2035 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Tuesday, March 12, 2002 9:47 .m. Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, PA - - - CONTINUED FY '03 OPERATING BUDGET TESTIMONY PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE L. BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN FRANK J. DICICCO COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 2036 3/12/02 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE INDEX (CONT'D FY03 OPERATING BUDGET TESTIMONY/BILL 020001) WITNESS CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION N. DiPiero, Chairman............................ 1250 PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT Linda Orfanelli, Director....................... 1253 PHILADELPHIA FREE LIBRARY Elliot Shelkrot, President...................... 1266 Bill Fleming, Admin. Services................... 1277 HUMAN RELATIONS COMM. and FAIR HOUSING COMM. Lazar Kleit, Executive Director................. 1291 PHILADELPHIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE Dr. Stephen M. Curtis, President................ 1294 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT and CITY REPRESENTATIVE James Cuorato, Director......................... 1308 Rob Dubow, Budget Director...................... 1328 Mjenzi, Traylor, First Deputy Director.......... 1363 PHILADELPHIA CIVIC CENTER James L. Coleman, Jr., Executive Director....... 1376 PHILADELPHIA COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION Curtis Jones, President and CEO................. 1381 SEPTA Faye Moore, General Manager..................... 1386 Jettie Newkirk, SEPTA Board Member.............. 1387 Frances Jones, Asst. Gen. Mgr. Gov't Affairs.... 1408 * * * 2037 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
Good morning, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 5 020001. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please call the first group to testify.
Fine, thank you. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, and I'm here this morning to give the financial report to the Council.
Good morning, Council President Verna and members of City Council. I am 2038 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, and I am pleased to testify on behalf myself and the Civil Service Commissioners Marwan Dreidie and the Reverend Repsie Warren in support of the Commission's budget request for Fiscal Year 2003. Our total budget request of $161,652 represents an increase of $2,289 over our FY '02 estimated obligations of $159,363. This increase is reflected in the Class 300 and provides for the negotiated salary increase of our civil-service employees. The remainder of our request is unchanged from the Fiscal Year '02 level and will provide funds for training, necessary materials and supplies, and the purchase of minor equipment. Under the Home Rule Charter, the Commissioners are charged with approving or disapproving a large variety of actions affecting civil-service employees. These include establishment of job classes, positions and pay classifications, residency waivers, personnel services contracts, civil-service regulations, and exemptions from the civil service. The major role of the Civil Service 2039 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 Commission is to function as an appellate body to hear and decide on civil-service employees' appeals on personal decisions. Most appeals are regarding dismissals, suspensions of more than days, the 6 motions, oral examinations, denials for requests of 7 leaves of absence, and claims regarding injured-on- 8 duty time. Fiscal Year to date, the Commissioners 9 have received 108 appeals and have issued 95 10 opinions and orders resolving appeals. With this budget, President Verna and members of the Council, the Commission can continue its important work of assuring the preservation of the Philadelphia merit system, as mandated by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter.
I'd also, Madam President, like to note our new personnel director. We just got her in the last couple of months and I'm very impressed.
Mm-hmm, wonderful. Councilman Goode, do you have any questions or comments? 2040 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
Mr. DiPiero, thank you very much. I think you're going to make it just in time for your meeting.
