COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, February 26, 2003 10:00 a.m. - - - BILL 030004 BILL 030008 BILL 030010 - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN FRANK J. DI CICCO COUNCILWOMAN JOAN L. KRAJEWSKI COUNCILMAN RICHARD T. MARIANO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO - - - V A R A L L O, INCORPORATED Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 (215) 561-2220 658 I N D E X WITNESSES PHILIP R. GOLDSMITH, Managing Director ...... 659 ANTHONY TORRE, Managing Director's Office ... 682 FRANK HUGHES, Managing Director's Office .... 691 THOMAS CONWAY, Managing Director's Office ... 694 LEON KING, Commissioner of Prisons .......... 701 MIKE NUCCI, Director of Emergency Management..702 TIM ALEXANDER, Managing Director's Office ... 712 RALPH BLAKNEY, MOCS ......................... 717 ANTHONY MURPHY, Operation Town Watch ........ 718 JAMES COLEMAN, Managing Director's Office ... 724 KENT MILLER, Municipal Energy Office ........ 736 MARK BENCIVENGO, CODAAP ..................... 769 ALBA MARTINEZ, Commissioner of DHS .......... 799 GLORIA JACKSON, Managing Director's Office .. 811 SYLVESTER JOHNSON, Police Commissioner ...... 821 HAROLD HAIRSTON, Fire Commissioner .......... 918 659 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
Good morning, everyone. This is the continued hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 030004, 030008 and 030010. The first department to testify is the Managing Director's Office. Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
I am Phillip R. Goldsmith, Managing Director of City of Philadelphia. To my left is Anthony Torre, the Administrative Service Director for the Managing Director's Office. And to my right is Lori Jones, the Chief of Staff. Good morning, President Verna and Members of City Council. I am Philip R. Goldsmith, Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia. I'm here to present testimony on the proposed Fiscal Year 2004 Operating Budget for the Office of the Managing Director. The total proposed budget is approximately $24 million, of which $16 million is in the General Fund and about $8 million is in the Grants Fund. This represents a decrease of $732,000 660 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET from Fiscal Year 2003 General Fund estimated obligations, with $553,000 of those dollars coming from Class 100. 25 million for Philadelphia Prison Inmate Services, including job training, as part of the Jackson V. Hendricks settlement. Appendix A is a list of major operations costs budgeted in this office. The Managing Director provides oversight, support and direction to the 13 operating departments under his or her authority. This office assumes responsibility for organizing, coordinating and supervising major inter-departmental initiatives. These efforts range from snow removal to support of special events, from streamlining the permitting and licensing processes, to managing the Emergency Operations Center from Operation Safe Streets, to ensuring the well-being of children and youth. Appendix B will describe several of these initiatives. If our efforts are to be successful, 661 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET coordination and cooperation among many City agencies is essential. I'd like to digress for a moment and thank the men and women of the City of Philadelphia, many of them sitting behind me, for the enormous coordination and initiatives that we recently undertook in the most recent snowstorm. This was a cooperative effort of the Water Department, Recreation, Public Property, Police, Managing Director's Office, Emergency Management, OESS, Fire, Fairmount Park, L&I, Streets and Fleet Management, included not only the snow removal portions, but also the cleaning of the inlets so that we could prevent any negative consequences as a result of the snow. I think it's the responsibility of the Managing Director to ensure that redundancy and duplication of effort are eliminated and that resources are allocated and used in the most strategic, efficient and effective way possible. The complex issues facing the City require no less. The operating departments and associated commissions and offices that have responsibility for the City's Health and Human Services have for the 662 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET past three years worked together under the division of Social Services. The operating budgets for these agencies total over $2 billion. The objectives of this confederation of agencies are improved efficiency and service delivery through greater collaboration and program integration, increased accountability for performance, greater financial investments in the well-being and development of children and the creative use of technology to target the allocation of resources to facilitate case management across agencies. An example of this later use of technologies is the first phase of the new Integrated Data Information System, which was implemented last month. This allows selected agencies to consolidate client records into a single database and share that information with the consent of the client. Once in full operation, this system is expected to expedite requests for services from clients, facilitate the assessment of client needs, improve the quality of case planning, goal setting, and expedite the achievements of goals by clients. Appendix C describes some additional strategies that are being implemented.
