This meeting will be conducted via webex. Okay, lets see here. Sorry about that. This meeting is being held by webex, pursuant to the governors executive order and proclamation declaring the existence of a local emergency during the coronavirus disease, the Fire Commissions regular meeting room at city hall is closed and meetings of the Fire Commission will convene remotely. You may watch live on www. Sfgovtv. Org and to participate by Public Comment by phone, please use the call in number 4156550001, access code 1465020961. Members s members of the pubc will have opportunities to participate during Public Comment. The public is asked to wait for the particular agenda item before making a comment on that item. Comments will be addressed in the order they are received. Members of the public can raise their hand by pressing star 3 and you will be queued. Callers will hear silence when waiting for your turn to speak. The operator will unmute you. When prompted, the callers will have the standard 3 minutes to provide comments. Please ensure you are in a quiet location, speak clearly and turn off any tv or radios around you. Item one, roll call. Francee covington. Present. Your camera is off president covington. It is . I didnt do anything. Let me see. Vice president feinstein. Present. Stephen a. Nakajo. Present. Ken cleaveland. Present. Tony rodriguez. Present. And chief of department, Jeanine Nicholson. Present. Item two, general Public Comment. Members of the public may address the commission for up to 3 minutes on any matter within the commissions jurisdiction that does not appear on the agenda. Speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or Department Personnel. Commissioners are not to enter into debate or discussion with the speaker. The lack of a response by the commissioners or Department Personnel does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support statements made during Public Comment. Madam secretary, can you see me now . No. Okay, i thought you could see me earlier. Ill keep trying to figure this out. There should be a video button on the bottom of your screen. I did do that and i dont know whats happening here. We do have Public Comment. We do have okay, lets go to Public Comment. Thank you. Member of the public, you may speak, you have 3 minutes. Thank you. Good morning commissioners. Im a proud member of the San FranciscoFire Department from 1990 to 2019. Im calling in reference to a presentation that was given by captain tillman at your last meeting. I submitted a letter last week and the purpose of my Public Comment today is to touch on the points i conveyed. Many of the assertions made were factually incorrect and in my opinion, irresponsible. Specifically twice during the presentation, it was asserted that i hired 82 entry level classes and there were no black members. That is unacceptable and its unacceptable to me as well. What i find unacceptable is the false information that was provided and allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged. It should be noted that all h. 2 entry level classes that i hired are comprised of a diverse pool of candidates, including black candidates. Im hoping by now you had the opportunity to review the hiring data and i appreciate commissioner nakajos question for data. As noted in my letter, the United States department of labor acknowledge and recognized the San FranciscoFire Department as one of the most diverse Fire Departments in the nation in a report titled promising practices for increasing diversity among First Responders. My command staff, which many of you knew over the course of 15 years has changed but it always reflected consistently the diversity of our department and we strive for and work diligently to ensure fairness, equality, equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all sffd members as evidence in our entry level h2 classes and promotional exam processes, which create opportunities for advancement. Although improvements can always be made, the commission should be proud of the departments diversity. Its what i think sets the department apart, as one of their biggest strengths. I would put the San FranciscoFire Departments diverse, competent and professional workforce against any other Fire Department in the nation. We are a rich blend of members that truly reflect the community we serve. The San FranciscoFire Department serves as a role model to other departments that continue to struggle with recruitment and retention. Several departments requested site visits and interviews regarding the tremendous efforts and success related to diversity. Although im retired now and very happy to be retired, i still care deeply for the department, its members, and its reputation as one of the most diverse departments in the nation. There is so much to be proud of. Thank you so much for your time. Are there any other members of the public that would like to speak at this time . There are no other members on the public call in line. Okay, thank you. I still just am a disembodied voice . Yep. Okay, im not sure what to do. Can you im going to hit every button so i may disappear all together, but please continue. Okay, item three, approval of the minutes, discussion of possible action to prove the meetings from the regular meeting october 28, 2020. There is no public oh wait. Hold on. Caller, would you like to make a Public Comment on the minutes . No Public Comment. Okay, thank you. I will close Public Comment and also fellow commissioners, i would like to table this item until our next meeting. There are some substantial changes that i think are required. If anyone else has any changes to put forth for these minutes as they were submitted, please