Second, please . Second. Aye. [laughter] [pledge of allegiance] clerk this is a reminder to silence all electronic devices. Fire Commission Regular meeting wednesday, december 11, 2019, and the time is 9 01. Roll call. [roll call] clerk item 2, general Public Comment. Members of the public may address the commission for up to three minutes on any matter within the commissions jurisdiction and does not appear on the agenda. Speakers shall address their remarks to the commission as a whole and not to individual commissioners or personnel. Commissioners are not to comment on comments by the speaker. The lack of comment does not necessarily constitute agreement with or support of statements made during Public Comment. President nakajo thank you very much, madam secretary. At this time, is there any member of the public that wishes to give Public Comment . If any member of the public wishes to give Public Comment, please approach the podium at this time. Seeing that theres no one from the public who wishes to give Public Comment, Public Comment is closed. Madam secretary. Clerk item 3, approval of the minutes. Discussion and possible action to approve the november 30, 2019 meeting minutes. President nakajo thank you, madam secretary. On the item, item 3, approval of the minutes, is there any Public Comment on this item . Seeing none from the public, Public Comment at this point is closed. Commissioners . Commissioner verones. Commissioner hardeman so moved, mr. President. Commissioner veronese second. President nakajo there is a motion by commissioner hardeman, second by commissioner veronese. The minutes are approved. [gavel]. President nakajo madam secretary. Item 4, fire directors report. President nakajo thank you very much, madam secretary. On item 4, as tradition, chief of the department will report first, and then deputy chief will report second. Good morning, chief nicholson. Good morning, mr. President , commissioners, maureen, command staff, and that includes the folks not in uniform, by the way. Chief jeanine nicholson. This is my report since november 13. Its going to be a minute longer than it usually is because we have a few more things than we did. November 15, i set up a meeting with the head of d. E. M. , mary ellen car ellen carroll, and the head of p. D. , chief scott, to collaborate on issues, whether its dispatch, training, and other challenges and opportunities that we can work on together. So we are going to be having quarterly meetings where we can, you know, work on things together. The Retirement Ceremony, thank you to the commissioners for coming to that. About 40 people, and it was very well received by those that came. They were very appreciative. On the 19th of november, we had labor management. Things are moving along there. On the 21st, i attended, as well as i believe c. D. 2 and c. D. 3 went to the toys Opening Event at the newhall hall, 798 hall, so they had a big open day event that i stopped by that evening. That evening, there was an American Legion annual 456 annual awards. Three firefighters were awarded for a rescue that they made of an elderly woman off her balcony and another for all his community service. We did the bump up badge pinning at Treasure Island. Approximately is it 15 . 16 members bumped up to paramedic. On the 25th, we started well, i guess we didnt start, but we continued our budget preparation meetings, and were really trying to distill down our priorities, and we also had a meeting yesterday, myself and mark corso and chief velo and olivia scanlon, and we believe were getting direction from mayor breed next week, so well keep you posted on that. The command staff participated in a turkey carving event at the salvation army, and that was that was good fun. We beat the police. We carved more turkeys than they did, so strong work, command staff. And then, on the thanksgiving, i was with the mayor at glide, carving turkey and then selfhelp for the elderly in the afternoon. The nob hill Firefighter Association gave an award as they do each year, and this year, it was raymond ng from station 41. He is as conscientious as they come, so it was really nice to give him that award. Several of us were at s. F. O. The other day where a 40,000 check was presented to tony stefani for the s. F. O. Work for the charity golf tournament, so that was super generous to that foundation. I spoke at the Hotel Council lunch and toy drive on the 6th. On the 7th, santa claus visited station 49, as did i. And then, just for some updates, the Firefighter Youth Academy funds that we were talking about have been transferred, so thats good to go. Then speaking with a couple of employee groups about the opportunities for all and expanding that, this past year, we had three High School Kids working at station 49 and one working at nert during the summer, so were looking to see if we can expand that. We have other places to expand that next year. Yesterday, i met with chief tangerlini and a physician and some staff from ucsf to talk about doing research, doing training, and and the ability for our members, particularly our paramedics and e. M. T. S to get feedback on calls that they went on, which would be a great learning tool. We released a social media policy, which i want to thank chief wyrsch and chief velo for working on that. It was a big deal to get that out, so we are happy to make adjustments if need be, but we really needed to get that out. As you already may know, doctor terrazas resigned, and we will be advertising that position hopefully within the next week. We just need the commissions need back on the Job Announcement as we sent to you, so ill make sure to send it again if you dont have it because technically the commission is responsible for overseeing