COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:35 a.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. COUNCILMAN JACK KELLY COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN JUAN RAMOS COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO BILL 060003 - An ordinance adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2007. RESOLUTION 060099 - Resolution proposing an amendment to Bill No. 060003 which provides for the Operating Budget... RESOLUTION 060100 - Resolution proposing an amendment to Bill No. 060003 which provides for the Operating Budget... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good morning, everyone. I apologize for the delay, as usual. However, we will start our public hearing of the Committee of the Whole, and I would ask Mr. McPherson to please read the title of the bills and resolutions before us this morning. MR. McPHERSON: Bill No. 10 060003, an ordinance adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2007. Resolution 060099, resolution 13 proposing an amendment to Bill No. 060003 which provides for the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2007 and a corresponding amendment to Resolution No. 060019 which provides for the Five-Year Financial Plan to increase the City's contribution to Community College of Philadelphia in order to achieve 33 percent City funding in five years. Resolution 060100, resolution 23 proposing an amendment to Bill No. 060003 which provides for the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2007 and a corresponding 3 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. amendment to Resolution No. 060019 which provides for the Five-Year Financial Plan to increase the budget for the Police Department to allow for the hiring of an additional 250 officers over a three-year period.
Thank you. I would ask Mr. McPherson to please call our first witness. MR. McPHERSON: The Mayor's Office.
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning. I'm Joyce Wilkerson, Chief of Staff to Mayor John Street. Thank you for this opportunity to provide testimony regarding FY07 operating budget for the Office of the Mayor. The total amount requested for the Mayor's Office from the General Fund for FY07 is $5,129,104, an increase of 4 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. $399,615 over year 2006 estimated obligations. Of this total, $4,929,104 is for employee compensation, purchases of services, material, supplies, equipment and contributions. The largest portion of this request, the Class 100 appropriation, includes $4,020,129 for 62 positions, which represents an increase over the FY2006 estimate. This increase constitutes an increase of, I think it's, approximately positions of the 14 authorized level for 2006, reflecting the 15 transfer of the Empowerment Zone 16 positions from MOCS, the Mayor's Office 17 of Community Services, budget into the 18 Mayor's Office budget and the related 19 consolidation of Empowerment Zone and NTI staff under the direction of a single senior administration official in the Mayor's Office. The Empowerment Zone Grants Revenue request remains in the FY07 MOCS budget. There is also an increase of $200,000 in Class 200 5 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. appropriation. The positions and related funding for the ethics oversight function currently carried out by the Board of Ethics has been transferred from the Office of the Mayor to the Law Department, with the expectation that in May, the voters will approve the proposed Charter change authorizing the creation of the Ethics Commission. I am pleased to report that the City's investment in our federal and state lobbying teams continues to pay healthy dividends --
Excuse me, Ms. Wilkerson. The noise level is really much too high. It's very difficult to hear the witness. Anybody having conversation, please do so in the corridor. Thank you. I'm sorry.
Our federal team advocated the City's funding 6 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. priorities on many fronts, including the FY06 departmental appropriations legislation and the legislation reauthorizing the highway and transit programs. 8 million over five years for various elements of the Philadelphia North Delaware Redevelopment Project. 25 million for FY06 for the Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Partnership initiative to help bolster the City's efforts to reduce the high incidence of violence and homicide among the youth population. In a separate Department of Justice reauthorization and with that input from City, Congress approved an authorization to launch a national youth violence demonstration project authorizing grants to local governments to fund programs to reduce juvenile and youth violence. The legislation 7 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. authorizes 50 million the first year and additional funds to be appropriated through '09. Senator Specter shared Mayor Street's concern regarding the need to focus resources to suppress the surge of youth violence in Philadelphia and other cities and was instrumental in securing the new program. Other priority issues for the City which were on the federal team's agenda included preserving CDBG funding and local prerogatives over eminent domain, homeland security legislation and Urban Area Security Initiative funding levels, telecom reform, Renewal Community Tax Incentive modifications, Workforce Investment issues and Amtrak funding. Our team in Harrisburg was critical in advancing several important legislative and budgetary issues, including assistance with passage of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which enables the City to increase deed registration from placement of a trust 8 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. for affordable housing programs; incorporation of a seven-year grace period on implementing restrictions on the use of eminent domain, which is currently being considered before the legislature; and the pursuit of authorization of state funding for highway patrol officers. The team also worked hard to protect our interests on various legislative initiatives with potentially negative impacts on the City. While we're on the subject of lobbyists, I'd