We have come up with, the department has come up with, this is not us, the department has come up with it and some of it is our input, we have things on there thats absolutely necessary for the city. A lot of the stations are rundown. The firefighters who live there love them dearly but a lot of them are run down. A lot of the trucks are breaking down and through the leadership of this commission, you guys did a great job of being the squeaky wheel before i got here to make sure we get more people and more rigs but the reason it happened is because you spoke out, not because you rubberstamped a budget and thats your job and you guys did a great job of doing that. But there is more to be done for this department. As we saw from department of Emergency Management, we play a key role in making sure that this city doesnt fall apart when theres an emergency. A key role, and frankly, we need a lot more money to do that to our absolute best. And thats just my opinion and some of these things in here are absolutely necessary. Theyre not things that we should be saying lets wait until next year. A dedicated marine unit. We have seen over the past year since i have been on here, i get a text two or three times a week of someone on a cliff or in the water, i imagine 10 years ago that wasnt true. I have seen the state departments marine unit, they have new boats and everything. Its down at the pier. We should be looking at being a part of that, being the als portion of their marine unit, combining marine units or doing our own. But its one thing to put it on this list every year and its another to absolutely demand that it happens because we want to be a state of the art department. There are other things on here, a majority of whats on this list and the reason i speak about a grant writer because a majority of what is on the list could be dealt with with grant writers. We shouldnt have to go to the Mayors Office begging for money every year. Because we have a grant writer we can get things like mobile air replacements, i mean, why does our department not have a mobile air replacement. We should absolutely have that. And i believe if im correct, these are the mobile these vehicles that replenish air tanks when theyre in the field. I see our Drone Program is on here as well. We dont have any drones. We are the center of technology in the world and we dont have drones. I think a grant writer is absolutely necessary. I dont think thats something we should approve the budget without. I will not vote yes for this budget unless im assured as i have been that well have a grant writer. And there are other things we should stand our ground on, when the time comes you speak to the mayor about this. I dont think budget is finalized because the union is going to request a bunch of things as well. I hope that part of what the union is asking for is an increase in membership of the unit, there is no more important unit than the stress unit in the department. Thats my opinion. I see he there is one member of the stress unit currently there. And in the next two weeks im going to be distributing to the commission, the chief and to the unions, a minimum standards for the stress unit. Its a six page document that details exactly the type of stuff that we should be doing as a stress unit in San Francisco. It will be a state of the art stress unit, minimum standards, probably doesnt exist anywhere in the United States but what it does do, it says we care about our members at the department, which i know everybody does, but well take care of you and make sure youre in peek performance to serve the people of the city, which ultimately is the only reason were sitting up here as commissioners. We serve the people, the county and city of San Francisco through the Fire Department. Thats our job. That being said, thank you mr. Corso. I appreciate your time and god bless you what you do, its a difficult job to say the least. President cleaveland thank you commissioner for your in depth analysis and comments. Commissioner covington. Commissioner covington thank you mr. President. I would also like to thank my fellow commissioner veronese for amplifying what i have been saying for years concerning the grant writer. I dont think that it is sufficient for this to be part of someones job. I think we need a person who is dedicated to grant writing. We have been successful in the past in grant writing as people were doing this as part of their jobs. We need to really, really understand and take to heart that we cannot depend on general fund money to support our needs. It hasnt happened in many years. I think its shortsighted to not have dedicated grant writers and i have discussed this with the chief of the department. So to have this 1823 Job Description include Grant Administration and contracting and then maybe if there is sufficient time to do some grant writing is not optimum. I dont know what the Job Description is that you have now, but that has to be at least 50 grant writing position for me. With someone not just asked if they have experience in grant writing but get the details in what the grant writing is. Theres a lot of money to be had from people whose missions organizations whose missions are aligned with the Fire Department. Not just federal funds. Weve been doing a great job particularly when it comes to Homeland Security of getting funds, but we have other funding needs that are not going to be met by general fund monies. I also want to point out the 960 positions that some other departments have. So mr. Corso, just so we can have a robust discussion about this, could you tell us about what that 960 position is, what is that designation . So that designation is in general its used by departments mainly i think more frequently used in civilian