Committee Hearing, February 21, 2001

1444 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING AND PUBLIC MEETING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE FY 02 - OPERATING BUDGET - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, PA February 21, 2001 9:30 a.m. - - - Bill No. 010005 - Adopting the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2002 PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DARRELL L. CLARKE COUNCILWOMAN DONNA REED MILLER COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN W. THACHER LONGSTRETH COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR. VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 1445 2/21/01 Operating Budget I N D E X Nicholas DiPiero, Civil Service Commission... 1447 John Kromer, Director of Housing............. 1449 Roderick Lyles, Fiscal Officer, OHCD........ 1450 Maxine Griffith, Planning Commission......... 1458 Carol Ryba, Aministrative Services Director.. 1458 Ernie Leonardo, Planning Commission............ 1458 Linda Seyda, Personnel Department.............. 1506 William McNulty, Fire Department.............. 1521 Michael Cooney, Police Department.............. 1521 1446 I N D E X WITNESS LIBRARY Elliot Shelkrot, President. . . . . . . . . . 1545 Helen Miller, Director, Public Services . . . 1563 COMMISSION ON HUMAN RELATIONS Lazar Kleit, Acting Executive Director. . . . 1570 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT, CITY REP James Cuorato, Executive Director . . . . . . 1576 Craig Shelter, Exec. Vice President, PIDC . . 1589 Mjenzie Traylor, First Deputy Director. . . . 1595 Curtis Jones (position not identified). . . . 1599 Bonnie Grant, Deputy City Rep . . . . . . . . 1678 MAYOR'S OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES Ralph Preston Blakney, Executive Director . . 1681 Eve Gladstein, Exec. Dir., Empowerment Zone 1687 CLERK OF QUARTER SESSIONS Vivian Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1701 Tom Christmann, Budget Officer. . . . . . . . 1703 Charles Williams, First Deputy. . . . . . . . 1704 CONTROLLER'S OFFICE Tony Radwanski, Deputy City Controller. . . . 1710 1447 P R O C E E D I N G S

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your patience. This is a continuation of the hearing regarding Bill No. 5 010005. At this point we will refer to the Civil Service Commission for their testimony. We know you have another hearing at 9:30. Thank you, Mr. DiPiero. Introduce yourself for the record and begin.

Good morning, members of City Council. I'm Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. I'm pleased to testify on behalf of myself, Civil Service Commissioner Marwan Kreidie, and our newest Commissioner, the Reverend Repsi Waren, in support of the commission's budget request for Fiscal Year 2002. Our total budget request of $159,363 represents an increase of $148 over our FY01. appropriation of $159,215. This increase is reflected in Class 100, and provides for the negotiated salary increase for Civil Service employees. The remainder of our request is unchanged from our FY01 level, and will provide funds for 1448 2/21/01 - Operating Budget training, necessary materials and supplies and the purchase of minor equipment. Under the Home Rule Charter, the Commissioners are charged with approving or disapproving a large variety of actions affecting Civil Service employees. These include the establishment of job classes, position and pay classifications, residency waivers, personal services contracts, Civil Service Regulations and exemptions from the Civil Service. To date in FY01, the Commission has approved 72 classification and pay actions, 27 changes to the regulations, personal 14 services contracts, and 126 exemptions from civil 15 service, 87 of which were related to staffing summer 16 food programs run by the Recreation Department. 17 A major role of the Civil Service 18 Commission is to function as an appellate body to hear and decide on Civil Service employees' appeals on personnel decisions. Most appeals are regarding dismissals, suspensions of more than 10 days, demotions, oral examinations, denials of requests for leaves of absence, denials of injury on duty time, and appeals from back-to-work orders. Fiscal year to date, the Commissioners have received 107 appeals and 1449 2/21/01 - Operating Budget have issued 74 opinions and orders resolving appeals. With this budge, President Verna and members of Council, the Commission can continue its important work of assuring the preservation of the Philadelphia merit system as mandated by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter.

Thank you. Do we have questions for the Civil Service Commission? (No response.)

Good morning. Thank you very much. Identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

Good morning, Councilwoman Blackwell, members of City Council. I am John Kromer, director of the Office of Housing Community Development and I'm here to testify in support of the OHCD's proposed operating budget for Fiscal 02. I've submitted written testimony, but to summarize, the proposed operating budget for OHCD is 194.1 million in the coming Fiscal Year. Of that amount, 121 million is proposed for the grants revenue fund; 68.9 million in the community 1450 2/21/01 - Operating Budget development fund, and 4.1 million in the general fund. As in previous years, a separate hearing on the proposed community development block grant consolidated plan will be scheduled for finance committee to review the entire plan. Thank you.

Thank you. You stated in your testimony in Class 200 of our Fiscal Year 02 budget that that class is 189.6 million. This includes a 55.3 million increase compared to Fiscal 01, estimated obligation level, and across the board an increase in authority resulting from a change in the City's accounting policies, not necessarily their funding level. Can you explain what that means?

Roderick Lyles, OHCD's fiscal officer, is here and will be able to respond to that question.

Good morning. Previously or historically OHCD in encumbering any appropriations that had been allocated in previous Fiscal Years, we would at Fiscal Year end encumber those available balances with then what was called a reserve document. 1451 2/21/01 - Operating Budget During the current Fiscal Year in conversations with the finance department, it was concluded or decided that that was not the best way or the appropriate way to handle those available appropriations that had been allocated. So, consequently, it was recommended by the finance department that for future Fiscal Years, any appropriations that had been previously allocated and unencumbered, that we estimate what the available balances will be at Fiscal Year end and request that amount as new appropriation. So it does not represent additional funding. It's an accumulation of appropriations that had been allocated, as I've said, over previous years, but the amounts were unencumbered.

Thank you. Mr. Kromer, why are you reducing your Class 800 Fiscal Year request in 02 from 200,000 to 50,000? I see that this is a payment to the City's general fund. What services does this cover? How is it that you're able to reduce it?

The payment itself covers one and one half percent of a personnel expense that's paid to the City's central personnel 1452 2/21/01 - Operating Budget department. In reviewing, again, our historical activity over recent years, we've discovered or concluded that that actually is the only expense that's charged through that 800 class. So we made the reduction based on that.

You're trying not to have an expense in that class; is that what you're saying?

Other than what we now conclude is necessary. Previously, there were excess, if you will, appropriations allocated to that particular class.

You would absorb that function, absorb all that some other way?

The excess was used to support expenditure activity for some of your other classes, and primarily Class 250, which represents our subcontracted activity.

We absolutely do not want to see OHCD lose anything that it now gets. My opinion is I don't care where you move it to or how you use it. We need every service that OHCD provides.

It is used to support 1453 2/21/01 - Operating Budget other OHCD activity during the course of the Fiscal Year.

Some people like to fight about it, but we want it and all that we can have. Thank you. Mr. Kromer, what role does your agency have in the NTI program? As a result, should we see changes in how your funds are allocated, and, if so, how? If to the extent that life funds are used, will your agency be receiving any of these funds and, if so, how will they be used.

The Office of Housing and Community Development is one of a number of City agencies that are working closely with the Office of Neighborhood Transformation to create and begin implementing the neighborhood transformation initiative. The Community Development Block Grant, which OHCD has administered, really is the largest single source of funding to rebuild and revitalize communities. I would expect that the Block Grant will play a very important role in the implementation of the neighborhood transformation initiative. 1454 2/21/01 - Operating Budget I chair the Steering Committee on resource development, which involves a number of City agencies and is charged with investigating opportunities to bring more resources into the Mayor's program to create the best possibility impact and generate as much improvement as possible in the neighborhoods with which we're concerned. One particularly important element of the neighborhood transformation initiative is the proposed private activity bond financing. That financing would enhance a number of programs that had been supported in the past by the Community Development Block Grant. For example, land acquisition, a very important element of the program, could be financed through the private activity bonds. This private activity bond financing could also be used to extend existing programs, such as the basic systems repair program, the loan program, and home ownership rehabilitation program, both to provide more resources, but also to extend these programs to moderate and middle income people who previously had not been eligible under the Community Development Block Grant funding standards. 1455 2/21/01 - Operating Budget The information about the private activity bonds is provided in the preliminary plan for the coming Fiscal Year and will be part of the discussion at the Finance Committee hearing on the consolidated plan.

Thank you. It's all very, very exciting. Can you tell us who makes up this Resource Development Committee?

I'd be glad to send a list of the participants. But it's approximately half a dozen City agencies, all of which have some role in organizing and implementing -- organizing resources for the program and implementing the program. Agencies such as the Redevelopment Authority, Planning Commission, Commerce Department and others, but I will forward you a complete list of the participants.

Wonderful. Mr. Kromer, what is the proposed allocation of your funding in Fiscal Year 02 between administrative and programmatic functions, and how did you arrive at your administrative requirement?

