You say you got your hands full, but one of the members is trying to give you some money to try to help you out. But y'all saying we cool. So with that being said, the Chair recognizes Chairman Mike Driscoll, L&I Committee.
Well, thank you, Mr. President. Let me begin by complimenting the Commissioner, Fire Commissioner and both our Commissioners of L&I. On January 31st when the plane went down in the Roosevelt Mall your agencies stepped right in. Commissioner, you know your men and women instead of running away from things, you're running into the danger. And I can't tell you on a national level it was recognized. And if I can ask my colleagues to once again acknowledge both these agencies for stepping up during the -- (Applause.)
So I know both Commissioners of L&I. I was very involved with the Task Force report as you know, and it was a pleasure working on that with you folks. Basil, let me start with you. Do you think it's working? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Absolutely, Councilmember. Bridget and I have kind of collaborated on dividing up what should come under my purview, what should come under her purview. We're doing it like seamlessly. And my opinion we're operating as separate departments. So operationally, we're ready to operate a separate department. In my case, focus exclusively on construction, small and large construction projects citywide. And Bridget's, of course her group is focused on enforcement of business operations and things of that nature. So we're rearing to go.
That's good to hear. And I know, Commissioner Greenwald, you and I walked Frankford Avenue. And I guess our Majority Leader will be asking you questions with regard to specific businesses in collaboration with your department to make sure we're not only just going in and symbolically closing them for an hour and then as soon as the sun goes down, they're back open. So I really want to make sure that Katherine Gilmore Richardson's legislation we pay a lot of attention to that because I think it's going to work. I'm just very frustrated with the Airbnb process on how they're getting their licenses. And, Commissioner, I'm working with Tom McDade. We intend to introduce legislation soon to close those loopholes, because specifically one property in my District got an over-the-counter license. Now, this is a building in the middle of a block into Taconey and they're now legal to have an Airbnb for people 15 regularly throughout the week. It's 16 insane. There's not enough 17 parking. The people were -- it's 18 becoming one big party zone. And I 19 know that that's not what the 20 program was intended for. So 21 Mr. McDade is working with Maura in 22 my office and we'll have that 23 legislation introduced hopefully 24 soon and close that loophole because it's a problem, I'm sure not just in the 6th Councilmanic District but throughout the city of Philadelphia. And I am nervous that we're not going to be able to fix the entire problem going into 2026 where I think we have a lot of tourism that will benefit from this program. But I think we have to be mindful with the police department and with your agency that there's bad actors out there and we have to address that. So I don't know if you want to comment, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Yeah, we look forward to that. I've been working with Tom McDade. He's been filling me in on what you were doing. So we look forward to that legislation. Because as you know, we can only enforce what's legislated, right. So once we close that loophole, I think we'll have a little bit more enforcement power.
Good. And then, Basil, with regard to your department I know Councilmember O'Rourke alluded to it. Your agency is one of the unique ones that can actually be revenue-generating. And so, the sooner we get more inspectors on the street the sooner we're going to be able to kind of self-generate so that you have the resources you need. Is there anything while you have us here today that we can be doing? I know you're working with the Administration. But is there any emergency relief that you need from this legislative body or do you think you have it under control? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: We have things under control, Councilmember. One thing that we could use is just identify for us areas where you have trouble construction going on so that we can get our Saturday patrols out there to your particular neighborhoods or areas in your District we could address and situations that -- especially now in the summer months where projects, construction sites are really messy and not maintained. And we can get our clean sites initiative of folks out there to issue violations and things of that nature. Just keep the lines of communication open. That's the best thing we can do.
Okay. And I'll leave this round with I just want to compliment Steve Gallagher and his team because he provides a crucial role when an emergency happens, and those men and women in your department are amazing. And Steve in particular, I've called him late at night, weekends and he's always answers all the time. And I just can't say enough nice things about your team. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: I refer to our CSU as L&I's version of the Marine Corps. They do an outstanding job. They go into really hairy situations, really drastic situations. And in fact, Steve is here with us today. Steve, want to stand up? (Applause.)
Thank you so much, Chairman Driscoll. Please continue if you have additional questions, Mr. Chair.
You're good. Okay. Excellent. Thank you very much. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Brooks.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have the least amount for the Fire Department so I'm going to start with them. Thank you guys for coming out. And I have to say that my son is a firefighter, Officer McCoy. My question is about the Fire Department was able to open three companies thanks to a three-year federal grant and paid the wages for 72 firefighters for three years. And will the department be able to retain those firefighters and keep Ladders 1, 6 and 11 open when that grant funding runs out? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you for that question. Yes, we were able to reopen the last of three fire companies that were closed on the other recession of 2009. Engine 6, Ladder 1 and Ladder 11 due primarily to a SAFER grant that we received. And as you stated, that SAFER grant the performance period is for three years, after which we would rely on the General Fund to operate those companies.
So is the money -- do we know that that's coming? Is it in the cycle that those stations would be able to stay open when the money phases completely out? Is it a plan for that? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Yes, we most certainly hope so. That grant goes until 2027, so we are most certainly hoping that that will be supported.
Thank you so much for that. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Absolutely.
