Thank you, Steve. So my question for the record is, when did this committee come to bear? And you didn't quite answer Councilman Clarke earlier, and I'd like to get this, if not now, later submitted to the Chair. How is Council going to weigh in on the selection of what folks consider shovel-ready projects?
I'm going to take that one last. To the questions you had asked regarding structure and the 155 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 work that we were doing, the team had been meeting weekly, I'm going to say, since sometime in March or April. There was a group. They were meeting regularly. I actually participated in a few of those early meetings trying to get our hands around what was expected of us. That continued over the summer months as we were getting applications in, as we were getting information about applications. With respect to the Executive Committee, when I discussed taking on this role, I made it clear, along with those people on the committee, like Joan Markman and the Managing Director, Ms. Barnett, we all made it clear that it was important that I have a group that I reported to, that the expectation of having to go back to the Mayor on a regular basis wasn't a realistic one. So I needed to have a group that I had to go back to so that they were informed and there was an oversight capacity 156 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 internally for what I was doing. And so about the same time that I adopted this role, we also put in place that committee. We've met two or three times since. We've scaled back to a biweekly meeting on the teams for the time being, but that may ramp up to a weekly meeting. I'm now chairing those meetings. I understood that the minutes from those meetings were being delivered via e-mail to Councilmembers over the summer. If that is not something that works, I'm happy to do something else.
That has not been happening, for the record, and I think it's important that we make note of that.
So just for the record, for the perspective of the record, that has not been happening. And we don't want the process of 157 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 communication to become cumbersome. It should be as seamless as the dialogue that happens interdepartmentally. But we now, because of this process in preparation for this hearing and in preparation for the report, I think it is important that we begin to receive a delineation of how these large goals get implemented through parts of the City. And that doesn't need to be complicated either, but I have a concern that, as I stipulated earlier, as it relates to MOCS, who is our anti-poverty agency, how do I connect that to the offices of special needs, housing? How does all those things connect? Because although this is useful in terms of the fact sheets, you can't see the connections, the connectivity that Councilman Jones talked about, and I think we may want to have a department-by-department kind of review and a briefing format where we get an opportunity to kind of engage in that. So we need to create that sooner, because 158 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 now we have this report and we kind of know what is going on rather than later, but how we're going to impact that decision-making is a question that we can't leave here today without kind of understanding that.
Councilmember, again, not to -- I'm not trying to avoid it, but I think that that's a question that needs to be answered by someone at a higher pay grade in order. I can appreciate your concern and your desire, the Council's desire to be involved, and to the extent that I can accommodate that, I will, but with respect to the strategic thrust -- and I don't know that there's a disagreement necessarily between the Administration and Council about this. I don't believe that to be the case, but I think there needs to be a discussion about what roles the bodies play and I'm not the right person to answer that question. I'm sorry.
But I 159 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 will -- I would hope that because of your leadership as this officer, that you understand the importance of that and we figure out how we integrate that in the communication process.
Councilmember, I do. I appreciate that, and as I've said before, I think there's some things we probably could have done a little better in terms of information. So I'll take that to heart and do better.
I have one more question. The project managers that are selected on the departmental level, were they policy people, administrative people? Again, my concern becomes in the selection of projects and the establishment of priorities, are these folks who know what's going on on the ground and can make the connectivity between the top policy and what happens on my 3rd and Indiana?
Councilmember, 160 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 having spoken to pretty much every one of them, I believe that they are indeed people who know intimately what's going on in the departments and on the ground. For example, there's someone in Don Schwarz's office, James Moore, who has this tremendous command of what's going on across the breadth of Dr. Schwarz's portfolio, and those people have been the go-to people for me to sort of say, what's going on. So I believe they have that. They also then have a tier of individuals underneath them who are actually running those programs on the ground. So I think that we are lucky in that respect that we have very good policy people. And it's James, it's Andrew Stober, it's Andy Rachlin, it's a range of people who really have command of that stuff and know who to go to and understand how that fits within the organization, not just the departmental organization but the larger organization. I think we're lucky 161 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 in that respect.
And I will end with this. In light of the fact that we've all acknowledged today that we've missed some opportunities on communication, my concern becomes how are we, therefore, communicating with our stakeholders, who ultimately help us deliver some of these services, and how do we make sure that they're not in the same boat that we were yesterday?
Councilmember, I think that's very fair. I think we need -- the website has to be sort of an entry point, if you will, for people. I think that we need to be doing some outreach. I know that there has been some of that with respect to Commerce Department and some of the grants that they've received, but we probably need to do that in a broader fashion where we're actually out in the community and talking to people. We haven't really talked about that as sort of an overall 162 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 strategy, and we should, and I will take that back.
