Building Inspection Commission (BIC)

Regular Meeting

Wednesday, October 21, 1998, at 1:00 p.m.

Adopted on December 16, 1998

War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, Room 428

MINUTES

The meeting of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 1:15 p.m. by President Hood.

1.	ROLL CALL - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

Bobbie Sue Hood, President	Armando Vasquez, Vice President

Alfonso K. Fillon, Commissioner	Sigmund A. Freeman, Commissioner

Roy Guinnane, Commissioner	Sharon Mark, Commissioner

COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT:

Mona Cereghino, Commissioner - excused absence

D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:

Frank Chiu, Director

William Wong, Deputy Director for Inspection Services

Jim Hutchinson, Deputy Director for Permit Services

Steven Young, Assistant to the Director

Tuti Suardana, Secretary for the One Stop Program

CITY ATTORNEY'S REPRESENTATIVE:

Judy Boyajian, Deputy City Attorney

2.	President's Report.

President Hood said that she has been receiving question on the Access Appeals Commission appointments and encouraged persons who are interested to contact Commissioner Fillon. She also welcomed Director Chiu back from his trip to China.

3.	Director's Report.

Director Chiu said that he did not have any items to report at this time.

4.	Public Comment.

Ms. Mia Lord, resident and owner of 174 Majestic Avenue, addressed the Commission and said that the Public Comment of the Commission's agenda is meant for items not in the agenda but within the Commission's jurisdiction. She said that she had addressed the Commission many times in the previous meetings to request that her complaints on code enforcement be agendized. She said that this problem must be fixed and there has been no resolution to date.

President Hood asked if Deputy Director Wong has been meeting with Ms. Lord on this matter.

Deputy Director Wong said that he has been meeting with Ms. Lord, almost on a day to day basis.

Mr. Randy Shaw, Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said that there were articles in the newspapers lately criticizing President Hood for appearing before another commission on behalf of her client. He said that when Proposition G was drafted, it was the intent of the authors that certain seats be occupied by people with expertise, such as the architect seat. It was not the intent that these experts be precluded from the practice of their profession in the City. Such would be directly opposite the goal of getting experts in the field to provide input to the department. This is particularly true of President Hood who has invested of her own time without compensation as a member of the BIC for the past four years.

5.	Report, discussion, and possible action to convene a Closed Session on existing litigation described below. After the Closed Sessions, the Committee shall consider a motion to disclose or not disclose information discussed in Closed Session. If the Committee elects to disclose the information discussed during Closed Session or if the Committee takes action on the settlement of the case, the Chair shall direct the Commission Secretary to report on the deliberations or on the vote taken on any motion in Closed Session.

a.	Public Comment on all matters pertaining to the Closed Session.

Mr. Richard Harris, counsel to Mr. Randy George, asked why this item had been calendared as a Closed Session. He said that his client resides in the east coast and was not able to attend this meeting.

President Hood said that the matter is under litigation and the Commission has the right to go into Closed Session for matters under litigation.

b.	Possible action to Convene a Closed Session

Vice-President Vasquez moved, seconded by Commissioner Guinnane, to convene a Closed Session.

The motion passed unanimously. [Resolution No. BIC-102.98]

c.	CLOSED SESSION: Pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9 (a)

CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL

Existing Litigation:	359-61 Lombard Street

Report on the status of litigation in the case CCSF v. George. (Superior Court No. 998-027)

After the Closed Session, Commissioner Guinnane moved, seconded by Vice-President Vasquez, not to disclose the details of the discussion held at Closed Session.

The motion passed unanimously. [Resolution No. BIC-103.98]

Later on in the proceedings after Item #6b, Mr. Richard Harris, addressed the Commission to inquire what happened after the Closed Session.

President Hood said that the Commission decided not to disclose the details of the discussion at the Closed Session.

6.	Report and discussion on the following code enforcement cases:

a.	Terms of the judgment in the case of CCSF v. Kardosh (556 Jones Street - Superior Court No. 966-888.

Deputy City Attorney Kim Manolius said that this case was litigated before he came on board. He said that his knowledge of the history of this case is that it was before the Commission for approval of a proposed settlement. The Commission disapproved the settlement and directed the City Attorney's Office to litigate the case. The judgment that was granted from litigation was the about the same amount of money as that proposed in the settlement agreement, $93,000. There was some delays in payment but he understood that the full amount has now been paid and the violations have been abated.

