7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Remote location using Microsoft® Teams Wednesday, November 17, 2021 9:00 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN MARIA D. QUINONES-SANCHEZ, CHAIR COUNCILMAN KENYATTA JOHNSON, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILMAN ALLAN DOMB COUNCILMAN DAVID OH COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL
210900, 210901 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 - - -
Good morning. Before we begin the public hearing of the Committee on Appropriations, I will make the following announcement. Due to the continuing threat to public health from COVID-19 and the Delta variant, City Council Committees are currently meeting remotely. We are using Microsoft Teams to make these remote hearings possible. Instructions for how the public may view and offer public testimony at public hearings of Council Committees are included in the public hearing notices that are published in the Daily News, Inquirer and Legal Intelligencer prior to all hearings and can also be found on PHLCouncil.com. I note that the hour has come. Will the Clerk please call the roll to take attendance. Members who are in attendance, will you please indicate that you are present when your 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 name is called. Also, please say a few brief words when responding so that your image can be displayed on screen when you speak. Will the Clerk please read the roll.
Good morning, everyone. Roll call: Councilmember Quinones-Sanchez.
He was having technology issues. Councilmember Thomas.
Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Appropriations regarding Bill Nos. 210900 and 210901. Will the Clerk please read the title of both bills.
Bill No. 210900, an ordinance authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021 from the General Fund from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, the Grants Revenue Fund 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, the Water Fund from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and the Aviation Fund from certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions to the General Fund to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, the Water Fund to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and the Aviation Fund to certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions. Bill No. 210901, an ordinance 16 authorizing transfers in appropriations for Fiscal Year 2022 from the General Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions, the Water Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and the Grants Revenue Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards and commissions and the Water Fund, certain or all City offices, departments, boards 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 and commissions.
Thank you. Before we begin to hear testimony from the witnesses we have here for today, everyone who has been invited to the public meeting to testify should be made aware that this is a public hearing and that it is being recorded. Because the hearing is public, participants and viewers have no 11 reasonable expectation of privacy. By continuing to be in the meeting, you're consenting to being recorded. Additionally, prior to recognizing Members for questions or comments they have for witnesses, I will note for the record at this time that we will use the chat feature, Council only, which is available on Microsoft Teams to allow Members to signify that they wish to be recognized. In order to comply with the Sunshine Act, the chat feature must only be used for this purpose. For purposes of this hearing because we have made all departments 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 available, we will start off with Rob Dubow on behalf of Marisa Waxman. Amy Patel and our Finance team and the Technical Office sent around all of the testimonies of all of the departments. After Rob Dubow's testimony, we will have Larry Krasner, the District Attorney, also testify. And then I will open it up to questions to Rob Dubow. Any Member who wishes to ask a question of any particular department, those department heads are available and will be made available to answer those questions. For purposes of efficiency, we wanted to have Rob do the initial testimony. All testimony and requests have been shared with all members of the Appropriations Committee. With that, I will turn it over to Rob Dubow, our Finance Director.
Yeah. Why don't you read those and we'll have the DA come on, and then 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 we'll get to questions. Thank you.
Okay. Great. Good morning, Chair Quinones-Sanchez and members of the Appropriations Committee. I'm Rob Dubow, Director of Finance. With me today are Dan Harard, the Operating Budgeting Director and Saudia Sattar, Deputy Budget Director of Analysis and Communications, and we're here to testify on the FY21 year-end transfer ordinance. You've also received written testimony from each department that has a request in transfer ordinance, and representatives of those departments are also here to answer questions. The ordinance proposes appropriations transfers within the General Fund, about 9.5 million; the Grants Revenue Fund, about 7.3 million; the Water Fund is about 8.4 million and the Aviation Fund is about 1.3 million. The ordinance is needed to transfer appropriations to those agencies and expenditure classes where 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 shortages occurred and will allow the proper recording of our final FY21 obligations, as required for our year-end closing of our financial records. In the testimony, we go through all of the specific transfers. I won't go through all of those now. But as the Chair said, you've seen the testimony. So thank you for the opportunity to testify. I will now move on to the midyear transfer ordinance. That proposed ordinance totals 42.5 million, including 32.4 million in the General Fund, and it provides transfers within the General Fund, in the Water Fund and from the Grants Revenue Fund to the General Fund and the Water Fund. It's needed to address the areas where funds are being realigned where shortages have occurred. And then again, as of the other ordinance all of those transfers are listed. And I won't go through all of them, but they are there should you have 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 any questions. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and we're here to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Rob. I'm sure there will be plenty of questions. Is DA Larry Krasner on the line? (No response.)
