COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 2, 2024 10:09 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILMEMBER NINA AHMAD COUNCILMEMBER CINDY BASS COUNCILMEMBER KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMEMBER MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILMEMBER JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMEMBER KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON COUNCILMEMBER JIM HARRITY COUNCILMEMBER CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMEMBER RUE LANDAU COUNCILMEMBER QUETCY LOZADA COUNCILMEMBER NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMEMBER ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMEMBER MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMEMBER ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMEMBER JEFFERY YOUNG, JR. BILLS 240179, 240180, 240181, and 240182 RESOLUTION 240193 - - 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Good morning. This is the public hearing and public meeting of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bills Nos. 240179, 240180, 240181, 240182, and Resolution 7 No. 240193. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Councilmember Driscoll. (No response.) 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Here. Thank you. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Ms. Loughead, will you please read the title of the resolutions.
Bill No. 240179, an ordinance to adopt the Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Bill No. 240180, an ordinance 23 amending Chapter 19-1800 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," to provide for an 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. increase in the tax that the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia is authorized to impose on real estate; and amending Chapter 6 19-1300, entitled "Real Estate Taxes," to establish an equivalent reduction in the tax rate for the City real estate tax; and making technical changes; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240181, an ordinance 12 to adopt a Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget. Bill No. 240182, an ordinance 15 to adopt a Capital Program for the six Fiscal Years 2025 through 2030 inclusive. Resolution No. 240193, providing for the approval by the Council of the City of Philadelphia of a Revised Five Year Financial Plan for the City of Philadelphia covering Fiscal Years 2025 through 2029, and incorporating revisions with respect to Fiscal Year 2024, which is to be submitted by the Mayor to the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Cooperation Authority pursuant to an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement by and between the City and the Authority.
I also want to note for the record the presence of Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and Councilmember Mark Squilla. Today we will continue the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole to consider the bills read by the Clerk that constitute proposed operating and capital spending measures for Fiscal Year 2025, a Capital Program, and a forward-looking Capital Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 through Fiscal Year 2030. This morning we will hear testimony from the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, Office of Human Services -- Office of Human Resources, Office of Innovation and Technology, and the Procurement Department. This afternoon we will hear testimony from Aviation and the Water Department. 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Ms. Loughead, will you please call the first witness to testify from the Administration.
The first person to testify is Camille Duchaussee, Chief Administrative Officer. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Good morning. My name is Camille Duchaussee. I am the Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Philadelphia. Good morning, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I am pleased to provide the testimony on the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer's Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget. Joining me today are members of 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the CAO executive team - DeWayne Gordon, First Deputy Chief Administrative Officer; Liana Dragoman, Director of the Philadelphia Service Design Studio; Melissa Andre, Executive Director of the Office of Administrative Review; Shakeya Foreman, Employee Ombudsperson; Trevor Day, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer; Tracey Bryant, Deputy Director of Talent and Employee Success; and Sandi Ramos, Program Manager for the SEPTA Key Advantage program. I am also joined by the Commissioners from our cluster departments - LaShawnda Tompkins, Acting Procurement Commissioner; James Leonard, Records Commissioner; Mike Zaccagni, Director of the Office of Human Resources; and Melissa Scott, Chief Information Officer responsible for the Office of Innovation and Technology, who will also be providing testimony relative to their respective areas. It is the synergy and partnership of these 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. departments that are central to the enterprise resource planning of the Chief Administrative Office. The CAO is the backbone of the City government. Our mission is to develop and invest in the City's workforce consistent with EEO principles, equal employment opportunity principles, and the leading practice of human resource management and diversity, equity, and inclusion. We also maintain and improve enterprise and department-specific administrative functions and deliver transformative programs and practices that will result in more efficient, equitable, accessible, and modernized service to City residents and the City of Philadelphia workforce. Marshaling the resources and talents of the CAO, we will continue to embrace technological advancements and enterprise resource planning and human resource best practices to realize the promise to make Philadelphia the safest, 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. cleanest, greenest city in the nation, with economic opportunity for all and to make the City of Philadelphia an employer of choice. In order to sustain and realize the service delivery standards to which we are committed and resolved to provide to our residents and to realize a model of workplace culture and workforce development, we are reliant on the FY25 budget before you today. FY25 funding will facilitate the continuation of effective management and transformative work of the CAO, examples of which include the groundbreaking Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit, the Employee Protection Workgroup's Interdepartmental Communication Agreement, and the Vendor Disclosure Portal, just to name a few, the workforce development activities of the Office of the Talent and Employee Success, the implementation and management of the SEPTA Key Advantage 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. program for all City employees, the innovative work resulting from the FY23 and FY24 Operational Transformation Fund cohorts, and the strategic planning around the implementation of the Parker Administration's initial executive orders on service delivery improvement and expanding pathways to employment and equitable economic opportunity. Our proposed Fiscal Year 2025 General Fund budget totals $17,244,134 and reflects our continued investment in workforce, enterprise administrative functions, and transformation.
Of particular note, this budget will continue to fund the SEPTA Key Advantage program pilot, allocate both human and financial resources to furthering the work outlined in Executive Orders 2-24 and 3-24, and continue CAO's work on current and ongoing projects that leverage technological, digital, and people-centered solutions to streamline administrative work flows and eliminate 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. redundancies. In conclusion, I urge the members of City Council to support this budget proposal, recognizing its pivotal role in maintaining a resilient, responsive, and evolving municipal government. I appreciate your time today, and the CAO team will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I just want to also note for the record that we will also be taking questions for Office of Information Technology, Procurement as well, and Human Resources. That's for all the members who want to ask questions for those various departments that fall under the CAO. I just want to let you know that as we go through this morning's process. Thank you for your testimony. 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. I just have a couple questions before I turn it over to our members. This is under hiring. Per Executive Order 3-2024, which removes barriers to City employment, within 90 days of the order a CAO must submit a proposed plan to the Mayor's Office for assessing the universe of current exempt positions. Yesterday was the 90th mark for the signing of the order. Can you provide Council an update on this requirement and how will future updates be provided to City Council.
