COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Tuesday, 2/26/02 9:44 a.m. Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, PA - - - PROPOSED FY'03 OPERATION BUDGET, Continued Hearings PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, Chair COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN W. THACHER LONGSTRETH COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 630 2/26/02 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE INDEX WITNESS MANAGING DIRECTOR'S OFFICE TESTIMONY Estelle Richman, Managing Director.............. 631 Thomas Conway, Deputy Managing Director......... 650 Mike Nucci, Emergency Management Director....... 653 Ellen Steiker, Deputy Managing Director......... 701 D. Wolf, Director, Targeted Assistance Program 704 Susan Kretsge, Director of Quality Management... 726 T. Alexander, Assistant Managing Director....... 737 James Coleman, Deputy Managing Director......... 768 Diane Granlund, Deputy Managing Director........ 789 POLICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson........... 809 Tom Nestel, Deputy Police Commissioner.......... 827 PHILADELPHIA FIRE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY Commissione Harold Hairston..................... 953 PHILADELPHIA PRISONS TESTIMONY Commissioner Thomas Costello.................... 969 Leon King, Chief Legal Counsel.................. 984 Press Grooms, Deputy Commissioner............... 999 Alan Appel, Directork, Inmate Services..........1002 RECORDS DEPARTMENT Commissioner Joan Decker........................1012 - - - 631 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Good morning, everyone. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 5 020001. Our first witness today is Estelle Richman, the Managing Director. (Witnesses comes forward.)
Good morning. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good morning, President Verna and members of Council. I am Estelle Richman, Managing Director of the City of Philadelphia. Today I am here to present testimony on the proposed Managing Director's Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2003 and to answer any questions you may have. With me, I have several members of the Managing Director's Office who will be available to answer any questions you may have. The total proposed operating budget for the Managing Director's Office for Fiscal Year 2003 is $20,829,000: 15 million in the General Fund and approximately 5 million in the Grants Fund, a decrease of $348,000 from Fiscal Year '02 estimated obligations. 632 2/26/02 COMM. 8 million is in Class 100, primarily in the Vacant Lot Cleaning Program. The decrease was realized as the most costly initial cleanup activities have been completed contains. 5 million from Fiscal Year '02 estimated obligations as a result of increases in various ongoing grants: the Metropolitan Medical Strike Team, Municipal Agency Domestic Preparedness, Refugee Targeted Assistance Program, and the Weed and Seed Program. Traditionally, the Managing Director's Office provided oversight, support, and assistance to the 13 operating departments that it directly supervises. Too often, this assistance was delivered on a departmental basis with little coordination on interdepartmental issues. Complex urban problems, including blight, graffiti, crime, homelessness, and the loss of both jobs and residents to the suburbs have demanded that had comprehensive, coordinated initiatives be developed to target a variety of special needs. In the last few years, the Managing 633 2/26/02 COMM. ) Director's Office has broadened its mission in order to assume responsibility for organizing, coordinating, and supervising major departmental programs. An example that we discussed in last year's testimony was the removal the abandoned cars. The following are current examples of coordinated initiatives: First, Snow Fighting. We have revised the City's snow-fighting plan to plow tertiary neighborhood streets for the first time in the City's history. The goal of this plan is to allow Philadelphians to return to their normal daily activities as quickly as possible and reduce the occasions when the City government would have to be closed due to winter weather. To that end, the Managing Director's Office, the Streets Department, the Office of Fleet Management, in partnership with the Water Department, the Department of Public Property, and the Fairmount Park Commission have developed a snow-fighting plan and delineated new procedures for learning, assembling, and deploying personnel for every type of snowstorm. Both Fairmount Park and the Water 634 2/26/02 COMM. ) Department will make expanded use of the vehicles they have, and will dedicate additional employees for snow removal. For example, the Fairmount Park Commission, traditionally charged with maintaining roadways in and around the park system, has expanded its snow-fighting capacity or scope to include select residential streets in the maintenance of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Likewise, the Water Department now fully staffs two highway districts, the 5th and 6th during, during significant snowstorms. In addition, the City is leasing two snow-melting machines during Fiscal '02 winter snow season. These melters are set to be deployed in Center City, other neighborhood business corridors, and in areas with extremely narrow streets, and will replace the traditionally more costly lifting operations that would otherwise be employed. During Fiscal Year '02, the City is also pilot of-testing the use of six trucks that will use brine instead of salt as a pre-storm application. As opposed to the conventional rock salt, the less expensive brine can be applied up to 24 hours in advance and still function as a bond 635 2/26/02 COMM. ) breaker for snow.
If this pilot test proves successful, the replacing with salting operations with brine vehicles could reduce cost and increase the City's effectiveness in fighting snow. Second, Emergency Management. The Office of Emergency Management, within the Managing Director's Office, is responsible for maintaining and revising the City's Emergency Operations Plan and in coordinating the response of the City operating departments as well as federal, State, and private efforts during emergency situations. To this end, the Office of Emergency Management has and continues to make improvements to the Emergency Operations Center, the EEOC, and the Mobile Command Center, CP1, such as new computer hardware, software, and mapping. This office administers the Hazardous Materials Response fund and the Hazardous Materials Matching Grant Program, as well as various federal and State grant programs under the Weapons of Mass destruction Act and Depending Homeland Security legislation. All of these programs are used to fund the purchase of equipment, supplies, and training for specialized units of the Fire, Police and Health 636 2/26/02 COMM. ) Departments. Today, the City of Philadelphia is as prepared to respond to an attack as any major city in America. The Philadelphia Emergency Operations Plan has been updated every year since its creation in 1987 to address the changing nature of environmental and man-made threats and emergencies to our city. The plan, which is approved by both the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), contains established procedures for responding to a variety of emergency situations, including chemical biological, and nuclear events. On September 11th, the Emergency Operations Plan was executed successfully. Within minutes of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, the EEOC was in partial activation coordinated by the Managing Director's Office and staffed by members of the Police and Fire Departments. When the second plane crashed, the City immediately went into a full activation of the EOC. Within 30 minutes after the full activiation, representatives from virtually every City operating department -- PGW, PECO, and SEPTA -- were at their 637 2/26/02 COMM. ) stations in the EOC. The Mayor and the Managing Director were in direct contact with the Chamber of Commerce and other leaders in the business community, the Port Authority, the School District of Philadelphia, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia International Airport. Shortly after the activation of the EEOC, the Police Department deployed additional officers to strategic locations throughout the City, and the Fire Department moved additional emergency medical and firefighting personnel into the Center City area. The Anti-Graffiti Network develops new aggressive anti-graffiti initiatives and provides a framework for coordinating graffiti-fighting measures across a number of departments, City-related agencies and volunteer organizations, in an effort to promote the beautification of Philadelphia. In Fiscal Year '01, graffiti was removed from 54,000 properties, including street fixtures. Anti-graffiti crews in Fiscal Year '02 and Fiscal Year '03 will clean a total of 70,000 properties each year. The Managing Directer's Office of Anti-Graffiti of Voucher Program also distributes 638 2/26/02 COMM. ) vouchers to help neighborhood organizations fight graffiti. In each of Fiscal Year '02 and Fiscal Year '03, the program expects to provide $68,000 to approximately 375 organizations receiving 6500 gallons of paint and 22,000 for related supplies. The Market-Frankford Elevated Train Project, which began in October 2001, has already resulted in graffiti removal at over 850 properties.