The most complete breakdown of administrative funding is contained in 1456 2/21/01 - Operating Budget the preliminary plan document, although, Mr. Lyles can relate that to our operating budget presentation. Basically, the administrative funding level that is proposed is slightly reduced from the current Fiscal Year. This has been achieved through some reduction in administrative staff cost, despite the pay increases associated with the labor agreement. We have a slight decrease in administrative cost for this coming Fiscal Year. The program delivery element is slightly increased. And that reflects the increased activity associated with the programs that are currently operating and are proposed for the coming Fiscal Year. Overall, the administrative overhead is roughly the same as -- that is proposed is the same as it is in the current Fiscal Year.

Thank you. Where are we with low-income homeowners who received Teir services, Teir and Teir 3 services? Where are we in terms of who gets what and the scope of dollars awarded in those levels?

The Teir 1, and 1457 2/21/01 - Operating Budget categories are associated with the Basic Systems Repair Program, which is administered by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. And each of those tiers reflects a basic level of repair services that are provided to an owner-occupied home in need of repair. Tier 1 jobs involve the repair or replacement of a single major systems element. The repair or replacement of a heater, for example, a roof replacement or rewiring of a property. Tier 3 at the other extreme is the assistance provided to a property that is very deteriorated and needs two or more major systems repairs or replacements. And Teir 3 assistance can go as high as $35,000, whereas Tier 1 jobs frequently can be completed for roughly $1000 per case.

As you know, obviously, this is a very important program. I'll be glad to see it will be included in blight repair. Certainly, we're always ready and glad to have any monies we can that will go to help people in this program. Are there any questions from any other members who are here? 1458 2/21/01 - Operating Budget (No response.)

Thank you.

Thank you.

City Planning Commission. Good morning. Welcome. We're glad to have you. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

Maxine Griffith. I'm Executive Director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. I'd also like the folks with me to introduce themselves.

I'm Carol Ryba. I'm administrative services director.

I'm Ernie Leonardo, director of strategic planning.

Thank you.

Rather than go through fairly extensive testimony, I think what I'd like to do is point out some highlighting of our budget. I think the most important element is a new request for $434,756 more than last year's appropriation. This will allow for the addition of ten planners and geographic information system personnel, that's GIS personnel, and two 1459 2/21/01 - Operating Budget administrative staff persons. This new staff will bolster the capabilities of our community planning, urban design and GIS division, the divisions that will be in the forefront of new initiatives in the community redevelopment planning area. I think that the best way to proceed at this point would be to answer any questions that you might have, especially with regard to the new positions or any questions that you might have in general about our programs and budgets.

Thank you. The hiring of the new staff persons, we assume that they will be permanent, if not, will they be permanently assigned to NTI or permanently assigned to your department?

You're correct; these will be full-time, permanent staff that will be assigned to these divisions. Obviously, NTI will be a large part of their work. But the idea is that these folks will have ongoing responsibilities with the NTI program and also more broadly based.

Thank you very much. You indicate in your testimony that the 1460 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Commission's Urban Design Division has begun developing proto-typical plans for vacant lots and will consider the re-patterning of streets, two important elements of the Mayor's NTI program. Can you elaborate on how you see your role in this area, and if there's anything special that you see City Council doing, other than what we're doing by submitting our plan?

Well, one of the important elements, at least from a planning perspective, and I want to be clear that our role in NTI is specific to the community planning arena, is how to treat the vacant lots once the base condition has been established. In other words, the managing director's office, L&I and others under Pat Smith's direction are developing plans to ensure that we do not have garbage-strewn vacant lots, that those lots are cleaned and maintained on an ongoing basis. However, if you look at these lots as a community asset or a community amenity, then you see the opportunity for additional improvements. What our Urban Design Unit has done in draft, and will continue to do, is try to develop a menu or a 1461 2/21/01 - Operating Budget tool kit of basic vacant lots improvements, TOT lots, reading gardens, vegetable and food gardens, et cetera, almost pattern books. My mother used to sew. We'd get these pattern books, so you wouldn't have to start from scratch. That's the idea. If a community organization or councilperson was interested in improving a lot and one of these patterns suited them, that would take some of the work and need for additional resources to hire designers out of the equation so that the community organization could immediately begin to implement the plan. I would be happy to provide Council with some of the early work in that regard. If you wish, I could submit that as well.

Thank you. Two questions about the Navy Yard: You stated that this unit, your unit, your department will investigate urban design aspects for the re-use of the Navy Yard. Do you know what it is they will be looking at and will you contact the district councilperson, is the one question with regard to. The second is, the administration 1462 2/21/01 - Operating Budget requested to include the balance of the Navy Yard in its KOEB application. Will this designation impact on your urban design for the Navy Yard's re-use.

If I may, let me answer the last question first. As you know, the Department of Commerce, under the direction of James Cuorato is taking the lead on the KOD. We are helping and supporting, but again Commerce is in the lead. We would continue to do that. So our focus with regard to KODs would be assisting and supporting the department in reviewing possible plans that would come before them for urban design consistency, et cetera. In terms of the overall Navy Yard issue, I think we'd be looking again at those broad concepts that will be helpful no matter how the Yard is used. For instance, its connection to the adjacent community, access to the water, maintaining streets trees, that kind of thing. We would also, however, since it's my understanding there's a great deal of interest in the Navy Yard, be reviewing, at the request of the operating agency, and possibly also pursuant to some formal action by the Commission, because depending on 1463 2/21/01 - Operating Budget what it is, there might, indeed, need to be formal action, we would be reviewing individual projects as well. Nothing has come to us for formal review at this point, although we do understand there's a great deal of developer interest.

My last question for this segment is that the Commission we understand has begun to draft proposals for the modernization of Philadelphia's 40-year old zoning codes. With whom are you working in the public and private sector? When are you planning to send these to City Council?

We had just begun work. As a matter of fact, we'll be doing a public presentation at our next Planning Commission session. We did send a letter to the Council President letting her know that this was ongoing and offering to do this cooperatively and coordinate. And we assume we will do that. We expect this will be a six-month project, at least Phase 1. What we're looking at -- I say the objective is that if a guy or girl with a 1464 2/21/01 - Operating Budget high school education inherits a building, residential building, from their grandmother, they should be able to read the zoning code and figure out whether they can put an extension on the kitchen without hiring a lawyer. Right now it's very difficult to even read it. Phase is taking out the arcane language, making it readable and understandable. And that may lead to a Phase where we'll look at more substantive changes. But Phase 1 is just clarifying the language and taking out a lot of references to high-hat blocking factories, and things we don't really do much of anymore.

Before I call on Councilman Rizzo, let me say I think you're doing a wonderful job. I absolutely enjoy working with you. You're just the perfect one for our City as we try to move forward.

Thank you so much.

Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you. She is a quick study. You've gotten up to speed and your staff has gotten up to speed as quickly as possible. 1465 2/21/01 - Operating Budget You're going to employ new people. Occasionally I get a letter with interest, in part, of the Planning Commission. I don't think all of us, or at least I until I did research, didn't understand the structure of the Planning Commission. Could you describe employment opportunities and how a person who would have an interest in City planning could apply?

I'm going to say a 11 couple of broad things and turn it over to a person 12 who really knows and has explained the process to me, Carol Ryba, the director of administrative services. Let me first say that most of the new positions will be going into our Community Planning Unit. These are the folks which actually work on the ground with your constituents, helping to develop these plans and the NTI plans as well. We're trying to time them, so by the time the NTI program kicks off, we will have the personnel necessary to do the work. The second group will be the GIS, the geographic information folks. First, let me say, there are obviously requirements for the Community Planning position. Usually, although not in all cases, a degree in City 1466 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Planning as well as some experience. Geographic information is those maps that we're able to provide you and your constituents, and others as well. We're going to try, starting this year, to do more analysis, not just provide very attractive maps.

I'm smiling because we needed your maps badly a few days ago.

I got a phone call about five of 5:00 about those maps and was able to hold the GIS folks there for a couple of hours. I want to publicly thank them. There might be some wives that didn't get flowers because we were trying to develop some maps for the next day.

The opportunities, I would like to hear how a person can apply for --

I'll turn that over.

We're working with central personnel and they're accepting applications for City Planners and in both the urban design and area design specialties. If somebody submits their application and they can submit a resume with a social security number on it, personnel will evaluate it against the 1467 2/21/01 - Operating Budget existing Civil Service specification for that class. The exam is expected to be given at the end of March in Philadelphia in all the specialities. The GIS positions are actually an ongoing test. There's a GIS Specialist 1 that is continuous testing in personnel. So people can apply for that on a continuous basis. There's also a position of GIS specialist trainee that's been developed by a number of departments using that specialty. This is a new position being created which personnel is also recruiting for. If the applications go over to central personnel, they can also access www.phila.gov on the web and search under jobs and there will be information about the positions.