Commissioner Guinnane asked how the money came to the department.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that there was an initial payment of $16,000 and the balance of $77,000 was paid in October.

President Hood asked who received the money.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that payment is made to the City Attorney's Office and then is transferred to the department.

Commissioner Guinnane ask for a breakdown of the judgment. He said that he has asked for this information repeatedly in the past. He wants to know how much of the money goes to attorney's fees, the general fund and to the department for penalties. He also wanted to know when the funds will be transferred to the department.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that he did not know the specific date of transfer. This usually takes a couple of weeks. He said that the breakdown is as follows: $24,247.06 goes to attorney's fees, $487.83 for litigation costs, $61,703.14 to the DBI special fund and $7,500 to the general fund.

Commissioner Guinnane asked why the special fund was $7,500.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that the answer to this question is more appropriate during a Closed Session because it speaks to legal strategy.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if the transfer could occur in two weeks or the end of the month.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that he also understood that there was some question on how the funds are transferred. He said that the DBI special fund is transmitted to the department. The general fund monies are transmitted to the Controller's Office.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if this information is provided to Ms. Paulette Hooey. She has said that she does not have access to the information on the breakdown.

Mt. Manolius said that he thought that DBI had computer access to the Controller's account. He said that there is a proposal to set up a separate account at the Controller's Office for the DBI special fund.

President Hood said that the department is paying for attorney's fees as they occur. She said that she was interested in following through the reimbursement of the charges.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that attorney's fees are credited immediately, within the following month of receipt.

Commissioner Freeman said that the 24k is credited in the City Attorney's billing. Then the 61K is credited as some form of income.

Mr. Manolius said that it goes to the DBI special fund.

Vice-President Vasquez said that the problem is that there is no clear accounting on the money received from cases. That is what the Commission is looking for.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he would like to entertain some discussion on opening up a separate account so that money that goes into that so that the Commission can clearly see what is coming in. Also, that if the Commission wants to appropriate from that account, that can be done in the future.

Director Chiu said that he would be happy to set up a meeting with Commissioner Guinnane, Ms. Hooey, himself and probably someone from the Controller's Office to address Commissioner Guinnane's concerns.

President Hood said that would be great to clear up the confusion.

Commissioner Guinnane said that this is the first breakdown that the Commission has gotten on any case. He has been asking for this information for the last five months.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that a separate account would not address this question. The information has to be passed on to the Commission in a different way. He would work at getting the information to the Commission.

Commissioner Guinnane said that Director Chiu's suggestion was a good way to solve this issue.

Commissioner Freeman said that what the Commission wants to do is to track. Setting up a special account does not necessarily do that. It has to stand out somewhere in the reports given to the Commission.

b.	Terms of the settlement in the case of CCSF v. Benton (1080 Bush Street - Superior Court No. 986-273.

Deputy City Attorney Manolius said that this was the $100,000 check that he had reported had crossed his desk. He said that this broke down as follows: $35,850.90 for attorney's fees, $1,133.15 for litigation costs, $58,400 for Housing Code penalties (DBI special fund) and $5,000 for Business and Professions Code penalties (general fund). This was credited to the department on August 20, 1998.

The Commission took a break at this point in the proceedings, from 3:30 to 3:45 p.m.

7.	Report, discussion and possible action to determine how to evaluate and scope an analysis of the MIS (Management of Information Systems) Division, including but not limited to:

a.	Identification of elements that contribute to the performance and progress of the MIS division, e.g., staffing, consultants, and organizational structure;

President Hood said that this agenda item was not meant to discuss the problems of the MIS Division per se, but to scope an analysis of the management of information systems. The MIS affects every division in the department. The Commission would want to hear from MIS staff on what items the Commission should look at.

Director Chiu introduced Mr. Steve Young, who has been assisting him on the MIS Programs and the Special Projects Program. Mr. Young has also retained a consultant to assist the department in assessing the progress of MIS.

Mr. Steve Young, Assistant to the Director, said that all the members of the MIS Division were present and introduced them to the Commission. Mr. Young said that he was responsible, on an interim basis, for the day to day operations of the MIS Division until such time as a manager is hired. The division is responsible not only for the development of the permit tracking system (PTS) but also for servicing the computer needs of the department. Another issue that they are addressing is the assessment of the needs of the department. That would lead to determinations on permanent staffing and personnel contracts with outside consultants. The technology requires a high level of training and expertise. The department systems have to be looked at as an evolutionary system. Most of the resources have been used up for the development of the permit tracking system at the same time that the division has provided continuing service to staff. Mr. Young said that he had good news to report on the PTS. He said that the division has finished the query portion of the PTS and the project has now moved into a stage called Beta testing, that is that the program is being tested by Central Permit Bureau staff. After the testing, any deficiencies will be addressed and the program can be rolled out for actual users. He said that he did not want to give a date but that this time around, the division has hit a landmark that would allow the use of the PTS by the first quarter of the year.