feel free to do that now. Is there any commissioner that would like to add anything . Yeah, its Katherine Feinstein speaking and i just am ho hoping that there will be amendments to the minutes and were going to defer approval that we have an opportunity to comment and discuss them. Well, if there are going to be changes, then we should discuss those changes now. Thats why im asking if anyone else has changes to the minutes. Its very disconcerting for me to see you and you not to see me. [laughter] i understand. Im not sure what to do. Do you have any changes proposed . I just think it required i mean how can i say this. The question is whether the minutes correctly reflect what was said, whether we agree with what was said or dont agree. Thats what minutes are. If there is a disagreement about what was said, then no, i dont have any further comments. If there is some desire to correct what was said, i dont think its appropriate to amend the minutes because the minutes reflect what was said. So, thats why i think we may need to have a decision discussion on it. Okay, thats fine. I agree with you. The minutes are what exactly was said and what happened. My hesitation on the minutes is that they were truncated, the statements were truncated in some cases and i think they need to be added too, not subtracted and not explained. There are some additional statements i thought were needed in there that dont appear. Well, im not sure what perhaps madam secretary, you wont know what the process is if there is a proposal to amend the minutes . I do not know. They can be amended, absolutely. If i understand what commissioner feinstein is saying, you know we had minutes read i was a member of a union for 37 years. If there is a problem, i think what were saying is or at least what i would like to see happen is if someone feels that something needs to be amended, deleted or changed, thats okay, but i think the rest of us need to hear what that is before we agree to what it is. There might be a difference of opinion there and then we can sort it out. What i think im hearing commissioner feinstein saying is that if someone feels like theres changes or omissions or that we need to all be an i aware of what those are before it becomes fact. Thats what i think. Thats correct commissioner rodriguez. Thats the point i was trying to make. Thank you. I believe youre on mute. I would concur with commissioner rodriguez and Vice President feinstein. If there are changes to the minutes, lets hear what those changes are. Okay, let me get my glasses. Madam secretary, can you please find out how i can fix this so that i am a part of the meeting instead of just a voice in the wilderness . Down at the bottom there is a mute. Im not there right now. Let me get my glasses. Its not something i can fix from here. I dont think city hall is opening up until june of next year. Are you serious . Yeah. Very. Wow. And we can have teams and webex until then. [laughte [laughter] maybe we can learn how to make it work. Okay, i hit every button here and i cant show myself. Sometimes i gotten out and got back in and it works. Thats what i did this morning and last week. Okay. I will try that. In the meantime, since were going to be having a conversation regarding the minutes in the meantime madam secretary, were going to table this item for a few minutes and then can you please go to the chiefs report. So were coming back to item three . Yes. I am going to sign off and try to get back in. Okay. Thank you. Item four, chief of departments report. Report from chief of department, Jeanine Nicholson, on current issues, activities, and events within the Department Since the Fire Commission meeting on october 28, 2020, including budget, academies, special events, communications and outreach to other Government Agencies and the public. Report from operations, deputy chief bryan rubenstein. Report on overall field operations, including greater alarm fires, emergency medical services, bureau of Fire Prevention and investigation, homeland security, and Airport Division. Good morning everyone. Welcome to our staff. Welcome everyone. Thank you all for being here. I appreciate your time. I know how valuable it is. I dont know if i announced myself. This is commissioner nicholson. So i know that president covington wanted more information on the transport bus and our relationship with muni around it. Its my understanding that we have to have a muni driver drive it for us when we want to deploy it. Sometimes they are not available right off the bat. So, if i can turn to chief [inaudible] good morning commissioners, president covington and Vice President feinstein, and chief. The bus holds 20 patients sort of in a laid down format. There is also seating they can sit in if necessary. I will confirm all of those numbers for you and send that to you. We do have at this time sort of an inability to deploy it immediately when necessary. We do have some restrictions with the muni drivers. They are available to us as much as possible, however our best use of the buses is usually if we can preplan that. Otherwise, we are sort of left to the availability of the drivers in immediacy and then it does take up to a couple hours for us to for muni to get a driver if we told them of an immediate need. Thanks very much. We had a significant amount of challenges and tragedies and i had been spending a significant amount of time with families, with stations, at the hospital, ensuring that you know, everyone is getting what they need and that were taking care of business for our people. Ive been doing a lot of that. You know, fortunately one of our in the hospital right now, both are improving. That is really good news. Yesterday