 year.
Just as a -- that is what the MOU was supposed to be funding last year. In other words, you were contemplating getting to 7 positions, including these types of 8 positions, through the DHS funding and 9 other things. 10 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 11 Right. 12
So these 13 positions have essentially been open for 14 a long time, even though they weren't in 15 your budget last year because you got the 16 money availble for them through the MOU, 17 even though you never exercised it. 18 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I'm 19 not sure exactly -- and I think if you were to add up all of the dollars in the MOUs that we had written, it would not be the amount of money which is our budget. So I don't know which positions were vacant and which are newly created.
So what was 117 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 your bought approved last year? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: For Fiscal Year '09.
For the current year, I'm sorry. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: For the current year, it's the exact same: It's approximately $1.3 million.
Okay, okay. Fair enough. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay.
So what duties will these positions have? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. The -- well, I'll start from the premise that we receive -- I believe I testified that we received about 680 complaints but we were only able to open close to 300 of them. We basically have too small a staff to do the kinds of investigations, the quality of investigations, and the number of investigations that I would 118 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 like to do. The investigative analyst position is, they provide support to the investigators. They do background computer checks, they analyze financial information, they prepare charts and graphs, and they organize files. The investigator has more of an on-the-street, if you will, type of job. They provide an investigative plan, they work with the prosecutors. If it's a criminal case, they interview witnesses and they write reports. The deputy position that would be required is, right now, we have a Deputy Inspector General who supervises all administrative investigations where we recommend discipline in the departments. We currently have no Deputy Inspector General who supervises all of the criminal investigations. That's being done right now by the First Deputy, who has much of a -- much more of a 119 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 broad-ranging office-management-type job. She has a lot of duties coordinating with department heads and doing policy-type work. But she now is also supervising all of the criminal investigations.
And that job -- so it's getting done today. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It's getting done at the expense of doing fewer cases.
Okay. How many cases do you -- so you prioritize your cases -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Exactly.
-- basically based on how meritorious you think they are. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
So you've been able to -- you have cases that you think less meritorious, less likely to result in administrative or criminal proceeding, and they're at the bottom of 120 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 list. So what we're talking about is spending money to move further down into a list that is less likely to result in any action being taken by the Inspector General's Office? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I wouldn't really characterize it like that because we do have many, many cases that we are unable to pursue because of limited staff --
Well, there's no way to know whether or not -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: -- that are meritorious.
Well, that raises a good point. So with respect to the staff time, what percentage of your overall staff time is administrative versus criminal in terms of what you are pursuing? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: If I could just have a moment. 121 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 (Ms. Kurland confers off the record with OIG Budget Officer Brown.) I'm sorry, Councilman. I don't know that I can break it down in terms of percentage. I would --
I'm not going to ask you to try to struggle with it now. If you could provide that to the Chair. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes.
Can you tell me how much A.D.A. earns newly out of law school? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I don't know.
Okay. Of the 3.3 million in savings based on employees who were arrested or terminated in administrative actions, this total is based on sort of a two-year salary projection of the positions counted in your report. How many remain vacant? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I 122 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 don't know whether all of those people were replaced or none of those people were replaced, and that's what --
I'm a bit confused by the claim of savings, given that, you know, if you start with the overall presumption that we've cut every department to the bone and there's no 10 more real cuts we can make in terms of positions, and then you have an Inspector General essentially getting people terminated or resigning, and then saying that we've saved two years' worth of salary as a result of those terminations, it's sort of interally inconsistent messaging. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Mm-hmm.
Either there are a lot of people not doing their job who we can eliminate even just through performance audits also; or, you know, there's some kind of disconnect in these numbers. 123 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 If you could help me with that. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yeah. Well, the first thing I would say is that I think that the people who are removed from the rolls should be people who are not doing their job. The number we have here, in taking two years of somebody salary, I agree with you Councilman; it's an arbitrary number. But it's an extremely conservative arbitrary number. In the federal system, if somebody is terminated from their job, the way they calculate the savings is, for example, if the person is 30 years old, they would say, Well, that person would have worked for another 30 years, the pension contributions, and they add all of those things up, and it's an extremely high number.
Sure, but that's not realistic if the position's being filled. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, 124 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 I agree. And --
So I'm dealing in the real world and not how the federal system does it. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right.
And, you know, you can't get realer than Philly. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right. And I agree that that is not a realistic way to do it. And I don't know what the realistic way to do it is other than to hire an actuary to come in and try to calculate it.
But really, I mean, if the position's re-filled, you've eliminated -- you've done a good thing and you've gotten someone who should not be a public servant out of that position. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Right.
And I commend you for that, but... I'm trying 125 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 to think of a polite term to say it is inaccurate to say that we actually saved 3.3 million, isn't it? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think it is inaccurate. We're taking an estimate to try to --
Why, you know, did the Inspector General put forth a report that is inaccurate with respect to the savings? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, I do drop a footnote at the bottom of that number that says this is not -- you know, this is a rough estimate. There has to be some way to --
But it's not really even a rough estimate, as you've just testified. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It's an estimate, sir. I don't know what else to say. It's based on a two-year projection.
But we're going to -- presumably, the position is 126 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 needed, and we're re-filling it. I guess I'm bearing a dead horse at this point, but would you say it's a wildly inaccurate rough estimate? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, I don't think it's wildly inaccurate. I think it's a conservative estimate.
Even if we re-fill the position? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, even if you re-fill the position, you're still savings on the pension contributions for the person who was fired.
Sure, but then you're making pension contributions for the person who's hire. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: But you're starting again.
Sure, sure. You're saving on pension payments and actuarial assumptions, which you bring back to present value at a discount rate, which is, you know -- 127 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I'm going to let Mr. Agostini answer this; he's better at numbers than I am. (Budget Director Stephen Agostini comes forward.)
Councilman, I think we agree on this. I think that it is -- I think what the officer is trying to do is show that the savings are savings because they're no longer the subject of theft of some form of embezzlement of City funds. And I think in that respect, they do represent savings because it's no longer being stolen. But to your point with respect to how they play into the budgetary process, I think we're all in agreement that to characterize them as savings from a budgetary perspective gets a little confusing 'cause they're not really things we can throw into the budget at a later point in time.
Thank you. 128 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So, let's see here. I've read your report; it looks like you've done good work. If we eliminated your four vacant positions, what percentage cut to your budget would that be? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It would be approximately $90,000. I don't know the percentage, sir.
Four vacant positions? You have four vacant positions, right? Isn't that two vacant positions? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Just a moment. (Ms. Kurland confers off the record with OIG Budget Officer Brown.) Yeah, we currently have two vacant positions.
I'm sorry. The budget suggests you have four vacant positions.
Excuse me, Councilman. That report was based on a November increment. And since then, 129 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 we've hired two investigators.
Okay. So if we de-fund four positions which haven't resulted in, obviously -- the past investigations that are a part of your report were conducted with a staff of 11 people plus the other people? 12 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 13 What you see in our annual report from 14 2009, that was done with 15 people. 15
So if we eliminate four positions, how much would that save? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I don't think we can calculate how much it would save, but I can tell you that for another --
Well, how 130 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 much are the two people who were just hired earning? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: That's approximately $100,000.
Okay. Who's 10 the gentleman to your left? I apologize. 11 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Oh, 12 I'm sorry, sir. I introduced him when I 13 first sat down. 14 This is William Brown, who is 15 our Budget Officer and Financial Investigator.
Budget Officer and Financial Investigator? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. He does two jobs.
So could you describe your position? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: He is responsible for putting together the budget, working with the budget 131 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 department to do that. He also conducts financial investigations. Mr. Brown is the individual who did the investigation that resulted in finding the checks of $3.4 million.
So how much of your time is spent as a budget officer versus investigating? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: (Addressing Mr. Brown.) I'll let you answer.
It's 30 to 40 percent, 30 to 40 percent. It depends, 'cause I prioritize what needs to be done.
That's confusing to me, 'cause the Mayor's Office, which has a budget of, you know, $3.5 million or something like that, doesn't have a budget officer. Does your department need a separate Budget Officer rather than relying on the resources of -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No, 132 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 we don't need a separate officer; that's why Mr. Brown has -- also does financial investigation.
Well, that's my -- do you need a budget officer at all? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We need somebody to put these numbers together because I can't do it.
Okay. It's not a very -- there's positions, you 13 know. 14 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 15 Yeah, and one of those positions is not a budget officer.
It is, yeah. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: But -- I'm sorry, it is, but it's -- he does that in addition to his other job.
Okay. So -- 133 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 and there's nobody from the Budget Office that can help you do that that would free up 40 percent of Mr. Brown's time to make it possible to spend his time investigating? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I don't believe that it's 40 percent.
He said 30 or 40 percent. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, I think right now, getting ready for these hearings, it took a lot of his time. But, as I said, he has just been working almost full-time on an investigation where he recovered the $3.4 million in checks.
Okay. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It was full-time for a while doing financial investigations; now, as we approach budget hearings, he's spending more time on that. But this is -- the budget -- 134 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 being a budget officer is certainly not a big part of his job.
Can I ask how the investigation into checks not being cashed came up? As you know, I guess about a year-and-a-half going, a group of City Councilmen got together and pointed out state checks that had not been cashed by the City and other checks that had not been cashed by the City. Is that what led to us looking for this type of money, or how did we discover that? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: The way we discovered this was, Mr. Brown was doing an investigation of a former City employee who, we believe, may have embezzled a substantial amount of money from the department where he worked. That investigation is still ongoing. So I can't really speak about that.
Fair enough. 135 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 I'll stop right there. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: But out of that, he discovered these checks.
Thank you, Madam President. I'll be brief. I appreciate you giving out this agency overview, and I don't want to belabor this overlap issue, but when you have the focus here, that sounds, in all due respect, a lot like what the City Controller does. I know you said he does broad audits, but I think that's part. And not just this controller, but other controllers. You know, they do the individual investigations and that kind of thing. And I guess we're just trying to get clear in our minds how -- what you 136 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 do is that different in some aspects. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Mm-hmm.
Obviously, there are somet things that are definitely different, but in some aspects -- and, as Councilwoman Blackwell said, when you're trying to save money here, you know, how that's different from what an elective office already does? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. And I don't want to speak for the Controller.
Right. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: This is my understanding of what the different departments do.
Right. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: But my understanding is that the Inspector General's Office focuses on individual misconduct among City employees and those who do business with the City. The example that I give is when 137 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 we find somebody who has stolen money from a department, that's one individual person doing something wrong, and we try to figure out how that person was able to steal the money. My understanding is, the Controller's Office is bound by accounting standards and performance measures and is looking at how the department -- you know, do the books balance. And I think in a situation like that, the Controller's Office may say to a department, Your books don't balance, you don't have backup documentation for such-and-such an expenditure. We would come in and say, Well, the reason the books don't balance is because this person was stealing money, and this is how they were able to do it, because of a flaw in the system.
And, again, I'm not the City Controller, so I don't want to speak for him. But it seems like in those 138 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 individual cases, they do deal with and have dealt with it. I mean, we get those reports all the time where they give that information.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Green for a point of information.
Thank you. Miss Kurland, I would suggest that you take a look at the Charter itself with respect to duties of the Controller. It specifically authorizes forensic audits, the kinds of things that you're talking about in order to drill down. They have specific subpoena power in the City Charter, et cetera, with respect to that. And so, like, with respect to say, an administrative matter where you determine essentially that, you know, it's one person doing something wrong or it's a broader sort of just misuse of 139 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 funds in a department, what is your policy at which point you will stop using resources from the Inspector General's Office and turn that investigation over to, say, the Controller's Office to follow up on because you've concluded there's no sort of criminal misconduct or anything else? Like, do you have a policy of, Okay, let's stop using our resources on this one, turn it over to the Controller with a $40 million budget, and then move further down our list? It doesn't sound like there's a policy position at which point you'll go, All right, this is not criminal; this is clearly administrative. It involves, you know, a misuse of funds or maybe even a small misappropriation of funds, something, but we don't need to take it further. At this exact point, it's our policy to turn it over to the Controller so that they can do it, and then go in with that knowledge and maybe do a broader performance-based audit of 140 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 similar positions like that in the department or other departments. Do you -- I -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. As I said, we don't have a written policy, but the way it works is, when we discover that somebody has done something wrong, we'll write up a report and recommend that the person be terminated. That's all that we can do. When --
So what about when you don't want to -- you're not at the point where you'd write a report for somebody to get terminated. You've done a preliminary look. Why write the report? is my point. Why use your resources writing a report rather than, early on, you make a determination that it's not something that's a real big deal and you turn it over the Controller. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think the report is essential because it 141 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 outlines what the person did wrong, what rules and regulations were violated. And then when the person is terminated, should that person appeal --
You're focusing -- you've never conducted an investigation where a person isn't terminated? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: No. 11 We have conducted investigations where the claims were unfounded; we have done that. But my point, sir, is that in order for the person's termination to withstand scrutiny by the Civil Service Commission or an arbitration panel, there has to be a full and complete report.
And what you're saying is, the Controller's Office is unwilling or unable to work with you to provide their resources to be a part of this investigation -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well -- 142 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
-- the way that the D.A.'s Office does with you now? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: It had never happened in the past. Before I came into this job, people who were fired more often than not got their jobs back with back pay; that has not happened once since I started, and it's because we have full and complete reports.
Were those issues -- yeah, but you're starting with the premise that every investigation is going to result in a termination. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, we have to --
Which creates a lot of process and paperwork that doesn't necessarily need to exist in every single case. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: That's correct, but we start from the premise -- we get an allegation, we try to corroborate that allegation, and then it leads where it leads. Sometimes it's 143 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 a criminal case, sometimes it's administrative, and sometimes it's unfounded --
And -- and -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: -- but we don't know that when it walks in the door.
