do you have announcements today? >> yes, please silence all cell phones and electronic devices. completed speaker cards and copies of documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk of the items acted upon today will appear on the april 24, 2012 board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. supervisor chu: thank you very much. from sfgtv, we also have michael and scott. call item number 1. >> item number 1, ordinance authorizing the department of emergency management on behalf of the city and county of san francisco as the primary guarantees for the combined bay area urban area and as the fiscal agent for the urban areas security initiative approval authority to retroactively a accept and expend a uasi grant in the amount of $35,546,960 from the united states department of homeland security to the california emergency management agency and amendment ordinance 146-11 to reflect the addition of one brand-funded position in the police department as follows: position in class 1824 principal administrative analyst. >> thank you. good morning the i am with the department of emergency management and i am joined by captain lazar from the san francisco police department. it is a pleasure to be in front of the on the 106th anniversary of the 1906 quake in fire. the item before you is a regional grant that is managed by the bay area uasi. san francisco is the chair and fiscal agent of the bay area uasi organization. that is why this grant is in front of this committee this morning. the uasi grant funds planning, equipment, training, exercises at public safety agencies around the bay area. the money in this grant goes to the alameda county sheriff's department, the fremont fire department, was a police ibarra, san mateo sheriff's to permit, and many other agencies outside of san francisco. within san francisco, this grant will support activities at the police department, fire department, dem, public help, a public utilities commission. we come before you every year with this grant. there is no local match required from the city. the funds have already been approved by the regional bay area uasi organization, and they have been approved by the u.s. department of common security. san francisco is going to get approximately $9.5 million out of this grant based on a formula that considers a risky and threat in san francisco, based on our population and population and density and likely targets. this will fund one new civilian 1824 analyst at the police department. their responsibilities will be to purchase and maintain equipment, perform threat analysis, identify gaps in the police department did abilities, and manage various common security projects. i was asked to provide information about some of the other grants. this entire regional grant funds approximately 65 positions all over the bay area at the denver public safety agencies. slightly less than half of those are in san francisco to their positions at police, fire, sheriff, and the department of emergency management, as well as staff that to the management and administration at the bay area uasi. the balance of the positions are a public safety agencies at the places i mentioned earlier. these positions write an update emergency plans to manage regional training and exercises, and fiscal and brand management and other homeland security projects around the bay. i am happy to answer any additional questions you have about the branch -- a grant. supervisor chu: thank you. supervisor kim? supervisor kim: thank you. i wanted to get a list of the positions in this. and about the budget, is it supplementing? will it allow the public safety department to hire more folks? and which positions are they? >> i will be happy to provide this to you after the hearing. but i have it on the overhead, if we could go to that. with this grant, there are 12 positions that are in this city departments. six of them are at department of emergency management. they are our planners and folks that are in charge of planning and training. they do disaster plans. they plan training and exercises. there to the existing positions at the police department. i could in italics the new position, the 1824 analyst that will be funded newly in this grant. the other ones are already funded by previous years in this grant. it is ongoing funding. two positions and the fire department and one in the sheriff. they are ongoing positions. supervisor kim: the ongoing positions that this grant will be funding our continuing positions that were previously funded by the same grant? >> correct, in previous fiscal years. supervisor kim: with the new and those, that is still only a part-time position. will we be extending the time of an existing analyst? >> yes, that is through the end of this fiscal year. we will use ongoing grant funds to continue funding this position. supervisor kim: will be using this grant, because this is a multi-year grant, are doing other sources for that position? >> my understanding is that we will be using this grant. as well, we anticipate funding and the next fiscal year's uasi grant. >supervisor kim: so these are not from the general fund? >> correct. they are all current positions. supervisor avalos: thank you for your presentation. a general question about how our uasi grants work. how much are we doing in the city in terms of civilian readiness? and we have packets that go out that provide information, and 72 hours is one of them on how to be prepared. but in terms of creating a neighborhood infrastructure around emergency response, how much does any of this work -- does this grand timber those activities? >> that is a great question. civilian prepare and this is a very high priority for mayor lee and for our department. we try to use grant funds wherever we can to supplement those activities. there are several items in this grant that focus on citizen preparedness. one of the items is for public notification, specifically that funds the alert sf