Committee Hearing, February 23, 1999

1405 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA CAPITAL PROGRAM & BUDGET HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, February 23, 1999 9:45 a.m. - - - Bill No. 990023 - An ordinance adopting the Operating Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT ANNA C. VERNA, Chair COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN DAVID COHEN COUNCILMAN JAMES F. KENNEY COUNCILMAN MICHAEL A. NUTTER COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN B. TASCO COUNCILMAN ANGEL L. ORTIZ COUNCILMAN FRANK DICICCO COUNCILMAN BRIAN J. O'NEILL COUNCILMAN W. THACHER LONGSTRETH COUNCILMAN FRANK RIZZO CHARLES MCPHERSON, Chief Financial Officer - - - VINCENT VARALLO ASSOCIATES, INC. Registered Professional Reporters Eleven Penn Center, Suite 600 Philadelphia, PA 19103 (215) 561-2220 1406 PUBLIC HEARING - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE I N D E X Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman. . . . . . . . . . 1407 Civil Service Commission Linda Seyda, Director of Personnel. . . . . . 1411 City of Philadelphia Stephen Mullin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476 Director of Commerce and City Representative. Charlie Isdell, Acting Director of Aviation 1482 Bill Hankowsky, President, PIDC . . . . . . . 1490 Brian Anderson, Chief Information Officer . . 1527 City of Philadelphia Michael Athay, Divisional Deputy Solicitor. . 1537 Gail Greene, Executive Director . . . . . . . 1540 Mayor's Office of Community Services Emma Freeman, MOCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1551 Thomas Conway, Director . . . . . . . . . . . 1555 Anti-Graffiti Abatement Jane Golden, Artistic Director. . . . . . . . 1559 Mural Arts Program. Kevin Vaughan, Executive Director . . . . . . 1565 Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations 1407 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 P R O C E E D I N G S

Good morning, everyone. Sorry we're late getting started this morning. I just wanted to make announcement that the Law and Government Committee, which had a public hearing scheduled for o'clock today, is 9 being cancelled until April the 15th, at 2 p.m. 10 Thank you. This is the continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No. 13 990023. The first group to testify today will be the Civil Service Commission. (Nicholas DiPiero comes forward.)

Good morning. Nice seeing you. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission. Good morning, President Verna and Members of City Council. I'm Nicholas DiPiero, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, and I am pleased to testify on behalf for Civil Service 1408 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 Commissioners Joseph Fisher and Marwan Dreidie and myself in support of the Commission's budget request for the Fiscal Year 2000. And I also would like to take a minute of a personal notation of myself on your appointment as President of City Council.

Thank you, thank you.

Nobody could be prouder than I am.

I knew I was coming here, and I wanted to make it a little public -- congratulations.

Thank you.

And on behalf -- as I look at us face to face, I remember when you first ran for office the first time, and in Philadelphia, you came in front of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, which was a politically active union, and we supported you ever since.

And I remember how helpful you were then, and I appreciate it.

It shows that we pick 1409 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 winners.

Thank you.

And the fact is, I tell people, I don't remember the years too good, but I think it was about five years ago when we were both kids.

You're absolutely right. (Laughter.)

So lots of luck.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Our total budget request of $154,957 represents a 2.5 percent increase over Fiscal Year 1999, an appropriation of 158,193. This increase is reflected in the Class 100 and provided for the negotiated salaries increase for civil employees. The remainder of our request is unchanged from the Fiscal Year '99 level and will provide funds for training necessary, materials and supplies in the purchase of minor equipment. Under the Home Rule Charter, the Commissioners are charged with approving or disapproving a large variety of actions affecting 1410 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 Civil Service employees, and these include the establishment of job classes, position and pay classifications, residency waivers, personnel service contracts, Civil Service regulations and exemptions from the Civil Service. And to date, in Fiscal Year '99, the Commission has approved 47 classification and pay actions, changes to 9 regulations, 5 residence waivers, 15 personnel 10 services contracts, and 531 exemptions from the 11 Civil Service. 12 A major role of the Civil Service 13 Commission is to function as an appellate body to 14 hear and decide on Civil Service employees' 15 appeals or personal decisions. Most appeals are regarding dismissals, suspensions of more than 10 days, demotions, oral examinations, denials for requests of leaves of absence, and denials for injury time and appeals for back-to-work orders. With this budget, Madam President and members of Council, the Commission its important work of assuring the preservation of the Philadelphia merit system, as mandated by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. Thank you. 1411 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