Sure. Thank you for the question. We are happy to partner with City Council in the future to update the benchmarks that are achieved during the implementation of this very important executive order. We did submit yesterday our game plan for assessing the universe of exempt positions to include a timeline of at least initially cataloguing all exempt positions and the resources needed to do 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. so.
Okay. Could you also make sure the Chair receives a copy?
The CAO's new service delivery initiative will support implementation of Executive Order 2-2024, the Mayor's commitment to making government services more visible, responsive, and effective. The Five Year Plan narrative cites the CAO will also need its funding to cover the upfront costs of the selected service delivery improvement projects. How will these projects be selected? How much funding is set aside to cover these upfront costs of service delivery improvement projects?
So my understanding in terms of the funding is that there was slightly over $2.2 million 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. at least in the first fiscal year set aside for this very important work. We have had a number of work group conversations. We are partnering with the Office of Policy and Development as well as the Office of Innovation and Technology with the CAO, of course, in order to develop not only the timeframe but also the listing of services and the prioritization schedule for how those services will be modified -- reviewed and modified to improve service.
And FY24 and FY25 budget include a funding for the SEPTA Key Advantage program, which offers free transit as an employee benefit to the City's workforce. The Administration has previously stated that since this is a two-year pilot program, it is being evaluated to determine how to proceed with the program after FY25. And so I just want to get an idea of how the program is being evaluated and what types of considerations will go into 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. determining if the program will continue. And obviously as we address the issue of support funding for mass transportation here in the City of Philadelphia, it's no 6 secret that we're the number one big city, largest city in the country when it comes to poverty. So this was an initiative to try to ease the burden primarily for City workers to allow them the benefit for transportation to and from work. And so how are we evaluating if such an initiative should be supported moving forward, and do you have a budgetary dollar amount that will actually assess for the program over the last Fiscal Year '24 going into Fiscal Year '25?
Again, thank you for the question. I'm also going to ask that Sandi Ramos, our Program Manager for the SEPTA Key Advantage card, join me at the podium. I will say that we will 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. continue to assess the efficiency and the impact of the SEPTA Key Advantage plan amongst our workforce to include usage, enrollment percentage, coverage across all the demographic factors in the City of Philadelphia, our workforce, as well as taking into consideration any changes to the costing of that program. (Witness approached witness table.)
Ms. Ramos, have we tracked data in terms of who is actually utilizing the benefit?
We have. One of the key things as a part of the implementation process was to track whether or not we were rolling this out equitably amongst City employees, and I can sit here and say that we certainly have. Across all of our 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. demographics - age, race, income - we have a very level rollout of the benefit of folks participating. The only area where there's a change is between women and men. Women by far are enrolled more than men are.
Could you provide a copy of your initial assessment --
Okay. This question is for the Office of Human Resources. I just want to get an idea of how we are increasing diversity of eligible candidates for City jobs and how does the Office of Human Resource collaborate with the Mayor's Office of Diversity and Inclusion just to make sure that the City of Philadelphia workforce reflects the City that we live in.
Yes. Thank you, 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Council President. Mike Zaccagni, Director of Human Resources for the City of Philadelphia. So over the last four to five years, from 2019 to now, we saw a significant increase in the diversity of new hires coming into the City. I believe it was around 62 percent in 2019. It's closer now to maybe a little bit more than 72 percent. We're doing a lot trying to get out into the communities, but we have to do more and we have to improve our communications, especially with this Council, one of the things that I've heard directly and we've heard directly during the Five Year Plan, so we will be partnering more. But we've held a couple, 98 events I believe, at the local libraries. We've held another 90 or so events partnering with community organizations, various ones, to try to get out into the community. In 2022, our recruiting 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. events, I think we contacted about 800 people. In -- go ahead.
Could you state for the record our vacancy rate currently right now?
The vacancy rate right now -- and these numbers come from the Quarterly Manager's Report, just so that we know where we're drawing. For the entire city, it's probably still hovering around percent, and that 16 includes departments that do not report 17 to the Mayor. I'd have to look at that. 18 I don't remember exactly. And it's 19 probably maybe a little bit less for 20 departments reporting to the Mayor. One of the things, and I'll finish up with some of the activities that we've done, but one of the things that we've seen also in -- Calendar Year 2023 was the first year we were actually 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in positive numbers in the last four years for hiring as opposed to attrition. So we got hit big time during the pandemic. There was a very slow hiring year that first year of the pandemic, and it was slowed throughout the pandemic. So we kind of got behind, but last year we had significantly more employees hired than left. As to getting back to some of the recruitment efforts that we are doing, trying to do out in the community, we had about 800 contacts with applicants in 2022. I believe it was close to 2,800 in 2023. So we are trying to get out into the communities, partnering with local community groups, going out to libraries. We need to do more around that and also communicate better.
Do we have a media/public relations strategy plan for community engagement and recruitment for these vacant positions?