system. if you go to alertsf.org, you can sign up to receive an e-mail or text message from our department whenever there is a major incident in the city. it will give you the location and information about what you should do. aid funds that activity in san francisco and san mateo county. there is funding for equipment for the nert program which is run by the san francisco fire department. it is a national model, and the receive funding for their economic from this program. we also have funding in here to do planning and to commit for shelters in san francisco, said that if -- and for planning -- to do planning and to commit for shelters in san francisco. if there is an earthquake, the shelters will be staffed and ready to go. supervisor avalos: typically we have had nert before us in the fire department budget. that is for personnel. the equipment is funded through uasi. has there been a conversation about doing training through uasi and that would alleviate pressure on the fire department budget? >> that is an interesting question but i am not sure. the federal government is very strict about supplanting but if we were to spend money on nert staff, it would have to be to purchase additional staff. we cannot replace general fund dollars with the grant dollars because of the guidelines. if we want to enhance nert capacity and add more staff, that is the kind of thing the fire department could ask uasi to consider funding for. supervisor avalos: ok, i recall that. the staffing for nert training happens out of the overtime budget for the fire department, i believe, so it seems like, you know, there could be a function within the department to actually provide that training. that could be new level staffing. just for consideration. we can probably have the discussion when the fire department comes before us. >> yes, that is a suggestion that is worth looking into. we would be happy to follow up. supervisor chu: thank you. you talked about how the uasi program is for supplies or on making shelters ready in the case of an emergency. from what i understand, our shelters are not pre-a divide because he did not know the conditions of different facilities after an incident occurs. do we have it centrally located somewhere the would be disbursed to shelters we end up creating? >> we actually have a shelter plan. that is one of the annexes to the city's image as a response plan. we have identified a large number of potential sites that we would use. what we do not want to do is tell the public in advance. and if earthquake happens, for deborah, report to marina middle school -- for example, report to marina middle school, because we do not know if the middle school will be standing. we will have a list of potential sites the following an earthquake, we would quickly evaluate which ones are safe and habitable. and then we would use functions like alert sf to tell people the applications we have identified as safe. supervisor chu: i know that the uasi program generally pays for a lot of equipment purchases and training. they have not necessarily wanted to pay for ongoing operations but have been willing to pay for new equipment purchases that helping with communication but they have been willing to pay for training that make our departments and citizens were prepared for an incident. one of the issues we have heard about in the western side of the city is because the awsf does not necessarily reach out to parts of the western part of the city, we do have underground cisterns and other things. people have talked about some the got a portable water device. i know the chief is aware of this device. a again port water from different water sources to be able to use in the event of fire. i am wondering if we have never considered using uasi funds to purchase portable water devices? >> my understanding is that the utilities commission has purchased a device that has that function. it is possible that that was purchased with uasi funds. i cannot say for sure, but i would be happy to research that for you and let you know. but that is an identified need, and i believe the puc has started develop that. supervisor chu: thank you. we do not have a budget analyst report. public comment. are there members of the public who wish to speak on item number one? >> good morning, budget and finance. ♪ >> you know that i would beat untrue you know that i would be a lighter if i was to say to you this second -- city budget could not get much higher , on city like the budget higher going to set the the city budget night on fire yeah you know that i would be untrue you know would be a liar if i was to say to you this city budget cannot get much higher. come on, said the light on fire going to set the night on fire ♪ ♪ >> the time to hesitate is through you're going to make it better by a mile and i was going to say to you you're going to have a safety smile , on city like the budget fire is like going to is that the earthquake night on fire ♪ >> thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. [applause] are there other members of the public who wish to speak on item number one? seeing none, public, disclosed. we have a motion to send it forward with recommendations to the without objection. thank you. colleagues, we have a request from supervisor campos' of this year the overtime hearing at of item number two. the reason is he as an event to be at at 11:00 a.m. we do call item number 3 in four, please? >> item number 3, a hearing on the controller's 6-mother retired refer this bill year 2011-2012, including the municipal transportation agency, fire, police, public health, and shares departments are greatly exceeding their budgeted over time including whether it's a vicious stabbing or other staffing issues our primary causes, and a discussion on whether hiring sufficient, permanent, and skilled staff is a smarter policy than spending millions of dollars on overtime to item four, hearing on the status of current and projected