Building Inspection Commission
BUILDING INSPECTION COMMISSION (BIC)
Department of Building Inspection (DBI)
Wednesday October 17, 2001 at 1:00 p.m.
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 408
Adopted December 5, 2001
MINUTES
The meeting of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 1:20 p.m. by President Fillon.
1. Roll Call - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.
COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:
Alfonso Fillon, President
Denise D'Anne, Commissioner, absent
Bobbie Sue Hood, Vice-President, absent
Esther Marks, Commissioner
Roy Guinnane, Commissioner
Rodrigo Santos, Commissioner
Debra Walker, Commissioner
Ann Aherne, Commission Secretary
D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:
Frank Chiu, Director
Amy Lee, Assistant Director
Jim Hutchinson, Deputy Director
William Wong, Deputy Director
Sonya Harris, Secretary
2. President's Announcements.
a. Discussion and possible action to comment on draft charter amendment (First Draft) to amend Section 4.121 to revise the allocation of the appointments by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors to the Building Inspection Commission.
President Fillon said that Item #2a was an addendum sent out on the agenda that calls for a response to a proposed Charter Amendment from the Board of Supervisors. President Fillon asked if there was anyone present from the Board who would like to make a presentation or lead a discussion on this Charter Amendment. Mr. Jerry Threet was present, but said that he was not authorized to speak on the item. President Fillon asked for comments from the Commissioners. Commissioner Walker said that she wanted to say that she appreciated the intention of trying to spread around the appointments to more people. Commissioner Walker said that she thought that an approach like this will increase the effectiveness of dialog in her mind and on that level she said that she appreciated the intention. Commissioner Walker said that she wondered if the Commissioners wanted to address this as a Commission at all, as it seems that if this goes to the people, it should be up the people to vote as to how they want to see the appropriate appointments. President Fillon said that when these requests come to the Commission, the jurisdiction of the Commission dictates that the Commission give feedback to the Board of Supervisors as to how this will affect the Commission and its function, and the operation of the Department. President Fillon stated that this is all that the Commission is asked to address and said that quite frankly he did not believe that this was going to affect the Department in any way, good or bad, nor will it affect the operations of this Commission, good or bad. President Fillon said that this was simply a change to the way who appoints whom and is mainly in the political realm, therefore, let the voters decide. President Fillon said that he thought this was really outside of the Commission's jurisdiction. President Fillon said that he was appointed on this Commission to basically serve the people of San Francisco, as were all of the Commissioners, and really it is a cut and dry thing that the Commissioners are charged to do, which is to administer the Building Department, to get public input as to how the Department is run and enforcement of the Building Code and the services that the Department provides for the public. President Fillon said that the Commissioners are watchdogs for the public and that is really what they are here to do and said that he saw this issue really being outside of the Commissioners jurisdiction, as it is not up to the Commissioners to decide who should make the appointments. President Fillon said that the Commissioners were on the Commission to do a job, and said that frankly he knew that all of the Commissioners were committed to that job. President Fillon said that was all he had to say about this and asked if any of the other Commissioners had anything to say on this item or any comments they would like to send back to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Santos said that he would agree with President Fillon that the function of the Commissioners is to make sure that the Department of Building Inspection operates smoothly. Commissioner Santos said that he happened to be appointed by the Mayor and said that he felt that the Mayor should have the ability to choose individuals that he thought were going to help with the ultimate goal of the Department which is to implement the Code. Commissioner Santos said that, as President Fillon stated, it is not for this Commission to decide; it is something perhaps the voters of San Francisco will have to take on.
Commissioner Marks said that she agreed. Commissioner Marks stated that obviously it would be a major change in terms of who is appointed because of the change to the number of appointments by the Board and the Mayor, but this is definitely a decision that the voting public should decide whether they would want the Commission to have more Board of Supervisors' appointees versus the Mayor's appointees.
Commissioner Guinnane said that he had no comment.
President Fillon asked for any public comment. There was no public comment on this item.
3. Public Comment: The BIC will take public comment on matters within the Commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.
There was no public comment.
4. Discussion and possible action to develop strategic plan, update Department's mission, and review existing goals/objectives.
Director Chiu thanked President Fillon for putting this item on the agenda. Director Chiu said that there were several reasons why the Department wanted to talk about this issue and work with the Commission to develop a strategic plan or to update and review the Department's existing goals and objectives. Director Chiu said that when the Commission was formed in 1995 the direction that the Commission gave to the Department was that it wanted the Department to be more responsive to all of DBI's customers. Director Chiu said that at that time the Commission met and developed a Mission Statement, which he thought was very well done. Director Chiu said that as a result of that he was proud to report that six years have gone by and stated that he felt that the Commission and the Department have done a good job of achieving those goals. Director Chiu said that, for example, over six years ago the biggest complaints from everyone, not just housing or tenants groups, but from developers, contractors and homeowners, were about the different areas of service that these groups were not getting. Director Chiu said that as a result of collaborative work, staff was responding to over 90% of permit process response time in seven days, and responding to 90% of inspection requests within forty eight hours. Director Chiu said that six years ago Housing had the biggest challenge because tenant complaints were not being responded to, in fact, there was a backlog of over 3,000 complaints. Director Chiu said that today that problem doesn't exist and overall the Department has achieved many of the goals that were set six years ago. Director Chiu said that he wanted to thank staff for all of their hard work. Director Chiu stated that today, there is an opportunity to revisit some of the strategic plans. Director Chiu stated that some technology was in place to achieve future goals, but this was not 100% complete. Director Chiu said that he was reporting on all of this as he wanted to give the Commissioners some background as to where the Department was six years ago and where the Department wanted to go starting today. Director Chiu said that he also wanted to thank Assistant Director Amy Lee who spent a lot of research time putting the Commission package together for review, and spent time calling other agencies outside of DBI's jurisdiction, in addition to contacting other City agencies, as to how they have set their strategic goals, plans and objectives. Director Chiu said that he wanted to let the Commissioners know that within Ms. Lee's research, a benchmarking report was included that was done by the Controller's Office which compared DBI to other departments within the City. Director Chiu said that he was seeking guidelines from the Commission as to what the Department needs to do from here on. Director Chiu said that he would like Ms. Lee to give a brief overview of the report and then start dialog to discuss the strategic plan and review the goals and objectives.