The 12 positions that will be available, there's a job description for those.

Yes.

You could send it to me directly or to the chair, I'd like to get that job description. I received a few letters from interested parties and I'd like to let them know how the process would work and how they would apply. 1468 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

Certainly.

The job for this Community Planners, the test will be the end of March?

Towards the end of March, yes.

Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Clarke.

Thank you. Good morning. I would like for you to elaborate on the North Delaware Avenue proposal. I understand there's some potential to get some mixed use, mixed income-type of development, some creative things have been spoken about. I would like, if you can, to elaborate. We haven't heard too many specifics about the proposal.

I'd be happy to. I don't want to say great minds think alike, but one of the reasons I brought Ernie Leonardo, who would not normally be here with regard to operating budget, is because I hoped, and expected, there would be interest in Ernie as one of the project managers. You're absolutely correct. I think 1469 2/21/01 - Operating Budget not just in Philadelphia, but nationwide there's this movement to take a look at the so-called old-working waterfront, the industrial waterfront that we all know. I grew up in New York. I worked in Oakland. Very similar. We want to protect, obviously, and enhance the existing viable industrial uses. We also want to take advantage of those properties that are not being utilized. There are a lot of issues with regard to this strip of land. There's transportation and access issues. Frankly, there are also issues of environmental degradation, ground-fill issues, et cetera, and infrastructure. What we've done is contract with a group of really world class -- we're very, very lucky because we didn't have much money. It's an interesting project. We've attracted a major team. And I think one of the reasons we've gotten the positive publicity that we have is because the team is so strong, to take a look at all of those issues, issues of land use, environmental degradation, issues of how do you connect the inland communities to the waterfront, and also how can you use those properties. 1470 2/21/01 - Operating Budget One of the things I do almost on a weekly basis is meet with developers who tell us that we don't have the right product mix in Philadelphia, that there are people who want to stay here who have their roots here, mom and dad is here, but maybe they're doing a little better than they did and they want a house that reflects that. To some extent, those folks are having to go to New Jersey. As we look at the economic mix of housing projects, low-income, affordable housing today, we're in a way celebrating one affordable housing opportunity that's kicking off in Philadelphia. We don't want to neglect the market rate opportunities, people who can pay those taxes and keep the conference full here. So we're taking a look at the whole panoply. We're just kicking off -- there will probably be a community meeting in early March to kick off this investigation. The study will last for about a year. Now I'd like to turn it over to Ernie Leonardo, who is one of the project managers.

Just to add a little to what Maxine has said, we do feel that even though 1471 2/21/01 - Operating Budget there are tremendous opportunities to continue the vibrant, important industrial activity in the lower portion of the North Delaware, by the way, our boundaries are Penn Treaty on the south to the City line adjacent to Bucks County. In the upper portion, there are tremendous opportunities, we think, for residential redevelopment because there's excellent access off of I-95. There's a tremendous asset that is the mouth of Penny Pack Park, a beautiful, wonderful part of the Delaware waterfront that we worked together on with Councilwoman Krajewski to develop in the last few years. As well, there are other assets; good transit access. There are four stops on the R7 commuter line that services this district. There is a lot of vacant land, vacant, but formerly industrial land. There are going to be problems of cleanup and penalty costs. Because you have this tremendous waterfront, which is lovely, and available land and good access and good recreational resources nearby, there is opportunity there. I'm trying to document that, get some idea of cost and come up with 1472 2/21/01 - Operating Budget proto-typical design that gives us an interesting new community, not just a bunch of houses, but a whole new community with mixed use, with retail, with potentially light industrial park working space nearby.

Are we approaching it from the standpoint of having several developers look at attractive land, say, there's maybe 40, 50 acres, come back to us with the concept of what you would do, or are we as a City looking at it in kind of formulating some sort of a concept on our behalf and then shopping that to the developers.

Both. There's a timeline where towards the middle of the project we're going to invite in developers, first, for symposium, later for one-on-one interviews and get their ideas of what they think would work. At the same time, one of the team members is an economic research team from New York that's going to try and look at what market niches can be served with new housing along the waterfront; senior citizens housing, single family detached housing, perhaps, multi-family house. They're going to really take a close 1473 2/21/01 - Operating Budget view of what people in the City would find interesting and viable, as well as new markets bringing people in from the outside.

There's another issue up in that area. Amtrak corridor, Ms. Griffith, I know you've probably taken the train back and forth from New York --

Very seldom. I really prefer Philadelphia.

I wondered, as we talk about recreating our City, doing the NTI program, I think anybody who has taking the Northeast corridor for the Amtrak, former industrial sites along that particular corridor are pretty bad. It continues to decay.

To the extent -- I'm assuming now, to the extent these areas are in some of the more blighted and more deteriorated parts of the City, they will be addressed as part of the NTI program. I know and I don't want to speak beyond what I do know, that when last summer we took a series of trolly tours with the Mayor throughout all of Philadelphia on a very hot trolly with very 1474 2/21/01 - Operating Budget small seats. We got out several times to look at the very kind of areas that you describe and found --

You would not see this on that tour. The nature of the Amtrak corridors to most places is sunken. It's not in view of what you see on the train as you come into Philadelphia.

Well, you're probably right. My point is a little different, that to the extent that many of these areas are under the purview of Amtrak, as opposed to the City, there was some discussion about what could be done. To the extent they are within the City's purview, I'm assuming that they will be addressed through the managing director's L&I new protocol. But that's really not part of our planning effort at this point. It would be part of any sort of community planning effort once NTI gets kick-started. So there's two pieces; one is to clean up, maintenance, and the cosmetic review of these areas. I would think that they would be part, again, of some sort of implementation plan to the extent you're talking about re-use of these areas or re-use of them in the same kind of way we're talking about 1475 2/21/01 - Operating Budget re-use on the North Delaware. They will be part of our community planning effort. If I'm not addressing your question appropriately, I will make sure I do.

I'll talk to you later. With respect to our issue as it relates to retaining students, which is a big issue. I have one large university. Again, we're talking about the retention program for our many college students in the universities throughout the City of Philadelphia. I was talking about Temple University as one of the large universities in my district and a strategy associated with that retention program, also including the neighborhood transformation program. I think one of the goals is to create a broader income level in terms of recreating our neighborhoods. I was wondering to get a sense of where you are with that.

As I'm sure you know, this is really a City-wide, a government-wide, effort, and an effort that the Administration, the Mayor are tremendously concerned about. I think the recent announcements with 1476 2/21/01 - Operating Budget regard to the new entity that is going to look at high-tech and other economic development interventions is certainly part of that. But we've been doing some, I guess, policy and strategic research on what it is that these folks are looking for when they want to say. Interestingly enough, one of the things they're looking for is intense urban environment. They don't want to go to the suburbs. I talked to Andy Altman, who is the Director of Planning in Washington, DC, where they're seeing now this huge retention rate. They've done surveys. If I can be frank, what they're looking for are funky neighborhoods, buildings they can fix up, great bars and restaurants, and the kinds of interactions amongst each other that they consider to be a benefit. Interestingly enough, in the Washington area, the jobs are all outside the district. But the students, the ex-students, young people, don't want to live near those jobs; they want to live in the City. So I think one of the things that we've been looking at, and Ernie has also been involved in, is how do we enhance those, again, 1477 2/21/01 - Operating Budget intense urban environments moving out from Center City near North Philadelphia, North Liberties, those areas that would be natural attractors. There's also an ongoing project led by the University of Pennsylvania, but also involving the Center City folks looking at connecting the university districts more to the central City. So that's part of it. I would add that partly, because of our conversations, Councilman, we have just started in our office something we're calling, at least the working title is, Community University Partnerships. The reason is the working title is hard to say. With folks from our community planning division and Ernie's policy division, we're reaching out to an organization that I might have mentioned to you, the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, that's done a lot of work in this area, to see if we cannot only help inform the policies, but then through the community planners get it done on the ground. I also had a very good conversation with the president of Temple who seems very open to dialogue, both in terms of student retention and the flip of that, communities involving themselves in 1478 2/21/01 - Operating Budget community development. So I think I can say that we are on track with you, Councilman. The Administration is extraordinarily concerned about this issue. These are the kids that start a high-tech business that in a couple of years ends up hiring a couple of hundred folks. So we want to keep them here for a number of reasons.

Is there a specific person within the Planning Department, or does every individual area planner have a sense of what we're trying to achieve? As we move ahead in some parts of the district, particularly around Temple University, I think we have more opportunities than others because of the vacancy. As we recreate those neighborhoods, the likelihood of what's being able to build to suit, so to speak, for students' needs as it relates to them staying here, I think, has increased. I'm not sure that the planners for specific neighborhoods have a sense of where you're going that relates to the broader issue of student retention.