overtime costs for city departments. supervisor chu: thank you very much. both items were brought to us to hear the controller's succession of overtime report. one of the items, number three, is called by supervisor campos. item number four is called by me. of these items pertain to overtime, so we thought we would schedule and hear them both at the same time, given that there the same topic area. i know that supervisor campos is probably on his way, so if we could just told one minute and give him some time to get here. supervisor chu: supervisor campos has joined the committee. i want to introduce again, we have called both items over three and four. both items are hearing requests with regards to the overtime budget before it began in the presentation, supervisor campos, wanted to offer you the opportunity to say a few words. supervisor campos: thank you very much, madam clerk -- madam chair, i am sorry. my apologies. it has been a long day already. i want to thank the chair of the budget committee for scheduling this item. i also want to thank the members of the committee for giving me the opportunity to have a hearing on this matter. we have been talking about overtime for quite some time, and as you know, supervisor farrell and i introduced legislation last year to address the issue of overtime. it is not that we think that overtime is not appropriate. there are times when overtime is indeed an appropriate way of dealing with staffing. but we do have a concern about the trend in overtime that we have seen in the last few years. and i want to thank the controller's office for the record that they have put together, something they have been working on for many years. and they keep us informed of how things are going. the specific hearing request that i put in talks about what we have seen. and if the current trends continue, the department's here in the city are projected to spend 167 -- $167.4 million on overtime, which is close to 40% more than was actually budgeted for overtime. that, by the way, is $23.4 million more than what was previously spent in the prior fiscal year. and a specific concern to us is the fact that the five city departments that have used more overtime, and that is something that has been consistent in the last three years, are the municipal transportation agency -- and i want to thank the director of transportation who is here. the fire to permit, and i see the chief is here. the police department, the department of public health, and the sheriff. something else that the report from the controller showed is that about 858 employees are on track to exceed the requirements of section 18.13-1b of chapter 18 of the administrative code, which actually prohibits departments from allowing employees to work overtime hours in excess of 25% of their regularly scheduled hours. the last thing i will notice that we do also want to know more about the issue of how as- needed employees are being used and exactly the extent to which departments are relying on as- needed employees. the use of as-needed employees may be appropriate at times, but it also raises some concerns about the use of those employees. it is not only an issue of saving money, but it is an issue of making sure we're treating employees fairly and that they are accorded the rights that they are entitled to under the civil service system. thank you very much, madam chair. supervisor chu: thank you very much, supervisor campos. perhaps we can begin by asking the controller to briefly speak to the overtime report. >> good morning, supervisors. i am the controller. thank you for the hearing today. as you are all aware, our office is required to provide a report to the mayor and board of supervisors regarding overtime spending by city departments at 6 and nine months. we have a copy of this six-month report that our office issued about six weeks ago. there are copies available on the podium, and it is available on our website. as supervisor campos indicated, as of the six-month mark, if current trends continue our office would expect that the city would spend approximately $167 million on overtime in the current fiscal year. that is a straight line projection based on spending to the first half of the fiscal year. at $167 million, that would mean that the city exceeded our budget for overtime in the current fiscal year by $47.2 million or approximately 39%. this would represent a proximate $23 million increase from the actual level of overtime spending the year before. as has been the case for many years, over time is predominately employed in our five largest -- five over time using departments, approximately 88% of our overtime is incurred as a city with in those five departments. and we're talking about the mta, the fire department, the police department of the public help, and the sheriff -- department, public health, and the sheriff. the final page has a summary of spending by department. over the last couple of fiscal years and our projections in the current year. of the largest five departments, four of the five are anticipated to overspend their budgeted over time and in the current fiscal year. and under the revised ordinance introduced by supervisor campos last year and approved by the board last fall, each of those departments is required to come back to the board of surprises to reach appropriate funds available in permanent salaries and -- board of supervisors and to reappropriate funds available in permanent salaries. it provides information regarding the status of caps on individual use of overtime in city departments. as you may recall, the city has an admin code provision that limits the use of overtime hours for any individual to know more than 25% of that individual's earned hours. at the six-month mark, we have 252 employees with in the city's work force that have exceeded that cap, and many have been granted exemptions which are allowed under the ordinance by the department of human resources. additionally, we