Ms. Lee said that before she moved on to the details of the package she wanted to apologize because the package was so lengthy, but said that the primary goal was to get feedback from the Commissioners as to how they would like the Department to proceed and to incorporate some certain issues that were previously not stated, such as issues of fairness and preferential treatment. Ms. Lee said that she was hoping with the comments and input from the Commission, she could go back to her desk to work with her staff to create a succinct vision and from that get the strategic plan. Ms. Lee said that the Mission Statement, as is, is appropriate and necessary and said that she did not know if that needed to be changed, but there did need to be a valid vision for DBI. Ms. Lee said that she would work to incorporate and implement these changes in the Department with feedback from staff and come back to the Commission again with a strategic plan and perhaps some changes in the performance measurers and goals. Ms. Lee said that another thing that she would like to emphasize and write down in terms of either a vision or strategic plan is a focus on the employees, such as certification and training and making sure that this is stated somewhere in all of DBI's information. Ms. Lee said that in the past the Department has been focusing on timeliness and that was important because the reason the Department was created was because permits were stuck in time. Ms. Lee stated that now the Department has gone beyond that hurdle and are at the next stage; the Commissioners should think about how this Department should move on and this could be visionary as well as practical. Ms. Lee said that this process would be a lengthy one, as she did not think there could be a complete plan within the next month and said that she was shooting to implement something early next year.
Ms. Lee said that there were several reasons for this process as the Department is always looking to improve, as no agency should say that they are perfect. Ms. Lee said that the Department would like to strengthen the Mission Statement and make sure that DBI is really achieving this mission as dictated by the Commission. Ms. Lee said that several months ago the Board of Supervisors adopted an efficiency plan requirement of all departments and this will be required by 2003. Ms. Lee said that with the work that is being done now, the Department will have a solid foundation for an efficiency plan that will be submitted in future years. Ms. Lee said that, as she stated previously, she will work with staff to get feedback and buy in from them to incorporate the wishes of the Commission.
Ms. Lee referred to the Table of Contents and said that in Section II she provided some brief backup information about this Department. Ms. Lee said that she did not want to give copies again of DBI's annual plan because the Commissioners should already have copies, but stated that she tried to summarize the plan in a three year comparison. Ms. Lee said that she was working from page three that had already been submitted to the Board of Supervisors which is the Department's three year plan. Ms. Lee said that the Controller's Office highlighted that this plan needed improvement as they thought that this was very basic and said that they would like to see substantial improvement. Ms. Lee said that the Department was going to try to move forward with this plan. Ms. Lee said that the three-year comparison is what the Department has been doing in the past and was background on the programs, details and the workload of the Department.
Commissioner Guinnane asked about the three-year plan, specifically #A, the Department of Building Inspection Three-Year Plan, Fiscal Year 98-99, Second Year 99-00, Third Year, and said this was only one page. Commissioner Guinnane asked who drafted this report. Director Chiu said that he would take credit for that, as it was not really meant for the strategic plan, but at the time Director Chiu said he was working on the budget and was asked for a three-year plan in terms of what was needed for staff and what kind of goals and measurements the Department wanted to achieve. Director Chiu said that he just did that with information he collected from the Deputy Directors. Commissioner Guinnane said that in looking at the report, it was a poor plan for the size of the organization, as it doesn't give any information. Commissioner Guinnane said that he had never seen a one-page document cover three years. Ms. Lee said that the Department is working to expand this document because of its limitations. Commissioner Walker asked if this was an abbreviated version. Ms. Lee said that this was the three-year strategic plan and the Department was moving on to do a new one for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004. Commissioner Walker asked if the color version was the same thing. Ms. Lee said that those were just details she provided in terms of what the workload has been, and what kind of services have been provided in those years. President Fillon asked if there was anything in the report that showed a correlation of what is being planned and what the auditor's comments were. Ms. Lee said that information was in Section 3, and Chapter 1 of the audit showed what the auditors are looking for the Department to do. President Fillon asked if Ms. Lee referenced what is being done to that audit. Commissioner Walker said that this is what the Department is trying to create. Ms. Lee said that the Department needs direction and vision from the Commission. President Fillon said that is what he would like to see as an end result. Commissioner Walker said that the Commission would be part of that end result. President Fillon said that he would like to get that information on paper showing how each item is being addressed. Ms. Lee said that she had done an action plan addressing the Controller's audit. Ms. Lee said that the package was just a portion of some of the findings of the Controller's audit.
Ms. Lee said that Sections II, C,D,E and,F, were the budget summaries showing what changes were made in different years and were the reports that were submitted to the Mayor's Office in drafting DBI's budget. Ms. Lee said that this information had portions of performance measures that show that the Department has been very consistent in targeting timeliness and a new performance measure for this new fiscal year will be a quality control measure. Ms. Lee stated that she was working with staff now to get a standardized quality control measure. Commissioner Walker said that rather than just counting how many things are done; there will be an evaluation of how well they are being done. Commissioner Walker said that one of the things that has been a concern to her is the roll out of the computer system and how DBI employees use it and what can be accessed as far as reports. Commissioner Walker said that this will go hand in hand in trying to automate some of these things, as one of the things that the Controller's audit said was that there was too much sort of subjective reporting. Ms. Lee said that there was a lot of reliance on manual data and that this is why she is trying to standardize things and make them automatic. Ms. Lee said that the Department is already in the process of making changes to the Oracle system.
Ms. Lee said that Section III is the Chapter about the Controller's audit in terms of the findings as it links to the strategic plan or lack of the strategic plan of this Department. Ms. Lee said that in Section IV she included some information to give the Commissioners some background in terms of the strategic planning process and what the Department is looking at in terms of visions, goals and the Mission Statement. Ms. Lee said that she thought that the Commission's role is more for vision and the Mission Statement, and to some extent the goals. Ms. Lee said that the Director, herself and Senior Management are looking to do the goals and objectives to reflect what the Commission has told the Department in the Mission Statement. Ms. Lee said that management will work with staff to implement and document the performance measures. Ms. Lee stated that in the past this Department has been guilty of having no linkage. Ms. Lee said that she was trying to get some of the Commissioners sentiments in the vision statement so that the Department could make this reflective in the budget process. Ms. Lee said that everything should be linked and that is what she is trying to do, but it will take a couple of cycles to do that. Commissioner Walker said that she really appreciated Ms. Lee's work as she said she knew this was a very paper heavy report. Ms. Lee said she apologized for that and said that she tried to avoid such a lengthy report.
