Transcripts For SFGTV MTA Board Of Directors 20240712 : vima

I think that we a reserve recommendation also. So the reserve recommendation this is a policy recommendation to place a port economic Recovery Project on the budget and finance committee. I just questioned mr. Cruise. I know that you do have a Recovery Project plan, is that correct . Chair fewer, at this point we have the funding set up in a project. Chair fewer okay. What we dont have is a spending plan. So we agree that the budget analysts recommendation that we can come back and provide that plan and ask for the release of those funding that funding at that point. Chair fewer thank you, mr. Cruise. So seeing no comments or questions from my colleagues, i think that we are in agreement. Mr. Controller, can you please take note, this committees intentions to set the budget recommendation and recommendation number 6 from the b. L. A. For this department. Thank you very much. Next we have is the airport. Do we have joining us today . Mr. Sataro or kathy widener, our friend that we see all the time. Anyone from the airport here . Yes, chair fewer. Hi. Chair fewer hi. I can tell you that were in agreement with the budget Analysts Recommendations and ivan will be jumping on in one minute. Chair fewer okay. We are in agreement with the budget Analysts Recommendations. Chair fewer okay. Thats great. I have one question, though. And this is about your airport staffing for San Francisco Police Officers. As you know, were been having a robust conversation on how we can actually get more Police Officers on the streets of San Francisco, without actually hiring more. Knowing that the airport has a whole staffing plan of Police Officers for security there at the airport. And so i think that the questions that we have for the director today is really about the need for such a robust security staff. And also for your dependence on the San Francisco Police Department to really to provide these services. As you know, weve been having discussions about academies and i realize that one of the academies part of the academies that you have budgeted for, is really for the airport. We i think i speak for some of my members on this committee, have been locking at the Airport Police budget for some time now. And wondering why there is such a robust budget of Police Officers and not only that, considering that the airport is going to be operating at a much, much lower capacity. And also the arrest records and Everything Else dont really show that actually thats needed at that level. So i actually am going to have a hard time approving your budget at the committee and this is why. Because i would like really an analysis of your need to have such a Robust Police force there. And command staff when in the past there hasnt been such. And actually the rest, the activities dont really justify it. And in when your airport is actually going to be at what, 30 capacity, why would you . Like would you and why would you have another academy . And also knowing that i have brought up the suggestion and president yee has also brought this up, about maybe the use of deputy sheriffs. We know county jail number 4 is closing, well have 70 deputy sheriffs. They are Law Enforcement officers in the state of california, having passed having all the Actual Authority of any peace officer in california. And so im just questioning sort of the level. I see the director has met has joined us. Im hoping that you have heard my questions. So i think what i would like to hear is sort of a justification of why you would need a whole command staff at the San Francisco airport and such a robust Police Department out there. When your airport is at much, much, much less capacity. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, chair fewer. I appreciate it. Good to see you all, president yee, members of the board. Good to be with you this morning. Let me supervisor say that, yeah, we have depleted passenger loads now. Thats certainly not going to last. Ill tell you. You know, we still have different recovery scenarios. And under all scenarios, we do get back to 58 million passengers on the outside in the next two to three years. So, yes, now its depressed. And i understand your point about that and the need for the number of officers we have. But were going to return and were going to continue to grow because of the assets at s. F. O. For air travel to the bay area, to the world. What we did three years ago, ill tell you when i started in this job, ill give you a little context. I wont take too much time. My number one priority is around the safety of our passengers and, of course, the safety of our employees. And so i was concerned about the target that airports have been in the past, the terrorist threat. And youve seen it at l. A. And youve seen it in florida, with active shooter incidents. And ill tell you when i walked around the airport after taking on the role of director, i was very concerned about a visible presence. And the most important thing you can do for a security of an airport is to have a visible presence. Everything we do is around the safety and security of our passengers and employees. And so we do an incredible amount of investment in hard hardening of facilities, a lot of studies and vulnerabilities. I felt like what we needed to do in this environment that were living in now, is have a stronger visible presence. Because to be honest when i walked around the facility, i did not see the officers, because theres so much acreage to cover and they have so many different roles here. And so what i did was ask the