In terms of this issue, 1479 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Councilman, I am the project manager for this project. Joe Leonardo and Ernie Leonardo, no 4 relation, are also in the loop. In addition, we have a, and I'm not quite sure what to call it, a little school that we will be developing for the incoming planners. Because we feel with these new folks, we have an opportunity, in a way, to start from scratch and ensure that they are on point with the Administration and the Council's directives. But on this one, not only have I gotten from you and others the importance, the Chief of Staff also asked me to deal with this one personally. I'll be doing that.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Griffith, we had a fair amount of discussion probably back during the Capital Budget about staffing levels and, I don't want to say concern by your office, but just a direct expression. 1480 2/21/01 - Operating Budget You laid out the specifics of what your staff compliment is, the challenges faced by, you know, a number of requests, people can only do so much. I'd like to during the operating budget time, have a chance to further explore that and see how we might be able to work together because I know you want to have the office functions or have the office and the commission and the staff level close to what it should be, given the environment that we can't always have everything that we want. But maybe things can be a little better than they've been. So for the operating budget time, why don't you give us a little bit of a breakdown of what the staff compliment is, where you see areas that may need to be upgraded. It is not a secret, and I think even prior -- possibly prior to your arrival or around that time Mayor Street said that he wanted to upgrade not only the work, but the staff compliment at the Planning Commission, that it was clear given what we want to do as it relates to neighborhood transformation and other activities that there will be a need for a fair amount of planning activity. I don't think we figured out yet how 1481 2/21/01 - Operating Budget to totally plan by computer. So it's a labor-intensive unique body. We need people able to do it. Tell us a little about the number of planners, where they are, what they do, urban units and that kind of information.

You're correct, Councilman, both about the Mayor's concern about planning and about the fact that I think we all agreed when I came on board that there was a deficit in that area in terms of staff. I am tremendously pleased to say that with the addition of the 12 new staff people, that is if the Council votes favorably on our budget, I think we will be up to the appropriate complement -- although, I agree with you a lot of this is labor intensive. Still, we're relying a lot more on technology. I had a very interesting conversation with Ed Baken a couple months ago, actually a couple of interesting conversations.

Every conversation with Ed Baken is interesting.

This one actually related to this area. We were commiserating about 1482 2/21/01 - Operating Budget how long it would take a planner from his era to do a certain kind of research, for as in my office basically you click on your Internet connection and things are in front of you immediately. We are continuing to upgrade with regard to equipment and technology. What we will have in the community planning area, which I think is probably the area that impacts on the constituents of Councilmembers the most, we will have one planner for every planning analysis session. That's the way we work. We see that planner as a project manager, primarily, keeping an eye on what's going on in the district, managing ongoing projects and planning studies, but then bringing in on an as-needed basis consultant assistants or other assistants to focus on that area. Again, as you know, you don't need to plan every day for five years. It may be an intensive effort which, again, would require either bringing in consultant staff or working more intensely with other agencies. Once that plan is developed and codified and moved through the process, it then leaves the Planning Commission's purview and 1483 2/21/01 - Operating Budget goes into some mix of operating agency private sector, et cetera. So it wouldn't be cost-effective to have the large planning staff necessary to do that kind of study on an ongoing basis. What we're looking at is a structure and a protocol. We hope to bring it to you in more detail as part of the NTI briefing that I'm sure will happen prior to your vote. As with the community planner again being the project manager and calling on consultants and others when necessary. My feeling, given my experience, is that that is a good structure for the Planning Commission. We will obviously have to go through this, at least one iteration, to show that.

I was intrigued by a couple of the items you mentioned. You started talking about things going through a process and then going into the Commission and out to different places. Could you, I guess, in somewhat more detail walk me through some of the process or steps that you -- this is about neighborhood plans? 1484 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

Right, about neighborhood plans. If I may, let me blend what has been happening with what we will hope will happen as we move forward. What has been happening is we would work with Council, other elected officials, State holders and communities to develop a community plan. Sometimes there would be a party afterwards. We had, again, no connection, no 10 formal connection to the agencies that were implementing that plan. Again, we've been through that on a particular project. What we're looking at at NTI -- and, you know, I say, in a way, NTI is not so much a project as a way of fixing the connections in government that have somewhat atrophied. We're looking at a team approach, where as part of the planning team, the implementing agencies, the operating agencies, would be part of that and sort of buy into that plan before the plan was complete. Not only would that be helpful from our point of view. But also, as we've discussed, the blame might not all be on the other side. We need to develop plans that are reasonable in terms of realistic funding and financing and take that into account as we develop a plan. 1485 2/21/01 - Operating Budget So these plans will still go to the Planning Commission for a vote and Council for a vote, as they have been. What we hope the difference will be is there will be some direct connection between the planning and the funds and financing for implementation. We're exploring what that connection will be. At the very least, it will be a team approach and those teams have already been formed. There may also need to be some other more formal connection. Lots of folks are looking at that.

As the plan is going through its development and at some point someone begins to put dollar figures to it, even if they're relatively rough estimates, will we simultaneously begin to try to figure out what the funding sources are if some components are fundable now, but others, maybe in other Fiscal Years, would that become a priority item, for instance, in the Planning Commission process for figuring out what the next year's capital budget will be? Are we talking about those kinds of connections? Do we talk to agencies and departments concurrently about dollars they have available for 1486 2/21/01 - Operating Budget projects that are not necessarily ready to go or they can reprogram other dollars in anticipation getting future dollars, and that as the plan is completed and approved, that a component of it will be an identification of the funding sources or even already approved funds?

Yes, in spirit. As you know, Councilman, we can't encumber formerly out-year appropriation for capital. What we found this year is even projects that we had endorsed and were part of the planning for and were internally advocating we were not able to fund simply because there wasn't enough money. Putting that aside -- it's tremendously important, but it's not something we can solve here. Putting that aside, the answer is yes. The idea would be that once there was a commitment, it would be my recommendation, and I don't want to use the formal Steering Committee process, which I'm sure the Chief of Staff has discussed with you about how we're developing the NTI program, again, under Pat Smith's direction. But, certainly, our recommendation is that once the consensus is reached around the plan 1487 2/21/01 - Operating Budget that each one of the operating agencies that have purview over funds will have formally bought into that, and whether it's a phase process, whether we can do the capital now but we can't get the HUD money until next year, that the plan begins to bind those funds together. Again, as I'm sure has been said here on other occasions, although the blight bond money is not a de minimus amount of money, it's important to be able to pull this off. We're looking at all of the streams of funds, capital money, block grant money, other State funds, et cetera. So the planning will not only be the planning of where does the school go, where does the community center go, but what streams of funds could appropriately support this? What are the criteria related to those funding? So we plan to that criteria and don't find out after the plan has been developed, oops, if we had only known we could have moved something a half a block into a zone that would have made it appropriate. I think the spirit of what you outlined is very much on point. I think the question 1488 2/21/01 - Operating Budget and the question that the Policy Committee, Steering Committee of NTI is parsing through is exactly how do you do that. It's difficult, but doable.

You mentioned a couple entities that I am not necessarily sure that I've heard about before. You mentioned that there's a Steering Committee of NTI and then -- is it within the Steering Committee that there's a sub-policy committee, or is it vice versa and are there other committees, sub-committees?

There's a Steering Committee of NTI that's made up, basically, of the Mayor's cabinet and heads of other operating agencies. Pat Smith is chair of that Steering Committee, again under Joyce Wilkerson's guidance and direction. The major decisions around NTI come before that committee; however, there are also, I believe, five subcommittees. I chair the Planning Subcommittee. There's resource development. Herb Wessle chairs one, et cetera. The recommendations bubble up from those subcommittees to the Steering Committee for, I don't want to be so formal to say adjudication, but 1489 2/21/01 - Operating Budget some sort of decision. Again, this is not a quasi legislative process. There's informality and flexibility. That's the basic structure.

Let me go back to the planners for a second. So you feel that with the new people; ten planners and two administrative 8 staff, that that will significantly impact the 9 Commission? Again, we don't know how many requests 10 will come in, but after that it will be more likely 11 than less likely, I guess, that if requests were made 12 from community groups, organizations or myself or someone else, there would be a little more likelihood of getting Planning Commission assistance and support after these people are on than in the current situation?

Yes. Let me underscore a couple of things. One, it has to do with where these people are going strategically. Even though I admire and respect Ernie Leonardo, none of these people are going to the policy unit. We feel that unit is fully staffed. Most of these people are going directly to the community planning unit. As you've correctly said, the unit that is really more focused on -- 1490 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

That's the other Leonardo?

Yes. The other folks are being split between GIS, the folks that produce the maps and are technologically connected, so one or two people there really in larger capabilities, and urban design.