Ms. Lee said that in Section V, KPMG did a benchmarking analysis of the Department and said that would be helpful for future reference in terms of performance measures and comparing different jurisdictions. Ms. Lee referred to Section V, B page 86. Ms. Lee said that she tried to pull some of the things that other City agencies like DBI are doing. Ms. Lee said that unfortunately a lot of people do not have what DBI is trying to achieve, in terms of a Mission Statement, vision and strategic plan all tied in to have one smooth linkage. Ms. Lee said that DBI is trying to accomplish that, but said that she thought it would be interesting to see what other agencies had in place. Ms. Lee said that one thing she would like to see incorporated into this strategic plan is some sort of operating principles and said that she was looking to the Commission for direction. Ms. Lee said that on page 90 KPMG talks about teamwork and accountability, and Ms. Lee said that she thought fairness and customer service should be incorporated. Commissioner Walker said that she would agree and said that in looking at examples from Oakland and other cities it would be interesting to know how their departments are structured. Commissioner Walker said that she really wanted to encourage the Department in its policies to dialog more with the departments that DBI is affected by such as, Planning and some of the other departments. Commissioner Walker said that her question would be, is Oakland structured differently? Ms. Lee said that one of the things that has come up in the unlawful demolition process, which is cumbersome, but one of the things that is working is that DBI is working with Planning to try to develop a solution. Ms. Lee said that maybe that is a word that should be included in a vision statement, collaborativeness. Ms. Lee said that DBI should work in collaboration with other jurisdictions, other agencies and employees; that might be a guiding principle or vision statement for DBI so that in accomplishing the mission of enforcing the Code the Department incorporates that principle as well. Commissioner Guinnane asked if the Oakland package had anything that covered conflicts of interest. Ms. Lee said that she has research from the Controller's Office, but did not include that in the package. Ms. Lee said that she was not sure, off hand, if Oakland had something on that, but she had further information that she could report on at a later date. Commissioner Guinnane asked Ms. Lee to check with some other counties that are compatible with San Francisco to see what they have in place for conflicts. Commissioner Walker asked if this was for Department staff. Commissioner Guinnane said absolutely. Director Chiu said that he wanted to report that last year when San Francisco sponsored the annual business meeting, major jurisdictions meaning all of the largest cities in the United States, there was some lengthy discussions on how to deal with conflicts so San Francisco is not unique in that respect. Director Chiu said that some of the agencies involved were Las Vegas, San Jose, Los Angeles and those larger cities are always concerned with how to deal with conflict of interest; this October in Florida there is going to be an ongoing discussion to share how other jurisdictions are dealing with this problem. Director Chiu said that he would be happy to give the Commissioners copies of last year's minutes and after this year's meeting is over he would be able to report to the Commission on this subject.
Ms. Lee said that as she mentioned before there is going to be an efficiency plan requirement in 2003 and stated that some departments, such as the Tax Treasurer's Office, have worked on a pilot nature already with the Controller's Office to draft a plan. Ms. Lee said that other departments have a very general vision statement and try to incorporate that with some core values and DBI should perhaps incorporate some of the strategic planning processes, some values, that this Commission wants to be inputted into the Department. Ms. Lee said that she had included information from other department, such as the Department of Public Health, who have a very long proficiency planning process with staff, as their department is huge. Commissioner Walker said that she knew that the Controller's Office is involved in a dialog with the Department and said that she wanted to separate out the strategic plan from responding to the Controller's audit. Ms. Lee said that there was no timeline, in a sense, but she needs to report to the Controller's Office that the Department has complied with all of the findings of the audit, of which one of the findings is improving the strategic plan. Ms. Lee stated that everyone is aware that the strategic planning process takes a long time and that is why she is aiming for June of next year. Ms. Lee said that even though things are done in draft form, even if the Commissioners provided her with some visions, then the budget could be based on that. Ms. Lee stated that maybe next year there could be a more definitive strategic plan. Commissioner Walker said that all of the ways in the past that the Commission has looked at setting goals and seeing if they have been achieved have dealt with counting, such as counting permits and inspections, and how many are waiting, and for how long. Commissioner Walker said that ultimately one of the big issues in the audit and one that she thought everyone was concerned about is the effectiveness of all of that. Commissioner Walker said that, as the computer system is being worked on, she really hoped that would become a key component because whatever is put in ends up spitting it out at the end in a report. Commissioner Walker said that as far as meshing up reports, and she was not saying anything negative, but if five permits are issued and five of them create problems later on that needs to be reported. Ms. Lee said that she felt the guiding principles would be important if they are included. Ms. Lee said that if one of the guiding principles that the Commission wanted to incorporate was that the Department should invest in their employees, whether that be by certification or training; Ms. Lee said she may report in a performance measure that the Department has 100% compliance with AB717, but on the other end the Department will have it written somewhere and formalized, so that management can move forward in a problematic way, to make sure that staff has enough training hours. Ms. Lee said that this should be provided in a fair way and said that she felt one of the most important words is fairness, in terms of process and accessibility of services and fairness for staff. Ms. Lee said there have been complaints in the past about the appointment process, the promotion process, and stated that to some extent she tries to make that open, but if it written down as a guiding principle or an official statement it would be more formalized. Commissioner Walker said that in the process of just defining demolition or whatever, it serves the staff so they know what they are dealing with and they don't have to be on the hot seat each time it comes up.
Director Chiu said that he wanted to point out, as Ms. Lee said that it depends on which agency, department or which City, different people have done things differently. Director Chiu referred to page 155, the Controller's Office Mission Statement and vision, and said it is not very long; it is just one sentence and then it is broken down into core values. Director Chiu said that DBI could use this format and pointed out that other agencies have a vision that takes up three or four pages and some have one statement and then list the key points of that statement. Director Chiu said that he would like to caution the Commission that the vision and strategic plan should not be so detailed, but should be broad and inclusive with key points to direct the staff. President Fillon said that he thought that while the iron is still hot, so to speak, it is important to act. President Fillon said that the Department should act on the audit as soon as possible.