President Hood said that her concern is that there is a sense on the part of the Commission that some of the deadlines have been missed in the past. What she would want is some straightforward, useful measures of performance.

Mr. Young said that he is a lay person and does not have the high level technical background to address this issue.

President Hood said that maybe there should be some discussion on reliance on consultants, its cost and whether this would continue or not. She said that she understood that what was being developed was a permit tracking system. However, earlier the Commission again saw an example of a permit that was issued on an address that was before the Abatement Appeals Board. She said she was particularly concerned about where the drawings are. Plans are getting lost and this is one of the most important concerns that is being brought up again and again.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if the public had access yet to the permit tracking program.

Mr. Young said that that was one of the enhancements planned which would be through the Internet. However, he did not want to give out that access until the system is full proof. The system is not yet as friendly as it could be. There is a need to wait.

Commissioner Guinnane asked how many paid consultants there are.

Mr. Young said that there is a single team which is umbrella-ed under the Cyber Network who is approved by the City's Committee on Information Systems (COIT) or Computer Store. They are allowed to bring in other vendors with COIT oversight. They have brought in five vendors. The consultants in the department consist of a higher-end computer systems engineer from Reach and two assistants. Through the Cyber Network, there are two Oracle computer support specialists. Altogether, there are seven to ten consultants on and off. Except for the Reach people, the consultants on board have been working with the department for a long time. They are retained for continuity in the development process.

Commissioner Guinnane asked how long the Reach consultants have been on board and who brought the Reach consultants in.

Mr. Young said that the Reach consultants have been on board since December 1997. Mr. Young said that December is a key date when the department concluded its contract with Sierra Cybernetics.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if Reach was the latest to have been brought on board.

Mr. Young said that only Bruce Yuke had been brought in since December 1997. Mr. Yuke is a disinterested consultant who has prepared assessment reports on the work of other consultants.

President Hood asked if Commissioner Guinnane would be interested in getting copies of Mr. Yuke's reports.

Commissioner Guinnane said yes.

Mr. Young said that he would make those reports available to the Commission immediately.

President Hood solicited input from the MIS personnel.

Mr. Young said that he would leave the room so that staff would be comfortable in giving input to the Commission.

President Hood said that the Commission proceedings are a matter of public and Mr. Young is welcome to stay if he wishes.

Mr. Roan Michaels, MIS, said that he was the manager of the MIS Division up to three months ago for about a year and a half. He said he was manager in December 1997 when the contract with Sierra Cybernetics ended. The division had to take over the work left unfinished by this consultant. The task ahead is still on the clean up of the data. There was no way to foresee how much work this would require. This was something one could not even budget for. There was a need to bring in more resources. He thanked the Director and the City Attorney's Office for helping him out in ironing out the contracts. Mr. Michaels said that the consultants were set up as personnel service contract. He said that this was not an effective way to manage the services. The team that is on board now looks like they have a better handle on how to handle software development. He said that one benchmark is when the new system is able to process a permit, access data back to as many years as needed, and something that is better than the Motorola. He said that the new system must also be maintainable. The test will be if one can get the permits out. Mr. Michaels said that the Commission should not forget that the Motorola is still in pretty bad shape although it was stabilized last year.

Commissioner Guinnane asked Mr. Michaels his title and background.

Mr. Michaels said that his interim position is as engineer. He is on provisional status until DHR finalizes the MIS classifications. He said that he assigned to the HelpDesk for 1650 Mission with about 30 staff members. He also does some support for 1660 for some project.

Commissioner Mark said that Mr. Michaels made reference to cleaning the data and asked for clarification.

Mr. Michaels said that he was not up to date on this issue. In the past, that was one of the issues that had to be addressed. Staff had to develop scripts and there was a backlog of data that needed to be cleaned up. This was a labor intensive process. He said he believed that this process has been completed.

Director Chiu explained that the Motorola system accepted wrong data, e.g., Geary could be misspelled. The new system rejects invalid data. Staff has to go back and clean up the data in order to make the system work. This was a time consuming task.