And that goes to my earlier statement around making sure that these project managers are the folks that interact with these folks regularly so that the information is flowing from -- because there might be opportunities on the ground that we might be missing if we're not communicating with those strategic stakeholders.
Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Rizzo, I know you wanted to follow up on your question. What I would like to do after that is use the privilege of the Chair to ask the Administration to suspend your testimony for a moment. Ms. Clark from the -- 163 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 well, we got one more question from Councilman Rizzo, and then Ms. Clark from the Enterprise wants to come. I want her to come and testify. She's been waiting since o'clock, maybe even 9:30. And 7 then I have some follow-up questions on 8 some housing-related issues. There may 9 be a couple of other questions. I 10 promise I will get you all out of here as soon as possible.
With respect to Councilman Rizzo's, I think Deputy Mayor Gillison has, I think, a program that we're doing as part of a sort of Clean and Seal in L&I, and I would ask him to come up and respond to your question.
Because I want to make sure that we are interpreting where and where we cannot use stimulus money. An example, it was great and the cell phone lot was a long time. We used Aviation Fund money to build it, but it possibly was -- and, again, I appreciate this project getting 164 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 done and I don't want to slow it down, but there probably are other projects or other areas of constituent service that we do in this city that maybe could be put under -- possibly Deputy Mayor Gillison will say that maybe the Clean and Seal at L&I is eligible for some of that money. But I just don't want to stop there. I want to look under every rock to make sure that there is no 12 confusion on what we can do and what we can't do. Cleaning up vacant lots, cleaning up areas that eventually will be greened might be an opportunity to spend stimulus money. You got a lot of money to spend between now and February. I mean, it's our money. I don't care if it's federal money or state money. We all kicked in for that, but I would hate to not take advantage of whatever the amount is. Eventually some day we'll know what that amount of money is, but I have a feeling we're not going to spend 165 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 it all, and I would like to make sure that some of the real obvious things that people see get taken care of.
That's a very good point, and we will do that. (Witness approached witness table.) DEPUTY
Good morning, Councilman Rizzo. Everett Gillison, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety. In direct answer to your question, I would suggest that we use part of the Byrne money, which was our allocation dollars, in order to try to see how we could integrate the use of those dollars in a way that would best deal with the public safety needs of the City. We decided that we would use L&I and Clean and Seal in order to do that, and I know that we put forward, I believe it was, just over $420,000, I believe, for what I believe was three Clean and Seal teams for a year that would be able to do that. 166 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 And I know that you can provide additional information. (Witness approached witness table.)
Yes. My name is Otis Haigler. I'm Director of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Licenses and Inspections. The Department of Licenses and Inspections has put in an appropriation allocation for $348,600 to hire 12 temporary Clean and Seal workers to actually go about cleaning and sealing vacant buildings throughout the City.
I hear you talking about hiring people, but what about material, the shovels and all that that goes with it?
It's broken down as far as the Class 100, Class 200 for personal services, Class 300 for supplies and Class 400 for other office-related materials.
And you said 167 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 it's $400,000? No disrespect to that number, but in the realm of things, 300,000, 400,000 is not a lot of money. So I don't know how much cleaning and sealing we're going to do with that little bit of money.
Well, the 300,000 is only for the Class 100, which deals with the salaries and benefits. I have a total breakdown that I could share with the Chair.
I think the total amount that we're looking at is $420,000 in Class 100, and in the other classes, it appears to be over 300,000.
Well, we're looking at a total allocation that we're asking for of $573,600.
Again, that's great, but in the realm of things, 168 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 I'm not sure what the impact with $500,000 when we're talking $50 million, 50 million plus I think the number is, of eligible money. DEPUTY
Well, if I may, Councilman, the eligible money is really not that much money, because it's not eligible. This particular program, because it was public safety, I keep looking at different buckets of stimulus money. This was our money that was allocated, and so we only had a certain sliver of those dollars in order to allocate here, and we took this information to our various teams, and this is the amount of money we were able to push over.
But my point is, are we looking at the whole big stimulus pot to make sure that we aren't 169 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 overlooking some very basic things -- DEPUTY
-- that we can do? Some days when I go into some of the neighborhoods, it's not a pleasant situation. If we could spend stimulus money and plan to go green, I think that it would be hard to lose that one, asking for the money and the resources to start cleaning beyond Clean and Seal, beyond Byrne money, but the rest of those pots. DEPUTY
And I can tell you that there has been part of the team, the Recovery team that is headed up by Mr. Agostini, not only are they looking at all of the grants that are available, but where they even believe we might be able to access some of those dollars to do some of these things that's part and parcel of it. So, yes, we are looking, and, yes, we're trying to make sure that 170 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 they're available.