Will all these people be working -- I understand they're not necessarily on the politic side. Who will they work with and what will the nature of our relationship be with them?

I will answer that. Let me add one more thing to my earlier answer, which is the other key in making this all work is this sort of, I keep thinking the word "glump," which isn't appropriate, of funds that will be available on an ad hoc basis to bring in consultant services where they're needed. The only way --

Are these government people from other units, or are these non-governmental people being hired on a contract basis?

I think we'll have to 1491 2/21/01 - Operating Budget talk about both. We're talking about internal to government. I used to work for the federal government. There's a concept of detailing where folks come in to work on a particular project for a few months when they're needed and then return. I think that's something we're looking at. We're also looking at if we find there's a community plan where transportation analysis is the key component, we might want to bring in a transportation consultant for a couple weeks to solve that problem, that person then does not have to sit at a desk for a year waiting for the next such problem. It's that combination of things.

Let me ask you about the capital budget process. We had a little discussion about that last week. During the course of the Fiscal Year or however you want to describe it, calendar year, what is going on and what then leads up to the little blue book?

As you know, Councilman, this has been my first year. It's been a challenging and fascinating process. I'm going to 1492 2/21/01 - Operating Budget again have Ernie speak to some of the details.

I know what both of those mean in a sense. I can appreciate that.

Let me give you an outline and have Ernie color inside the lines. His staff works intensely with the agencies to get their requests in a technological way on our computer so we can understand them. Parallel with that, the policy unit is working both with the Office of Budget and with the Capital Program Office to understand the nature of the request; you know, is that roof leaking and, you know, is it something that really needs a capital appropriation, et cetera, a lot of that on-the-ground gathering of information and data and trying to understand it. Then they prepare documents for me that outline all the projects in detail, pros and cons, the issues, and we go into an informal hearing process. I've been running them more as meetings where usually the head of the agency or entity and their senior staff related to this come in. We talk with the Capital Program Office there and the Office of Budget, talk about 1493 2/21/01 - Operating Budget their request. They're very candid about Council's concerns with regard to that, at least I found them to be this year. We look at the various options, especially this year, given the tight budget, is it something you absolutely need, is it something you could phase, are you ready for construction this year or is it more likely you just need design money this year and we'll put that off to next year. This year there's been some follow-up meeting because there are technical issues that have to be vetted through. We, again, in concert with the other two entities prepare a sheet of recommendations. On that sheet, we have all of the requests, our rationale for our recommendations, and we go over that list with senior administration staff hour after hour after hour. There's some back-and-forth conversation and then that becomes the recommended budget. I'd like to turn it over to Ernie for detail.

You did a pretty good job at explaining the central process. I would add, of course, the key in the decision-making process is what are the criteria for prioritizing limited money 1494 2/21/01 - Operating Budget available. As you probably heard, the request that came in this year for new City tax supported dollars totalled $270 million and we only had $90 million to allocate. That meant when you looked through that list of 270 million, most of those projects were good projects. They would have benefited the City; they would have improved facilities and amenities in the City. So to reduce to 90 million, we used a series of policies. The first one would be health and safety. Is this a critical project to maintain health and safety in the City? The second would be economic development, that this project would help stimulate in a cost-effective way new jobs in the City or retain existing jobs. The third would be that the project would help deliver needed public service or maintain the conditions for needed public services, including the efficiency of government operations. Another major criteria is that the project leverage is outside dollars. You're very aware, I'm sure, that we included, I think, almost every dollar requested by SEPTA because not only are 1495 2/21/01 - Operating Budget those important in transit projects, but every dollar of City money brings in about $20 of federal and State money. Same thing for significant highway projects where the ratio is less, but still significant. Finally, there's a criteria that the project would help reserve a unique resource, which really are historical, cultural and recreational resources. Over all of those kind of functional criteria is the key one of capacity to implement. Within each department, we're very careful to say how ready is this project to move forward. We don't want money sitting there that, obviously, can be used elsewhere. Are you ready to proceed? It may be the most important project by all other criteria, but it's not ready to go.

Let me just mention one observation. It is not to be taken as critical of either of you, and obviously the director has only been here for a short period of time. This has historical implications to it, and that is that for the most part in both of your explanations, with the exception of the director on one occasion mentioning that some of the departments made mention 1496 2/21/01 - Operating Budget of some City Council concerns, nowhere in any of that discussion did I hear, at least, any role, responsibility, outreach, contact, specific time and place for our participation in the process. The historical nature of this, and the Chair will certainly recall this, you could have probably sold tickets to the very dynamic show called the Planning Commission at budget hearing. Part of the problem and complaint at the time was the lack of involvement of either Council in the process, who decided this project was in and some other project was out, where did you get these ideas and all that. Maybe that's just the nature of things. I would like to go into this particular century maybe doing things slightly different. I understand our respective roles. On the other hand, I generally think that it's hard for any department or agency to advocate for something on my behalf better than I can myself. If we are all on the same team and we get paychecks from the same place and we're trying to serve all the same people, even if it's not formally mandated by the City Charter, it seems to me there should be a way for us 1497 2/21/01 - Operating Budget to know what people are interested in, not only the departments, but you have, in a sense, what our concerns are simultaneous to everyone else's participation. My recollection of all this is that the budget office and the planning commission, there's an extreme amount of activity in the October, November, December time period because obviously the Mayor is going to make budget presentation, books have to be printed, check the numbers twice and all that. Amidst all of this activity, people are also calling and saying, Is my project in? My response to them, unfortunately, is, "I don't know." I received my capital program book after placing a call when I knew the Commission had taken an action from Mr. Dubow, who I had to get his authorization that I could have one. They weren't supposed to be distributed until the next day or something, as if I was going to, I don't know, share it with a foreign country. I don't know what the secrecy was. Maybe that's part of the process. All that is being said for the purpose of specifically requesting that -- you know, we're as 1498 2/21/01 - Operating Budget far away from the process as we could possibly be, unless we're having this discussion in December. Somewhere in the course of this year, I would like to ask if the Commission could make an effort to be sure, as we get closer to that time, to have a specific sit-down with Councilmembers or any Councilmember that's interested to have a better understanding of what is the universe of projects being requested. Departments have their interest and sometimes we have our interest. They have their reasons for their interest and we have our reasons. Sometimes they're right; sometimes wrong, and vice versa. I think if we, at least, have that opportunity, one, we'd probably have -- you know, the show might be a little less interesting. But, quite frankly, the process will be that much more productive. Again, whether it's required or not, we can make our own agreements about how we're going to conduct our business. As long as we follow the statute and all the requirements necessary, then I think it doesn't really matter so much how we get there. 1499 2/21/01 - Operating Budget I've never really talked to anybody at the Commission about what was going in and going out unless it was project specific and there was some crisis.

If I could respond, and I appreciate your clarity. You've been very clear about that point, both here and during the Capital Program hearings, as have several other Councilmen. We've conveyed that concern, speaking for Rob Dubow and myself, two senior Administrative officials. I think we were fair in communicating that concern. As I'm sure you know, this is not a unilateral decision I can make representing the Commission, but I can assure you that we've conveyed the concern. The other point I would like to make, and actually you may have already gleaned this by your earlier question, is my hope is that the planning process with regard to NTI, and not only NTI -- NTI is everything, but that process --

If that's where we're going to be, what I've laid out, again, from my perspective, will require even more contact and closeness and discussion and meeting and planning. 1500 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

Exactly. But in a way, it moves that conversation even further back into the time frame for those discussions can really be had. Council folks will be, or the staff that represents you, will be involved on an ongoing basis as you are now with those community plans. The only difference is that community planning effort will be actually linked to the funding and financing. So that if we make, at least this is what I would hope. Again, I want to emphasize that I am not representing the Steering Committee, just one stream of thinking. But, you know, certainly my expectation would be that if a decision is made and codified and approved as part of a community plan that a certain capital budget expenditure should go forward, and the funds are there for that to go forward, you won't even have to try to call me because you will know that that is in. The only big caveat, other than the fact that I'm not a one-man band here, is the dollars. As Ernie said, I think in a very articulate way, and I've said publicly and it's been in print, I was shocked when I saw the list of projects because they were all so good. 1501 2/21/01 - Operating Budget I've been involved in many, many budget processes. I can only commend the Capital Program Office and the agency heads in the Budget Office and Ernie's staff in that vetting, parsing and sculpting of those projects were such that it was torture to not recommend all of them. We had so little money. Given the necessary funding and given this new protocol of linking the plans to the funds, I think you'll find that even without, again, a formal charter-mandated process, Council will be much more involved.