that. And then, father greene, just to put this on your calendar, his Farewell Party is june 20 at moscone center. There will be a few people in attendance, but there will also be a smaller luncheon that i think im going to attend. Commissioner hardeman do you mean january 6 . June. Commissioner hardeman june. Were giving you some time because this is an important day. This is important because this man has been so good to us for so many years, but therell also be a luncheon. And then, i just want to say, i sat down with a member who was one of our members who was diagnosed with brain cancer. Last week, i sat down with him. Hes been going through treatment. Hes gone through radiation and chemo, and he has three small kids, and hes also a veteran. And while i want to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season, id like us all to take a moment out of our days and, you know, think a good thought or say a prayer or, you know, reach out to someone whos going through a difficult time, and that concludes my report for today. Thank you. President nakajo thank you very much, chief nicholson. At this time, i will ask for Public Comment on chief nicholsons report. Any member of the public wishes to give Public Comment at this point, please approach the podium . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioners, any questions or comments for the chief . Commissioner hardeman . Commissioner hardeman yeah yes, president nakajo, just real quick. Im glad to see, chief, that youre doing the hardest part of the job, which is taking your time away and having to go to all the ceremonial but for the general public and support of the Fire Department may be the most department because having the fire chief round is always a good thing. I know its hard on you. Youd rather be doing a lot of other things its part of the job i signed up for. Commissioner hardeman thank you for your service. Thank you very much. Thank you. President nakajo thank you very much, commissioner hardeman. Madam secretary, could you please note that commissioner cleaveland thats joined us for has joined us for a full quorum. Commissioners . Vice president covington, please. Commissioner covington thank you, mr. President. Thank you, chief, for prompting all of us to continue to fight the good fight and keep the member of the department who has brain cancer in our minds as well as other people who may be in need, so thank you for that. Youve been very, very busy, and i just wanted to remark that i thought that the Retirement Ceremony was joyful and just a good time, you know . It was like old home week, you know, people returning to headquarters and looking so well rested in their retirement, and to meet some of their family members. I think its wonderful that we have this event every other year, and so its a good tradition for us to have. The toys excuse me. The toy events that have been happening allaround town, since we have a lot of people who watch our meetings on sfgovtv, are there particular places that you can point out that people might be able to bring toys, you know, because theyre just beginning to do their Christmas Shopping . Is there a dropoff point . So i dont have a list. 798 would have that. If anybody else knows commissioner covington it can be any fire house . It can be at any fire house commissioner covington can it be at any fire house . Absolutely. It can be at any fire house, but there are events at city hall, as well. Commissioner covington well, for those of you out there, please go to your local fire house and give a toy for kids. We would appreciate that. All right. And lets see. A lot of commendations for everyone at the department. A congratulations to everyone in that for their part work this past month. And the new department physician, we understand that job has been posted. Not yet. Commissioner covington not yet . So the job will be posted very soon, and we will have someone very, very good coming in to take dr. Terrazas place after his resignation. And june 20 for father greene, yes. Thats a nice long notice, and moscone center, i agree with you, its probably going to be full, and im surprised its not being held at the chase center. I thank you for your report, chief. President nakajo thank you very much, Vice President covington. At this point, if theres no other commissioners, im just going to ask the question, chief nicholson, you made a comment in terms of the comment for Job Description. We have that description in our packet. Youre asking for comments and questions by commissioners. In terms of this, is there a suggested due date that the commissioners should respond back to you so we can get this process post inded . Wed love to get it this week, if possible, yeah. We want to get it right, but were also looking forward to any possibilities. President nakajo okay. So my question then, and my request to the commissioners is please review this Job Description as requested by the chief. If theres some feedback that you can give the chief by friday of this week, it would be timely. And then, just in terms of a comment, since the Physicians Office has been vacant, what is the process of operation at this time and how is it going with that . Concern over losing any type of responsibility. Yeah. If i could have someone come up and just explain the process. President nakajo thank you, chief. I know we have a capable nurse thats within the department, but just trying not to lose any momentum or responsibility to the membership services, doctor. Absolutely. Good morning, president nakajo, chief. As you mentioned, we are were currently focusing on making sure theres no interruption of service. Stephanie phelps, nurse practitioner, is continuing to see members. Additionally, we are referring people