And for L&I -- sorry, I'm fumbling papers here. I'm going to start with questions around someone mentioned this earlier. In 2023 the Joint Task Force on L&I recommended letting the department keep more of the revenue it generates, so L&I can use that money to fund its own operation. What has happened since then? Has that happened? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: No. 19 COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: No. 21
Okay. My next question is last year the Controller's audit of L&I found that your department collects about 3% of the cost of demolition of unsafe buildings from building owners that left the taxpayers on the hook for at least $58 million in unrecovered demolition costs over five years. The Controller said L&I should devote more resources to collecting those costs from people responsible for unsafe buildings. Have you had the opportunity to do that? And is L&I recovering a higher share of demolition costs from property owners? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: So I know that our fiscal unit has looked into working with third-party contractors to generate some of that revenue and get that money back. And also, if someone does not pay, there's a lien put on their property. So when they go to sell, that lien comes to fruition when they go to sell. So there's the third party and then the lien that gets put on your property if you don't pay.
So just the property, just the property that's vacant? I mean, we live in the city. We're doing a lot better with a lot of vacant blighted property in certain neighborhoods, and they're still not selling and also sometimes not paying their taxes. So I'm trying to figure out how we can pull that full circle. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: It could only go to an owner of a property, right. So you'd have to lien the owner of the property. So that's what it is, whether it be vacant, if there's an owner or if it's just an owner that their property was demolished and they live somewhere else or whatever it is. But that's where the lien goes against that property.
So the Philadelphia fire code requires dampers to be inspected every four to six years depending on the type of building. Dampers are important passive safety features that prevent smoke and fire from spreading throughout buildings via ducts. Do you know what percentage of building dampers are being inspected in compliance with this timeline? And are you taking steps to improve the frequency of the dampers inspections? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Could you ask that again? Dampers?
Dampers. It's an L&I question. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Okay. Could you ask it again? I'm sorry.
Okay. So the question is do you know which percentage of building dampers are inspected in compliance with the timeline, which is the four- to six-year period; is that actually happening? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: I believe it is, but I do not know the exact information but I can get that to you.
Okay. Can you provide that information? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Sure. Absolutely.
And if it's being done, what's the frequency? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Mm-hmm.
Thank you, Councilmember Brooks. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Young and then Councilmember Lozada.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And good afternoon. My questions are for L&I, let me pull them up here, and they are in regards to the inspectors. I do know that for a quality-of-life inspector and a code and building inspector, I mean there -- could you tell us what, if any, are the differences in the salary range for those inspectors? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: The difference in the what? I didn't hear --
So an inspector that will go out to inspect a business versus a code enforcement or a building inspector essentially? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: So a building inspector would come from the trades, right, have a history, background in one of the trades and would inspect for building permits, construction permits, so electrical, plumbing, whatever that may be. A code enforcement inspector, which all work on the quality-of-life side, they would inspect for business compliance. So ?? Title 9 stuff, licensing, zoning, the fire code and the property maintenance code.
Yeah. Is there a difference in the salary -- COMMISSIONER MERENDA: The construction inspectors have to have five certifications under state law.
And then the code inspectors have to have nine or something like that, right. So the building -- COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: The code inspectors have to have some, yeah. Did you ask what's the difference in their salary?
Yeah, what's the difference? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: There was a difference in their salary until very recently. Now, their salaries are the same.
Thank you for that. So now, the salaries are the same. How are you incentivizing folks to become those construction official inspectors when you have to do more work essentially by doing all these different certifications, more certifications than you would being the other type of inspector? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: I don't think they do more work. I think they do different work. I would differ on that. Both sides need certifications, the construction side and the code enforcement side. They both need different types of certifications. One needs construction code, one needs fire code, one needs property maintenance, one needs zoning. So they don't do more work. They do different types of work.
I say that to say they do different types of work, yes. But one has to do get nine certifications and the others have to get five or six. And so, when you have to get more certifications, I'm just assuming that more certifications means a higher difficulty of work rather -- COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: That isn't necessarily true in the way -- I mean, you could talk to OHR about how they figure out the pay structure, but that is not necessarily true that the more certifications you need the harder your work is or any type of thing like that. So I think that's really an OHR question, but there's all kinds of difficult -- there's all kinds of things you base a pay evaluation on there. The safety position you're in, the degree of knowledge you need, what kind of hazardous material you're going to come in touch with. There are multitude of things that determine who gets paid and how they get paid and it's not just based on certifications. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Our challenge on the construction side is to compete with the private sector. We have our construction inspectors that are code compliant, all kinds of code certifications, and they're being plucked, so to speak, by third-party inspection agencies and that's who we're competing against and we have to try to meet them on salary. And that's a big challenge, Councilmember. We have to try to meet them on -- but what we're trying to do is, at least for the time being before we can address that, is make the culture at L&I on the construction side a lot better for our inspectors so that they can stay, put in a few years and have that really good benefit package that is not being offered on the outside. So that's the challenge that our construction side is up against. I agree we do need to increase the salary range. But in the meantime we have to make our operations, our culture here at L&I a lot more conducive.
I think that goes to my point, what I'm trying to make is that the construction side folks have the opportunities to go make a whole lot more money in the counties doing a similar job. And so, when we see that happening and we know that I guess the code officials and the construction side folks here, what are we doing to incentivize our building officials to stay here in Philadelphia when on the code side it's the same salary. And they say you know what, I'm getting the same salary as this person, but the county recognizes that it's more technical position and they're going to pay me as such? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Yeah, make the job much better for inspectors that they want to come to work, that they want to build some a career here at L&I and get that year or so in, a couple of years in so that they can have those benefits. And our challenge is again to make the culture better at L&I. And what I've tried to do is implement what I call quarterly meetings. And we went through three rounds, and we could actually go out with my senior staff to all the Districts and meet with the inspectors and hear their issues and their concerns. And they're very blunt with us and we in turn try to go back and address some of their issues so that we can keep them in the fold, so to speak. And be that as it may, we have experienced some inspectors that went out and the grass is greener on the other side but until they get there. And now, they're trying to reach back out and want to come back to L&I as we did this past March with bringing a really experienced inspector back into the fold. So hope springs eternal. We're out there trying to make sure that we can do our part. In the meantime, again we have to address the salary issue.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much, Councilmember Young. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Lozada.
Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question is just for clarification. I wanted -- Deputy Commissioner mentioned that there are 212 enrolled paramedics. How many of them are actually working in the field and working on emergency response? I think it was Deputy Commissioner McCall. MR. McCALL: Thank you for the question. Right now it's hard to say how many are working. We have members get injured. They go off sick. They utilize their paid time off, that nature. So it varies from shift-to-shift day-to- day how many are actually working. But we have that many on the rolls that we solicit that are either on shift that day or we solicit to work overtime that are off shift to cover those spots that are out.
You don't have a number of those who are actually active and working? MR. McCALL: The number of people that we have like --
Who are actually working. So of the 212 that are enrolled, how many are actually available to work? MR. McCALL: 30% are -- we calculate a replacement factor of 30%. So we expect roughly about 30% of those to not be available to us, right. So that's roughly 62 people, 64, somewhere around there that we anticipate will not be available across all four platoons, 64 people.
Thank you for that information. In my conversations in preparing for 2026, I heard something that was a little concerning and I just want some clarification. Pa State Act 121 refers to workers' compensation for first responders dealing with PTSD and goes into effect in October of 2025. PFD and PPD members who established this diagnosis with a licensed psychiatric can take up to two years paid off. What will the department do in preparation for the upcoming large events the city is hosting, many members will take this as a benefit to heal from work trauma. Is your department prepared for the staffing requirements? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you for that question. We most certainly are thinking quite a bit about 2026. And in fact, one of the things that we are doing is we're working in our contract negotiations with Local 22. We want to change some language to ensure that all of our members are available to us. Right now sometimes we have limited ability to -- we have the ability to recall workers when we need them for large scale fires, for instance right now. We want to incorporate language that we can make sure that we can recall our members to support our operations to support the city during those times. So that's one of the big things that we are doing.
You talked about upscaling your EMTs to paramedics. Why does it take so long for folks to become paramedics if we need them so badly? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: There are a couple things with that. There continues to be a nationwide shortage of hiring paramedics. The pay for paramedic across the region has equalized. There was a time when the City of Philadelphia was a higher-paying place to work. So hiring paramedics still is a challenge for us. It takes four months, I believe, once we recruit paramedics. Paramedics come to the Fire Department with that certification already trained, so it takes four months to -- their academy is much shorter than that of a firefighter. And so, once we bring them on board trying to -- I'm sorry. Can you rephrase your question?
If we need paramedics so badly, why is it taking us so long to recruit them from, what is it, an EMT and then they become paramedics? So why is it taking so long? What is the challenge that you're experiencing? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Okay. Again, it's the demand for paramedics nationwide continues to be a challenge. Philadelphia, typically the workload is pretty excessive so people choose to work other places. As Deputy Commissioner McCall spoke about earlier, we have reopened our application period to try to capture more people. Whereas when we give a test for firefighter, for instance, we will get thousands of applicants. For paramedic, we may get a far few number of paramedics to solicit to come on board. They know the challenges of working in the system. So when the upskilling program that we are going to do is going to allow us to take our EMTs and train them to a higher level, to paramedic. That does a few things. We can internally promote which gives EMTs more opportunities, opportunities at better pay and it helps us to retain the medics that we have. So it's really a challenge just throughout the entire country to attract and maintain paramedics.
Thank you. Can you tell us when that program will get up and running, the program that trains the EMTs to become paramedics? Because I know, like you said, there's a shortage of paramedics. But is there the same shortage of folks applying to become EMTs for the city as well? Because if you can hire internally, you can always keep that pipeline going. So can you tell us when that program will be up and running? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: So we are asking for FY26 funding to get that program up and running. We are prepared to do it. It's easier for us to hire EMTs than it is for paramedics. So we are continuing -- as Deputy Commissioner McCall mentioned, our goal is to hire 200 EMS providers, and a big part of that will be EMTs. And we just think this program, this upskilling program is really going to help us because it will again provide a pathway for advancement. It will provide a higher level of service for the citizens of Philadelphia. So we believe it's a win-win.
Have you identified the pipeline of EMTs ready to become or looking to become paramedics? So if we fund it, right, I want to make sure that we fund it if it's in the FY26 budget, that it's good to go. So next year, because I believe we heard this last budget cycle, we need the money so we can fund it, so we can fund it this year. So I don't want to come to FY27 and say, oh, we need the money so we can start the program again next year. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: So we do have an RFP out that is going to help us identify and recruit so we are working on opening and maintaining a pipeline.
No 20 worries. In one of the past budget cycles, I asked questions around Directive 58 having talked to several firefighters and some of their experiences and then having questioned some of the past leadership around Directive 58, can you tell me if Directive 58 has actually been updated? Has it been disseminated appropriately? Has there been training? Have you responded to the backlog of incidents that were there in the past and have there been new incidents since? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: So we continue to adapt to a changing Fire Department and we still have our challenges. But more specifically, yes, we did update Directive 58 in 2024 and we were able to ensure that there was information that had to be updated. So we did that in 2024. It was disseminated. So whenever we come up with a new directive, we issue it throughout the entire department via a general memorandum with an electronic copy, and it goes to every member of the department's email address. And it's also published on our website on our documentation unit.
So the telephone number that was on Directive 58 used to go to a number that wasn't responded to. Have we updated that number to someone being able to actually speak to someone? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Yes, that was one of the big things. We knew that some of that information was outdated so it is updated.