like to note that the Administration continues to support enactment by this Council of comprehensive lobbying disclosure requirements with respect to Philadelphia's City government. As you know, February 1st the City went live with eContract Philly. There's still outstanding issues in order to enhance transparency and so the Administration will be lobbying in support of disclosure requirements legislation that's been 9 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. previously transmitted. The principal remaining portion of the General Fund total in our proposed FY07 operating budget, $200,000 in Class 500, is for City scholarships. This amount will continue the Mayor's Office scholarship program for Philadelphia students who attend classes at area colleges and universities. The program is distinct from the College Opportunity Resource for Education Philly scholarship program inaugurated with the graduating class of 2004 through which system-wide scholarship assistance has been made available to every eligible graduating senior. Funding for that program in the amount of 4 million is included in the Finance Department's FY07 Class 200 budget request. The Grants Revenue request for FY2007 is $1,265,725, representing an increase of $399,797 from FY2006 estimated obligations, a decrease of $844 from the FY06 original appropriation. 10 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. These grants are principally from the federal government to support the Mayor's Commission on Aging. The grants will enable funding to assist older adults with job counseling, training and placement and health insurance counseling. As you will recall, beginning in FY05, grant funding for the Mayor's Office on Literacy was transferred to the Free Library.
You will be hearing from the Mayor's Office of Community Services, Housing and Community Development, Office of Labor Relations and MOIS for their FY07 operating budget request later in these hearings.
Thank you very much. Ms. Wilkerson, on of the detail under Section C, General Fund, you show that you had 47 budgeted full-time positions for 2006. As of the increment run, you had 59 filled positions and you are requesting 62 positions for FY2007. 11 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. Why has the Mayor's Office exceeded its budgeted level for 2006 by positions, and can you please tell us 5 the titles of these positions? 6
The confusion 7 in part reflects the transfer of the 8 Empowerment Zone -- the merging between 9 Empowerment Zone and the Neighborhood 10 Transformation Office in the Mayor's 11 Office. We need to reconcile those, and 12 we'll provide Council with a correction of that. When Pat Smith left NTI, the decision was made to appoint Eva to be the Executive Director. So we've eliminated her position under the Empowerment Zone and have gained certain efficiencies, and that was not picked up in the -- it wasn't picked up correctly in the December run. So I want to get that correction to you.
Great. Thank you. Why are you requesting to 12 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. further increase your 2007 budget by an additional three positions for a new total of 62? Again, I would ask what are the titles of those new positions?
The Administration is increasing by one in the communications office to beef up our communication function. We've also now got a -- are appointing a Deputy Secretary for Education. Currently, Jackie Barnett is working alone. And then there's one more administrative position that we're adding, in addition to the transfer of positions into the Mayor's Office from MOCS.
You are requesting $200,000 in the General Fund for an educational summit. Can you explain the purpose of this summit and what will be the scope of services of this contract?
I don't have an exact scope of service. What I can tell you is what the plan is. 13 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. Back when the Mayor negotiated the partnership agreement between the Commonwealth and the City, one of the things that it did was launch myriad different models for delivery of educational services. We have Edison running some of our schools. We have charters running some of our schools. And what the Mayor committed to at the time was a willingness to explore a lot of different educational models. We think we owe the public a report back on what has happened. There are also, as you know, outstanding issues about public school funding. The City took on a substantial increase in funding for public education that in part supported deficit financing for the District that is exhausted as of the end of FY06, and so we feel there's a need to also engage the public around the funding needs for education moving forward. But we don't have a scope of service, but expect that some of that 14 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. analysis will require professional support.
Thank you. On of the detail, you are listing five firms for lobbying services that total $231,200. Is this the total for the lobbying services? Is this City-wide?
These are the lobbying services from the Mayor's Office. There are certain City departments that lobby separately. For example, the library has separate lobbying, and I don't know if that's funded out of the General Fund or out of the foundation. PGW, although it's not directly a part of the City, also has its own lobbying resources. But what the Department's identified -- what the contracts cover is the bulk of the City-wide lobbying effort, and we can provide a written report on the specific issues around which we lobby. We're 15 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. currently in the process of gathering from departments across the City issues around which we want to lobby. We lobby fairly aggressively around earmarks in support of various Administration initiatives, and I captured some of that in the testimony. We also have been lobbying aggressively with the Redevelopment Authority around eminent domain issues at both the federal and the local levels, and so we --
We would appreciate it if we could have a City-wide list by firm, what the scope of service is and certainly who can access these services and what the amounts are.