The second-floor el project is a massive cleanup project that addresses the increasing amount of graffiti vandalism on the second floors of homes and businesses along SEPTA's Market Frankford el train route at a projected annual cost of $285,000. The Office of Fleet Management has been a crucial partner in this project by providing vehicles and mechanical lifts so that the anti-graffiti crews can remove graffiti from the upper stories of buildings along the Market-Frankford el train route. The Mural Arts Program works closely with the Anti-Graffiti Network to create murals on selected sites that have been cleared of graffiti. 2 million, down $34,000 639 2/26/02 COMM. ) from Fiscal Year '03 estimated obligations. In addition, in July 2001, the City began a Vacant Lot Program to clean all of the City's vacant lots in one year. Through a vacant land survey completed in Fiscal Year '01, the Department of Licenses and Inspections identified 31,000 vacant lots that had become neighborhood eyesores and safety hazards. The goal of the program is to clean all of the vacant lots by July 2002 and establish a follow-up cleaning program that will keep those lots reasonably free of debris. The City will also reclean lots biannually and will work with communities to promote continual lot maintenance. Community caretakers will be elected, and residents and community organizations will be encouraged to adopt a lot as their own to assist with the upkeep. Mural Arts will target suitable sites adjoining newly-cleaned lots for murals. 7 thousand lots and removed close to 13,000 tons of debris. 8 million. 640 2/26/02 COMM. ) The Criminal Justice Population Management. With the suspension of the prison population camp in November 1995, the City, in a cooperative effort with the First Judicial District, instituted several alternative procedures to manage population levels. These efforts include implementing new pre-trial release guidelines that tie release to certain objective criteria, constant monitoring of the City's prison population, and encouraging the appropriate use of alternatives to incarceration programs for non-violent offenders such as house arrest, rehabilitation programs, and community service. These programs preserve prison space for those offenders who pose the greatest threat to society, reduce recidivism, and cost significantly less than traditional incarceration. Special Events. Since the City instituted a special- events policy in May of 1993, the Managing Director's Office has coordinated the City services that make possible events such as parades and festivals. This coordination has rationalized the special-event process, created a mechanism for identifying special-events costs, and 641 2/26/02 COMM. ) allowed the City to charge a fee for City resources used to host events. This policy has been successful in recouping a portion of the money the City spends on these events. Although special-events revenues do not reimburse the City for the full cost of supporting these events, they do help to defray the City's expenditures and allow groups to recognize that the City incurs significant expense to support such events. Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP). One of our newest integrated programs will be the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) as a new prototype initiative of the Managing Director's Office that will combat quality-of-life issues in a timely, effective, and efficient manner through the public education, enforcement, and abatement tailored to the needs of individual Council Districts. CLIP will achieve its goals by combining violation enforcement, abatement efforts, and beautification into one program under the auspices of the MDO. Historically, responsibility for 642 2/26/02 COMM. ) enforcement and abatement and of quality-of-life issues has been scattered throughout numerous departments, with very little coordination and oversight.
As the oversight and coordinating agency for the City, the MDO will take a very active role in CLIP. The Managing Director's Operation Coordinator will directly oversee and coordinate a variety of City agencies and department employees that have been assigned to CLIP, including Licenses and Inspections and the Streets Department. The Operation Coordinator will also be responsible for coordinating efforts with business associations, community organizations, and Councilmembers to ensure support of this aggressive plan. Comprehensive and Coordinated Social Services. The Division of Social Services within the Managing Director's Office was created in Fiscal Year '01 by Mayor John Street to imporve the quality of social services provided to the residents of Philadelphia. The mission of the Division of Social Services is to more effectively anticipate, plan for, and respond to the health and social needs of Philadelphia's children, adults, and families 643 2/26/02 COMM. ) through a more integrated and a coordinated system of services. Included in Social Services are the Department of Public health, the Department of Human Resources, Behavioral Health, and Mental Retardation Services, the Philadelphia Prison System, the Department of Recreation, the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services. In addition, the following commissions and offices work closely will work closely with Social Services: the Mayor's Office of Community Services, the Mayor's Commission on Aging, the Mayor's Commission on People with Disabilities, the Mayor's Office of Health and Fitness, the Mayor's Office of Faith-Based initiatives, and Philadelphia Safe and Sound. One method by which we hope to better integrate services is through development of an integrated case-management system. The goal of this system is to ensure that services are provided without duplication and with a high degree of coordination among departments. The case-management system, as it exists now, is such that if one or more members of a family 644 2/26/02 COMM. ) receive services from more than one social-service agency, there will be often more than one case manager involved. In some of those incidences, one case manager may not be aware of another case manager's involvement and would develop a treatment service plan that does not incorporate or, in the worst case scenario, contradicts the issues being addressed by another social-service entity. In an integrated case-management model, a lead case manager will be identified to work with the other case managers involved to coordinate all of the services that an individual or family might need, be it housing, mental health, or substance-abuse services, prenatal, child care, or job training. A central component of integrated case management is an integrated database system that will allow case managers to access relevant client data from all involved City systems. Currently, each social-service department has its own data system that operates independently of each other, making it difficult to obtain all of the information needed to effectively service an individual or family. 645 2/26/02 COMM. ) We are currently working on the first phase of an integrated database. Integrated case management and integrated data management are long-term investments and systems change, and will be rolled out in phases as the model is developed, reviewed, and refined over the course of several years. In addition, Social Services will focus on several other collaborative efforts in the next year that aim to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of our services.
These include: a DHS and BHS initiative to reduce the number of children sent to out-of-state residential treatment facilities; the David Olds Project, a collaborative initiative between DHS and the Department of Public Health, which provides home-based nursing to low-income women who are pregnant with their first child; and the Medical Home Project, which is another shared initiative between the Department of Human Services and the Department of Public health that utilizes health care centers to provide primary-care services to children in protective custody who do not have health insurance or a regular health provider. 646 2/26/02 COMM. m. are the peak times for youths to commit crimes or become victims of crime, use drugs, drink, and engage in other negative behaviors. Philadelphia is home to approximately 260,000 children in grades 1 through 12, about 100,000 of whom do not have access to after-school or youth-development activities. The Mayor's Children Investment Strategy Initiative aims to dramatically increase funding to support a citywide expansion of services to those children and youth who currently do not have access to after-school or youth-development activities. A total of 100 programs were funded in 2001, adding 3500 additional participant slots in youth-development programs. At an average cost of $450,000 each, we will also be opening 11 Beacon schools throughout the City this year. Based on similar research- based programs in New York and San Francisco, the Beacon model calls for the development of school-based community centers which will be open evenings and weekends to provide a broad range of activities to children and youth and their 647 2/26/02 COMM. ) families. Higher expectations for accountability from the Mayor, citizens, private funders, the State and federal government reinforce the importance of understanding what programs are intended to accomplish and measuring what they achieve. As part of Social Services' ongoing commitment to promote positive consumer outcomes, all social-services departments have defined and begun to measure the quality and effectiveness of services. Staff have begun, and will continue, to use this data to develop more effective policies and programs and to better target services. Performance measurement is an integral part of the integrated case management system. Staff from all social-services departments have met over the past few months to define the outcome for consumers being served by the system. These outcomes in turn are driving the development of new service-delivery models and tools. Data on consumer outcomes will be collected to measure progress and assist in refining the service-delivery model. Information from a performance-measurement system can help departments to make course 648 2/26/02 COMM. ) corrections and better allocate resources. Development of departmental capacity to utilize data on a routine basis is critical, and we will continue to support department staff in enhancing their capacity to measure and use data throughout the next year. As part of our ongoing commitment to deliver effective services, Social Services will implement a system of performance-based contracting over the next five years in order to ensure that contractors providing services that meet the City's standards and promote desired consumer outcomes. A partnership between the City and its many service-providers is critical in order to achieve success for consumers who receive services. During Fiscal Year '02, social-service departments are meeting with contracted providers to develop outcome language for inclusion in Fiscal Year '03 contracts. Provider and staff responsibilities are being redefined to focus on consumer success, not just service-delivery process. Most departments have held orientation sessions for providers, and staff are working together to define what outcomes the City will purchase. Information 649 2/26/02 COMM.
