Have you been able to break down the cost either monthly or annually for those hundred thousand people? COMMISSIONER PARIS: Individually per patient? 104 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
Yes. Can we figure out a way to quantify the actual monthly or yearly cost for each person that we're serving in the center?
Yes, average cost. COMMISSIONER PARIS: We don't have an average cost per patient. We have an average cost of what we get reimbursed by Medicare and Medicaid per patient.
And how much does that fall short of the actual cost of the service? See, what I'm trying to get to is, when you go into a normal doctor's office, there's a cost associated with his or her time in dealing with you and they bill, I guess, the insurance company if you're insured appropriately. They'll always haggle over whether it's enough money they're being reimbursed, but I 105 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 would like to try to get a handle or our arm's around what it actually costs us. And I assume you break that down by salaries and benefits of the people dealing with them and all of the utilities of keeping the center open and running the center. I just think it would be interesting to know with that hundred thousand population what we're spending a month vis-a-vis a private healthcare coverage. Are we way out of whack, are we way under, that kind of thing. COMMISSIONER PARIS: We will be very happy to get the details to you. What happens is, we offer different services. So for prenatal, for example, could be anywhere between 800 to 600 a session. So we divide that in different ways. But we will be more than happy to get that to you broken down by adult and --
If you could break it down by people who come in 106 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 with colds as opposed to people who come in for prenatal. I assume the mental health is segregated because of CBH? COMMISSIONER PARIS: It's different.
So those folks are not coming into the health center for CBH or are they? COMMISSIONER PARIS: Well, we have a couple of health centers where we provide mental health services, but there's a separate contract for that and they bill separately. But for our services, we will be able to provide you with what initial visit -- the cost for an initial visit, a cost for a treatment, a cost for podiatry, a cost for prenatal, for all the services that we provide.
Because I would like to try to do some comparison on a monthly basis of what an average person pays for an HMO as opposed to what we're spending monthly. What was the other -- I'm 107 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 sorry. I had a senior moment. It just went out of my head.
I have a follow-up question for the Commissioner.
Thank you. Commissioner, my question is -- and this gentleman is not a senior, so I don't know why my colleague is saying those things. At any rate, my question is, we've been through times where we were kind of caught up with people wanting dental treatment and doctors treatment and times where we're maybe a month behind in services. Is the issue for health centers an issue of employees 108 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 working there or an issue that we don't have enough centers if we maximize our employees to take care of the population? COMMISSIONER PARIS: It's a combination of several issues. One of them is, of course, the demand because of high number of uninsured and uninsurable patients that we service. It's a combination of the chronic diseases that they present with. It's a challenge of what the Managing Director talked about earlier, which is hiring the people, nurses, for example, and pharmacists and so on, to work at the centers.
So we had enough employees, could we handle the population we see and not have long waiting lines? COMMISSIONER PARIS: Well, there's also the facility challenge. We have but so many exam rooms and we have but so many -- they're but so big. We certainly right now as a request of the Managing Director, we're looking at how 109 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 can we work with potentially flexible schedules, when is it that the patients want to come, when is it that we can offer better service, would they want to come -- if they're open in the evening, would they come and so on. We're looking at ways in which we can be creative in terms of deployment of the staff that we already have. We're doing that right now, ma'am.
One last question and then I think Councilman Kenney remembered his question. My last question is, when people come for medication, whether they are insured or not, can they get it without -- I know that they may have to be processed to get on somebody's plan. Can everybody get their prescriptions filled? COMMISSIONER PARIS: Yes, ma'am. Every health center patient that comes in and gets a prescription from our physicians will get medication free of charge. 110 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
Thank you. COMMISSIONER PARIS: I'm sorry. I just wanted to add something that the Chief of Staff just reminded me, and it is that in all of the options that we have right now and all the different opportunities that we have right now, we're looking at the prescription for Pennsylvania from the Governor as one that will offer hopefully some options, positive options, for the Health Department.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman.
Thank you. Councilman, while we're on the Health Department, can I just ask one question, please. It had been rumored that the building of the health center at Broad 111 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 and Lombard was going to be sold. That was a rumor that's been circulating in the community. Can somebody tell me if that is a true rumor or is it false.