No, no. But when you conclude not a criminal case and it's administrative and it has to do with money, spending money, appropriating money, whatever, but it has to do with money, why not work with the Controller, even if you want to control the report, so that you can make sure if it leads to a termination, that it's done. Why not work with the Controller's Office and let their people help you in the process so that you don't have to use your resources? He's got a $40 million budget; you have a $1.3 million budget. Is there a way you could build 144 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 a process in place that would allow you to refer more to the Controller's Office or work with the Controller's Office in a different way than you are today? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: As I said, there may be ways that we could work with the Controller's Office, and I would welcome having a conversation with Mr. Butkovitz to do that.
Have you asked to sit down with Mr. Butkovitz to date to discuss exactly what division of responsibility is when you feel comfortable referring stuff to him, when he thinks that the appropriate time is? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I have attempted to do that, and I'll continue work on that.
You've attempted to sit down with the Controller? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yes. We --
But he's 145 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 refusing to meet with you? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: We have a disagreement about who is responsible for what, but it's something that we're in the process of trying to work out.
So as a consequence of that, you're spending resources in your department that he really could -- why not allow him to conduct the investigations he wants to -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: He --
-- based on a referral from you and not have to spend the money out of your department? INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I think that the investigation -- he can conduct whatever investigations he wants.
Not if he doesn't know about it. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Well, I don't think it's the role of the Inspector General to simply be a referral 146 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 agency --
Well, I'm not suggesting it is. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: -- for the same reason that we don't simply refer cases to the D.A. or the U.S. Attorney. We have gotten methods in place where we work together with those agencies, and I would --
Except for the Controller. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: And I -- as I said, you know, the way I see it, when they do a performance audit and find out that their books don't balance and there may be a problem in a department, they would refer that to us for investigation, and vice --
Their job is not just performance audit, once again I say. So please review the Charter and sit down with the Controller -- INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I -- 147 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
-- and let's get some efficiencies here. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Okay. I have, sir. I don't believe there's anything in the Charter that authorizes the Controller to conduct investigations. I think the Charter says that investigations should be conducted by an investigative arm of the Mayor's Office. I don't have it. I think it's 1. -- I don't have the Charter provision here; I can certainly get that.
Just look at the duties of the Controller. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Excuse me?
It's in the duties of the Controller section. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Yeah.
Councilman Greenlee, some time ago, I think you were asking a question. 148 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Councilman Green should have amended it and said "points of information," but --
Well, I won't belabor the point. I'm still not convinced -- I'll just leave a statement -- that there isn't a lot of overlap here, and I'm not pointing at one or the other, but it does seem like there's two agencies here doing some of the same things. And whether it's a lack of communication or cooperation, I don't know, but it does raise some concerns, I think, as we sit here looking at a budget. I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blackwell. 149 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Thank you, Madam President. I note again that in '08, five felony cases are listed; and in '09, 6 are. So you're talking some 500 percent 7 increase. And we note that you're also 8 requesting two more employees. 9 Can we ask, if you're not 10 specific, where are all these people? A 11 500 increase in a year? Where are they? 12 Do they generally work one place or 13 another and -- we're just curious. 14 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: I 15 missed the beginning of your question, 16 Councilwoman. Are you talking about the 17 number of terminations? 18
I'm 19 talking about, yes, the increase of some 20 500 percent. 21 INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: 22 Okay. And I think that the reason for 23 that is because of the way that we've 24 restructured the Inspector General's Office and the focus that we have on more 150 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 significant cases. The primary complaints that we get come from -- there's a chart in our annual report. Most of our -- the department with the highest number of complaints is the Human Services Department. We also receive many complaints from -- about L&I, the Health Department, Revenue, Streets, and the Water Department.
It's becoming obvious to me that since we have an Inspector General that's proven that they're doing a good job, that when there's a discrepancy, I think that the operating departments would prefer to go to the Inspector General, which is part of the Mayor's Office -- maybe that's not the right way to say that, but you know 151 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 what I'm getting at, that there's a more logical route in going to the City Controller to investigate something. So I think I understand the way it should work, and I think it's because of the fact that many of these investigations are generated by the departments themselves to you and feel more comfortable going to you than to another elected official. It makes -- I hope that -- that's my feeling. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Thank you.
You're welcome. Councilwoman Blackwell, are you finished?
Thank you. 152 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Anyone else want to be recognized? (No response.)
Seeing no one, thank you very much. We appreciate your patience. INSPECTOR GENERAL KURLAND: Thank you, Councilwoman.
Council will stand in recess until 2 o'clock. Thank you. (Lunch break taken.) (Proceedings resume at 2:15 p.m.)
Good afternoon. This is a continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 100117. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is the Mayor's Labor Relations 153 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Office. (Witness Joseph Tolan comes forward.)
Good afternoon. Kindly identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, President and members of City Council. My name is Joseph Tolan, and I am the Director of the Office of Labor Relations I'm here to present testimony in support of our Fiscal 2011 budget request.
The mission of the Office of Labor Relation is to coordinate labor-relations activities between the government and between the unions, which represent our workforce. We strive to create more effective partnership by assisting departments and by working with the unions through contract negotiation, dispute resolution, contract interpretation, and administration and 154 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 training. Among our collective bargaining -- among our performance measures, we include collective bargaining. As you are no doubt aware, all of our contracts expired on June 30th of 2009. We recently completed the interest arbitration process with the Fraternal Order of Police. We have hearing dates scheduled with the International Association of Firefighters through the end of April. We have had a number of discussions with both AFSCME District Council 33 and 47, and we continue to try to reach out to them to try to find a common ground. As I said, among our functions, we expect that the majority of our resources for the remainder of this fiscal year and at least half of the next fiscal year will be devoted to contract negotiation and interest arbitration proceedings. We're committed to ensuring 155 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that the City conducts collective bargaining with the municipal unions in good faith. Our activities, as I said, include training, where we train managers on a regular basis and new supervisors in the contracts and then relationships with the union at the shop steward level. We also assist departments by giving them advice and guidance when they are involved in different types of initiatives. One recent one was involved with the Health Department where District Council 47 has worked with the Health Department and with the Office of Labor Relations to provide a certain level of representations for employees hired under grant programs so that it can improve our opportunity to recruit qualified and to retain them after the grants have run their course. We are involved in dispute resolution. We serve as the grievance step for all civilian grievances that 156 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 have left departments before they would go to arbitration. We received 87 grievances in calendar 2009, we disposed of 59, because most of our resources that year were devoted to collective bargaining. The Office of Labor Relations is requesting $523,350 in the FY '11 Budget, which represents a decrease of $16,000 from our FY '10 estimated obligations. This decrease is accomplished by transferring funds from Classes 200 and 400 to the Division of Technology for BlackBerries, software, desktop support services, and computer equipment. Our FY '11 Operating Budget request breaks down as follows: $511,436 in Class 100 to support seven filled positions for the entire fiscal year; $3,314 in Class 200 for the purchase of services; and $8,500 in Classes 300 and 400 157 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 for materials, supplies, and equipment. The Mayor's Office of Labor relations is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent 6 minority-, women-, and disabled-owned 7 business participation in City 8 contracting. 9 The office's budget is too 10 small to allow us to enter into any 11 contracts ourselves; however, my staff 12 has assisted OEO management by providing 13 labor relations support for their 14 different efforts. 15 We would like to thank Council 16 for the opportunity to present our budget 17 request and are available to answer any 18 questions. Should any Councilmember wish 19 to engage in any further discussion on 20 any of these matters, my staff and I are 21 happy to meet with any Councilmembers at 22 their convenience. 23
Thank 24 you, Mr. Tolan. 25 On of your testimony, 158 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you mention the Grant-Funded Positions Pilot Program.
There was a dispute, which went back into the '90s, with District Council 47 about the Health Department using grant dollars to hire exempt employees -- or to hire contract employees instead of hiring civil service employees. The problem was that because of the limited term for these grants monies and the need to get up and running quickly, they really weren't suited to our transitional civil service hiring. We worked out a compromise with District Council 47 so that they'd have an opportunity to represent these employees to provide them benefits for 159 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 District Council 48's health and welfare plan, for example, and to provide limited representation to them if they needed union representation on the job. At the same time, there would be an opportunity that if they took a civil service exam and eventually became civil service, that they would receive some credit for the time that they worked in an exempt capacity. So it's designed to respect the union's ability to represent the work but to assist the department in being able to recruit and retain valued staff members.
Thank you. On average, how many grievances are filed?
It varies greatly, but we receive typically at least 100 in each year.
Yes. There's always sort of a rolling backlog as grievances come in, as we schedule them and hear them. I don't know the exact number today because what happens is, if the union is -- if any union is particularly interested in moving something forward out of a backlog, they always have an opportunity, one, to ask us to expedite the hearing of it; or, secondly, if it's a contract that permits filing for a grievance arbitration, they can file it for arbitration. So we have a backlog, but there are ways in which it is dealt with both with the unions in terms of scheduling and in terms of them being able to take it further along on the path.
I would really have 161 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 to go and check. I would assume we're probably somewhere around 50 grievances, 40 to 50 grievances, in our backlog.
What are the consequences of this backlog on the various City departments?
Well, if a grievance, for example, is taken to arbitration without having a grievance meeting to discuss it, there's a possibility that it won't be addressed, that the grievance won't be scheduled for hearing at arbitration till some point down the road. If the meter is running, if it's something where a liability continues to accrue, then certainly, you can begin to build up a little bit of obligation on that should you lose it at arbitration. But most of these grievances are areas where departments have taken an action, the unions challenge the action, they've discussed it at the department 162 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 level, they can't agree, work is going on, the dispute is in a way set off to the side. So it typically doesn't have an effect on the operations of a department, although it may ultimately have an economic impact if the union prevails and it's down the road.
We are led to believe that the First Judicial District will be assuming some of the functions of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions. What will happen to the civil service status of the employees?
There are a number of possible ways that could happen, and I have not been involved in the latest discussions to determine that. I mean, ultimately, at some far distant point in the future, all of the employees may be exempt employees of the court system, but I believe that there have been discussions about transitioning it in different ways. 163 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And so, I really couldn't respond to that. I think Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison would have to say what the latest status is on that.
The Chair at this time recognizes Councilman Jones.
Are you free to tell us where we are with the labor negotiations with the City unions?
Well, I think that we -- you know, one, we don't talk about the specifics of the negotiation process. But we've -- number one, we have completed with the FOP. Secondly, with the unions that have access to interest arbitration, we have scheduled 164 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 those dates. We have a good bit of work ahead of us. It's going to take several months to complete with the scheduling. For the unions that negotiate, we continue to have high-level discussions. We exchange information, and we are under the supervision of the mediator from the State Bureau of Mediation. More than that, I really couldn't say, because it's a difficult set of circumstances where we're trying to deal with both our immediate economic problems as well as trying to tackle long-range problems such as restructuring pension and health care.
We have had discussions; we have not had large-table meetings. But information is exchanged through the mediator; there are discussions back and forth.
Do you have 165 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 any anticipated time that we might -- and I say this not because this is some type of a reality TV show, but this is our reality of not being able to forecast a five-year budget that is accurately reflective of our labor costs. So as this goes on, there is a certain degree of uncertainty that we have because of it. So, I mean, if you could give us any hope that at some point this year, it will be resolved. Are you optimistic?
I think that the parties have the will to come to a resolution; I just think we have very, very difficult problems. And I -- it would be impossible to predict that somebody will actually say yes. I'm sure that we'll pick up the pace in terms of our discussion. But to predict the outcome of when it's going to happen, I couldn't do that.
As we start to look at some of the stimulus dollars 166 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 coming down the pike that will create jobs both full-time, hopefully, and at least temporarily, how will that be a part of any -- are you negotiating with the respective unions on how we might place them and if it would violate any collective bargaining agreements? There are so many possibilities, but we don't want to impede upon any existing contractual agreement. Is this a topic of discussion impact at this point?
It has not been. Until someone comes up with a plan that says, In this department, this is what we'd like to do, when that happens, then we'll sit down with the local officials in that department and try to work through any issues or problems that they may have with it. But until we have a plan, it's -- there's just nothing to really talk about. 167 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Well, one of things that we're finding out with stimulus money is that you don't have a lot of time for planning. And if you don't do things on simultaneous tracks all at the same time, converging at the same point, then you'll get something that forestalls the process. So my suggestion is that we might start to take a hard look at how we're going to utilize these funds by way of workforce and come up with at least some type of understanding, memorandum of agreement between the respective unions that will allow us to not impede upon their collective-bargaining agreement but also see it in their best interests that some of these people, just like the old SETA program that was produced in the last century eventually matriculated people into both 33 and into 47. Temporary workers wind up taking tests and wind up in their own union ranks. And if we set up a process like 168 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that, it will give them a greater comfort level that we're not trying to circumvent the collective bargaining agreement. So those kinds of things could be exchanged and ideas exchanged, and it will stop us present being derailed when we're trying to do a good thing.
Well, I certainly support the idea of full communication with the unions; it's just that someone has to tell us how they expect to spend the money, and we'd have something to talk to them about.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Is your department responsible for when arbitration, say, when a police officer gets suspended or terminated or 169 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 et cetera or any other -- is that what your office does?
We have involvement in the process, but the -- their collective-bargaining agreement, the grievance process, doesn't include the Office of Labor Relations. In a disciplinary matter, if the department imposes discipline, if it's challenged through the grievance procedure, it typically goes from the department to arbitration. We may support -- depending on the subject matter or the case, we may support the attorneys from the Law Department in presenting a case, but it would be a case-by-case basis.
Do you have any view on the recent comment in the paper by the arbitrator for -- or the lawyer for the police side and those kind of arbitrations that one of the main impediments to success for the City is the fact that we've had, like, 13 or 14 170 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 different lawyers during the period, where they've had the same team working on this?