departments, it would allow for individuals who have retired from the city to come back in a parttime capacity not to exceed the number of hours in a year to bring for people who have expertise in certain areas, subject Matter Experts to do additional work in a temporary capacity for a Respective Department in lieu of hiring a full time position. So if someone was specialized in a certain area, after they retire they could come back to the city and work parttime. Commissioner covington as we all know, each job, each career has its own way of doing things, its own way of communicating successes and challenges. To get someone previously in the department, knows the department well and knows the players and chiefs by first name, middle name and nickname, to come in and already be up to speed with what it is that the department does and how it does it will save a lot of time. Theyre well along on the learning curve. Not having at least one 960 person who, i mean, i understand that in years gone past, there were a number of people in the department who were excellent grant writers in addition to the other jobs they had, the titles they had. It is incumbent upon us to tap into that great reservoir of information and creativity out there. I insist that this be part of the plan, that this be part of the budget. Also, i wanted to point out ill come back to my favorite topic, the grant writer, but the Homeless Services supplied by the San FranciscoFire Department, have we ever put together a figure of what that is . Because were supplying Homeless Services or services to the Homeless Population in the city, but we also now have a department of homelessness and we have a department of health. For commissioner veronese to highlight the amount of money over a 10year period amounts to a billion dollars, is very key. I think its important for the mayor, the mayors budget analyst and the citizens of San Francisco to understand that these dollars are not reimbursed to us, they have not been reimbursed to us and will not be in the future reimbursed to us because the Homeless Population is not going down. It takes time for these units that are on the drawing boards to actually go online and be built so people can live in them. So in the past, i dont think we did it last year, but two years ago we wrote a letter to the Mayors Office and all the commissioners signed a letter, i think this should be at least the second paragraph in the letter pointing out how much money were spending on Homeless Services. If we cant get more money from the general fund, maybe funds from the other two departments can be given to us. Because were a big part of that picture. We are a big part of that and not getting the recognition for that. Im looking at the time, there are a number of other things i want to say and among them are thank you very much for the report. Im not beating up on you. Not at all. Commissioner covington just very passionate about us getting what we need to do the job we do. I think we understand a lot of your points and concerns. President cleaveland commissioner hardeman. Commissioner hardeman thank you for the updated memos this morning and the other day and 100 pages of information detailing everything. It was nice to see you followed up with some of the questions we had about grant writing and that theres no category in San Francisco. Being on a number of commissions i never knew one even though i heard everybody was supposed to have them. Now i have the answer and i appreciate that. I also appreciate you and the chief putting together this list, especially we were so successful with fema for a number of years in a row. That was spectacular getting those millions of dollars worth of grants and then the hiring that the couple of classes, wonderful. We have done pretty well without having a dedicated grant writer but i concur that we need someone pushing harder because its getting more difficult because well have more fire requests soon due to whats happening in the state. All the areas that have been burnt to a crisp and the follow up problems theyre having especially down south with the rain. Appreciate your skills and what you have done. Appreciate president and Vice President for assisting you and putting together a budget. I also appreciate this enhancement request that you gave out to us detailing out highlights of some of the wish list that we know were not its not realistic because were not going to get 27 million worth of the items. But picking out the most important ones, you and the chief and president cleaveland can decide on is very important. And the other thing is on the drones, we discussed that in the budget, too, so theres five departments that have been authorized and were one of the departments, our only thing, without the Homeland Security person, we havent really detailed out the amount we would dedicate and how it would operate but i too am interested in the drones simply because it could save a firefighters life and possibly a citizens life and could be in the long run one of the best things to happen. I look forward to that in the future in spending the budgeted at least the budgeted dollars we have on drones. Thank you and youre doing a great job and chief you have to take the brunt of our complaints. The mayor doesnt look at the commission if its jumping up and down. The supervisors look at you and say get your commissioners under control. They cant have everything they want. Anyway, thank you chief. I know you stand up for us the best you can. Thanks. President cleaveland i see our Department Doctor here, dr. Would you like to come down and have a seat please . Chief, you had a comment . Chief hayeswhite a couple of things. Commissioner covington im a huge proponent of the 960 program. There are layers of