Commissioner Santos said that regarding the vision of the Department and all of these lofty goals of quick, effective response, no one has mentioned the real economic downturn and the changing times. Commissioner Santos said that the Commission seems to be speaking as if the City were in the middle of the dot com world and talking about hiring people and responding quickly. Ms. Lee added that the Department was also talking about having money for training, etc. Commissioner Santos said that the reality was different and said he was wondering if in the analysis, goals and projections, any of this has been analyzed in a way that would show that the Department needs to do more with less. Ms. Lee said that the Department has already begun to do that, as some staff positions have been held open and Ms. Lee said that she tries to backfill positions immediately. President Fillon said that Department has had an attitude toward keeping a surplus for down times. Director Chiu said what surplus. President Fillon said that there was a time when there was a lot of money in the surplus and Ms. Lee said that everyone looked at the Department with greed. President Fillon said that people wondered why the Department was holding onto that money and thought that it should have been spent. Commissioner Guinnane
said that he spoke to Ms. Lee about the shortfall and she reported that the Department was down about 30%. Director Chiu said that it was still dropping. Commissioner Walker said that it means just looking at the surplus differently as to how it plays out in day-to-day operations. Commissioner Walker said that the Department would still have the same goals. Commissioner Walker said that the current goals are good ones, but it is important to make sure that the Department is solvent and responsible. President Fillon said that now would be a good time to take a look at the finances of the Department. Ms. Lee said that page 198 of the package was the BART vision statement and stated that she was very impressed with the way it was stated. Ms. Lee said that BART added that in carrying out there vision, BART will do certain things in their guiding principles and incorporated a comment where it says, know where they are and where they are going financially. Ms. Lee said that DBI could incorporate something like that to have DBI know the industry, know what the environment is and be prepared to direct the Department in a balanced and predictable way. Ms. Lee said that Commissioner Walker mentioned about working with partners and stakeholders. Ms. Lee said that she included that in the guiding principles.
Commissioner Guinnane asked if the addition to 1660 Mission was completely stopped at the present time and asked if there was any more money being spent on that addition. Director Chiu said that the Commission directed the Department to put it on hold until the Department figured out what it wanted to do. Director Chiu said that in view of what has happened recently, it might be a good time to put a hold on the addition. Ms. Lee said that when the Commission is ready she has prepared an economic analysis. Commissioner Walker asked if she could get an assessment from people, by just taking the BART vision as an example where it says that it will be a professional, caring organization dedicated to meeting the needs of its customers and employees. Commissioner Walker said that part of what she would like to add to that, or at least get the Department and Commission to think about, is who the customer is. Commissioner Walker said that there is the building community that the Department actually engages in permitting and inspecting, but the Department also has to be responsive to the community at large; who the Department is responsible for their safety and also hearing their concerns. Commissioner Walker said that she felt it was really important to reiterate that it is helpful to look at the broad effect of everything, not just specifically around projects. Director Chiu said that when the Commission was formed over six years ago, the Commission did not really define who the customer was, but Director Chiu said that his definition is very clear and has been passed onto staff, that the customer is anybody who does business with DBI, by writing or calling, including tenants, property owners, attorneys, designers, contractors and even homeless people. Director Chiu said that the Department already understands that the customer is anybody who does business with the Department. President Fillon said that in the larger context the Department is also here to protect people. Commissioner Marks said that is the main Mission. Director Chiu said that he would agree. President Fillon said that those people might not come into the Department and be actual participants in the process, but they will be affected by the lack of whatever is done or not done. Director Chiu said that the main Mission Statement says that the Department will provide life and safety of property and people. Director Chiu said that he agreed with Ms. Lee that he liked the format of BARTs vision statement, as it is brief, but goes into bullet points of what needs to be done. Ms. Lee said that DBI is doing these things, but it has not been formalized and that is the weakness. Director Chiu said that now the Department has the chance to finally format what is going to be done. Commissioner Walker said that basically every decision that is made by the Commission or the Department is based on fulfilling the Mission. Commissioner Walker said that this ultimately makes it easier for everyone.
Commissioner Marks said that she felt that the Mission Statement does cover everything as basically the Commission and Department's responsibility is to protect the public even though they may not have direct contact with the Department. Commissioner Marks said that the public puts faith in DBI's services that whenever they are in a building or whatever it will be a safe place for them. Director Chiu said that the Commission spent a lot of time on the Mission Statement and helping staff to write it. Ms. Lee said that she felt that the Mission Statement was fine, but it needed to be applied to the strategy to gain some sort of core principles and a core vision statement and how the Department will achieve and accomplish the Mission Statement. President Fillon said that the Commission statement is pretty concise. Director Chiu said that the opportunity now, as Commissioner Walker stated, was to have the technology and the resources to achieve that goal. Director Chiu said that he was sure that other Commissioners have some goals that they would like to incorporate as well. President Fillon said that Director Chiu had talked about, under the Mission Statement, using core values instead of strategic issues. President Fillon said that there should be something about interfacing with the community when it comes to doing DBIs work, and the fairness should become key to the organization. Director Chiu said that if DBI writes a long visionary statement the audience would be lost. Director Chiu said that the Mission Statement or vision should be two or three paragraphs at the most and then break it down into bullet points as to what shall be done. Commissioner Walker said that if Director Chiu could put a three-year strategy on one page the core objectives should be easy. Ms. Lee said that the three-year strategy was a problem because it was only one page.