out if theres more complex needs, so theres currently being met. I have a strong belief, and ive communicated that to the chief as well as chief ajello, that thats communicated, and we have a robust Physicians Office that can support the department, so i think a Job Description for the department would be very, very helpful. Im currently serving as the assistant physician for supervisor phelps, and then we have the San Francisco general Occupational Health to refer patients as well as some of the outside Occupational Health clinics. President nakajo thank you very much for that update, doctor. Again, thank you for talking about not losing any of the services that we renders within that point of information. It is the responsibility and the jurisdiction of this commission on the physicians department, as well as we talked to the chief on the requirements of the candidates. We have a great opportunity at this point. Thank you for that comment, as well. At this point, i dont have any other questions for you, chief nicholson. Commissioner alioto veronese . Commissioner veronese thank you, commissioner. I apologize for the late jumpin, but i wasnt going to say anything, but i think this is really important. This is a position that we all know is critical to this department. Itll be interesting to see over this time period of new hire how impacted this office is with with the physician missing, but doctor, as we spoke before, its really important that were not clinicians up here, were not doctors. Our Knowledge Base is limited as to exactly what this department needs, so your input is also greatly appreciated in the job application description. Its really important. Im curious, mr. President , to what our ability is to actually recruit specific people as opposed to for such a critical position as opposed to just taking from a list of the willing who apply. I know that ive served on commissions before where weve put together a task force of sorts im not saying its needed but to actually go out and recruit other people perhaps away from other departments or other jobs. This is a critical job to this department, to the mission of the department to take care of its own people, so i think we should be doing Everything Possible in the fastest way possible to get somebody in this position, so thats all i have to say to that. President nakajo thank you very much for that comment, and im going to ask the chief of the department to respond to your question and concern, which is duly noted. Commissioner chief nicholson, would you like to respond to the commissioner . So respond to the president nakajo the question on the robust recruitment and can we yeah. So weve had a lot of inquiry already from people, and weve had some referrals already, so were actually feeling pretty good right now, and but yeah, we will were looking at that internally in terms of where to post it, as we did with the grant writer, and so were hoping to postit in the next week. President nakajo commissioner, any other comments in terms of commissioner veronese well, in terms of referrals, thats great. Its a Small Community of doctors here in San Francisco, so anybody we can refer, recruit, to get them into this process would be great, and we know the departments going to be working hard on it, but outside of our own resources, people in this world, it would be great to get the word out to them, a great job and a great department. A lot of good stuff to be done here. President nakajo thank you very much, commissioner alioto veronese. Thank you very much, chief nicholson. At this time, can we call up chief velo for his report . Good morning president , Vice President , commissioners. This is my october 19 report. Seems the Holiday Schedule has kind of, you know, thrown things so i will report in for november and december on my jo january reports, so i wasnt here for the last meeting, so its been a while. Groups and committees, continue to attend many meetings and committees. I want to show you the report, and its right after the fleet data page i put for you, a sample of one of the committees thats working on a project, the work group. I put the charter of the work group in that report. Just an example of how professional this looks, how dedicated these folks are to make sure all the responsibilities that theyre working on align with our plan. Its on page 34 and 35 of your report and 36. Just an example of how they are working, organizing what theyre working on, how theyre going to review president nakajo chief velo, are you going to be putting that report up on the screen . No, its just the three pages of the report. Im meeting with the accident committee, reviewing the accident policy. Its been a long time since we reviewed that. I attended the meeting of the Behavioral Health committee, as well, too, and also policies and procedures where were advising our rules and regulations, so were working on that, as well. Working with the chief on staff 2020, working on whats coming up for staff next year, and training thats coming up. We turn in all the fire requirements, e. M. S. Requirements, priorities, and go from there. I wasnt at the last meetings. I was at a labor and Management Committee at the state Controllers Office and the state association of firefighters. What it does, the apprentice program, it gives money back to the department. So every year, first year members year on the job, we get 2. 25 an hour back. Also, social media was a big topic. Conference on that, so that was very helpful to be there. Timely conversation, president nakajo, about the interim plan with officials yesterday, and just like dr. Ng expressed, were moving forward. We have a department of Occupational Health at San Francisco general that will see patients, so w