complexity i dont think have been brought to your attention on a few things. One thing is we have attempted in the past to endeavor a 960 program capitalizing on the great expertise of members who have retired. It is something subject to at least meet and confer with local 798 and in the past there have been roadblocks and im happy to discuss that with you further. Commissioner veronese, i did want to comment, i think what you had to say was very helpful. I dont think since you are the newest commissioner you have had the opportunity to sit down with the mayors Budget Office. I know president cleaveland, Vice President nakajo and im not sure about commissioner covington or hardeman have had the opportunity in the past and i know given quorum and meeting regulations, only two commissioners can be part of that, but i would encourage you to attend the meeting. Well let you know in early march as director corso let you know the Budget Committee will be meeting with the mayors budget director just to have that conversation, i think your passion and your, you know, your candor is very helpful but i also hope that youll understand sort of the constraints we work under. But would appreciate that if you were able to attend the meeting. I think it will be a winwin. Commissioner veronese i wouldnt expect that to moderate my passion for the issue. Chief hayeswhite i think you would be hugely helpful. Something for you to consider. Well keep you in the loop on that. And then i think probably a larger discussion and i know were running tight because we have to be out by noon, the reimbursement and how it works, i want you to know this is not a San FranciscoFire Department issue only. For any urban jurisdiction with fire based ems, those are the returns on the care we provide. I would say in the 20th to 30th percentile. Its a National Issue and it has to do with federal reimbursement and standard rate for an ambulance bill. It warrants a further discussion. Im not the expert on it but i think its important to point out. And then just a couple more to point out because i know, again, we could always improve. As you know with the support of the commission, we were able to get fully funded through work orders of d. B. I. , two full time people in prevention and community for Fire Prevention and i know president cleaveland you were very passionate about. And were completing and waiting for the ink to dry on the work orders coming from mta for a full time person to oversee a lot of the work we have done. Mta will fully fund a position for that and another through work order arrangement of Economic Development to have someone specifically look at and work with the moed on new developments. Those are all things we didnt have that we will have. Thats my comment. President cleaveland very helpful. Vice president nakajo, you had an additional comment. Vice president nakajo thank you mr. President. I wanted to make a few comments because i did open this up and my intention was to move this item and that is my intention. I just wanted to make sure that in terms of whats been discussed, this discussion on ambulance reimbursement and the fee and the charges, i appreciate the evaluation or analysis of a 10year figure or in terms of the dollar figure of unrecoupable dollars on that. I know the discussion takes us to the homeless but theres more than the homeless that takes advantage of our ambulance services. Being director founder of Senior Center in japantown for 45 years, many of the folks who take advantage of the services are privates or seniors. If theyre seniors, depending on their ability of economic status, many of them have a hardship with this particular fee. The fees for the ambulance have risen over the years to a point now mr. Corso, do you have off the top of your head what we charge normally. About 2,000. Vice president nakajo when you get hurt and you need help and want that paramedic or ambulance person to come to you, you want to be taken care of and part of that, theres a whole system of not only care but the evaluation of asking that person, do you want to go to the hospital most of us jump into the ambulance. I dont know if you have insurance or not, but i dont know if youre calculating that i dont want to pay 2,000 to ride in the ambulance but im going to tell you, many of my seniors after i educated them and they received the bill and most of the seniors i work with, they want to pay their obligation. Theyll do their damnest to pay that fee and the alternative to that is many of them say i dont need to go. And make your judgments in terms of whether that is. But commissioners, its not just the homeless out there. There are seniors out there, but theres a category of citizens in San Francisco that have economic difficulty. We as a Fire Department, what are we going to do, make a judgment out there while were out there, can you pay, can you not pay, are you homeless, are you not. Were the Fire Department. Our obligation is to go out there and take care of it. When i came on to the commission 23 years ago mr. Veronese i asked this question from the getgo. What about the reimbursement, but then it got to the nature of these are some of the hardships one has to assume within this service. Not saying that isnt the argument to the Mayors Office or anybody else in terms of expenditure of what we do. But even in terms of the homeless issue over the past 10, 5 years, its grown tremendously. And even though the Navigation Center and department of homeless, in reference to the Police Department or health department, being a City Department its up to us to coordinate our resources and figure out best how to deal with that. So thats one issue. I dont have any problem with trying to achieve a state of the arts Fire Department. Not at all