Good morning, President Verna and members of City Council. I'm Linda Orfanelli, Personnel Director for the City of Philadelphia, and I'm here to present testimony on supporting the Department's Fiscal Year 2003 budget, which totals $4,448,275. With me today are Deputy Personnel Director James Kimson and Administrative Services Director Celia O'Leary. The mission of the Personnel Department is to recruit and retain a diverse and effective workforce to support the goals of the City. Various programs and initiatives have been 2041 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 developed to accomplish our mission and, I will highlight some of these for you. We've been involved in workforce planning and succession planning, which are a very important aspect of our job right now due to the DROP Program. We have an extensive testing program. In FY '02 to date, the Personnel Department has received about 43,000 applications, tested over 28,000 people, and ranked 8500 candidates from more than 300 eligible lists. We are continuing our efforts in recruitment and selection to achieve an increasingly diverse workforce. As you are aware, I have been the Personnel Director for about two months. I've been spending my time primarily getting to know my staff, assessing departmental functions, strengths and weaknesses. There are many dedicated, high-calibre employees in our department. In the future, I will be making some minor changes in job assignment. Next month, we will be acquainting Personnel officers with some important processing changes, which will simply Personnel transactions. 2042 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 We will also introduce a new Affirmative Action module, which has been purchased as a result of changes in federal regulations. The Personnel Department is the central agency which provides services to all departments. We have been providing the service in a customer-friendly way, and we need to enhance that ability to do an even better job of being customer- friendly. As a result, I have designated a senior staff member to be my ambassador to the departments. We will begin to meet with commissioners to determine what their specific needs are so that we can help them to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. The person I'm appointing is a long-term civil-service employee who has valuable institutional wisdom, as well as other important skills and abilities. This concludes my testimony, and I will be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Thank you very much. Miss Orfanelli, please identify the seven departments that you are assisting with succession planning. 2043 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
The departments that we will be assisting are the Health Department, Licenses and Inspections, Recreation, Revenue, Streets, Library, and the seventh department has not been determined at this point. Under consideration are prisons and Public Property.
Is there any particular reason why these departments were targeted?
We targeted those departments because of the diverse types of positions that would be leaving and also the number of people who would be leaving in the DROP. They are among the departments that have the most employees that will be dropping.
You state in your testimony that one of keystones to achieving our goal of effective employee recruitment and selection is the development and management of an annual citywide workforce plan. In light of the job freeze, what positions will you be recruiting for?
Okay, we will still be recruiting for positions that are critical, such as 2044 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 social worker, police officer, firefighters, and other positions that become critical as people leave, and that kind of will be determined by the DROP and also people that will leave unexpectedly.
The Police Department indicated when they were here last for their hearing that they will hire close to 500 officers during FY '03. Do you have sufficient resources in your FY '03 budget for this?
Yes, we do. We have budgeted enough to do the testing that's required for those classes.
With respect to the DROP-related workforce changes, what service are the consulting firm providing, and what is the cost for their contract? Have you -- or have they given you an estimate of the implementation costs?
I don't have the 2045 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 contract in front of me. The cost of the contract is within the $300,000 range. I believe the Managing Director or the Budget Director could give you the specific amount for that. They will be meeting with key members of our departments, assessing their processes, going -- interviewing people who will be leaving to get a sense of the type of skills that are walking out the door. We're going to have a steering committee, which will meet with the consultant to make that they're on track to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish in terms of either re-engineering certain work processes or doing it in a smarter way.
I thought I had read that under the DROP Program, for instance, if three people were leaving from a particular department, they would only rehire two.
That's a goal; that isn't necessarily what's going to happen exactly in each department. In some departments, we might hire more than in other departments, and that will be determined by --
Who will make 2046 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 that determination?
The consultant will be making recommendation; the determination will be made by us.
When you say "us," do you mean the Personnel Department, or will it be a group of people making that decision?
That will be the Managing Director, the Finance Director, the Personnel Director. Those departments are the key departments that will be involved, Labor Relations.
I honestly don't know why we would need a consultant, but that's neither here nor there; it's only $300,000, and what's another $300,000? The Chair recognizes Councilman Goode.
Thank you, Madam President. I have one question. Good morning, Miss Orfanelli.
In what employment 2047 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 categories have you experienced recruitment problems?
Well, we have had problems with -- and this is not new -- with police. This goes back many years. We have many applicants but very few, but when it comes time to qualify people, the number drops dramatically. We still have managed to maintain the numbers we need in the Police Department, but it is a challenge.
Social workers is another category that we have problems with.
We have turnover in other areas; for example, in the Airport laborers, we have turnovers. So it's -- every department has challenges, and it varies from year to year. It depends on the number leaving and the list that are available. Sometimes we have many lists that we 2048 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 have ongoing, and every so often, we have a list that we needed that we didn't know that we needed, for example. Things like that do happen.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Personnel Director Orfanelli.
Just a quick question. I had contacted your office on a couple occasions with regard to a couple of employees who are presently away, I guess, in a variety of 2049 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 assignments, serving our country during the national crisis, and I know that the Mayor did make the decision to pay the $500 a month that was initially offered. I've received some calls and letters recently from family members or spouses trying to follow up on actually how to get the funds. I traded calls with someone in your office the other day. Can you tell me what the process is for people to access those dollars?