663 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET As you know, I'm in the first month as Managing Director, and I am cognizant that I have a steep learning curve. I am acutely aware of the enormous responsibility entrusted to me by Mayor Street and of my duty to the people of Philadelphia. So I would like to use this opportunity to describe for you my approach as I assume this important role for this great city. First, I am mindful that I have very big shoes to fill in succeeding my immediate predecessor, now Secretary of Public Welfare, Estelle Richman. She brought an impressive portfolio to Social Services along with a work ethic and a commitment to people that prepared her to be an outstanding Managing Director. I appreciate the advice and support I've received from her and also from other managing directors who have reached out to me during my first weeks in this position. Each Managing Director brings to the job his or her unique skills and background. My background has been a blend of private and public sector experience. In the public sector I've served as Deputy Mayor in the early '80s, Interim Chief Executive Officer of the School District of 664 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Philadelphia, and most recently, Interim Director of Fairmount Park. For years I worked in the private 5 sector. And it was during that time that I cut my 6 teeth on managing people and organizations 7 undergoing change. My 12 years as an executive at 8 PNC Bank was during a time of transition and change 9 for the banking industry. It was a time when 10 mergers and consolidations were taking place, the 11 rules of the road were changing with the 12 deregulation of the financial services industry, and 13 technology was being introduced at a rapid pace. I 14 was later a managing principal at Right Management 15 Consultants, a global human resources consulting 16 firm with its worldwide headquarters located here in 17 Philadelphia. Among my responsibilities there, I 18 counseled individuals who had lost their jobs. In most cases it was not because they were poor performers. Frankly, it was because their managements had often acted too slowly to changing circumstances and were not able to keep pace in a competitive marketplace. That experience has made an indelible impression on me. Maintaining the status quo often ends up hurting people, not helping 665 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET them. When I began my 14-month stint at the School District of Philadelphia, there was a hefty dose of skepticism toward the notion that anything was going to change. The men and women who had worked there for years and years had heard the small boy cry wolf many times before. But as we know, things did change. It's a good reminder that government, too, is susceptible to the forces that impact the private sector. We live in a competitive world. Municipal governments compete for residents and employees. And if we are to stem the decades old loss of population and jobs, we must, in my judgment, accelerate change and be more responsive to the needs of our residents, employers and those who we would like to make Philadelphia their home. My philosophy is embedded in a very strong belief that change does not occur because one wills it or demands it. It occurs when you involve people, communicate every step of the way and have a thoughtful plan that articulates the benefits of what you hope to accomplish. There are many change initiatives reflected in the Five-Year Financial Plan. There is 666 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET virtually nothing in that Plan, from the consolidation of call centers, to assessing the quality of number of facilities, to reducing the number of vehicles, that has not been accomplished elsewhere. The issue is not whether these changes are feasible, but instead, how we go about accomplishing them and, frankly, whether we have the political will to accomplish them.
I assure you that my approach will be one of fact-based analysis, inclusion, thoughtfulness, and communication. I hope that you will conclude that I was fair, even if we disagree from time to time. The Managing Director's Office is well positioned to see the big picture, the commonality of problems and solutions that cut across departmental lines. My job is to see that our commissioners and other department heads work together to capitalize on their collective resources and talents, that they help and learn from one another. They were appointed for their expertise in a particular field and to do their jobs on behalf of the people of Philadelphia. I am here to support them in their efforts, to add my own expertise when appropriate, and to hold them accountable in 667 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET carrying our accountabilities and responsibilities. While the role of Managing Director includes responding to events and oftentimes crises, as I have learned in my three weeks on the job, one of my objectives is to see that we are also being proactive in addressing the needs of our City. Our customers are the people of Philadelphia. Our customers are those who are here for business or for pleasure. In order to know whether we are satisfying our customers, we must ask them. We must reach out to them, understand their needs and issues. This proactive approach is an expectation you should have of me and those who run the operating agencies of this government. I hope to restructure the office to allow for a more proactive outreach that targets key segments, that transcend geographical boundaries. I believe, as the Mayor does, that a great city must be clean, it must be safe, and it must be compassionate. The Managing Director's Office plays a vital role in helping to achieve these objectives. But given the scarcity of resources compared to the multitude of needs, we can only do that if we are focused, if we are strategic, 668 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET if we dare to be innovative and, perhaps, most cooperative and respectful of one another. The position of Managing Director is an enormous challenge and I look forward to working with each Member of City Council to meet that challenge. At this time I will try to respond to your questions. And, with your indulgence, I will call upon my capable staff to help address issues that I am not yet familiar with. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I certainly want to wish you all the best in your new position. I know we've worked together for quite a while. And may I say that you have always been very, very responsive and I thank you for that.
Mr. Goldsmith, in Appendix A of your testimony you mention the Street Tree Removal Program. Can you supply us with a list as to where these funds have been spent in FY '03 and where you plan to spend them in FY '04?