So what we have 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. starting this year is, we have a promotional campaign that is going to focus on the City of Philadelphia as an employer of choice, and I mentioned some of this during the Five Year testimony. We have a consultant that we brought on board who is going to work with us, actually has been doing work on getting information out around certain job families. So we're looking to build that and to build the strategy with that organization that we're going to basically take to both the airwaves, social media, print. We're going to cover the full gamut as much as we can, and we hope to continue that as we go into the next fiscal year. So one of the things I think we looked at is, we needed more capacity and we needed more competencies in that area, so we brought somebody on board. We also stood up for the first time in OHR's history a communications group internal. So we have a couple people that's 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. fielding -- that's basically staffing a communications office that is also going to be assisting with helping us construct and get communication out, both to the communities and elsewhere.
I just want to also say before I turn it over to my colleagues, just recommend possibly partnering with Councilmembers, right, because they're out and about in the community engaging in a variety of different activities as it relates to providing support and resources to their constituents. So that may be a good opportunity to collaborate to help get the word out and really touch the people most in need by being out in the streets. What obstacles have you seen in terms of hiring individuals? What have you run into? Is there any data that shows that, well, these are things we're running into in terms of individuals who are applying for our jobs?
I think one of 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the main obstacles we're running into, not exclusive to recruitment strategies but communication in general, is the digital divide, right, and making sure that we are touching our community members and our workforce members that do not have the same easy access to computers or technology. And I will say that I believe the addition of the roving recruitment vehicle -- I don't know if we've named it yet, but the RV so that we can partner with City Council, we can partner with a lot of the community organizations that we have already established relationships with, we can get out in person with that vehicle and provide the technology that may not be present in the home for those employees, prospective employees, to be able to apply online and able to access our services, be able to access the different places where we house our opportunities, our employment opportunities. So we do recognize that there 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. is work to be done to support our communities and reach our workforce, our potential workforce, where they are right now as we build their capacity.
And just to add on the connecting with Council, our Communications Director, Olivia Gillison, our Deputy for Hiring Services, Janine LaBletta, and myself, we've had some conversations already about having a better strategy around that so that we can share when we are out there, where we are, and share that with the offices here, because that certainly came across loud and clear that we're not doing enough in that area.
I think we very much recognize the partnership and the value of the partnership with all the City Councilmember offices. You know your communities. You know what events. You sponsor events, and making sure that 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. we are connecting with you in the beginning to ensure that if there's an event that would make sense for us to be present, that we know about it in advance and that you know what capacity we have to attend those events.
Absolutely. Well, thank you very much. I'm going to save the rest of my questions for the next round. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President, colleagues. My questions are for the Human Resources, and I know that the Councilman already asked this, but could you elaborate a little more. I'd also like to say I was very happy. I listen to KYW all the time in the car, and I've heard the ads that we're promoting now employment here in the Philadelphia area, and I've also seen the ad on Facebook. So I'm very happy 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. about that. But what are the implements to attracting talent to the City of Philadelphia -- I'm sorry. What are the impediments to attracting talent to the City of Philadelphia and how can we keep the current City employees so that we can avoid further attrition?
Thank you, Councilman. I think we have some of the challenges that every organization under the sun has, is getting people interested in being able to dedicate and make a decision on where they're going. One of the things that we see still is that we get a lot of no-shows. We get a lot of applicants for certain positions, police officer recruit, for example, correctional officers, those types of positions that every jurisdiction that I've spoken to still has trouble with, and we still get a lot of people who apply, and then when they get contacted for whatever reasons -- and 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. a lot of this was anecdotal. We actually tried to reach out to correctional officer applicants and get feedback, but they're not showing up for an orientation. They're not taking time to respond to one of our surveys, so it is at times difficult to get that. So they're some of the challenges that we do see. I think one of the things that makes me optimistic is the fact that in 2023 for the first time we've hired more people and we've hired a lot of people in 2023. I think we may be turning a corner. Police will talk about some of their recruitment efforts when they're here. I think they've done a good job partnering with the state to sort of change some of the hurdles that police officer recruits have to go through. I think they're seeing more people attend. They're still having a large no-show rate, but I think that's coming down. I also think in the retention 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. area, we're looking at things -- we're going through the last pieces of a pay survey that we've done. It's the first time we've done a wide pay survey in a long time. We do individual pay surveys on a regular basis. Our Hiring Service team is always doing maintenance, but this is the first time we had a concerted effort to really look at it more holistically. We have some results from that. We're going through that now. I think some of the pieces that Marsha Greene-Jones, who is our Deputy for Benefits, really focuses on employee wellness and creating an environment where we provide very good benefits. During that pay survey, it wasn't quantitative data. We got qualitative data that we checked a lot of the boxes when it comes to benefits and being competitive from the standpoint of benefits. And I think one of the things from a recruitment standpoint, and I do 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. truly believe this, I think working for government, working for the City, and I've worked here for a while now, I think it has a purpose and I think that there are people, especially younger people, that are also looking for employment with a purpose, and that's some of the messaging that we want to do as we move our campaign out, to really talk about what is it that's in the City, that we have good jobs, good pay, we have good benefits, but we also provide you with a job that's going to provide a purpose.