Okay, the process is being administered by the Finance Department, but the department has to contact their own payroll personnel. Say if you were a Streets employee, you go to your own payroll personnel division, give them your information, and then they send it to Central Payroll to be processed.
And this is being done now routinely; I think that they started doing it about -- it's about a month now, maybe a little less than a month.
So do we know if all 2050 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 of the people who are eligible are actually receiving what they're supposed to receive?
I'm not sure. I think they're doing it monthly, and I think they're only run one so far. Now, whether or not they have captured everybody at that tim and had all the information, I can't really say.
Okay. Could you check with the appropriate people and report back through the Chair --
-- what the one-month activity has been, the universe of people who actually should receive, and then an actual number. I don't need to know the names of the individuals.
But I think the population is close to 300 -- 264, 265, somewhere in that area?
The number that they pressed the first month was considerably lower, which leads me to believe that the information had not been supplied by the employees because when I 2051 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 actually did check and asked them how it went, the number they processed was a lot lower than that number.
Well, the employee has to give information about where they are, where to send the money. I mean, if the person's in Afghanistan and have not contacted us, we don't know where to send the money.
I understand. I'm left with the impression that a lot of our public employees are not necessarily in Afghanistan. They may be in some faraway places, but I don't know necessarily that they've left the United States.
In that circumstance, I mean, wouldn't we at least know that they're gone?
That's correct. 2052 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 If an employee went out early and they're, let's say, serving, say, in California, and they don't know that we're now paying up-front, then they wouldn't have known to contact us.
Have we contacted all of the people we know who are away to tell them what's going on or tried to reach a local address or the family here?
I can check with Central Payroll, but it's the departments that have to do the contacting, so I can ask them to check for us.
Are there any other questions? (No further questions.)
Again, Miss Orfanelli, congratulations. We wish you the best of luck. 2053 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
Good morning, Madam Chair. Elliot Shelkrot is on his way. My name is Bill 7 Fleming, and I'm the Administrative Services Director. He will be here in a few minutes; I was just in touch with him. So if you could just give us five minutes.
Very well. We're patient, we'll wait. (Break taken.) (Proceedings resume.) - - -
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record. and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. I'm Elliot Shelkrot, President of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and I'm delighted to be here. I do apologize. I am usually here early, but at any rate... 2054 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 President Verna and members of Council, I'm very pleased to report that the City's dollars are providing safe and enriching after-school programs for our children, beautiful and renovated facilities. And I am summarizing what is in the written testimony. These facilities are economic assets to their neighborhoods, programs to encourage young people of all ages to read, expand our collections in many languages to deal with the growing diversity of languages spoken in the communities of Philadelphia and, of course, computers and training to help Philadelphians bridge the digital divide. This budget calls for a total of $48,167,502; of City money, it includes $36 million, and about $12 million of Grant Revenue from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And it represents only a small increase over previous years to cover the salary commitments. Nonetheless -- and with this, I should say, we see a very exciting year ahead. More people than ever are using the Free Library of Philadelphia, and we expect that to continue. In December, we opened the Haddington 2055 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 branch, the 50th of the renovated branch libraries, and I do want to let you know that the Independence Library, which opened a year ago in the Balch Institute at 7th near Market, is already the busiest library in the City of Philadelphia, and this library is reaching a community -- many communities that we have not been able to reach before because there has been no library in that part of town. And it's especially pleasing to see the number of Chinese and Asian people coming to use that library because we do have collections in that native language, as well as things for the children from the Chinatown community. By the end of Fiscal '03, the year for which this budget is presented, there will have been more than 6 million visits to the Free Library in that one year. Additionally, I want you to know that as much as we worry about the circulation of books and the reading of books and other materials, this year, by the end of this year, we will have exceeded 7 million items borrowed for the first time in the history of the Free Library, more than when Philadelphia had over 2 million books, and we 2056 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 anticipate that that will increase so that at the end of the '03 budget year, we will have 71 million items that have been borrowed. I will tell you that the hottest location, the hottest spot now for libraries is our Website, and we receive some 3 million hits per week -- per month, excuse me. And at the end of '03, there will have been over a half million of unique users -- that means separate individuals coming from separate computers -- using the Free Library's online services. This year, we have started an e-mail reference question-answering program, and with the money in this budget and with the assistance of the Grants Revenue money, we will be providing online librarians available to answer questions working in a consortium with libraries across the State. This will not just be our own doing, but if an individual wants to ask a reference question, we will guarantees there will be a librarian available. And, of course, as I said, our computers are very much involved and our libraries are very much involved in the digital divide. We now have 2057 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 750 computers for use by the public and are working closely with the Mayor's Office of Information Services. We have just this year begun a program of leasing computers rather than purchasing them. And this has become a great savings to us and is being watched by Procurement and MOIS as we proceed with this.