Yes. I will get back to you with those answers. I am pleased to say that since the Council provided more funding for the Street Tree 669 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Program, that we have made a significant dent in the backlog, and I think we're well on our way to continuing that progress with the support of Council. I think one of the testaments to the progress that has been made in removing dangerous trees is, during the snow storm, we only had one emergency tree request. And I think, in the past, with a storm of that nature, and with a lot of storms, we would have had 200 to 300 emergency tree requests. But we will get back to you with specific information.
That would be very interesting, because we still have a rather large backlog. And I would like you to explain why we're cutting the tree trimming and stump removal program by $1.3 million.
Thank you. You mentioned the Community Life Improvement Program in your testimony. This program started in the 6th and 10th Council Districts, and a modified program was instituted in the 3rd Council District in December 2002. What are the 670 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Administration's plans for the continued expansion of this program, and what are the Council Districts that you will been adding in FY '03 and FY '04? And can you tell us how it was decided as to where the expansion would go?
I would like to get back to you on those questions. I would like to say a couple of things. One, I'm pleased that we have a program that every Councilperson would like in their district. I think it shows the success of the problem. I also view the CLIP Program, from what I understand about it, is it's not just only a program. It's about an approach of how we deliver services. And I would like to see a day, frankly, when all services are delivered in a coordinated way and we don't call it a program. It's just the normal way that we do business. We will get back to you on what our plans are and how we would go about prioritizing how we do that.
I know that Councilwoman Krajewski has, from time to time, stated how successful this program has been in this 671 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET district. I would appreciate it if you would get back to us. Thank you.
I'm just very happy that we initiated CLIP. And I applaud all the employees, Mr. Conway, the anti-graffiti, for an excellent, excellent job that everyone is doing. Thank you.
Madam President, if I may, on the same issue. Certainly, our program we wrote, we created, we didn't take any City funds. I've said this to my colleagues before. I have people who work in my neighborhoods, in conjunction with the City, a volunteer effort. So we created -- I know you can't comment on it -- and you're happy too, but we created that in my office as our way to responding to neighborhoods. And then we asked the City to approve it. We don't have any new monies -- I was telling my colleagues, and certainly as always, as with anything we try to do, to try to be creative and service oriented. We're always happy to share whatever we do. It was a program we asked 672 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the Administration to agree to doing, that kind of tweaked services out there in a way that we thought could respond in a timely fashion using volunteers in the neighborhoods with the City. I say that to my colleagues. I'm happy to take everybody's money, but obviously we don't have any extra money to do this. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Councilwoman, I mentioned your district because I believe it was in Mr. Goldsmith's testimony.
Mr. Goldsmith, on of your testimony you have a section 16 dealing with the, "Streamline and create efficiencies in the permitting and licensing process," I believe it's on -- it's on of the new testimony. You further state that the anticipated tasks for FY '03 are, "Redesign of permit documents and application forms and analysis of zoning refusals and variances." What is the status of these tasks? And would you also mention activities to occur in '04? 673 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Would you tell us your timeline on these projects and who will be doing the work? Will it be done by consultants or in-house personnel?
I just had my first briefing on this project, I think it was earlier this week, and so my understanding of it is more conceptual and general in nature than specific. So I will get back to you on what our dates are and what the deadlines are. As far as I know, this is being done by people in various departments, primarily driven by L&I right now and the Managing Director's Office. As far as I know, there are no consultants currently being used -- if I'm wrong, I'd ask someone to correct me -- nor intended to be used at this point in time.
Thank you. On -16 of your budget detail, you are requesting $100,000 for telecommunications policy initiative, $36,000 for a technical advisor, and $55,000 for Livable Neighborhoods Program. Please explain what these various requests are for.
I will need to get back to you on that and I will do so. 674 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
I have a number of other questions, but I see that many of my colleagues also would like to have an opportunity to ask some questions. I am going to suggest that each Councilperson be given three minutes for the first go around. The Chair at this time recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Mr. Goldsmith, how many positions will be eliminated from the Managing Director's Office, or will there been any positions eliminated as a result of our budget concerns?
There will be. I think the budget detail, I think, shows 14 positions, but I'm going to get back to you on more details on that. But there will be positions eliminated for a variety of different reasons, but I think our budget is reflecting 14 positions.
Do you know the details with respect to positions being eliminated 675 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET that are already filled, or are these positions that have gone unfilled?