What's the level of involvement by the Planning Commission in the School District of Philadelphia capital budgeting process or any kind of capital improvement program? I will obviously be talking with the School District about this when they come. We had some discussion last year about other cities and their significant gathering of resources, if you will, to have large capital improvement programs for the purpose of either building new schools, helping reduce class size because of more space, school additions, regular renovation projects. 1502 2/21/01 - Operating Budget I mean, the School District, pretty much similar to the City, borrows about the same amount of money every year. They do about the same thing and life goes on. There's always stuff on the list, there's always stuff that's fixed, there's always stuff that's broken. Of course, that will continue to happen, given the wear and tear. I don't see anything particularly extraordinary going on over there. I do think that by way of the charter, there is at least the authorization for joint planning. It seems to me that we would be the beneficiary. I don't know what the level of relationship is and work activity.

Let me tell you the two things I know: We do vote on the construction budget for the school system and we take that very seriously. It was one of the first things that came before we when I started my tenure. In a way, as an offshoot of that and because of the Mayor's interest, we have also internally developed a task force to look at joint use and flexible use of school buildings for community purposes, including looking at some of the initiatives that are happening around the country. 1503 2/21/01 - Operating Budget There's something called Beacon Schools where the school really does become a beacon in the community and is used almost 24/7. Let me pass it over to Ernie and perhaps talk about some other ways you might be able to get involved.

Just briefly, there are two other activities that we work with the School District on; one is the demographics that determine areas of the City that may require new schools, and conversely may require closing of schools or consolidation, as well, we work if there is a determination that a new facility is needed on site location.

Thank you very much.

I was just going to add, again, I don't mean to make NTI a catch-all for everything, but I think we can't neglect the importance of schools and communities, both in the way I outlined, but also as educational institutions. Schools are included in our standards. We'll be looking, as we do this community planning, at adequate infrastructure for schools. 1504 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

With regard to the -- we've kind of talked our own language about the one project we have worked on. If you could provide any followup as to where things are with that, that would be greatly appreciated. When we're done, I have a copy of the letter that you sent me back during the summer. There's something in it that needs to be corrected as we go forward. This is from July 26th. We sent something back and I think we need to get a response to that.

I was hoping that everyone would burn anything that I had sent them prior to --

We have a tendency to hold on to things.

If I could review with the other Mr. Leonardo where we are with respect to -- I assume you're referring to Lancaster Avenue -- and get back to you formally in writing with regard to that. Again, as you know, the -- I won't say the problem -- the issue has been that the Planning 1505 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Commission -- and this actually came up again with another project that you're interested in the Planning Commission becoming involved in. The Planning Commission has no, at this point, purview or authority over operating and implementing agencies, except for this capital budget coordination. But that is, frankly, a coordinating role. We can call meetings, we can persuade and encourage, but we actually have no authority to implement. I do believe, though, and when I put this in writing I will confirm it, that the Streets Department did as a result of our deliberations include, and we recommended that it move forward, improvements that were consistent with the plan. Let me get back to you on some of the other items.

I need you to get back to me on the Roxborough Greenspace Water Shed initiative project. We had written about that some time ago. When you were here last year, we talked about the East Falls Group. There was, I think, a contact that we were going to have. I have not received that.

That was part of our 1506 2/21/01 - Operating Budget formal response to the Council President to all the questions that came up that may not have gotten to you yet. If not, I assuming that Council President would have no objection for us to fax that directly to you. We did respond.

I doubt the President would care. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Personnel Department. Good morning. Please identify yourself for the record and begin your testimony.

My name is Linda Seyda. I'm the personnel director for the City of Philadelphia. With me today is the Deputy Personnel Director, James Simpson, and our Administrative Services Director, Celia O'Leary. For Fiscal Year 2002, our proposed budget contains $4,164,454 in Class 100, $770,8000 in Class 200, and $71,228 in Classes 300 and 400. The increase in Class 200 of approximately $200,000 is related to a non-recurring cost for the purchase of Affirmative Action Plan Support Software. Our FY2002 budget represents an 1507 2/21/01 - Operating Budget increase of $38,888 from our FY2001 estimated obligations in order to fund general wage increase. The mission of the Personnel Department is to recruit and retain an effective work force to support the goals of the City. Various programs and initiatives are included in our prepared summary, our prepared testimony. What I would like to do this morning is to kind of give you an overview of what we've included. First of all, the Personnel Department over the last couple of years has established a work force planning process. This process is an annual process which will begin very shortly in the month of April. At that time, the Personnel Department, in conjunction with the Finance Department and the operating departments, will develop our specific plans for filling positions and responding to HR requests in the operating departments. We plan to have that done by the end of this Fiscal Year. We'll enter into agreements with the operating departments and sign agreements with them which will enable us and the Operating Departments to better serve the needs of the City of Philadelphia. 1508 2/21/01 - Operating Budget A major portion of our program, as you all know, is our examinations and testing programs. In this Fiscal Year to date, the Personnel Department has received about 18,000 applications. We've tested over 9500 individuals, ranked approximately 4300 candidates on 367 eligible lists. In FY2001, the Department will establish lists for such major job classes as police officer recruit, correctional offer, clerk typist, social worker and management trainee. In the next Fiscal Year we anticipate to produce approximately 500 eligible lists, and among them will be entrance and promotional lists for the uniform classes, as well as entrance level clerical classes and school crossing guards. The Department is continuing its efforts in recruitment and selection in order to work toward an increasingly diverse work force. 8 percent female. This compares to the end of Fiscal 1990 when the work force was 44 percent African 1509 2/21/01 - Operating Budget American, 2 percent Hispanic, and approximately 1 percent Asian, Native American and other races, and 31 percent female. As you may know, the Federal Census Bureau changed the race categories used to analyze the composition of the population, adding multi-racial categories. In a parallel effort, the federal agencies have changed the requirement for Affirmative Action planning, hence our departmental request for next year to purchase software which will enable us to survey the City's work force so that we can be in compliance with federal mandates in the year 2002. Also, the Department has instituted several initiatives to enhance recruitment and retention of employees. I believe we did provide information about that in communication that we sent to City Council in response to questions that came up during our testimony in the five-year plan. Also, in the next Fiscal Year, we will continue our efforts to build partnerships with City departments in the -- in our efforts to provide leadership in the training and education of our work force. Also, we did provide additional information 1510 2/21/01 - Operating Budget to Council in correspondence that we sent concerning a question that Councilman Nutter had at the hearing for the five-year plan. We're prepared to discuss that further if Council so desires.

The Personnel Department has also established a customer service center, which we've done within the last two years. That center is available to answer questions from members of the public and applicants concerning information on vacancies and City Government, how to apply for positions with the City Government, test scores, eligible status and the like. An automated job hotline is available hours a day. That hotline 15 has received 29,000 calls since July 1st of the year 16 2000. gov. 18 Finally, the Personnel Department 19 continues to be responsible for administering an 20 employee benefit program for about 8000 City 21 employees and providing the life insurance program 22 for over 39,000 represented employees and the 23 retirees. 24 This concludes my prepared testimony. I'm happy to answer any questions that Council has at 1511 2/21/01 - Operating Budget this time.

Thank you very much. Will the list for school crossing guards be available so all vacancies will be filled by the start of next school year?

Yes, they will. As a matter of fact, we were just very recently advised by the Police Department that there are some additional positions that will be authorized in their budget for the next Fiscal Year. As a result, we will most likely adjust the testing schedule and give the school crossing exam test probably a month or so earlier than we were originally anticipating in order to provide the Police Department with adequate time to process guards for the opening of school in September. Yes, we're well aware of their needs and we're currently looking at them.

That's great. What entry-level professional position is receiving signing bonuses and what is the amount of the bonus? You also indicated the City gives credential-based bonus. What positions and credentials do you offer bonuses for and what is the 1512 2/21/01 - Operating Budget amount of those?

There is some specific information which is included in the correspondence, which we provided to counsel. The City, for auditors and accountants in the City Controllers Office and in the Revenue Department, provides a one-time $2000 bonus. That was $1000; it has recently been increased to $2000. Also, for retention purposes, the City began a program in 1999 that's been in place for two years. It provides an annual salary differential of $2000 for engineers and architects who complete the requirements for registration as a professional engineer or the certification requirements for an architect. The total cost of that program on a City-wide basis has been about $200,000 per year. We have seen some significant decrease in turnover among professionals in those job categories. We, in part, attribute that to the bonuses or the pay differential we have established. I would also, in part, attribute it to the existence of the current DROP Program. You also asked about the signing 1513 2/21/01 - Operating Budget bonuses. That is a brand-new program. At this point in time, we have hired approximately six or seven people with the promise of signing bonuses. We will be evaluating the signing bonus program during the existing and next Fiscal Year. We felt it was an appropriate thing to do. It's certainly consistent with the practice in the private sector. We believe that it will assist the City in being more competitive in attracting qualified individuals to employment with the City.

Thank you. What are the nine critical jobs that you do not presently have a list for?