) of these outcomes will be part of providers' routine reporting, and will be used to target technical- assistance efforts, match providers with consumers, and assist the City where best to invest its funds. This concludes my testimony, and I'm now available for any questions you might have.
Thank you very much. You state in your testimony that your Class 100 is decreasing by approximately $1.8 million primarily in the Vacant Lot Cleaning Program. You also state that it was primarily -- that the decrease was realized as a part of the costly initial cleanup activities which have been completed. Once the demolition activities of NTI program start, there will be hundreds m,if not thousands, of additional lots that have to be maintained. How do you ensure that the vacant lots stay clean, and how do we have sufficient resources to keep them clean? And I think in your testimony, you also said that they would be cleaned on a biannual basis? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right. At this 650 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) point, we have put a lot of effort into cleaning 31,000 lots in one year. It is our assumption that we will not again have to do that many lots in one year, that most of these lots, we're working with communities, we're working to make them gardens, we're putting murals, we're putting a variety of things on many of these lots so that we will not ever have to do 31,000. So the manpower to do that many in one year --
But if we're going to be doing demolition, aren't we going to have that many more vacant lots?
My name's Thomas Conway, Deputy Managing Director for the City. I believe that once we do the initial cleaning and removing the 13,000 tons of debris, the amount of debris or whatever we're going to remove is going to be a lot less. Um... COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We will be working with the NTI group to stay on top of the lots we've already done and work with them around -- within their initiative around what happens as lots and demolition continue to occur. 651 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) This one was in addition to NTI, as you know, as opposed to initially part of it. So we will continue -- right now, in fact, as we clean lots, if a lot becomes -- I don't want to say "trashed." If a lot has debris that reoccurs in it, we try to follow up pretty quickly just to maintain the presence of those lots, and we will continue to do that so that, again, we will never be going into the depth or to the scope that we've had to do this one year.
Right. And in the budget for FY '02, you had over $3 million for temporary and seasonal employees. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That's right.
And that has been cut -- COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right.
-- by $1.8 million. Also, on Schedule 200, -79, I notice that you have repair and maintenance charges, and you have an additional $60,000 there. Can you give us some explanation on that, please. 652 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I'm sorry, what page number is that again?
33-79, and I believe it's line 260. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Those dollars are for tree-trimming and stump removal.
Okay. In your testimony, you mention about 8500 dead trees? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right.
Street trees that you plan to apparently remove. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: These are --
And you indicate that 4300 dangerous trees will be removed annually. Once the backlog is reduced, funding will be reduced and shifted into an ongrowing program for planting and pruning. Now, will that be put under contract, or will the Fairmount Park employees be removing the trees?
Okay. And when remove the trees, they're not just going to 653 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) remove them to a, stump I hope.
No. What they do is, they have a stump grinder machine that takes the stump out of the ground, but it is an additional crew that does that. The initial pruning and removal of a tree is one crew, and then a stump-grinder crew basically comes out and removes the stump.
Okay, Miss Richmond, you mentioned the Office of Emergency Management in your testimony. Can you tell us how much additional funds are included in the FY '03 for security and security-related expenses? And please tell us how you will be proposing to secure City Hall, and when do you intend starting the implementation of the plan? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Go ahead.
Madam President, I'm Mike Nucci. I'm the Emergency Management Director for the City. Right now, we have a stream of funds that come through the Justice Department through the State to a Southeastern Pennsylvania task 654 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) force.
Right now, it's about $127,000 a year. That does not include any anticipated monies that are going to come through the Homeland Security Act, which haven't been passed by Congress yet. Additionally, we have gotten in the past few years 300,000 from the Defense Department for personal-protection equipment and detection equipment for police and fire, and 500,000 from the U.S. Public Health Service to establish a metropolitan medical response system, which basically is the pharmaceuticals and the decontamination equipment to do a large body of people that were exposed to a chemical attack. Additionally -- and I'm sure you'll hear this from the Health Commissioner -- another $200,000 for the planning -- and this is again from the U.S. Public Health Service for planning a surveillance system for disease control for bioterrorrism. Right now, I wish I could tell you 655 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) more, but we don't know what's going to be passed by Congress and how that money's going to come, whether it's going to come through the states ir a portion of it through the states and some of it director to the cities.
Well, how much do we have in the budget for FY '03 for security and security-related expensess? And I'd like to know what is being proposed to secure City Hall. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The City Hall activity, some of of it has begun, and I believe in the transfer-ordinance testimony by Rick Tustin, who's with the Capital Budget Office, stated that as soon as we have the transfer ordinance, we can pick up on the rest of the activities that have been planned. I can get you those exact numbers if you --
I would like to know what the plan is, please, and when you anticipate the implementation of the plan. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Okay, I will be able to get to you the plan, the cost of the plan, 656 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) and the implementation schedule.
Thank you. Who will be appointed as the operations coordinator of the Community Life Improvement Program? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Tommy Conway, who was just at the table, is the operations manager for the CLIP Program.
Will you be targeting certain Council districts, or will this be a citywide program? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We are prototyping this as a start, and we're looking at Councilmatic District 6 to start and see how it works before we can determine whether or not it's an effective way to work, and then branch out in appropriate areas from there.
How many people will be assigned to this program?
Initially, approximately 30 people, and they'll be recruited from existing agencies such as the the Anti-Graffiti Network and the Vacant Lot Program.
What 657 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) additional resources will be needed?
One of the major additional resources will be the acquisition of vehicles. Due to the City's aging fleet, we are acquiring, I believe, approximately new vehicles 7 for that. 8 And, again, the people in the Vacant 9 Lot Program right now, we're going to transfer some 10 of them over for employees of the new CLIP Program, 11 so this way, we're going to try and eliminate a 12 massive hiring program for this. 13 COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The intention 14 was not to hire new staff, to use staff in th 15 departments to sort of do some reorganization, and it's only redirecting some dollars within Fleet.
Did I understand you to say that we're going to have to purchase vehicles? Did you say that?
Okay. Have those figures been included in the budget?