These are filled positions. These are existing people. I want to be fair and say that we'll have to get back to you exactly, but there's a number --
Trust me, I will not give names. I feel very strongly that these are personal issues. But I think some of these issues, some people revert to Civil Service. What I've done and will continue to do is look at the staffing of the Managing Director's Office; who is there, who we need and so forth, given the financial circumstances and given what I would like to do in the office. In some cases, people that do not have Civil Service protection will not have jobs, unless we can find them other legitimate jobs in the government. Some people have the right to revert to Civil Service. Whether, in fact, they decide to revert to Civil Service will be their decision and, in fact, there has to be a Civil Service position available. 676 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
No, they're not all 5 exempt. They are now exempt, yes. They're not 6 Civil Service positions, but people could bump back 7 into Civil Service. 8
I wanted to 9 follow-up on Council President's question with 10 respect to street tree removal. You've indicated 11 you don't have the details. But can you talk to me 12 about the priority as it relates to selecting 13 location? Is it simply first come, first serve? Or 14 is there an analysis done in terms of the most dangerous conditions? Or do you do it in a targeted way to support other initiatives? One issue, as an example, earlier on, Strawberry Mansion Community was designated as one of the early NTI, early action areas, and there was a particular request for a block in that community sometime ago for street tree pruning. It was one of the few blocks that actually had street trees in that community and, to date, we haven't had an opportunity to have those trees pruned. They're essentially growing over individuals' roofs and hanging in the street. 677 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET What's the criteria for selection?
Let me put my Fairmount Park hat on, if I can, for a moment. The priorities are: Is a tree diseased? Is it dangerous? Is it dead? Those are the standards we use in Fairmount Park. And those trees are prioritized with inspectors that go out and determine the severity of each tree. And then it's prioritized according to that. And as a result, over the years, we've had more trees than we can get to at any given time. We try to prioritize them by the dangerous nature of those. And we can get you more details on precisely how that gets done. After our inspectors mark them, we then have contractors that go out and do that. I think each Councilmatic District is taken into consideration and we try to deal with that equitably and within the parameters of the tree being diseased, dangerous or dead. We should not really be going out pruning trees for the aesthetic purposes of pruning trees. We would only be out pruning trees if it fit one of those three Ds, as we call them. In terms of NTI, perhaps someone here can talk about how we go about that; otherwise, we 678 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET can get you the information on that.
I am, but I don't have the facts at hand to know whether it's different or not. I can speak about the Fairmount Park. I was there a little bit longer than I've been in this position. But we'll get you the information.
With respect to lot treatment, seeing your testimony, that you have reduced the cost to some degree. One of the concerns I have, unfortunately, representing a district that has a substantial amount of vacant lots, there's a certain level of redundancy, particularly in those areas where you don't have a strong community organization or an individual adopting a side lot. What is the strategy for some sense of permanency as it relates to lot treatment? Because, frankly speaking, I get tired and I know the individuals -- Mr. Alexander -- gets tired of me calling them and asking them to continue to come out and clean up vacant lots. At some point I think it ultimately should be the responsibility of the individuals in those communities to stop dumping 679 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET debris on those vacant lots. What are we going to do? I think that this is a cost that at some point we should be able to eliminate from our budget. What's our strategy on that?
I'll get back to you with the exact strategy. As I understand it, part of the intermediary strategy is a greening plan so we can hold those lots until they are ready to be developed or for some longer term use. But to at least make sure the blight is removed and eliminated, there is a greening strategy that's being developed.
Is that being developed out of NTI, or is that a part of the normal vacant lot? I know I've gotten a number of vacant lots cleaned and I've yet to see any greenery planted in any of those lots.
I think that's part of the strategy of NTI. We'll get you more on that.
Councilman Clarke, I'm sorry. Your time has been up. If you just want to -- is that the end of your response, Mr. Goldsmith?
We'll have to check with NTI. The next Councilperson to be recognized is Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We may need to have a task force on the time on the questions. It takes me about three minutes to frame most of my questions, but I'll try to be cooperative. Mr. Goldsmith, let me stay somewhat in the area where Councilman Clarke was. I didn't understand part of the response to a question regarding street trees and pruning, as well as when the Council President asked you about the budget detail on -86 where we see a decrease in tree trimming and stump removal of $1.3 million. Can you tell me again -- you mentioned something about either the three Ds or the three Ts related to pruning trees and you also said that we don't prune them for aesthetic purposes. One, can you explain the decrease in funding in this particular line item?
I will have to get back to you on that. 681 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
This is going to be a rather long session. Mr. Goldsmith, with every respect, I know you just arrived in the job. And you and I have worked together in a couple of your previous capacities. I'm going to have to assume that former Managing Director, now Secretary Richman, did not take all the knowledge of the government with her, and that there are about a hundred people here in the room today; and while you may not know all the details which would be impossible given when you came into the job, I have to believe someone here can answer the question with regard to why there's a decrease in that line item. So I would actually like an answer today to most of my questions.