Mr. Marcus Armstrong said that in the past there were problems. However, presently there are very clear objectives. The actual measurements of performance are written into the new contracts and are fairly modular. He said that he has worked with the consultants and had some input on renewing contracts based on performance. He said that the problems in the past was transporting the data from Motorola to Oracle. That problem has been solved. Now, the problem is the clean up of the data.

Commissioner Guinnane asked when the work shifted.

Director Chiu said that the shift occurred in December 1997 at about the time Reach came on board. The department looked at other consultants prior to contracting with Reach through Cyber. With Reach, the department is where it wants to be. Reach installed the website at a reasonable price and on time. Reach also worked on the computer work at 1650 Mission also on time and at a low price.

Commissioner Guinnane asked who makes the decisions on hiring outside consultants and what are the checks. He asked who in the department has that skill or responsibility. Is it one or two or three persons?

Director Chiu said that the decisions are not only made in the department, they go to the Controller's Office and the Committee on Information Systems (COIT). The department can and has been overruled on which contractor to hire.

Mr. Armstrong said that Cyber, the City's approved vendor, decides who to subcontract work out to.

Commissioner Guinnane asked who decides on the rates paid.

Director Chiu said that COIT decides on the rates.

President Hood said that this makes sense because COIT has the expertise on this.

Ms. Leslie Dalton said that her work is to keep the network going. Most of her expertise is from Sierra Cybernetics who is no longer with the team. In the past, she was involved with PTS development. She said that the network is holding its own for the time being. However, once the Oracle system is operational, there will have to be expansions needed.

President Hood asked for a definition of the PTS system.

Ms. Dalton said that often PTS system is used to refer to the Oracle system. However, the Motorola is also a PTS system. PTS refers to the software and data components of the computer system.

Commissioner Mark asked if the upgrades of the equipment has been budgeted.

Director Chiu said that some of the items have been budgeted for this fiscal year but there are items for which the department will have to tap into next year's budget. The more services made available to the public, the more upgrades needed. The hardware is more than seven years old.

Ms. Dalton said that the PTS (Oracle) will require hardware upgrade. A measure of performance would be the speed at which information can be made available, for example to the public or at the counter. Right now, the queries run slowly.

President Hood said that there have been no crashes or breakdowns lately with the Motorola. She also said that she often gets information fairly quickly at the counter or over the phone. She said that she had not felt, from the other side of the counter, that this was a problem.

Mr. Armstrong said that the network architecture is not up to par with the software. It is like having built a Ferrari with a Volkswagen engine. Now the department is looking at internal customer features. There is also the Year 2000 issue. The analyzes has just been completed and those issues have been researched.

Mr. Michaels said another helpful piece of information is that the Motorola services 55 terminals at one time. There are more than 200 employees. The new system will be able to give access to everyone with computer terminals. Another measure aside from speed, is the number of customer served.

President Hood asked what is holding up giving access to everyone.

Mr. Michaels said that it was a money problem. The resources had first to be funneled to fix the Motorola problem. In response to Commissioner Guinnane's question, Mr. Michaels described his background and said that he was a senior engineer before taking over as manager after Mr. James Albert. He has worked for four years in DBI in day-to-day maintenance and is a certified network engineer. He was manager of MIS for a year and a half.

Mr. Dino Ghilarducchi, network engineer, described his background. He said that the Commission asked for benchmarks. He said he has worked two and a half years for DBI. On his first day, the Motorola crashed two times. At that time, it was matter of fact and acceptable. Now, that is no longer acceptable and the Motorola no longer crashes. There have been major improvements. Other benchmark include the startup time at the beginning of the day and standardization/maintenance of printers.

Ms. June Miyamoto said that she works closely with the Oracle consultants.

President Hood said that the input from staff has been really helpful. She said that the Commission wants to be a resource to staff.

Vice-President Vasquez said that the budget process will be coming up and the Commission will want to discuss options to ensure an optimum computer system.

b.	Background and history of the strategies and alternatives pursued for the development of various components of the MIS Division;

c.	Identification of the systems and divisions strongly dependent on the MIS performance and measures to evaluate the performance of such systems and divisions.

President Hood said that the Housing Inspection Services Division is preparing to carry out inspections of apartment buildings. She requested that Director Chiu work with Mr. Young and come up with a list of justifications for what is needed.