I'll have Joan Schlotterbeck come up. It is a true rumor. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Good morning. Joan Schlotterbeck, Public Property Commissioner. The answer is that it is up for sale and we're very close to beginning negotiations with the Trust.
What Trust? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: The Johnson Collection.
Explain the whole -- the site is not all one site. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Actually, we own a portion of the site and the Trust owns the other portion. So we're combining the two properties because the value will be greater and 112 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 we're making one sale, and we're going to acquire the property. The City of Philadelphia is going to acquire the property from the Trust to control the site.
But the Johnson Trust owns probably a third of the site. The City owns the balance of the site. I think we had a lease with the Trust that expired in -- COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: That's correct.
-- in '08. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Yeah. It expires June of '08.
And so we were having to make a decision. The City for a long time, though, has been looking at that site trying to determine whether that was the most appropriate site for a health center or could we find a better facility to provide health services in that part of Philadelphia. And so with the '08 date coming up, we made the 113 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 decision to acquire the back part, the Johnson Trust part of the site, so that we could consolidate the site. It increases the value of what the City already owns, and then would propose probably disposing of the site, relocating the health facility. There are a number of different Health Department functions that they're looking at perhaps consolidating into a better location, a better facility. And those -- we can brief Council. When Public Property comes, they can come back and brief in more detail.
Do we have the monies to obtain the portion we do not own?
How much will that cost? COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We haven't even begun negotiations.
But we've had appraisals done. 114 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: We have. They've had theirs done and we've had ours.
Okay. And I would appreciate being apprised of what's going on there, because I've heard from my constituents who have a great deal of concern about their relocating that facility. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Okay.
So I would appreciate being informed as you go along, please. COMMISSIONER SCHLOTTERBECK: Sure.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Miller.
Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. 115 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 I just want to pick up on the health center question. I have a question. How many patients does the health centers actually have? How many people have you served? COMMISSIONER PARIS: We have -- Carmen Paris, Health Commissioner. We have approximately 100,000 patients that we see yearly at the health centers.
1,100 Philadelphians were surveyed in the citizen satisfaction survey, which is a super sample, because a statistically valid sample is only 385, but we were looking for representation for councilmanic districts and so you need a bigger survey the smaller the area is, so that's why we have 110 per 116 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 district.
I guess the question is, you wanted to know how many people who used health --
You know, 11 Health Center No. 9, which is in 12 Germantown, you've been reporting 13 actually since I came here ten years ago 14 that that had an increased number of 15 people that are working part time without 16 health insurance. So I was actually 17 wondering how the results fared with people when you said that people are actually not waiting as long as they anticipated or they anticipated a wait, how that kind of fits into what happens at Health Center No. 9, because I've always been told that you have an increased load there at that particular health center and I was wondering had it 117 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 improved.
Councilwoman, we will get back to you on that, because we actually this year for the first time have from the vendor Council district by district analysis of results for all the areas that we've always asked for in the City as a whole.
I was also wondering how long is the wait time for prescriptions, because there's been an issue there also. COMMISSIONER PARIS: I would like to address that. At least for prescriptions, I just looked at the numbers. There has been a significant increase in terms of -- positive increase in terms of the turnaround for prescriptions at Health Center 9, and last week I was looking at them and we have a turnaround of within hours for 23 a prescription filled. And you are 24 absolutely right, we had a time that it was almost two weeks for a prescription. 118 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 So we're very pleased with that significant improvement.