And, again, great that you're going to do that, but, again, I think one of my colleagues said it's communications. We don't know that you're doing these things, and once we learn exactly where you're making applications or where you have a focus, then we'll feel more comfortable that we're in the loop. DEPUTY
Thank you, Councilman. Can we just suspend the Administration testimony just for a minute and we'll be right back and have Ms. Clark come up. (Witness approached witness table.) 171 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
Good afternoon. My name is Della Clark, and thank you for allowing me to provide testimony. I submitted a written testimony, but in spite of what I've heard today from Steve Agostini, I'd like to respond to some of those observations and just leave my written testimony for the record. So with your permission, I'd like to deviate.
The first thing, I'd like to bring the spotlight on his remarks that I heard around small businesses. When I heard him pill away the amount of money that the City of Philadelphia was receiving, I heard money being allocated for job training, I heard money being allocated for public property, but I didn't hear any money being allocated for small businesses, for capacity, capital, bonding, helping them 172 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 to grow, because the Enterprise Center, which I have been employed there for 4 years, is focused on helping minorities 5 accelerate and grow. And when I hear the 6 word "job training" and when I hear "job 7 creation," I don't know whether this 8 committee recognizes that the jobs are 9 going to come from these small 10 businesses, and if we don't invest in 11 these small businesses, then I wonder who 12 is going to hire these people that we're 13 training, because I don't see these big 14 businesses hiring a lot of these people. 15 And so I think that our dollars should be 16 used to help stimulate the growth and 17 development of small businesses as well. A couple other observations I heard from his remarks. As he talked about the oversight committee, I did not hear any representative from OEO serving on that stimulus oversight committee, and maybe I didn't hear it, but I didn't hear anyone representing small businesses on that oversight committee. 173 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Second observation is that, Councilwoman Blondell, when you asked him about was there money to be used for local economy, he said it was to be used to jump-start the economy. And we'd like to see small businesses and particularly minority business enterprises be included in the whole coordination of jump-starting the economy. Just to give you an example, on Friday of last week, October the 23rd, we had a business-to-business forum at the Enterprise Center for our stimulus projects, and the reason we had that B-to-B is to make you aware that the Enterprise Center has been awarded a contract by the federal government on behalf of the Obama Administration to monitor and advocate for stimulus dollars to be spent with MBEs. We've been assigned a four-month contract, and we have to report back to the Obama Administration what the City of Philadelphia and what the Commonwealth of 174 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Pennsylvania has done around minority participation. We have to provide a monthly report, as well as an end-of-the-year report, because he has to report -- the Obama Administration has to report to Congress in February how these dollars have been spent, and we're charged with that on a local level. There were seven sites picked in the United States to participate in this endeavor. And so this work is very, very important to us. And so we had a B-to-B forum on October the 23rd and we had about 100 minority enterprises there, and only one, when we asked the question, had received a stimulus contract, and it was through SEPTA. We also reached out to Steve Agostini, as well as most of the City's Administration, and we did not have one City agency, except the School District, PHA, Airport represented. In terms of Streets, in terms of any agency in the City, no one participated in our B-to-B 175 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 forum to show small businesses that we were open to do business, that there was a sense of collaboration in terms of the City wanting to reach out to MBEs so they would know what the process is. We did not get a good response at all. The second area that I want to bring out is that when I heard his remarks, I didn't hear anything about metrics, how are we going to measure the success of the City and as it relates particularly to minority business enterprise. We need that data.
We need that information to report back to the federal government how the City performed in that area with minority business, because I hope you will agree as we agree at the Enterprise Center, that small businesses is going to be the lifeline and the life blood of our economy, and if we don't invest in small businesses and use our stimulus-funded projects as a way to jump-start small enterprises, I think the City of Philadelphia is going to 176 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 continuously be ranked at the bottom as an entrepreneur city. And that ends my testimony.
Thank you. Maybe I should have had you on a little earlier so we could have responded to some of those questions, which I'm sure we will after your testimony. Let me understand. You have a contract with the federal government to essentially play a monitoring role as it relates to all stimulus dollars being spent in the City of Philadelphia?
Correct. So the federal government wants to know out of all the money that comes to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania -- so we have to look at Commonwealth first, and then they want us to look at it by city, by counties and report back in the 177 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which includes Philadelphia, how much of the projects was spent and included minority participation.