I was actually hoping that I might have it in the course of the session.
I mean, we've got you. We've got Fairmount Park. We've got the Budget 682 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Director. Someone must be able to tell us why there's a $1.3 million decrease in this item. And that's kind of why we're here. Mr. Torre will try to answer that.
My name is Anthony Torre, Administrative Services Director for the Managing Director's Office. I think the line item as it's shown there is a little misleading. There's some other money that line item besides tree trimming. There's also vacant lot cleaning money that was lumped into that tree trimming. When we originally proposed the vacant lot program --
I understand that, Mr. Torre, but the item says, No. 260, tree trimming and stump removal. Now, that's all I'm left to deal with. It says in Column 7, under increase or decrease, has a parentheses around $1,308,759 dollars. I think that's a decrease. If you want to add some additional information to the answer, I'm 683 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET pleased to hear it. But I'm only left to deal with what's in the book.
Well, I understand that. Let me rephrase my response. This year between tree trimming and stump removal we will probably spend around $3.3 million. We will spend that same amount next year.
Column 5 says, in FY '03, the year we're in, it's $4,628,000.
That's correct. But what I'm saying is that all of that $4.6 million was not for tree trimming.
$4.6 million, correct. That was not all for tree trimming. It was some vacant lot cleaning money which we originally intended to contract out, which we did not do. So the money that was in that line item for cleaning the lots was moved to other classes.
What did you not do? Did you not clean the lots or did you not contract 684 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET it out?
We did not contract out. We cleaned the lots with City employees.
So if you were going to break that item out for FY '03, what would be the amount that went with the lot cleaning and what's the amount that goes with tree trimming and stump removal to make up $4.6 million?
Well, the tree and stump removal was about $3.3 million and the balance would be lot cleaning money.
The lot cleaning money was moved up into Class 100 because we utilized City employees to do the lot cleaning. Because when we looked at the costs to contract it out, it exceeded what we had intended for each lot. So we decided that it would be more effective to clean it with City employees, more effective and cheaper to do it with City employees than do it by contracting.
So if I'm understanding your answer, I think what I'm hearing you say is that the dollar amount being spent for 685 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET tree trimming and stump removing proposed for FY '04 is about the same as it is in FY '03?
And that you had additional funds in there for something else that you didn't list in the line item, which naturally we couldn't know, but basically it's the same amount of money?
That was pretty easy. They'll get harder as the day goes on.
Old friend, how are 686 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET you doing?
We've known each other since the green years. That's a long time. I have one question, because I think this one you're able to answer because you're heavily involved in it. What were the costs of the operations during the last snowstorm?
Do we have the precise cost of that? I think at the time we were estimating between $750,000 to a million dollars a day. I don't know whether we have the most up-to-date cost. $4.5 million.
That's for everything. What does that include? 687 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
That would be -- I'll ask the Streets Commissioner to help me here. But that would be personnel overtime, the cost of salt, contractors. We had contractors out there. It's all those costs. There may have been some ancillary costs -- not ancillary. Other additional costs in other overtime which is not reflected here. So we will get you the entire cost. It was an expensive snowstorm.
That $4.5 is generally only the cost accruing to the Streets Department?
Were there other costs in terms of other departments that are ancillary to the storms and so on, and do you have that? So we can get a clear picture of what the storm has cost us in terms of the budget.
We will get that to you. We don't have that now. But that would include things such as police overtime, Fleet, Water Department. We had Water out Saturday and Sunday and so forth. So there are other costs, yes.
What has been the 688 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET projected impact in terms of -- because this is not something that was projected in the budget. What is the projected impact on the budget and how do we make up any other shortfalls that will happen? Where is that money coming from?
I'd probably be more comfortable if someone from the Budget Office responded to that. It obviously adds to the financial situation of the City. We will have to continue to find ways to deal with that.
I'd like to begin looking because there is a budget period. This is a time to start thinking about those things.
Rob Dubow, Budget Director. We actually had a transfer ordinance 17 that was already before Council last week. We amended it while we here to increase the amount of the ordinance, I think it was by about $3.5 million, to cover what we knew to be the cost for the Streets Department of the storm at that point. We moved money from a few areas as laid out in the transfer ordinance to cover that.