The figures for the new vehicles are going to come out of this year's budget. 658 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Okay. Miss Richman, you mentioned that in FY '03, an additional $10 million has been committed for after-school, youth development, and Beacon Programs. Where is the $10 million budgeted and what is its funding sources? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The dollars for the after-school program are TANF dollars coming from the State that were applied for last year and this year through the needs-based budgeting process with DPW with the Department of Human Services
What departments and their locations will be funded with these funds? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The 11 Beacon Programs have been identified. I believe we have a list with us; if not, we will make sure you get it. We went through a request-for-proposal process to identify the 11 sites that were selected. These are major agencies. One of the qualifications is that the agency had to have a sufficient budget to be able to manage this kind of program. They're all school-based, and they needed to be broad enough to be more than just an 659 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) after-school program, but to really function as a school community program within those -- within those areas.
Thank you. I have other questions, but at this time, I would recognize Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you. Good morning. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good morning.
I'd like to go back to the Community Life Improvement Program. Could you tell me how long you plan to run this program as a pilot and when do you see it expanding to other districts? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Since we haven't begun it yet, I can't exactly tell you how long. I think we want to get a sense of the kinds of things we're going to see, the kinds of problems, and how long it begins to work with that neighborhood. But our goal is to be there long enough to be able to address most of the quality-of-life issues such as grass not being mowed or people putting trash out too early and it being turned over, or the issues that happen in neighborhoods 660 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) that would be termed almost "pre-blight"; in other words, the neighborhood is still not suffering from the kind of blight you would see coming under the NTI Program, but at the same time, many neighbors -- the neighborhoods and the neighbors of properties feel that it's not being kept up, and we will use code enforcement to be able to cite this and to be able to go in and then bill the resident and put a lien on the property.
How did you determine which area to begin the pilot? What information did you use? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The councilwoman, Councilwoman Krajewski, basically came to the Administration and asked if we would look at the program.
Okay, thank you. Are you trying to compile data on requests made from all Council districts regarding these same issues to determine where you would go next? I would imagine that since we all have these similar complaints about lack of enforcement, there should be some coordination of the -- 661 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) compilation in a database of the number of complaints you get relative to the issues you are trying to address so that you would know where the real problems are. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We are trying to collect that. We don't have what I would call a comprehensive or an integrated database right now that gives us that kind of information very easily. One of the roles of the Managing Director's Office, I believe, is beginning to create both those kind of databases and that information, so that I could come back and talk with you about these kinds of offenses within a neighborhood that would not really be at the level of blight to trigger a high level within NTI, but at the same time, are enough of an eyesore and a problem to pay attention to. I think we're trying to work out where those lines are. As I have been talking to Council people, one of the questions I've ask is, how many -- are there trees in your neighborhood that you want us to pay attention to? Are there properties? Are there pre-blight conditions that the Managing Director's Office needs to be aware 662 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) of? I'm trying to work my way through Council asking these questions and have probably done half of you at this point. But part of that is creating that database and using that information and ultimately tying it all together with the database that NTI is forming at the same time.
Well, one of the -- you know, having been here for a long time and being a District Councilperson, we have filed complaints with L&I and certainly Fairmount Park regarding trees and the Streets Department about trash and lack of enforcement. It seems that they should have that information already compiled; we shouldn't have to give you that information again. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: No, I've been asking Council first not to give me that information again, but to help me prioritize where it is. And obviously, we can't do it all, so I'm trying to just get a feel for it right now as we proceed into the spring and fall in the next fiscal year. This is more my education than trying 663 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) to start you all over again because what I do is take your priority list, send it to the departments and say, Where is it falling? when will it be done? and how can I work with people to make sure that these things are being attended to?
Now, will we get the answer -- when we call the Department regarding enforcement of quality-of-life issues in the 9th Councilmatic District, will we get a response like, "Well, you're not a part of the CLIP Program and you have to wait until we do a pilot in your area before you can get some service"? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: No, no, you will get service hopefully quicker than you've had it before.
Mm-hmm. On the Emergency Operations Plan, what is the mechanism the City will use to educate or inform the public what happens -- if there's an emergency, I mean, how will the public know what to do? Who's going to communicate with them about the City's plan for their safety or what they should do -- should they go to the basement, should they go home? What is the role? 664 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Are you specifically talk about the terrorism thing or in general?
I'm just talking about if we're sitting here and something happens, who tells me what to do?
How do we communicate to the public what they should do for their safety?
Okay. Specifically for hazardous-chemical incidents, we've sent pamphlets out through the mail and have made them available to community groups about the different options of shelter in places versus evacuation. How we get information to the public during an emergency, we have several ways of doing that: the emergency broadcast system, of which KYW is the common program control station we have access to. So from the Fire Communications Center, they could formulate a message of what they want people in the specific area to do, and that would go out this through KYW, and they download it automatically to the other radio stations that are are a part of the program. 665 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) We can also do it through cable TV. We have a system where we can, according to the area, dial a number to a cable TV station, punch in a code; it will knock all of the programming off the air, and we'll be on there live with a voice message. So there's different ways we have to address that. And then, I guess, as a last resort thing, police cars and fire equipment on their P.A. systems would be giving specific instructions to a relatively small area of evacuation or going in your homes and shelter in place.
Okay. What happens when plan is activated? Suppose you had to activate your plan; what --
All right, it's activated pretty much -- at lease once a week for different things, like a fire, a three-alarm fire, different elements of the plan.
The plan itself consists of a basic plan, plus annexes for different situations. There's a hazardous-materials response 666 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) annex; there's a mass casualty annex; there's an evacuation annex; there's one for crashes at the airport, an airport emergency annex; and general ones for police, fire that basically spell out what their duties are in certain situations. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: In general, the Emergency Operations Plan is probably at least as thick, if not a little bit more, that takes into consideration every aspect of what could happen in a city and who responds and what order people are notified, what's involved in it, and the decision tree that comes out of it. All of that response is managed out of the EOC, in collaboration with Fire, Police, and any other department that could be involved. And we do end up activating it probably about once a week, probably a little bit more frequently since 9/11 because of information that might be received from the FBI or FEMA or from PEMA.
Okay, thank you. Let me just ask you a question about the prison. We have a very large number of prisoners who are Philadelphians but who are sent 667 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) far away and into other states. Is there any effort by the City to assist families to make visits to maintain their bond of the absent family member? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: You mean the prisoners who have been sentenced to a federal prison out of state or to a state prison?
Either. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Either one of those. I don't believe the City has any activity that directly relates to that. I know there are private, nonprofit organization that is take that into consideration. If children are involved, then we often will work with families to make sure there may be some type of visitation, but there is nothing that the City does that assumes that responsibility.