Do you have a backlog and have there been no incidents? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Pardon me?
Did you guys respond to the backlog of complaints and have there been new incidents since you updated that policy? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: So we take every single complaint in the Fire Department very seriously. And our internal HR department, our EEO folks, they do a pretty good job of thoroughly investigating and dealing appropriately with those things. So if those issues become disciplinary, we refer those to our Special Investigations Officer who will take appropriate action. In terms of how many new complaints we may or may not have, I don't have an answer for you but I can get that for you.
Okay. This is my last question. My last question. I know that you guys have the Explorers --
Okay. I know you guys have the Explorers program. Is there a pathway to be able to continue to encourage young people that complete the Explorers program, become young adults to actually be a part of the pipeline to become firefighters? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: So we are very proud of that program because it gives us the opportunity to let young folks know about a career in public service. And I have to get this information for you definitively, but I believe fire explorers get additional points when they take the civil service exam to be a firefighter. So I think that is one of the ways that we help them to go from being an explorer to a firefighter.
Thank you. And will we also be partnering with WDAS, Power 99, using social influences like Wallo267 to get the word out and maybe also focusing on another generation of young people that may be interested in becoming a firefighter; is that part of the strategy recruitment-wise as well? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: To be honest, we haven't used those avenues. But, Council President, those are great ideas --
Or recommendation, let me say that. I recommend maybe that's a different way to try to help get the word out. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: That's something that we most certainly can use. Thank you for that suggestion.
And the pay as well also is a good draw for individuals who might want to be involved. So that's good. Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips. Then Councilmember Rue Landau. Then Councilmember Jamie Gauthier -- you were up here on my behalf. I stand corrected. Councilmember Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson. Then Councilmember Dr. Phillips because you were standing in on my behalf. Thank you.
Thank you, Prez. Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you all so very, very much for this opportunity. And I wanted to echo the sentiments of our Chair of Licenses and Inspections and we offer our gratitude and appreciation for the members of the Philadelphia Fire Department regarding all of your work with the airplane incident in the 6th Council District. I thought you all did a stellar job under the most extraordinary of circumstance and really wanted to thank you for that work. And I also wanted to continue to express my deepest gratitude to Engine over in the 4th Council District and also the Fire Detector Installation Unit officers. We had a fire next door to my home two years ago. But I'll never forget it and I'll bring it up every budget season going forward. And I appreciate the rapid response of Engine and of 10 the entire Philadelphia Fire 11 Department. 12 I wanted to also get on 13 the record thanks to each of you on 14 the executive team. I had an 15 opportunity to see former 16 Commissioner Ayers this weekend, so 17 that was a wonderful, wonderful 18 surprise and opportunity. And 19 lastly, I'm just going through all the thank yous that my team sent today. I wanted to also thank Chief Bomer for all of his help and support with our office and helping us with all the protocol matters throughout city government. Finally, for Licenses and Inspections we have Lisa Adams, Diane Lucidi, Danita Smith in Intergovernmental Affairs. My team says they are always a great resource to get information on L&I services, cases and any extra attention to emergency and complex cases. Of course, Commissioner Greenwald, we appreciate you and Renee, who has just been stellar with responding to a number of drug paraphernalia store complaints. Commissioner Merenda, we appreciate you for responding always to the constituent cases we even receive in the evening, particularly around compliance. And of course, Jennifer, Jennifer Jantra, former City Council family member, so I wanted to get all that on the record. Really quickly for Fire, I heard this earlier from another colleague, how many medic units do you all have for each tour? I didn't catch that. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: We have 63 medic units.
Okay. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Throughout the city.
Okay. 63 throughout the city? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Yes.
And that's for each tour? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Yes.
Okay. And then is there ever a circumstance where you all run out of medic units? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Unfortunately, there is the occasion when we reach zero medic units. There are a lot of factors that contribute to that.
Okay. And then what would they be in, like which tours do they typically happen? I think I heard somebody asking about this. It may have been Councilman Harrity earlier. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Yeah, typically during some of our day hours. And what happens increasingly is the demand for EMS services continue to rise, and we have a finite amount of resources at this point that we are continuing to try to adjust to deal with, but there are some things that are happening outside of our control. For instance, hospitals, emergency rooms are increasingly being inundated with patients and we find there are times when we can't transfer care to the ER because the emergency room does not have beds. And what that creates is what we call wall time because our medics have to stay with the patient, and they literally will stay in a waiting area. And so, that medic unit is no longer available and that is happening more increasingly, and that's a contributing factor to having zero medic units.