Director Chiu thanked the Commission for their support. He said that the department is working on the budget. He has kept an eye on the Year 2000 issue. This and customer service to the public can be used as justifications for budget requests. He said he will work with the Budget Committee.

President Hood said that there should also be a system for tracking plans in the system. There is good argument to get this budgeted.

Director Chiu said that Deputy Director Hutchinson is already working on this.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that this is a historical problem and there is a need to fix the problem. There has to be a bullet proof system. Staff has looked into the UPS system and available software. Staff is also looking to other cities.

President Hood recommended looking also into the FedEx system.

8.	Commissioner Inquiries and Review of Communication Items: At this time, the Commission may make inquiries to staff regarding the status of various documents, policies, practices and procedures which are of interest to the Commission and may discuss communication items received since the last Commission meeting.

There was no discussion on this item.

9.	Approval of the Minutes of the BIC Regular Meeting of October 7, 1998.

Deputy Director Wong said that the Minutes should be amended on page 2, Item #4. The second paragraph should state that the matter had risen through the ranks, he had visited the site and he is working very closely with Ms. Lord to resolve this case.

Commissioner Freeman said that on page 3, the first paragraph starting with his name, the third line should be amended to state "has not been adopted." Also, three paragraphs down, the Minutes should say, "Commissioner Freeman said that there should be consultation with DBI so there will be no confusion with regards to seismic regulations." The rest of the language should be deleted.

Commissioner Guinnane moved, seconded by Commissioner Mark, to approve the Minutes of October 7, 1998 as amended.

The motion passed unanimously. [Resolution No. BIC-104.98]

10.	Discussion and possible action with respect to those items that could be placed on the agenda of November 4, 1998 BIC Regular Meeting and other future meetings.

Commissioner Guinnane said that at the October 7, 1998 BIC Regular Meeting, he had requested the following items which he wanted to be agendized for the next meeting: $169,000 in assessments in the HIS quarterly report, $68,000 in HIS collections, $36,600 credit for attorney's fees on Bush Street and another credit $32,050.33. He said he also wanted to discuss the $12 million in the surplus. He wanted information that went back five years and how much the surplus was every year. He also wanted to discuss limits for the surplus, $12 million or $15 million or $20 million. The department is supposed to run on the fees it collects. With a surplus, he wants to look at reducing fees for all permits.

President Hood asked if the department would be able to do this in two weeks.

Director Chiu said that the department could provide information as the basis for a detailed discussion.

President Hood said that the fact that the department has accumulated so much points to the fact that there must be a pattern. There is a need to address this issue. On those items requested from Ms. Hooey, she said she wanted to add that Commissioner Guinnane will be meeting with staff on this issue.

Commissioner Guinnane said that maybe the funds can be distributed through the Controller's Office. He said that he will look into this issue. On the surplus, he wants to know where it is invested and what kind of return the department is getting for it. He also requested information over the five years on any receivables due to the department.

Vice-President Vasquez said the discussion on the surplus should include what options are available.

Director Chiu said that this discussion needs to happen. He has wanted to address this issue with the budget committee. Both the Board of Supervisors and Harvey Rose have talked about this surplus. Before taking any steps such as reducing fees, he would like input on goals and possible uses of these funds from the Commission.

Vice-President Vasquez said that there has also been talk about expanding the building so that the department does not have to pay rent for 1650 Mission Street.

President Hood said that based on discussions today, she said that she understood that one of the reasons that the permit tracking system is not yet online through the Internet is because our basic network system does not have the power to handle this load. That is a long term investment to be able to do that. There should be an ongoing upgrading of the system. This is a big budget item.

Director Chiu agreed. He said the equipment is seven years old. He said he wanted to first identify the programs and then work back into what steps to take to address the surplus. He said that he has talked with other building officials who have special funds department. He said that the opinion is that at least half of the budget amount should be kept as a reserve.

President Hood said that that is the reason why the information should go back. The last big drop was in 1991.

Vice-President Vasquez requested that the lead paint ordinance amendments be on the agenda for the next meeting.

President Hood said that the Access Appeals Commission appointments could also be on the agenda.

11.	Public Comment.

There was no testimony received at this point in the proceedings.

12.	Adjournment.

There being no other business, and on a motion made by Commissioner Guinnane, seconded by Vice-President Vasquez, the meeting adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

The motion passed unanimously. [Resolution No. BIC-105.98]

_________________________________

MARIA G. T. BANICO

Commission Secretary

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