The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo for a 16 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. point of information.
Madam President, I'm sure you remember the last time the Chief of Staff was here I asked that same question. For many, many months I've been asking for that, because in our work, there's times when we have interaction with the state similarly when we're talking about relationships with PennDOT or the reimbursement for the state police patrol. For many months, I've asked the Administration who can we talk to up there that can help represent us, and never ever got an answer. I asked at the highest level of the Administration. So I don't know why it's a secret. Chief of Staff pointed out that it's in the budget and she assured us in her last visit that that information was going to be forwarded. Did you receive it, Madam President?
No, I did not. 17 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Ms. Carolyn Nichols is the direct contact for the federal lobbyists. She can share with you the various issues, what the expertise is, and I'll make sure that she reaches out to you in order --
Chief of Staff, I appreciate that, but in our work, knowing that we have people that can cut some red tape for us when we need some help out of the state and federal government, not knowing who they are is a very difficult situation, and you can imagine when you ask a simple question like that and not get an answer, you wonder why.
Well, could you tell us how many state lobbyists do we have and how many federal lobbyists and who are they?
If you look on of the budget detail, we're using 18 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. Whitman Diamond for lobbying services at the federal level, Patton and Boggs for lobbying services at the federal level, Borsky Associates for lobbying services at the federal level, Washington Linkage Group for lobbying services at the federal level, and American Continental Group for lobbying services at the federal level. We also work with Ernie Barefield. And I don't know exactly where his contract is funded, but Mr. Barefield. And on discreet matters, from time to time Wojdak Associates will also work with us. PGW works with Gmerek around PGW issues.
Wojdak and Ernie Barefield work with us on the state level. 19 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
I mean, I'm not trying to be picky. I'm just trying to make my work a bit easier. If we're paying people to help us, we should be able to ask a question of those folks and say, Hey, look, we need the name of a contact or could you help us with specific pieces of legislation. Especially helpful when I did the red light cameras. I had no help.
What we can do is, we bring the federal lobbyists in from time to time and meet with the local lobbyists from time to time, and we can set up a briefing for members of City Council.
It would be great to know they're there since we're paying them.
Thank you. That would be really helpful. 20 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
We can work out a mechanism so that you can plug into their services as well.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
On 16, you have a Fiscal 2007 obligation of $200,000. The provider is to be determined for an educational summit. Could you explain that, please?
I talked briefly about what we wanted to do. When the Mayor entered into the partnership agreement with the state, we launched a lot of different models for school governance. We have charter schools, we 21 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. have the Edisons, the private foundations running schools. It reflected a commitment to explore what model works best. We want to do follow-up work with that. There are also huge funding issues. The School District survived in part over the last five, six years because there's been deficit financing. That money runs out, and so there are issues around that, where we want to do some work. The ethics, the new contracting law applies and so we will be soliciting for consulting services using the methodology that's spelled out in the new contracting law, and so we'll be posting the scope of work, we'll be soliciting bids for that. But I don't have a scope of work at this time.
In your testimony, you talked about the money that had been earmarked from the federal government for some of the services for 22 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. the Philadelphia Violence Reduction Partnership and there's another Department of Justice reauthorization program. This year I think the Congress eliminated earmarks. What impact would that have on the earmarks that came to the City in 2006?
Carolyn Nichols works with George Burrell in the Office of External Affairs and she's our principal.
Just quickly in answer to your question -- Carolyn Nichols, External Affairs. There's a movement to eliminate earmarks, but they have not been eliminated as yet. Earmarks are attached to the appropriation bills, and the federal budget because it's so huge, 2.7 trillion, you have about 11 appropriation bills, and the different departments are kind of clumped together in the bills. And there are earmarks attached to those appropriation bills. 23 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. It's true that Senate McCain and President Bush and some of the congressional leadership have talked about eliminating earmarks, but they have not been eliminated as of yet. So what's going to happen, according to McCain, is every earmark that comes up on the Senate floor, he's going to challenge and try to knock it down. But it has not been eliminated, because a lot of the Senators and the Congress people need those earmarks for programs, very valuable important programs in their own districts. So the earmarks have not been eliminated as of yet, and we're very aggressively, as Joyce has said, moving to get our earmarks funded.