Thank you. Can you elaborate on the five residency waivers? What classifications were they?

Let me get some help. The Personnel Director usually makes the recommendations.

Mm-hmm.

And I want to make sure my answers are accurate. (Linda Seyda comes forward.)

As Commissioner DiPiero stated --

Excuse me, Miss Seyda, just identify yourself for the record please.

I am Linda Seyda. I am the Personnel for the City. As Commissioner DiPiero indicated, this fiscal year to date, the Commission has approved five residence waivers. One waiver is one that I know that Council is familiar with: that is a waiver to enable the Police Department to recruit police officers from the military. The other four were also for 1412 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 recruitment purposes. One was in the Department of Public Property for a building services administrator. Two were for Geographic Information Systems specialists. I believe those positions were in the City Planning Commission. And the last waiver was in the Prisons, and that was for a specific individual, and that concerned a hardship case concerning this individual, who needed to be close to family members.

The employee in the Prison, was that a new employee that we're giving a residency waiver to?

No, that was not for recruitment purposes. This was a long-term employee who is recovering from a cancer operation and needs to be with family members who are out of the city -- those family members being her primary caregivers.

And you say there was one police officer?

One waiver for the Police Department, and that's a waiver that will permit the Police Department to recruit new police officers from the military. 1413 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

Is this waiver for a year?

The waiver is to permit the Police Department to recruit, but new hires will be required to establish --

No, I'm talking about the five residency waivers that were granted. Is the waiver for a year?

The class waivers are for -- the recruitment waivers are for the recruitment period and one year after appointment. The new hires are required to establish residency within the city within one year after appointment, that's correct.

The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.

Thank you, Madam President. And good morning Miss Seyda. I'd just like to go back to the employee of the prison, who has obviously some serious health concerns. The waiver is granted to this employee. Where is this employee? I believe you said it's a female. Where is she living now? The one that needs to be close to her family? 1414 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

I believe that she is --

I don't need an address, just a county would be helpful.

I believe it's in New Jersey.

New Jersey. She works full-time, she's not incapacitated to the point where she can't work?

She is working full-time, but she needs to be close to family members who could tend to her needs.

After working hours.

Yeah, after working hours. The waiver was granted for a six-month period, and it will be reviewed this coming July to determine if it's still appropriate.

Do you know the marital status of this person? Is she a married person or single?

I believe that she's widowed. I know that she was living alone prior to this waiver being granted.

And when was this 1415 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 waiver granted?

The waiver was granted January 6th of this year, and it is effective through July the 5th.

And there was another person, I believe. . .

Public Property.

Public Property. Thank you, Madam Chair. What was the purpose for granting a waiver to that individual?

There was -- a waiver was granted by the Commission in February of this year for the class of Building Services Administrator, and that waiver was granted to enable the Department of Public Property to recruit for this position. I believe that the position is still vacant; it has not yet been filled.

I'm a little confused.

You mean it's someone some from out of the city to --

Come in as 1416 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 temporary employee?

Come in and do recruitment work?

The Department of Public Property is recruiting a building services administrator. And when that person is appointed, if that person is not a City resident, he or she will be required to establish residency within the City within one year of appointment.

I'm still a little confused here. Maybe it's too early in the morning for me.

It's too early for you, it's too early for me too because I -- that just goes over my head.

(Inaudible, off mike.)

Do understand this, Councilman?

(Nods.)

Oh, okay.