Well, I don't -- I mean, I think that if you -- you know, one of the things we do is, we study the discipline patterns in the department as long as -- as part of the process of negotiation with the union and presenting information at the Act 111 panel. I think that if you take a look overall at the disciplinary program in the Police Department, I mean, I've looked at some of the statistics, and we did some of this in last year's interest arbitration proceeding, there were about -- an average of about 310, 320 discipline actions imposed by the department each year. In the end, if you follow that all the way through the process, only about 6 percent of those is ever overturned either in whole or in part by an arbitrator. 171 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So we think, number one, that it is a fairly strong process. We think that the department's discipline for the most part ultimately is unchallenged or stays in place. I think that when you start to look at the cases we lose, I don't know that it is often so much a question of the representation. I think that we have some natural problems that arise from the employment that we're talking about. I mean, we've looked at the cases, and we look at every case, but we look at every case that we lose as well, and we review the arbitration rulings, and we try to come to a conclusion about why it's happened. And, I mean, not surprisingly, in about half of the cases, the arbitrators decide that we haven't proved our case; and we haven't proved it because witnesses don't come forward; they recant; things change. So I don't think it's just a 172 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 question of representation; I think that there's some natural problems in that kind of work that, ultimately, if you have to discipline someone for misconduct on the job or serious misconduct, you're going to have some problems with producing evidence and witnesses when you need them.
Okay. Last year, you testified at OLR's FY '10 budget of 485 that the request was close to 60K lower than FY '09 due to eliminating midyear one of our seven filled positions. OLR's requested FY '11 budget indicates that you've been back at seven filled positions since at least November?
That's correct. We never did reduce during the midyear transfer ordinance. Those monies were restored to our budget.
Yeah. So last month, you actually requested a transfer of an additional $53,000 in 173 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Class 100 to restore the eliminated position.
Yes. That potion never went vacant; it has been filled for the entire time by one of my deputy directors, Delia Gorman.
So you requested less money, you did not eliminate the position. And then you came back to City Council, after having spent more than appropriated, and had us restore your funds.
Yes. We had anticipated, when we prepared last year's budget, that we would be in a position that we would have concluded most of the collective-bargaining obligations that we had, and that by restructuring and moving some of our responsibilities around, we'd be able to handle the work that comes in. 174 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 We found out, one, that we did not complete the collective bargaining; and that, secondly, that in this kind of environment, where there's so much change taking place, there is a very high demand for our help and that we really weren't in a position to eliminate one of our jobs.
Fair enough. The failure to reach agreement on union contracts has many ripple effects throughout government. As for the past two years, your testimony indicates a majority of resources in the current fiscal year and the first half of the next one will be devoted to contract negotiation arbitrations. To get a sense of the total cost of labor negotiations during class year's budget hearing, I asked for a list of outside contractors involved in labor negotiations, including contractor name, scope of work, term of contract, when it 175 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 was last renewed, and contract cost. The response I received included contractor names in FY '09 cost but not information about the scope of work, term of contract, and most recent contract renewal. Could you please provide that information updated to include work for FY '10?
Thank you. During OLR's budget hearing last year, I asked for the number of employees OLR trained in FY '09 and its goal for number of employees to be trained in FY '10. I don't think I received a response to that question. Do you have --
I'd like to know the actual number for FY '10 and the goal and then the same information for 176 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 FY '11.
Thank you. Do you know how many employees you trained in FY '09?
If you could provide that, also. OLR's testimony last year reported that DC 33 and 47 submitted 103 grievances in FY '08, and the office disposed of 65. The testimony noted this was fewer than average because OLR staff members who dispose of grievances also serve on the City's negotiating contract. I think we got into this a little bit. In last year's testimony, the office stated the goal was to dispose of 75 grievances per year in FY '09 and '10. This year's testimony indicates the union submitted 87 grievances and you disposed of 59. The stated grievance 177 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 disposition goals for FY '10 and '11 are 60. What's the current backlog, and why does the goal number keep moving?
Well, one is that, again, with the whole interest arbitration process, we've found that, for example, in this coming month of April, I think there is something like 11 possible work days. I think we have 17 12 of them locked up for interest 13 arbitration hearings between the 14 Firefighters and Court Local 810. 15 What happens is, when we're in 16 those proceedings, people just aren't 17 freed up to be able to go and conduct 18 grievance meetings. And a lot of that -- 19 it's just been a very unusual contract 20 cycle in terms of the demand for these 21 kinds of hearings dates. We've had extensive testimony from experts and panels on issues like pension and health care and these different things that just absorb a lot 178 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of our time and energy. So our goals change because we didn't anticipate having to be that locked into the process. At the same time, we're always sort of at the mercy of what have the unions decide to file, and it does change from year-to-year. And, typically, when there's some intense negotiations going on, we also see that the unions file 12 fewer. So that's why both parameters change.
I would have to go check, but I would think that we are somewhere in the neighborhoods of 60. That's around where we usually hover, is about 60.
Okay. Are there any consequences under the collective-bargaining agreements for taking longer than a certain period of time to resolve a grievance? 179 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
The only consequence under the contract is that once the time period at a step has lapsed, if there is no answer to the union, then it's presumed that management has said no. The union then has the option to move it to the next step, which could be grievance arbitration.
So the failure -- the inability to respond timely may increase the number of grievance arbitrations that you have to prepare for.
Could you let us know how many have sort of passed their time limit over the pass couple of years?
Thank 180 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: Our next witness is the Mayor's Office of Community Services. (MOCS witnesses Mary Mariner and Otis Bullock come forward.)
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and members of City Council. I am Mary Mariner, Acting Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Community Services, or MOCS. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 a brief description of the work that this agency does and present the proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2011-2012. The Mayor's Office of Community Services requests a Fiscal Year 2011 appropriation of $9,921,185, all from Grants Revenue Fund. The Mayor's Office of Community Services is a community action agency for the City and County of Philadelphia. We are one hundred percent grant-funded; none of our dollars comes from the General Fund. Our major grant is the Community Service Block Grant, which requires for us to provide services to individuals and families that live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level; an applicant's income may not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. In 2009, MOCS provided services to 38,469 unduplicated clients. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 provide these services and oversee subcontracts, MOCS has a staff of 72, 4 of which are bilingual. 5 The following are the programs 6 and services that MOCS provides directly 7 or supports with grants. I'm just going 8 to read the programs and not in the 9 description, if that's okay. 10 Community Engagement Unit. And that union provides -- is deployed to targeted high-crime, low-income neighborhoods to facilitate and support a wide range of activities related to mayoral initiatives, which are designed to reduce devastation that has plagued those neighborhoods in recent times. Fatherhood Employment Program. A project within MOCS, the Fatherhood Program will work with low-income, non-custodial fathers in order to, one, support their work participation; two, increase their compliance with child support payments; and, three, encourage positive involvement with their children. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Foster Grant Parent Program, a grant-funded program administered by MOCS, charged with meeting critical community needs, the FGP is strengthening communities by utilizing an untapped resource of older adults, mobilizing them to serve in local schools and community- based organizations. Over 130 Foster Grant parents volunteer, representing the diversity of Philadelphia neighborhoods. Workwise, a grant-funded program administered by MOCS, provides some job-readiness classes and job placement for TANF recipients of the Ridge District. Workwise implements two efforts to work with TANF clients, the Supported Work Program and the Work-Ready Program. The Work-Ready Program targets TANF recipients in danger of losing their benefits. Each recipient is contacted first by telephone and then by a home visit. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 support services as they reset their TANF benefits. Subcontracted programs and services. MOCS subcontracts with GPUAC, or Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition for the North Philadelphia Human Services Development Corporation, who provide limited case-management linkages and emergency services to residents of North Philadelphia. The Office of Supportive Housing. Through this partnership, MOCS supports the services offered at three shelters. The Department of Health Lead Abatement Program. Department of Recreation. MOCS provides support for six senior seniors located throughout Philadelphia. ARRA subcontracted services with Philadelphia Housing Authority through their pre-apprenticeship program. Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 growing neighborhood jobs, we provide contextualized literacy. Philadelphia Prison System. Through the Mayor's Office of Reintegration Services for ex-offenders, MOCS supports the case management and reintegration of 260 ex-offenders. The Free Library Foundation of Philadelphia. Through the Mayor's Commission On literacy, we will be providing education skills to adults.
Community Legal Services will provide legal assistance to low-income residents of Philadelphia in civil matters related to their family, home, employment, and income. And the Office of Supportive Housing. Through a network of providers, the Office of Supportive Housing will provide housing assistance, case management, adult education, vocational skills training, and job placement to low-income and homeless family. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 variety of special programs, which included: A back-to-school campaign that distributed more than 6500 backpacks to low-income children; a holiday party for more than 150 low-income families, with over 400 children; a coat distribution for more than 800 children and young adults; a turkey drive for 100 low-income families; and 100 families received gift certificates for Butterball Turkeys, and well over 600 individuals enjoyed nutritious Thanksgiving dinners. In September of 2009, MOCS hosted the 45th Annual Community Partnership Conference. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 convenience. Thank you.
Thank you very much. You state that your office does not receive any funding from the General Fund, correct?
Can you tell us what fringe benefits your employees receive, and where are they charged?
Thank you. (Comptroller Gary DeShields comes forward.) MR. DeSHIELDS: Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. MR. DeSHIELDS: Gary DeShields, Comptroller. Roughly, The Mayor's Office of 188 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Community Services receives about 35 percent of the fringe costs for the agency. The other 65 percent is being asked to contribute from the City of Philadelphia.
So you are getting General Fund money. MR. DeSHIELDS: Through the fringe benefits, yes.
What does that amount to? MR. DeSHIELDS: Excuse me?
How much does that amount to? MR. DeSHIELDS: Roughly about 830,000.
Can you explain why the fringes for MOCS employees are approximately 18 percent of the payroll, which is significantly higher than other City agencies? 189 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 MR. DeSHIELDS: So what you are you saying? Could you rephrase that again, please? You said percent. 5
I 6 think you already may have answered that 7 question with the percentage that you 8 said that is being paid for the fringes. 9 MR. DeSHIELDS: 35 percent. 10
From 11 the General Fund. 12 MR. DeSHIELDS: 35 percent from 13 the grants, 65 percent -- 14
65 15 percent is the City. 16 MR. McPHERSON: Yes. 17
On 18 of your testimony, you state that through a memorandum of understanding, you support lead-abatement services for at-risk families. Can you tell us what services you provide?
Case management. We fund the Health Department; they provide the services through an MOU with 190 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the Department of Public Health. And they provide case management, lead removal, and lead abatement.
What do these services cost MOCS, and can they be expanded?
Can you tell us the amount of funding that your office provides to the Community Legal Services?
Is the Fatherhood Employment Program a new program?
No, it is not. 191 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 The Fatherhood Initiative is a program that we've had for a number of years. It's being retooled, so to speak, where it -- we've never had an employment component in that, and we're looking to add an employment component and subcontract the employment services out. So we're going to issue an RFP for the employment services.
Very well. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
I believe you received a copy of my questions on Friday.
So I was hoping that there would be some possibility of getting them answered. So, basically, my questions are pretty much exactly the same as they were last year. They were -- and I'll -- your testimony notes that MOCS Community Engagement Unit helps citizens prepare federal and state tax returns and apply for LIHEAP and Crisis Utility Grants and helps senior citizens apply for programs such as PACE, property taxes, rebates, and water discounts. How many clients did the CEU assist last year in applying for these programs by program?
Okay. What 193 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 is the dollar value of the benefits secured with the help of the CEU?
So explain your process for when, like, you're helping people, how are we supposed to measure the effectiveness of these allocated dollars to your office versus deciding to just give most of this grant money that's not required by federal law to be within City government to agencies that already do all of the things that you are duplicating?
I mean, for 194 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 example, the community organizations that do this sort of work, there are many of them that help people with LIHEAP, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And if they were sitting here today and I said, How many people did you serve and what's the dollar value of benefits? they would know the answer to that question. And this is the same exact line of questioning I had last year. In other words, how do we judge whether, through MOCS, this is an appropriate use of these grant dollars versus giving them to people who -- giving these resources to other community groups that do this very well and efficiently? How am I supposed to determine whether or not this is a good use of dollars? Why should you get it versus, you know, pick one of ten community groups that does LIHEAP assistance. 195 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Well, I think we do a good job, but I don't think that we have --
I don't have a data-tracking system, as we've said, and we are the process of purchasing one. And I think that once we have the data- tracking system in place, we'll be able to track that data and determine what we are doing well and what we are not doing so well.
We have a report, a required report, it's called the Facts Report, that we're required by our funder to complete. We count all of -- we have everybody who gets CSBG dollars, or Community Service Block Grant dollars, report in to us, and we compile all of that data manually. 196 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
And you don't do it by program, LIHEAP assistance or --
That's what our funder requires, that's the information they require. That's the information that our funder requires, and that's the way that we've done it.
Is the CEU the central point of contact within City government for citizens seeking benefits?
If a citizen called 3-1-1, asking for help obtaining benefits, would he be referred to the 197 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 CEU?
What is the relationship between the CEU and local nonprofits and other government offices such as Community Legal Services, the Social Security Administration, the County Assistance Office, in terms of linking citizens to benefits?
We have a working relationship with the County Assistance Office. We are funded in part by the Bureau of Employment and Training, through the Department of Public Welfare through one of their programs, so we work very well and very closely with them. We work well and have a partnership with many community-based organizations. We have a -- actually have a list of the community-based organizations we work with. If you'd like, we can send you that.
Well, I'd 198 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 like to know what work you do with them, what services you provide, and how much it costs, how many people they each serve, you know, information that would take you, it sounds like, sixth months to prepare because you have to literally go through every case by hand in order to tell us that.
So I may be misremembering this, and I apologize if I am, but I recall a big press announcement over a year ago, and I don't remember whether it was through MOCS or not, where the Administration said they were going to be on a great push to bring everybody who comes into the system and make sure they get all federal and all state benefits available to them so that we can increase the amount of federal and state dollars that come to our citizens who are seeking benefits. When someone comes in for one thing, we were going to check and see 199 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 what other benefits that they would be eligible for based on the criteria we get from assisting them, say, with just LIHEAP. And that would --
Okay. So when someone comes into MOCS and, say, they want LIHEAP assistance --
-- okay? And you see, based on -- is there a system that kicks out eligibility criteria that tells you what else they're eligible for when they come in?