We, this year, surveyed the various departments, had 55 items identified, 55 potential earmarks we wanted to go after. We're culling that down to 20. It's everything from bomb detection equipment at the airport 24 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. to runway extension, to youth violence programs, to maternal care programs. And I could aggregate the dollar amount, but it's probably in excess -- it's over $50, $60 million. I mean, it's a substantial amount of money. But we can pull together a report. We've been successful over the years in getting greening money. There are just a whole host of areas where we've met with substantial success. And not all the initiatives involve money. We've been very aggressive around the eminent domain issue that's critical to our NTI strategy and trying to rebuild the City. So we can pull together a report on that and share with you the kinds of issues that we're looking at and also set up the meeting so that if there are other issues that Council wants us to be pursuing, we can work with you around that.
Okay. I 25 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. won't talk about eminent domain. I'll wait until the Redevelopment Authority comes, but that story in the paper this morning didn't help our effort.
I don't know the details of that. Just in defense, I think that we have worked hard to try to put together an eminent domain program that is responsive and sensitive to the trauma that a lot of people go through. And I don't know what happened in that situation, but we've worked hard trying to do a better job.
On of your testimony, you talk about the $200,000 in Class 500 for the City scholarships and then you talk about the CORE program, which is separated out for every eligible graduating senior in the amount of $4 million. Is that one $4 million or is that recurring every year $4 million?
It altogether was, I believe, a four-year commitment on 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. the CORE scholarship, and the expectation is --
Yeah. And the 11 expectation is that private funds will 12 replace what has been largely City 13 supported over the years. 14
So do you 15 have any idea how many scholarships we 16 have and what the fund balance might be now?
I can get you a report on that. I don't know that right now.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from members of the Committee of 27 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. Ms. Wilkerson? (No response.)
Thank you, Madam President. I do have one. On the bottom of the first of your testimony, there is a mention of the $50 million investment from the Department of Justice. Is all of that going to the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership? Is that being divided among several municipalities, or what? What's the background?
Carolyn Nichols again, External Affairs. The way that's written, it is, I apologize, a little confusing. The 50 million is actually nationwide, and for cities that meet certain requirements, I think you have to have a million population and certain other criterion, a city can receive up to 15 million in any one fiscal year. So, no, 50 million does 28 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. not go to the City. And it's the Youth Violence Reduction Demonstration Project.
Well, it's not a 7 sure thing. There are certain 8 criterion -- 9
Yeah -- 12 (continued) that has to be met. It can 13 be authorized up to 15 million. The City 14 may not get exactly 15 million. Up to 15 15 million if certain criterion are met, as determined by the Department of Justice.
Any read on when the City may be awarded that money, if at all?
The problem with the appropriation process, the way it works, the money may be appropriated to the City in any given fiscal year, but the release of the money is a very different matter. 29 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Sometimes we're like a couple fiscal years behind before we actually receive the money, because, unfortunately, that's something that's not within our control.
Sure. I understand that. And then, finally, should the City be awarded any of those dollars, all of them will be targeted for the Youth Violence Reduction Project?
Yes. It all has to be targeted for that. You can't spread it out and do other things with it.
Very well. Okay. That was my only question. I thank you very much.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly. 30 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Yes. Carolyn, I was just wondering, that $15 million, does that have the approval or support of our federal officeholders; do you know?
No, it's not required, but do you know offhand if they are supporting this?
Yes, indeed. Our Philadelphia delegation was a leading force in developing this legislation. Yes. But their approval isn't a prerequisite for the appropriation.
So in your opinion, what do you rate that as to be successful in getting the 15 million?
No. It's 31 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. very important, but what are our chances?
I don't want to say that the City will definitely get 5 million, because I can't say that. Up to 6 15 million. I can't say the City will 7 definitely, yes, it's done. No, I can't 8 say that. But we're the moving force 9 behind it and it certainly looks very, 10 very good, very favorable for us. 11
Thank 14 you. 15 Any further questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Our next witness. MR. McPHERSON: Mayor's Office of Labor Relations.