I would point out that a couple of other things that we are affirmatively trying to work toward improving. The vast majority of the positions that we have some struggle with in terms of recruitment and retention are in the civil service, and that process for getting online and filling out an application that has many, many questions in it and some of the questions you're not quite sure how to answer, we are 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. working diligently to streamline that application process. At least anecdotally, there's some suggestion that the nature of filling out a fairly lengthy application is a deterrent to people actually finishing it and going all the way through the application process, and then you compound that sometimes with not being very clear on what the qualifications are for the position. And if we're creating, very much consistent with the Mayor's -- one of her very first executive orders, creating additional pathways for qualification to the many positions that we have in the City of Philadelphia, that assessment that is ongoing now across both civil service positions and exempt positions to determine where we have other opportunities to assess experience, credentialing that is other than a degree will give us, I believe, better outcomes in terms of recruitment. 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. And just my last question is, what's the length of time that -- the wait time to be called from application to interview?
Councilman, we try to track is what we call hiring time. So once someone is -- once we get the first request from a department for a specific position. The length of time someone can be called varies because our eligible list can last anywhere from one to two years. So, for example, if I use laborers, we'll have a significant amount of applicants on that list. Streets Department goes through their hiring. They may hire -- they'll be hiring more this year, but usually a couple hundred laborers during the year. That list stays active until the next year. So there could be -- the one thing that we want to do, though, is we want to have more engagement when people are on the list to say, hey, we know 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you're there looking. And we're actually looking at how we change or perhaps a new applicant tracking system that can help us do that and engage with candidates. We're actually going through vendor meetings now to look at how we can improve that area, as Camille said. So we're looking at those pieces. So that's one of the things that we're really focusing on also from the standpoint. Our time to hire is, right now it's about probably about 100 days on average. It takes us about 35 days to create an eligible list. So that's usually a pretty quick turnaround, but, again, as I said before in Council Chambers, we've got a bifurcated system, so we have to do work in OHR and then we have to do work at the department level in doing interviews. And the rule of thumb for governmental agencies is probably anywhere between 90 and 100, and we're right about there right now. And 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that's not saying we're happy with that. We want to continue to improve upon that, but just to give some context of that piece.
Yeah. I know my time is up and I'm good, but, yeah, just from experience, my son applied for paramedic, and I know that's a specialized thing, so it takes a little longer, but by the time they got back to him, he had already been offered a better job, better paying job at Einstein Hospital as an EMT in the emergency room. So just very -- trying to be very aware of how much time we're taking between the process so that we can actually get some of these people before they find other jobs. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. And just as a reminder for members, just please speak into the 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. microphone for the record. I want to also note for the record the presence of Councilmember Kendra Brooks, Councilmember Anthony Phillips, and Councilmember Mike Driscoll. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nicholas O'Rourke.
Good to see you. Thank you for being here to talk with us about some of the City government's key administrative functions. I know for many residents and many City employees government gets a bad rap for not working for the people, but I've been real excited to learn about some of the projects that the Office of CAO has done over the last Administration 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to make government more efficient and equitable. I want to ask about a couple of those programs today. Some have already been brought up. First let's talk about the SEPTA Key Advantage program.
From my understanding, this was a pilot program funded for two years which provides free transit to all City employees as an employment benefit. I'm a big fan of making Philly, with my Council President as well, a more accessible city to get around, including for our employees. I'm sure this makes for a great sales pitch to get folks to work for the City as well. Does the Administration intend to continue the SEPTA Key Advantage program beyond the two-year pilot phase to make it a permanent program?
We'll continue to review the information that we have, 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. the data that we have on enrollment, usage. Every six months there is a reevaluation of the costing of that program, but in consideration of all of those things, there will be a decision made at the conclusion of the pilot. Certainly we absolutely recognize the value of it, because at the end of the day, what we want to do is create a culture where our workforce realizes increased value in their compensation package, and this is one of those things that does that. So I think the intention there is to make sure that we're just making a sound decision, being good stewards of the residents' funds, money, and at that point make a decision after the -- towards the end of the pilot in 2025.
In that same spirit, I agree. I think it would be great in terms of getting folks to appreciate what they actually have. In fact, if we're requiring a full 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. return-to-work policy, I think it makes sense to offer employees free transit to make that situation an easy transition, but that's neither here nor there. Thank you for the point. When the program was being evaluated, how is the CAO defining success when you're looking at that data? Given all the evaluation criteria, how is the City defining or determining whether or not the thing is working?
How do you know if the pilot is actually working? If you're looking at data to kind of ascertain whether or not to make it permanent, there's a lot of evaluation out there. Kind of how are you knowing that? How are you defining that?
So one of the things that we really would like to be able to show -- one of the ways in which we determine that there's value in it is 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. participation, its enrollment and its use, right? When we first started, there was a very significant push on making sure that we had as many employees that are eligible enrolled in the program, and I think we've done that successfully and we have a fairly significant percentage of our employees who are eligible enrolled in the program. As a matter of fact, we have the highest percentage of the large employers that use SEPTA Key Card or participate in SEPTA Key Card Advantage. In the City, we have the highest percentage of our workforce enrolled. Once we pivoted beyond the enrollment, and we continue to do work in terms of improving our enrollment, we'd love to see every employee -- and it's a little pitch to City Council. We'd love to see all of our employees, eligible employees, enroll, but then it's registering, right? Once you enroll, we 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. want to ensure that there's registration, you have the card in hand, that it's handy, and that it's used exactly the way Councilmember O'Rourke describes, that we are making the City much more accessible. We are making the City as an employer a better value, right? And so for us, the measurement of success would include increasing registration and usage.
Next I wanted to talk about the Operations Transformation Fund. I'm still good on time, right? Okay. I want to talk about the Operation Transformation Fund, which used about 10 million to fund nearly 30 projects across City government. The goal of these projects is to make government work better for people. Some of the projects that stood 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. out to our office included giving rec centers new computers, reliable internet, creating a reforest station hub, which creates jobs for folks to turn wood waste into reusable lumber products, and launching a mobile unit for the Office of Human Resources to go into community to recruit and to offer the civil service test in neighborhoods directly. Now, that's government working for the people. Love to see it.