Okay. That's good to hear. The other question I have is regarding the management of the prison population. Somewhere I read that Temple University has come up with ways -- 10 I'm looking for my page -- or 20 11 suggestions on managing the prison 12 population. 13
I want to ask 14 the Managing Director to come and comment 15 on that. 16
Good afternoon. 17 Pedro Ramos, Managing Director. 18 There are, I think, two 19 different things that you're referring to 20 in your question, Councilwoman Miller. One is a study done by Temple University, a professor named Dr. Goldkamp. He has done a study of the prison population on behalf of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. The Criminal 119 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 Justice Coordinating Committee is a group chaired by the City Solicitor that involves the City criminal justice departments as well as the independently elected offices that are part of the criminal justice system, such as the courts, the District Attorney's Office and the Public Defenders and Clerk of Quarter Sessions. All the players are part of that. That committee had come up with a set of, at one point, 14 recommendations for managing the prison 15 population. I'd say about 17 or 18 of 16 them relate to things that are outside of 17 the Administration's control. They 18 really are about long-term efforts -- 19 short- and long-term efforts that involve 20 most often the court system procedures. 21 On the City side, there were a number of 22 recommendations, which we'd be happy to 23 either by briefing or by supplemental 24 testimony brief Council or individual Councilpeople on the Goldkamp study, as 120 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 well as brief you on the individual initiatives. To give you a couple examples, on the part of the courts, Judge Fitzgerald led an effort to speed up the process by which dispositions happened in the court. On the City side, a lot of the effort -- we supported, I believe it was, the Public Defenders' efforts by providing them more resources. With, I think, two or three additional people they believed that they were able to process more people who really would be out of jail but for the process. So they were able to -- they received supplemental funding from the Budget Office to staff up to get people out of jail -- who were supposed to be out of jail out of jail faster.
Okay. So you're going to give us either a written document or a briefing, you said?
Yes. We can do one or both of those, whichever you'd like. 121 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
Okay. Pretty much along the same line, can we have a list of who is actually running some of the youth violence prevention programs, AVRP, YVRP? If we want to refer somebody, I mean, I do know a couple places, the more popular places, like PAAN or Integrated Town Watch, but there are other people that have these programs going on. I think we need a list of who they are so that if we want to refer someone there, we can do that.
I'm looking over at the Director of Social Services, Julia Danzy. I think we should be able by the end of tomorrow to get each Council office a resource list. It's a good thing for you all to have.
Right. And also I know that you're doing new truancy centers -- not truancy; curfew. I get them both mixed up, but they both go hand in hand. And I know that I believe there's going to be one in our 122 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 district. I know where the one is in our district. The Mayor keeps saying he wants to have more truancy centers. Where are those going to be located? Are they going to be throughout Philadelphia? Because I guess one of the questions I have is this: The one that's going to be in my district they're calling the Northwest Center, but it's not in Northwest. It's really in Nicetown. So I just want to make sure that there is one that's put up in the Northwest that's going to serve the Northwest, or is that the only one that's going to be around in the 8th District? I need to know that. So where are they going to be?
Councilwoman, the plan is to ultimately have 12 curfew centers spread out over the City. The first curfew center where the pilot was started in South Philadelphia in the Dixon House in the 1st and 17th Police Districts has been going on --
And I 123 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 must say -- I don't mean to interrupt you, but that has been a huge success.
I know. Everybody keeps saying that, and it's really great.
Thank you. And that's been going on since August. We are about to -- and we've been working on a group of four more, I believe, but we're ultimately going to get to 12, we hope, by the end of this fiscal year, by June 30th. We are working now in North -- actually, we're working in Southwest, East, Northwest and North, and I note that you took issue or had a comment about how we described Northwest. Those are the other areas we're working on now. Two of them will be -- the next two are rolled out in the next two weeks, I believe. We now have selected sites and are still recruiting some volunteers, but I think by the next two, two and a half weeks we're rolling 124 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 those out. And then we'll be rolling out the other two as we start the process of again meeting with community leaders and following the steps we did for Dixon House for each of the additional curfew centers until we get to 12. So there's still a fair amount of the City that we are going to reach that we have not yet begun.
Okay. Can I just sneak in one more question? I did hear the bell.
And this is actually back to prisons again. What exactly are the one-stop centers going to do for the ex-offenders? I know that lots of inmates maybe while they're in prison they've lost their driver's license and things like that. Will this 125 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 center actually help them with those kinds of things?