Ms. Lee asked if the Commissioners could comment on the direction it wants the Department to move into or not move into. Ms. Lee said that she knew that the Litigation Committee was working in terms of enforcement. Director Chiu said that he would like to tell the Commissioners about some of the areas he was interested in and would like some feedback. Director Chiu said that the Department is doing a good job of responding to complaints for housing code violations. Director Chiu said that he knew that a while back Commissioners Guinnane and Walker were concerned about routine inspections. Director Chiu said that six years ago, routine inspections were not a priority because there was a very large backlog on housing code violations and the Department was not responsive enough to the day-to-day complaints, but today the Department is taking care of that because focus was shifted to the customer who calls and complains. Director Chiu said that the Department is responding to these complaints within 24 hours and if it is a life threatening complaint the Department is responding instantly, but the Department needs to look at complying with routine inspections, or do the Commissioners feel that this is not a priority. Director Chiu said he would like some guidance on this issue. Director Chiu said that another area he would like feedback from the Commission about is Code Enforcement and how the Commission feels about the current Code Enforcement process. Director Chiu said that with inspection and permit turnaround the Department is doing a decent job in responding to the clients needs. Director Chiu said that the Controller's Office reported, rightly so, that other cities such as Daly City, San Jose or Milpitas are responding to 100% within 24 hours, or at least that is their goal. Director Chiu said that DBI was not doing that, but were doing this within 48 hours and asked if that was okay with the Commission. Director Chiu said that the client is not complaining like they were six years ago that they don't get an inspection for weeks or days, as today they are getting an inspection within 48 hours. Director Chiu said that he has not had people complain, but one of the things the Controller's Office pointed out was why the Department was not doing 100% within 24 hours. Commissioner Walker said that the likelihood if the Department makes the permitting process more streamlined, fair, effective and automated it will affect the number of complaints and that is the goal. Commissioner Walker said that hopefully there would be fewer complaints. Director Chiu said that the Department was getting fewer complaints in those areas. Commissioner Walker said that it would be a good idea to look in general at the whole process of the Department and as far as the Housing Department doing more routine inspections, she felt the Department would automatically have more time for that. Commissioner Walker said that is one of the determining factors because if all the Department is doing is responding to complaints, inspectors cannot go out routinely and look at what is going on out there. Commissioner Walker said that she thought those two parts of the Mission Statement fit together in terms of cleaning up the process and making it more understandable and empowering the employees to carry out that would likely decrease the number of complaints. Commissioner Walker said that she would say that routine inspections are part of the whole process.
President Fillon said that there was something that he had been meaning to speak to Director Chiu about for a while and that is that he has had several members of the community make the suggestion that perhaps a consultant should put together a focus group to see how the Department is perceived and how successful the Department is from that vantage point. Director Chiu said that he felt that the Department just had one in the audit. President Fillon said that he meant a real focus group. Commissioner Walker said maybe the Controller's Office should do one. Director Chiu said that the Controller's Office just did one. President Fillon said that he would like an independent one. Commissioner Walker said that was an independent one. Commissioner Marks said that she would be concerned about spending money on this. President Fillon said that he asked the Director to look into it, not to do it. President Fillon said he wanted to know how feasible this would be. Director Chiu said that President Fillon wanted an independent study rather than the one from the Controller's Office. Director Chiu said that he felt that the audit report rated the Department, in terms of the overall operation, well, compared to other jurisdictions. Director Chiu said that with the benchmarking that was done, the Department was rated very favorably in terms of how well the Department was doing with inspections, plan checking and code enforcement. Director Chiu said that there is some work to be done, but if the Commission is asking the Department to go back and look at that, he could continue to do a survey to the customers. Director Chiu said that he did not know if he would agree that the Department should go out and spend more money to hire someone to do another reassessment. Director Chiu said the Department could continue to do a customer survey. Commissioner Walker asked who the customer is and Director Chiu said that the customer is everybody; it could be tenant groups, owners, designers or just about anybody who does business with DBI. President Fillon said that a lot of companies that provide some service to the public have an exit questionnaire asking how the service was and if the customer was happy with the service that they got. President Fillon said that it could be something like that, but said that he was just interested in getting some direct input from the community that DBI is serving. Director Chiu said that perhaps DBI could hire a consultant to mail out a questionnaire to all customers to see how the Department is doing. Director Chiu said that the reason he is hesitant to go out and hire someone to revisit how the Department is doing to come up with a recommendation is that recently he and Ms. Lee traveled to visit Seattle and five years ago Seattle was going through similar things that DBI was going through about people not being happy with the process. Director Chiu said that he met with the Building Official from Seattle as they came by DBI four or five years ago to see how San Francisco was doing and Seattle paid a consultant $1.3M to advise them on what had to be done. Director Chiu said that was fine, but it took them three or four years to come up with a report and one of the success stories that they keep on raving about is that they changed the way they did business and are now approving projects much faster because they have a technical expert dealing with the people up front. Director Chiu said that he and Assistant Director Lee could have told them that in a few weeks, as that was what was done at DBI six years ago. Director Chiu said that he is hesitant to hire a consultant to come back and tell the Department what to do, as there is good staff at DBI who just need some guidance from the Commission for direction in areas that need to be improved. President Fillon said that he saw the numbers that came out of the audit and then saw the statistics that were put together based on people they interviewed, but the more he looks into it, and the more he finds out, it seems that the information is not reflective of the actual situation because of who they interviewed and how many people they really interviewed. President Fillon said that the statistics were presented as a percentage instead of the actual number compared to how many there are, and those kind of issues for him clouded the effectiveness of a lot of the questions that had to do with customer service. President Fillon said that he was concerned that there was still no true picture of what is going on and said he was looking for ideas. President Fillon said that he did not really want to spend any money on this. Ms. Lee said that one of the recommendations of the audit was to have DBI do an ongoing survey. President Fillon said that it could be just a card that everybody fills out when they come in to get a permit. Commissioner Walker said that part of the issue that the Commission is dealing with is that it is just not about permitting and inspecting, but about customer service and quality of these services. Commissioner Walker said that the Commission should think about how to make this survey so that really accurate information is obtained. Ms. Lee said that right now the Department does do a survey that asks the customer how long they waited in line, why they came to DBI and to rate the service. Ms. Lee said that she reviews these reports. Director Chiu said that the Department would go back and revisit a way to incorporate the Commissioner's concerns. Ms. Lee asked if Commissioner Walker just wanted feedback from the customer base. Commissioner Walker said she wanted feedback from the customer base and the citizen base, so that as it goes to people within DBI it also goes to people who are writing complaining or whatever.