Okay. In the integrated case-management program, when the database is in place, what will be the safeguards for the privacy of the families and their information? I recently spoke with a lady who runs a 668 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) program, who is seeking funding for her program, and there's certain information required, and she has met with resistance from some of the families because they don't want to give up the information. And they might not necessarily receive funding from the program but are a part of the program, and the program requires that you give a census and information on it of everybody, and the program is in jeopardy because the family members are leery of providing certain information. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Probably one of the reasons that that hasn't been developed across the country is the confidentiality laws. And the confidentiality laws, depending on the type of disability or medical issue, are very specific; in other words, the confidentiality rules are different for HIV and AIDS, different for drug and alcohol and for mental health; they're different for children than they are for adults. So coming up with a system that only gives certain kind of people access at any given point in time is the challenge of putting this kind of system together. Overall, who gets to view information has to be very tightly controlled so 669 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) the wrong people don't. One of the common pieces, though, is that normally, the person who does the funding of a public program has the right to be able to do audits at the appropriate level on that information. Anybody else who's not in that chain has to have some level of release of information. So all of this has to be built into your database to be used so somebody just can't go in and see all of your personal medical or social- services history. So part of the costs, the expense of such a system, is building in the safeguards so that if you're in a computer and you want to go into Councilwoman Tasco' medical history, you have to have some level of specific clearance that will tell the computer you're authorized to have that information and there's a need to know. All of those safeguards have to be built into an integrated data system so people feel comfortable sharing information and know that it's not going to be released into a situation that they know they're not going to be compromised.
Well, how is this 670 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) going to all impact on your ability to develop your database, integrated database? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: To a large part, since we are the funder of most of these agencies somewhere within the social-services systems, it gives us, again, at an appropriate staff level, the ability to go in and look at information and to use it. These are extremely complicated issues to be able to get to where're we're going. No one else in its country has done this, so we are trying to be on the cutting edge of how not only to develop such a system but how to use it with some level of assurance.
I left my notes upstairs but I wanted to specifically ask you this question because the program that this organization receives funds from, the management of information is by, I think, Health Partners? Is there a program you have where they manage the information? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right. Health Partners, which is an HMO within the City, probably wouldn't be included in an integrated database. There may some of their members that could be included because some of their members may be 671 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) receiving services from the City. Health Partners is not a City agency, so we would not be including their clients' medical information necessarily unless they happen to be involved in a City department. In other words, HealthChoices contracts with the district health centers.
Right. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Somebody who's in a district health center and is also receiving a service from the Health Department in maternal and child health, or they're receiving services in drug and alcohol, the services for that individual may be in our database, but only people in the City that are authorized to provide or audit that care could then receive that record. An integrated database is not a free-for-all for people to push in a name and to get information out. The HealthChoices -- the 250,000 members of HealthChoices wouldn't be in as a group.
Okay, I'll come back to that question when I get my notes so I can be very specific. 672 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Okay.
Because I understand that the Health Partners is managing the program. But let me go on to the next one, but I'll come back. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Okay.
Will the Beacon schools take the place of the family centers or are they simply an expansion of that concept? And do the family centers -- are still in existence? and just give me a little bit of background on it. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The family centers are still in existence; the Beacon Programs will not be taking over the family centers. While they may be doing similar things, the Beacon Program is a much broader, comprehensive program than the family centers were originally conceptualized to be. We are replicating a model out of New York City and San Francisco to do this particular program, and Beacon in this case stands for a school that is a beacon of hope in the community, that brings them in, and it usually includes after-school programs, and it's a collaboration, 673 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) again, with the community around the type of services and programs they would like to see. It really has a broader scope than the family center. Beacons will be open on the weekends and into the evenings, and many of our family centers are not. So they're broader, more comprehensive, and will have more funding in them.
Okay. Now, where will they be operating? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: There are eleven Beacon Programs that have been funded at this point, and I can get you a list. Or there may be someone here who has a list, and I can read it off to you, but there are eleven programs that we have funded effective basically March 1st.
Councilwoman, do you mind if we have a second go-around because we have a number of colleagues that want to be recognized.
Okay. COUNCILPRESIDENT VERNA: The Chair 674 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning. Managing Director Richman. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good morning.
Let me go back to where Councilwoman Tasco was a little while ago, on of the testimony, the Community Life Improvement Program. Now, do I understand that we may have received, in addition to your testimony, some additional information about this particular program recently? Was some information sent out about this? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Not that I know of.
Okay. And you said that this is a new program? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Brand-new, it hasn't started yet.
Okay. And this was developed by the Managing Director's Office? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: It was brought 675 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) to us as a concept by Councilwoman Krajewski.
Okay. And I thought I heard testimony earlier that the proposal was to take public employees who are presently working in a variety of departments and form them into this particular program; is that correct? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That's basically correct. We're trying to form a team using employees in the departments that report to the Managing Director's Office in a cohesive team to work together.
Okay. And how many people is that? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I believe there are 30? 30.
30, okay. Now, did I hear you say earlier that Mr. Conway was going to be -- what is this, the operations coordinator? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That's correct.
Okay. Mr. Conway, your present position is what? 676 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Okay. And I think our most recent experience with you was more with graffiti activities?
And have you transferred over into vacant lots and that type of stuff? It's hard to keep track of your time.
The anti-graffiti, I still see that, as well as the Vacant Lot Program.
Okay. Now, how are we going to take the 30 people away from the departments where they're presently working and have them working on CLIP -- which I'd like to get -- if there's any written material about it, I'd certainly like to read about it -- and not have an impact in other areas of government?
Well, I think that the major thinking behind CLIP is the coordination effort. A lot of employees are doing a lot of work in specific areas, but they're not working together per se.
They're not working 677 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) together on a daily basis.
Okay. So of the 30 people, give me a breakdown of the different areas that the employees will come from, and tell us a little bit about how their efforts are going to be coordinated.
For instance, with the CLIP Program, we're looking to attack the quality-of-life issues such as vacant lots, anti-graffiti, the blight issues. For instance, somebody has a -- high weeds on their lawn; the current system is basically, we write a violation for 30 days, and after them 30 days are up, we go back to check to see if the violation was fixed basically. If it's not fixed, we want to send out a crew to fix the problem and then lien the property owner and abate the issue. Now, a lot of these people --
Now, hold on for a second. So you're saying that under the present system, you send a violation and if they don't do it within 30 days, I'm assuming normally, we would then proceed to court?
Correct. 678 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Okay. And under this proposal, you're saying we're going to go out and actually do the work ourselves.
After the allotted time is up; that's correct. It's the same type of concept we're using with the Vacant Lot Program. Give them so many days to clean a vacant lot; if they don't do it, we go in and clean the vacant lot, bill the property, and if not, then we'll lien the property.
So if a property owner's grass is too high and complaints have been made, you put the violation out, they don't do it, then we're going to come back and mow their lawn?
Hopefully, they will comply. But it's not so much a lawn-care service; it's more about property owners that basically aren't taking care of their property and --
I understand that. And the follow-up concept is, rather than leave it in the court system, we're going to send people out to abate the particular problem, whether it's front lawn, rear yard, something in the alley, whatever the issue may be. 679 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Okay. Now, so, the difference here is, essentially, rather than leaving it in the court system where they may or may not respond or you'll end up either in Municipal Court or in Equity Court or one of the courts, we're going to have people just go and abate the problem ourselves and then place a lien on the property and then, what, leave it to either Revenue or the Law Department to follow up on the lien?