There is a system we use Compass, the Compass system. I'm going to let Otis Bullock talk about that. 200 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I'm Otis Bullock, Deputy Executive Director of MOCS. And basically what the -- are you familiar with the Compass system? It's a almost like BenePhilly, where you enter a client's data, and all the benefits that will be available and they're eligible for will come up so we make sure that we're maximizing the amount of benefits that --
Okay. Well, how many people did you put into the Compass system last year?
I could not give you that number right now, but we can get 201 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 back to you with that information.
See, I wouldn't want to give you a hard number because I don't know; I can get back to you. But it's probably a lot at less than 38,000.
So I don't under -- when you say you serve 38,000 people and your job is to get them all the benefits possible, explain to me why every person that doesn't, you know, come through your doors gets into that system and then we determine what other benefits are available to them.
Well, to give you an example of a client that would not get 202 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 into that system is, we have a food bank, a food cupboard down at Our sixth and Lehigh office, where we partner with Philabundance. And, typically, they just come for the food and we typically don't put them through the system.
And you don't have the resources within your budget to have somebody at places like that to take down information and see what benefits that they might be eligible for?
Well, up until this point, we've only had eight organizers in community engagement, so we do as much as we can with what we --
So I'm very confused about the relationship between BenePhilly and Compass. Now, you mentioned that they're separate. If we had Compass, what was BenePhilly, and why are we reinventing -- it sounds like a reinvention of Compass.
I really can't 203 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 answer what BenePhilly was; we weren't involved with BenePhilly; I just heard about it. Compass is the tool that we use.
And does it do what you describe, it identifies all state and federal benefits?
And does it automatically apply for it for them, or 204 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 do you fill out separate forms? Does it create the forms?
We do have to fill out separate forms for it; it's not a automatic thing. It just informs you of what they're eligible for. (MOCS Witness Marc Spearman comes forward.)
Marc Spearman, Program Director, Mayor's Office of Community Services. The Compass system, if you were filling out a state entitlement, it will automatically populate. If it's not a state entitlement, you will have to actuality fill out the application for the entitlement and submit it to the proper agency.
Okay. So is it fair to say that we have a BenePhilly 205 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 in MOCS in the form of Compass?
BenePhilly, as I understood it, is -- actually, when we started to work with BenePhilly, we were in on the planning phase of it. And the BenePhilly system -- or I don't want to call it a program, but the BenePhilly effort was set out to look at PACE and food stamps and generally target people who were already in the system and weren't taking advantage of another entitlement that they may have eligible for. When we use Compass, it's more so, as you were saying earlier, a family will come in, and they will come in for a particular service, and we will notice that they may be eligible for it. So at the time, there were several times of systems that did this one-stop benefits bank, but those had limitations on how we could get information back. So Compass, in general, gave us 206 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the broadest range of identifying these entitlements and allowed us to sign people up instantly for those.
Is it possible for us to identify people who are on food stamps in the City and run them through Compass and inform then them of what benefits are available to them?
I believe it's a possibility, but talks would have to happen between the agency and the state to release that information.
How many people that actually participate in Compass get more benefits than they came in for? Do you have any --
A lot of times what we find, especially if they're already TANF recipients, a lot of the entitlements have already, you know, been offered to them. 207 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Okay. Thank you very much for that clarification. Miss Mariner's testimony indicates that the CEU also provides residents with the necessary referrals to emergency services and/or linkages to meet their needs. When the CEU staff are in contact with a citizen, what do they assess the person's full scope of needs and eligibility -- how do you make the assessment of what the person's needs and full scope of benefits are necessary for services?
-- you generate every single year? 208 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
And how many people are involved in doing the intake on paper?
Right now -- last year, we only had CEU staff and we have 8 program staff in all of our -- we have a total of 72 staff. So out of the 72, probably 60 do intake on paper.
Wow. Okay. So -- and then, when the person comes back in, you've done the intake on paper. Then after the paper intake, somebody does data entry of that information?
Oh, okay. So when the citizen comes back in, say, two years later, how do you know what services you already provided and et cetera?
We have to do a new intake because we are required by our 209 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 funder to document income for the 30 days prior to the date of service and have a current intake form on the person.
So at that time, we do an interview with the person and talk to them about the services, what they have --
And you write down -- and if you had their old file in an electronic format, of course, you could pull that up and just put in what's changed, maybe?
Quite a bit, actually. That's why we have a contract right now and are going through (indiscernible) for a data system, a data-collection system.
And are you buying it commercial, off-the-shelf system, or are you using our Oracle database, or are you having someone program a new system?
The system is a system that's, again, going through CTO. It's bassed on SQL server technology. It's a Windows-based system. It's proprietary to the Progress Resources, Incorporated, which works with the -- our funder, uh... 211 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I'm sorry. Worked with the Department of Community and Economic Development to not only take -- do the intake but case management and also reporting of our data. We actually vetted it through several companies, and we've looked at it for over a year, trying to find the best solution. We worked with DOT, who actually came in and showed us some other types of solutions. But because of the complexity of the reporting back to the fax system, we found out that this one would probably give us the best outcomes for the least amount of dollars.
Thank you. So in the future, you'll be able to track the success of referrals through this system also?
Okay. And 212 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 do you know how many of the types of referrals we're talking about, emergency services and/or linkages to meet their need?
How many referrals did the CEU make last year in that category?
We'd have to get back to on that same exact number; I don't have it.
Okay. And is that something you'd have to do by hand right now?
Okay, great. A lot of my questions are about systems, so I have to go through here. Last year, you testified that you were performing a needs assessment in conjunction with Temple University to 213 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 help MOCS develop programs and services to fill identified gaps. We asked for a copy of that assessment last year and were told that it was not yet complete but that it would be provided to Council when it was complete. What is the status of the project?
The project is complete. Temple is reporting out to us, but the needs assessment is in draft form, and they've asked us not to give it out to anyone yet. We have another report out to us and all of our staff coming up in early April. Once that's completed, then we will have the final needs assessment, and we certainly will make copies available to Council.
The primary finding of the needs assessment? The number-one issues of the 214 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 residents who filled out both the needs assessment questionnaire and attended the forums, their number-one responses were crime, employment. Off the top of my head, I don't want to say them in order and get them out of order.
If you'd like that information, I can give it to you now if you'd like that information.
Thank you. During last year's budget hearing, MOCS identified that it had completed a study of best practices by community action agencies across the country and identified several program areas of interest. When asked for a copy of the study, MOCS testified that it was an anecdotal study but that it would put the conclusion in writing and forward them to Council. 215 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 We have not received those conclusions; are they available?
Are you aware of this anecdotal study that was testified to last year?
I was here at the testimony last year, but I wasn't the Executive Director or Acting Executive Director.
Was there, in fact, a best practices by community action agencies anecdotal study that you were aware of?
Thank you. Most of my questions about that study I can -- you saved yourself a bunch 216 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of questions with that answer. (Laughter.) The truth shall set you free. What of MOCS's work is proactive rather than reactive to citizens' requests?
It's the same exact question you asked last year; yes, it is. And --
It's the same exact answer. We tried to do some proactive work as far as community outreach and notifying the community of things that are important to them like the census; we're very involved in the census. We try to get information as much as we possibly can out into the 217 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 low-income communities. So in that sense, I think we're proactive. I believe right now, that's probably the only way we're proactive.
Well, I want to make a suggestion to you that you can report on the success of this when you come back next year, or failure of this idea.
Once you have this new system implemented, get the data about who has what benefits from the state level to the extent you can legally get it, and then let's identify -- put them in the system, and then let's identify all of the benefits that our citizens are not currently getting that they are entitled to.
You can be proactive and do that with the systems you're putting in place. If you have electronic systems, you can receive 218 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 electronic records from the State, put them in Compass, put them in this new intake system, and have a record of everybody getting benefits in the City to the extent, you know, we legally can.
But to whatever that extent is, let's use these grant dollars to do that.
Okay. Please explain what role you play in the Community Services Block Grant services funded by ARRA that you subcontract out.
What role we play? We wrote the work plan that was required for CSBG, because they're CSBG funds, and we oversee the funds and the contracts. We issued RFPs where necessary and identified -- worked with some other folks in this administration to identify the areas that we would fund with CSBG dollars, R dollars, that also met the 219 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 State's requirements.
There are two new positions in the Administration: the Director Of Anti-Poverty Initiatives in the Mayor's Office.
And the to-be-filled grant-funded Chief Service Officer position, both of which seem really closely tied to what MOCS is supposed to be doing --
-- with your grant dollars. What role is the Director of Anti-Poverty Initiatives taking in steering the work of MOCS?
I work very closely with that person in the Administration, and it's a new working relationship that we have, and we're working very closely.
I mean, in terms of the dollars available to deal with that, that the Administration has 220 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 control of, aren't they in MOCS?
Not that budgeted position but in terms of the way to deal with poverty --
No, they're not all in MOCS because the Health Department deals with people in poverty.
Sure, sure. But, I mean, in terms of BenePhilly-type things, Compass we just talked about, has that been a part of the conversation with the Director of --
No, not really. No, not now. We were very honestly working to get the CSBGR dollars work plan in and get those dollars and get those contracts out.
Did that change significantly from last year? 221 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
The -- we didn't get our contract from the State until January for the CSBGR dollars, yeah, so it was difficult.
But I mean, in terms of the people who get that money, did --
We know -- the people who got the R dollars are people that, for the most part, except for OSH, are people that we typically don't give CSBG dollars to. For example, we generally do not fund Community Legal Services for their services. PHA is new for us to fund.
And did that come from the Director of Anti-Poverty Initiatives or --
No, it didn't come from her. We worked together as a 222 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 team and identified what the State wanted us to do with these dollars and what the best source for these dollars would be and how to outsource these.
What do you foresee -- what relationship do you foresee with the new Chief Service Officer.
Will the existence of these new positions in the Administration free up resources in MOCS for planning and policy?
Well, they free up resources so that people who are in policy and planning positions can actually deliver services because now policy and planning is at a different level? 223 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Okay. So I guess you'll talk about that next year. And then I guess, finally, it occurs to me that with 60 people involved heavily in paper processes, we would expect to see, going paperless, at least a 30 percent efficiency.
That we're talking -- let's call it a percent 14 efficiency. We're talking 12, 18 15 positions that will essentially -- 16 full-time equivalent positions that will 17 be freed up as a result of not having 18 that paperwork. 19 So what I'd like to know is, do 20 you intend to take those efficiencies and put those dollars to work through community organizations, or do you intend to increase the productivity of your office and serve many more people?
Well, I'd like a plan for that in connection with the technology investments that you're going to do so that there's a clear stated goal about how we're going to increase the efficiency, the productivity of your operation because of this freed up time, or eliminate those positions and put the dollars to work directly in the community, without salaries being paid. Is that a fair --
You're welcome. Are there any other questions from the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank 225 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you. MR. McPHERSON: We'll next hear from the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. (OHCD Witness Debra McCullough comes forward.)
Good afternoon. Please identify yourself for the record. MS. McCULLOUGH: My name is Debra McCullough, and I'm the Director of Housing. Does everyone have copies of my testimony?
Yes. MS. McCULLOUGH: Okay. Good afternoon President Verna and members of City Council. I am Debra McCullough and I'm the Director of Housing. I am here today to present testimony on the Office of Housing and Community Development's (OHCD) proposed Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2011. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 under the Community Development Fund, Grants Revenue Fund, Housing Trust Fund, and General Fund will also be presented in the spring to the Finance Committee on its hearing on the Consolidated Plan ordinance. That hearing will authorize the submission to HUD of the Consolidated Plan, which includes the budget for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and other housing programs for Fiscal Year 2011, CDBG Year 36. Ideally, the Consolidated Plan hearing should occur prior to the consideration of the Operating Budget by City Council. However, as in the past 17 years, the hearings are reversed. Should the results of the Consolidated Plan hearing require adjustments to OHCD's Operating Budget, as adopted by Council, there will still be time subsequent to the adoption of the Consolidated Plan to amend the Operating Budget. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of the Consolidated Plan hearing. Due to the nature of its funding, OHCD is required to plan its annual budget to comply with the federal objectives as outlined in the annual Consolidated Plan. HUD's mandated goals are the creation of suitable living environments; the provision of decent, affordable housing; and the creation of economic opportunities. In Fiscal Year 2011, OHCD will continue its multi-year effort to maximize efficiencies through the consolidation of backroom support functions as well as the reduced staff through attrition. 9 million in total development costs. 5 million. These housing developments included: -- 181 homeownership units; -- 411 rental units, and; -- 132 special-needs units. An additional 513 affordable housing units were under construction on December 31st, 2009. OHCD saved 1,681 homes in 2009 from foreclosure through the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion program. OHCD awarded $14 million in Community Block Grant funds through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, known as ARRA. These funds will support commercial development, affordable housing development, the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion program, the Basic Systems Repair program, the Utility Emergency Services Fund, and the Creative Industry Workforce Grants. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 construction. 9 million in competitive -- was awarded -- excuse me. 9 million in competitive Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funds from HUD, part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. These funds will be used to return foreclosed-upon residential properties to private ownership and to support residential development. The Office of Housing and Community Development is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent minority-, women-, and 17 disabled-owned businesses participating 18 in City contracting. OHCD's 19 participation goal for Fiscal '11 is 32 20 percent. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 budget from all sources, awarded a total of $149 million in contracts to non- government vendors, of which approximately 27 percent went to minority-owned firms, 6 percent to female-owned firms, exceeding the City's goal. 8 million in Fiscal Year 2011. 4 million will be contracted to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, a nonprofit, for its vacant land management program; -- $50,000 will be contracted to Philadelphia VIP, a nonprofit, to support the Tangled Title program; -- The remaining $350,000 supports Settlement Assistance Grants to first-time homebuyers, which are administered directly by OHCD. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Year 2011, there are no contracting opportunities. Reductions in federal funding in recent years have had an impact on community-development programs in Philadelphia.