I apologize. Could you just walk me through it one more time?

One more time. The 1417 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 Department of Public Property has a vacancy for a building services administrator. They have been recruiting, they have placed ads in the local newspaper. My recollection is that they received something like that 40-some responses to their ad, and almost all of the individuals who meet the qualifications for this position reside outside the City.

"Almost all," meaning that there's some that do reside in the City.

I believe that there -- can provide you with the specifics. I believe that there are maybe two or three people who meet the minimum requirements for the position, who have City addresses. Whether or not they will actually compete and take the test for the position, we don't know yet. I do not believe that they've administered that test yet.

So -- again, I'm still trying to understand that. The person that is in that position now, the building services administrator, is a non-Philadelphian resident.

No. Actually, no one's in 1418 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 the position now; the position is vacant. And the Department of Public Property is recruiting to fill the position.

I'll yield to Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Councilman. Miss, Seyda on that point, what are the qualifications that seemingly make it so difficult to get someone in this particular position who may be in Philadelphia? Who was in the position.

Excuse me?

Who was in the position?

I do not know, I don't recall.

Was it recently vacated?

I'm not certain what the circumstances were. I mean, we will be, you know, pleased to provide you with that information. I just don't know off the top of my head.

I understand, I understand. Do you recall what the specifications 1419 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 were for that particular job?

No, I do not recall specifically.

Okay.

It is a senior-level position in the department, and as I recall, there are certification requirement, the specifics of which I don't recall at this point, but I will provide the information to you.

Maybe you have to have a background managing a certain number of buildings or a certain amount of infrastructure or a certain number of years at a senior level for a company or a municipality or anything like that?

There are experience requirements for the position at, I believe, the management level.

Mm-hmm.

But I just don't recall the specifics.

All right, I understand. Councilman, I yield back.

Councilman, 1420 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 excuse me a minute, please. Does anyone have any other questions of Mr. DiPiero? Because I am told he has a 5 o'clock meeting. I'm sure that Miss Seyda would 6 be able to answer any and all questions we may 7 have. 8 Thank you. 9

I have a question. 10 Is my mike on today?

I can hear you.

Good morning. When we had the hearings of the Personnel Department before City Council in the fall, we took testimony from various employees who felt that they had been passed over promotion at the same time that they were working out of class, and I would like to know what audits, assessments, and evaluations revealed of their particular cases and how the difference of opinions were resolved. It was Marian Cooper, Allison Richardson, and Marry Miller Turner.

I do recall those names. I don't have that information with me this morning. 1421 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 We do have it, though, and I will be pleased to provide it to you later today. We have looked into this, and we do have the information. I just don't have it with me this morning.

Okay. Last month, we also received copy of a letter that members of the Personnel Department signed protesting --

Excuse me Councilwoman. I was asking if anyone had any questions of Mr. DiPiero.

Oh, sorry.

Because he has a 10 o'clock hearing. So if no one has any questions of Mr. DiPiero, we can excuse him.

No, I don't think so. (No questions for Mr. DiPiero.)

Thank you very much, Mr. DiPiero. I believe Councilman DiCicco was still being recognized.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'll stop talking. 1422 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

That's okay. The other position was -- I think you mentioned was a position in the Planning Commission. Did you say that, Miss Seyda?

Yes, I did.

Do you know what that position was? Or is? (Other personnel members join Miss Seyda at the witness table.)

Information systems specialist. And there were two classes, a lower-level class and a higher-level class. Those were class waivers. They were both granted in -- waivers were approved September 2nd of '98. They're for recruitment purposes and will require the appointees to establish residency within the City within one year of appointment.

Do you happen to know how many people applied for that position? Do you have a breakout of the a number of people who may have been Philadelphians?

No, I do not, but we will be pleased to provide that information to you after the hearing. 1423 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

If you would supply it to the Chair, please, and then --

Yes.

Thank you. I have no further questions.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman O'Neill.