Julia Danzy, DSS Director. The one-stop centers are set up to provide a comprehensive one-stop-shop process for our ex-offenders. Traditionally, our ex-offenders when they leave prisons, some may be homeless, some may have no resources about job, they may need to continue their training efforts or just need connecting with services and they're kind of at their own devices. With our centers, which we have one now that is on Woodland -- I think it's kind of 54th and Woodland Avenue. And as the Managing Director said previously, we plan on two more. Where an ex-offender will come there and they will get assessed in terms of what their needs are. They will then be either connected to where they can get the service or within the center itself. We have mental health there, we have probation there, we 126 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 have some of our provider agencies there who are actually going to begin to put them into job training and then get them connected with job sources. We have a link with our shelter system, as well as trying to now develop resources where rather than just moving them into our shelter system, because that's not what we really want to do, that we would be able to get them linked with homes. What the other thing we're doing in working in concert with the prisons is starting before they even leave, because many of our ex-offenders, one of the big issues is the disconnect with family members, because they've kind of burned those bridges. And so we're trying to begin before they leave out to work with the family. Because a lot of times families, if they know you're going to be working with them, are willing to let them come back home, so it allows us to at least have a point, a base, for them to begin to get some assistance. 127 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
And this assistance will be provided to any ex-offender, not just a newly released, correct?
Any ex-offender. We're working with the state. We've had involvement with them, and they are interested in even maybe having someone of theirs even at the center. But we are connecting with all of them, yes.
Okay. And so the other two hopefully will be more centrally located than Woodland Avenue.
Yes. It is our desire -- as you know with, unfortunately, most of our services, everyone wants us to help them, but nobody wants us to put the help in their area. But we are looking now as to where we might be able to locate the other services.
That is a huge, huge challenge. We have programming like 128 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 the FIR programming that deals with substance abuse for people coming out of the prisons. We have more programming we could conduct if we had some place to do it. But maybe part of what happens is neighborhoods become more valuable, we don't have as many old warehouses people don't care about. It is extremely difficult for us, our providers, to find any place for any kind of facility, whether it's a halfway house, a FIR property.
And so it has an impact. It means that somebody coming out of prison doesn't get the kind of programming. And it's not because we're not prepared to deliver it; it's just we don't have any place to deliver it. And I don't know whether we all get around the table and come up with a process for it, but this is getting -- this is creating a real challenge for a lot of 129 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 the social service programs we operate.
Right. And you know that District Councilpeople are very familiar with that problem, and maybe your suggestion to get around the table and come up with a process might be helpful rather than someone applying -- we have people that go buy a building and then try to force what they want on the neighbors, and that doesn't work. That just doesn't work.
We need to change something about that, because we're at a real impasse now.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you very much. I've been very much interested 130 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 in trying to find alternate ways to pay for some of our capital needs rather than borrow money. I have two questions and both are related to $30 million. One is, a few years ago --
-- when this Council was asked to approve a $30 million borrowing for the renovation and expansion of the Central Library, we suggested that PICA funds could be made available for this purpose, but the Administration through Ms. Reed made it clear that it was not an eligible use of PICA dollars and, therefore, we could not do that. Why now two years later it's okay and the thing to do?
If it was expansion, a substantial -- probably the majority of the Library's plan is for expansion. The PICA dollars can't be spent for expansion.
Vince Jannetti, Acting Finance Director. 131 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 That's correct, Councilwoman. The bond funds that were earmarked for the Central Library were for the expansion portion of it. We did $10 million of that, of those funds, was for engineering and architectural services.
Before you go on, that's not what I'm talking about, the expansion. There was a whole discussion around the infrastructure, the current conditions at the library. Specifically, Councilman DiCicco and the President raised a lot of issues about that, and it was suggested that we use some of the PICA interest money for the repair of the existing library and we were told that that was not -- because it was not a safety issue, those dollars couldn't be used. It wasn't about the expansion. It was about what you're talking about here, using some of the money for our own facilities.
I'm not 132 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 familiar with that. I know that the Mayor had a number of feelings about this money, that it ought to be used for extenuating circumstances. We now are up against a spending deadline on the PICA interest earnings and have proposed a number of projects. Ten million of what we -- 9 million of what we propose to spend would in fact go for existing library improvements. We propose money for police stations, money for fire stations. There's also a police warehouse property. I think there are like 188 people who work there, evidence and other things. That building is in deplorable and unsafe condition. It doesn't have basic fire safety systems in place, and so we're proposing funding for that. Altogether there are $40 million. Those projects are detailed in the Five-Year Plan.