Good 32 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. morning. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Good morning, Madam President and members of City Council. My name is Bill Grab. I'm the Director of the Office of Labor Relations. I'm here with Deputy Directors Joe Tolan and Delia Gorman to present the Office's request for Fiscal Year 2007 operating budget. The Office of Labor Relations coordinates labor relations programs affecting City unionized Civil Service employees. We work with City managers, union representatives and their members in collective bargaining, labor contract administration, dispute resolution and labor-management cooperation. We are requesting $586,265 in Fiscal Year '07 General Fund budget, which represents an increase of $96,240 from our Fiscal Year '06 estimated obligations. Our FY07 operating budget 33 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. request breaks down as follows: $548,351 to support seven filled positions, $21,414 for the purchase of services, $16,500 for materials, supplies and equipment. Our performance goals are attached for your information. In collective bargaining during the past year, the contract with the IAFF, the International Association of Firefighters, expired and we began the interest arbitration process with the Local for a successor agreement in 15 September. The parties are currently 16 presenting cases to the arbitration 17 panel. 18 In the July 2004 FOP 19 arbitration award provides two separate 20 reopeners for healthcare contributions, 21 one for the period for Fiscal Year '06 22 and '07, another for Fiscal Year '08. Following hearings held in June 2005, the arbitration panel awarded a first year 15.7 percent increase in the City's 34 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. health and welfare contribution to the FOP and a second year increase of 4 percent, with a $3 million lump sum. The 5 City has appealed the award as being in 6 excess of the current Five-Year Plan. 7 The District Council 33 and 8 District Council 47 contracts each have 9 health and welfare reopeners for the 10 period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008. Negotiations on their contribution levels will take place this spring. We are responsible for handling District Council 33 and District Council 47 grievances that the operating departments have not resolved at the lower levels. Combined District Council 33 grievances were 66 during '05. During that period of time, we disposed of 102 grievances. I'd like to right now thank my staff, my two deputies and the other people back in the office, for their hard work and dedication in reducing this workload. 35 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. Another Office of Labor Relations service measure is conducting training of City employees. Our training is to help managers and supervisors function effectively in a union environment. We set a goal of 200 participants for Fiscal Year 2006 and are maintaining that goal for 2007. The collective bargaining agreements between the City and AFSCME District Councils continue the Redesigning Government Initiative, a labor-management cooperation program designed to improve services to the citizens and reduce the cost of City government. The RGI committees have worked effectively in Recreation, Revenue, L&I, Health, the Police Department and the Board of Revision of Taxes. A new committee is in the Office of Behavioral Health and is in the process of upgrading its software and reorganizing. Part of the process involves redesigning how the 36 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. work gets done, and the OBH has partnered with District Council 47 through the RGI process to involve employees in the redesign of their work. We would like to thank Council for this opportunity to present our budget request for Fiscal Year '07 and are available to answer questions.
Thank you very much. Mr. Grab, can you tell us what the status of the appeal of the FOP health and welfare award is?
It has gone to court. We have filed our briefs and the union has filed their briefs.
Do you have any indication as to when we can anticipate a final decision?
No. I know the courts acted very quickly on the first appeal the City had. I can only assume that they would act quickly, which would be in the next month or two. 37 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
If the appeal goes against the City, does the Administration have any additional appeal rights or will that be the final decision?
What is the additional cost to the City that would then get added to the Five-Year Plan if in fact we lose the appeal?
It's $48 million over the Five-Year Plan. It might be 46. 46 or 48 million.
How would the Administration propose to bring the Plan back into balance? 38 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Well, there would have to be cuts. I mean, one of the things is, we have less police officers than we had before funding the 2004 award. So, I mean, that's one of the possibilities. Other possibilities are cuts in supplies and materials and things like that.
Okay. Are there any questions from members of the Committee? (No response.)
The Committee will stand in recess until 12:45. Thank you very much. (Luncheon recess.)