Off the top of my head -- I don't have that list with me. I can provide it for you very easily. I just don't know off the top of my head.

Did you have an opportunity to speak to Dianne in my office this morning about a retiree?

Yes, I did. She indicated that there was an individual who -- a retiree who was having some difficulty in terms of accessing her health care benefits. And I indicated to her that we 1514 2/21/01 - Operating Budget would have the problem researched. I have not had an opportunity to do that yet this morning.

As I understand it, the retiree lives in Cape May and he was told by, I guess, the physicians or Blue Cross that he would have to come back to Philadelphia to see a doctor, however, his wife could take advantage of the medical in Cape May. That sounds very, very odd to me.

I share your bewilderment. I, quite frankly, have not had a chance to have somebody look at it. There are programs that are available for retirees who are in Jersey. So we will take a look at it.

Don't they come under the same program that all the retirees do? You don't have to be a resident of Pennsylvania, do you?

There is a Jersey program. We will communicate with Blue Cross later today and find out exactly what the problem is.

Have all the retirees received their cards?

I don't know the answer to 1515 2/21/01 - Operating Budget that.

I'd appreciate you getting that because the caller was very, very upset and confused. If he needs medical attention, I think we should be contacting him very shortly.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you. I wanted to talk with you a little bit about, and I have had a chance to quickly review the response that was sent last week with regard to employee educational opportunities or reimbursement programs. Can you give us an overview of what programs are available to the employee work force, if there are any restrictions, are available to all employees or is it more of a function of what department you're in?

What we attempted to do in the communication that we prepared for the Council President was to provide an overview of the various types of programs that are available within the City 1516 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Government. First of all, I think it's important to preface this in terms of the authorization for providing these types of benefits. Training and education benefits are provided -- are authorized under the City's Civil Service Regulations. Those regulations which permit an appointing authority to reimburse an employee for training costs, education and/or leave time. Those regulations have been on the books for many, many years. Many employees, hundreds of employees, in the City of Philadelphia, if not thousands, have had an opportunity to take advantage of them. As an overview, one of the programs that the City has had in place for a number of years is an upward mobility program. Its purpose is to provide a mechanism and incentive for employees to progress from clerical positions to professional positions. It is a City-wide program. It is open to those individuals who have an associate's degree or two years of college. There is a partial tuition reimbursement for program participants, some limited amount of time off, and a progression into a 1517 2/21/01 - Operating Budget professional position of City Government. There is also an information technology upward mobility program that was developed in the Water Department. It provides tuition reimbursement for non-degreed employees working in information technology. The Water Department absorbs the cost of this program. It is also -- there's another program in the Water Department to address recruiting needs that they have in the skilled trades. It's an upward mobility program to fill vacancies in the instrumentation, technician and electrician classes. The program enables employees to advance through a maintenance apprentice series of classes that we establish and they move into full-performance trade positions. A parallel program exists in the Office of Fleet Management. This program targets students in our high school, targets 11th and 12th grade students. They come into the program, they're recommended by their school, they work part-time while they're in school, and then they transition into the maintenance positions upon graduation from high school. This program has been very successful. 1518 2/21/01 - Operating Budget The Office of Fleet Management deserves credit. It's been quite successful as a means of recruiting and to fill positions. It's difficult to fill positions in the Government, and as a means of partnering with the School District. We're also in the process of doing something similar through the Philadelphia Academy. It's a non-profit. This program is intended to target students in the business academy and to attract them to come to work for the City in entrance-level clerical positions.

One, I appreciate your sending over the information and being responsive to the question. You made reference to the variety of regulations and you did lay them out in the package. I guess one of my reactions to this was, I guess, they came up because different departments or agencies were raising them. They went through some process, but they seemed to be kind of scattered, quite frankly, all over the place. I guess they seemed to be somewhat departmental specific. Are all employees in the government eligible for some kind of educational skills upgrade 1519 2/21/01 - Operating Budget or educational obtainment programs? What happens with Recreation, L&I, Streets, Revenue? Is there a way to consolidate all these regulations and have one primary one that applies to everybody?

The existing Civil Service Regulations apply to all City employees in terms of the appointing authority's ability to reimburse employees, to target training opportunities for them for training and education that is job-related. That opportunity is open to every full-time permanent employee in the City Government. The various City agencies --

Only if job-related you're saying?

That is the way the regulation is written. That's correct.

What happens if the person either has an associate's and wants to get a bachelor's and came to us with a high school diploma. They're in City service, they've been around here for some time and either decide on their own that they'd like to upgrade their skills, but want to maintain their City employment, want to go to night school or some other kind of program. 1520 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Do we assist people in that or do we encourage them to do that, as we would then, quite honestly, upgrade the skills of everyone in the work force and the citizens would benefit from that. Are those opportunities available?

A very good example is the Peirce College program. The City has partnered with Peirce to provide opportunity for our employees to work toward higher level education. We provide the facilities. We provide the classroom space in our City buildings. I don't recall the exact number, but we have a very active program right now with Peirce. The City does not pay the cost of the tuition unless it's work-related. However, we have structured this in such a way that it's a real nice fit for many of our employees. I know that there are several Personnel Department employees participating in the program to work toward higher education.

Madam Chair, with your permission, at previous hearings I have asked in anticipation of the Personnel Department being here today, I have asked both the Police Department and Fire Department who have their own programs to have 1521 2/21/01 - Operating Budget personnel here to be able to share information with us about their programs. If it is okay with you, might I have that opportunity to have those individuals come to the table, give us a little bit of information about what they're doing and continue the discussion?

By all means. Please approach the witness table.

I'm William McNulty. I'm Deputy Commissioner of the Fire Department.

Inspector Michael Cooney from the Philadelphia Police Department.

Captain Charles Bloom, assigned to the Philadelphia Police Departments Education and Training Bureau.

Deputy Commissioner, do you want to start? Tell us a little about the Fire Department's educational programs.

Probably in the late '60s we developed a fire science and technology curriculum with Community College of Philadelphia. At that time our people enrolled -- the enrollment was entirely voluntary. People went at their own expense and their own time. 1522 2/21/01 - Operating Budget Just to underscore how important that was to everyone, we had to turn people away because we couldn't accommodate them in the classes. That continued to the mid '70s when we sat down with several universities in the City and tried to develop a baccalaureate program to carry that through to full degree. Holy Family was the only institution that really expressed an interest in developing this new curriculum, and they did and were very easy to work with at the time. At that point, our people were able to go further on and get a full degree in fire science and technology, which has since been changed to fire science and public safety administration and technology.

Is this a bachelor's or master's program?

Bachelor's. There's also a Master's Degree available in Fire Science at St. Joe's. The only advantage they get, other than the spiritual and intellectual advantage, is we give a half point for associate's degree for promotion to lieutenant and captain added to the 1523 2/21/01 - Operating Budget successful school on the promotional examination, and a full point for the same two series, lieutenant and captain examination, and a point and a half for master's degree.

What is the cost to the officers to participate in the program today?

Holy Family, the cost is $825 per course, $25 registration fee and $25 tech fee. Community College it's $76 a credit, $3 general fee and $6 tech fee. We reimburse up to $1000 per calendar year or two courses at Holy Family College in a calendar year.

You said the courses were $800. If you take two courses, you pay $1600 and get a thousand back?

No. At Holy Family you would take the two courses and be reimbursed fully for the two courses. At Community College you can take up to $1000 worth of courses.

At $76 a credit?

Yes.

Do you encourage officers to pursue this? 1524 2/21/01 - Operating Budget

Absolutely. The program started to slip. I think it was 1994 Commissioner Hairston requested and gained approval to do this reimbursement. That caused a new influx of people into the program. We've been rather successful since then. About 100 people a calendar year. So far this year, we have about 50 people enrolled and that will pick up again in the fall.

Inspector Cooney, would you tell us a little bit about the Police Department?

Sure. In the past, primarily the way folks received the degree was through GI Bill or through federal grant monies. Up to recently, that was about it. Both of those programs have since run out for many of us. With the coming of Commissioner Timoney we looked at the possibility of having some sort of continuing education program for both our recruits at the Police College and veteran officers. One of the things we first did was survey the department to find out how many we did have with a degree within the organization. Also, in 1525 2/21/01 - Operating Budget that survey we asked how many folks are enrolled in a college program and how many folks would like to come back to college under certain conditions? The conditions were that we would use our facility at the Police College, 8501 State Road, we would obtain credits for those officers and civilians for various life experience, primarily going through the Police Academy for the uniformed forces. Colleges evaluated our curriculum and came up with anywhere from to credits, depending on 12 which program you're going to go into, and also that 13 we negotiated with several universities. 14 We've had several college fairs, for 15 example. Five colleges have been able to sustain and 16 give courses at our facility. They're up there four 17 nights a week and all day on Saturday. They're also 18 given discounts. We get no reimbursement at this 19 time. 20 The first college fair we had was 21 quite interesting. About 200 people responded to 22 that first survey saying they would very much like to continue education. They know education is a thing for the future, especially within the Police Department. About 1600 people showed up that first 1526 2/21/01 - Operating Budget night. They were under the impression, I'm not sure how, there would be some sort of reimbursement from the City. Out of the 1600 that showed up that night, we have approximately 300 people now involved with our continuing education program.