So I think for this -- and I would ask you to get this information to Council President for dissemination to all members of Council. I'm very concerned about this because we need to have a plan to address this issue, particularly with what's going on in Delaware County with the closure of the Crozer Health System. We are going to be inundated in Philadelphia with additional transfers to our medical facilities and it's really going to be a situation of, you know, it's outside of our control. And I'll tell you that my husband was born and raised in the city of Chester and he comes from one of the biggest families in Chester, grandparents together had children, and they each had a 15 bunch of children so it's a huge 16 family. And everyone in Chester is 17 talking about this issue. 18 Someone was shot a week 19 or two ago and was unable to 20 receive urgent medical care and 21 passed away, whereas if they were 22 able to get to a trauma facility very quickly the outcome could have been different. And so, we're going to see an influx of cases because of what's going on with the collar counties and at Crozer Health. And so, I think we have to have a plan because we already know that it's a challenge for us here, and it will only increase because of what's happening. And I heard the bell and I'm going to honor the clock, but I ask that we get a written response to that and a plan for how we are going to address that issue so we know how to respond within our budget negotiations. And I just need to put this on the record, Council President. Two cases in Councilmember Jones' District. Then one in Councilmember Squilla's District. Basil, it would be the 600 block of Jackson Street. You know the particular property that I'm referring to. We got to have an update on that because the house looks like it's falling down. I do want to thank your staff for going out to the house in the 1500 block of North 61st Street, the senior that I met at Sharon Baptist Church on Monday morning regarding the house that's falling down next door to her. Your team did get back to us today, but they are saying that the house looks like it's going to fall down at any moment, the inspector from L&I said that. I know it's in the hands of the courts. I'm concerned for the senior, she's elderly. So I have to put that on the record. We will follow up again. And then finally, I have a question on flea markets. We have two flea markets, pop-up shops in Wynnefield that three neighbors stopped me about. One in the 2400 block of North 52nd Street. They have the pop-up shop information out. Three neighbors stopped me about this one particular property. And then we have one property in the 5300 block of Wynnefield Avenue that one committee person asks about every single meeting that they have a continuous flea market on that block. What are the rules around the flea market situation? Please let us know so we can get back to those constituents in Wynnefield. Okay? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Mm-hmm.
All right. Thank you very much. And thank you, Council President. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Councilmember, just have your staff person contact me, you have my contact, and we could follow up on those problematic properties. No 3 problem.
Yes. And I just want to -- for the record your team did follow up on the North 61st Street property today because we just got that on Monday. But when the inspector went out, he said the house looks like it's going to fall down at any moment, but it's in the hands of the courts. And it's a situation where we know it's going to fall down, it's already in the courts, how do we respond. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: We'll monitor it. We'll follow. Thank you.
Thank you. Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips. Then Councilmember Rue Landau. Then wrapping us up will be Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. I just want to quickly thank you, Commissioner, for all your work. Commissioner, you and your work at the Fire Department has been remarkable so continue to keep up the good work. And also, to the entire L&I team, thank you for responding to our staff and on many issues. Really quickly I just want to get my questions in. Commissioner, can you provide data on the number of severity of residential fires in Philadelphia over the past 6 to 12 months? Have you identified certain trends that are causing fire incidents? Also, how is the Fire Department team working with Licenses and Inspections to ensure properties, especially rentals, meet fire safety codes? And then lastly for L&I, Bentley Manor, an only Odin property site in the 9th District received multiple safety violations prior to its rental license renewal in November 2024. Can L&I explain why the license was renewed despite these unresolved safety concerns? And also provide an update on the current status of these violations and any actions taken to address them. And then also lastly, the question I have for you is can you elaborate, L&I, on the interagency coordination between L&I, the Police Department and Health Department when nuisance businesses are flagged? And when nuisance businesses pose a threat to the community safety such as illegal sales, persistent sanitation or loitering, what is the chain of action and who takes the lead? Commissioner of Fire first. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Absolutely. Thank you for that question. So as my predecessor would say that Philadelphia has a fire problem and that continues to be the case for the most part. We still have -- the severity of fires still persist in the city and we have a very robust Fire Marshal's office that investigates every single fire that we have. And what that does is it helps to inform our fire prevention strategy and how we can better reduce the incidence of fire in the city. So that is one of the things that we're doing. I'm very proud to say that in this city as a whole we have very good working relationships with all other city agencies and we work very well with L&I to ensure that the fire code reflects the best practices so that we can reduce the incidence of fire. So I hope those two things answered your questions.
Yes, relatively. And then L&I, what's the most common violations L&I is seeing on the nuisance business law? Those are my questions. Most common violations you see? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: The most common violations seen where? I'm sorry. I missed that.
Under the nuisance business law, what is the most common violations that you see? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: We get a number of complaints on nuisance businesses. Some of them are exterior -- a lot of them are exterior work so the windows that are covered up. We get the flaggy things that are out front. We get unkempt properties. That's a lot of our things. We get things that are against zoning, things that are pop-up, like you alluded to the smoke shops and things like that. That's another biggie that is on our radar as far as businesses. As far as your question with coordination with the Health Department, so we coordinate with the Police Department, the Health Department and the L&I QOL. We go out every single month with them on proactive inspections on a list of properties that are like illegal smoke shops, things of that nature, drug paraphernalia shops. We also coordinate nightly on the weekends. So starting usually like Wednesday night through Sunday night and on the weekends our Nuisance Property Unit is out there investigating all kinds of different nuisance properties, whether they're businesses or actual properties, and that's in conjunction with the Police Department and a lot of times other state partners.
The Odin property. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Oh, and the Odin property thing I'm going to have to get back to you on that because there's several different Odin property things we did. We did a joint inspection of a bunch of them, and a lot of things came into compliance. So I want to just make sure which one you're talking about, and I'll work with Basil's group to see exactly what happened with those. If you could get me that info on exactly which ones you're talking about, that would be great and I'll do work with Basil's group.
Just for the record, there's one in West Oak Lane Bentley Manor. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: What was it?
Bentley Manor. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Bentley Manor.
Yep, in West Oak Lane. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Okay.
Thank you, Councilmember Dr. Anthony Phillips. Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you. Thank you all for being here. I'm going to try to be quick because we're coming to the end of the day, but I also do want to thank you all so much for your service and everything you've done for Philadelphia. I have a question. I want to start with rental licenses. What percentage of rental licenses that are issued by L&I are for properties owned by LLCs? Same question, what percentage of rental licenses that are issued by L&I have the property owner listed as the managing agent? And what percentage of rental licenses that are issued by L&I have a managing agent whose listed address is a business with a commercial activity license? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Councilmember, all great questions. We have the statistics. We have the data. But I don't have it one me.