Federal funding has decreased by percent over the past 9 eight years. 10 At this time, we have not been 11 informed of our Year 36 award amount. 12 However, additional funds from the 13 Neighborhood Stabilization Program are 14 anticipated in Fiscal Year 2011 and 15 account for a planned increase in funding 16 for Class 200 activities. 8 million in the General Fund. This Operating Budget represents the cost for all housing programs as well as salaries for all OHCD, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, and the Redevelopment Authority staffs, rents, materials, and supplies. Then the testimony has the breakdown. There's a net increase of 135,729 in employee compensation projected in FY '11, despite the fact that budgeted positions at OHCD were reduced from 79 in Fiscal Year '11 to 77 in Fiscal '11. The increase is primarily due to the lower level of salaries recorded from furlough leave in FY '10 as well as annual increments due employees in FY '11. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the neighborhood stabilization programs. The decrease in Budget Class 300 is primarily due to an expected savings in printing costs. The increase in Budget Class 400 is due to a projected upgrade to office and computer equipment supporting all three housing agencies. OHCD will return to City Council this spring to present the complete Fiscal Year 2011 proposed budget as part of the Consolidated Plan hearing. I will be happy to answer any questions that you or other members of City Council may have, and I'll see you again in the spring.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. 234 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 MS. McCULLOUGH: Good afternoon.
It's -- as you know, since I've been in this seat and you've been testifying, it's been very tough budgetary times for the City of Philadelphia, and there's been a number of efforts throughout government to try to create efficiencies and eliminate duplication and the -- I'm blanking on the agency -- was just divided between -- PCDC was just essentially functions and duties and positions divided between the PIDC and the Commerce Department, which eliminated an entire agency and presumably saved us resources. And we are told at least the same functions and services are going to be available. Given the number of organizations within government and outside government that are involved in housing and community development, can 235 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you make any recommendations with respect to -- or how can we create more efficiencies within the housing and community development community? For example -- you can answer this specifically and then answer the question more broadly. Could you eliminate supervisory and duplicative executive-type positions by rolling PHDC into your agency? MS. McCULLOUGH: Let me say generally we have tried to, and continue to try to, create efficiencies particularly between the three major agencies: OHCD, the Redevelopment Authority, and PHDC. As I mentioned, we have one IT, information technology, unit, which is housed at OHCD that provides services for OHCD, the Redevelopment Authority, and PHDC. We have -- the office services functions are -- again, are housed at OHCD to provide those services for all 236 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 three services as a way to try to streamline the services that we can. The PHDC and the Redevelopment Authority are both, in fact, separate entities; as you know, they're not the City. So there are certain functions that they can carry out, which is why we have three different agencies, because they can perform different activities. Could they all be, uh, whatever you said molded into one? I'm sure what word you just used. We've been through housing reorganizations in the past, we've studied it many times over the many years that I've been here. At the moment we're in right now, we have the three agencies.
Right. The question is: Could consolidating those agencies save us money? MS. McCULLOUGH: I don't exactly know how to answer that because each agency -- as I say, each agency has its own function -- 237 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
Sure. MS. McCULLOUGH: -- some of which can't be consolidated at the City.
Well, I mean, there was an entire report done by the Street Administration; I think TRF and Jeremy Nowak worked on it. MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes.
The original called for I can't remember who, the one housing -- maybe it was the RDA, maybe it was you, I don't remember -- to be in charge. Then the politics got involved and it switched to another agency. But basically, they were consolidating the three agencies and maintaining, for purposes of keeping its powers, an agency with sort of no 20 employees, much as PAID is today. Obviously, PIDC does the work, but PAID exists to do the financing and et cetera. MS. McCULLOUGH: Right.
So obviously, it's possible to do that. 238 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 So if you could take away the problem of needing the authority of the agencies, which, obviously, is easy to do, by leading the agency with no 6 employees in place or, you know, with an employee duly assigned in place, would we save money and have more money available for actual housing and community development or more money for the General Fund if we consolidated these agencies? MS. McCULLOUGH: I think it would depend on how you structured each of those agencies.
Of course it would -- (Indiscernible; parties talking over each other.) MS. McCULLOUGH: I mean, I don't know what each -- what the activity that each one would have to do.
Well, we wouldn't have three executive directors, for example; we'd have one. We wouldn't have three budgets to prepare within City 239 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 government; we'd have one. Those sorts of activities certainly would save us money and time. And then, within the agencies themselves, I think you would agree that there is still some duplication. MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes, I think -- because they're three separate agencies, there have to be three fiscal departments.
So we would eliminate that duplication as well. So can you explain to me why, as we're raising taxes $180 million a year and all this other stuff, we haven't taken the opportunity of this crisis to really tackle what has been an issue we've know about and, as you say, there've been reports about for twenty years, consolidating these housing agencies, why we haven't taken this 240 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 opportunity to do the hard work, to upset the stakeholders and to get this dons with once and for all and make government more efficient? Has that been part of the discussion? MS. McCULLOUGH: There hasn't been a discussion of consolidating the three housing agencies in the last two years.
And is -- I guess it's not fair to ask you why, but it is your testimony that we could create efficiencies through a consolidation? MS. McCULLOUGH: As long as each of the activities that were being carried out by those agencies could still be carried out.
Sure, yes, okay. You don't have a guess as to how much we could save; would it be $5 million, 7? MS. McCULLOUGH: I don't know. 241 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
You don't know. Do you think maybe we ought to figure that out? MS. McCULLOUGH: If the goal was to --
The goal is to provide the same services more efficiently or to provide more services with the same amount of resources, and that's a policy discussion we can have. MS. McCULLOUGH: Right. And as I testified, we are trying to achieve those efficiencies now at OHCD through some of the consolidations that we've done.
I'm not being at all critical of you. You're in charge of OHCD; you know, you do a good job. I'm just wondering why this general discussion isn't a part of the budget question. (Budget Director Stephen Agostini comes forward.)
Councilmember, I 242 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 believe, as Miss McCullough pointed out, I think almost all but 2.8 million of the $241 million that is going into OHCD is not General Fund. Similarly, the General Fund support for the Redevelopment Agency and some of the other agencies you mentioned is, I believe, close to zero, if not zero. And so, to your point, when we were making our deliberations and considerations about ways to save dollars in the General Fund, given that there were not General Fund dollars to be saved in -- at all, our attention focused elsewhere. Nevertheless, some of the questions you raised about consolidation make some sense just from the sense of overall savings and efficiencies. But that was really the reason: There was just minimal, if any, General Fund impact of doing something like that.
Thank you. 243 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 I appreciate that. So we could save potentially $2.8 million plus the fringe on that $2.8 million?
The 2.8 million -- and Debra will correct me -- I believe is all -- MS. McCULLOUGH: It's all contracted out. The 2.8 million of General Fund goes to --
Okay. MS. McCULLOUGH: 2.4 goes to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to carry out our vacant land management program. 350,000 supports our Settlement Assistance Program. And 50,000 goes to Philadelphia VIP for what we call the Tangled Title Program, which is a program to assist people who do not have clear title to their properties to secure that title.
Okay. So essentially, consolidating these agencies 244 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 will bring us more dollars to put to work in housing and community development but not necessarily save us money in the General Fund.
It would seem to make sense. I mean, I think the duplication that you've mentioned is certainly something that bears some analysis and some review.
Thank you. Bear with me one second. I got ahead of myself. OHCD's budget detail indicates several General Fund-paid positions, including a word-processing specialist. (Councilman Greenlee confers off the record with staff member.) Oh, I'm told that's 245 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 grants-funded. I'm sorry. Of the programs that were just mentioned and the money that's coming out of the General Fund, would it be possible -- is there any grant funding within the entire Housing and Community Development grant funding that could be used to offset those General Fund dollars? In other words, tree-planting in commercial districts as part of some grant funding or -- MS. McCULLOUGH: In the case of two of the programs, the Settlement Assistance Program and the Tangled Title Program, we are funding those programs with the General Fund because the restrictions around Community Development Block Grant Funds and some of the federal requirements make it nearly impossible to carry out those programs using federal funds. So that's why, in the case of those two in particular, we chose to charge those to the General Fund. In the case of the Vacant Land 246 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Management Program, the 2.4 million for PHS, that is an eligible activity under -- not all of it is. A portion of it is an eligible activity under the Community Development Block Grant regulations, and some part of that program could be carried out with Community Development Block Grant Funds, but not all of it. Again, one of the reasons why we're choosing to charge that program to the General Fund is because the General Fund doesn't have some of the same eligibility requirements that our Community Development Block Grant Funds have.
Well, I think -- I appreciate that. So creating efficiencies may free up other funds for at least that portion of the budget, some portion of $2.4 million -- MS. McCULLOUGH: It could.
-- could go to PHS. 247 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 MS. McCULLOUGH: It could.
It could, okay. So, you know, at a time when we're scraping together pennies really, trying to find additional resources in efficiencies in government, I think maybe we ought to look at that. I thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon. MS. McCULLOUGH: Good afternoon, Councilman.
If you and the Administration decides to do a reorganization, please give us fair warning, because the last time you attempted that, it was pure bedlam both in City Hall and at 1234 Market. So -- 248 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 and I'm assuming that the units representing those employees would also like to have fair warning. So please let us know if you're going to consider that. You reference in your responses to Councilman Green about the contracts that you have as it relates to the General Fund. What contracts do you have? And I hope this is the appropriate time to ask you these questions, 'cause I understand this is about your Operating Budget and not the Comp. Grant, and tell me if this is inappropriate to answer those questions. But with the Community Development Block Grant dollars, do you have contracts with other agencies or entities as a result of those dollars? MS. McCULLOUGH: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Do we have contracts --
With other agencies. MS. McCULLOUGH: -- that are 249 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 General Fund-supported.
That are Comp. Grant dollars. MS. McCULLOUGH: In the case of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, it has a contract that is funded with Community Development Block Grant Funds to carry out one set of activities; that's basically the Philadelphia Green Program. And then we have a separate contract funded with the General Fund dollars that carries out the Vacant Land Management Program.
All right. How do we let those contracts? Is there requests for proposals or -- MS. McCULLOUGH: We include PHS in the Consolidated Plan, and that's how PHS is selected to carry out those programs. Then PHS, in turn -- well, actually, we, OHCD, issue an RFP for a --
Well, I want to know, is there an RFP process for 250 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the contract that PHS has? MS. McCULLOUGH: No, there is not an RFP for that.
And beyond the fact that they have developed an expertise in that, is there a reason why we choose to continue on an annual basis just to renew the contract? MS. McCULLOUGH: It's basically because they -- as you just said, they have the expertise in carrying out the Philadelphia Green Programs that are programs of PHS and expertise in carrying out vacant land management.
Do we know if there are any other entities that could potentially, if not all, a portion provide those services that are currently provided by PHS? MS. McCULLOUGH: I don't know of another entity.
If we put out a solicitation, do you think we could conceivably get a response on somewhat, 251 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 if not all, a portion of that -- MS. McCULLOUGH: Um --
I guess what I'm saying is that -- and I -- frankly speaking, I -- you know, PHS does great work. I just wondered over the years why we never give anybody another shot at that contract. MS. McCULLOUGH: Fundamentally because that's the entity that has carried out the program, that we've developed the Vacant Land Management Program with PHS, and then PHS carries it out by, in turn, contracting with others that do the actual cleaning.
I understand that. I'm asking you about the PHS. MS. McCULLOUGH: Right.
I just -- you know, I mean, I understand that we give it to 'em because we've always given it to 'em. But I just -- you know, a 252 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 lot -- most everything else we do around here is to RFP some things, and, frankly speaking, I don't think they need to be RFP'd, but that seems to be the climate of the Administration, and I wonder why there's no thought. I mean, I know a number of people who do work land management, landscaping, the whole nine yards, in the private sector, and I was just wondering that if we put it out there, that there might be this opportunity if we would get some other entities involved and at a minimum responding to some bid solicitations. MS. McCULLOUGH: I don't know if we would get other entities involved. I mean, PHS is a nonprofit, of course. And so, under the Community Development Block Grant regulations because we have it in our Consolidated Plan --
I understand. MS. McCULLOUGH: -- and lists 253 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that, then it meets those --
I understand what you put in the consolidated plan, but you -- MS. McCULLOUGH: I understand your questioning, could we put out an RFP? I mean I --
That's just a decision that we have to do. MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes.
All right. I won't belabor that. Do you have any other contracts with other agencies, be it quasi- government or straight government or private-sector? MS. McCULLOUGH: Any other contracts General Fund or just in general? Or anything?
Either. MS. McCULLOUGH: Well, we have 254 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 contracts with the Redevelopment Authority, we have contracts with the Philadelphia Housing Corporation, we have contract with the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA), we have contracts with the Utility Emergency Services Fund (UESF). We have a range of contracts and a whole set of housing counseling agencies that are -- all of these would be presented when we present the Consolidated Plan list of agencies that we intend to contract with to carry out the services of the Consolidated Plan.
Okay. The entities, particularly the PHDC and the Redevelopment Authority, which are essentially quasi-government to some degree; one, because it has government representatives on its boards; and the other, because it's a state-created agency. With respects to the contractual relationship that we have with those agencies, do we have the 255 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 ability to set parameters on how they function? And I guess my question is, there are certain -- and I'll focus on the Redevelopment Authority since we had a earlier conversation with them. There are certain state statutes that give powers and jurisdiction to the Redevelopment Authority, and my question is: Does your contract with them prohibit certain requirements of them? And I'll cut straight to the chase. There is this issue about land disposition, acquisition, and some of the activities at the Redevelopment Authority. Councilmembers have expressed some concerns privately, publicly, and today, in today's hearing. If OHCD, which is a part of the Administration -- i.e., government -- says that if you're going to enter a contract with the Office of Housing and Community Development, we would like to see you do the following things as it 256 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 relates to the operation, do you have the jurisdiction to do that? MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes.
So to get even further detailed in my cutting to the chase, if the Redevelopment Authority decides to dispose of a significant number of properties that they have heretofore defaulted, therefore not requiring that any disposition come back to Council, if OHCD in this Comp. Grant year has a contractual relationship with the Redevelopment Authority and says all of the properties that are currently under the inventory, which most of those have been acquired either through NTI funds or through Block Grant Funds, say that the disposition of those properties shall be established in the following way, either by resolution, like we do with VPRC, or should be disposed of through Council, so there is a clear and transparent disposition process, do you think that OHCD has the ability to 257 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 require that? MS. McCULLOUGH: Insofar as the properties that you mentioned were acquired with funding that was provided through OHCD?