DA Krasner. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Hello. How are you, Councilmember?
Good. We are breaking in the middle of our Appropriations hearing and Rob Dubow's testimony to allow you to testify. Our condolences to the loss of Mr. Bernard Lee, who many of us know was a great man, and the loss of your team and Michael Lee. So with that, you can proceed with your testimony. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Great. Thank you very much, Councilmember. And I truly appreciate you're accommodating our schedule. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 Mr. Lee is very important to his institution, and his father was a wonderful guy so I really appreciate that. So I want to begin by saying how grateful I am for much of what has happened during the budget process. The approval of COLA(ph) made a huge difference. I need all of you to understand that there have been no increases for people who worked incredibly hard during the pandemic for more than two years. And this was going on while others within the same four walls were getting increases. The FOP, and we have FOP personnel, have gotten their increases. C. 47 has gotten its increases. I say that to say this, while the COLA certainly is helpful, it is not changing the fact that we have a tremendous level of dissatisfaction with compensation that is happening in the office. And it means that if we're not able to correct it, we will not be able to continue to do certain kinds of 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 programs that relate to gun violence because of attrition. Our attrition normally is about 50 a year approximately. This year so far it's 48, and we've got more than six months to go. We're looking at attrition among 300 lawyers on the scale of 100 or 120, and it is absolutely without question a direct consequence of the fact that promises of compensation were made that we understand couldn't be kept during a pandemic, but we need to at least try to get some of that back or we will continue to experience the loss of incredible talent. 1 million. 8 million that would allow us to adequately and fairly compensate attorneys and staff here. These are small raises after two years of waiting that are necessary, and they're necessary before the holidays unless we're going to watch that revolving door keep spinning as a 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 consequence of promises that have not been kept. There's also $500,000 which are essential for electronic discovery. Electronic discovery existed in this office for more than a decade and it shut down for when the courts were hacked a couple of years ago. It has caused tremendous disturbance within the court system because it creates situations where no matter how hard we try and how many reams of paper we go through, we often have the defense attorneys showing up saying they don't have something, which is either truthful or not, but they don't have something. It delays court proceedings. It results in no accountability on the part of both sides as to getting things done. And finally, there's another $800,000 that will be needed for new hires in September of '22. 1 million, what is the absolute immediate need? com. If we had to worry about funding for hires for next year for the spring, that would present no issue. Let me be as crystal clear as I can, and I'm going to respect your time, Councilmember. I'm so grateful for you accommodating my schedule, but let me be as clear as I can. We have several, several programs with the PPD that they believe in and we believe in to deal with gun violence. They have said that. We have said that. I can't do them anymore. And I can't do them anymore because we have stretched and stretched and stretched for two years and they involve the work of more than attorneys. In order to 19 do that stretching, I have often had to 20 assign one attorney to a courtroom where 21 two are necessary.
22 With a caseload that is bigger 23 than ever, during this Administration, 24 during the pandemic and with the courts 25 to their credit now talking about going 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 from jury trials a week to 8 or maybe even 10 with more and more courts being opened, including inside of the jail which we have as I said stretched to accommodate, we simply cannot put 12 attorneys out in the field as we did with the agreement of the Police Commissioner to be in the Detective Divisions. We can't do that. We cannot continue to do our weekly program with the PPD where we have the work of about 10 attorneys going over basically every new gun violence case to look for flaws and to look for improvements and look for trainings. That is a program that everybody says has worked, but I can't do it. 8 million because the employees I need are running out the front door. That's the reality. There are additional programs. We have somebody in the DVIC. There's never been a PPD employee in the DVIC, doing great work. We started our own intelligence unit here which had not 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 existed previously. I could go on. The conviction integrity work that we do is extremely important, and the public knows that, and they feel that and they care about it and they should because we shouldn't be putting innocent people in jail while guilty people go free. I want to do all those things, and that is why we have stretched as far as we possibly could. But do not be mislead. We are in a position where at current attrition without improvement in compensation, we could end up with 50 fewer attorneys than we've had. Right now the situation is not completely dire because our new class of 46 or 47 just arrived about a month and a half ago, but we are still experiencing over a period of six months double the normal rate of attrition, and something has to be done. Finally, let me just say this. This number does not come out of the air. It is the number the City agreed to in 2018. It is $1,000 a year of 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 increase for staff and $2,000 a year of increase for lawyers. That's all we're talking about here. We're talking about two missed years for staff that's 2 grand a piece, and two missed years for lawyers that's 4 grand a piece. We have lawyers here who work for less money than beginning police officers. They work for less money than beginning firefighters when you include overtime. Their benefits are not as good as either one of those entities. C. 47 and the FOP, don't have a problem getting their increases over these two years. I'm just being as open and honest as I can. I truly appreciate all of the support that we have gotten, but this is not something that can wait. Because every month that I'm not able to give them this frankly small amount of compensation to retain them, I can't do 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 those gun violence programs anymore. And every month that goes on, the attrition will increase and the situation will get worse as caseloads get bigger and bigger. 8 million happens immediately. com should also happen immediately. We're trying to get that up by January because it will help the entire system and reduce workload across the entire system. 3, and I'm more than happy to do that. I will tell you this, I have been in communication with the City. I had more than one conversation with Mr. Engler yesterday. In the past, I have spoken to the Mayor about this issue and tried to reach him both yesterday and today without success, although I'm sure that's just because 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 he's overwhelmed. You know, the Mayor does a lot. But those conversations have been cordial and they have been respectful and we are trying to work together. We're just not there. If we all mean what we say, which is that gun violence is our top priority, then the money should follow and the people are going to know that.