Because it is necessary for us to replace the computers every three years, to have them on a lease basis means that we can get the new computers, which people expect and which our youngsters need to be aware of, as well as the upgrades in the software, which is handled under this lease program. And we anticipate some $40,000 worth of savings to come out of this leasing program every year rather than the purchasing and handling of the maintenance and upgrades ourselves. With children and teens, continuing a major focus of the Free Library mand some of you may have seen the article in this week's Inquirer magazine, a copy of which I have here, by Lucia Herndon, which talks about the teenage program, where we are hiring teenagers, training them with the technology, training them on techniques to work 2058 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 with younger people, to discipline in a proper and positive way, and we now have 150 young people, making it possible for us to welcome more than 200,000 children in our after-school programs throughout the City. A total of 46 of the 53 programs are provided with City support. And homework help, computer assistance, cultural- enrichment programs are all a part of that program. And at the end of the next fiscal year, we anticipate reaching 250,000 youngsters in this after-school program. We have been focussing a great deal of attention on cost efficiencies so that the programs and services can expand to meet the needs of the people of Philadelphia. I mentioned to you the program of leasing computers that we're working closely with MOIS on, and next year -- or, I should say, last year, we have begun to utilize a task force called the "Materials Recovery Task Force," and its job is to get back into our libraries those items that are borrowed to get them back in on a timely basis so that they can be available for other people. And I'm pleased that we have been able 2059 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 to put on our shelves an additional quarter of a million dollars worth of materials by getting them back from the borrowers on time, rather than letting that delay continue. As we continue to plan for renovation and expansion of the Central Library, we're undertaking some interim steps: A $100,000 grant from the Delaware River Port Authority has enabled us to do some work on the fourth floor of the library, and we also anticipate State funding to do some work in the Children's Department. With the help of the City's Energy Office, we have been working to improve energy efficiency at the Central Library by retrofitting some 200 light fixtures with more energy-efficient models. As we look ahead, there are challenges and opportunities. We are determined to meet the growing demand for information and entertainment as the economy slows, although we hear that's turning around. One of the things that always happens when an economy slows down is that more people come to the library, and we're exploring ways to provide programs and other kinds of things for staff at a 2060 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 pace that will not require as many staff to implement them. We are addressing the crisis in the schools. Along with the difficulties that our schools have been facing, I can tell you that the school libraries have faced that difficulty quite heavily also, and the number of fully active school libraries in the City has been decreasing over the last ten years. That increases the work that our staff is doing, but we are working on a project, together with the School District, to find ways of providing the services that these youngsters need that used to be provided by school libraries. We cannot run a school library program; that isn't our function.
And we don't want to do anything that would degrade the services that is provided from our branches, but we feel there is an obligation to do what we can to make sure the youngsters in our schools have the services that they need. Our computer networks, in order to keep them running 100 percent of the time, not only is the lease program going on, but without getting too technical about it, we are looking at using a 2061 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 different kind of technology where the computer on the desk that the user, that the patron of the library uses, is a much simpler, cheaper computer, and those or or so are linked to a more 6 complicated server, where the computing power 7 really needs to be, and we anticipate some savings 8 from that. 9 I believe that this budget, as it is 10 provided, will provide us the opportunity to 11 continue the expansion of library services and the 12 growth in library services to the people of 13 Philadelphia, with a continued focus on our work 14 with children and young people. 15 I'm happy to have any questions, we'll try to answer any questions. And I would like is Helen Miller -- oh, she snuck in right here next to me. I would like her to be at the table as well.