But obviously it's having an impact on the overall budget. I'd like to 689 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET hear --
I think in the end the Managing Director is exactly right. It just adds to our challenge to try to figure out how to balance our budget and our plan over the long haul and it really is just a hit to the fund balance. I mean, it's $3.5 million or 4.5 million, whatever the number winds up being, that we didn't have budgeted.
We have six more inches coming during the next two days. What will be the cost, if any, projected for that fixer-upper? Because we still have snow on the ground from two weeks ago.
It's probably going to be around a quarter of a million dollars when you add everything in.
I'd like to see a projection to the Chair of what is the impact of this extra spending that we're having in terms of the overall budget and how it's affecting other 690 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET departments and services.
We can show you the numbers and we can tell you what you did in the transfer ordinance and what it does for our fund balance.
Under your Appendix, bottom of , there's discussion given to the anti-crime initiatives and given the Administration's priority around Safe Streets. Please speak to some of these excesses in these particular areas where we are with other level funding for starters, namely the Weed and Seed Program and Operation Town Watch.
Someone want to speak to that? 691 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
Good morning. Frank Hughes, Managing Director's Office. Specifically in terms of the coordinating efforts that we've done with various City departments, we have further extended our West Philadelphia Weed and Seed area to now cover parts of Wynnefield. We originally started at 44th to 54th Street. We've gone from 44th to 57th Street to include parts of Wynnefield. We have our two North Philadelphia areas of Weed and Seed. In addition to that, we have been working with both the District Attorney's Office, Operation Town Watch to do coordinated law enforcement initiatives to develop a better relationship with community residents and police. And to support the further work of that we're trying to initiate a few projects. This spring we're going to be initiating our Neighborhood Restoration Program.
Neighborhood Restoration Project. We're going to be doing some greening of lots and some improving of about 20 lots in West Philadelphia. We're going to be initiating some baseball leagues, things like that, to engage the 692 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET young people in the Mill Creek areas and other areas in North Philadelphia. We're also going to be looking at acquiring some properties through the asset forfeiture from the District Attorney's Office. We are coming up with a lot of community initiatives to keep the community engaged in working with police so that we do -- we are trying to promote the Safe Streets in various efforts in that way.
Any tie-ins with the Philadelphia School District, namely, the high schools or middle schools in that area and/or the clergy in that area?
We have a faith-based initiative that we've been working on for a few years. We have a faith-based breakfast when we celebrate the work of the clergy people. We are working actively with police clergy of both the 16th and the 19th Districts. We are also in Sulzberger and some of our other schools in the West Philadelphia Weed and Seed area we have a truancy initiative that we started a couple of years ago. We did a program in Sulzberger which was picked up by the City so that now we're looking to go into 693 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET West Philadelphia High School. So we are expanding the network. We currently support things at Sulzberger, Shoemaker and University City High School.
Now, we heard a lot about the truancy programs when the Mayor's Office of Community Services was before us. The truancy program your speaking of is funded specifically by Weed and Seed or through DHS?
The pilot program was initially funded from Weed and Seed. Since then it was picked up as part of the truancy initiative from DHS.
And the programs you've mentioned today stand to run through to and including next year, this entire Fiscal Year?
Very well. Thank you very much. Now to the Anti-Graffiti Network.
Councilwoman Brown, this will be your last question on the first go around.
Thank you, Madam 694 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Chair. I, too, like Councilman Clarke would like to ultimately see some of these line items eliminated from the budget. When I think about how long Anti-Graffiti has been around and the dollars we're spending I'm curious to know, do we still have a tie in with Municipal Court? Because I know in the early days of Anti-Graffiti, there was a link with Municipal Court to work with young offenders, item number one. And what are we doing in schools to sort of spread the message that this is unacceptable conduct, period. I'm struck by still the tremendous amount of dollars we're putting in anti-graffiti initiatives, which are necessary, but what are we doing on the prevention side of the equation?
My name is Thomas Conway, Deputy Managing Director for the City of Philadelphia.
Good morning. With regards to the Anti-Graffiti Network, we used to have what was called Urban Artscape Program which would use preventive measures 695 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET to deal with youth and fighting graffiti and vandalism. That program merged with the Mural Arts Program. So Jane Golden now oversees that, working with the youth. We also have an Adult Community Service Program that deals with nonviolent community service offenders. Actually since July to January over 2,000 individuals were in the Community Service Program.
There's a part B, Madam President, real quick. Part B, Mural Arts.
It says here, Mural Arts engages world-renown artists. That's a good thing. There's a number of us on this City Council who philosophically believe that Philadelphia 696 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET residents should get first crack, first opportunity, first consideration. How many artists have you dealt with in the past year, and of that, how many are Philadelphia artists that were given -- those who pay taxes here -- first opportunity. I need to know that.