And that's why it's so essential that we have this little bit now. And I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to testify before you.
Thank you, DA Larry Krasner. For the record, I want to note that David Oh is present for the Committee and also joining us is Katherine Gilmore Richardson. For purposes of time and I know you have a funeral to attend, does any member of Council have any questions for DA Krasner about his additional requests? (No response.) 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21
Seeing none, it is our hope as you know through this budget process, we have asked that the DA's Office work with Finance and the Mayor's Administration. And we did come a long way from where we started. We're not where the DA wants to be. But I wanted to him to put stuff on the record. We will have a spring transfer ordinance, and we hope that the Administration will then be more prepared to fund this. And I wanted to make sure that you had an opportunity to put the concerns, the very legitimate concerns, on the record. So with no 17 further comment, thank you, DA Krasner. And once again, my condolences to the team on the loss of Mr. Bernard Lee. DISTRICT ATTORNEY KRASNER: Thank you.
Thank you. I'm going to ask Mr. Rob Dubow to come back so we can continue. Rob. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21
You're back. So similarly to the DA's Office, I just want you to put on the record because the testimony was circulated from the Sheriff's Office, which also highlighted some areas of concern, could you please put on the record the agreement that you have with the Sheriff's Office relevant to the testimony that was submitted for the record.
Yeah. We had a couple of conversations with the Sheriff yesterday. And what we've agreed to do is release from hold the 69 positions that they want to have billed, so they can move ahead with that process. And then if that winds up causing a budget need for them, come back in the spring and ask for additional funding.
So one of the issues that they brought up was the issue of being fully funded for the allocated 428 positions that 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 they have. So you mean to tell me that all of those positions are filled and the 69 brings them up to the 428?
That's correct. They have 360 filled positions now. So if they filled those 69 without other people leaving, they would get to the 429, so yes.
Okay. Can you say for the record why these positions had a hold on them? I know that they're on a hiring -- they've been on a campaign to hire. Was there a particular reason why these positions were held off for budget?
So how their budget is constructed, it included a vacancy allowance. So we assumed that some positions would not be filled for a portion of the year. So getting to 429 for the full year would have been more than their budget. So that's why they were held.
So they will now be allowed again to 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 hire immediately as part of their campaign to fill. DA Larry Krasner was speaking as courts get up and running, they are required to staff courts, so that will not impede their ability to do their mandated work at the court system?
Okay. They've also requested some assistance as it relates -- part of the problem has been the interaction with One Philly. Are those issues with One Philly going to be addressed as it relates to the impact on their department?
Thank you very much, Rob, for that and for working with us with the independent elected officials. I don't know if you had anything to add as it related to the conversation with DA Krasner. But is there a reason why we are delaying the traditional raises of 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 nonrepresented 4733 members of the City of Philadelphia and when is your expected date to comply with the tradition that nonrepresented and other members automatically get raises when we generate an agreement with the collective bargaining unit?
Yeah. We expect to have another transfer ordinance we'll propose early in Calendar '22 that will take care of those transfers. And part of that will be for the District Attorney, and our calculation is that will be about another 800,000 for the DA. So with this 1.4 in this ordinance, they will get a total of about 2.2 million.