I 15 noticed that the CAO's budget 16 discontinued funding for the Operation 17 Transformation Fund. Can you explain why 18 the City is no longer resourcing this 19 kind of innovation in government when the 20 people seem to want it?
Yes. So I couldn't agree with you more, that that's government working for the people and for its workforce. Absolutely. What we believe is that the budget that we have 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. allocated for FY25 imbeds that innovative work, imbeds that attention to process improvement, imbeds the enterprise resource planning that's necessary to do that same work. I think the Operational Transformation Fund was an extraordinary program, but it also taught us the resilience and the innovation and the expertise that we have in the City that we should be leveraging and baking into our budget moving forward. So I believe we have the resources. It's the same group that was using the grants from the OTF that are working every day to better government, and the work of the Philadelphia Design Studio, the work of our strategic design projects within CAO, the work that is being done in partnership and in response to our Executive Order 02-2024, all of that work is that transformative work that was done under OTF.
So 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. you're saying those will continue because you're just embedding it?
That work, the work of -- working for -- the government working for its residents and working for its workforce, that work absolutely will continue.
Okay. Am I on time? Do I still have time? Can I still roll or am I out? Okay. I'll come back around. Thank you.
It's this setting when you talk about government working for the people and initiative like the SEPTA Key card and the OTF grant that was provided as well that also works on behalf of the people. It's like continuing when we talk about a safer, cleaner, greener, right, but want 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to also make sure that last part, economic opportunity for everyone, like we're really hitting that part as a part of this budget process. I think it's great to have a safer, cleaner, greener city, but also those soft services that really support the most valuable citizens here in the City of Philadelphia, I believe most members of Council want to see continue to be a priority as it relates to addressing poverty and the most critical needs of the citizens here in the City of Philadelphia. And with that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Hi. Thank you so much for being here. I am very excited about hearing about this streamlining of the hiring process, and I would like to start by saying as a member of the Labor and 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Civil Service Committee chaired by Councilmember Jim Harrity, we would love to help you, anything you need. As a former City employee for years, I see some of my good friends 7 here, and the process is still so 8 complicated, as you described. I speak 9 city, but most people don't, and I didn't 10 realize how much I spoke city until I 11 left the City of Philadelphia. 12 So I went on the site last night and again this morning, what would it look like if I were looking for a job, and it's still -- as streamlined as we think it is, it's not, and so I would love to help if there's anything that you guys need.
A couple of OHR questions, especially about the civil service exams. So there's multiple 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. issues here. One is, when I was in the City, a lot of the folks who were taking the exams were current City employees. We weren't drawing as many people, I think -- not for your average -- I'm not talking Police and Fire and stuff. I was talking about the internal jobs. There were so many City employees taking the exams. And I am curious if you know the difference between, one, people who are applying for the first time versus current City employees, if you had those numbers. And second of all, what is the exam passage rate at this point? And do we know what the barriers are of having people pass versus fail?
I'll start on that, but I'm going to ask Janine LaBletta, our Deputy for Hiring Services, to come up so I don't misspeak on any of our pass points and how that works.
Thank you. (Witness approached witness 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. table.)
So we do know who is applying, and we have certain positions that are promotional positions. So there are several different types of positions. We have what we call open and competitive. There's open to anybody. So you can apply as a City employee. You can also apply if you're not a City employee. And then we have promotional positions both citywide and departmental. They are focused on City employees. We do look to fill positions through promotion where we can. In fact, the Charter does have some language around that. It's been interpreted differently over the years as to what that looks like, but we do defer to trying to promote within, and we feel that's a big retention issue too from the standpoint of we're giving people not only a job but a career so that they can advance through that. As to the pass points, they 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. change, and I'm going to ask Janine to talk a little bit about that. And the one part of the question I think I've forgotten on numbers, did you ask?
The two questions, one was how many people from the outside, non-City employees versus City employees, and then what are the -- I know that each job is different, but general pass/fail rates and why. MS. LaBLETTA: Hi. Good morning, Council President. Good morning, Councilmembers. Janine LaBletta, Deputy for Hiring Services for the Office of Human Resources. Thanks for having us today. We are looking at pass rates specifically as we move towards computer-based testing. The Chief Administrative Officer talked about the digital divide. We can share some more specific data, but overall we've seen an increase in both showing up for the exam, which we talked about was a challenge, as 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. well as pass rates. Right now we generally have about two-thirds, or 67 percent, of our candidates pass, but that varies depending on the exam, as the Director outlined. But we have looked by race and gender at the impact of moving to computer-based testing, and we can share that with the Council.
Thank you. And, again, my experience is slightly older at this point, but I wanted to share an experience and see if we fixed it. The DROP program was supposed to be available so that departments could plan for the vacancies, so you would know when someone was retiring within four years and then you would be able to hire somebody to fill that position, hopefully get trained, but I found there to be a huge obstacle, that you couldn't increase the number of slots that you had easily. So if you had ten 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. slots, you need to increase it to to bring the new person on in order to start training them before the person leaves and you'd be back at ten. Has that system gotten any better and any easier, and do you know how many people we have planned on the DROP program now to drop?
So the 11 requisition process; that is, City speak called the PER process, I do think we've gotten much better at that. I don't think they stay in spaces as long. I think we do try. If someone wants to bring somebody on board before someone leaves, that's primarily a financial decision. So as long as they have the budget to do that, we will approve what we call for those types of positions a dual in competency. So that someone can serve in that role while someone is preparing to go out. The amount of time will depend on the job that you're looking for, so 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. that will be variable.