I'd suggest you go back to the testimony of April 27, '05, which lays out the entire 133 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 discussion by this Council around the dollars, those PICA interest dollars, that could be used for capital infrastructure improvements and it was stated in there that it was not possible and at one point Ms. Reed said that the PICA money could only really be used for a building that was in existence at the time of the legislation in 1992, and she was reminded by Mr. Kenney that the existence was 1907. Further in the testimony -- I mean, we just got beat down about trying to use other alternatives for funding and particularly around the PICA interest money and we were just told that it couldn't be done. When I read the Five-Year Plan that you could -- oh, okay. You had a legal opinion that it couldn't be used. So one of the problems we have -- at least I have -- is what kind of feedback we get when we ask questions or we have other alternatives for funding projects or paying for our 134 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 needs and then we get shot down like we shouldn't use that possibility, and then you come back the next year and you say, Well, we're going to use it this year. So what happened?
I'm not familiar with the opinion. I'll get back to you on that.
Because it becomes a credibility issue for me in terms of when we ask can we do something, it doesn't -- we don't get the support. And the same thing is with the $30 million that we put forth from the unanticipated 2006 General Fund surplus for capital improvements dealing with the issue of pay-as-you-go rather than borrow money, and the Mayor let the bill become law without his signature, but now we see that you put it back into the General Fund. And we want to know, what is the rationale and is the Administration taking the position that an accounting policy takes precedent over the 135 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 legislative intent of this Council.
At the time the Mayor returned the legislation without his signature, he indicated that there were concerns raised about Council on its own creating a class that did not previously exist, a class -- I guess an 800, Class 800, in the Council budget. It was an issue raised late in the day by the Law Department, and that was communicated then. In any event, the Mayor is not prepared to spend the $30 million. If the 30 million is spent on capital projects, the Plan we have conveyed is out of balance. We end up -- I guess we would end up at FY12 with $15 million. And so what the Plan does provide is for the money to lapse back that is, I guess, policy.
The $30 million moves out of the General Fund. I mean, 136 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 it's just spent money. The fund balance is no longer 250. It drops down by 30. So it's just money out of the Plan.
Well, it was 30 more than you anticipated when you projected your fund balance last year. It was in excess of what you anticipated.
But that's not a static. That's never static. I mean, we get arbitration awards that come in millions more than we anticipate. The City's health benefit costs come in more. You get orders out of the court telling you to make changes in how you do business. The cost of gas goes up. I mean, it's just a very -- it's never a static picture. And when we go to put together the Five-Year Plan, we give our best estimate on what revenues are going to be. We give our best estimate on what expenses are going to be. It can't be held to exactly what was in one of the previous Five-Year Plans.
Why didn't 137 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 he just veto it, then? If all of that documents the rationale for not spending the $30 million, he just probably should have just vetoed the bill. But that's --
So what if we had last year decided to propose or put into the budget the $30 million of PICA interest money? What would happen then? You're coming back now saying, We couldn't use it then, but now we can use the money. So what changed?
We didn't know that we were going to have a prison census that was rising, so --
No, but you said that you couldn't use the money because the standards for describing the emergency were too high and you couldn't meet the standards, so we couldn't use 138 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 the surplus money. But now we're going back, we're using it for fire, police and -- fire and police.
I want to have a chance to review the legal opinion with the City Solicitor.
You said you had a legal opinion. I don't know if you had a legal opinion or not.
I have to get better information on that. I can't respond.
I would like to have a response as to -- the response you gave last year --
Yeah. 2005 when we proposed it and now in 2007 when you are proposing it, what's the 139 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 difference.
27th. I have some more questions, but I need to go. Let me just ask you one question about in the Five-Year Plan on , you state OSH, Office of Service to the Homeless -- is that it -- will decrease the emergency housing census and the average length of stay by implementing a successful intervention strategy modeled on the nationally recognized Hennepin County, Minnesota Rapid Exit Program. Can you tell us how this program works?