Miss Seyda, I have two questions. One, I thought when the Council President asking you about the five waivers, you responded and talked about the police, but were all the waivers of a temporary nature?

Yes, all of the waivers are of a temporary nature in that they all require the appointees to move into the City.

And in the prison case, it's reviewed in six months.

Yes.

So it's temporary also.

Yes.

The other question I have is, you mentioned the military on the 1424 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 police. There was not a request by the Administration to go into the outlying areas around Philadelphia and recruit not just military but other qualified candidates who might be willing to move into the City if they get the job but may not be willing to move in just with the possibility of getting a job? You know, I am told there are many situations where we could be recruiting, particularly in the Police Department. There are strong African-American college graduates who are outside the City and living in various suburbs who would love to come in if they knew they had a guaranteed position. And it may help us a lot with our goals in terms of hiring and diversifying the Police Department. I just wondered 'cause you only mentioned the military, and I know that's one area that's obvious and has been discussed, but there's also the general area of qualified candidates which I know the current administration is really trying to focus on as much as possible. Could you explain that.

The waiver that the 1425 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 Commission approved recently is one that focuses on military recruitment. We have been having some discussions, and there are ongoing discussions currently with the Police Department about residency waivers in a more general sense. But at this point in time, the only waiver that we have for the Police Department is to recruit in the military.

So there hasn't been an official request by the Police Department to go beyond that waiver?

Not at this time.

Okay, thank you. That's all, Madam President.

Thank you. Miss Seyda, I'm just gathering from your testimony -- and maybe I'm misunderstanding you -- that four of the five waivers are for people who are supposed to be recruiting?

The waivers are for recruitment purposes to enable the City to recruit candidates for these positions from outside the City.

Repeat that 1426 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 again, please. It's to recruit people from outside the City? Is that what you're saying?

That is correct. Because we've had difficulty recruiting individuals from within the City, so for recruitment purposes only, the Commission has approved four class waivers, which are temporary waivers in that if an individual is appointed to one of these classes, they must move into the City if they are not currently a City resident.

Madam President, I think what we're speaking to is the issue that came up some time ago when Councilman Kenney when he was proposing a bill that would basically change the structure which would allow us to hire people before they've establish residency as opposed to having -- a police officer, as an example, would have to be a resident of the City of Philadelphia for either six months to a year before they could be hired.

Ut I thought referring only to the police because they were saying they were having a hard time recruiting police officers. 1427 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

I think he was, but I think that the Charter provides for other departments, I think. What happened was, they tabled this bill because they said they could do it within the Charter because the language in the Charter would permit us to do hiring prior to residency was established. I mean, personally I don't have a problem bringing somebody on payroll who will move into the City. My problem is generally when we allow City employees who are currently employees to move out of the City while maintaining employment here' that's the big problem I have with this. But we can get our population up by brining people in, we have no residents, I don't have any problems with that. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Miss Seyda, I had a conversation with you on the phone for about a half hour. You were making calls, getting some information about this 1428 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 residency requirement about recruiting police officers. And I was surprised to hear today that we're limiting our search for police officers to the military facilities when I indicated to you that I get numerous letters from part-thyme police officers all around the suburban communities that would love full-time positions in Philadelphia. I have a stack of letters that want that particular job. They've already been through the Police Academy, many of them through the Philadelphia Police Academy, working part time. So I cannot believe if we need police officers that we haven't taken advantage of those men and women that want to join the Philadelphia Police Department and move into the City of Philadelphia.

As I indicated a few minutes ago, we are currently having some discussions with the Police Department on this issue of residency, and I know that in at least one -- one or two meetings that I've personally attended that the issue that you are talking about has come up, and as I indicated, we are having 1429 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 those discussions with the Police Department currently.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Miss Seyda, we've been going through this, and I guess you know what I'm going to be asking just for the record. In terms of the Latino hiring and employment and within the City departments, can you specify for the record, was there any improvement from your testimony at the last budget last year and this budget session this year, if any?