In terms of accessing your information, because that can be challenging even when you're an elected official, what authority do they give you or what ability do they give you to access that information from agencies or municipalities or townships across the state? How exactly do you do that?
Well, we started with, as an example, we started with the Chief Implementation Officer at the federal government, which I heard Steve mention his name, Ed DeSeve. We've met with him. Then we met with Secretary Creedon, who is the Chief Implementation Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He actually attended the forum on Friday and he brought the Chair of the Pennsylvania Stimulus Oversight Commission, which is Ron Naples. 178 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 So we've already started the work at the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania statewide effort to try to get access to this information. And we have begun to have some cooperation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That also was a very difficult undertaking in the beginning, but we're starting to make some headway. And we started the same process with the City of Philadelphia, as well as with Harrisburg, as well as with Pittsburgh, because we picked those particular cities because that's where the majority of the minorities live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And since we are located here in Philadelphia, we want to do a much better job here in Philadelphia in this effort.
What I'm trying to get at, because you're not a government entity or private organization -- non-profit, right? 179 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
And if you're trying to seek information -- I mean, we in Council, we have subpoena powers, so if we get frustrated, we say we need information from anybody, we can ultimately issue a subpoena. Somebody can choose to ignore it or adhere to it. I guess I'm trying to get a sense of in the event that you run against a roadblock for any agency or township in getting that information on the participation numbers, what do you do? I mean, do you contact the federal government and say that, I've been unable to have a response from these particular townships or cities? How does that work?
If we have to, we will. If we continuously get roadblocks, not get access to the information -- 180 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 because we're accountable, we have some metrics, we have some numbers. We've been told how much money is going to come in. We've been told to advocate, provide outreach, connect minority businesses to these stimulus and match them up for actual opportunities, not just talk about it, but actually make sure they get matched up and that minorities get a percentage of this. And it wasn't a goal set. It was more of an aspiration goal in terms of minority participation. So we don't want to go back to the Obama Administration and say, you know, We're working in the City of Philadelphia and they're not cooperating. That is not our intent. Our intent is to work with the City to make sure we can provide a good report.
Thank you very much. 181 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
Thank you. We want to thank Della Clark and the Enterprise Center. As you know, they have incubated programs, many programs, that deal with small businesses and that have made a difference in our city, and we certainly say we are interested in working closely with her. Here in the City we haven't resolved the issues yet with regard to the zip codes being included on contract-getting, especially minorities, nor have we resolved the issue that even if we deal with minorities, African Americans aren't getting much more than they did in many areas, when Lucien Blackwell and John Macklin over there introduced the set-aside bill, where minorities were getting less than one-tenth of one percent. We're still down at the bottom. So even contracts let don't include 182 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 African Americans as they should. So we want to work closely with you, and even if we can't resolve that during your reporting period, we've got to do something to let it be known so that we can begin to straighten out so many of the disparities that exist in our city and certainly everywhere today. Thank you, Della. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just have one comment. If the Committee here doesn't know what's going on, you can imagine the small businesses don't know what's going on. It's a maze to them. They don't know who to call, who to go to to find out about these contracts, and that's one of our role, is to be that bridge and that connector and that intermediary to these opportunities. So we need to work with the City to accomplish these goals.
Yes. We 183 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 have to do a better job. Councilwoman.
Thank you very much. I'll underscore the important work you've been doing there for decades and for start-up and emerging and now established businesses there in West Philadelphia. I took notes and I thought I did list that OEO is included at the table, at the door with the Recovery Task Force. So we need to ask our City official to please step back to the witness table so that we can get some clarity on that. And am I to understand you to say that you sent a formal request to the Administration and/or the Administration officials, A, letting them know what you're doing; B, why it's important for them to be at the table?
If you 184 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 could please respond.
Sure. I'd be happy to. I think this goes under the category of the lack of coordination information from the federal government creating a situation where unfortunately we are at odds. I received an e-mail. I don't recall a formal letter, but I did receive an e-mail from Michael Bell. The background for this, I have been receiving phone calls, e-mails from numerous --
-- individuals with respect to Recovery. I've also been alerted by numerous individuals, both at the federal government and among colleagues, to be mindful of who has a formal role to play. I don't doubt that the Enterprise Center has that role. I'm not quibbling with that, but it would have been nice for either the federal government or the state government, who 185 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 we do stay in contact with, to, as a courtesy, simply say, We have engaged the Enterprise Center to do this. I have not received any communication to that effect from any federal or state official. I apologize for not, but I have been very careful about who I'm providing information to since I am not really clear what their roles are.