We would now resume our public hearing, and I would ask Mr. McPherson to please call upon the next witness to testify. MR. McPHERSON: Mayor's Office 39 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. of Information Services.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Council President Verna and members of City Council. I am Dianah Neff, the Chief Information Officer. On behalf of the entire staff of the Mayor's Office of Information Services, I am pleased to provide you this testimony on our proposed Fiscal 2007 operating budget. I am joined today by David Baldinger, who is the Director of IT Strategic Planning. The Mayor's Office of Information Services works in partnership with City agencies to implement and manage information systems that support and enhance City government operations. MOIS coordinates the City's information technology initiative by providing centralized planning, enterprise IT standards, IT project management, computer training and help desk support. 40 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. MOIS also operates the City's central data center, the metropolitan wide-area network known as CityNet, the geographic information system and the operation support center. MOIS is requesting a total of $13,076,658 from the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2007. This General Fund request represents a total increase of $1,283,330 from the Fiscal Year 2006 estimated obligations. The 113 budgeted positions is an increase of full-time 14 positions from the total number of filled 15 positions as of December 2005. 16 The increase of 16 full-time represents an addition of seven new staff, five of which will be assigned to a new IT security unit and two staff to provide additional project management capacity. I will discuss this in more detail in my testimony. The remaining nine positions represent unfilled staff vacancies as of December 2005. In the Water Fund, we are 41 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. requesting a total of $1,454,281. This represents a $113,000 increase from the Fiscal Year 2006 estimated obligations and represents an increase of one staff position to provide additional support for the replacement of the Water Revenue Bureau's water billing system and a three percent wage increase effective July 1, 2005. In the Grants Fund, we are requesting a total of $2,276,300, which is a net decrease of $449,000. These funds will be spent to complete the Unified Land Record System, the Virtual Property Management Information System and develop needed interfaces to support the sharing of property information among the City's NTI business partners. MOIS staff continues to work in close cooperation with City departments and agencies to achieve the Mayor's goal of using information technology to improve services to City residents and businesses. Some of these projects 42 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. include the DSSCares being developed with the Division of Social Services, the Virtual Property Management Information System in support of the Mayor's Neighborhood Transformation Initiative and the new BRT CAMA application, as well as supports for new systems at the Register of Wills and the Sheriff's Department. Within MOIS itself, we have begun to implement technology to improve our internal management procedures. More departments are now relying on the enterprise capabilities MOIS has deployed and we are taking advantage of new technology to integrate older legacy applications with newer servers and web-based applications to support a far wider range of departmental business needs than has ever been possible in the past. The computing and application environment of the City is becoming more complex, and we are embracing new tools to help us manage and deliver reliable 43 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. and cost-efficient services. This new technology will give our staff and managers sophisticated tools to manage the deployment of new applications to maintain and monitor existing application and services and to establish detailed procedures to guide our staff in managing a very complex technological environment.
We are now strengthening our Program Management Office by adding two new staff and by reassigning resources to provide greater capacity and increased depth to better respond to the needs of individual departments. The Program Management Office will better enable us to work with departments to identify technology solutions and to provide professional project management assistance, improving our ability to successfully manage IT projects on time and within budget. In FY07, MOIS will create a five-person IT security unit that will be responsible for the deployment and 44 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. implementation of a comprehensive information security program designed to protect the IT infrastructure and the City's data. Protecting the privacy of much of this data is strictly mandated by the federal requirements for HIPAA, the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act. And, further, the City's IT infrastructure and network must be protected, and an effort that is now a 24-by-7-by-365 fundamental responsibility of modern IT departments and organizations. The newly created IT security unit will deploy and implement a comprehensive security plan for the City to include new security policies and standards, risk assessment of vulnerabilities, development of a security architecture to guide application development, evaluation of IT security tools and products, development of contingency plans, and incident response protocols. Recent events have heightened 45 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. the need to plan and prepare for the continuity of operations in the event of an emergency or disaster. MOIS is participating, with the effort being led by the Managing Director, to review and strengthen the City's emergency plans. Today in the event of an emergency or disaster, the City has in place plans to relocate its mainframe data center to a commercially provided disaster recovery site. The disaster recovery solution has been the standard business solution for governments and private industry for some time. It is no 16 longer, however, an adequate solution, because the City's IT infrastructure, its hardware, its networks and its applications, have grown in scope and complexity over the past decade. The applications now hosted by the City's mainframe computer data center only support a fraction of the applications and information technology needs of the City. 46 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. The City has initiated a program to strengthen its ability to recover from a disaster and provide continuity of critical business services. First, the City has made an initial investment in technology to begin to provide disaster recovery support for a portion of the City's critical applications. And, lastly, MOIS is continuing to deploy and expand capabilities and standards in support of common business needs across the departments. We are working with departments to deploy the enhanced IT capabilities in the following areas: To the City's e-mail capability; to further expand our electronic bill 19 payment called ePhillyPay; updating the City's geographic information data and further deployment of applications and web services to integrate spacial data with needed business applications; selection of the Oracle Enterprise Business Suite as a City standard; 47 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. creation of the Oracle Grid and Storage Area Network providing a shared environment for deployment of departmental and applications; and deployment of imaging and document management solutions. gov website. Madam President, that concludes my testimony, and I want to thank City Council for your ongoing support, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you very much. On of your detail, you are requesting a restoration of Class 100 funding from Class 200 of $400,000. Why are you requesting the shift, and can you please tell us the title of the positions you are requesting? 48 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Madam President, we are requesting the $400,000 shift. We have been using contract staff in the interim while we were seeking to fill the open positions, and that was done during the mid-year transfer. Our goal is to have those positions filled. I will need to get back to you with the detailed listing of the exact titles.