Thank you very much. Councilwoman Brown was unable to be with us this morning; however, she ask that I call to her attention that her office has been contacted by many of our constituents with concerns regarding 2062 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 the number of hours the libraries are open, particularly during the summer when schools are closed. She indicated that it is feared that they are decreasing -- "they," meaning the libraries, are decreasing their hours. Can you tell us how many total libraries are the libraries open in FY '01? What are the projections for FY '02 and FY '03?
I do have information here like that. Let me just look at the chart. In FY -- excuse me. You asked about --
Okay, '01, there was a total of -- and this is a composite total of hours. So there's 111,158 hours, moving to, in 2000 to the end of this year, it will be 111,375, which is a slight increase in the number of hours.
In '03, there may be a slight decrease in that. This isn't in the summer hours, as you indicated. Our summer schedules will remain -- well, let me say they will remain the same as they 2063 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 have always been. There may be some hours that are through emergencies and various things where they have to be closed, so this is a conservative estimate of the staffing hours that we anticipate. And I don't know if anybody else at the table has any other suggestions. (No other suggestions by other witnesses at table.)
Councilwoman Brown has indicated that some of her constituents have mentioned that their branch libraries closed unexpectedly mid-week. Why would that occur?
The only reason the library would close unexpectedly is for some emergency: It could be a building emergency, a heating system in the cold weather, or something that has gone out, or a temporary staff shortage for which we had to pull people in from one branch to another because we don't have extra people available to place at the branches. And, as you may recall, our branches are all modestly staffed. We don't have extra people there; we have what we need.
Very well, 2064 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Mr. Shelkrot and members of your team, first let me express my appreciation for the reopening of Haddington. I know that was an extensive renovation project, and the neighborhood there is very pleased. But now I need to talk about the last of the libraries in the district that I represent, which has been an ongoing project, and I don't really have a good sense of where it is at the moment, which is the George Institute Library at 52nd an Warren. This has been a much-discussed, much-met-about project, and as late as this morning when I drove past it, there did not seem to be, at least from an exterior standpoint, much progress in the expansion of that particular library. Obviously, it is small in size but a giant force in the neighborhood. And I just need to better understand 2065 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 what's going on with that project, where is it, and quite honestly, why isn't it completed at this point?
I'd like to ask Bill 6 Fleming, who is the head of our Administrative Services, to respond to that question.
The design work for the George Institute project has been completed, and construction documents did go out for bids a number of months ago. The bids came in much higher than our budget would allow for the size library we wanted to provide to the community. As you mentioned, it is a very small library, and the configuration is a bit awkward; it's a triangular configuration.
We managed to purchase some properties adjacent to the building in order to build a two-story annex to the property, which would provide sufficient ADA access, an elevator, meeting rooms, and staff areas that that branch needs. 2066 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
And also allow for a number of computers, which -- the same number of computers that we have in other branches, which is 12.
I don't mean to cut you off but, quite honestly, I know all about that; I've been involved with this project for a long time.
The bids came in $800,000 over the budget. We have asked the --
We have asked our architect to look into that. The reason we had was that primarily, the electrical work had come in 2067 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 much higher than the architect had thought it would come in, and quite honestly, we went back and asked him to give us some alternatives to, I guess, take out some things that he thought would be nice to have in the branch and also to give us a --
It was mostly cosmetic things; I guess some brick work that we wanted to have done on the annex to match the original brick work that was very expensive, and so we went back to look at what might be a stucco finish, as opposed to brick. We've also asked him to --
You're saying that you would make the addition and then there would be what sounds like -- I mean I'm obviously not an architect but, I mean, I can see an obvious material difference, not just a visual difference, but a literal difference in materials, that you have old brick building and then you're going to 2068 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 add on to it and have stucco?
We were not excited about that possibility, either. We've asked -- the Capital Program Office is the office who is managing this project for us. We've asked them to go back to the architect and give us some alternatives that might be acceptable to us, including the possibility of a one-story addition. But as of this time, the Capital Program Office is doing most of the work in that area.