Correct. MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes. If it was funding that the Redevelopment Authority had separately, that was not, if you will, a part of our contract, we would not.
But any property that has been acquired in prior years that was purchased with dollars from the Block Grant OHCD, you believe that you have the authority to require that they dispose of them in a certain way? MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes. It would be a part of the contact negotiations, yes.
Okay. All right. Thank you. I'm done. Thank you. 258 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
These contracts -- for example, land management -- what is your oversight to assure that what they're contracted to do is actually occurring? What is your physical oversight of their land management program or these other jumbo contracts that we're hearing about today? How does your office manage those? Are they just on their own to do what they think they have to do? MS. McCULLOUGH: No. In the case of the Vacant Land Management Program, we work with PHS to identify the lots that are to be cleaned or stabilized or greened or whatever activities going to engage in them so that we work with PHS. Essentially, we tell them which lots to clean, and then PHS holds a set of contracts with other landscapers or 259 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 community-based organizations to actually do the cleaning. An example is, they have a contract with Ready, Willing and Able, who cleans X-number of lots. So PHS is responsible for that contract with Ready, Willing and Able, which I'm just using that as an a example, and make sure that they clean it. We have contract monitors that check and make sure that if they said they cleaned the lot -- I mean, it's a spot check to make sure that they did the work. And we receive all of the -- in order to make a payment, PHS has to document that the work was done, that they paid the contractor, and then they seek reimbursement. All of our work is done on a reimbursement basis. So PHS has to make the payment and then get reimbursed through the City.
So then what my colleague said about drawing in other 260 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 contractors, there's an opportunity for them to be subcontractors to that contractor? MS. McCULLOUGH: There would be opportunities. In fact, we just did -- there was just a request for proposal issued just six weeks ago or so for participants in that program in the -- there are two programs. It's called -- Community Land Care is one of them, and the other one is the maintenance and stabilization. So we issued an RFP and contractors -- mostly landscapers, landscape firms, and other firms bid on the work. And then they will hold -- but the contract would be between that entity and PHS.
But the bottom line is that they're getting some work -- MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes.
-- in this public-sector money. 261 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes.
What I would like you to submit is an example of one of these monitor's reports; I would like to see what the monitoring process of that work is. Is there a report that one of these monitors that work for you, I would assume? MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes, mm-hmm.
So if you could provide one of those to the Chair just as an example of how the monitoring of that contract works? MS. McCULLOUGH: Yes. I'd be happy to.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank 262 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 you very much. MR. McPHERSON: Our next department is the Mural Arts Department. (Witness Jane Golden comes forward.)
Good afternoon, President Verna and members of City Council. My name is Jane Golden, and I'm the Executive Director of the City of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, and I'm here to present the office's request for our Fiscal Year 2011 Operating Budget. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 communities through a collaborative process rooted in the traditions of mural-making to create art that transforms public spaces and individual lives. Through the inclusive, democratic process of mural-making, we seek to provide public-art projects of unprecedented quality and innovation to all of the Philadelphia communities that we serve. In 2009, we completed our strategic-planning process to determine what steps we should take over the next five years to refine our goals while improving continually the quality of our work and the sustainability of our organization. Our goal is to claim our role on behalf of the City as a national and international model. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 practice as well as create replicable projects and program models that serve as examples and exemplars for artistic practice, innovation, cultural collaboration, community work, and promotion of social justice. In FY '11, the Mural Arts Program intends to achieve our mission by making considerable strides in the following areas: 1. Jobs and economic development. Mural Arts contributes to the creative economy of Philadelphia by employing more than 300 artists each year. 99 percent of these artists are from Philadelphia, 46 percent are artists of color. Through our successful reentry program, we provide temporary jobs to formerly-incarcerated adults and young people as they enter the workforce. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 this. Last year, we hosted over 10,000 tourists and residents who come on tours that take people through some of Philadelphia's most diverse neighborhoods. Working in conjunction with the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, we are helping to build Philadelphia's international presence and stake its claim among the top-tier cultural destinations. Citizens and delegates from cities all over the world visit to see our work, often with an interest in replicating our program. Recently, we have been focusing a lot of our work on commercial corridors. We work closely with CDCs, trying to do our public-art projects and tying them into their master plans to uplift and inspire the corridors. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 are one of the top five investments a city can make on a commercial corridor, demonstrating increase in retail sales and real-estate values, as they become transformative symbols, symbols of care and pride and inspiration. Education. This is an area that's dear to our hearts. Each year, Mural Arts free, award-winning art education programs provide close to 2,000 underserved Philadelphia youth at more than 50 sites, with access to quality, very rigorous art-education programs. We have several major programs. The Big Picture Program is for young people ages 10 to 14. The Mural Core Program serves young people 15 through 21. And Art Works serves young people who are at risk and truant. We offer a sequential curriculum that enables students to build on their previous work and nurture deeper connections with their peers, mentors, and communities. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 In 2009, our Big Picture students worked on the popular recycling truck project; I hope many of you have seen our recycling trucks here in the City. What they did is, they studied Philadelphia at the turn of the century, they worked with the Design Center at Philadelphia University, they learned about recycling, and they turned a fleet of trucks into something beautiful. " They also studied the history of protest walks. These projects are aimed at raising awareness around the importance of art programs for young people.
The Art and Soul Project culminated with an event and rally right here, at City Hall, in which our students presented many of you in City Council with your very own hand-painted sneakers. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 In public safety, we have done a lot of work over this last year. S. Department of Justice to create a workforce-development program in partnership with the wonderful Youth Violence Reduction Partnership. During this three-year, period Mural Arts has created a three-track program, which will provide young people opportunities and job-training and skill-building, building skills, landscape work, and art and technology. We call this program The Gild, and it builds practical job and life skills. We also have it open to people coming out of the Philadelphia prisons, and we have seen a tremendous growth in our reentry program. The statistics that we have are very good. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 individuals each year, and we boast a recidivism rate of approximately 4 percent, considerably lower than what 5 we've been reading, which is 66 percent. 6 Our guild and retry programs 7 for probationary individuals and former 8 inmates aim to ease the difficult 9 transition from prison to the outside 10 world and to help them enter the 11 workforce by providing them a range of 12 opportunities beyond art-making. 13 Mural Arts also contributes to public safety through art education and youth-development programs. We work at the Youth Study Center, at St. Gabrielle's hall. We work with the Northeast Treatment Center, we work with the E-3 centers. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 crimes, formerly-incarcerated young people, and young people living in low-income communities who are just lacking in opportunities around creating art. " We're always thinking of ways that we can reach young people, help transform their lives, and inspire them. Healthy and sustainable communities. Mural Arts advances healthy and sustainable communities through community-based public-arts projects. Coordinated with existing strategies for community development, these projects leverage grassroots social capital to revitalize open spaces to, remove blight, to stabilize abandoned lots, and to build positive momentum among a variety of community advocacy groups. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 surrounding them, design meetings, paint days, dedication ceremonies often serve as a catalyst, a launching point for further dialogue and a catalyst for social change within these communities. In 2009 alone, we: Created 111 murals; that means murals, ceramics, mosaics, and projects with sculptural elements; Hosted 166 community meetings attended by 1600 people; Held 107 public paint days attended by 2,200 people; and Revitalized and cleaned 400 abandoned lots. Plus we removed lots of properties that had graffiti. We love work with the CLIP Program, and we do our best to be good citizens. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 at the entire space as a canvas. And what we want to do is change it, make it beautiful. These are large-scale, multi-dimensional, public-art projects at civic spaces. We feel too many schools in the City of Philadelphia look like prisons, and we should create a major transformation. We're pulling up the asphalt, putting in raised beds, planting fruit trees, doing ceramics and mosaics around the entire school, and it's really exciting to see. Innovation. Mural Arts is embracing innovation and considering, What will muralism be in the 21st Century? In the next year, visitors and residents alike will experience extraordinary art work by local, national, and international artists that brighten our city's landscape, emphasize its commitment to great art, and offer tangible symbols of pride and vitality. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 unveil our first temporary interactive public-art project called "Light Drift" designed by renowned artist (indiscernible).
It will be constructed out of light orbs, and they will float in the river. Imagine the river being a canvas for us. People can program the color from the shore, and there will be a festival where we will be inviting Philadelphians to come to the river. In October, we will also celebrate a new mural by nationally renowned Philadelphia artist Meg Saligman that pays tribute to the importance of the nursing profession. This project, called "The Evolving Face of Nursing," will replace a current mural which has deteriorated. It will include portraits of nurses from throughout the City, and their faces will be illuminated by LED lights that will transform the wall and be a gateway on the Avenue of the Arts North. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Initiative -- this is something we're so inspired about -- Mural Arts is partnering with the Department of Behavioral Health to reduce stigma around behavioral-health issues through a series of meaningful and transformative mural process. " Lastly, by 2011, the parking garages at the Philadelphia International Airport will be home to nearly 50,000 square foot mural called "How Philly Moves," and it will feature local dancers photographed in such a way that Philadelphia will be renowned everywhere for its spirit, its diversity, and commitment to the arts. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 allocation for which I am testifying today. This allocation funds the salaries of employees, including my 5 own; the mural operations crew members; 6 an executive assistant; a reception 7 manager, who also helps manage projects; 8 and two full-time staff muralists. It 9 also supports over 30 large-scale 10 community mural projects. 11 However, we leveraged our City 12 allocation to raise an additional $4 million in private funds from foundations, corporations, individuals; and now, with our successful tour program, we are seeing earned income for the first time. We also are very thankful to the Office of Art and Culture and the Creative Economy. We have been working with them and developing programmatic partnerships and engaging with them as we create new, innovative project. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 work with them, as we are thrilled to be able to work with the Managing Director's Office. The Mural Arts Program is committed to supporting the Administration's goal of percent 8 minority-, women-, and disabled-owned 9 businesses in participation with City 10 contracting. However, the Mural Arts 11 Program will have no contracting 12 opportunity for FY '11, 'cause there's 13 just one contract. 14 To the Mural Arts advocates, 15 however, this means a lot to us always, 16 and we're always thinking about equity 17 and being very inclusive in everything 18 that we do. 19 In conclusion, I would like to 20 thank City Council. Thank you for your 21 support -- it means so much to us -- and 22 for this opportunity to present our 23 budget for FY '11. And I am now 24 available to answer any questions. 25 Thank you again so much. )
Thank you. Any questions of this witness? Councilwoman Blackwell.
Thank you very much. Jane knows how I feel about her program. The only issue is, when you go in your community, where you will not see Mural Arts, not where you will. I wanted to ask to ensure that we have talked with those people about these cases, Art in City Hall, my age-old since Joan Specter was Councilperson. And we want to let you know that we're close, and we still wanted you to work with us in trying to do student art in cases one time of the year.
Councilwoman Blackwell, thank you for that question. And I ave been working with Gary Stoyer and the office, and I'm really thrilled to say that we have some interesting 278 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 projects planned for student art work. And I'm very excited to say that in the fall, we'll be launching a prison art show here, at City Hall. And thank you for inspiring that.
Thank you. And we're also interested in if, God willing, we ever get our reentry program, Arise, as it's called as of today, Arise Program in place. Certainly, we would like you to be a part of that initiative in my district.
Well, we would be honored. And I have to say what we're seeing with our reentry program and the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, what I'm saying goes beyond anything we would have expected. We have perfect attendance, people are doing great work. Just last week, we had a few people other employment opportunities in Philadelphia. And I just -- I think that it's because people are involved in doing good 279 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 work. Mural Arts is an organization that cares about people. And because the work they're doing is in the public and is inspiring, people feel transformed by the experience. And we are on a mission to do more of it. So please know you have our total commitment to go into this area (inaudible) --
Thank you, Councilwoman. Miss Golden, again, thank you so much for all of the wonderful work that you've done across the City. Your enthusiasm should be captured by every employee in the City of Philadelphia.
It would be 280 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 a much better place. Real briefly, I just want to put on the record -- I know we've had earlier conversations -- there will be some dollars made available under the Stimulus Program; I believe it's through PWD Workforce Development Corporation. And they are short-term jobs, but they are much-needed jobs. And we are currently looking at opportunities to provide supervisory capacity by agencies, CDCs, nonprofits. And I know your ability to get people up to speed in terms of being employable. Do you think that your agency could play a significant role in when and if these dollars become available?
Well, we would be very interested. The good news about Mural Arts is, there's a waiting list of 2,000 people who want murals. We're also trying to clean lots and remove graffiti when we can, especially when it's near 281 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 projects that we've done. So we would be very interested in building our workforce and providing opportunities to people, absolutely. Also, we're starting to really look at our work as a collection. Over 3,000 murals have been created since 1984; some old are ones in disrepair. And we've been studying with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, learning preservation techniques that are really interesting. And also, there's many skills involved in that, so it's great for our workforce as well to learn this. So between mural conservation, creating new murals, and keeping sites beautiful and trying to really foster a sense of pride in the neighborhood, there are a lot of opportunities for people. And so, I would welcome any opportunities in that direction. Thank you.
Thank you. 282 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And we look forward to making sure that you are part of that much-needed process. Any other questions? Councilman Green.
It seems we talk about this every year, and I can't remember whether we've done it during budget sessions, although I've raised it with the Police and with the Managing Director, but we certainly have at different events we've talked about it, and that is the graffiti in Philadelphia and its continuing increased sort of presence. And I just wondered if -- last year, we talked, and you said it had increased significantly. And I guess it's -- there's nobody out there measuring it, so it's just anecdotal, you see more of it. I do the same. I take the train, different trains and, you 283 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 know, els and stuff, and I see a lot more graffiti than I saw four years ago. I'm just -- there used to be a graffiti unit in the Police Department, and you used to work with them.