Dane (ph) Edmonds, Director of the Office of Supportive Housing. The program actually is a pilot 140 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 program that isn't operational as yet, but the intent is that as we have --
In Philadelphia. So we have created a model and we are soliciting for the organizations that would actually administer the program in setting up the guidelines for operation. But the concept is that as homeless families present themselves in our intake center and are placed in shelter, that we would very quickly place them back into housing in the community and that we would provide them with either case management but, in addition to that, with a provider who would help them identify housing, help cover rental subsidy to help cover the cost of housing. Really looking at a pilot program if we provide all of those supports to folks in the community, are they more apt to be able to move on a faster track into more independent housing as opposed to placing 141 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 them into shelter and having them become dependent upon the shelter resources. And we're actually working with the University of Pennsylvania to do an evaluation of the families that we place in the diversion program compared to families who are placed in traditional shelter to see what the differentials are and who are more likely to be successful.
This is a program that has been successful in Minnesota and so we want to look at it here in Philadelphia as a way to rapidly move families out of the shelter system back into the community.
You are coming back to testify during your department?
We'll have more discussion about that later. Thank you very much.
Thank 142 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 you. I only have two questions and then we'll continue. On of the Plan, you state that $11.02 million in PICA funds are requested to construct a 47,000-square-foot 224-bed certified juvenile detention facility on the Philadelphia Prison System campus. What is a certified juvenile detention facility?
Pedro Ramos, Managing Director. I'll probably be joined by the Prison Commissioner, Leon King. We currently have certified juveniles at the prison. There is a building that is referred to as Mod 3 that is in need of complete renovation. The plan is to essentially redo Mod 3 and move the juveniles out of the prison into Mod 3, move the adults that are in Mod 3 out of Mod 3 back into the prison. And in addition to improving the space, it 143 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 also takes less adult space when you -- because juveniles have to be held in lower ratios and more separated from the adults, so it gives us more capacity for the juveniles and frees up more than the number of spaces left behind by the juveniles when we move out. So it's really fixing existing space and reconfiguring people inside the prison.
So actually they will not be relocated at another section of the City; they're going to stay right in that campus area?
Okay. Can you tell us what the projected cost of this facility will be?
The total scope of the project is approximately $14 million, $3 million of which would come from Act 71 funds. 3.25 would come from Act 71 funds.
I 144 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 believe that there are other sources also, aren't there? Isn't PICA providing?
Okay. Can you tell us what the status of the new Youth Study Center is?
The Administration has transmitted legislation and we are hoping and expecting that the legislation for the new Youth Study Center would be introduced and passed. At the same time, the City is pursuing and in negotiations about an intermediate or transitional site for the youths that are currently at the Youth Study Center in the event, the likely event, that we would need some space between the time that we leave the current Youth Study Center and occupy the 145 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 new building.
Can you tell us how we propose to pay for the new Study Center?
Council President, it's Vince Jannetti, Acting Finance Director. The new Youth Study Center would be financed with a bond transaction.
What size would that be? What size bond would that be?
And what funding is included in the 2008 146 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 budget and the proposed Five-Year Plan?
Let me just repeat the question of the Council President. Your question was what amount is budgeted in Fiscal '08 for --
In the budget that we're considering and the proposed Five-Year Plan.
The debt service for the facility would be -- I believe it's $3 million in '09 and about $6 million in '10 and '11. And if that facility is built, part of the lease payments would be reimbursed to the City through state funds.
All right. And is this in the proposed Five-Year Plan?
It 147 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 is? Okay. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam President. I'm sorry. I was caught by surprise. I thought I was a little further down on the list. Thank you. Good afternoon. I have a couple of questions, one centering around the truancy centers and the other around the video surveillance program. I don't know if you need anyone. I guess you may need Mr. James possibly for the surveillance.
The MOIS team will answer the surveillance question and the truancy we had Mr. Ramos, the Managing Director, answer.
I'm sorry for designating your speakers. We get a little carried away every now and then.
Yes. I want to talk about truancy first. Just generally, have we built structurally in the Five-Year Plan funding in place to accommodate hopefully a number of facilities across the City, and can you kind of tell me where we are with that? I understand the initial one was very successful and people kind of got excited, and then I understood that we had some problems in our solicitations, that they were not moving as quickly as possible.