Can you get that to me? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Sure. Absolutely.
Thank you so much. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: If you could just send me an email with your questions listing them.
Absolutely. And then I wanted to ask about the roll-out of WebUI taking over for eCLIPSE, called WebUI. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Yes.
Before the full roll-out of the new WebUI, does L&I plan on doing any type of user training or stakeholder engagement to ensure that the new features are meeting community needs effectively? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Yes, we plan to continue -- we already have a lot of outreach and a lot of webinars and things of that nature. And I see absolutely no problem with us doing the same thing for the WebUI roll-out. And I think we're planning in November some time to have that operational. So in the meantime I'll make sure that we're going to have a set schedule set up for public outreach to explain that whole process and we'll keep you in the loop also.
Great. To be clear though even with the public outreach I want to make sure that the users who are going to use it get to give you some input before it's finalized to make sure it's -- COMMISSIONER MERENDA: That's a very good point, yep. Let me follow up on that. Yep, sure.
We want to make sure we're creating the tool that people need. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: That need and that know how to use. And maybe they have some suggestions also.
Yes. I have more L&I questions, but with the risk that I'm not getting called again I want to go and switch over to the Fire Department real quick. Last year I asked about renovations and accommodations for women and people who identify as women firefighters, such as separate bathrooms and bunk rooms for overnight shifts, dispensers for feminine hygiene products and hoods to accommodate hair that have been put up and protect the back of the neck. There's also an increase in Class 200 budget item which will be used to upgrade EMS medic units and other technologies. What's the update on all of that? Is any of the funding being used for these upgrades? And are there any occurring renovations to accommodate female firefighters in terms of receptacles and protective hoods? COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you for that question. As you know, our infrastructure is pretty old and we are in a continuous state of upgrade and repair and we are working with our partners at DPP. And whenever we are doing significant renovations, we are ensuring that we have facilities that are suitable for both males and females. So that's an ongoing thing. We have 63 stations throughout the city. It is going to take some time. In this budget we are looking to have lactation pods. So we're trying to address that issue. So we recognize those issues and we also know that it's going to take time and money quite frankly to get a lot of those things accomplished. But we are working, we are making progress towards those things.
Thank you. Remember that it's a great conversation because there's a direct connection between these modifications and recruitment. Let's get that done. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Absolutely.
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier. Then Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke and then Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, whose time was stolen by Councilmember Jeffrey Jay Young.
Thank you, Council President. I wanted to start by thanking all of you for being here and for the work that you do every day that's so critical to the health and safety of our residents and our neighborhoods. And I know that many times when we're communicating with you we're imparting the frustrations of our constituents, but I also want you to know that we really do appreciate you in your responsiveness and everything that you do for our office. My questions are for L&I. One topic that our office consistently struggles with is when building violations are inside of a property. In these situations, we can present all sorts of examples and paper trails, but L&I still won't write a violation or enforce unless an inspector can get into the interior of the building. This comes up with structural issues and vacant buildings but also with code violations and occupied buildings that are engaged in uses they aren't zoned for. This is a very easy way also for a building owner who knows that they are in the wrong to get around the city. They just don't let them in, right. So why is this the policy? And what can we do as Council to help L&I get around this hurdle? And then my next question, my last question is what operational or legislative changes -- oh, wait a second. Hold on. My last question is about -- I'm sorry. What operational and legislative changes would be needed for L&I to partner with groups like PHDC or other City contractors to perform essential emergency repairs on privately-owned properties while court cases are still pending? So could L&I perform basic repairs, secure doors or remove immediate hazards and then bill the property owner later? And what resources or changes to state law would be necessary to recoup these repair costs more effectively? And I'm asking this because I feel like we have gotten better at moving cases to court, right. We've fought hard to make sure that the Law Department has the resources that they need. But even though we're moving the cases to court, we're waiting for hearings, and in the meantime we're still dealing with dangerous conditions and situations. So I want to know while we are moving forward judicially what can we do in the meantime to make sure that our residents are healthy -- or safe I mean? And I know that was a lot so I can repeat any element of those questions if need be. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: I think I got the one part and Basil is going to do the first question. So as for the repair program, as we've stated before we do partner with PHDC. So PHDC does have the mechanism to actually repair things. The Department of Licenses and Inspections does not. L&I is not -- we're not trades people. We're not project managers. We're not construction project managers where we would do something like that. We do however go in, we clean and seal properties. We do those types of things to make a property safe.
I'm not asking for you to take on the repairs yourself. What I am saying is while we have a situation where we're working with L&I to cite folks who have violations. Many times we are moving these cases forward, but then we're stuck. And so, it's not that I'm asking you to take on PHDC's role. What I'm asking you is what can you do in partnership with PHDC to make sure that these issues are resolved and that residents aren't just sitting there having to deal with these continued -- COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Yeah. So we do partner with PHDC on the rental programs and things like that, those assistance. I thought you were saying could we fix them, so I apologize. I misunderstood that. Yeah, so PHDC has the mechanism to do that. And I think at the last hearing we were talking about how we coordinate with their rental repair program.
Okay. I don't really believe that we're, you know, certainly we have the mechanisms in place. It's not my understanding that we're operating in that way, right. And so, I would love -- and I know we have the law in place through Councilmember Jones' efforts. I would love if we could truly put together a program where we could remedy some of these issues and we're not just waiting for property owners to address violations or waiting for the courts. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Okay. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Councilmember, our focus of course on the construction side is ongoing construction. And access to an interior of a building, you have privacy issues and we may need to get an administrative warrant, things of that nature. But what we decided to do once we have complaints about ongoing construction and access to an interior, we'll monitor that and we'll put it on our be aware bolo list that our district inspectors can take. When they're doing their regular routines, they can take a ride by to see if there's access, if they're actually some sort of construction going on at the time so that they can catch them in the act. So we're aware of that issue and we're trying to, you know, we're struggling with.