The City Personnel Department and the operating departments recruit in a number of different ways, and I know that your interest is in the recruiting within the Latino population. We do recruit and advertise in the Latino publications. We do encourage the departments to use selective-factor certification and bilingual eligibility, you know, where that is 1430 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 appropriate and where they have a need for bilingual candidate. Also, I might add that the Personnel Department is reorganizing and reemphasizing our recruitment activities, and we have established a recruitment advisory group within the City. We are looking at ways that we can do more outreach in terms of getting information out to all segments of the community, including the Latino population about opportunities in city government.

Who makes up that recruitment advisory group?

It's made up of representatives from a number of the operating departments. It includes the Police Department, the Health Department --

Do you have names of people?

I don't have them -- I don't have them with me this morning, but I will provide them to you.

Okay. Are there any Latinos in that recruitment advisory group?

I don't recall, but I will 1431 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 share the names with you.

Well, wouldn't it make some sense that if we want to recruit some Latinos that in an advisory group that we would have some individual that would have some knowledge of those communities? If they're going to advise, I would imagine that that would be sort of a common-sense situation.

Yes. I appreciate what you're saying.

All right?

Mm-hmm.

And I asked before and you gave me a rough draft, but I -- I want to see what progress, if any, we're making from year to year, and that was my main question. I didn't ask you about the process. I asked you, what progress did we make in this year? Because I know that, obviously, we have to make some room for people who retire and so on. But I was asking, what progress -- because I asked this question last year and I asked it the year before. And what I would like to see is, are we making any progress? Are we 1432 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 showing any increment in employment areas in different -- not just the bottom-line curve situation but in the different departments in the policy-making positions? And that's what I'm interested in. I'm interested in the progress. And I will ask you this question next year when we're here to talk about the budget.

Okay. The information that I have here with me today is for the entire City workforce, so I know it's not exactly what you're asking about. But the numbers have been increasing over the years. In going back to 1990, for example, the Latino representation in the City workforce was percent, just a little over 2 percent. Now it's a little over 3 percent. Understandably, that is not a dramatic increase, but we have been showing, I think, a steady increase in the number of Latinos.

A percent jump in a 10-year period, that is not -- when the population in the City of the Latino community within that same 10-year community grew by 50 1433 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 percent.

Um --

All I'm trying to do is make a point that whatever it is that we're doing, we're not doing it right. We're not reaching a community that is here, and we're not making the City work for its representatives. And I keep asking this question year after year to see if we can begin setting up procedures and process. Obviously, we cannot do that from the City Council. We have to depend on the Department of Personnel and on the different departments in the City. I'd just like to see that if we have a deficiency in one area, that some priority be given to that situation.

Well, I think that we have seen some real progress in several of the City departments where they've made, you know, a real effort to ensure that there are --

We have seen some progress in prisons.

Yes.

We have seen some 1434 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 progress in the Police Department.

And in the Fire Department.

And a smaller advancement in the Fire Department. But we're a huge workforce. And so that DHS, Department of Services, Streets Department, all the way down the line, L&I, all these areas, okay, you know, not special -- And I'd like to see something along those lines. I'd like to see a plan develop to really begin. And I keep asking this question and I don't know if I'm ever going to get it but I will keep on asking it, to see how we can dramatically improve the recruitment process and the hiring process in terms of the Latino community. And I'd like to see the Department work on something along those lines.

Well, as I indicated, we have within the Personnel Department reestablished a recruitment unit within the Department. And let me take this opportunity to offer to have some ongoing dialogue with your office in terms of how we can incorporate input into that process.

Thank you, Madam 1435 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 Chair.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.

Thank you, Madam Chair, sorry. Miss Seyda, I noticed in one portion of your testimony, you made reference to the often-discussed and long-awaited police officer recruit examination. You say that we're in the final stages of the validation process. Is there an end in sight to this?

I certainly hope so.

Tell us a little bit about that, please.

We are optimistic that we will have a new entrance-level police exam ready before the end of this fiscal year. Hopefully, we will be able to administer a new test the next time the police officer recruiting exam is given. We're quite optimistic that we will have a final product within the next couple months.

And by way of process and given some of the discussion that took 1436 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 place when the Police Commissioner was here, do you anticipate sharing this test with the court in light of the consent decree in trying to, I guess, almost kind of kill two birds with one stone?

As you know, the City is operating under a consent decree.

Right.

And it is our plan at this point in time to go back into federal court when we have a new test finished.

Okay. And this new test, is this a test that's being used in any other city across the country?

No. It's being developed specifically for the City of Philadelphia.

Okay. And in its development, the test developers understand obviously the circumstance under which we're operating, which is a consent decree trying to deal with past discrimination and other test deficiency issues?

Yes, they do, very much so.

Okay. And is it your belief as a personnel expert that this test 1437 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 has some bearing on whether a person would make a good police officer?

What we're working on now -- what the consultants are working on now is the validity data which we will use to go into the federal court in order to release the City from its obligations under the consent decree. But clearly, that is -- the objective is to have a test which correlates performance on the test with performance on the job.

And how long have we been working on getting a new police officer recruit test?

It's been -- it's been a very long process. We had contracted with another consultant several years ago. That consultant did a job analysis, an in-depth job analysis of the Philadelphia jobs and has done and tested portions of the exam. What we're doing currently is refining that product to enhance the validity.

Okay. Suppose the federal court says the test is insufficient or deficient in remedying this particular problem; 1438 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 will you still give the test and utilize this particular product that you've been working on?

That decision has not been finally made. However, we -- I would anticipate that we would be using a different selection instrument.

I'm sorry, I didn't understand that.

Okay. We have a couple of opposites under the consent decree.

Okay.

If the federal court does not release the City from the consent decree, the City will then continue to operate under that consent decree until it expires, which I believe is about a year from now. But that consent decree does not preclude the City from using a different test.

All right. And lastly, regardless of what happens with the test, do you know whether either the Personnel Department or the Law Department, or more specifically I guess, it's the Civil Rights Unit of the Law Department, do you anticipate trying to 1439 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 do anything differently with regard to the provision that requires the Police Department to have the same percentage in the class of African-Americans as compared to the number of people who are African-American who actually took the test? Do you anticipate that there will be any attempt to change that particular provision or get a different interpretation by the court as to what the percentage should be?

Well, we're in discussions with the Law Department currently in terms of a number of issues related to this. And at this point in time, I think that it's appropriate that the discussions be within the Law Department.

All right. All right.

But we are looking at what our options are.

I understand. Your answer is, you'd rather not discuss that in public because you're having private discussions with them right now.

Yes. They are active 1440 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 discussions.

Okay. That's a good answer. Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Madame Chair.

Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.

Thank you. Returning to the question that was raised by Councilman Ortiz, could you indicate what is your recruitment process, what colleges do you recruit, how do you advertise, and does the Department participate in job fairs?

Yes, that's a part of our focus. In terms of our recruiting, we are actively working with the local colleges in this area to reinstitute a formal recruitment program for employees for the City. And we have at this point approximately 13 colleges scheduled for recruitment programs -- to participate in the recruitment programs this spring. Those schools include: Temple, Drexel, Lincoln, LaSalle, University of Delaware, and a 1441 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 number of other ones. I'd be happy to share the complete list with you. It is an incomplete list at this point in time. But what we want to do is to establish relationships with the local colleges so that they are aware on an ongoing basis of the types of opportunities that are available with the City of Philadelphia.

Do you have a limited geographical area where you recruit? Do you go to other states, do you go beyond the Delaware Valley area? And how do you determine where you go? And what determines how you base your decision on where you go?