Councilwoman Miller had asked a similar question and I'll try to give the same answer. I'll try to be consistent. But I think we have -- we're 149 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 in South Philadelphia, as you know, in the Dixon House.
In East Division, mostly 25th District, we're ready to go. We're about two weeks away from opening our doors. In Southwest, we're ready to go, about two weeks from opening our doors. In North, we're close. In Northwest, we're close. And then in addition to those, we plan on doing up to 12 citywide. With respect to the ones that are sort of being RFP'd now --
For the first set I mentioned, East, Southwest, that's within two weeks. For Northeast, North and West, it's probably -- I think the timetable is about four weeks away. We have not yet selected the sites for -- I know for sure we have not selected the site for the North Philadelphia site. 150 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
Are there numerous applicants for the North Philadelphia site?
I believe there are. Director Danzy, the question is whether there are multiple responses to the RFP for the North Philadelphia site.
Yes. There were actually two that were submitted for the North, and we are in the process now of completing -- in fact, we've kind of done our review. We have one part of it. We're working on the other part. It's the logistics of where we will actually put the curfew center.
In terms of the selection process, is it weighted 151 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 heavily towards the ability of the organization to deliver the services, the location? I mean, how is that in terms of criteria?
It's a combination. First of all, the area is determined by we're looking at the statistics as it relates to youth violence and particularly the shootings and the crimes, homicides, that are going on in the area. That becomes our first driving piece of where and why we've chosen certain areas to go to first, although as the Managing Director said, the ultimate aim is by July to have across the City 12 curfew centers. So that's the first thing. Then as far as the providers themselves, there are several things we're looking at. One, the relationship within the community, because --
I'm sorry. Not to cut you off. On the first one, so is there essentially a pre-determined 152 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 geographical area --
-- for the applicants to respond to in terms of location?
Police district, right. And then once we issue for that particular area, one has to be a provider who is working in that area. It can't be someone who is somewhere else and they want to put a center there. Two is, what kind of relationship do you have with the other organizations in that area, because it's important about having linkages, because a key piece of this initiative is community involvement, volunteers. And so you have to have relationships where persons in the community see you as an organization that they work with, that they're willing to volunteer. So 153 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 that's -- and you're having a history of having worked with youth.
In terms of the site, is there a certain criteria associated with the physical plant? Should it be a certain size and in a particular corridor, commercial corridor, or should it be -- is it publicly owned, privately owned?
Right. It's not necessarily whether it has to be a commercial or residential corridor, although you know how that goes. But the overall piece is that it must be adequate size so that -- because we project that we've had as high as perhaps kids at 18 one time to come in. It was one of those 19 times they were kind of all coming from a 20 party. But we always want to project out 21 to at least that number that you can 22 accommodate. They can have adequate space. Even though they are continually going home as parents pick them up, you want to have enough space. You want to 154 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 have a separate room where perhaps staff can have meetings. Because the volunteerism and the thing of which I think the Council President attests to in terms of it working there, it works for two reasons. It works because it is making an impact on the parents and the children to be responsible by curfew, but it's bringing the involvement of the community together. So they cook and they do things, so we want that kind of space.
Either I'm going to have to cut my questions short or your answers are going to have to be shorter, because the bell rang, but I'm hoping that the Council President let's me get to the second question.
And I'll give you a short one. 155 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128
Actually, I guess I'd better go to my surveillance issue. One last question on the truancy. So there's no prohibition on publicly owned facilities?
If indeed there is the ability for having the right insurance and the fact that it doesn't hold any inordinate liability to the City.
In other words, because we're contracting with an agency, technically while we're doing the service, it's that agency who is responsible for anything that happens at that curfew center. So if a young person happens to get hurt on that facility, we want to make sure that this is not going 156 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 to be something that comes back and the City is then going to be sued or have some cause to be concerned about --
Councilman, I think the issue being described by Director Danzy is that for most respondents with their own sites, if they are providing service within their building, within their gym, part of what comes with that is their responsibility, their liability for the suitability of the space, for any injuries on the space and things like that, and when you have us as -- when the City is the one providing the space under somebody else's direction, then we just want to make sure, the Law Department will want to make sure and Risk Management, that whoever is managing and controlling the space is responsible for what happens within it.