So are those raises going to be retroactive or are they just moving forward? And how does this compare with to other years when these agreements have been reached?
We're handling them the same way we have in other years, 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 which is to give departments the funding to provide raises to exempts that are equal to the raises going to members of District Council 47.
Okay. All right. The last issue, and then I'll open it up if any members of the Committee have additional questions, I want to speak to, and I know that Katherine Gilmore Richardson has joined us, the issue of the resource centers. So I don't know if Commissioner Ali is on board that could summarize and come forward so we can put some questions and concerns on the record. Commissioner Ali, good morning. COMMISSIONER ALI: Good morning, Chairwoman Quinones-Sanchez, members of the Appropriations Committee as well as Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson. I am Kimberly Ali, 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. With me today is Nadine Parese, who is Chief Financial Officer, as well as Dr. Gary D. Williams who's Deputy Commissioner of Juvenile Justice Services. We are here to testify on behalf of the Department of Human Services' request for $1,538,750 for the new community evening resource centers. We are requesting this funding to support the implementation of three new community evening resource centers located in the East, South and Southwest Division of the City. The Department of Human Services work in close collaboration with the Philadelphia Police Department to strategically align the centers within the three police divisions outlined above. The centers are part of the City's broader strategies to engage youth and families by offering services to avoid further system involvement. They are designed to be a resource for 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 youth who violate their curfews by offering site-based services as well as service linkages to promote positive youth development. The three main goals of the CRCs are to provide a safe space for youth and positive youth development, prevent curfew violations and offer community services and support to youth and their families who may be at risk for juvenile justice for child welfare involvement as well as to improve community and family engagement to support Philadelphia's youth. The community evening resource centers will operate between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. and offer an array of structured activities including, but not limited to, mentoring, focused group discussions on violence prevention and conflict resolution, computer labs and technology, athletic programming, cultural trips and workforce development. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 Additionally, the CRCs are required to prioritize family and community engagement to better understand the needs of youth and their families as well as build supportive networks that promote safety and well- being. Contingent upon appropriate funding, DHS and our provider partners are on track to open the three centers in December of 2021. Thank you for the opportunity for me to testify today. My team and I are here to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you. Commissioner, we've been in conversations about the process and the selection of these centers, so there's a couple of concerns that I want to put on the record that I want you to respond to. One, I understand that there was a robust RFP process after an initial roll-out that was going to put the centers in existing vendor situations. There was a robust proposal 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 process and a national organization was selected in the East Division. I'm going to speak specifically to the East Division, which again I was agnostic to the organization. My issues of concern that I put on the table is the organization while it seems that yesterday I had an opportunity to go through their website after a conversation with my colleague Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and some of the areas of concern for me have been the selection of a national organization as opposed to a local organization to do this work, the issue of cultural competency and language access. And more importantly, the issue of a location. The East Division is a huge division within the police district encompassing over 125,000 Latinos. And this is a real issue with many, many different neighborhoods, Kensington and others, and the fact that the location that was selected is not either central 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 or not even easy to get to from public transportation. So for the record, can you please respond to those concerns? COMMISSIONER ALI: Certainly, Councilmember. I indicated the provider that was selected for the East Division, the East Division consist of the 24th Police District, the 25th and the 26th Police District. This provider is in the 26th Police District. Despite the fact that the provider is a nationally known provider, this provider has had roots in the City of Philadelphia for over years. They actually have been 15 a provider for the City of Philadelphia 16 for juvenile justice services most 17 recently, but also child welfare 18 services. 19 They actually operate in 20 existing evening reporting center for 21 juvenile justice, young people to 22 prevent further penetration into the 23 juvenile justice system. They have been 24 operating that evening reporting center 25 for the past seven years, so they 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 certainly have expertise in providing this site-based service. Although located in the 26th Police District, they actually service young people from around the City, so they are a city-wide provider. So as a city-wide provider, certainly they work with all ethnic backgrounds to include the Latinx population as well. The provider certainly is eager to enter into any partnerships with more culturally competent providers and they welcome the opportunity. They currently have four bilingual staff who are currently working with the young people on the ground. We also partnered with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs to ensure that there's appropriate language access. Although they do have bilingual staff on board, we certainly want to make sure that all documents that are printed are also printed in different languages. The provider has been a credible provider for the Department. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 As indicated, we did have a very robust RFP process that consisted of not only just a proposal, but also consisted of a presentation. We recognize the fact that people are able to write proposals and write proposals extremely well, so my team wanted to also have an opportunity to ask the provider questions, certainly understand their framework and the programming that they want to offer to the young people who have curfew violations. And then we also did a site visit. So my team also went to visit the sites of all the potential CRCs, the top finalists, not all of the CRCs. And so, the provider is eager to start.