team to go back and rebaseline and acknowledge that this is prior to the crisis. But we baseline what the security needs of the airport are. And really be thoughtful about it and the priority being safety and security, which is our highest core value at the airport. So we developed a model that said this is the staffing needs for the airport. And it came to the conclusion that we needed to ramp up and didnt have enough officers at the airport. And so we had a set a path with budgets over three years to get to a much higher level of officers at s. F. O. I am certainly not judging the value of the officers at s. F. O. , the city of San Francisco. Because i totally understand and ive been following the conversation around the priorities that the city is looking at. And focusing the police in the areas that were looking at now. But airports are a target for terrorist threats, active shooters. On a global world, this is what weve seen happen over the past several years. My interests are in protecting this airport, protecting the passengers, and that is how we proceeded with adopting the model that we developed. So we havent met those milestones of ramping up of the police force at s. F. O. But we still are convinced that were heading in the right direction to have the right security of our airport. Chair fewer im sorry. We have a difference of opinion. I actually think that having a whole command staff there is not necessary. I also think that it is not necessary for them to be San Francisco Police Officers. I think that deputy sheriffs could actually do the same job and give you some cost savings. And im sorry that we that also that the airport chooses to have Police Officers that are not just out of the academy, but actually are tenured. These Police Officers actually should be on the streets of San Francisco. We are going to have, you know, we are looking at a 1. 7 billion deficit in our budget this year. And when i see that the chief has in his proposal, in his budget like four academies, i just think that it is really uncalled for that we would have such a robust force at the San Francisco airport. I dont think that visitors that come know the difference between a San Francisco sheriff and a San Francisco Police Officer. I think that the presence, you can have the presence of a Law Enforcement officer with all the gear on them, which quite frankly everyone universally recognizes a star, a gun, a badge, all the stuff on their belt. I think that if you wanted to keep them safe. Also the Sheriffs Department has a s. W. A. T team and the Sheriffs Department has a dog unit. And so they could actually patrol your airport. So i wanted to know, are you having discussions in this direction . Are you absolutely outright just rejecting the proposal or the suggestion . You know, i think i dont well, first of all, i think that i dont know that the savings are there for this. I cant imagine that for equal work, that theres not going to be the argument that they should have equal pay. Chair fewer okay. Im imagining yeah. Go ahead, sorry. Chair fewer your disagreement with me is that you dont think that theres that much of a cost savings, is that correct . I dont think the savings over time will be to the extent thats indicated, because i think over as the equality of the work, theres going to be potentially the demand for equal pay, thats been paid to the officers that are out there now. So i think theres a case to be made that potentially the Sheriffs Department will want to upgrade their staff to have equal pay at the airport, as to whats being paid now. Chair fewer so thats what youre thinking might happen . And so youre basing this budget on that thought, is that correct . No. Not just that thought. I think other things. You know, were just we have a workforce now that is clearly engaged with the airports operation. It has a very robust understanding of the operation. Deals with travelers from all over the world. The reason we have that requirement around experienced officers is because of the need to deal with an International Travel base. And have a maturity to the work they do. And so i think what we have now very well fits with what our needs are, because of the nuances of being an international airport. I think theres a number of things that, you know, that we as far as the command staff go, we dont specify how the command staff is structured at s. F. O. We leave that certainly up to the Police Department to decide that. And so, you know, my priorities are around area coverages. And weve been continuing to grow s. F. O. And add facilities. And so thats also a reason why youve seen the counts go up, is because we have a hotel, we have an expanded terminal one, we have an extended air train. We have another parking garage. So the needs continue to expand. And i think, you know, we know we have an operation that is focused on the safety and security of the passengers. We know that a transition to a different, although likely equally qualified Law Enforcement force, is just going to be incredibly challenging. Chair fewer so you dont require or ask the Police Department to put a command staff there. If the Police Department was to say, im going to pull the command staff from there, youre fine with that . You know, i leave that up to the judgment of the leadership of the police to decide what is the right command staff to manage the officers that are present. Chair fewer sure. Well be speaking to him at 12 30. But i see that your airport budget for the the Police Airport budget for 20202021 is 80 million, is that correct . The change from 2019 to 