Wasn't the purpose of the DROP, though, to be able to prepare for the vacancies and to be able to train? It seems that it would be counterintuitive that we were hoping that somebody has the money in their budget, especially if the person who is going to retire is going to get that large lump sum. I hope there's a more streamlined way we can think of of making sure we can onboard the other person first, give them some real life training before the other person leaves.
And we do try to do that where we can. The budget is a determining factor. When the request goes through the process, one stop is the Budget Office. So they will look at that, and there can be conversations there if it's a critical position. You can have conversations. And basically -- I don't think there's usually too many times where you run into an issue, except 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. if it's a very small department, that there would be a budgetary constraint. A lot of departments have vacancy allowances built in, so they have additional monies that are built in to take into account the fact that they are not running at 100 percent all the time. But I understand your point, and we can certainly have discussions also with Budget to see whether or not this is something that's coming up more than what we -- than I have eyes on from that standpoint.
Thank you. Council President, I have some CAO questions too, but I think you would ask me to save them?
Yes, we're going through this round and 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. keep rocking and rolling.
Next the Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. And just to Rue's point, we're asking questions about all CAO?
For the record, under the CAO's umbrella is the Office of Procurement, the Office of Innovation and Technology, and the Office of Human Resources. You can ask questions of all three of those departments as well as the CAO's office.
Okay. Thank you for being here. First question for CAO is, what is the role of hearing 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. officers and how do they work with other departments?
In order to answer that question, I'm going to ask Melissa Andre, our Executive Director of the Office of Administrative Review, to join us. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good morning. My name is Melissa Andre. I'm the Executive Director of the Office of Administrative Review. The Office of Administrative Review conducts hearings for several different departments and agencies throughout the City. Our largest subsection of hearing officers are housed with the BAA, which is the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication, and they mainly handle parking violations. But we also have hearing officers in another location who handles speed camera and red light camera also administered by the 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Philadelphia Parking Authority. And then we have some hearing officers who do the Tax Review Board, which is we work with -- we take appeals for the Water Department, the Department of Revenue. So the hearing officers are all trained to be fair, equitable, and to listen to all of the constituents and the issues that they bring, the appeals. My hearing officers can deal with something as little or small as a $50 ticket for putting trash out too early or a million dollar tax bill from the Department of Revenue. They have a plethora of experience. I have some accountants, and they're really here to hear what constituents bring and what they want to dispute.
So they are a liaison of sorts? When you mentioned the Parking Authority, which is a separate entity. So who are they --
They are working Philadelphia employees and they are hired 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. to be objective hearing officers for the disputes that the constituents bring. So not a liaison but a hearing officer, someone who makes a determination, and that determination needs to be carried out by the agency that was disputed.
I see. So they're the first stop before the person who is having the issue with the Parking Authority, they would first be heard by the hearing officer?
Correct. And then of course if they disagree with the hearing officer's determination, they can go to the Court of Appeals -- I mean, the Court of Common Pleas or Municipal Court.
All right. Thank you. Second question was about positions in the OTF spending space. Were those people absorbed in other spaces?
A couple -- one of the positions, I believe, remains 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. in CAO, but the other positions would expire. And so at the end of the day, we do have some vacancies, and our intention would be to retain the talent that we have.
Thank you. Then moving on to OHR. In terms of the decrease in funding to PPD for recruitment, has that been transferred somewhere else, that concomitant amount is somewhere else or it's just gone?
No. That funding was transferred to the Police Department, as I understand it. So that money will be managed directly by them. It was winding up being a very complicated process for them to do the planning for their recruitment, come to us for the payment of bills. We requested that any funding for police recruitment, since they have their own recruitment team, be seated in the Police 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Department.
And is there oversight from your office even though the money resides in the Police Department budget?
We work very closely with Police on their recruitment efforts. So I wouldn't say there was oversight as to we have control over their spending, but we have a very good partnership with their recruitment office, and I think that's one of the reasons we felt comfortable in doing this. We didn't want to have a process that was mucking up the work just so there was this perceived oversight.
And speaking about recruitment, you spoke about the fact that people make the initial inquiry and then there's no 23 followthrough. There's also probably people -- and you can correct me if I'm wrong -- people who actually apply but 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. don't pass the tests, right? I wondered if you are keeping those who actually came for the testing and did not make it through, is there a pipeline of those people because they have demonstrated wanting to be in the police force? Is there a pipeline to support them to remedy whatever it is they did not -- were not able to pass on these tests?
So the police officer recruit is an unusual position within the City of Philadelphia, that the Police Department itself administers all of the hurdles that are required by the state, and the Police Department will do various initiatives to try to help those candidates move through that process. For example, I understand that they may be partnering with CCP to provide some reading assistance so that they have better pass rates when it comes to the reading test, which is dictated sort of by the state. They've run times where they've done partnerships with 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Recreation to try to get people in shape so they can do the 35 pushups or the mile and a half run. So they do work with candidates to attempt that, and they do see multiple reapplications, people apply and apply. The challenge there, again, as I mentioned earlier, is they still get a lot of no-shows, and that's for -- we pretty much have anecdotal reasons around that, but the Police Department does try to do a number of initiatives to help their applicants to get through that and hold their hand through the process.
Thank you. And also wanted to ask about starting salaries in Philadelphia for our most understaffed departments. Are they competitive with other cities?