We'll save that. Is she due to come before us as well at some juncture?
You're welcome. Councilman Clarke, listen to me carefully. We are now starting our second go-around. So we now have Councilwoman Miller under the first go-around.
Thank you, Madam President. 697 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Good morning, Managing Director.
I'd like to first thank you for the help that -- I'm just going to say your department -- of your help and efforts with the Streets Department, et cetera, around snow removal. But my question is, what is the coordination between the City, the School District? I know Recreation Center -- I mean, you're talking about large places in the district and SEPTA with the bridge overpasses and some of those sidewalks, bridges, et cetera, created problems for children when they returned to school on Thursday. So in the future I think that there needs to be something in the Plan coordinates those agencies.
I think that's a good point. Down at the Emergency Command Center we do have representatives of many of those agencies. And we did work with the School District. We called them up and asked them how we could help. We asked them to prioritize schools. I think they gave us 50-some schools. We try to work on those and try to do our best. I think your point is well taken. We have a Snow Committee, in fact, we're meeting today 698 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET at 12:30 because of the impending snow and we're trying to expand that group to make sure we got all the agencies involved. But I think your point is well taken.
Quite frankly, I think we kind of forgot -- I know I did -- until we started getting calls about children walking in streets and all kinds of things.
One of the things we also did, we started to within the three block radius of each started to put out warning tickets to people to shovel their walks. Perhaps we should have been a little bit more aggressive on that than we were. That was my responsibility.
Well, a lot of the schools waited until the last minute. I know that the ones that are near me and other places, they just didn't really deal with it until Wednesday, Wednesday night. Also, we did talk about the ability of the snow plows to move away from the parked cars if it's a one-way, one-sided street. And maybe that's something that could be worked on too because it's difficult when people are out shoveling all day 699 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET and then the plow comes right back and shovels -- I know on some streets it can't be avoided. But on one-way, one-side parking streets I would think it could.
Councilwoman Miller, based on your suggestion, we actually looked into that and learned we can, in fact, on many of the plows change directions of the plows. So that is something we started to do after your suggestion.
I was in a meeting last night and people were still talking that particular issue.
Councilwoman Miller, I'm sorry. Your time is also up.
Good morning. I have a question. On -9, on the Administration. There's a large increase of purchase of services, on -9. Tell me what that's for? What is the cause for the increase?
Councilwoman, that increase occurs in the Grants Fund and it's mainly for two 700 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET items. The Jackson versus Hendricks settlement of $2.5 million and some other money we're anticipating from the federal government for anti-terrorism planning, equipment, activities. That's a Grants Fund item.
You're anticipating some money from the federal government for terrorism?
Mike Nucci, our Director of Emergency Management will address the source of the funding.
On this page, on 34-9 it doesn't say grants. It just says Administration. Usually it denotes that there would be a Grant Fund if you look at the top of the sheet. It's basic purchase of services.
That's correct. It's purchase of services, but in the Grants Fund. That is an all encompassing page that includes the Grants Fund and the General Fund.
Councilwoman, 701 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET can I piggyback on that, if I may?
Thank you. With the Grants Revenue Fund for $2,250,000 for the Jackson versus Hendricks settlement. Please explain who is the grant or agency.
Good morning. I'm Leon King, Acting Commissioner of Prisons, and prior to my appointment as Acting Commissioner, I was General Council for the prisons and Deputy City Solicitor of the Law Department and I was involved in settling the Jackson case. As I understand the way the money is set up there, that money came from the City General Fund and was placed in the fund that we have set up to distribute connected to the settlement so that's the way that works, as I understand it.
Well, it's used according to the settlement. We have an Oversight Committee that's made up of people from different City departments and plaintiff's counsel in the case. 702 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET And they meet on a monthly basis and it's to be used for, first of all, doing a comprehensive study of vocational and job training programs at the prison for people who are there and people who are going to be released. Second of all, once they study those programs and understand where we can make improvements, the rest of the money is supposed to go to help improve the services that we provide to the inmates.
Thank you. Councilwoman, thank you. I didn't take any part of your three minutes.
Okay. Thank you. Are we going back to the security terrorism issue?
Mike Nucci, Director of Emergency Management, which is under the Managing Director's Office.
I was asking, the gentleman said he thought that the increase in the line item on -9 was partly for the settlement of the Jackson case and was some federal money for terrorism.
We anticipate I believe it's 703 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET $1.15 million in the next Fiscal Year. Both from what we already know we're going to receive from the Office of Justice Programs which is the Federal Justice Department. It comes through the state and then to the cities and counties. So that's included in there plus what we anticipate is going to be available under the new Home Land Security Act.