would anticipate, based on use of overtime hours there the first six months, if those rates of individual use continue for the remainder of the fiscal year, we anticipate that that number would grow to more likely 850. halfway mark of the year, we have 250 employees who had exceeded the cap. if individual use grades continue, that number will increase in the belief in the second half of the year. that is outlined in the report on pages three and four. that is a high level of what the report tells you. i know you have any departments here today to answer questions regarding their individual use of overtime and numbers you see in the report. supervisor chu: thank you very much. supervisor campos? supervisor campos: yes, madam chair. thank you. thank you to the comptroller and his office. i think it would be important to hear from some of the departments that are here. some may have something to present. i think it would be appropriate for us to hear from them. i also would like to, once we hear from the departments, i would like to ask the department of human resources some questions. i think, for me, the main question with the departments is that the goal of the legislation that we wrote with supervisor farrell was to reduce overtime with the understanding that, even though you're never going to be able to avoid the use of overtime, that if you do have proper staffing and you have the right level of staffing at different agencies, you could have a situation where the use of overtime is a more stable. and i give the example, you know, the private sector of the company after a number years, if they see that they are relying extensively on overtime, you know, they ask themselves the question of -- you know, is my staffing appropriator and do i need to change my staffing to deal with that situation? if it is ok with the chair, maybe we can hear from the departments that are here. supervisor chu: sounds good. there are a number of the mind the crowd. i know there could be more determined than this. perhaps we can focus on the highest over time using departments. i think the controller's office mentioned the mta, fire, police, and the sheriff. if the department have a comment about the overtime report, to be fair, and i understand we did not necessarily ask the department have time to provide a presentation, but some probably have a few words to what the overtime is about. >> good morning. san francisco fire department, joanne hayes-white. i did want to make a few comments to provide some context regarding the overtime expenditure in item five, which will be coming to you shortly to request a reallocation. it is a reallocation from salaries into overtime to this is the ninth budget i have been involved with presented in preparing. we have never come to you asking for more money than what we were originally allocated. i think it is important to frame what we're discussing today. we have never exceeded our budget. however, i do have one slight that i think tells a pretty interesting story. it has to do with the methodology by which we are staffing. what i have here that i am putting up is basically our full-time employee count, and it is for uniformed members from 2002 forward. we had a high of 1845 uniformed employees in fiscal year 2002- 2003. president, we're down to 1374. that is significant -- present day, we're down to 1374. that is again but that is why our overtime expenditure is at the rate it is at. another thing that has come up, and supervisor campos came up last year in the gao committee, started the discussion regarding overtime. for me, it was very counterintuitive. about four or five years ago, we changed the way we staff. we have a higher percentage of overtime. we have worked with the mayor's budget office, the comptroller's office, and the budget analyst to do this analysis. and over time has been proven to be more efficient in terms of the bottom line and with increased pressure for every department to reduce their operating budgets, we have relied on overtime more than hiring full-time equivalent. i am here to tell you that we're at a point where we do need to reinvigorate our work force. and you will see in our submittal for the 2012-2013 budget, we're calling for one class of 42 firefighters. we are at the point where we're doing mandatory overtime, and that is not good for several reasons. i wanted to point those things out to you. and i will be back for item number five. i would be happy to answer questions. supervisor avalos: thank you for being here. you touched upon my question. is there a sweet spot that we have where we do not want to go below a certain staffing level? >> at one point, we had1845. candidly, that is higher than we need. sweet spot, staffing and overtime is still more efficient if you look at it from the numbers only because of the french -- and supervisor avalos: at some -- because of the fringe -- supervisor avalos: at some point, we need to look at this. you said mandatory overtime. >> yes. in terms of a higher number, we think we should be at 50 or 75 more. the class of 42 will help, but it is a band-aid solution because we have retirements that will be coming forward. we would like to be higher, and that is something that will be cut -- we will be coming to you with. supervisor chu: thank you, supervisor. supervisor campos? supervisor campos: thank you. that sort of got to my point. in the presentation you made before, the department i did find that there is a sweet spot where overtime may be more cost- effective. but that also necessarily means that there are situations where overtime is not necessarily the way to go. and i think that when you compare the staffing levels, you know, of 1845, even if that is not the necessary amount, 1300 + that you're talking about, that is pretty significant. and you still have, i think, within the fire department, 286 employees that are exceeding 25% employees that are exceeding 25% of their regular hours in