So we're looking at that now. We just received a pay evaluation, as I mentioned. This is the first time in a really long time we've 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. done a comprehensive pay study. We're meeting with -- we will be meeting with Finance Department to sort of go over that. We're doing the final edits on that evaluation that we have done. So what we'll be looking at -- and we've done this in the past. For example, Janine LaBletta's team in Hiring Services have made increases to our trades classes several times over the last half dozen years trying to reposition them to be more competitive. So we do that on an ongoing basis in our maintenance of survey -- our maintenance of pay plan.
Okay. I'll keep my questions for the second round. Thank you so much. 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Thank you, Mr. President. Two things. Number one, I want to start by saying that a big ship in a big ocean doesn't turn quickly. So we're in the beginning of a new administration coming out of an old administration so that we don't hold you totally liable for anything that you may not have gotten done before the first 100 days. So realize that.
What I would like to ask, though, is how many vacancies do we have within the City of Philadelphia, both civil service and exempt? While you're looking that up, what zip codes -- and provide an analysis to the Chair and members -- what zip 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. codes do the applications come from? So are there more parts of the City that are more apt, adept, and able to apply for City positions than others, and if so, why? So I'm going to show you this, Member O'Rourke. You get your questions in while they're scrambling, and this way it doesn't hurt your clock.
Which comes out to what percent? 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC.
Okay. 5 What zip codes are the applications 6 coming from? 7
So I'm going 8 to defer to Mr. Zaccagni, but what I will 9 say is that while there may not be 10 specific data on where applications are 11 coming from, there was an assessment done 12 upon which to rely on where to do 13 recruitment activity, where we are not 14 sourcing our community members and our 15 residents who can benefit absolutely from 16 the opportunities that are afforded in 17 municipal government. And so based on 18 that assessment, there is the zip 19 codes -- there was a determination of 20 what zip codes would best be served by 21 our outreach and recruitment efforts or 22 increased outreach and recruitment 23 efforts.
I think it might be helpful to find out where 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. they're coming from and where they're not and increase your efforts based on that as well.
So one of the things I would like to add, and I think I can take this one, and we shared this last year, one of the things that we did is we identified a number of zip codes within the City of Philadelphia who had the most diverse, the most financially challenged, and we've really over the last year focused on those zip codes with some of our community efforts and things --
So it is 19121, 22, 33, 34, and 40. And we can share 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. this information.
Yes, to be transparent. So we have information. We can probably get information on where applicants are coming from, the zip codes. Janine? I don't know if Ms. LaBletta has some of that, but as she's walking up. So they're one of the things we focused on. We saw a huge increase in applicants from those zip codes because they were ones that were lagging behind. MS. LaBLETTA: Hi. Good morning. Janine LaBletta, Deputy for Hiring Services, Councilmember. That's on us if you don't know, but we are seeing increases in those target zip codes with our applicants, 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. which is great to see. We can share that data specifically. We've looked year over year. And we also have overall certain zip codes lead with over 3,000 applications per year. For example, in 2023, we had about 55,000 applications we received. We have it broken down by zip code that we can share with the Council.
Would you share that with the President -- MS. LaBLETTA: Yes, sir.
-- and members? Because not having the Fourth District is a little bit of a shock to me. So I'm going to switch over, because I'm sensing my bell is about to ring, or did it ring? Time check. How much --
Go ahead. COUNCILMEMBERS JONES: All right. I'll hear it when I hear it. In '08, 2008, three individuals 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. of this body were in different times, we were financially in peril as a city and the relationship with the Administration and the fourth floor was vastly different, and what they wanted to cut, we weren't willing to cut, such as libraries, things like that. So the response from the second floor was, well, what do you want to cut? What things can we do better? And we produced what is called the Freshmen 15, which wound up being the Freshmen 30, which I'm going to give you, the Freshmen 30, and you can look at them for your own leisure reading, but one of them that I want to draw your attention to was the recommendation was that we convert to a paperless city administration. One instance we found, that the state was reimbursing us for what we were doing with DHS and a million dollar check sat on somebody's desk for months and the interest rate that we could have gotten if we'd have electronically transferred 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. it. How are we doing as a paperless government? And you may not be able to have all of the answers to that, but that's something that we want to encourage. And back when I first started with the City, we have paper checks every Thursday. Now we have direct deposit. Those are substantial improvements to being more efficient, and I would appreciate if you could do an analysis on how we are doing promoting paperless use in government.
So I appreciate the question. Thank you very much. What we would like to do is get back to you on a project that we've been working on very much in alignment with being paperless as well as the work that's being done with our Digital Work Transformation Group.
That will be amazing. My final and my -- no. This is 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. for the next round. I'm not going to ask for an answer yet, but what I'd like to know is how we're doing MBE, WBE, DBE in the City of Philadelphia. As many people may know, I used to run the Minority Business Enterprise Council, and I'd like to have on my second round teed up those answers of how we're doing by category - supplies, services, equipment and professional services. Thank you, Mr. President.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Cindy Bass.
How are you? So I just had a couple of questions. I wanted to start on the Bus Revolution. What's our investment in the 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. Bus Revolution -- not the Bus Revolution; the Key Card program.