Well, whose project is this? Is this a Library project or a Capital Programs Office project?
Elliot Shelkrot again. The current -- all of the current building projects in the branches -- George, 40th and Walnut, and Weidner branch -- are all projects that are managed by the City Capital Program Office. You know, we are the client, so to speak.
They were done through a 2069 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 contract managed by the Library and the Library's foundation, to be specific.
That was a temporary program, and the decision was made that now that the Capital Program Office has adopted many new techniques for handling things expeditiously, that it would be more effective, more efficient for them to handle the Library's capital -- major capital projects.
Well, we need to have some further discussion about this, but let me try to be real clear. Obviously, Mr. Shelkrot, you and I have worked together on a number of projects over a period of time; Mr. Vaughan I know well; and Miss Miller I know well; the gentleman, your Administrative Services person, I don't know that real well. I mean, to say that I'm disappointed would probably be the extent to which I'd be willing to go in a public forum on this record. I do not understand, based on my knowledge of the site, which is the width of not 2070 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 even two average lots in Philadelphia, that it would cost upwards of $2 million on what appears to be, I don't know, what is the thing? 16, 20, feet maybe wide, another 30, 40 at the most deep?
That it would cost $2 million to add on to a small library, that we now have to look at scrimping and scraping on materials and the look of a place that's been in the community for a long period of time, it is one of the best assets in the neighborhood, and now we have to have a discussion about stucco addition or maybe one floor as opposed to two. I think that it is unfair to the people in the neighborhood, it is not what we discussed with them, it is not what we committed to them, and it is unacceptable under any set of circumstances that the project, one, is not much farther along, and that we are we're now having this discussion like we're, you know, people at the grocery store and all of a sudden we are now trying to figure out, are we going to put, you know, the bread back or some cookies back or the cereal back because somehow, some way, now that we have done all of our 2071 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 shopping and gotten to the counter, now, all of a sudden, for this small library in a neighborhood that desperately needs, it doesn't have much else around it, they now somehow get shortchanged. That is not acceptable at all. So whether we need to have a meeting or we need to have a meeting with the Capital Program Office or somebody, we're going to get the library done, we went through too much to get the land in the first place that we had to condemn, that we got jerked around by the owner for years of a decrepit, dilapidated property that the person was not decent enough as a human being to donate to the library in the first place, and we had to threaten with condemnation and go out and purchase the raggedy piece of property that was a blight in the neighborhood, and now we're having the discussion about, Well, maybe we can give you a first floor with stucco and some other stuff. I'm -- I'm -- that is -- no. 22
I'll be happy to set up a meeting with you and myself and the Capital Program Office staff, and let's see if we can find a resolution to this. 2072 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
Thank you. When you were here last week, there was discussion about renovations to the Central Branch Library.
It is still in the planning stages. We're working closely with the Mayor's staff, the Finance Director, the Planning Office, and the Managing Director, and we are working on a program -- on a variety of ways of approaching this project that will be compatible with the City's current budget opportunities and the needs of the Library.
The renovation and expansion is currently estimated at $100 million; that's the combined renovation and expansion. We're looking at ways that that could be done perhaps in stages, we're looking at a variety of approaches so that that project can get underway as soon as possible. 2073 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 The funding for that cannot just be City funding, we understand that, we've known that all along, but we're working closely with the City; it being a City building, that needs to be an early step.
Okay. Lastly, and then I'm going to go back to the earlier question, with regard to the question that was asked by Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, which is an excellent question regarding hours at the libraries, I can tell you the answer that you gave, although quite accurate, and it is great that you know the number of hours that -- I'm assuming that was all of the libraries?
All right. I have no idea what that means in the reality of libraries.
So is it possible, as a further clarification or a further response to Councilwoman Reynolds Brown's question, can you just give us a listing of all of the libraries and their hours of operation?
And when you expect them to be open, and if there is any change, point out what the change may be, whether it's more hours or less hours, or whatever the case may be, but telling us that they're open 111,000 hours, I don't even know what that means.
I understand, but please understand, that was not an attempt to obfuscate at all. I mean, I wasn't trying to avoid answering. We do have a specific schedule for each.