President Fillon said that at BIC meetings the Commission usually hears about what doesn't work and said that he would like to get some positive feedback. Commissioner Santos said that usually when things go terribly wrong it is because of the lack of interfacing between Planning and DBI. Commissioner Santos said that this is one of the things that is apparent in many of the cases that come before the BIC. President Fillon said that there are holes in the system and occasionally things get through that shouldn't. Commissioner Santos said that those are the things that make the papers. Commissioner Walker said that there are also projects that don't get through that should for the same reasons. Commissioner Santos said that was possible, and said that he did not know what the auditors said about the interfacing between Building and Planning, but asked if the auditors made any suggestions. President Fillon said that item was not discussed in the audit. Commissioner Santos asked if Director Chiu had anything that he thought would be an automatic fail-safe thing that could improve the interfacing with Planning, such as a project should go to Planning if there is any perception that there may be a modification to the appearance of a building. Director Chiu said that generally speaking DBI and Planning staff are working a lot closer and better than before, but said that there is room for improvement. Director Chiu said that the Commission is not only talking about DBI, but talking about the Planning Commission as well. Director Chiu said that DBI staff is doing its best to meet with Planning on an ongoing basis; for example, the unlawful demolition definition is a classic example of where DBI almost had to drag Planning staff to participate. Director Chiu said that so far he felt that, the unlawful demolition participation, this has been very successful. Director Chiu said that everyday DBI people are talking to Planning staff and there is a partnership that is working and there needs to be cooperation from the Planning Department as well. Director Chiu said that he believed that the BIC should meet once in a while with the Planning Commission. Commissioner Walker said that she agreed. Director Chiu said that he does meet with Planning Director Green once in a while and they do have ongoing meetings. Director Chiu said that there was room for improvement. Commissioner Santos said that he was not suggesting that there was no communication between the two departments, but said that the Planning issues seem to be quite emotional. Commissioner Santos said that when people appear before the BIC it is usually about their perception of being deceived by a rendering, or the fact that a building turned out to be taller. Director Chiu said that the Commission has recently heard about the penthouse issue. Director Chiu said that the focus is now on asking for better plans and ask for more information upfront to do a better job in notification and coordination, and if both departments follow that format, a lot of the questions and complaints from neighbors will go down because the two agencies will be working together. Commissioner Walker said that this was her point. Commissioner Santos said that the project sponsor should be protected as well. Commissioner Walker said that everyone should be protected because if there are rules, and both departments work together, it will be help all sides. Director Chiu said that the reason he is so adamant about doing this right is because he does not want what happened with this penthouse project to happen again. Director Chiu said that the definition is very vague and very broad and no one could understand it so it is very tough to enforce. Director Chiu said that people complain about the BPA and why they don't enforce the law, but when there is a rule that is broad, it is very tough for the BPA to do anything. Director Chiu said that for once, if the two departments can work closely the way they have been in the past months, hopefully the Supervisors will adopt what comes out of these collaborative meetings and a lot of the complaints from the neighborhoods will go away. Director Chiu stated that this would be good for the designer and builder as well because for once they will know that when a permit is issued, and if they build according to the approved plan, they will be in good shape.
Commissioner Marks said that in terms of working with the Planning Commission it really is the breakdown in terms of staff activities because she thought that with the 18th Street project, it was basically that the Department of City Planning had made an error in the plans that were approved. Commissioner Marks said that she believed that it was then DBI's position that all that could be done was to require that the plan be Code compliant and DBI could not send it back to Planning to say that this plan was not going to work, or that it was in violation of the Code, or proper notice was not given. Commissioner Marks said that to her there is something faulty in that, not being able, when a staff person in DBI catches an error that has been made in Planning, to send the project back to Planning for correction. Director Chiu said that DBI cannot do anything to stop the project, however, Planning always has the right to request the Director of DBI to suspend the permit. Director Chiu said that in the 18th Street case that is what happened. Director Chiu said that he did not think that the Building Inspection Commission wanted DBI to start enforcing the Planning Code or start interpreting what Planning meant when they approved a project. Director Chiu said that, in this particular case, DBI staff followed the rules. Commissioner Walker said that except that if there is something that looks like it is changing, like happened here; Commissioner Walker said that she was not saying and did not think that Commissioner Santos was saying that DBI should make the assessment, but they should automatically kick it back. Director Chiu said that DBI staff did kick it back. Commissioner Santos said that the project was sent back to Planning. Commissioner Walker said that it came before the BIC because it did not get sent back to Planning initially. Director Chiu said that it was sent back to Planning and what happened was that Planning staff exercised his or her own discretionary authority in approving the project without informing the neighbors and that is what happened. Commissioner Santos said that it was approved without an additional 311 notification. Commissioner Santos said that Planning had done a 311 notification and the building was approved, then DBI felt that a hatch would not work as far as a fire exiting issue and a penthouse needed to be built. Commissioner Santos said that this was imposed by DBI and the project sponsor realized that this would modify the appearance of the building and encouraged the Department to send it back to Planning. Commissioner Santos said that the project went back to Planning and the planner looked at the drawing and said that it was a fairly minor modification and did not require another 311 notification, so it was a decision made by the planner. Commissioner Santos said that it is possible that there can be a fail-safe mechanism where anything, whether a change is made to the trim lines, it would automatically go to a 311. Commissioner Walker said that it is a process issue and whether it is DBI's error or Planning's error, this is where it would behoove DBI to work together with Planning to come up with a solution so everyone is on the same page. Director Chiu said that he would agree, but said that he would make one more statement and then move on. Director Chiu stated that he was glad that this was brought up because the Departments are talking about unlawful demolition determination his argument with Larry Badiner was just that; Larry still wants to retain that the Planning staff has the ability to exercise their own discretion in some cases. Director Chiu said that he told Planning that he felt that any time the public has been informed as to the size and shape of a project, and anytime there is a deviation to that, the public should be noticed. Director Chiu said that Larry is fighting him in that area. Commissioner Walker said at least the two Departments are talking. Director Chiu said that he does not want to repeat the same mistakes as in the past, but stated that he does not want DBI to get blamed when something goes wrong because Planning exercised its own discretionary authority. Commissioner Santos said that he got blamed for this project because he was the structural engineer on the project.