Again, we're able to -- we will continue to partner with them as well as the other two providers to make sure that their roll-out is successful.
So you did a site visit, and it had become obvious and for anyone who's doing the resource center for young 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 people with such a large geography that location, location, location is important. We have some people who won't go to the west side of Broad Street, some people that won't go to the west side of 6th Street, some people who won't go above Lehigh Avenue. Can you speak to me why you do not think their location, which is not centrally located, not accessible to public transportation, if I have somebody on Front and Wyoming, I do not see a young person going from Front and Wyoming to 9th and Jefferson, how do you not believe that this location can be an impediment to the success of the program? COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes, I'll speak to that, Councilmember. So the first thing I would say is that in terms of transportation, that given the fact that these young people will be picked up by the police, the first goal is to return the young person to his or her home. If the police are unsuccessful 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 with returning the young person to his or her home, then that police will transfer the young person to the curfew center. But as indicated, the curfew center hours are from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. because it is our hope that the young people in the community will actually go to the center. And so, we will be providing transportation. However, recognizing that we do recognize that the City is a city of neighborhoods, and that's why the provider is willing to partner with organizations in the community, in the Division, so if they want to continue to engage the young people, then they can do so by partnering with an organization that is more centrally located. So as I stated, the organization is certainly willing to do that.
When I asked your office if I could review the proposal of this awarded and selected candidate, why was I denied access to the proposal? 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 COMMISSIONER ALI: Yes. So actually after our conversation, Councilmember, I had a conversation with my colleagues in the CAO Office about when can proposals be released. The proposals are not public at this point. And so, I was informed that after conformance of a contract, then you can make a request to the office and then we can release the proposal. So it's after conformance. As it stands, the public information to date is the information that's listed on e-contracts, and then it's the name of the three providers that were selected in addition to the other applicants who applied.
Yeah. And I want to state for the record I want to recognize my Council colleague Katherine Gilmore Richardson because she did so much work on this. I think as Chair of Appropriations and as an independently elected official, our RFP process should 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 remain again the integrity of the RFP, but once a contractor is awarded, the fact that we cannot see what they're proposing until we are fully financially and liably encumbered to them is problematic. We're going to have to debate legally around that. Many times I have providers in my District who solicit, provide executive summaries to me because they need letters of support. So this is something new that I've heard and that is very problematic, and I believe impedes my ability to do the job that I'm elected to do, which is to ensure transparency and that the organizations that are providing these services -- again, yesterday when I had an opportunity to look at the website, some of the work that they're doing seems very, very admirable. Not that I know everybody that's in the area, but I work extremely closely with my East Division, and someone's national credibility and 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 expertise doesn't necessarily translate well to boots on the ground. So I am still not satisfied with the answers that I've received to date as it relates to this. I think location, location, location is important. We talk about that all the time. And it is 2021, and when I have to talk about cultural competency and you stated four staff people are bilingual, it's just not enough. So with that, I will recognize Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. And I want to thank you and our colleagues and the Department of Human Services Commissioner Ali and all of us who have worked really hard on this issue to bring community evening resource centers to the City and across the City of Philadelphia. So I just wanted to rise first to thank everyone for your work. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 But secondly, to thank my Committee Chair for the concerns around the center in the East Division. And I know that when we initially looked at the data where the 24th, 25th and 26th Police Districts were, we all thought that that would be a center located in the 7th District. So I rise just to say that I am here to work together to figure out how we can come to common ground and resolution on this issue and figure if there is anything that we can do from looking at any of the prevention dollars, any potential underspending to figure out how we can ensure that we have a center in the 7th District that is in the true area of the East Division that we were targeting based on the data from the DVIC. And I am ready and willing to continue to do the work we've been doing over the past couple of weeks to try to get us to the finish line. So thank you all so very, very much. I look forward to continuing to work with 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 you. As you say, Councilmember Sanchez, this is not an and or an or. It's an and, it's an and, it's an and. And it's always more we will do to ensure that we have coverage in a variety of areas and neighborhoods across our City. So thank you very, very much. The work continues.