I mean, they would be required to have, I'm assuming, required to have some sort of lease arrangement with the City having 157 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 the appropriate insurance rider, regardless of whether or not it's a municipal building or private building.
It's a little more of an issue when it's somebody else insuring our building, our space, but I assume that those insurance arrangements are out there for a price.
Okay. Thank you, Ms. Danzy. I had a brief question about surveillance, kind of get an update. Good afternoon. DEPUTY JAMES: Good afternoon.
We recently passed a $5 million transfer ordinance 18 that was signed into law by the Mayor, and I believe that in Fiscal '08 there's a proposal to put approximately 1.5 in the budget for surveillance cameras. Can you kind of tell me briefly where that money would go, the 5 million and subsequently the 1.5, kind of walk us through the process of what we get. 158 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 DEPUTY JAMES: Sure. Good afternoon. Joseph James, Deputy CIO for the Mayor's Office of Information Services. Good morning -- good afternoon rather. The budget as it's constructed right now, there is the $5 million that was part of the mid-year transfer, which was approved and put into the current '07 budget, and there is in the '08 budget $1.5 million also for video surveillance. As part of the testimony that I gave on the mid-year for the $5 million, the current program is to use a portion of those fundings to put together the right staff augmentation to do the planning so that we can get an RFP out on the street as soon as possible so we can get to the actual deployment of cameras. Currently, we have a steering committee that is in place and a project team that is also in place and a project manager in the Mayor's Office of Information Service assigned to moving 159 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 that effort forward, and currently, our goal is to have an RFP out before the end of this month of March, and the anticipated time frame is to allow the vendors appropriate time to respond, which was probably going to be about 30 days to get response and move forward to negotiate and have an award. Our goal is anyway to have an award in place by May, depending on our ability to negotiate.
May what? DEPUTY JAMES: Well, part of the issue that we have about giving you exact dates is, when we did the original planning last year for the video surveillance camera, we went through sort of an elaborate process to kind of gauge the marketplace and see the number of vendors that are out there that might want to supply a solution for us. We received over 21 responses. We assume 160 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 that a majority of those 21 responses would be responding to whatever RFP we put out on the street, and since that time, we probably read about six or seven other major companies who are also moving into the video surveillance market. So we think there's a quite exhaustive list of people who would want to respond, and we need the amount of time for us to evaluate that and to give you a specific date and say that we could move through that process --
Early May, mid May? DEPUTY JAMES: Well, our goal is as early in May as possible, and then the time to make an award, negotiate and have a contract in place going through our City process so that we can actually start to see cameras deployed in June. And, again, our intent is try to have the cameras starting to roll out in a time frame that it would be out and in the neighborhoods before summer recess when 161 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 the kids get out of school.
And the bid solicitation document will be done end of March? DEPUTY JAMES: We're trying to have it out before the end of March. And we have also, in working with our team, representatives from various departments, we're compiling an initial list of prioritization of sites based upon the Police Department list, and we have a list that we're compiling from the Streets Department and also from the Office of Emergency Management, and we're trying to compile that list so that we have an idea of once we start deployment where we need to prioritize our efforts, where we need to deploy those cameras as quickly as possible.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. 162 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon. Councilman Clarke has addressed a number of questions I had around the curfew centers. But you used truancy centers and curfew centers interchangeably. They are two different things; are they not?
No, we didn't use them interchangeably. The Councilman asked about truancy centers and from his question it sounded like he was asking about curfew centers, which he was.
Okay. The curfew centers and the roll-out or anticipation of them is contingent on the $100 million from the Needs Based Budget we're anticipating from the state or not?
No, it's not. Like I said, we're going to be going after that money aggressively. This is -- the truancy and curfew centers are 163 3/6/07 - WHOLE - RES. 070128 a priority. There will be other things we won't be able to do, but we will do the truancy and the curfew centers.