i did go to lieutenants memorial service. His family kept it really small. There were about 10 or 12 firefighters there. I came in and it was really shocking that he died a couple weeks ago after an elective surgery. Theyre all just broken hearted about that. So blessings to him and his family. I want to tell you a little bit about the city e. M. T. Program that has been getting traction. Were working with the economic and workforce development, director davis, as well as department of human resources, as well as a couple of nonprofits to build the program out with the hopes that it will launch in 2021. Now this is the program i spoken to about before that will bring in atrisk youths from 18 to 24, young men into a wrap around program, whether its trauma counselling, they get life coaching, they get academic assistance, they take an e. M. T. Class and they get assistance with that. Most of them actually pass or obtain their e. M. T. License at the end. They also get a stipend at the time. So this is a big collaboration of a lot of people and im really looking forward to figuring out how to provide opportunities for those kids in the department. Its a work in progress. Im really excited about it and im hoping it will launch in early 2020. We are going to have a 127th academy. Hopefully in the early 2021, i believe february. I initially spoke last time about wanting to have a class of 30, but due to covid, we can only do 24. So were hoping to have a second class of 24 during the summer. So we are there will be meet and greet invites. The invites have gone out. I expect to meeting with the other candidates next week. So that is exciting. So i know that chief rubenstein and dan are available to speak about that and the scrt, we have our Fabulous Team from e. M. S. Here to speak about that. I also believe that i hope its on the calendar for next time, but we will have captain presenting our Racial Equity action plan and yeah. That concludes my report for today and i also want to welcome chief rubenstein. [inaudible] thank you chief and also welcome chief rubenstein. Are there any comments im still trying to work on this folks. Im so sorry. Are there any comments on the chiefs report . There is no one on the Public Comment line. Okay, thank you. Public comment is closed. I will go to my fellow commissioners, beginning with commissioner rodriguez. Thank you. Chief, thank you very much for your report. I do have a few questions. The first question was you referred to the class where you have i guess, classes, but you mentioned men only. Was that just a mistake or is that class also for women . That is a great question commissioner and im glad that everyone is on top of this. It is only young men for this first time. The reason is that were basing this on a program that has been deployed and worked in the Los Angeles Area and it has only been men. The first class were doing is only of men. Then we are planning on the second class to be a class of women. Its my understanding that when they started this, it was called e. M. S. Core. I believe the first class they tried to have a mixed class of men and women and it didnt work out for a number of reasons. One of them was being trauma groups that they were all trauma counselling and some other distractions as well. So, yes, its going to be split. Okay, i understand. And the other question i had, it kind of i was going to refer to the last Commission Meeting but actually you talked about a class coming in, in february. So, during the last reading of the minutes. Im new, so i dont understand a lot of this stuff. There was a report in reference to special calls by you and captain tillman, i guess regarding when this recruitment, special calls made to applicants or whatever. I like to understand that. Also, you mentioned something about a National Testing network, why it has an adverse effect. So yeah, so we looked at the data and it does have an adverse impact on women. So we are looking at the testing, which does not have that similar, that same impact. Its more equitable as to why it impacts women and African American, i cant answer that. We know that it does. So we are looking at attending that in the future, which is in many places and you know, steve can give you more on that if you like. Do you want to hear more from him . No, i was just kind of curious. I mean the research that you just provided that it has an adverse effect on African American women. Not just African American women, but African Americans and women, both groups. Okay, thank you. Yes. Then special calls im not sure what tillman well, i know what he was referencing but thats not how i work. I do not [inaudible] it gives people an unfair advantage. Thats of the distant past, what he was referring to when the department was predominately white male and everybody wanted to get their sons in or what have you. Its a different ball game these days. So those special calls, those would be to you then . Is that correct . Yeah. I believe so. Okay. So yes. And some people who are no longer in the department, i do not i have not responded to them. Okay, good enough. I just wanted to know the context of that. Thank you very much. Youre welcome. Thank you for it again. Theres our president. Oh my goodness. I hit every button imaginable. Thank you very much. Im going crazy here. So that completes the report chief . Youre on mute. Okay, chief . Commissioner rodriguez asked a question and i did finish answering them. Yes. Now you are on mute madame president. All right, how am i now . Youre good. Loud and clear. Oh my goodness. All right. So lets see, commissioner cleaveland, do you have questions for the chief . I do, thank you. Chief, you mentioned on the ma