Well, that was when we were the Anti-Graffiti Network, and there were graffiti police. And we would see tags on the walls, and then we would write them down, and we would confer with the police, and often we would get leads as to who the kids were, you know, where they lived, where they hung out. And we were able to, you know -- actually, it was -- the truth is, we were able to infiltrate that world and recruit kids to sign up for our program and put them to work. And really, I mean, you know -- and I have a meeting tomorrow night with 284 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Tom Conway. And, you know, I think Tom feels the same way. We would like to work together more. In talking today with Councilman Clarke, Councilman Green, if we could figure out a way to put more people to work, I think that we can strategically start to identify, you know, not just areas that need to cleaned up but learn who are the big-name graffiti writers, who's doing the writing, where do they hang out, who are their followers. I mean, we have to -- you know, graffiti goes in waves. There are going to be years when graffiti is down and then when it goes up again. And I think at this point, I think that we all know as a city that we have to be extremely vigilant. And part of that vigilance comes in trying to transform the way the graffiti writers see the world. And that's what anti-graffiti was very good at doing. 285 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And in the years that followed, I mean, I think that this city has made, you know, efforts to really combat it that have been very good. However, I do think what's happening now is, graffiti is increasing, and it's a time when we all need to be really aware of it and really creative in our thinking.
Do you know what the cost of remediating graffiti is for the City, by any chance?
Or the, you know, federal and state government or other, you know, private organizations?
That's fair. I just thought you might have an idea. So last year, there were six people still on the police force that were a part of the old graffiti squad; I don't know how many this year. There are several agencies, the 286 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Inspector General being one, where they have sort of police officers assigned to work with them, sort of through them. And they -- if -- do you think you could have an impact, if you were to get an assignment of graffiti officers that you could work with, to try to impact this issue? And if so, do you think you could leverage some workforce dollars, like Councilman Clarke was talking about?
I think it could be great. I think that we would be very interested and willing to work with the police, absolutely, and to work with young people who are involved in writing on walls. I also was saying to a few people today -- and Councilman Clarke, one of them -- that there are a number of people who used to write on walls in the late '80s -- I believe Councilwoman Blackwell knows some of them -- who are now -- some of them are well-known 287 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 artists. The Love Letters project was created by a well known artist in New York, Steven Powers, who started out in the mid-'80s, tormented people in the City of Philadelphia; he wrote everywhere. But he is willing to come to Philadelphia, and he would be a role model, and he's a draw for kids. We know a number of people from back then who are now leading productive lives -- software engineers, architects, teachers, one guy has a barbershop in North Philly. And they would be an advisory group to us. I think there are ways that we can do it. So I say clean the City; that's great. And let's work with the young people who are writing on walls. Sometimes we need to revisit the practice of years before us, but I think that we've been onto something as a city. We're contacted by cities all over the world. And what -- we think we have 288 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 a graffiti problem in Philadelphia; comparatively speaking, this is a very clean city. So if we could nip this in the bud, I think we'd be on the right track.
Yeah, we continue a lot of programs that we don't even know what they do. And here's a program that worked; and for some reason, it got cancelled. So thank you for this, and we'll see what we can do as the MDO and Police come testify before us about getting you those resources and maybe some of the federal dollars that are available for workforce training.
Thank you. Just let us know. Whatever we can do, we want to help.
Thank you, Councilman. 289 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Any other questions? (No further questions.)
There being none, Miss Golden, thank you very much for your great work. MR. McPHERSON: Our next office is the Youth Commission. (Youth Commission witnesses Jamira Burley and Tiffany Thompson come forward.)
My name is Jamira Burley, and I am the chairperson for the Philadelphia Youth Commission. The information that I'm about to provide will act as a narrative for the Philadelphia Commission's budget testimony for the Fiscal Year 2011. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 that not only speaks to youth members' needs and issues but also allows youth to have a voice in City government. We have been working diligently to establish relationships with City officials and nonprofit organizations to create a group of constituents whose main focus is youth issues. We also look to continue to develop youth relationships with elected commissioners and City Councilmembers. Although in our second year in existence, one of our biggest problems continues to be brand recognition and visibility. It has been a difficult task getting youths to understand our core mission and the resources we can provide them within the City. It is our goal to be the umbrella organization to the numerous youth organizations currently in Philadelphia in order to provide and create a unified front in attacking youth-related issues. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 resource to not only youth in Philadelphia but also to members of City Council should a youth issue arise. Our mission statement proclaims that we are a commission representing the Philadelphia youth in public hearings and to give testimony that reflects youth perspectives. Our purpose and goal is to comment on legislation and policies that impact youth. However, fulfilling that mission statement has been rather difficult due to the lack of youth- related issues addressed in City Council. In turn, we, as a youth commission, have now decided to revamp our whole structure and look at all legislation and try to see how it relates to youth either today or in the future. All legislation related, meaning from ages 12 to 23. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 for the past two months. We have conducted numerous interviews and now are in the final stages of hiring our next executive director. Thankfully, throughout this process, we have had the help of our part-time coordinator, Tiffany Thompson. Tiffany has been instrumental in helping to coordinate the interviews for the executive director and handling all the day-to-day needs for the Youth Commission in and outside the office. I have to say this hiring process has not only been a learning experience for the Youth Commission, but it's also been another roadblock in attempts to make a difference in Philadelphia. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 ground running after we complete the final stages of our hiring process. The following is a detailed list of the allocations asked for the appropriations of Fiscal Year 2010: Class 100 was 47,000, which is funds allocated for the executive director position. Class 200 was 50,200, which is funds allocated for office supplies such as business cards, flyers, consultation for our part-time program coordinator, leadership development, youth leadership conference in which many of these commissioners attended, newsletters, and photography. , with the hopes of developing lasting relationships with city and state youth commissions across the United States. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 scholarship. We also look to create a platform for a five-year youth green economy agenda, as well as some of our local efforts, which is to partner with the School District of Philadelphia with the development of young women's leadership health conference as well as a leadership conference in June. The Philadelphia College Caucus, which is a group of all Philadelphia colleges from across the City of Philadelphia and their efforts to address larger-scale issues such as youth violence and how they can have their impact on that. As well as work with Campus Philly and other state and local officials in regards to the Pennsylvania Youth Commission work with the Youth Promise Act as well as House Bill 529.
10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of our budget for the Fiscal Year 2010.
Thank you. And thank you for your leadership and your good work. I'm a little disappointed to hear that your ability to liaise with City Council to discuss youth-related issues -- and I think they're pretty similar to us old folks-related issues. At the end of the day, we ail want a safe environment and a opportunity for gainful employment and education. Can I ask you what process you used in the past to have some sort of working relationship? I know there was one gentleman who actually represented my district, happened to stop in the office every now and then, but it was not necessarily work-related interaction.
Well, one thing we have been trying to encourage most recently is that these commissioners establish relationships with their respective appointors just so that they 297 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 can be aware what's going on in their own area as well as what's going on in the City, but that has been shackled with a lot of -- for the simple fact that a lot of City Council members may not -- either the City Council member or their staff may not be aware of what the Youth Commission purpose is or who their appointee is. We had a incident where one of these commissioners went to the office of their appointee, and she was kind of laughed at -- not laughed at, but she was kind of told that they didn't know why she was there, and they weren't aware of the Youth Commission, they weren't aware of how she was appointed. And so, it continues to be a roadblock for us going forward with some of our initiatives and trying to establish that relationship. Hopefully, we can work towards that in the next few months.
All right. 298 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 I'd like for you to leave this meeting today with some sense that there will be outreach from Council. Maybe we'll ask some of our younger members -- I see Councilman Green is among that group -- to try and liaise with you all. But I think it's important that you feel that you have the ability to interact with your elected officials. It's obviously very important. What we don't want to do is just focus on the negatives, which happens too often. I mean, you turn on the news, it's about flash mobs and all of these other things. But the reality is, the bulk of our young folks do a lot of good work and are really focused in terms of improving their lives and the lives of the City of Philadelphia. So I would like to, if you can -- if you can kind of fire off a little note to the Council President, and I'm sure she will make sure that there is some sort of a formalized process to put 299 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 together so we can have a interaction on an ongoing base, okay?
Thank you. I'm equal opportunity; I ask questions of everybody, even the Youth Commission. And even though your budget is very, very small, we are picking up pennies off the street. And so, I guess your budget includes 50,000 in Class 200, funding for items like business cards, flyers, conferences, leadership development, and a part-time program coordinator. The budget detail indicates that 11,000 of this amount is for advertising and promotional material. And 38,200 is for professional services. Could you tell me what your contemplating for the 38,200 that's not 300 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 for printed material?
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Tiffany Thompson; I'm the part-time coordinator for the Philadelphia Youth Commission. That 38,000 that is used is usually for services kind of for the consultation if we're not using that for vouchers or our flyers or in that nature. So you're asking what else would we use that for?
Well, we've used it for website design, newsletter production, and things of that nature.
And have you attempted to use the CTO's Office for website design?
Have you attempted to use the CTO's Office for website design? 301 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
We just transferred that, and they're reformatting our website now.
Okay. So what would happen to the Youth Commission's mission if we eliminated that 38,000 for professional services?
What would happen to the mission? Hopefully, we would be able to focus specifically on youth- related issues, which, I mentioned a few minutes ago, that that has been shackled due to the relationship with City Council members and their respected appointees.
The Mayor appointed you, okay. Okay. So you're saying, really, there would be no impact if we cut that $38,000.
No, there would 302 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 be an impact if that money was --
Well, seeing as though our budget right now is -- most of it, as you can see, is going towards the ED's salary.
A lot of our money is already eaten up by that. So with the 38,000 already being considered to be taken away, it would kind of --
-- limit us to different things that we can do within the City, kind of like event production, going into different schools, speaking, and kind of just putting on bigger things to showcase our visibility and brand recognition. It would kind of limit us in our field within the City of Philadelphia.
And the one 303 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 thing that you're required to do under the Charter, which is to advise on legislation, have you provided any advice on any piece of legislation to this body?
As of recently, no. And I mentioned it a few minutes ago, and that's because of the lack of youth-related legislation that is addressed in City Council. We're now revamping our whole focus and looking at all legislation and how it can eventually affect youth members. So you will be hearing testimony in regards to any --
-- supposed to be every piece of legislation, not just that related to youth.
Well, it's my understanding that it is supposed to be legislation specifically relating to 304 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 youth between the ages of to 23. 3
Most 4 legislation affects every -- you know, a 5 lot of legislation affects every age 6 population. 7
There's been 9 lots of legislation in that category, and 10 I think it's all legislation, actually, 11 but okay. 12 I hope you're not disappointed if we cut your budget a little bit, but thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
Thank you. MR. McPHERSON: The Board of Ethics. (Board of Ethics witnesses 305 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Shane Creamer and Richard Glazer come forward.)
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for your patience. Kindly identify yourself for the record.
Good afternoon, Council President Verna and members of City Council. My name's Richard Glazer, the Chair of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the proposed budget for the Philadelphia Board of Education. With me today is Shane Creamer, Executive Director of the Board. We take very seriously our mission to promote public confidence in the integrity and fairness of City government and to promote honesty, integrity, and transparency in City government. All of our efforts aim to create an ethical culture in Philadelphia. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 toward these goals, since we appeared before you last year, is significant. With a staff of only eight individuals, we are proud of what we've been able to accomplish. In 2009, we again dedicated significant staff time to training. Our staff conducted 27 in-person ethics- training sessions that reached almost 600 City officials, employees, and board and commission members. We have scheduled four more ethics training sessions in the next few weeks to permit almost a hundred City employees, elected officials, and board and commission members who have not already done so to satisfy their mandatory 2009 ethics training requirement. In response to a request from the BRT, our staff will also conduct ethics training for their employees in the near future. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Council, we will provide condensed versions of the ethics PowerPoint presentation to attendees of all future ethics-training sessions. Our training efforts are not limited to ethics. We invited over 300 people to attend campaign finance training, and more than 30 people came to three campaign finance training sessions in 2009. We are already planning a new series of eight campaign finance training classes that will begin this summer, well in advance of the November 2011 elections. We will make every effort to reach a broad audience of potential stakeholders, including members of City Council and staff, candidates, committees, and individuals who are affected by the campaign finance law. We will also provide every attendee with a packet of information as a resource on the State and City campaign finance laws. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 our staff members has been functioning as a regulation working group since the fall of 2009 to prepare a comprehensive campaign finance regulation, well in advance of the 2011 elections. In fact, the Board discussed the first draft of this campaign finance regulation at its meeting last Wednesday. The goal of new regulation 8 is to provide detailed guidance to all candidates and committees concerning the City's campaign finance law. The regulation covers topics such as the public announcement of a candidacy, contribution limits, excess pre-candidacy contributions, retiring campaign debt, and the Single Committee Rule. We are on target to have the regulation adopted by the fall, and there will be ample opportunity for public comment and input. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 provisions of the Ethics Code and to provide clear guidance on standards of conduct and ethics, the Board adopted three regulations in 2009, and each was intended to clarify a part of the law about which there had been questions. Regulation No. 5, the confidentiality regulation, became effective on November 2, 2009, and is intended to clarify the confidentiality provisions in Code Section 20-606L(i). Under newly-adopted Regulation No. 6, which also became effective on November 2nd, the Board interpreted the application of Section 10-102 of the Charter, which prohibits an interest in a City contract to members of the City's boards and commissions. The new regulation clarifies that only a limited number of individuals on specific boards and commissions are affected by the prohibition. The Board also adopted Regulation No.