Okay. And I started to mention the Bus Revolution earlier because as you probably are aware, SEPTA is in the process now of doing this sort of like, I guess in their mind at least, the rightsizing of the transit system, which -- I won't even say 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. "in my opinion," which actually factually ends up being less service to currently underserved communities in so many different areas. And so I'm wondering if there's any conversation or connection between our investment and the service cuts that they're planning in the community. Has there been any thought, dialogue, anything from you all about making further investments in this program and the fact that they are going to be cutting back service? Because when I look at it, everyone who receives the Key Card also receives a paycheck from the City of Philadelphia. And so is there some -- is there equity in what's happening right now, that those who can afford to pay are being given free Key Cards. And I'm all for it, just to be clear with everybody. I'm all for the Key Card program, but at the same time, how about expanding that to people who really cannot afford? And I know that's 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. not really your department because you're HR, but I guess I'm just wondering are there those kinds of conversations happening that you're aware of, that there could be some expansion around the service?
So we've spent a lot of energy and a lot of our resources in trying to build up the program and its participation, right, making sure that we have robust usage, making sure that there is equity across our workforce on who is accessing this, I think, really great benefit.
So there's a lot of energy around that, a lot of conversation around that. And so to the question that's being asked, there hasn't been a lot of conversation around leveraging that participation into influencing some of the decisions that are being made in terms of the services being provided throughout the City. But 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. certainly I think it's very much worth using our increasingly -- our increasing ridership, our increased participation throughout the workforce to do just that.
Well, thank you. I'm glad to hear you say that. I'm glad to hear that you all are aware and at least beginning to think about leveraging, because when you look at the amount of investment that the City of Philadelphia makes in SEPTA, whether it's the Key Card program or it's through the regular budgetary process, we have a lot of opportunity to influence what's happening, and it's my fear and concern that we're not using the authority that we have to really make sure that the people, the people who aren't getting a City paycheck and the people who are really struggling and who don't have a SEPTA Key Card right now and who like buying the SEPTA Key Card in and of itself may be a little bit of a struggle, like all of these things are really taken 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. into account in trying to see how can we make our city better, as the Council President said earlier. Economic opportunity really includes being able to travel and transportation.
I think between the investment that's being made towards our workforce participation and the investment that's being made in the MDO with the zero fare, absolutely, yes.
Thank you. The zero fare is great, but we also still know there's a lot of people who really are just kind of like out of luck and can't access the system. So just thinking about those folks and trying to figure out how do we make sure that we have a system that works for everybody. Procurement.
So in the last year's budget hearings, we had a conversation. Former Council President Clarke mentioned that there was a 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. challenge with the procurement of equipment for departments such as the Department of Parks and Recreation when they asked for materials such as swings, playground sets, play sets, all that kind of stuff, and that these items were ordered kind of like one by one, and it made the time to obtain these items, which is generally at least three to five months, if not more, because certainly during the pandemic, it was a lot longer than that and which time you've got a certain window to get it in. You've got to get the equipment in before the ground freezes and the ground is too hard and it's not too rainy and this, that, the other thing. So it's really got to be at a certain time that we can move on these like playground and projects and whatnot. And so I'm wondering -- there was a conversation last year about purchasing these kinds of items in bulk, and there was no follow-up, there was no 25 additional conversation. So I guess I 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. just want to know what's been done to improve that process so that when we order, when we are trying to obtain things, that we're making sure that we're able to get them and get them in a timely fashion. COMMISSIONER TOMPKINS: Good morning. LaShawnda Tompkins, Acting Commissioner for Procurement.
Good morning. COMMISSIONER TOMPKINS: Good morning. So from my understanding, the items are not bought in bulk because of the spacing that's needed to store the items. So that's why they don't buy in bulk.
So it's a storage issue? COMMISSIONER TOMPKINS: Yes, it's a storage issue to store all of the items for the Recreation Department. I also have my Deputy Commissioner here 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. with me.
So let me ask before you go too far. So we're saying this is strictly an issue of storage or primarily an issue -- I shouldn't say "strictly," but primarily an issue of storage. Because we got plenty of buildings. We got plenty of real estate in the City of Philadelphia. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BARROSO: Good morning, Councilwoman.
Good morning. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BARROSO: Janira Barroso, Deputy Procurement Commissioner for Purchasing. So that is one dynamic. There are various -- there are contracts in place. We have taken steps to meet with Parks and Rec on a monthly basis to be more strategic in our purchasing and to strategize the purchase by project, location, understanding the needs by playground. 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. So we have made strides in making sure that projects are completed on time and ensuring that if purchases need to be had, that the contracts are in place. There are lead times just on the manufacturing side of things. Metals were very hard to obtain, of course, and then of course pricing played a factor into that as well.
Okay. It seems to me that there could be a way to maybe speed it up just a little bit, because if you know -- let's say for example just in the Eighth Council District, I know what playgrounds are under consideration or we're working towards building projects within the next 12 to 24 months, let's say, that we'd like to have new projects happening, and so I can tell you where they are. And so knowing that these projects are coming, they are happening, to me it seems like we could buy a number of, I don't know, jungle gyms or whatever you call them, we 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. can buy a number of them at the same time, saving money and we just need a place to put them. And I think that that's not a tall order for the City of Philadelphia. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BARROSO: No, having all stakeholders at the table. I'm an advocate of forecasting across the board. So, yes, I believe that that dynamic will help getting projects completed on time.
So are you doing that? I know we have Aparna Palatino, who is now in charge of Rebuild, and we have a new -- Sue Slawson as the Chair of Parks and Recreation. So are we connecting with them? DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BARROSO: Yes. So even prior to this Administration and we've continued to meet monthly with Parks and Rec to ensure that these initiatives continue, are timely, things are being ordered, contracts are in place. So there are 4/2/24 - WHOLE - BILL 240179, ETC. initiatives in place to ensure that these projects are completed on time.