So recognizing that this is another example of what Councilman Jim Kenney and Councilman Clarke have spoken to, which is really what precipitated these meetings, not adequate communication, going forward -- let me not editorialize. Do you think it appropriate for OEO to be at the table? And I actually assumed that they were, if we are serious about making sure that when -- we had this conversation again yesterday in another hearing -- that women, people of color, A, hear about the opportunity, but more 186 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 difficult the experience they have is access, penetrating the brick walls that they still encounter, and the Recovery dollars are a unique opportunity to break the mold.
I agree with you. On a moving-forward basis, there's no reason why we can't address some of these issues. There is a Policy Deputy that follows this on behalf of OEO. Mr. Dow, I think, is aware of this, as well as a representative from Commerce. So to the extent that we have not done this crisply, we will improve on a going-forward basis. But they are at the able. They have been at the table. We just need to be sure the communication, as you've just described it, needs to happen more effectively.
So OEO is at the table? I did hear that in earlier testimony.
Yes. That's correct. 187 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
I'm sorry. At least the Policy Deputy that reports back to Commerce and to the Deputy Mayor in that area is involved, and perhaps it's more appropriate for Mr. Greenberger to come up and Mr. Dow to come up to respond to those issues.
Okay. Let me make sure I'm understanding what I'm hearing. Earlier in your testimony you provided a list of professionals that are sitting with you on a biweekly basis. Is OEO leadership at the table?
The direct leadership, no, but someone who represents the Policy Deputy Mayor in that area is. And to your point, after we leave here, we will be sure that someone from OEO leadership is at the table.
Thank you very much. 188 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 So we can expect that the two of you will have a sidebar and do what's required to strengthen the communication for the expectation you have to meet with the feds, Ms. Della Clark?
Thank you so much for your testimony. I've just been informed that we have a 1 o'clock hearing. Mr. Greenberger, did you have something you wanted to say?
No. If you wanted to pursue this question, but if not --
I actually had something else to say, but I was going to let it go for now. 189 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
This issue is of such importance, enormous importance, to so many businesspeople here, let's not let it go.
This should stack as high as every other aspect of the Recovery discussion. (Witness approached witness table.)
My name is Kevin Dow, for the record. I am the Acting Chief Operating Officer for the Commerce Department and have responsibility for the Office of Economic Opportunity. In regards to that committee that Steve Agostini referred to, we do have representation from -- he's on that committee. Andrew Rachlin is on that committee. So these individuals both serve as representatives of the Office of Economic Opportunity in those initiatives. We report back. We have 190 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 conversations about what's going on. If you're looking for actual direct leadership there, we could certainly address that and have some there, but we're very confident that we are involved in the process of identifying opportunities for minorities, women and disabled.
Here's my experience in the eight years I've been here: If you don't have leadership at the table on an issue where you want the needle moved, it doesn't happen. The person who is ultimately responsible for the movement of that needle -- Mr. Greenberger has several different roles, some of which have been added because of legitimate reasons in the management in which government goes. But if the person principally responsible for moving the needle on that issue is not at the table, little happens, and at the end of the day, we can look at the numbers, which Councilman Goode is vigilant about. 191 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 That's where we're ultimately measured. And we have a window here with the Recovery dollars. So if our track record has not been favorable in the past and we are serious about making a dent of a difference going forward in this ripe opportunity of Recovery dollars, then it's my personal opinion that leadership should be at the table on that issue, the one who lives and breathes it, knows the dynamics and the issues and the hurdles every single day. (Applause.)
Alan Greenberger, Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. If I could, one, reenforce -- I think it's a fair point, and Mr. Agostini made that commitment, which we'll keep. If I could offer an example, if the Chair would indulge me a few minutes on this, an example through the weatherization program of how well that particular situation has worked, it might be helpful 192 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 to hear an example. Would that be all right?