That's great. I understand that's how we're functioning now. That is not good enough for the amount of issues that we're seeing and the amount of times that we're hearing we cannot access a property, right. It's not good enough to say we're just going to drive by and try to see them outside. So what creatively can we do to have a solution that is more effective at getting inside properties that we know have violations and are endangering our residents? COMMISSIONER MERENDA: I think it's -- we need to sit down with the Law Department and figure this all out and decide what direction they can give us and what proof they need in order to go into court and get that administrative warrant as quickly as possible in an expedited manner. So that's what I would want to follow up with. And we'll try to do that going forward.
Okay. Great. I would love to work with both of you on both of these issues and on solutions to these issues over the next budget year. Thank you so much. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. Councilmember Rue -- okay. Councilmember Lozada.
Okay. Nicolas O'Rourke will wrap us up. Go ahead.
One for L&I. We have seen that. L&I has started to go out. Thank you for the education campaign that you all have partnered with us on doing as it relates to some of the businesses in the neighborhood. I think that as a result of those education walks we found that many people were not in compliance, not because they couldn't be but because they thought that they just didn't have to be because they were just allowed to do whatever they wanted to do for a really long period of time. But most recently we started to do enforcement in collaboration with the Police Department and the Health Department. Some of the food trucks are being impacted. One initiative as recently as yesterday, some of these food trucks were confiscated. They are of course angry and upset. I'm receiving information that it was because vehicles were not registered. Licenses were not -- food serve licenses were not updated. Electrical hookups were illegal. Can you share with me what that looks like? What was the initiative that took place yesterday? How many vehicles were confiscated and was there an education campaign prior to you all going out? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: So I have to get you that information. We were working on that yesterday. It came to us and there was some kind of discrepancy on what was happening. The vendors thought they were being closed for violating their curfew law. So there were a whole bunch of different issues that were going on there. So I actually might have it now on my phone, but I don't know because I don't have my phone sitting here with me, but I can get you that information. There were several vending trucks that were involved in that, but there was nothing that was confiscated due to anything like -- that was just out of the ordinary. It was just they didn't have their food serve licenses and there were a couple other things. One wasn't registered. But let me get you all that information because we were working on that yesterday and today.
Okay. If you could share that, that would be great. And then as a follow-up to my medics question to Deputy Commissioner McCall, my staff gave me information that there are currently 64 medics who are not available for work. That would account for -- that would leave you with about 126 medics to respond to services. When you take into consideration that people are out sick, on vacation or in trainings, wouldn't that leave you in the negative? And how are you responding to that? And does that pose a challenge for services, especially in districts like mine where we depend so much on EMT and paramedics? MR. McCALL: Thank you for the question. I want to repeat it back, if you don't mind, so I understand clearly what you're asking me is that we're looking at 64 people across four platoons that we anticipate being out of our quota at any given time and you're asking if that puts us in the negative. And that leaves us with roughly about people per platoon 4 off, which roughly gives us about 5 if there's 53 people on -- excuse 6 me, 53 people on, 15 people off, 7 that would not put us in the 8 negative. We would be in overtime. 9 And then we would request for 10 overtime. We would canvass ?? the 11 other members that were available 12 and off and we make great efforts 13 to reach out to them. We make 14 phone calls. We send text 15 messaging through our Everbridge program to see if anyone's available to work. And then we hire those ahead of time to work. And what we can't hire, what we can't bring on as far as paramedics go, that's when we then look to downgrade that unit to an ILS unit or a BLS unit, and we make efforts to hire those folks for overtime to come into those positions. Overall, we do understand that we need to bring additional people on board. Our men and women out there, firefighters, EMTs, firefighter EMTs, EMTs, advanced EMTs, paramedics work really hard all the time and we want to ensure that we have a good relief factor for them so that when they do take off, we're not so dependent on that overtime to get to relieve our staffing. So we want that relief factor in place and we have that built into the 200 that we are looking to hire to help us out with that space, so we understand that we're kind of right there to say that we're in a negative. Right now I think we're plus one in the numbers. But I think that if someone calls off sick, someone takes a vacation day, then we're in the overtime and then we're asking folks to work extra and that might be a little tough for them, and we recognize that.
Are there medics that are either in leadership or in positions that can be held by just laypeople or other straight firefighters that could cover that space? And if so, does that occur as well? MR. McCALL: In our responding ambulances? In our ambulances?
Mm-hmm. MR. McCALL: We do do that when our medics aren't available. And we canvass them through a phone call and through text messaging through our Everbridge system to work. If they decline to work, then we reach over to our advanced EMTs, our EMTs or FSEs and our firefighter EMTs to then fill those roles.
Thank you very much. And wrapping us up is Councilmember Nic O'Rourke.
Thank you, Mr. President. This may have already been asked, but let me make sure I get it on the record on my end. Are your staff paramedics, those not working on the street in budgeted staff positions? And I'm sorry if this was already asked already. MR. McCALL: No worries. Thank you for that question. Our paramedics that are not in field operational positions that are off of the street are in staffed or in budgeted or mostly budgeted positions. We do have some people detailed to positions that require that level of knowledge to perform that work. So we have them in those positions until we do a justification or a proof of concept for that position, at which time we will then put in that justification for that paramedic to be budgeted in that position that's staffed.