Okay. And I understand the genesis of the concept, but why wouldn't you do this citywide? I mean, there must be this similar kind of problem all over the place. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I think one of the things I have found is, every good idea doesn't mean that operational-wise, it's as as well as it sounds. So we want to try it, see how it works, how much staff is really does take, how much 680 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) equipment it takes, and then make a decision on that. That's the reason for using a prototype. It does -- but I have done lots of things that conceptually look good very on paper, and after operational-wise, you run into a lot of problems that you you maybe should have considered before you started or at the point of start. So this is a way to see if it falls into place as well as it sounds.
How long will the pilot phase last? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I can't tell you that right now; I don't know. I have not preset a date on that. My usual format is to check back on a continual basis every 30, 60, 90 days to see what's happening, how it's going, and if there are any problems that may not have been anticipated.
Okay. Well, let me go back to the question Councilwoman Tasco asked. If you take 30 people from these departments -- the departments are L&I and Streets; are those the two agencies or is anybody else moving from somewhere else? 681 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Basically, it would be L&I Streets, Anti-Graffiti, and the Mayor's Office of Community Services. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The part of MOCS is the folks that are being diverted and doing community sentences in the court system.
I'm sorry, say that again? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The members of MOCS that are involved in this are people who are being diverted from jail, the diversions, the people who are sentenced to a community service is a large part of this group.
A large part of what group? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Of the folks that will be going into the communities and working doing and doing some of the work. You wanted to know the departments and the groups of people who are going to be involved in this.
Right. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: One of the groups is the court diversion group.
You mean to 682 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) actually do the work? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: To actually do the work.
All right. Well, let me go back, then. The 30 people involved, those are presently public employees?
The majority of them, yes. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Not all of them, in other words; some of them are court diversion people.
Okay, all right. Of the 30 people, how many are public employees, how many are diversion people? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Probably about two-thirds of them. I don't have the direct breakdown of that.
Two-thirds which way? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Two-thirds of the 30.
Are...? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Are City employees, I'm sorry.
Okay, so two-thirds 683 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) City, so it's -- COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right.
Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: And 8 incidentally, there are more than that who 9 currently work on thse problems within those 10 departments. So we're not pulling the entire 11 contingent of people. So that if any other 12 Councilperson would call and say, "I have an issue 13 in my community," that we couldn't get to that. 14 This is an attempt to see if we're 15 coordinating this under one single point of 16 authority, can we get a better bang for what we do, 17 have more accountability, and make things happen 18 faster. 19
No, I understand 20 that, but I think what I'm trying to better understand is -- I mean, if you take 20 public employees from a couple different places -- COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right.
-- who do these things, in your view, in not the most coordinated 684 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) fashion possible, but they are now out of the larger system. When the complaints come in and you have fewer people that are available -- and I 5 thought the testimony earlier was, no, you will -- 6 not only will you not see a diminishment in 7 service, you'll see quicker service, and I guess 8 I'm not understanding how you get quicker service 9 with 20 fewer people. 10 I mean, on that theory, I mean, maybe 11 we only need 10,000 employees. 12 COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That would be a 13 nice thought. 14
I don't think so. 15 COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I don't think 16 so. 17 I think my response on it would be 18 quicker just because when things tend to hit my 19 desk, I tend to say, "Get it down now" and push 20 pretty hard. So the system is designed to look to see if a coordinated effort, using a CLIP model, is going to be more effective than our regular model of having it done just by calling the department. That's the goal. Those are the two different 685 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) models that we'll be looking at.
Right. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I probably should have just said, "No, you probably won't have to wait longer. We'll try to meet your same schedule that we have met in the past."
Now, where is this program in the budget? 'cause I could not find it. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Because the equipment that we are purchasing is being purchased in the current fiscal year, there's no budget impact, so it wouldn't be pulled out as a separate budget document because we're not pulling new dollars.
I understand. How much equipment are we talking about? And you already had budget authorization to purchase this equipment? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Right. It's within our Fleet Management, and we just went into Fleet and directed dollars by Fleet that they had there into, I don't know, more jeeps -- well, I'm not really good on my trucks an cars yet.
That's okay. 686 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Some of the new vehicles that are acquiring are also going to be using our residential snow fleet, so we work closely with Fleet Management. For instance, if we're requiring eight new F-350 trucks, they're also, during the winter months, going be used for plowing and salting. So it's going to be a dual purpose with the new vehicles.
Okay, go ahead. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We're getting things like -- I'm still -- 350 Ford pickup trucks, which were just explained, one trash truck, one wood chipper. So it's things like that where there were dollars available within the Fleet budget to do this. That's what we're doing.
Okay. I would just mention to you off to the side, Madam Managing Director, that I know that your former Chief of Staff and now Health Commissioner, John, Domzalski he's a big-truck guy and he can give you some assistance on the differences between the different vehicles. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: People have been 687 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) giving me several toy trucks but they failed to totally identify them for me, but they're yellow and they're really cute.
I understand. We'll work on that. Okay, so the last question on this particular issue is, the pilot program, length determined, assessment by yourself, and your expectation is that at some point in time, this will be looked at for expansion throughout the City? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That is correct.
Okay. And let me ask this question: For the rest of the City, while this is going on, what's being done to improve systems and processes to address the the exact same issues? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I think when the -- as I'm working with each commissioner around how they address complaints that come into their department, I'm asking to see, how do they create priority? what do they address? how do they determine what is dangerous? and beginning to try to get a feel for how some of these decisions are 688 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) made and the timeline that accompanies them. Some of this we're trying to monitor directly from the Managing Director's Office, and some of it, I'm just trying to get a feel for it right now on how the departments have historically operated.
We do have a number of other Councilmembers waiting.
Do you want to ask your last question at this point, or would you rather wait?
If you give me the opportunity, Madam Chair, absolutely. There was a question asked last week, and maybe, Managing Director, you can give us an update on it. There was a news report regarding an internal and national search with regard to, I 689 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) guess it would be called the permanent filling of the position of Police Commissioner. Can you give us an update on that search, and who is actually conducting the search? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I actually cannot. I'm assuming the search is being conducted by Personnel, but I have not been involved.
Okay. When I asked the question last week, actually to the Chief of Staff, the Chief of Staff indicated that she was not involved in that process and that, technically, the hire is made by the Managing Director's Office. And it was her position that the Managing Director was handling this particular matter. So you're indicating today that you are not involved in that now? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Not at this point, but I might be. The Police Commissioner is a cabinet member and reports directly to the Mayor, and under normal Personnel rules, when there's a search that happens, the search is normally done by the Personnel Department or a contractor, and then they may choose a group of us at the cabinet level to do 690 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) the interviews or to otherwise be consulted. And I don't believe it has gotten to that point yet.
Do you know whether there is a contractor involved? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: No, I don't.
Okay, all right, thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kenney.
Thank you, Madam President. No disrespect, Managing Director, but that has me seriously concerned that the Managing Director of the City is not involved or aware and, through no fault of your own, 'cause I do respect you and know how hard you work, not involved in the selection process of the most -- of one of the most important commissioners in the City. I mean, the Personnel Office and the private contractor may know more than the Managing Director's Office as it relates to the selection of a person to lead our police department? I mean, to me, that is -- and if you don't feel comfortable 691 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) commenting, I'll understand. But the fact that you're not aware of that information, again, through no fault of your own, I find it absolutely bizarre and extremely discouraging and upsetting that -- I mean, if anyone else in the City should be involved in that selection process, or at least the knowledge of what's going on, it should be you. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Councilman, I would assume that by the time they get down to a limited number of candidates that I would be involved.