President Fillon asked if the Commissioners would be interested in having a joint meeting with the Planning Commission to discuss this issue. Commissioner Walker asked if this was the unlawful demolition issue. President Fillon said that the two Commissions could discuss a variety of issues. Commissioner Marks said that it would be valuable to meet with the Planning Commission as long as it was agendized with very specific topics to be discussed. Commissioner Marks said that in terms of the development of a strategic plan she did not see the need to meet with Planning on something like that. Commissioner Walker said that it would be important to share the BIC's strategic plan with the Planning Commission because the BIC will get more out of it if the BIC does this in conjunction with the departments that are working with DBI. Ms. Lee said that the BIC could come up with the strategic plan, but DBI could not collaborate with a department that does want to. Ms. Lee said she would recommend that the BIC and DBI move forward to formulate the plan, but maybe put Planning on notice that now one of the guiding principles of the Department is going to be conjunctive; DBI would like to see a commitment on the part of the Planning Commission that they would work collaboratively with DBI. President Fillon said that this should come up under 5B.
Assistant Director Lee said that what she was hearing from the Commission was teamwork, collaboration, fairness, effectiveness, redefining the customer base to not only being the permit holders and the inspection applicants, but the residents of San Francisco who live in substandard housing or have any potential building issues even though they may not be a direct customer. Ms. Lee said that these would be customers who are affected by the Department whether it is by the Code Enforcement process, inspection services or citizens using the Codes. Ms. Lee said that she was hearing that the Commission wanted to emphasize interfacing with the community and other departments; the Commission wants feedback from DBI's customer service base in the form of a survey or information gathering to monitor the Department's progress in how services are being provided. Ms. Lee stated that she had raised the point of DBI employees and investing in the employees and the fairness would have to go into that aspect. Ms. Lee asked if there was anything else that the Commissioners wanted to add in that regard. Commissioner Walker asked if the Department gauged internal process such as decisions that have been made, does management ever send it out for what people think. Commissioner Walker said that this is not like making decision by committee, but asked if management solicited and received input from the employees as to how the Department is working. Director Chiu said that some employees are shy about talking to management face to face, but Director Chiu said that he did have Director's tailgate party once in a while, although there hadn't been one for a while, and sometimes a large group, such as clerical will be given the opportunity to talk about what they want in the Department. Director Chiu said that he thought that the Department had that policy in place where an employee could speak with management and give their suggestions. Director Chiu said that maybe this process needs to be more formalized and one of the items that the Controller's Office identified was to allow for a formalized informal process where the employees could give ideas or recommendations without feeling there would be any retribution.
Commissioner Walker said that she would like to include the computer system and what it actually does because she felt that it could be used as a tool for assessing and it will be fair. Commissioner Walker said that the information would be available and at any point a report could be generated to see what is going on and not just with permits and inspections, but with any complaints. Commissioner Walker said that then there could be an assessment of what is going on and hopefully by focusing on the process the Department really could see a reduction in the number of complaints and that would be the ideal that would work for everybody.
President Fillon thanked Assistant Director Lee for her report. Director Chiu said that he publicly wanted to thank Ms. Lee for the work that she put into her report and stated that what was done was approximately $200,000 worth of research time. Director Chiu said that once again this was an example of staff taking on extra tasks. Commissioner Walker thanked Ms. Lee and everyone who helped to put the report together.
President Fillon asked for pubic comment.
Mr. Eamon Murphy introduced himself as an owner of apartment buildings in the City. Mr. Murphy said that he would take it that the Commission requested that DBI staff would inquire with other jurisdictions about certain elements of this discussion. Mr. Murphy stated that recently he noticed that the City Attorney's fees for DBI are very high and said that he had good reason to believe as he sees two or three City Attorneys going for lunch with a certain individual over in the Department. Mr. Murphy said that he was sure that these were some social events and said that he wondered what kind of mandating the City Attorney was giving the Department for human hours of services through the Department and what costs because it is getting to be a large amount of money for a business, if it could be called a business as DBI is serving the public and should be called an organization. Mr. Murphy thanked the Commission.
5. Review Commissioner's Questions and Matters.
a. Inquiries to Staff. At this time, Commissioners may make inquiries to staff regarding various documents, policies, practices, and procedures, which are of interest to the Commission.
Commissioner Guinnane said at the last meeting Director Chiu was going to report back about the five or six individuals regarding being certified. Director Chiu said that he did not have any update, but said that he did have a discussion with both Deputy Directors Hutchinson and Wong to do what the Department can to provide additional training to make sure that these individuals pass the next time. Commissioner Walker asked if there was a deadline set. Director Chiu said that the Department gave the employees three more months to make another attempt to pass the certification. Director Chiu said that he would be happy to report back at the next meeting.
b. Future Meetings/Agendas. At this time, the Commission may discuss and take action to set the date of a Special Meeting and/or determine those items that could be placed on the agenda of the next meeting and other future meetings of the Building Inspection Commission.
President Fillon said that the Commission had been talking about scheduling a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and asked if there were any items that the Commissioners would like to suggest for this meeting. President Fillon said that there was the strategic plan issues and asked about the unlawful demolition process. Commissioner Walker said she felt that the Commission should wait until there is something specific from the Unlawful Demolition Committee as there has not been a meeting scheduled for quite some time. Commissioner Walker said that she would suggest that maybe the BIC make an initial communication to the Planning Commission that this is something that is of interest to the BIC and let them know that the BIC is working on deciding what issues to discuss and have the Planning Commission start to do the same. Commissioner Santos said that there would be no specifics right now. Commissioner Walker said that she felt that it was too soon, as there was nothing decided upon yet. Commissioner Walker said that there should be another Committee meeting before going to the Planning Commission. President Fillon said that there is time, as it takes a while to set up a joint meeting. Commissioner Walker said that perhaps there could be a meeting in two or three months or after the first of next year, after the holidays. Commissioner Walker said that there would probably not be a meeting of the Unlawful Demolition Committee for perhaps a month. Director Chiu said that he has spoken with Larry Badiner and Gerald Green about having a joint meeting so the Commission is aware of the plan to get together for a joint meeting, but no date or topics have been decided. Director Chiu said that generally Planning Director Gerald Green is aware that a joint meeting should be scheduled. President Fillon said that he has spoken with several of the Planning Commissioners and they are in favor of a joint meeting. President Fillon said that he would like to do it before the end the year if possible. Commissioner Walker said that if this meeting was going to be something meaningful, she felt that there should be something more specific to talk about concerning unlawful demolition. Commissioner Walker said that she felt that a letter should be sent to the Planning Commission to ask for a meeting to be scheduled and just say that the issues to be talked about are issues that both Commissions have an interest in, including unlawful demolition and whatever. President Fillon asked the BIC Secretary to touch base with the Planning Commission Secretary to find out what the available time slots would be in the next few months. Commissioner Walker said that she would like to see what the BIC's position is on unlawful demolition before going outside of the Commission. Commissioner Walker said that there are drafts coming out of the "working group" on unlawful demolition that there has been no public input on except for the public that has been involved in the process. President Fillon said that the BIC did not have to necessarily have the Planning Commission approve what the outcome of the Unlawful Demolition Committee's recommendations are, and the process could still move on after a meeting with the Planning Commission. Commissioner Walker said that she would hate to put out what the Committee has right now.