10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 interpret and clarify the annual ethics training requirement for City employees, officials and board and commission members and to authorize the Board to use additional training methods, including online training. It is always the Board's objective to prevent or reduce violations of the City's public integrity laws. However, when necessary, our responsibility requires that we investigate and, if appropriate, enforce those laws. Therefore, during 2009, we entered into eight settlement agreements concerning violations and approved dismissal of six matters after staff investigations. Further, staff rejected another 11 complaints because they failed to state a violation of the law. We continue to be responsive to all requests for advice. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 post-employment restrictions, outside employment, and campaign finance restrictions. Our staff responds every day to questions from City employees, officials, and members of the public concerning the City's public integrity laws. There were six formal board opinions, advices of counsel, and 11 responses to more than 60 requests for 12 informal e-mail guidance in 2009. 13 We believe that each response to a request for advice means that an individual observed the ethics rules and avoided a possible violation of the law. The Board's website is an essential educational tool. Staff, therefore, improved, updated, and increased the content of our website, with the result that the total number of page views more than doubled, from 13,556 in 2008 to 33,999 in 2009. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 receive it each year, several staff members have begun to develop an online ethics training module. We believe this is a significant efficiency measure because our small staff will be able to reach a much wider audience of City employees, officials, and board and commission members in a more convenient fashion. The availability of online training will save City resources because employees and officials will not have to spend time traveling to our office for training. Board and commission members will not have to take time off from their jobs to attend training. Online training will enable our staff to spend more time on other tasks, including improving and expanding the content of ethics training. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 employees, officials and board and commission members will have access to the online training, and that a record of their training is made To make online training ethics training a reality, our staff spent considerable time this year surveying other jurisdictions and their online ethics training programs and was, therefore, able to review and select very inexpensive off-the-shelf software to prepare ethics training for City employees and board and commission members Of course, we will continue to offer in-person ethics training for new employees and any others who wish to attend. However, we believe that this application of technology is an important achievement for the Board and the City because our online training may serve as a model for other City departments and agencies that must offer training to large numbers of individuals. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 The Board of Ethics is also responsible for administration of the financial-disclosure requirements that apply to City employees, officials, and board and commission members. The Board spearheaded an effort in 2009 with the help from the Human Resources Department to reach out to City employees and officials who are likely filers of the State financial disclosure form. As a result of the this outreach, we are pleased to report that the total number of disclosure reports filed increased by percent, from 3900 in 16 2008 to 4800 in 2009.
17 Further, the number of City 18 employees and officials who use the 19 online financial disclosure system, 20 available through the Records Department, 21 to prepare their reports increased 22 significantly, from 22 percent in 2008 to 23 55 percent in 2009. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 staff's time to process the report. A more detailed summary of the proceedings and activities of the Board, a description of the education and training conducted and evaluation of complaints and referrals received and their disposition in the past year will be included in the Board's annual report that will be delivered to the Mayor and City Council in the near future. The Ethics Board has been advised that its proposed Operating Budget for FY '11 will continue at $810,000. This includes: $681,100 for personnel; $110,400 for service; and 18,500 for materials, supplies, and equipment. This appropriation is almost 20 percent less than the $1 million Operating Budget that was guaranteed by the Charter for the Board's first two fiscal years. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 currently operating with a staff of eight. The Board understands that the current budget situation requires that we adapt to this reduced appropriation, and you have our assurance that we'll do our utmost to maintain the high level of performance the citizens of Philadelphia have come to expect But we wish to emphasize our belief that budget cuts have a disproportionate impact on our small agency, which relies direct person-to- person contacts by our staff with City officials employees, and the public At the FY '11 spending level of $810,000, the Board hopes to preserve its core advice, education, and enforcement mandate. As the budget situation unfolded over the last two years, we were extremely careful in our hiring decisions. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 never hired staff for two investigative positions. We have, therefore, modified and reallocated the work of our existing staff to adjust to this reduced staff level. At this funding level, which limits our staff resources, the Board will not be able to develop a widespread public outreach program, including outreach to the business community that is mandated by the City Code. Spending on equipment will be all but eliminated FY '11. The 810,000 appropriation will, therefore, have a direct impact on the Board's ability to fulfill its many mandated responsibilities. The Board continues to face legal challenges to its authority. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the Board be faced with such an outside legal challenge. While we have had the good fortune to be represented by pro bono counsel in many cases involving collateral attacks on the Board, we are realistic enough to know that such generous volunteer legal services may not always be available, especially in in economy. If forced into court by additional collateral attacks in FY '11 without pro bono counsel, the Board and its mandates will be disadvantaged because we'll be forced to suspend other critical Board activity to permit existing staff to focus only on the litigation. If the Board's budget is cut below the 810,000 funding level, it would eviscerate the Board's ability to meet its core statutory responsibilities. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 training to some new employees, it would have to make untenable choices between its other competing statutory mandates. It will be forced to reduce or eliminate its efforts to promote compliance with financial-disclosure requirements for City officials and employees and to cut back on the reach of its ethics training activity. This choice is especially problematic at a time when citizens are becoming more aware of the City's emphasis on integrity and transparency in government. Further reduction of the Board's budget would all but eliminate the Board's capacity to conduct investigative and enforcement activity.
We understand Council's concern that City departments and agencies provide contracting opportunities for businesses owned by minorities, women, and the disabled. 10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 we will always consider such businesses should such a contracting opportunity arise. The Board of Ethics remains committed to its work to administer and promote the City's public integrity laws. We believe that our efforts in just a few short years have enhanced public confidence in the integrity of City government. The Board and its staff will proudly continue to do everything we can to maximize our resources to make the citizens of Philadelphia proud of their government. Thank you. And I'll take any questions you may have.
Thank you, Mr. Glazier. Because of budgeting constraints, you state that you have not been able to have two investigators or fill a vacancy that occurred this year. What is the vacancy? What is the title 321 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 of the vacancy?
The young man who previously held that responsibility was an investigator and worked with our single other investigator. When he left to go to graduate school, we didn't have the funds to replace him.
I'm Shane Creamer, Executive Director to the Board of Ethics.
The technical name for the position is information specialist, and they do -- they assist in investigations. They also do a lot of other general-office matters, including assisting and training.
So it's two investigators and the 322 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 informational specialist.
Originally, it was guaranteed at $1 million for the first two fiscal years of operation. However, the Board came online, if you will, halfway through its first fiscal year of operation, which was FY '07. The Board was installed on November 27, 2006. And so, this second -- the first fiscal year of operation with a guaranteed budget of a million dollars was FY '07. The Board only had two employees at the end of that fiscal year. And then the second year of the guaranteed million-dollar budget was FY '08. And so, since then, we've not had that guaranteed budget.
Have you had any discussion with the Administration? 323 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
And we remind them that we are underfunded and that we have been cut but that we are also willing to do our part and go along with what's needed for the City.
Earlier today, the Inspector General testified. Does your office have any interaction with them?
Yes, we do. We refer matters back and forth. I've received a number of referrals from the IG's Office. They also come to us for questions of interpretation of the laws that we oversee, the Ethics Code primarily.
So I guess you assist each other in some fashion?
I think we have a 324 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 professional working relationship where we support each other. We sometimes will meet to discuss investigations. They'll ask us for advice and input on matters. They will refer matters that are within our jurisdiction; say, an Ethics Code violation that they've uncovered in the course of one of their investigations that may also include additional violations that are within their jurisdiction. So we can have overlapping jurisdictions in many of these cases. There may be even criminal jurisdiction overlapping in some of these cases as well.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Good afternoon. 325 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I want to assure you that I've asked basically the same questions of every single department that's come before me, so please don't take my questioning personally. Even the Youth Commission --
-- was asked about $38,200. So you say you have eight positions currently filled in your FY '11; budgeted positions, you have nine. Are you intending to hire during the course of FY '11?
We are not. There is a possibility that we could wait halfway through the year and hire somebody. We don't have any plans to do that directly, but we do have that potential.
We couldn't fund that position right now. 326 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
So you essentially have $17,000 left in your salary compared to -- okay.
And what is the City's response when you say you're not funded up to the level that the Charter requires?
What is the response of the Administration when you say you're not funded up to the level the Charter requires?
I'm not sure that the funding cuts intended to target us specifically but were across the board, 327 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 and we simply fell within the across-the-board reductions that other agencies and departments faced.
Just for the record, I'd like to say that fringe benefits are about 35 percent of the budget. So technically speaking, you are over a million dollars at this moment, and that doesn't include rent or energy, et cetera. So I just -- for the record, you are funded at over a million dollars in City resources overall.
And if I could just add to Richard's answer. The Charter said that we had a guaranteed budget of a million dollars in the first two fiscal years of operation. And the Charter says that thereafter, there shall be a sufficient budget to adequately fund the Ethics Board, and I'm paraphrasing. And if the Board feels that we are underfunded, we have the ability to bring a mandamus action similar to the 328 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 Controller's authority to do so, which he has done --
That office has done that a couple of times over the years. So to say that the million dollars is the standard, I think, is not entirely accurate. We've never really had a conversation about what is adequate funding for the Ethics Board at this point in this young agency's life.
Okay. Well, you know, it's clear in your testimony, you've talked about all you've been able to accomplish over the past year, and it is good. I want to thank you for beginning the process of issuing -- of trying to deal with some of these issues through regulation. I received something this week, and I'm confident that I'll have something to say on April 21st. I don't know whether it's for or against; I haven't had a chance to look at that 329 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 stuff. But I appreciate you following up on that. And thank you for coming in.
Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
The statement that you made, the Charter requirement, the two-year requirement and Councilman's reference to the fact that you -- including fringe benefits are over a million dollars. 330 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 And then you made note of the fact that the office shall be funded at a level that allows you to effectively operate. And then you said that Council -- I mean that you had the ability, through mandamus, to require us to fund you. What exactly did you mean by that? And maybe I -- I want to make sure I don't take it the wrong way.
Under the Charter, there are two offices that have the ability to essentially challenge on their own, initiate a challenge to their budget levels. The City Controller has always had it.
I think over the past decades, the Controller has sued twice and won both times. I think the first was back in 1984, and I think there 331 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 was another challenge in the early '90s. It's just there. It's -- but we have not contemplated resorting to that at all. Again, we have accepted the budget that we've been given for the moment.
Okay. Maybe I'm taking it wrong. It just sounded like when it was noted that you are currently getting a million dollars if you used the fringe, and then for you to suggest that somehow, that million dollars is not a reasonable threshold.
Let me respond. When this Ethics Board was created, Councilman Nutter spent some time with his Chief of Staff, Julia Chapman, and investigated a number of ethics throughout the United States. The million dollars was not pulled out of the air but reflected 332 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 presumably -- I wasn't there, but presumably the necessary funds to establish and maintain a significant sized municipal ethics board. And one could even argue that the responsibilities that we have contrasted with some other cities, who don't have enforcement responsibilities. Those enforcement responsibilities are with the law departments in many other cities, that perhaps we should have even have greater funds than the million. So I'm not even sure that the million was the low figure but perhaps a figure that started off. And as an ongoing board with increasing responsibilities, certainly the argument could be made that that's not sufficient.
Actually, the original bill did not have the 333 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 million-dollar provision in it. Instead, it said that the board would be funded by a formula of, I think, or percent of the total personnel costs.
I think calculations at that time put that at somewhere between and million dollars. And it was the recommendation of the Administration -- I remember when Joyce Wilkerson testified on the bills back in 2005, that the bill was amended to substitute that with a million-dollar provision.
Okay. I think maybe I did hear you correctly, that the million dollars may not be sufficient.
All right. You know, I'm not even going to get into it today. This is a vote that we took in haste, and we didn't think this through Council because it was done during some 334 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 challenging times. And there are a number of issues With respects to the Ethics Board, you know, along with some of the other -- the entities that we created that we do believe that there's some possible duplication of jurisdictional issues as it relates to other departments. And I see you referenced when you looked at other cities' municipalities as it relates to the responsibilities of enforcement, and I don't know if those other cities have other entities such as we do that enforce various measures beyond simple campaign finance rules, some of which you do. So there could have been a lot of things that caused that number to be a million. In retrospect, I think we would have looked at this a little more differently as it relates to some of the issues now that we have an inspector general's office, we have an integrity office, we have a city controller, we 335 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 have a district attorney. And just the theme of the conversation over the last couple of days as it relates to enforcement is a little concerning to me. And now I hear that maybe it's not enough money, a million dollars, for your office, particularly given the fact that you're now going to create an electronic measure as it relates to training, which I would think that would reduce the staffing levels required for your office. So you said what you said; I heard you clearly. And I want to thank you for your testimony.
Thank you. Just one more quick question. The position of general counsel, that's quite a highly-paid position. The Board has made a decision 336 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 to retain the services of the current person in the position, who was in the DROP Program; and that is without having conducted a search to see if there is somebody else who would be able to provide those services as well -- almost as well as your current person, perhaps at a lower price. Have you made a decision -- are you continuing your decision not to conduct a search or put a job posting on your website to see what applications you get for that position?
Is the question, have we tendered an offer to Evan Meyer? We have, and he's accepted. We have rehired our general counsel.
And he's rehired. 337 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
And for how long do you intend to do this rather than retrain someone or bring -- rather than have a succession plan? How long can we expect Mr. Meyer to fulfill that position versus the intent of DROP, which was succession planning, and then bringing in someone less expensive. I mean, part of the intention of DROP was to replace somebody expensive with somebody less expensive. And you've had two years to plan for this event.
Let me suggest that a national search was done in 2006, 2007. At least people were 17 interviewed, some from as far away as 18 Tennessee. 19 It became evident to the 20 existing board at that time, the five members of the board at that point, that Evan was the best candidate. In, I think, August 2007, he started with us; and since that time, he's demonstrated enormous value to -- 338 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117
I want to be clear. I think he's a great lawyer, I think he knows our ethics laws very well. I -- you know, you don't have to defend Mr. Meyers' bona fides to me. I just --
To respond to what I think your question is: Are we doing some succession planning? The answer is: Yes, we are. Have an associate general counsel who's been with us less than two years but is working her way up and becoming familiar with the ethics laws, although years of experience takes 15 some doing. 16 And, effectively, Evan wrote 17 most of the ethics opinions of the Law 18 Department over the last two decades. So 19 you can imagine the value of retaining 20 that type of employee. 21 But we are doing succession 22 planning, yes.
Are there any other questions from members of 339 3.22.10 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - BILL 100117 the committee? (No further questions.)
This committee will stand in recess until tomorrow, Tuesday, March the 23rd, at 10 a.m. Thank you. (Proceedings end at 4:55 p.m.) * * * 340 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee of the Whole are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Monday, March 22, 2010, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)