Okay. But I do have some questions for you, gentlemen, and probably Mr. Agostini with respect to the outreach, because Mr. Agostini said that he had not been notified by the state and the federal government that entities had contracts to provide a service that in the earlier testimony we were seeking -- Mr. Agostini said that if anyone knows of a way where we can enhance our inclusion process and what's caused me to talk about the two bills that we had a hearing on yesterday, I take the position that it shouldn't be the sole responsibility of the federal and the state government to reach out to us and tell them that they have somebody under contract. If we, the City of Philadelphia, that the demographics reflect that we need to take this 193 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 serious, we should be the aggressor as it relates to this issue and we should have asked the federal or the state government if there were any contracts or anyone who was providing the service that can enhance our ability to get where we need to get. So I don't think -- I don't take this whole approach that because nobody told us that there was such an entity like the Enterprise Foundation to provide a service, that we somehow are absolved of any fault. I mean, this is our city. We are elected by the people of this city. So at the end of the day, that should be number one on the list. Sitting in this seat over there too many hearings, it is always an afterthought as it relates to somebody seeking a contract with the City of Philadelphia, and we have to wrestle with, at the end of the day prior to the vote of a bill, making them come up with an inclusion process, which causes us to 194 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 do the Equal Opportunity Plan attachment to all bills. So if we're going to take this approach -- and I'm assuming since the follow-up is now going to be aggressive on reaching the goals, we're going to take the approach if somebody tells us where to get that help, then we'll never get there. And I should be addressing this to Mr. Agostini, because he's the one --
Thank you. What I'd like to do is have Anthony McIntosh, the Executive Vice-President to the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, just talk briefly about the weatherization program, less so about the weatherization program itself and more about the process that he has led taking us through, in particular reference, 195 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Councilwoman, to your questions. (Witness approached witness table.) MR. McINTOSH: My name is Anthony McIntosh. I'm the Executive Vice-President of Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. There were comments made earlier with respect to what has been happening over the past eight months, and one of the things that we've done at PHDC in anticipation of stimulus dollars becoming available was, we started about 11, 12 months ago in an effort to try and ramp up and gear up to put ourselves in a position to achieve our production goals in addressing the weatherization needs throughout the City of Philadelphia. As a part of that initiative, we attended a series of community briefings, neighborhood forums in an effort to jump-start the solicitation process to engage contractors and vendors as it relates to bringing them aboard to 196 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 put themselves in a position to take advantage of the funding opportunities when they became available. In April of this year, we began to draft an RFP to solicit contractors to participate in the program, and as some of you may be aware, at PHDC we've been quite successful as it relates to minority participation and all of our home improvement programs, and with respect to the weatherization program, this program is no different. We have made a concerted effort through neighborhood organizations in trying to encourage contractors, minority as well as women, to come on board. One of the things that we're looking at at this point -- because, again, in spite of the success that we've been able to achieve, we still feel as though we need to make a more concerted effort, especially as it relates to women participation, and as a result of those initiatives and those efforts, PHDC will be receiving $15.9 197 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 million over the next three years. Fifty percent of those funds are available in the first year. That's the year that began October 1st and it will go through September 30th of 2010. With respect to the proposed allocations at this point, we're in the neighborhood of about 37 percent as it relates to MBE/WBE participation percentages. Personally, I think we can do better. Personally, I'm committed to trying to do better, and realistically, I think when the final numbers are computed, we will be well over 40-plus percent as it relates to participation.
Thank you. In all due respect -- and first I want to say, Mr. McIntosh, you're doing a good job. PHDC under your leadership has always done a good job as it relates to participation. You've done a number of housing developments in my district, provided grants for basic systems, ensuring that there's participation. 198 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 PHDC is not the problem. So to ask Tony McIntosh to come here and talk as if somehow he's representative of what's going on in the City of Philadelphia as it relates to contract, frankly speaking, is bordering on offensive. That's not the problem. The problem is all of these other contracts, including infrastructure, the contracts that primarily include -- (Applause.)
-- primarily include the trades -- let's call it like it is -- that's the problem, and if the City of Philadelphia doesn't take the approach that Mr. McIntosh has taken over the years with his agency, then we're never going to get anywhere. So while I appreciate what he's done as it relates to the stimulus dollars -- not to mention the fact, correct me if I'm wrong, that your stimulus grant was a direct grant; am I correct? 199 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 MR. McINTOSH: That's correct.
So it wasn't as if it came through the City's system. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the City of Philadelphia, the departments that will be letting contracts or facilitating contracts for stimulus dollars. That's where the problem is and that's where we've traditionally had a problem. So that's where we want you to focus on, not have Mr. McIntosh to come and talk about probably one of the most productive agencies, regardless of the stimulus, that we have in the City of Philadelphia.
Thank you. I didn't mean to bring this up as an example of something that was sort of indicative of everything.
Well, no. I said it's an example, and PHDC is an organization that has been working very 200 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 closely with my staff in developing a program, and I think I look to this, as you said, as a model for how we can imbue this in the entire culture of the City, and that's certainly something that Kevin Dow has been trying to do through OEO. So I think you're right, we can and must do better. He's an example of a program that has worked very well. We look to that for help with best practices. I think that's a fair statement.
For clarity purposes, is this the 15.8 million? MR. McINTOSH: That's correct.