Okay. Thank you. The other question I do have and then I'll get off, the Whole Blood program would allow certain medic units to carry blood to supply the trauma victims on the street before they go to the hospital to help save lives, especially shooting and stabbing patients. Why is this program being delayed? MR. McCALL: Thank you for that question. Great question. We understand that the whole blood is a lifesaving medicine that we can bring to the city of Philadelphia and we have the program together. We've had a work group that's been working on that since 2023 and I understand that we're ready to go with that program as soon as we are able to address our zero medic unit problem and our medic unit on the wall problem. And we've implemented some policy programs and we've looked at our medic unit availability to try to address that problem. So once that is addressed and we have medic units available to bring that whole blood to the citizens of Philadelphia, we will definitely then implement that program.
So you're lacking units to be able to do it, medic units to be able to do it? MR. McCALL: No, I think we have the medic units to do it. It's just they're delayed, right. And working through that delay, trying to reduce that delay so that those units can respond to those calls, yes, they are traumatic calls but they're also, you know, anything that makes a person hemodynamically unstable or is bleeding, right, so it could be a GI situation, it could be a young child who had his or her tonsils removed and have a bleeding concern, so that whole blood does impact that level of care incredibly. So we want to have that available and be able to respond to that. But we also want to ensure that our units are not being delayed for reasons out of our control so that that can get there, and we want to address that issue first.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President. MR. McCALL: No worries.
Thank you. And the last question, Councilmember Rue Landau.
Just one and my apologies if this was already asked. But I wanted to ask about cease operations orders. How many rental properties has L&I issued cease operations orders for in the past year? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: I do not have that information with me, but I can get you that.
Will you also tell me what percentage of rental properties that were issued these cease operations orders had a previous history of unresolved code violations? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: So same answer.
There's been a couple of instances. The Daily Pennsylvanian just reported on one in University City, and of course we always talk about Brith Sholom as places where landlords are using at least the fear of cease operations or potentially the actuality of cease operations to try to get around the eviction process and get all of their tenants to leave at once. I've seen this many times over the years. L&I often will figure out what's happening, catch up and stop this practice. But I am curious whether or not you are watching this trend, ensuring that it doesn't happen and have safeguards in place to make sure landlords aren't circumventing their responsibilities or the eviction process in order to just let their place fall into disrepair and say, well, that's it, got to cease operations? COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: I think when we get into this more proactive rental inspection thing, we're going to catch a lot of those things. Like I said, we're not there yet. But I think once we do we're going to start to identify more of those bad actors, as you call them -- perhaps we all call them, and then stop that practice from happening.
Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you all. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Thank you.
Thank you very much. I want to thank all of you for your presenta -- COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Council President, can you indulge me for one minute?
Commissioner. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: I'm thrilled to hear that L&I has been so responsive to the Council. I would submit that that's proof positive that the split has worked out.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. But first and foremost even separate from the split, I know my members work very, very hard and are very, very thorough in terms of when they're getting behind a particular initiative. So to the gentleman from this body who chairs Licenses and Inspections, Councilmember Mike Driscoll, I believe in his leadership. I believe in the work that the two of you have done in terms of from a collaboration standpoint and I also acknowledge the work that the Mayor has done as a new leader coming in and saying, wait a minute, I want to separate the two in terms of how we approach things to make sure we're addressing all the issues comprehensively. So continue to keep up the good work. But most importantly, thank you for having the response, both of you. Any time I call I get a response. That's half the battle -- COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Absolutely.
-- right. Half the battle is showing up, right. And so, we'll continue to keep working together. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Council President, I'm just looking at this really quickly and I have one question for Deputy Commissioner because now he has me confused. He said they were a plus one, but they're negative in staffing. And he said you guys call folks and offer them overtime. Isn't it cheaper to just hire medics as opposed to paying folks overtime? MR. McCALL: We are hiring medics. We have currently a list of 40. And on that list we've had 10 people that have made it through our process ready to start the academy, and that start will be in June, those paramedics we will be onboarding. We actually just opened up the list again to help capture some of the people that were at Crozer that are now without jobs so we can then bring them on board. So we opened that list and that list closes on -- it was just extended to the 18th. So it was the 13th closure. Now, it's the 18th of this month, in which that opportunity will close so we can capture those folks. So we are hiring paramedics and we're going to continue to hire paramedics. We're going to get as many paramedics as we possibly can. We understand that that's strenuous work and having that relief helps us out a great deal. What happens though is that people, you know, we can't anticipate when people will determine they're not feeling well for the day, that they need to take a holiday or vacation day or time off or something along those lines. And our relief factor suffers because of it. So then we have to go to overtime for that. And that's any position. It could be a firefighter EMT. It could be an EMT -- or FSC, excuse me. It could be an FSE advanced and it could be a paramedic. When it's a last minute something or even something projected, we understand that we get into a relief and that's where we have a little gap and we're looking to fill that. For us a relief factor for our paramedics across all four platoons would be 64 additional individuals.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for your presentations. And if anyone would do additional follow-up as well, we will follow up with you individually. With that being said -- you're dismissed. COMMISSIONER COLLINS GREENWALD: Thank you. COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you very much. COMMISSIONER MERENDA: Thank you.
With this being said, the Chair recognizes Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson for a motion of the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolution before the Committee today stand in recess until Monday, May 5, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 400.
So moved, Mr. Chairman. (Duly seconded.)
It has been moved and properly seconded that the public hearing and meeting on the bills and resolutions before the Committee today stand in recess until Monday, May 5, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. All those in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it and the motion carries. This Committee will stand in recess until Monday at 10:00 a.m. 2025 in City Hall. Thank you. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 4:35 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL