Transcripts For SFGTV Building Inspection Commission 20240712

The departments working equity group and drafting a plan that addresses racial and equity issues within the department, as well as we will be proposing ways to address these issues. As a key first step, the department recently distributed a confidential and anonymous Racial Equity survey to all d. B. I. Employees, and i urge all employees to review and participate in this. [inaudible] an Important Survey by the close of october 30. I stress october 30 would be the perfect day to get that in there. The survey is anonymous, so be candid and constructive in your suggestions to make d. B. I. A place to work for all. Finally, i want to say that d. B. I. Is fulfilling its duties on behalf of all professionals, so thank you to all the staff during this pandemic. The Public Health requires multiple challenges under alleging conditions, and we are all deeply impressed with our staffs achievements to date. Madam secretary and everyone, thank you for attending our Virtual Meeting today and continue in the meeting process. Madam secretary, that concludes my comments today. Clerk thank you. Is there any Public Comment on the president s announcements . Operator there is none. Clerk thank you. And also just wanted to announce for any members of the public that are listening, this is a remote video and teleconferencing. The listen for Public Comment callin number is 4084189388 or 4156550001, and the access code is 1462434666. To raise your hand for Public Comment on a specific agenda item, press star, three when prompted by the meeting moderator. And our next agenda item is item 3, general Public Comment. The b. I. C. Will take Public Comment on matters within the commissions jurisdiction that are not on the agenda. Madam secretary, is my volume okay . Clerk yes, it is. And is there any general Public Comment . Operator there is no one in the queue. Clerk okay. Thank you. Seeing none, our next item is item 4. Commissioners questions and matters. Inquiries to staff. At this time, commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies, practices, and procedures, which are of interest to the commission. Through the chair . Commissioner clinch, please. Actually, i have a question for you, sonya. Im embarrassed to say that i cant find an agenda in my inbox. I know ive seen it because i recall it, but would you mind sending it to me again when you have a moment . Clerk sure, no problem. No other questions. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner clinch. Seeing none, Public Comment, i guess . Clerk okay. The next item was the future meetings and eagendas. Okay. Clerk at this time, the commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a special meeting and or determine thoet items that could be placed on the agenda of the next meeting and other future meetings of the building inspection commission, and our next meeting will be on november 18. Okay. Commissioners, any questions before i get on this . Im sorry. We had said that we wanted to do i forget the exact language, but something around abbo anticorruption language. Im forgetting the language. We passed so much this year before the pandemic, but we said they wantwe wanted to do the end of the year, and its coming up to the end of the year. Sonya, if you could remind me. I know we agreed on the wording of it because it was important. I dont know, sonya, if we could look back on what the wording was. Clerk i can, but commissioner alexandertut, are you regarding implicit bias training or is it regarding the racial resolution that was done . No, it was in resolution when the issues came up from the previous director, we had made some kind of statement about wanting i cant remember exactly. Clerk oh, okay. I can research it, though. I dont remember off the top of my head now. It would have had to be february or march. Clerk oh, ill definitely research that and get back to you within the next couple of days so we can discuss it. Commissioner clinch, did you have a question . No, im recalling it, too. I dont recall if it was a presentation to the public to just kind of state the findings of what is obviously already known through the public, through the media, but just to be very transparent on what has transpired as transpired as we can as a department and we are providing the correct information. Sure, and policy procedures that we might have in place. Sure, exactly. And what has changed and what have we done to ensure we are gaining public trust . Perfect. I will probably be going back and forth quite a lot with the City Attorney on that one, and hopefully, we will achieve what the goal is there. Clerk okay. Thank you, so thats for that is item 4a and b. Is there any Public Comment on items 4a and b . Operator there are no callers in the queue. Clerk thank you. The next item is item 5, discussion and possible action regarding San Francisco existing Building Code section 506. 433, and whether the increase of a number of occupants by 100 people and 10 is intended to trigger a full international Building Code, i. B. C. Level upgrate or a reduced i. B. C. Level upgrade. The reduced i. B. C. Level upgrate was required in previous editions of the sfebc. The full i. B. C. Level upgrade is triggers by the current provisions. This may have been an inadvertent change in the recent code cycle. And ken will be presenting. Yes. And can you share my screen, john or sonya . Clerk yes, ill take care of that . Just a moment. Thank you. Clerk okay. Here we are. Okay. So screen two all right. People can see my screen now . Operator yes. Clerk yes. Very good. Thank you. So this pertains to San Francisco existing Building Codes 506. 4. 3, so let me start with just a little bit of background since were going to be diving pretty deeply into the details here. The existing Building Code involves two levels of existing seismic upforces. The International Building seismic forces, which are under which New Buildings are designed or the International Seismic forces. These are 75 of the forces used for buildings. If you remember the old 104f section that everyone still likes that terminology, because they keep changing the section numbers these days. Kevin, you know. And so any way, thats the 75 level thats now called generically the reduced building forces. Both of these are from the california Building Code and from the international Building Code. So we have occupancy related triggers. So the california existing Building Code has triggers that relate to increase in risk category. That is, a change from, for example, risk category two for a typical building to risk category three for an important structure. It doesnt necessarily affect if you just increase the number of occupants without changing the risk category. San francisco has traditionally had an additional trigger for the increased number of occupants, which was 10 and 100 persons. Both of those need to occur. There was some confusion that occurred as we rolled into the 2019 code cycle. There was a change in the chapter numbering, and there was a delay by the California Building Standards Commission in publishing the california codes that we could use as a reference as the Code Advisory Committee went through and passed forward the changes from the previous code addition to the new one. As a result, we ended up with some inadvertent changes that i hope to repair by this code change. So just looking at the california existing Building Code on the lefthand side of the screen, and the california existing Building Code on the righthand side of the screen. This is the previous revisions from 2016 codes, and so ive just highlighted a few things here. First of all, there is an exception that can you see my mouse, by the way . Could you sorry. Through the chair, would you be able to scroll in . Its very difficult to read on the computer screen. Okay. Let me see. If i go to presentation views. There you go. I think that will do it. Thats better. Okay. Thats better . Thank you. Okay. Can you see the mouse . We can. Okay. Thats great. So first of all, on the lefthand side, california existing Building Code, and it says buildings need not comply with seismic requirements unless required by 407. 4. 407. 4 points to a higher risk category, and essentially, once you go to that point, once you go to a current category, you have to upgrade to the current requirements. So we had additional requirements on the San Francisco Building Code on the righthand side of the screen. And here, it points you to section 301. 2, which ive copied down. In the case where we increased the occupant load by 10 and 100 prss, 100 persons. So 301. 2 points down to the International Seismic forces. In the current code cycle, now, weve changed chapters to chapter 5 instead of chapter 4, and we have the same exception that says the only reason you need to do an upgrade in the california Building Code is if youre required by this section. Again, it refers to the higher risk category. Theres this exception down here that talks about the 10 of the building area, and i think that this is essentially where the confusion occurred, and so in the in the San Francisco existing Building Code, we have the wording from the california Building Code, and then, we just tagged on here, or when the occupant load of the entire building is increased by 10 or 100 persons, and its referring back to the fullsize mista full seismic sources. So what were proposing is this intended change in your packet, is to strike out the additional wording that we had currently, to leave the california code language and to omit some unnecessary exceptions. So thats what were proposing. Thank you, mr. Harness. Thank you, once again, for taking a very complicated code and explaining it in a very simplistic fashion. I might have a few questions, but ill leave it up to my fellow commissioners. Commissioner moss, please . No, no questions at this time. Commissioner alexandertut, please commissioner alexandertut, please. Sorry. So could you just summarize im getting a little lost in the legalese. Could you summarize what is the error . The error is that in the current the 2019 code, the way that it is currently written, we require fullsize mistake code upgrades that is using the forces for New Buildings in the event of an increase in occupant load by 10 and by more than 100 persons. That was that was not intended. What we intended was for that to trigger a reduced focus level, which is equivalent to what we typically see in triggered upgrades of 75 of the Building Code forces. Right. Does that clarify it for you . It does. Is there any is there any is there any increase that should actually trigger the full the full level of courses . Yeah, the full level of forces . Yes, and that remains in the california existing Building Code, and that relies upon a change in risk category. Commissioner clinch . Thank you for coming and speak to the committee. Would it not be, to take an example, a building thats a manufacturing, light industry, that converts to an office building, would that be a change in occupancy that would trigger this . It quite likely might. Certainly, in that case, you would very likely be changing the total occupant load by more than 10 . Depending on the size of the building, you may or may not be changing it by more than 100 persons. So actually both, thats your point. Yes. And that trigger is the same trigger that was in the code before. The intent is that this is not going to occur very frequently, but if you make a significant change to a large facility, then, it would apply. That makes sense. Okay, no, that was my only suggestion, comment, question, commissioner mccarthy. Thank you. Thank you, commissioner clinch. Commissioner jacobo . Thank you. I have no questions at this time. Commissioner tam . I have nothing. And i think that commissioner clinch addressed this, but just out of curiosity, ken, if i was to do the 10 and do the 95 people, increase the population of the building by 95 that would not trigger anything. Huh, thats interesting. Well, the other thing that were trying to address in the future is that the reference here is to the existing legal use, and so there is some concern, apart from as a separate issue, but there is some concern that incremental increases in occupancy could get around this provision. But thats always been the case and was the case in the previous. Yeah. So the code advisory is working through that, trying to trying to get a better handle on defining the existing legal use and potentially trying to deal with this with serial upgrades that could get around this serial modifications. At the end of the day, its really a fire hazard, isnt it, that you deal with the occupancy issue . Yes well, its fire, but its also structural. Occupancy. Were talking about personal issues here. Well, i appreciate you talking about these issues and making them a bit more understandable. Thank you. Thank you. Ill stop sharing my screen. Thank you. And also thank you, again, mr. Harris, for serving on the code advisory. Very important. My pleasure. Madam secretary, to Public Comment, i guess, yeah . Operator there are no callers in the queue. Does this item require action . Clerk oh, sorry, is this an action item . We need to do Public Comment first, though, right . Clerk yes. There are no public callers in the queue. Oh, i missed that. So if i could get a motion. Move to revise the provisions of the code. Second. Clerk okay. So theres a motion and a second. Ill do a roll call vote on this item. [roll call] just one moment. Can you see my screen . Yes. Ok. Great. Good morning, president mccarthy and commissioners. In my presentation, i will give an update on d. B. I. s mitt services. Question have a highlevel timeline of how we got here. That we [inaudible] Electronics Land review for all projects in april and that is a Curbside Service on june 24. And then, of course, at the end of july, we moved to 49 south van ness and in the middle of august we converted most projects to pair and are limiting the electronic plan review to 100 affordable projects. For our issuance numbers, prior to the pandemic, we issued on average about 110 permits a day. And then when we were using only electronic plan review, that number went down to 50 permits a day and most of those were over the counter permits. When we added the Curbside Services in late june, we brought that number up to about 75 to 80 permits a day and with the new initiatives weve been talking about the last couple of Commission Meetings we were able to bring that up to 100 permits a day on average over the last three weeks and we issued automatically generating generated permits about 130 of those a day. Just a reminder, were taking all of those in paper now as well as inhouse review permits. We have our online permits that are auto generated which are the trace permits and regrouping permits which ill talk about more. We offer an expedited service and any emergency permits and the electronic plan review, were still using them for inhouse review permits that were submitted length tro ngically and then 100 Affordable Housing and Development Agreement project. So this week we made some changes to our over the Counter Service for people coming to the building. Previously as you recall we were using the event brite service to issue tickets for people to come and get their over the counter note plans permits and to drop off fireonly permits. And we found that a lot of customers were signing up for the eventbrite and then not showing and that was excluding customers who needed to get their permits and couldnt get the tickets. So, we eliminated the event brite system starting on monday and we had so for the last monday, tuesday and today we had a first comefirst serve basis for folks coming to get their no plans permits. Its gone really smoothly. Weve had the first day to turn away a few customers because we had our maximum. But the last couple of days, we have been able to take everyone whos come. And we can take around 35 customers with about a maximum of 55 permits in that timeframe. And we havent, you know, since monday, we have been able to accommodate everybody. So and then from 9 30 to 11 30 a. M. Monday through thursday, customers can come in to drop fireonly permits so those are the permits that require only Fire Department review. And that is limited to 25 customers, two permits a allowed per customer and they have been able to accommodate everybody the past three days and then our 9 30 a. M. To 3 30 p. M. Over the counter with plans drop off service has remained unchanged. But ill talk about that a little bit later. And we had we hosted our permit day on october 3. I talked about that for the last commission meeting. It was a special saturday event to provide an additional opportunity for customers to come in for over the counter permits. We hosted this with our partners at the Fire Department and the Planning Department. We were able to bring in another 54 over the counter with plans application and issue 25 no plans permits. And a huge thank you to our staff and our partners who came in to work on a saturday to make the event happen. And im happy to announce that we have brought the reroofing permits online so this is another service we offer for the online automatically generated no review permits and that was Just Launched on monday and we are looking at other permits that will be able to create an automatically generated service for and this was a big push by our m. I. S. Department and they did a great job making this a reality. So i want to address some of the initiatives that ive talked about at the Previous Commission meeting. Some of the ways that were some of the improvements that were making to allow us to issue more permits and how were doing on all of those initiatives. So we talked about the Technology Improvements and work flow of process improvements that were needed to improve the electronic plan review system. We have made a lot of progress on those. And im going to talk more about how we relaunch that electronic plan review service with some of those changes in place. As i noted, we hosted our permit day on saturday, october 3 and we were successful in getting the reroofing permits online earlier this week. We are also making progress on hiring an executivelevel permit services administrator. Those interviews are scheduled for next week. And we hope to have someone on board in the next few weeks. And we recently hired three new permit technicians and two new engineers for plan review and we have just earlier this week, we issued another Job Announcement for even more permit technicians and are in the process of bring, on three more engineers per plan review. And significantly staffing up to get through the backlog. And weve also offered overtime to our permit Services Staff to get through that backlog and we have many of our permit staff participating if that and it is really helping us bring those numbers up to issuing 100 permits a day. And finally we talked about the Fire Department is now going to handle their own intake and issuance for the permits that require only Fire Department review. They have been going through training the past few weeks and we feel confident that that training is almost complete and theyre ready to begin doing that on their own. So i want to talk about some of the new initiatives that were puting in place now to continue increasing the number of permits that were issuing daily. And one is a Partnership Similar to the partnership that we discussed with the Fire Department. We are working on a partnership with a Planning Departments to transfer the intake and issuance of the accessory dwelling units or a. D. U. Permits and theyll take that over for the next several months. With that, theyre planning to relaunch the electronic plan review system. So as i was discussing we made a lot of Technology Improvements and work flow improvements for that and well relaunch the electronic plan review to process those a. D. U. Permits and were planning to get that going probably the first week of november. One of our biggest [inaudible] points right now is the long wait times to get an appointment for an over the counter with plan to drop off over the counter with plans permit applications. So we are working closely with the permit centre staff. They had originally set up the appointment system which was meant to be a queuing system and not necessarily an appointmentsetting system. So, were working with them on improvements to the appointment system and increase the number of appointments were offer aing starting next week. And part of the strategy is to actively manage the appointments that we already have on the books. Weve done an analysis of those appointments and there are it looks like there are some appointments that have been scheduled without a project indicated and some folks who have a lot of appointments and so were going to be actively managing those appointments to validate all those projects and make sure that all of those appointments are for an actual project. Were going to start wait list system for the appointments that were adding and that will be folks will be able to join the wait list if they dont already have an appointment in the upcoming months. And so for the people who are waiting a long time to get in here to drop off their over the counter with plans permit applications, theyll have a chance to come in sooner and so well start taking those appointments through the wait list. And were also going to impose some new restrictions on appointments scheduling, again to cut down because weve had lots and lots of appointments without a validated project. And that could not happen without the permit centre. Our partners in the permit centre [inaudible]. They are taking in the plans and greeting customer and helping to manage the flow and theyre also really going to take a very active role and designate staff to helping us actively manage that appointment system so that we can bring down those wait times and get more people in to the building faster. So over the next month, i just want to confirm what were focusing on is fixing that appointment system. Really, you know, actively managing that and decreasing the appointment wait times and making more appointments available. Working with planning to transfer over the intake and issuance process for a. D. U. Permits. Continuing to work on the Technology Improvements so we can realise electronic plan review in early november and then well be taking another look at the inhouse review submittal process and seeing the improvements we can make there which i can report on at the next commission meeting. And thank you. Im available for questions. Thank you. I think at this stage, madame secretary, should we is there more presentation on this or go to vote . That concludes the presentation. Is there any are there any members or Public Comment . There is no one in the queue. Ok. Do you have commissioner discussion . Ill just go through the usual chain. I dont have any questions but i do want to thank staff for, you know, a herculean effort during covid to, you know, just to move the ball forward and keep things going. It has been anything but easy and i know it must feel like people are always yell at you and i wanted to commend you for great work. Thank you very much. Thank you, commissioner. Same. I just wanted to thank the staff for being creatives and pushing the ball forward and look for new opportunities. And revisiting all the systems becausetosee how they can work better and really curious about this idea of managing appointments and just, you know, making sure that were using everybodys time in the best way. I just want to recognize all the saturday appointments and all the work that focuses on to, you know, to be [inaudible] and flexible and [inaudible]. So thank you. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you, Deputy Director. On the electronic plan review that the Planning Department is planning on doing, was that the option for the applicant or was that the requirement . As i understand it, it will likely be a requirement. Ok. Ok. So its something that almost they will be the stocking horse and well adopt if it goes well . Yeah. I mean, it is a universal project and they feel confident. The Planning Department is really enthusiastic about using it and they think it is the most efficient way to process those permits. Got kha. Ok. Thank you. And you may have already said this and indeed ive forgotten or didnt hear it. But are we issuing what is the percentage of permits let me rephrase that. Were taking in a certain number of applications per day. Some were issuing permits later. Are we issuing more permits than applications or is it the other way around, per day . We are taking in slightly more permit applications than were issuing but that also has to do with sometimes we bring in an application and requires provisions or some action by the applicant and there is not a onetoone, just because bebrought it back in were able to get it out in the same week. Dan or patrick once that makes sense. Id like to chime in on that, too. Even post covid, commissioners, it was it was always such that whatever we would be taking in, we would never issue that number of permits anyway because some projects are just abandoned and there are financing issues and a plethora of Different Reasons why the permit doesnt move through the system. So, we did a we took a look at our data from 2019 and even back to 2018 and we were stating that there was a good percentage or permits that never got issue. They got caneds or withdrawn. They got canceled or withdrawn. They didnt move through the system for whatever reason and was usually on the side of the stakeholder in regards to how they were moving forward with the project. Yeah, that makes sense. I guess the conclusion is that the backlog is not necessarily growing. Its just were doing the best to keep up and you guys are doing a tremendous job. Im curious [inaudible] converging curves where were doing just now in the presentation. Some of those goals are achieved, lets say with the Fire Department issuing their permits and us increasing the number of appointments we make and how we manage the calendar and eliminate somebody [inaudible] already of that calendar. That is going to, you know, turn things around, i think substantially. All those things are going to have an impact [inaudible] discussing with our colleagues in the Planning Department, working with [inaudible]. Theyre all bites of apple as it were. And i didnt even mention the automation of the permits which were hoping for right now. But were discussing other newer review other type permits as well that we can work with our team here, our m. I. S. Team who did an incredible job with the reroofing permits. It sounds like it is a fairly simple thing. But it is technologically a pretty huge list to do Something Like that. So, again, there are a lot of thoughts to this. And i think once these things start kicking into play, well see [inaudible] can change substantially. Well done. That all sounds really good. You are looking at multiple avenues and technological difference and ways of doing things and administrative ways of doing things. That is really great and also has to be said that amongst all this pressure to, you know, catch up if you want to call it that, because of covid and the difficulty were facing. It needs to be say that the department is still has a responsibility to, you know, provide Public Safety and is doing a good job on the review process. Despite these pressures. I think thats it goes without saying but should be acknowledged that the department is doing that as well. It is just a reminder to those who may be listening. Thank you, commissioner. It should be noticed, like you said, that were doing thousands of inspections every month like we were precovid. We dont hear much about that because there is no delay in facilitating inspectors to go out and inspect these projects after we respond to complaints. I guess in the world of inspections, no news is good news. People are responding to complaints. So, some of our operation is going as smoothly as it ever was in the past. That is notable. And my hat is off to our staff for what they do here. [inaudible] come in and they came in that saturday and they gave up their weekend and a lot of them are doing overtime. Not necessarily because they want the extra money or to do overtime, but they feel a certain obligation to these stakeholders to get their permits like i do. Again, you know, hats off to staff on that. So, that is very commendable. And if i could augment that by acknowledging that, you know, as a structural engineer, im conscientious of the planning review process and i think the plan reviewers are maintaining their professionalism and Due Diligence and care throughout this time when there is enormous pressure to get things out the door. I just wanted to acknowledge that and recognize that that is an important step. To the process, too. Thank you, commissioner. I just want to add on to what i think a lot of the fellow commissioners have said. I really appreciate the effort. Again, none of us have been through a pandemic of this nature, of this size. Director, for yourself to be in a new position, new role leading a departments through, you know, arguably one of most challenging times. Through a move, through shifting from inperson technology, you know, its something to be said about the good work thats been done there. I really want to thank you guys. And for the presentation, appreciate the department being nimble and flexible and if event bri, te isnt working we can do something difference and all of that is needed for the time as we move forward. As athink we all know, were beginning to settle into what is going to be the new way of operating for us. Because it isnt going away anytime soon. So, just thank you and to all of the hard workers in the departments that show up and put their best foot forward to bring things back online. Well said. Thank you, commissioner. I think there is no lack of appreciation from the commission for [inaudible]. [inaudible]. It sounds like it was a pretty fairly decent turnout. Are we planning to keep this and kind of keep it going every saturday until,you know, it does have a huge impact. And keep this the norm for our customers . We would love to be able to do that. But the issue with doing that would be primarily the fact that right now staff are already coming in on saturdays to process permits that have accumulated throughout the week and if we did every saturday then they would probably have to come in on sunday to process everything that comes in monday through saturday. And we just want to make sure that we adjust and allow them at least to have a little bit of time on the weekend. So, you know, this might change and well see where we pivot to next and were always willing to adapt and if we can do it, we will. But right now there is a huge effort under way to [inaudible] just to catch up with what weve been processing through the week. Thank you. Wonderful. And thank you for all your hard work. Thank you. I echo my fellow commissioners comments there. No need go over that again. Interim director, could we forgive me if we did talk about it, but it seemed to just the backlog. An scale of one to 10 now and one being when we were really in bad shape there, where do you think we are now, 10 being the best, where we would be now on this backlog that. Question keeps coming up and i do understand it is a bit of a moving target. Maybe the Deputy Director or whoever. Yeah. I would like to get a better feel and kind of talked to his concerns that it is not growing, you know . What id like to how id like to describe it is if we if we didnt have this plan and if we werent doing this, we would be on the fence. But, you know, it is always, to use a quote i heard somewhere recently, its always darkest before the dawn. We have all of these things that are we think theyre about to show a meaningful change. And, i mean, i dont like rating stuff one to 10 because i might be totally off. But were definitely in a much better place than we were a month ago with the initiatives and with the things that are about to kick in. Yeah. People are waiting a long time to get appointments. But we cant sugar coat that and im not going to. When we established this wait list and when we were [inaudible] the calendar with the appointments that folks have, and make it clear the determination as to [inaudible] appointments on the calendar are really necessary, we want to give everyone a fair chance and be equitable and if somebody is out a considerable amount of time with their appointment and if we, you know, [inaudible] society up, set up, that is going to take people off that calendar and hopefully people will be able to move on and sooner. Ill take a shot at it. Its probably a six right now. Ok. Thank you. Its going the right direction. Ok. Just and i sent out an email to some stakeholders and seeing how things are going projectwise. And i got a few back. Some of them i as able to answer myself. And there was one particular one, and this is just procedurally and i will get your take on this one, interim director. He applied for the application and [inaudible] for plans, right . But it was for an electric upgrade on which there has to be some structural work done inside the building. Inside the building for this new electrical upgrade. Right . And the appointment did intake. Within two weeks [inaudible], which was good. About two to three weeks, which i thought that was right. But theyre asking them, theyre saying this is a t. I. And theyre asking them for questions on the t. I. Portion of the building. This will be a t. I. Eventually but that hasnt been worked out yet and whatever t. I. Permits will be coming in, they will be coming in at a late date. The question is why is the plan checker asking for t. I. Permits over above and beyond the [inaudible] for plan check right now which is clearly just for this permit and the upgrade of the power. You know, id have to look at that. And ive been [inaudible] and look into it. We did [inaudible] it was given the plans back. Right . And then come back and in which, you know, hes now got the plans back in his possession again. Im wondering if that is standard procedure. If the plan [inaudible] has questions and if the plan checker believes Something Else is necessary, then typically [inaudible] Design Professional with the comments. But we do have [inaudible] come in and meet with the plan checker and have that discussion. Typically what comes up is the accessibility upgrade. Reporter theres no t. I. Here. In this case, it might be a misunderstanding that the t. I. [inaudible] and the accessibility upgrades will be shown. This is merely a [inaudible] that relates to the [inaudible] if necessary. Yeah. Ok. All right. I think this is a mistake then. So he should go back in and he should resubmit the plans and stress with the plan checker that this is just a build out. Right . [inaudible]. Dwronl get you involved in every nittygritty. Im just trying to procedurally deal with it. And just quickly on the new a. D. U. Planning policy, the one thats coming in place. So you will be ability to find electronically, sdmrekt they will plan check it. Plan check it only, correct . If d. B. I. Will be plan checking. But how it would play out is it will be an electronics and review submittal. Plan willing do the intake like d. B. I. Typically does right now. And as you know [inaudible] significant amount of [inaudible] with regards [inaudible] anyway. And since whoever else would need [inaudible], d. B. I. , Fire Department, [inaudible] [audio garbling] at the end of [inaudible] go back to planning for the issue. So they will facilitate the intake and the issuance and the routing through the course of review and approval by [inaudible]. Now correct me, christina, if i have anything wrong. Is that what you understand from your discussions with planning . Yeah. So, ok, electronically it floats around to the different departmentses. And it can be reviewed in parallel by the different departments. Yeah. Which was originally the original plan for everything. Which didnt work. Wow. Ok. That is going to be an interesting study there in how that works. That should work, that should really traditionally before it applis to the a. D. U. , how long would it take traditionally . [inaudible]. Er it takes us a bit of time because the departments are involved and there would be a [inaudible]. I dont remember the exact number of months but it was probably somewhere in the region of no more than three or four months, i would think. I might have to come back to you with a correction on that. Im interested to see the timeframe or the equivalent to the old formula that we have in place, you know . Because a lot of people are happy with that. They worked well. It was very successful programme. Ill be interested to get it back on that again. And i dont know if you have the answer to this one either. But the least restrictive policy procedures, are you does any of that apply to you . Particularly i noticed that 25 of office was allowed. But i dont know if thats yeah. It may apply to us. Were involved in some discussions right now in response to the potential for limited reopening. Obviously were in the early stages. Because [inaudible] part of the opening that would make [inaudible] [garbling] actually were ordering our e. P. E. S [inaudible] and our customers already in anticipation. We just want to be ready. And our health and safety [inaudible] will be l need to be approved by the department of Public Health. And were having initial discussions. All right. I appreciate it. And obviously i echo my fellow commissionersful thank you Deputy Director and get this road map with the interim director and [inaudible]. No surrender. Thank you. Thank you. And president mccarthy, we do have a caller that has their hand raised and called for Public Comment earlier and ill give you the [inaudible]. Caller can you hear me . Yes. Yes, caller. We can hear you. You have three minutess for your Public Comment. Yes. My name is jerry and i have a question. Im told by many Structural Engineers that San Francisco was an outlier in terms of performing check in house and also international outlier as well. One of the downsides for the citizens of San Francisco is if there is a significant plan checker, they are prohibited from murder suing the city. But my question is why does the department of building inspection do plan check in house and wouldnt it be the ultimate process improvement to not do it inhouse . I would be interested in having the [inaudible] require a formal written analysis as to why the process is being performed in house. Thank you very much. Thank you. Interim director, i mean ive been involved in discussions about that over the years about how outsourcing the plan check, due to high volume and so on, and i know there are a lot of obstacles in place there that and im not quite sure i can get into them here. But its quite complicated. But anyhow. Ok. Thank you. I dont believe there are any other callers. Our next item is item 7. Update on the single room occupancy programme regarding covid19 actions. Good afternoon, commissioners. Im Deputy Director. I wanted to let you know for the s. R. O. Update, ill do inspections participated in a citywide survey on covid response, provided information on s. R. O. Inspections and outreach activities. The s. R. O. [inaudible] have been very active, providing an array of services and approvals for s. R. O. Residents in need. Well have more information during our next meeting. Ok. Thank you. Do the commissioners have any questions or anything of the deputy . Commissioner, i know you brought this up. So its quite obviously no, thank you for the report. I wanted to thank the team for their continued work. There is an article a couple of things ago that [inaudible] the impact on the residents so i wanted to thank you for keeping [inaudible] and pass it on [inaudible]. Thank you very much. Vice chair . Thank you, again, for all of your work that you do in the s. R. O. With [inaudible] does have about 500s. R. O. Units and words really dont describe the complicated nature that is the singleroom occupancy hotel. And i really do want to applaud the entire staff and i really do appreciate these updates. Im glad thats something were specifically talk about every month. Its really important. So, thank you. Well done. No comment, thank you. Always grateful, but thank you but no further comment. Do you have any comments . No. No. I just want to [inaudible] my fellow commissioners for the wonderful work that they do with the s. R. O. S and thank you. Is there any Public Comments on this item . No callers in the queue. Thank you. Our next item is item 8, directors report. 8a, update on d. B. I. s finances. Unmute yourself, Deputy Director. Let me see. She was unmaoutsed. She was unmuted. Let me see. Try again. Clicking the unmute button. How is that . Stha ks better. Thats better. Thank you. Good afternoon. Deputy director for the department of building inspection and i have two Financial Reports to share. Share my screen, please. And, john, if you could give her screen sharing duties. You should have it. No, you gave her the host duty. Christine still has to present hers. So actually, sonia, can you reclaim the host role . Ok. Ok. And then grant her the presenters just a moment. How do i do that, alan . Its not letting me click on anything. No, actually you need to see click on participants on the menu at the top and then click on oh. Ok. Thank you. Ok. You should be able to share your screen now. Ok. So, first report is the final adopted fiscal year 2021 and 2122 budgetsing and so our total budget is at 89. 5 million, down 6 million from the prior year of about 96 million. Fiscal year 21 and 22 is very similar with [inaudible]. Overall, i wont take a lot of time going over revenues because weve been talk about this far while. But overall our revenues have gone down by [inaudible] and that is due tole, of course, the pandemic. These revenue estimates were actually submitted in june so we basically have about three or four months of revenues to base it on. These are very conservative investments and now we budgeted about 47. 4 million in revenues. Sorry to interrupt you. It is not showing your slides. Ok. Ill try again. I think you are sharing the wrong screen, the wrong monitor. Yeah. What is it showing . The bay bridge. Oh. Because it is showing screen two. I have a double monitor. Sorry. How do i go back to sharing screen . Move your cursor to the top you will see an orange bar there with the menu. There is one that should say share and then you click there and you can change what you share. If not, you can simply stop sharing and then reshare again. Ok. Share. Maybe you could just stop sharing and then try the other screen. Ok. Sorry, everyone. No problem. I cant get to the share it is not allowing me to. I cannot get to [inaudible]. Can everyone see it now . Yes. Basically the revenues [inaudible] as i said before, were at about 47. 4 million versus the 69 million we were at last year and due primarily to the pandemic. And so as i said before, that was primarily because these revenues are based on june revenues and revenues that were submitted in june based on march, april and may and theyre very conservatives. On the expenditure side, were at 89. 5 million. Basic changes in expenditures are primarily because of Fringe Benefits improved slightly. Materials and supplies increased and then we had a huge reduction and one of the major reasons why our budget went down yearoveryear. There were work orders with other departmentses and that is primarily due to our large almost 8 million [inaudible] included because its already moved. That is on the budget. If there is a question about how are we balancing . Were basically balancing [inaudible] revenue page sharing is actually new revenuesful this is what we expect on checking collecting in the current year. However, our budget is at 89 and were actually using our existing revenue [inaudible]. We go on to the next report, which is a [inaudible] if there arent any questions on the budget. Are there any questions . Ok. Why dont i go on to the First Quarter report. This is our First Quarter report for the budget that was just passed in october. It includes july, september of the fiscal year so there is [inaudible] look at the summary page and were projected to see the revenue projections that i just discuss add second ago at budget. And were projecting about a 2. 8 million to succeed that amount and the reason were projecting that is because electrical and plumbing permit revenues are doing very well at this point in time. Plan review is still lower. Building inspection fees are still lower. But electrical and plum, doing really well and that is why they see at this point. Once again, these are preliminary projections and basing it on what our actual collection are and straight lining them. If anything change, well have to update them. At least for now the revenues are better than budget and so that iss the positive on the revenue side. You will see a comparison of last year versus this year so on the positives that were doing better than budgeting. Not so positive is that while we collect about 19 million last year during the same time and this year only about 9 or 10 million and you can see that clearly reflected in the Building Permit data that shows that were down by about 48 in the number of permits issued compared to last year and then the permit valuation which plan check revenues and building inspection revenues has gone down by 61 . That is on the revenues. On tex pent chures, were actually expending about 12 million, 12. 5 million. Thats like last year, but that is primarily because the budget was just adopted in october and so everything is a little behind. We havent received any [inaudible] from the services other departments. You see that is 33 million. That is basically why theyre a little bit lower than we were last time this year. And im happy to answer any questions. Commissioners, please. No questions. Thank you for this report. Some good news, which is good to hear and a little unexpected. On the issue of the work orders , do we have do we know how much that will bring in or has that gone out yet because we dont have [inaudible]. On the work orders are actually expenditures. Thats actually something that were paying the other departments for services. So basically [inaudible] expenses at 33. 1 million and we dont see any actuals because no departments have billed. And that is because the budget was just passed, adopted in october so everyones really just saying that their budget is now [inaudible]. Thank you for the clarification. No further questions. No questions from me, thank you. No questions, but definitely a good presentation. Thank you. I have no questions. I do have questions. Im as somebody that has been sitting on the commission where it has been pretty rosie for many, many years when i first joined this, i think we were coming out of our last rough patch. Can you talk about that . I can. We have a variety of funding and over 42 million set aside as a rainy day fund. [inaudible] set aside for Employee Retirement benefits and then we have some other [inaudible] and so at one point [inaudible] 100 million and i know that everyone believes that is a lot of money. And it is it could be a lot of money. But seeing basic new revenue budged at 47, 50 million and the budget is 89 million. That really isnt a lot of money. And so that is why up until this point, we try to be very conservative in our revenue projections as well as trying to keep our budget lower. So, you know, now were at 89 million. If you see 99 million, the reason the numbers are different and maybe more confusing because i did these at the same time, the budget that i went over t first report had the actual adopted budget. [inaudible] so money that [inaudible]. That is why you see a little difference there. That is why you see the difference between the two. But we will have to depending on because covid and because whats going on with the revenues so sporadic and we really have never seen anything like this before, we dont really see a pattern at this point. But if we do see a pattern, if this is anticipated to go on for a while, then we will need to think about well, not think about. But we will need to lower this budget because we wont be able to sustain 89, 90 million bringing in 50 million or 60 million or Something Like that. So [inaudible]so we see the comparison of budget versus actual or whatever. But we have not collected expected to collect 50 million in years. We were at 80 million, 70 million. We always exceeded the budget. Well have to take a look at this and track these revenues and see what is going on and see how long and look at the budget and make sure that we are budgetsing something thats sustainable. Depending on how long this lasts. Thank you for explaining that. My fellow commissioners, as i look at this, i believe we have a very, very cold winter coming here. And i think sustainability of the department is my utmost concern. So, always spend our money and how our budgets are put together going forward. I think it is going to be really, really important. So not to be a debbie downer, but i do feel were in mile one here of some tough times coming. Thank you for that. And well probably be having a lot of conversations on a monthly basis going forward. Thank you. Yes. And then we are working on other conversations and talking a little bit about more permits and trying to process more permits. Hopefully when we do, that well see some numbers move in that direction. That will help us increasing though. One thing we have to be cognitive of is looking at the permit valuation. When that drops drastically, that will have an impacts no matter what on our budget. Because our top two Revenue Sources and [inaudible] revenue are based on valuation. When i talk about the larger projects right now going to ward, thats going to impacts you. I had [inaudible] which kind of would explain to your point about your electrical and plumbing surge of permits because most people are at home now and they are doing remodels and doing their kitchens and the smaller projects that have been put on the [inaudible] for a while and doing them now. That might explain that. With the larger projects, i think you would see it put on ice here for a per. Thank you. For a period. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our next item is 8b. Update on proposed or recently enacted state or local legislation. Good morning, commissioners. John murray, d. B. I. Legislative affairs. Supervisor mantlemans all Electric Building ordinance was for at land use on monday. President mandleman introduced several amendments and it was continued for a week. The g. A. O. Will hold a hearing on consultants access in the Building Permit process. That hearing is scheduled for october 19 at the regular g. A. O. Meeting. Supervisor peskin has introduced legislation that requires building owners to provide tenants with replacement water and or electric fi in the event of a utilities shutoff due to construction. That is due to expire at the end of this month. This would extend it another 60 days. And finally, supervisor safaih has [inaudible] demolition debris to obtain permits from the department of environment for each vehicle and debris box. Used for the transport of [inaudible]. I would also increase the [inaudible] diversion requirement for debris from demolition to 75 and 65 . So, you have to recycle 75 of the waste from the demolition of the building. D. B. I. Doesnt have a direct role in the enforcement of this. It will be add ministered by the departments of environment but it is something that is likely to affect our customers. And with that, im happy to answer any questions. No questions from me. Thank you. No questions. Thank you for the up day. None, thank you. None. Mm commissioner tam, please. No comment. Thank you for the update. Thank you, john for the update. Unfortunately i do have a few quick comments for you. One is the ordinance there on the dumping. I do understand its not going to be regulated by d. B. I. You did mention that d. P. W. Or is it p. U. C. Will be managing that . [inaudible]. Unmute. Department of environment and d. P. W. I believe the Sheriffs Office would have an enforement rule as well. [please stand by] im kevin duffy, and im proud to have represented district 9 in San Francisco on the b. A. R. T. Board of directors, when i first took office, i was really concerned about the filthy conditions at some of our stations, and you may have read when b. A. R. T. Management wouldnt add any custodians, i started sweeping with supervisor hit reronen, and we swept the stations for four months hillary ronen. We swept the stations for four months. Now, there are two cleaning certifications with quadruple the amount of cleaning staff. Despite being in this pandemic, i think we can say that the b. T