How are you anticipating that? How are you calculating the money from the Home Land Security?
All the monies are going to be coming through the states. That's how they do it now rather than directly to the cities. For the next few months we are getting $500,000 from the Office of Justice Programs. They said there would be at least a similar amount in the next six months and that doesn't even include what we anticipate under the Home Land Security Act. But it all comes through the state.
Well, as I understand it, from my involvement with the National League of Cities, the cities are having a very hard time with the Office of Home Land Security in trying to even understand whether there will be any 704 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET appropriations for the local government.
One of the problems we're running into, in the past years the Defense Department, Justice Department dealt directly with the largest cities, which we are naturally 7 included in. Now the funds are going all to the 8 states and then they're dividing it up. They're 9 doing it by population. But that doesn't 10 necessarily define the amount of threat -- certainly 11 Forrest County in Pennsylvania if al-Qaeda showed up 12 there I'm pretty sure they would be lost. So we 13 have a bigger threat that really isn't taken into 14 consideration just by population. Yeah, I 15 understand the league of Cities is fighting for the 16 funding to be done through a different way. That 17 will be a good thing. That will be a good thing. 18
Thank you very 19 much. 20 One other question. The other day we 21 had the Office of Labor Relations in here and I 22 notice you have on -12 there is a Director of 23 Labor Standards and a Labor Standards Examiner. 24 Could you explain to me who they are, what they do 25 and what relationship do they have with the other 705 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Labor Relations Department?
Yes, councilwoman. The director of that office was Juan Ramos who recently resigned as of the end of last week. The purpose of that organization is to monitor Davis Bacon (ph) wage compliance on all federally funded contracts within the City of Philadelphia. So one was the director of that and the other employee listed there is one of the Labor Standards Examiners.
Was that a new position? Have we always had that position in the City?
Yes, both of those positions have been there for quite a while.
Councilwoman, 20 your time is up. Sorry. That completes our first go around. Our second go around will be five minutes. Mr. Goldsmith, -59 of the detail, you're requesting $28,000 for a WDF commissioning. What is a WDF commissioning? 706 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
I don't know, but I'm going to have someone come up here that does know.
Good morning. My name is Kent Miller. I'm Executive Director of the Municipal Energy Office. The WDF refers to the Women's Detention Center. As you know, that facility will open in the spring or early summer and the commissioning is seeing that all the mechanical and electrical systems are operating at their maximum efficiency.
Thank you. Mr. Goldsmith, on the same page you're requesting $10,000 for a Sustainable Life Styles Project and $25,000 to develop NTI Wall Insulation Strategy. Would you please explain these two?
I'll start with the Wall Insulation Strategy. One of the potential issues that arises when a building is removed in mid block is that it exposes a party wall which had not previously been exposed to the elements. And this often has an impact on the heating and cooling of the remaining building because you now don't have that insulation your neighbor's wall. We identified this as an issue and have discussed it with the 707 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET folks at NTI. It's pretty expensive to build a new exterior wall from scratch and our notion was that perhaps we could have some spray-on insulation that was covered with a material that made it durable. So we approached the Philadelphia University and they thought they could come up with something that might serve this purpose. So we're working with them to see if we can develop this approach to insulation.
I'd like to just go back to this WDF money, $28,000. What responsibility does new construction -- isn't there some contractual certification required that the vendor that's installing the HVC and all the other systems, don't they have to provide some documentation that everything is working? Why do we have to go and double-check the system and spend as much money if there should be some certification, initial certification, required?
There is initial certification. In this case I think it's Keating. We're concerned about keeping the mechanical systems 708 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET tuned once the building is in operation. Keating leaves after he's verified that the systems are operating as designed. But it takes a while for the building systems to be adjusted to the actual use of the facility. We believe that we can fine tune the building operations and save money.
You're requesting $75,000 for PIDC for the Anti Graffiti Voucher Program. Would you please explain this program and why are you contracting with PIDC?
Councilwoman, the $75,000 we contract with PIDC to operate our voucher program where we give paint and paint-related supplies to community groups to eradicate graffiti in their neighborhoods. The reason why we have it with PIDC is, as you know, the City every year, every several years, renegotiates its paint contracts, puts it out for bid. What we found was that every year, every two years we're getting a different vendor. When you get a different vendor you get a different paint. You get a different paint color. You get 709 2/26/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET different covering abilities. So what we decided on doing was we contracted with PIDC to pay the paint vouchers for us.
Is there any administrative cost attached to that?