We're checking on that. If not, I'll get back to you with that information.
That would be fine. On the same , you are requesting $232,102 for additional maintenance for a second engine. Would you please explain that request?
Certainly. As a part of our mainframe computer, we upgraded that about a year and a half ago and there are multiple engines that run 49 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. the mainframe. We brought up one engine. We've reached capacity on that. We own the second engine, but you have to pay additional software fees when you bring on additional software applications that are needed to make that available to us. So this request is for the payment of those software licenses to allow us to use the capacity of the machine that we own.
On , you indicate that you will be receiving reimbursements from other departments $613,598. Explain what this is and please give us a breakdown by department and amount.
Certainly. We have on staff IT personnel that work in departments, whether that's in the Department of DHS, Streets, Water. And I can give you a complete detail of those positions, but those are reimbursed positions that work in other departments under the direction of MOIS. 50 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
Well, when you forward me in writing the other information, I'd appreciate your including this.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Just a couple general questions to start. On the first page of your budget detail, can you give me a layout of the top management or top staff in your department?
Certainly. There's myself as the CIO. I have a deputy CIO. We have --
I 51 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. understand that. I'm looking at your organizational chart on . I'm trying to fill in the boxes. I don't know who all the people are.
Michael Dean is the First Deputy. Under Executive Direction are the exempt personnel, and I can give you a detailed list of those positions. There are about 14. And there is our Program Management Office headed by Crafton Timmerman. Then I have program managers --
Crafton Timmerman, which is head of the Program Management Office, which would have been under the Executive Direction.
Correct. We have 52 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. program managers that work with the different departments. I have James Cartwright.
Why don't we do this: For that area, if you have people, if you could forward to the 8 Chair a listing of those, that would be 9 fine. 10
The only deputy that I have is Michael Dean. I have one deputy and then I have directors and managers.
Okay. Are there like a few managers -- or directors 53 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. rather?
There are about 4 in total throughout the entire 5 department. 6
Okay. I 7 mean, do you have kind of a small 8 management group? 9
The IT Director of 14 Operations, which is Terry Phillis. The 15 enterprise capabilities is Jim Querry, 16 who handles GIS and web technology. 17
Querry, Q-U-E-R-R-Y. Then I have the program managers that work with the department, which are James Cartwright, Karl Bortnick, William Gargano.
Okay. What do you call it, this executive team? 54 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
All right. I have not seen Mr. Bortnick in a while. I wasn't sure if he was still with us.
Okay. So you have a senior management team. You have 113 people?
In the General Fund, and then I have another 16 in the Water Fund.
Okay. Because you're showing on it looks like a total of 131 people.
Now, let's shift for the moment to -- there's obviously been a newspaper story today -- 55 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
-- with regard to Mr. Dean. How long has Mr. Dean worked for the City?
I came in in May of '01, and six to eight months later I hired Michael. So late '01, early '02.
And when he was hired, did he have a waiver for residency?
He had a waiver to 56 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. move in within six months, and that was extended an additional six months.
So, in essence, he had a year all told from sometime in the December '01-January '02 -- let's say January '02 --
-- for discussion purposes. So he had a waiver. Where did he live?
To move into the City. And do you know if there 57 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC. was ever an inquiry as to around about that time did the individual move into the City.
Yes. He submitted a lease on an apartment that he had moved into the City.
That he had moved into the City. Annually we require exempt employees to submit proof of residency.
And is that the location, to your knowledge, that's referred to in today's story as being on Spring Garden Street?
There was a change of residency when the apartments he was in converted to condos.
And the form upon which the residency is noticed, if you will, what kind of form are we talking about? 58 2/28/06 - WHOLE - BILL 060003, ETC.
What kind of form? It asks for you to submit your residency, and then you submit two pieces of information to validate that residency address.
So this is not the annual either Statement of Financial Interest or your ethics disclosure form?