Well -- and, again, I mean, you don't have to comment, but I feel that that particular situation is extremely disconcerting, and people in this city and this government should be concerned that a person in your position with the responsibility that you have is not involved in this process at this point, and I think that that's just downright bizarre. Let me just go to the Clip Program for one second. Again, the people sitting at these tables often are the ones who take the brunt of our questioning and our concerns. And, again, both of 692 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) you and the people who have been up before you, especially the two of you that I've worked with over the past ten years, are dedicated public servants that have responded immediately, if not sooner, to some of the requests that we've made, and I know that other Councilmembers have the same view. But I would argue, Madam President, through the Chair, that if Councilmembers Nutter and Tasco and yourself, for example, had been better behaved or had acted more appropriately according to what the second floor viewed as appopriate activity during NTI, redistricting, and some other things, perhaps you would be experiencing this expanded pilot program in your districts so that your citizens and constituents would be experiencing this new way in dealing with quality-of-life issues. I think at this point in time, if I could say so, I think your constituents are being clipped because of your lack of cooperation on those issues, which is exactly the reason why we needed the controls that we've sought after in NTI in the first place, because I believe that as we go 693 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) down the road, NTI will be used as a lever to coordinate and control people's votes on other issues, which I don't think should be its function, but apparently, it's already started to be a function of that program. And, hopefully, our constituents, your District Council constituents, will at some point in time get the message that if you either don't get in line and march right, you're not going to get the services that other districts get. And I think that it really does give a clear example of what NTI may be used for as we move forward. I'd like to move a second to the issue of out-of-state residential treatment facilities and some of our youth that are sent to those facilities. How much do you spend annually, or are we anticipating spending in the next budget cycle on that type of service? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: There are approximately 200 youth -- and I believe that number is decreasing fairly rapidly -- who are placed out of county, out of state, for -- who are usually under the custody of the Department of Human Services and being funded by HealthChoices 694 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) through the Behavioral Health Initiative. The total amount of dollars -- million. 5
$8 million per year 6 and decreasing or stable or growing? 7 COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Hopefully 8 decreasing. The State changed the mechanism for which how this happens, and the City is totally in control of the cost. And... (Ms. Richman hesitates.)
I'm listening, I'm sorry COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Okay. The City now has the responsibility for much of that cost so that it's to our advantage to place those kids within Pennsylvania as opposed to Texas, Colorado, and other places.
The youth that are sent to these facilities, are they sent by court order generally, and does the court make a decision on what facilities, what location, what state they go to to? Or is the Department simply ordered to do something, and you guys make a decision on where to send people? 695 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Many of the placements are on the dependency side, and it is a pure decision within a collaboration between the Behavioral Health System and DHS. There are also probably about a third of them now that are delinquent. About a third of them are delinquent, and at that is a collaboration between the court, DHS, and the Behavioral Health System. We've worked very hard over the past year to educate and work with the judges, that the reason that most children are sent out of state is for clinical treatment reasons and to have them understand that it's the clinical expertise that the system can offer that should be picking the placement, how long, and the conditions under which children are placed out of state. They have agreed with that, and the working relationship up to this point with Judge Sylvester has been a very good one, and we look forward to the new administration in having that same collaborative relationship.
So two-thirds -- and Correct me if I'm wrong. Two-thirds or so of 696 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) the young people that are sent out of state, it's an internal decision through DHS and not really a court-ordered type of operation. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That's correct.
And how do we determine where they go? And how far away -- what's the furthest place we send people, Texas? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I know we have kids in Texas, Colorado, Arizona I believe. I don't believe we have any children in California.
What types of services do these institutions or agencies or facilities render that can't be rendered or found in the region? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The primary reason that children are put out of state is that Pennsylvania has a regulation that treatment facilities cannot be locked, and the out-of-state places we choose --
Locked like a door lock? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Locked like a door lock. They cannot be locked or secured facilities; they have to be open. 697 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) And in other states, you can -- and the only way you can have a locked facility in Pennsylvania is that it is a hospital. So residential treatment facilities in Philadelphia -- I mean, in Pennsylvania cannot be locked. Residential treatment facilities in just about every other state can. And for some of children who are placed out of state, the treatment clinician believes that the child, at least for their beginning stay, needs a locked facility.
Have we made any efforts to attempt to change Pennsylvania law? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Numerous.
What is the major obstacle to doing that? I mean, this legislature -- at least the current makeup of the legislature would not indicate to me an interest in keeping facilities unlocked; if anything, it would be the opposite. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: This actually falls within the auspices of the Department of Public Welfare, and most frequently, either the children in youth grouping or the Office of Mental 698 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) Health and Substance-Abuse Services who have actively opposed having a locked facilities.
It's an awful expensive decision for our part, I guess, as it relates to -- as a result of what we have to spend based on that decision seems to fly in the face of what many other states are doing 'casue we have to send kids to other states. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Absolutely. We have been working numerous years on trying to have them understand that we believe it's more damaging to go a child to be so far away from their family that it would be what they seem to see as abuses if it is a locked facility. Our hope is that as we enter a new administration next year within DPW, we may be able to solve it.
DPW or -- DPW's resistent; does that mean that the legislature can't force them to change their position? I mean, have we attempted an legislative remedy as opposed to an administrative remedy? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: I'm not sure how to answer that; I don't know that. I can find that 699 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) out, but I don't want to speak out of turn on this one
Does it make some sense, despite the locked and unlocked issue, does it make some sense at some point to perhaps coordinate with other counties surrounding Philadelphia -- Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Bucks -- and kind of contribute to building our own facility? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We actually have several collaborative initiatives going on with the other four counties at this point in time. In fact, of the five, they have sent out a request for proposal, some of those have come back. And I think of the five things they are looking at, three are proposed outside of the City limits and two are in. So there is some collaboration going on and we continue to do that. We've also attracted --
Excuse me, is that for the construction of a residential facility? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Those are residential facilities, small. In other words -- 700 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) and also other our other premise is that we still prefer very small facilities. We believe that the track record of them is much more -- that we get better results and we can be accountable for those. The other part of this is that we have recruited the best of the providers from out of state to come into Philadelphia. The Brown School is one of those; they're based in Texas. The Pine School is based in Virginia. Both of them have come into Philadelphia to operate programs, but they too recommend that where they have a child whose behavior they believe needs a locked facility, they send back to their, quote, home organizations 'cause they don't feel they can offer the security need that the child needs to be here with its current state regulations.
In your off-the-top-of-your-head estimation, if we had the lock issue resolved, how many of these children would we not have to send out of state? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: The vast majority of them. I think we could even reduce that 200 number to probably 50 or lower.
Okay. Let me just 701 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) move for a second to some of the youth coordination issues, children investment strategies, and those type of issues. I'm sure you're aware of an organization in Philadelphia called "Safe and Sound." COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Yes, I am.
Does that organization receive City money, either from the Recreation Department or from DHS? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That organization -- the primary dollars that support Safe and Sound come from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and they come directly to the City. So they come to Robert Wood Johnson, are put int the City Recreation budget and, therefore, they're transferred from that, but let me have Ellen Steiker answer that. (Ms. Steiker comes forward.)