And we also keep track -- and I thought that her question dealt with emergency closing, you know, closing and the actual number of hours that a library was open in a given year. And we can provide you and other Councilmembers with the schedule and the actual number of hours that, you know, that it was open, 2075 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 which we keep track of.
Because that's a another -- that's a measure -- that's a performance measure.
Well, I'm sure that kind of information would be much more responsive and helpful to getting to what the Councilwoman was trying to get to. With regard to the George Institute Library issue, it will certainly be my goal -- and I appreciate your offer to have meetings, but we're in budget hearings now, and if there is a need for additional funding to finish this project correctly, not just put up any old piece of building to add onto it, I'm going to need to know the answer to that question during the course of these budget hearings and then try to figure out how to make sure that that funding is available in the upcoming budget that we're about to approve, which will go into effect for July 1. 2076 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 So I want to strongly encourage that whatever the effort is going to be, and if additional funds are necessary, you need to work with the Capital Program Office. Mr. Dubow is here, he's heard all of this conversation. I want a resolution to this project in the course of these hearings, then I want a schedule of when the work is going to start, when it's going to be completed, and I don't want any scrimping. I'm not asking for extravagance, but I'm also not going to have the people out there shortchanged for the size of a building that they have and for what we're trying to add on to. I really want to be clear about that, I am dead-serious about this particular issue. And I look forward to the conversation.
You're welcome. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.) 2077 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
If I may, because some of the -- some of our board members, we couldn't get word to them that we were having our testimony a couple minutes early, they are now, and I just would like to recognize them. Stephanie Nadoff is a member of our board.
And former chairman of the board, John Filbrick (ph) is also here.
And Dr. Curtis, who you also know as the President of the Community College, he may be here for his own purposes, but since he's here now, I would like to acknowledge his presence as well.
Thank you very 2078 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 much. The Commission on Human Relations is up next. (Witness comes forward.)
Before he leaves, I would like to acknowledge the presence of my friend and predecessor, Kevin Vaughan. Some of the good things that we were able to do in the past year are built on his innovations during his tenure, and there should be public knowledge about that. I'll reserve blaming him for the errors after he's left.
He heard, good. My name is Lazar Kleit. I am the Executive Director the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations and the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission. 2079 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 Our current budget is fundamentally the same as it was last year in terms of positions. We have had slight increases based on contractual requirements as well as a requirement that's been placed on us by Common Pleas Court to have all of our Fair Housing Commission hearings recorded professionally -- they need the records when they go for judicial review. Aside from those increases, our budget has remained stable for the past year. The past two years have been pivotal in the life of the agencies. In terms of the Human Relations Commission, our involvement with the planning for and the duration of the Republican National Convention and immediately subsequent to that, the events in Philadelphia that reflected what was going on internationally, particularly the AlAqsa intifada, occupied our calendar years 2000 and 2001, obviously, until September 11th, when our professional world went upside down. We have since, because of a lot in terms of what Kevin had done in developing relationships and being involved with task forces with law- enforcement agencies, federal, state, and local, 2080 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001 we've become integral to the anti-terrorism tasks that are going on in the City of Philadelphia. I am very proud of the fact that we have become the intermediary between our Arab Islamic community and the U.S. Attorney's Office, and we've been able to develop collaborative and cooperative relationships between the two groups that are nationally unique. I'm very proud of the work that my staff has done to develop the kinds of trusts and relationships in both the residential and ethnic communities and law-enforcement communities to accomplish those goals. I wanted to clarify one thing: Our numbers are a little bit odd for Fiscal 2001 and Fiscal 2002 in terms of the number of intergroup incidents. There was a bounce. We are hoping and projecting far fewer this fiscal year. If luck and God are on our side, we'll be back to normal. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you. Can you tell us, what is the level of increase in court-reporting services?
1,000 percent? 2081 3/12/02 WHOLE - OPERATING BUDGET CONT'D. 020001
Yeah. That's hyperbolic, I apologize. We didn't use court reporters until the courts found that the summaries of our Fair Housing Commission hearings were not acceptable legally, so in conjunction with the Law Department, we have court reporters now; they're at every hearing.
Thank you very much. Are there any questions from members of the committee? (No questions.)
The Philadelphia Community College. (Witness comes forward.)