They're paying the full cost?

They are paying full cost, minus the discount, whatever is at the mercy of the college and university.

But apparently, unlike the fire department, you're not in the position to offer the reimbursement?

No. I did become aware of the Fire Department program. In fact, in discussions with the Commissioner we had wanted to expand it a bit. For example, they're fire science. We wanted to have any degree, any major, because we had various departments within our own Police Department, computer sections and myself looking for someone with a degree and education. Because we already had 300 people, for 1527 2/21/01 - Operating Budget example, we were looking for something higher than $100,000 if we were to become in parity with the Fire department. We had discussed maybe $300,000 just to sustain what we presently have. We also anticipate that if finances or reimbursements were offered to the Police Department, that would probably triple the number of folks who have gone back to college and universities.

Do you have any estimates on what the cost would be if you had a program that was comparable to the Fire Department, but obviously there are, you know, virtually three times as many police officers as there are fire fighters, but given some of the numbers we're talking about and the number of people who showed up and also a little bit of drop off, but if you had high demand, do you have any ballpark figure on what the reimbursement program would cost as compared to what the Fire Department does, or would the figures be the same and just multiply it times --

I think the latter would probably be. I know Commissioner Timoney talks about if reimbursements came about, we'd have to build a new school house. He's very much for this. 1528 2/21/01 - Operating Budget The other issues we looked at, too, not only for veteran officers was also a certificate program for recruits. We had just expanded our recruitment curriculum from to 35 weeks. As of 6 this year, January 1, we're going to 40 weeks. 7 We were looking -- we've been in 8 discussions with Community College. There's five 9 universities that have sustained, as I mentioned 10 earlier, and have continued to give classes at our 11 location. All of them pointed to Community College 12 as probably the best way to go to this 30-credit 13 certificate program. 14 I am in discussion with those folks. 15 It looks like for a class we have up there now 16 approximately 70 or 75 folks -- recruits were just 17 sworn in yesterday, as a matter of fact. Somewhere 18 in the neighborhood, just to get those people through 19 a certificate program, would be 70 or $75,000 just 20 for recruit classes. 21 Community College is one of the 22 colleges that -- they give 15 credits right now. We 23 were looking at the possibility of adding five 24 additional courses at our facility to get the net 25 30-credit certificate. Ultimately that would give 1529 2/21/01 - Operating Budget them the incentive to continue at our facility, get an associate's degree and we also have two master certificate programs at the college campus.

If you had this kind of reimbursement program and worked out some of the details, you might be able to use this as an additional incentive or recruiting tool for police officers given -- I mean, we're in competition with a lot of businesses out there. The Army is having problems getting recruits, the Police Department is having some problems. You can get in the Police Department with a high school diploma, but if you were able to offer the prospect of, Come with us, have a great job and career and we have this additional benefit, that might attract a person.

No doubt. I talked to Inspector Malendez, who is in charge of recruitment, and they were head over heels in love with the idea of offering these kinds of things at recruitment centers, college, military bases. They were interested in doing this. It would also retain a lot more folks, too. We offered the college courses at our 1530 2/21/01 - Operating Budget facility not only to sworn officers, but also civilians. I've had many discussions with some of the supervisors at the lab, for example, that they would also like to use this as a recruitment tool to attract good personnel.

I understand that a number of other police or law enforcement agencies, whether SEPTA, PHA, and possibly some other outside Philadelphia law enforcement agencies, because we have an academy and every county around us doesn't necessarily have one, that officers come or recruits come to our academy. There's also some State funding that goes with either your initial time coming into law enforcement or there's required training and the like. Dollars are actually flowing into the Police Academy, at least as I understand it, because of these reimbursements from the State?

I would like to think they come in Philadelphia because we put on such a good program. Recruits were sworn in yesterday; nine from SEPTA. In the past we do the universities, University of Pennsylvania, Temple, many outside jurisdictions. We get many people from around the 1531 2/21/01 - Operating Budget immediate area. The funds come from what's called the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission. We get reimbursed for recruits, for example, for a portion of the salaries and also tuitions. Also, we have an in-service program for each officer veteran is to receive hours of 10 training minimum, plus the range, qualify at a range, 11 each year, and we also get reimbursed for those 12 activities. For example, in the last year we brought in well over $2 million.

I know it comes into the academy. Does that end up in the Police Department budget?

No. My understanding is it can only go to municipality or a college. As far as I know, it's not built into our -- someone with higher authority would know that. We don't get the money; we turn it over to the City.

First, I want to say thank you for both departments for coming in. You're obviously trying to do the best you can with what you have. 1532 2/21/01 - Operating Budget I'm somewhat concerned -- every praise to the Fire Department for what you have. To be honest, I'm very concerned that we have, for both of our uniformed services, very different programs and offerings to the City officers by way of what you have a reimbursement program, the other department doesn't. You should be able to keep what you have. I don't have a problem with that. We'd like to see if the Police Department and other agencies might be able to have the same level of service. Maybe we should have some discussion with the budget director, finance director and the Mayor's office. I do appreciate you coming in today. This has been very helpful in terms of discussion.

Any other questions of these witnesses? (No response.)

I would also add that the Police Department, like the Fire Department, also does have the provision for additional points on promotional exams for the officers who have completed the additional training. That's something new that was just added as a result of the last arbitration 1533 2/21/01 - Operating Budget award.

Thank you. What I would like to do, and you've been on for some time, I know, based on the discussion that we just had with the two uniformed services, the information that you shared with me and where things are, what I'd like to ask is if we could work together with the administration, with the finance people and the budget director, one, to figure out a way we could have a comparable program offering at the Police Department similar to the Fire Department; secondly, if there is a way to broaden, expand and better coordinate the variety of offerings that are available to our public employees, whether it is, quite honestly, job-related or not. I think if someone gets that benefit from having worked for the City, there should be naturally some obligation to remain with the City Government for some extended period of time. Not that anyone would necessarily do this, get the benefit of, you know, the day after graduation resign from City servicing and get great jobs somewhere else. I would like to see, I guess, a 1534 2/21/01 - Operating Budget greater emphasis and promotion of this idea that we can help people with continuing education programs right here in the City, have a more educated work force. I have no complaints about what the levels are. I don't know what they are throughout the entire work force. To the extent that opportunity is available similar to the corporate environment, I think it will not only help the government but also the delivery of services to our citizens. It's one more incentive for people working for the Government that I think gives the real indication we care about who they are and what they do and the great service they provide to us. Can we work together on this?

We would be pleased to sit down and talk with you. I would certainly think that the Budget Bureau Finance Department should be involved in those discussions. Obviously, it would be a wonderful thing to do. I even know personally at one point in time the City did have access to money through the Federal Government for scholarship. Quite frankly, my master's degree that I was fortunate to get many 1535 2/21/01 - Operating Budget years ago was, in part, supported by money that was available through the Federal Government. That kind of money just isn't available any more. We have to look at this in terms of available dollars. We'll be happy to sit down with you and the Finance Department to talk about what the possibilities would be.

I know Mr. Dubow will be excited to sit down and talk about spending some additional City dollars. I look forward to that discussion with him. Thank you.

Councilman Ortiz.

How many non-union represented employees do we have currently?

How many total number of non-represented employees?

That are not in 33 or representatives of FOP or fire fighters or 47.

I believe it's approximately 1200. 12 or 1300.

1200?

That sounds about right.

What is the total 1536 2/21/01 - Operating Budget number of City employees we currently have?

I believe it's about -- full-time employees is about approximately 29,000, 30,000. That would include courts employees, total.

Out of that total or 1300 are not represented? 8

Non-represented Civil 9 Service employees. There are also several thousand 10 exempt employees. 11

How many total of 12 those exempt employees do we have, non-exempt, individuals that are working for the City that are not currently represented by a labor union? What is the total number of that?

The number that's in the five-year plan is 2,685, which would represent the non-represented Civil Service employees and exempt employees that would not include the court employees.

That includes Mayor's office, City Council, all of the --

Correct.

Total again?

2,685.

They have a 1537 2/21/01 - Operating Budget separate -- those employees have a City-run health program, health benefit. Do we have how much it cost to run that program for all of its employees?

The City administered talks. It also includes court employees and also includes about 3500 employees who are represented by a union, but are not union members. So there's approximately 8,000 employees who participate.