And so to Councilman Clarke's point -- and I will beat a dead horse -- that's one of at least a dozen line items here.
That's right. It happens to be more advanced in the process than most of them, so it was something that we can at least talk about 201 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 specifically. A lot of the other ones that we are doing are in the application phase.
And in the application phase, what is the stipulation, what is the criteria, what is the expectation around the involvement of OEO and the goals, if you will, around participation?
Let me ask Kevin Dow to come back. (Witness approached witness table.)
As we receive these contract award amounts from the Recovery funds, then the departments that will be letting those contracts will be going out and doing their normal operating procedures for contracting. OEO will be involved with all of that process all the way through. We will look to be involved in primarily two areas: One, setting the ranges for minority participation.
Setting 202 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 the?
Ranges. Ranges for each individual contract. So we anticipate to set ranges for every contract, and we are in the process now, weatherization, all of the contracts that are coming through right now. Now, the second part is where we will take an extra step at this point and -- where it does not occur in all of our processes throughout the City, but the extra step to make sure that we confirm before the contract is awarded that the ranges have been met, because they essentially are based on a bidding process in the beginning. You bid on, you make some estimates, and then once the contracts are awarded, we want to make sure that the reality is that there are still -- the ranges that were proposed are being met. So we will have that checkpoint there to say, Okay, you've been selected, ready to make an award, you've selected a contractor, 203 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 we'll verify the participation, we'll verify the contractors that are on the bid that are listed. We'll have the conversations with them to make sure that they are indeed engaged with the primary contractor or the department and then verify that. Then that will allow us to approve the contract moving forward. So that's done in the normal operating procedure. That's how we anticipate making sure that any contracts that are let current through City resources or the Recovery funds are -- have indeed minority, women and disabled participation.
What claw-backs exist and what is the role of the Integrity Officer and the other professional that was at the table, whose name escapes me now?
So there's a combination of things. We're making sure 204 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 that we're transparent. We're doing everything that's above ethical standards, more in that regard. Integrity Officer and Joan Markman, they get involved when there's some egregious situation. So if we find that there is actual fraud within the process and we uncover that through our checks and points process, we will then report that as a fraud through, A, the City Solicitor and, B, the Chief Integrity Officer or Joan Markman and make sure that there is some recourse there, that that happens from that perspective. But they don't get involved in the actual process. They get involved after we identify fraud.
So my last question will connect back to pre this testimony of Ms. Della Clark. Recognizing the role they have for the region and reporting to the feds how Philadelphia is doing with regards to MBE/WBE activity, what do you anticipate your next steps to be with the Enterprise 205 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Center?
Well, we'll certainly have a conversation with Della Clark. I mean, that's important. The information that we got was out of context. We just got an e-mail that just said, Give us this information. We get that all the time. So we have to be very careful, because this is at times sensitive information that we just can't freely give it out. So to be candid with you, that came out of context. So what we will do is work with Della and work with her team there, whomever she's assigning to that, and make sure that we devise a process by which we will be able to respond to give them the information. The challenges that that information, if it's in the next -- right now we have certain information, but as we go through the spending of the Recovery dollars as we receive it -- as you heard, we have not received a lot of these dollars. 206 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
Right. That's through earlier testimony. So the contracts have not been let out and so, therefore, we don't have minority participation information. And so we're kind of putting the horse before -- the wagon before the horse. You see what I'm saying in that regard? Or horse before the wagon, and that we just don't have that information. We can talk about how we're doing, how we're engaging, the outreach activity that we're doing, and then the actual results will come as these contracts are then put out and let and confirmed.
So there are ongoing outreach, organizing, information-driven --
-- sessions, forums around the City? 207 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
Partnering possibly with other organizations that live and breathe that mission every day?
Thank you very much for your testimony. Thank you both.
Steve Agostini mentioned the Recovery 101. That was the first one. We had two of those. We've had outreach sessions where we had our Office of Economic Opportunity participate in the MED Week activities. There's a whole week of activities. So part of that involved procurement, business opportunities that Councilman Curtis Jones held.
Well, I gave you two. 208 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 I can give you a couple more.
Within the gap financing programs, we did specific outreach through the media, through the ethnic media, so we were able to reach out to them. Outreach to Councilmembers as a whole to say, Hey, if you knew any people who would be interested in the gap financing product. We knew that there were some applications that were not as strong as others. We offered that help directly to make sure that we were able to get qualified and credible proposals and that kind of technical assistance to make sure we did that. So that's the gap financing product. Those are two more examples.
Do you have a list of organizations, entities that have contractual responsibility for identifying qualified DBEs in the City of Philadelphia?
That -- I'm not sure 209 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 if I understand the question.
Do you have a list of organizations similar to the Enterprise in the City of Philadelphia?
Right. But what happens -- in the practical nature of things, what happens is that we get an opportunity that's specific to a contract. We will say, Okay, that contract is specific to a certain category of organizations that could do those types of things, and we'll send out information to those particular organizations that are capable. So let's say we have something that's for 210 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 concrete. We're not going to send that to an electrical or --
That's not -- let's talk about reality. On the contracts -- because based on what we received, it seems like you guys have been busy over the last several months. Out of these contracts, how many solicitations for support or for qualified contractors have you done to match them with these contracts?
I can't specifically speak to that right now. If that's information that you need, I'd have to go and get it.
I want to see for every one of these contracts some level of documentation that shows that prior to or during the course of these contracts being let or authorized, that 211 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 there was some outreach to entities that could provide, that could match up the DBEs with these particular contracts.
And that is an example of why it is so helpful with all that you have to do that leadership is at the table so that you know at the door that this is expected. It's certainly not -- it's an expectation of Council, though it's always been. So we'll be looking and paying close attention to see how well we honor the City's commitment to level the playing field.
Thank you, 212 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 Councilman.
Thank you so much. Mr. Agostini, I just needed to ask a question of the public service -- I'm sorry; public safety-related arm of the Recovery and I guess, to some degree, technology, but I understand Mr. Gillison has both hats. Then I would like to ask a couple of questions about housing-related stimulus dollars. (Witness approached witness table.)
Mr. Gillison, I needed to -- and I want to thank you all for purchasing the most recent list, a number of cameras. I understand we might actually have some in the pipeline. Without saying it, we do have some challenges currently as it 213 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 relates to getting them -- DEPUTY
-- where we need to -- I didn't want to say it, but... DEPUTY
I didn't want that out there publicly that some of them aren't actually hooked up. Are we in a position to access some stimulus dollars, both public safety related and technology related, to not only move our current camera surveillance program ahead and possibly enhance it? Because I would think that that's an eligible activity. DEPUTY
There are a number of opportunities that we examined in the earlier applications. We were looking at whether or not Byrne could be used. We found out it could not. We have asked and working with our 214 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 legislator from Congress and I know that we've been in touch with Congressman Fattah, who has been very, very instrumental on getting us dollars, additional dollars, for our project. I know that Allan Frank through our IT has been able to take -- and we've put together a strategy for public safety that will be able to supplement what we've been -- what we're doing in a way that I think will expand our ability to hang cameras in a much quicker way than we've been able to do in the past based only on City dollars. So we're trying to move this forward by putting together a new network, and if we can do that, then I think we'll be able to advance this a lot faster. But some of the dollars that we identified under the previous allocations -- it's not available under the COPS grant. It's not available under those kinds of matters, but Recovery dollars from IT, we did put in a grant 215 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 under -- I think it was let in September -- where Allan Frank applied for grants that we would be able to use and leverage our video surveillance program. So there are dollars available. We applied for them.
I don't know offhand how much the -- I think the initial was somewhere around $21 million. That's coming to mind, but I'll be able to get back to you, Chairman.
Because you know where I am with the camera thing. DEPUTY
Our inability to get those things, as you say, hooked up is very important. DEPUTY
There was $22 million that we applied for in order to help us with this particular matter. 216 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540
Councilmember, it's $22 million for general infrastructure, information technology infrastructure.
For the cameras. Not specifically to the cameras or surveillance.
Can you -- and if you don't have it now, that's fine, but can you tell me how much of that, or would you make that determination after you received the grant, how much of that will go towards the surveillance program? DEPUTY
I have 217 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 to get back to you. But, yes, we have a couple of different strategies that are going on. I'll be glad to -- I know a lot of different deadlines are coming up and we are looking at how to supplement this particular program. You know the challenges that have been out there and you also know the limitations technology that we have, and once we get over those two things, then we'll be able to do this in a faster way.
Just a 30-second comment. We've got a lot of cameras up not operational, correct? DEPUTY
How many? 218 10/28/09 - FISCAL STABILITY - RES. 090540 DEPUTY
There are -- from what I understand, there are 117 that are up and operational and there are another 40, I believe, that are up and are waiting to be hooked into the network.
Could I please make a recommendation. The cameras that are up and not operational have plastic bags over them. DEPUTY
A deterrent, you got the blue light or whatever the color of the light is, blue, flashing, a plastic bag over the camera. The bad guys don't know they don't work. Take the plastic bags off. DEPUTY