Thank you. So, Commissioner, I look forward as my conversation with the Chief of Staff to a site visit. I am still not prepared to support this. I will be putting in an amendment to withdraw the center until we can make sure that this is centrally located and the issues that I've addressed. Again, this is 2021. Cultural competency and language access are usually important, but for me the issue of the geography is even more important. I want these young people, any young person who is out in the street 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 between 7:00 to 2:00 a.m. to know that they have a place to go, they can potentially be safe and if they're interacting with the police. I am still not convinced based on my experience, my years doing youth leadership prior to 7 coming to Council, that this is an 8 effective location for what we want to 9 do. 10 And the last thing I want is 11 for us to invest a half million dollars 12 and then for me to be told at the end of 13 the year that we have a low 14 participation rate in a center that 15 we're working so very hard, and this is 16 a priority of City Council. And again, 17 when I look at the organizations, much 18 of the work is admirable. I don't know 19 that it translates to boots on the 20 ground. And I won't be satisfied until I see a sincere partnership with a culturally competent organization that people feel comfortable with. So I thank you for the conversation. So I look forward to that 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 site visit and the ongoing conversation of this. I definitely don't want to be seen as somebody who's obstructing this, but I also feel very strongly because of my past experience with youth leadership and working with youth that location, location will matter and will either negatively contribute to this or positively contribute to this if we are accessible to the young people we're trying to reach. We have schools like Edison and Kensington and others in the area, and this location again is not easily available on public transportation or centrally located for the families that we look to represent. Thank you very much, Commissioner.
May I be recognized very quickly on this again? 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21
Okay. Thank you so much. The other thing I was thinking for the record is if we can get the data around the more recent curfew violations across the City of Philadelphia so that we can quantify, particularly in East Division where we're seeing the most curfew violations so that we have that for the record. And then also, can you speak to the part of the process where organizations are supposed to be engaging with community groups and organizations on the ground who have not only the cultural competency but have some type of credibility in those communities. Could you just speak to that part of the process because I think it's important to get that on the record because I know from the onset of this, we were seeking to ensure that any organizations or individuals who provide 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 this service have trusted, credible messengers from local communities who could really work with the young people, help them with some of the issues around conflict resolution if those issues should arise. I just wanted to make sure that we also got that on the record as well. COMMISSIONER ALI: Absolutely, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson. And so, I will talk to our police partners who have been at the table with us so that they can provide Council updated on the curfew violations. This will certainly be essential as we roll out, particularly the community evening resource centers so that if we are certainly having an impact on curfew violations, so we will be sure to make sure that our partners at the police department send that over. But in terms of the partnership, yes, in the request for proposal we actually required the provider to also partner with credible 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 messenger organizations. And so, at the table with us is the Office of Violence Prevention. We also have CBHR partners at Community Behavioral Health and Department of Behavioral Health also at the table because we also believe this is an opportunity to make sure that young people who need just a little bit more in terms of wellness and behavior health support, that they also are aware of those services as well. Additionally, at the table with us in terms of the roll-out, there's other providers that the Department of Human Services contract with, including our prevention providers on the juvenile justice side as well as our prevention providers on the child welfare side, and certainly the array of services that are offered through our Office of Children and Families to include OST, so Out-of-School Time, the evening reporting centers, et cetera, et cetera. So that is definitely a requirement. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 Again, the providers are eager. They have already started some of those partnerships. Two of the providers are already existing providers, so they are very much familiar with the array of services that are offered. However, we want to be more targeted in our approach to make sure that the young people who are brought to the center have easy access to the additional services.
Okay. Thank you very much. And lastly, as far as the composition of revenue for these centers, if you can just state for the record where the dollars are coming from? Because what I'm seeking to understand is there an opportunity for us to ensure that this can be expanded based on whatever opinion we need to get from the CAO and Stephanie Tipton's office to say, we already know that a number of these organizations have been vetted, and is there an opportunity just to add another center to ensure there's one in the 24th 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 or the 25th, which I think the data that we looked at originally was one of the higher police districts for the curfew violations since we're already so far in the process so we can get that information from the CAO's office? Is there an opportunity to do that and look at either underspending dollars that have not been spent for OST or the original OST dollars? I know I talk about this all the time, but the original OST dollars that used to be under DHS, it was about $20 million, where are those dollars and can we look at how we can get another 650,000 from that underspending if there is any underspending in those dollars to fund the center in the area where we have the most curfew violations in the 24th or the 25th? COMMISSIONER ALI: So there is no additional dollars, Councilmember Gilmore Richardson. All the funding has already been allocated. The money to support these community evening resource 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 centers were all General Fund dollars, so the $1.5 million is all General Fund. The Department of Human Services actually used underspending in order to support the third center because at the point we were going to release the RFP, we were actually going to send them two centers, which would have been the $1.5 million. And so, the Department already used underspending over $400,000 to support this third center. So given the fact that our money has already been allocated, we certainly don't have the funds to support a third center without this General Fund allocation. And in terms of the Out-of-School Time dollars, Out-of-School Time dollars are still under the Department of Human Services. And Out-of-School dollars actually use a combination of state funds, which is 80 percent of the allocation and then 20 percent is General Funds. So the General Fund dollars for the Out-of-School Time is actually just a 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 little over $700,000. So if I was to pull $650,000 from Out-of-School Time, then that would mean that we would not be able to operate the thousands of Out-of-School slots that we have in the City of Philadelphia.
Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. And thank you so much, Madam Chair, for your latitude.
Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. I look forward to again the site visit and the ongoing conversation around this issue. Thank you so very much. COMMISSIONER ALI: Thank you.
So I'm going to apologize because I know Councilmember Thomas had a question around the DA's budget. Councilmember Thomas, is that question for our Finance Director Rob Dubow? And can I have Rob Dubow come 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 back.
Madam Chair, yes, it's actually for our Finance Director.
Please proceed with your question, Councilmember.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you and Councilmember Gilmore Richardson for your line of questioning. I support your concerns, and I feel like we do have to get that right for our centers. Mr. Dubow, first of all, good morning to you and your team. Thank you for all you're doing.
In listening to the testimony today, it was just some level of confusion on my end. And I just want to be clear about where we are. So the Administration has already given the District Attorney's Office funds in the past. I want to be clear, you said in your testimony that 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 you have 1.4 million along with another -- or maybe 1.7 it was along with another 800,000. So are you looking at 2.5 million in additional money for the District Attorney's Office or is the 1.4 that you've referenced money that they've already gotten?
So the 1.4 would be in addition to their original FY22 appropriation, so that would be an additional 1.4. And then there's an additional almost 800,000 that we anticipate coming back to Council and requesting as part of a larger transfer ordinance to address pay raises for exempt and nonrepresented employees.
Okay. I just want to put something on the record because I think this is important that we understand this. Madam Chair Councilmember Sanchez has been working really hard with the members of the Appropriations Committee to find out what the District Attorney needs to give the staff members over there the raises 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 that was discussed in the conversation as well as maintain the programs. On the Council side, I've talked to other members of the Appropriations Committee. We're open to giving the District Attorney the $2.5 million that they're asking for. I'm wondering yes or no, are you saying that you and the Administration are okay with the District Attorney getting the $2.4, $2.5 million in additional money that they're asking for? Is that a yes on your end?
So there's a total of 5.3 million that they're asking for. We're okay with 2.2 of that.
So I want to be clear, you're okay with 2.2 but Council is okay with more than that. We're okay with giving them more than 2.2. Our number is a little higher as to what we want to see. But the number that you've landed at is 2.2. So I just want to make sure we're on the record for that so that there's no 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 miscommunication as it relates to why the District Attorney didn't get the dollars that they asked for. Madam Chair, I just wanted to clarify that and put that information on the record. And we want to make sure that we're pushing the Administration to assure that the dollars is spent in the way that's equitable and address public safety. We all just heard his testimony. We heard the concerns that he has. We heard the dollars that's needed. I'm hoping that throughout the course of our conversation today that somebody from your team can touch base with District Attorney Krasner and we can make sure that we're doing all that we need to do to be able to address all public safety concerns that the constituents of Philadelphia communicate to us every single day on a consistent basis. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21
Thank you. And again, Councilmember, this is the beginning of the fiscal year and everybody and their budgets can continue to operate. This is not an issue that we need to resolve today. I think the issue of the overall raises is an issue for the 3,000 unrepresented folks and the other different departments to get the raises, which is why I asked the question of Rob. We don't want to get into a situation where we're putting in an amendment and allocating money if the Administration is not going to spend it. And so, we're going to strongly use our advocacy voice to encourage the Administration to work with our DA to get to a better resolution so that in the spring we can have a different conversation. The reason I allowed the DA to come forth and put that forward because he also has to be held accountable to what the request is and the details of 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 it so that we're aware how this ties into our crime prevention and all of the work that's being done in coordination with the police department and others. So I agree with you. I'm hopeful that the Administration and the DA's Office will work through this, and that in the spring we're at a better place.