2020. And then it goes up again in 20212022. So what . You just keep increasing . I mean, we know this is also not based on wage increases, because theyre willing to defer their wage increases for how many years. So this is actual bodies out there. What is your plan . What is your cap for that . Is it your plan to actually have like double your police force out there . What is the actual plan for the airport around security . And do you intend to just increase keep increasing the Police Presence at the San Francisco airport . You know, that was our plan prior to the crisis, as we do as i have spoke about, was we had baselined the needs of the airport, based on all of the redevelopment and everything weve done. And in the light of, the new environment around security at airports and some of the recent occurrences at other airports around active shooter incidents. Certainly we need to balance that now with the covid crisis and how impactful its been to everyones budget and revenues. And so we have i dont believe we are asking for any more positions in our revised budget. Do i have kathy, are you able to talk to that . Or is kevin on the line . Hello, kevin chief Financial Officer for the airport. We dont have more positions in the budget. We are again just basing our budget on the academy. Right now we have in the academy thats going right now, we have 17 officers that are training. And in addition to the 17, theyve agreed with the police chief to hold off on having more officers come down to the point that you just made, because of our decreased traffic level. To date, right now we are short 28 officers. Chair fewer how many officers do you have there . I dont have that number right now. But ill get it to you. Chair fewer okay. So i see supervisor walton in the queue. Supervisor walton. Commissioner walton thank you very much, chair fewer. Welcome director sataro. Just one thing i do note most airports and definitely applies to s. F. O. , have several different numbers of Law Enforcement agencies at the airport. U. S. Customs, border protection, t. S. A. , department of homeland security, fbi, department of agriculture, bureau of tobacco, firearms and explosives. How many different Law Enforcement agencies do we have at s. F. O. . On any given day . Yeah. Youve put together a pretty good list there, supervisor. The publicfacing municipal policing is all done by sfpd. We do have San Mateo County sheriffs, i believe we have two assigned San Mateo County sheriffs. And then you go into your customs and border protection. They are their role is confined to the arrivals process and the departures process for international traffic. And then, of course, we have a t. S. A. We also have our federal air marshals. So there is a variety of Law Enforcement operations like you described, all with their very kind of discreet area of Law Enforcement for the airport. Supervisor walton like between 15 to 20 . What would you say from a numbers standpoint . No. Its seven different agencies. I think seven or eight. Yeah. Supervisor walton and the reason why i ask that, i think you were there, i was arrested during the peaceful protest months ago, prior to covid19. And it was interesting because as i was arrested by some very decent Police Officers, along with about 20 plus or so, each of us had our own officer escorted down where we sat at a table, maybe about 10, 11 officers were also writing citations. And i was looking around and my officer didnt know who i was. He didnt know that i was a member of the board of supervisors. Or at least he didnt lead on to that. And i started noticing so many different officers standing around watching the process. And i asked the officer, i said if all of the officers are down here, then, you know, ho who is watching over the airport. The officer told me he said, oh, dont worry. We have so many different Law Enforcement agencies here that work at the airport. We are well protected. We are safe and we are okay. And that was anecdotal, of course, in a conversation that i had with one officer. But it did put off a light bulb in my head just in times of the number of Police Officers that we have at the airport, versus what we would need in the community, of course, doing Real Community policing. And so that was something that was always peculiar to me, because there are so many different Law Enforcement agencies. That officer felt that the airport was very safe. Chair fewer so i see that you have accepted of course, it is up to every individual member to vote on your budget. So im just going to move this along. Seeing that this is about the b. L. A. s recommendations and im hearing that the airport is accepting the b. L. A. Recommendations, is that correct, director . Yes. Chair fewer so i so mr. Controller, please take note of this committees intentions to accept the b. L. A. Recommendations, budget recommendations for this department. Thank you very much for joining us today. Colleagues, so we will now good job. It is almost noon. We will recess until 12 30, when we will be joined by the chief of police from 12 30 and he must have a hard stop at 2 00. See you all. And mr. Clerk, do we then sign in to session number 2 when we sign back in at 12 30 . Clerk that is correct,. Supervisor mar . The reason i want to start here, its pillars for reform. These five pillars you see redefining the role of local Public Safety, life and the importance of really highlighting the sanctity of life and Community Policing those what our reform are built upon. These are the pillars that our reform is built upon. In their discussion about these p