Well, there are a number of factors. I mean, obviously, we want to focus on colleges and universities in this area where residents of Philadelphia and residents of this area go to school. We also want to focus on those schools that have specific programs that are appropriate for our needs. For example, the Water Department and the Streets Department recruit a large number of engineers, and their recruitment is targeted at 1442 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 those universities that have engineering programs. The Free Library, for example, which recruits graduates from accredited library schools target their recruitment at those colleges and universities that have a library science program.

Well, if you are recruiting with an eye towards creating a diverse workforce, do you look at those colleges and those universities that are historically African- American colleges universities to recruit African-American employees, future employees? For instance, if you were recruiting engineers and you know that you may go to MIT, of course you go to Drexel and other places, but do you know what African-American historically-black colleges may have produced a large number of African-American engineers, such as A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina?

For example, you know, Lincoln University is one of the schools where we recruit in the spring. And one of the reasons that we've targeted Lincoln University is that it's a university that serves African-American students. 1443 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

But does Lincoln University train and graduate engineers?

I don't believe so.

My question is, if you look at what your needs are and you have someone on your staff who understands what diversity means and what that outreach program should look like, then they would have some sense of schools -- be they schools that are targeted to Latinos or Asians or African-Americans. While a number of those students will go to the majority of universities and that's true and I'm not saying don't recruit there, there are colleges and universities where they tend to gravitate to, and are we looking at those predominantly historically-black colleges that may not be in the Delaware Valley and are beyond Lincoln and Cheyney. And I don't say don't go to Lincoln and Cheyney if you want to recruit, but there are a lot of young people from Philadelphia who go to the historically-black colleges, and if you want those kids to come back to Philadelphia and work and live in this area, then you have to go recruit 1444 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 where they are unless you have some program here in Philadelphia where you capture them when they're here on spring break or something, but if you don't reach out to them where they are, you're not going to recruit a diverse workforce.

You know, I might add that one of the things that we do do is to recruit through Operation Native Talent, which if you're familiar with that program, that's a program that's set up, you know, over the holidays to attract just the kind of students that you're talking about.

Do you have a limitation on where your staff can go to recruit employees?

Only to the -- only to the extent that we have the resources to fund it.

Okay. Most of the historically-black colleges are on the east coast between here and North Carolina and South Carolina and Atlanta, so they're not very far. And I would like to see recruitment take place because you will reach the students who are from the Philadelphia-Delaware Valley area who are 1445 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 attending these schools who have no contact with the City of Philadelphia in terms of what we have to offer if we want to bring them back to live in the City and create a strong tax base. They stay in Atlanta or they stay in North Carolina. I know a number of them who do it; I'm very active in this whole education piece, so I know what they're doing. And they're -- we are not attracting them back to Philadelphia, and they're not all going to Lincoln, they're not all going to Cheyney, they're not all going to Penn or Temple. And I don't want to say don't start recruiting there, but you're going to have to recognize where our population is, and the Department has to recognize that in terms of trying to recruit people that will give us a diverse workforce here in the City of Philadelphia -- of top management, not just the clerical, not just the labor-intensive positions, but people who we can place. When we look at all the staff that come in here, we don't see the employees of the City that reflect the City and what the City should look like. So I'd like to see recruitment in historically-black colleges. 1446 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023 And I have a question. Here in your budget, you have some money here for -- to the United States Department of Personnel regarding job classifications. What is that?

That is work that we're doing with the Office of Personnel Management. That is the federal -- the central personnel human resource agency for the federal government, and we are working with them to do some significant work in terms of our classification of our jobs. They are assisting us in terms of helping identifying the competencies and tasks that will help us to improve the way that we do our job descriptions, develop our selection plans, our training programs, and our performance standards. This is a nationwide initiative that the federal government has undertaken. It has grown basically out of Washington, but we are working with the Philadelphia office.

In your citywide training, have you allotted anything for diversity training as related to working with minorities, women, persons of different sexual orientation, as well as disabled and senior staff? 1447 2/23/99 - WHOLE COMM. - Budget - 990023

Actually, we have specifically allocated some money in next year's budget to do just that, to do a focus on diversity training.

Who's going to do the training?