Madam Chair, just one point of information that I think we have to emphasize and you just said it in the midst of your remarks. We can allocate the money to where we feel like it needs to go. But if the Administration is not going to spend it, then our allocation and our quote is simply semantics. So I just want to clear all this stuff up for the record because we've had a lot of negotiations to try to put us in a position where we're trying to do what's best for everybody, and I just want everybody to understand what our role is, what the Administration's role is and what we as 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 the Appropriations Committee are in support of. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate you.
Thank you so much. I also want to apologize. I think Sheriff Bilal had her hand up, and I wasn't sure if she wanted to add anything to the discussion we had around the Sheriff's Department. Rochelle Bilal. My apologies. (Background interruption.)
Can somebody go on mute. Sheriff Bilal, did you have something you wanted to add? SHERIFF BILAL: Yes.
My apologies. SHERIFF BILAL: That's okay. Good morning, Chairwoman Sanchez and the Appropriations Committee. Rob Dubow did state that the 69 in reference to our staff, that does not bring us up to 428 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 so we will be back in the spring. Basically, we got 297. The 69 positions will not bring us all the way up to what we are budgeted as far as 428. It brings us up to 368, so we are still deficient in that area in reference to our employees here in the Sheriff's Office that cover the courts. I just wanted to put that on the record. That does not bring us up to 428.
Well thank you, Sheriff Bilal. And the Chair of Appropriations and this Council will continue to work with you. And the Administration, they have assured me that they will allow you to hire up. I know you're in the middle of a campaign and we will be back here in the spring, and I wanted to make sure this stuff was on the record so that in the spring with DA Krasner, that you're working with the Administration and you get to a place of mutual agreement around this. So thank you so very much. Thank you for your patience and your willingness to work 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 with the Budget Office on this. SHERIFF BILAL: Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the Appropriations Committee for any other departments related to Fiscal Year 2022, '21, the close-out year or Fiscal Year '22?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to thank the Sheriff's Office as well too, and thank you for your line of questioning. And thank them for all their support that they've provided to City Council, the Administration and to other sectors just to be able to do their part and address the public safety and to just assure my vote of confidence in supporting them in the admissions that they've requested to 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 make sure that their office functions. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any other members of the public here to testify that have not had an opportunity to testify on these two bills? (No response.)
I don't think we had any public testimony that was requested at this time. We're going to pause for five minutes and we'll come back and conclude the public hearing of the Appropriations and go into our public meeting. For Lonnie and the team, five minutes please. (Brief recess.)
Thank you so very much. For the record, I want to welcome everyone back to the Committee on Appropriations. We concluded the public hearing of the Committee and we will now go into our 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 public meeting to consider the actions to be taken on the bills before the Committee today. We will convene the public meeting. Will the Clerk please call the roll to take attendance once again and ask Members in attendance to please indicate that you are present when your name is called. Also, say a brief few words when responding so that your image can be displayed on the screen when you speak. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.
Thank you. We will now go into the public meeting for the record. Is Vice-Chairman Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson ready with the amendment?
Thank you. So we'll start with Bill 3 210 -- the Chair recognizes Councilmember Vice-Chair Kenyatta Johnson for a motion on Bill 210900, which is moving forward without an amendment.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 210900 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council.
Thank you. For the record, the Chair notes that Councilmember Oh has seconded the motion. It has been moved and properly seconded that Bill No. 210900 be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation. All those in favor say aye. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 (Aye.)
Seeing none, this bill has now been properly moved and seconded and voted on. Bill No. 210900 will be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading at our next session. Thank you. The Chair recognizes Vice-Chairman for an amendment on Bill 16 No. 210901.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I offer an amendment to Bill 20 No. 210910. A copy of the amendment has been circulated to all members of the Committee. I move that the amendment to Bill No. 210901 be approved.
7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 Chair recognizes Councilmember Oh has seconded the motion. All those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The amendment is adopted. The Chair recognizes Vice-Chairman Johnson on the motion of the amended bill of 210901.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 210901 as amended be reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at the next session of Council.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Neill has 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 seconded the motion. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
So Bill No. 210901 as amended has been reported from this Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended to permit first reading of this bill at our next session of Council. This concludes the business before the Appropriations Committee today. I want to thank everyone for their time and their patience this morning. Thank you very much for your attendance to my colleagues. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21
Thank you very much. (Committee on Appropriations concluded at 10:22 a.m.) 7696def0-7c06-4c78-9891-46ae659a6e21 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and this is a correct transcript of the same. ______________________________ TANEHA CARROLL