Hi, this is Ellen Steiker, Deputy Managing Director. Safe and Sound is funded in two primary ways. The employees of Safe and Sound are primarily Recreation Department employees, and they 702 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) can be found in the Recreation Department's budget. The program dollars, the non-employee dollars, are funded through the Department of Human Services and can be found in the Grants Fund for the Department of Human Services.
So with the exception of the origin of the non-operating -- I'm sorry. With the exception of the origin of the non-personnel funds, and even the non-personnel funds are siphoned through a City agency, for all intent and purposes, this is -- if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it seems to be a part of the City agency. We have City employees, we have money that's provided from another source but it is routed through DHS. So all in all, it would seem to be pretty much a City agency. Is that -- I mean -- or at least a hybrid City agency; is that fair? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Yeah, that's fair. But it does also have -- it is a private nonprofit and it does have a board, but it works very closely with Social Services and the Managing Director's Office.
Is there any reason 703 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) why a hybrid social-service City agency like this would not be appearing in the budget process? Any reason it should not? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Well, I'm not sure I can specifically answer that question. One of things that they do actively do is fund-raising, which is one of the --
Well, so does the Recreation Department and, you know, the Police Department. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: That's right.
They fund a lot of things through, you know, bicycles and bottled water and other things. I mean, many departments fund-raise actively. It's just -- And how much money are we spending in that particular quasi-hybrid agency with personnel, and how much money is passed through to the organization through DHS?
For any of these questions, if you need to respond later, take it as a -- 704 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Why don't we respond later to that one and get you the full information rather than trying to dig through the book and find it right now.
Okay. Also, just finally -- Madam President, thank you for your time -- on the rear of your testimony, there is a mention of a Targeted Assistance Program $713,000 in Grants Funds. This is supposed to deal with employment-related social services for refugees, immigrants who have arrived from Eastern Europe, Africa Southeast Asia, etc., and translation services for members of our refugee communities. Who gets that money, what do they do with it, and what is the evaluation process that relates to its effectiveness? COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Coming up is someone who understands this program.
Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record.
Yes, good morning. My name 705 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) is Donna Wolf, Director of the Targeted Assistance Program. The Targeted Assistance Funds from 1983 on have been 100 percent federally funded. And the primary concern of the Targeted Assistance federal legislation is to get folks jobs as quickly as is possible, and the eligibility is limited to those who have legally entered the country as refugee and now more recently, folks who are asylees [sic]who are -- have been granted political asylum status in the United States. And the employment service -- it's primarily employment service, and a third of the budget is for personnel, which are job counselors working in the office. And for the moment in the Northeast, we have -- we share is a space with the New World Organization of immigrants from Russia.
Is this a City office; do we give grants to organizations who provide services?
We are a part of the Managing Director's Office and, in fact, we do subcontract for other services as they're needed.
How many City 706 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) employees are involved?
Six. And how many agencies do we contract with or give grants to?
And how do we evaluate the effectiveness of their service?
Actually, this is kind of off the topic, but the way the program was always set up was that we automate our intake forms and we track our services, and we have almost constant feedback as to the service provision that we receive from our subcontractors. Mind you, these are not major contracts. The contract for the New World Association, for instance, is for $35,000, one of them, and that's for -- really allows us to use part of their space. And they do some outreach and referral for us as well. But we do sit on Bergen Street off of Bustleton Avenue three times a week, and it allows us to have evening coverage as well; that's for the predominantly Russian population. And they also have Town Watch. 707 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) We try to improve community relationings by offering small incentives, very small -- $12,000 at this point -- to get people engaged and have the radios and the training by the police, which is our way of making community support and safety and integration.
Part of -- I mean, this is anecdotal, and I'll raise it through you. Through my workings in the last couple of years with many of these organizations, there seems to be some disappointment, I guess, with the way in which the money is spent, that it seems to be that a lot of it is targeted to Town Watch-type activities, and perhaps a way of looking at it differently by taking the money and instead of spreading it out the way we do, to maybe concentrate it into an overall office, and I don't know whether you received a copy of my report on --
We're very interesting in it and were sort of hoping that something would happen out of that, actually, as an aside, because there are --
No, 9/11 hasn't helped in 708 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) general now because the -- actually, the entrance was halted entirely for refugees for about three months and is only recently been opened again. Most of the targeted assistance funds, the 5, $600,000, is really primarily employment- driven and mimics very much the welfare to work, which is get a job now as quickly as possible, so most of it is employment counseling.
Part of the problem, though, as you know, which we have with many of our refugee communities is that they're not always legal in status and they're not always knowledgeable of how to get legal. For example, in South Philadelphia, there's a large and growing Indo-Chinese community that are eligible for asylum. The information available to them on how to get asylum, what papers to file, and the fact that if they do file, they become legal until their asylum issue is resolved one way or the other can bring a lot of these people out from underground. And I don't want to belabor this discussion now, but I'd like to have it at a future date, but I'd like to know the agencies that we 709 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) give grants to, the organizations, if I could get a list of them
And that would indicate to me -- a couple sentences on what they provide to which communities.
And maybe we can put together some type of a meeting that would better funnel and deal with these resources in a way and dealing with some of the more acute problems that we have.
Actually, the State Department of Public Welfare, which is the recipient of other federal refugee resettlement funds, has just granted also a three-month program to the Hebrew immigration folks to support asylee applications, and they have a hotline now, as a matter of fact and a conference coming up. And actually (indiscernible) we have received walk-ins from the population primarily 17th and Morris 'cause the church down there is very active with the folks, and there much more asylees than I would have imagined actually and 710 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) easy to place, actually.
Well, they're an interesting group of people who left under terrible circumstances. Many of them were middle-class merchants and business owners who -- basically, everything was taken from them and they ran for their lives.
And they're beginning to show some gems of coming back in that particular neighborhood, which is very hopeful for South Philadelphia in that west side of Broad Street.
Just as an aside, we had a fellow come in last week, referred to us for employment, and we sent him over for part-time employment to a company locally and in Center City here, and they hired him as a graphic artist, full-time as a graphic artist, and the counselor was stunned when he came back.
If you could get me a list of that information, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you. 711 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.)
Councilman, your time's up. At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Thank you, Madam President. Managing Director Richman, I received a letter from -- on behalf of Child Care Matters, and there was money in the budget last year for that group; I believe it was a late additionon to the budget. And we looked and maybe missed it, but it doesn't appear that that organization's covered this year. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: We have guaranteed them last year, as we did this year, $150,000 and said that we would again try to up that this year to 300, and I think we're going to make the 300 this year, and our hope next year is to maintain the $150,000 and, again, as we look at grants coming in from the State, is to up it to $300,000.
That's the only question I had for you, other than your office provides a lot of service to my office, and I'm not 712 2/26/02 COMM. OF THE WHOLE - BILL 020001 (cont'd.) speaking for other members, but I'm sure I could on that point, and very responsive, and I want to thank you for always the good work. Thank you. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Thank you.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown. Is she in the room? Apparently not. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning. COMMISSIONER RICHMAN: Good morning.