Director Chiu said that another issue that the Planning Commission is having some difficulty understanding is unsound structure. Director Chiu said that there is a process where DBI staff goes out to a property and does an inspection and then gives the customer a report as to what the violations are and then declares the property to be an unsound structure. Director Chiu stated that the staff needs some guidance on how to deal with this and the Planning Commissioners have raised some concerns. Director Chiu said that he would first like to raise this concern with the BIC to get some direction from the Commissioners. Commissioner Walker asked what the issue was. Director Chiu said that it was unsound structures where people come in and hire someone to list all of the violations and plug in a number to try to demonstrate that the replacement cost would be over 50% and therefore the building is an unsound structure. Director Chiu said that then the person goes to Planning to ask for a demolition determination. Director Chiu said that he and Deputy Director Hutchinson are having a hard time trying to deal with this issue and at this time staff is looking for some general guidelines from the Commission because the Planning Commissioners are having a hard time trying to cope with this. Director Chiu said that at the next meeting he would like to have a discussion on that. Commissioner Santos said that this issue has come up in the unlawful demolition discussions. Commissioner Santos said that a structural engineer will write a report and has to come up with a cost estimation to show that it would be cheaper to demolish the building than to make the repairs. Commissioner Walker said that this issue has not happened at the Committee level. President Fillon asked when the next Committee meeting was scheduled. Commissioner Walker said that one had not been scheduled and Vice-President Hood was the Chairperson. President Fillon asked the Commission Secretary to talk with Vice-President Hood to get a meeting as soon as possible. President Fillon said that right now there is a lot of momentum in the community and that needs to keep going as people will lose interest. President Fillon asked if he could attend a meeting of the Committee if a Commissioner could not make it. Commissioner Walker said that there could also be a meeting with just two Commissioners.
Director Chiu said that he would also like to schedule a closed door session with the Commission to do a performance evaluation, not to do a performance evaluation, but to set goals. Commissioner Walker asked if this would be goals for next year for Director Chiu. Director Chiu said that was correct and said that then he could work with his staff. Director Chiu said that this would give the Commissioners plenty of time to think about what are some of the goals that they would like the Department to revisit. Commission Walker said that they could be plugged into the strategic plan as well.
Commissioner Walker asked if there was a list of carryover items from the last meeting as she thought there was one about having some sort of hearing about burnt multiple unit SROs and asking for community input on how to encourage the rebuilding of these structures in a more expeditious fashion.
Commissioner Marks said that she had spoken to Director Chiu about a conversation she had with a realtor that they both know and said she would like if he could present as a proposal to look at, with revisions, a suggestion that within a year after insurance money has been received by the property owner construction must be completed on the hotel; otherwise, the existing zoning plan which is by and large a down zoning of the property would kick into affect. Commissioner Marks said that Director Chiu also said that this was a good ideal to consider, but said that her concern was that a property owner could intentionally delay receipt of the money with an agreement with the insurance company. Commissioner Marks said that there could be suggestions as to how that provision could be tightened. President Fillon asked if Commissioner Marks meant by down zoning that the person could not build a hotel on that site again. Commissioner Marks said that was correct, or instead of a fifty unit hotel it would be a thirty-five unit or something like that. President Fillon said that then units would be taken off of the market. Commissioner Marks said that it is better than no units on the market. President Fillon said that there should be something to make the person rebuild what was there instead of taking away the possibility of having more units when there is such a housing crisis. Deputy City Attorney Judy Boyajian said that the Commission could not go into a lengthy discussion about this issue, as it is not on the agenda. President Fillon said that this item would have to be agendized. Commissioner Walker said that this was an item that was a carryover and could be brought up at the hearing on that. Commissioner Walker said that there could be more items and asked the Secretary to look into the minutes. Director Chiu mentioned the lead abatement issue. Commissioner Walker said that this meeting was a one-issue meeting and there were still items left over from previous meetings.
6. Public Comment: The BIC will take public comment on matters within the Commission's jurisdiction that are not part of this agenda.
Here was no public comment.
President Fillon stated that there was no Item #7 on the agenda, but Item #7 should be adjournment and asked for a motion for adjournment.
Commissioner Guinnane made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Walker that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried unanimously.
RESOLUTION NO. BIC 057-01
The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
___________________
Ann Marie Aherne
Commission Secretary
SUMMARY OF REQUESTS BY COMMISSIONERS
Strategic plan to include teamwork, collaboration, fairness, effectiveness, redefining the customer base, interfacing with the community and other departments along with feedback from employees. - Commissioners Entire document Customer survey to include all of DBI's customer base and citizen base to include tenants, owners, builders, design professionals, etc. Page 11
Future meeting with Planning Commission. - Commissioner Walker Pages 12 - 14
Updates on the Computer System in keeping "accurate" documentation to eliminate manual calculations for reporting purposes. - Commissioner Walker Pages 5, 6 & 16
Report on employees who still need to obtain certification. - Commissioner Guinnane Pages 4,7 & 16
Discussion on unsound structures. - Director Chiu Pages 17 & 18
Closed Session to set goals for Director and the Department. - Director Chiu Page 18
Agendize discussion regarding fire-damaged multiple units SROs - Commissioner Walker Page 18