Department of Building Inspection

Building Inspection Commission

Wednesday, March 19, 2003
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 408
Adopted May 7, 2003

MINUTES

The regular meeting of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 4:05 p.m. by President Fillon.

1. Call to Order and Roll Call - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.

COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:

Alfonso Fillon, President Denise D'Anne, Commissioner

Bobbie Sue Hood, Vice-President Esther Marks, Commissioner

Roy Guinnane, Commissioner Rodrigo Santos, Commissioner

Matt Brown, Commissioner

Ann Aherne, Commission Secretary, excused

D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:

Frank Chiu, Director

Amy Lee, Assistant Director

Taras Madison, Administration & Finance Manager

Sonya Harris, Secretary

2. President's Announcements.

President Fillon had no announcements.

3. Director's Report. [Director Chiu]

a. Report on Mayor's policy regarding the City's Fleet and DBI's reduction of 18 vehicles.

Director Chiu said that there is Citywide policy to reduce the entire fleet of City vehicles by 15%. Director Chiu said that he did not know what prompted this policy but said that he thought that the City as a whole was facing budgetary issues and there are concerns regarding City vehicles. Director Chiu said, as a result of this Assistant Director Amy Lee had extensive discussions with the City's Administrative Office and his understanding at this point is that DBI had turned in those vehicles which were problems and would cost a lot of money to maintain. Director Chiu stated that the Department hade currently turned in eight vehicles and Ms. Lee continually working with the City's Administrative Office on this issue. Director Chiu said there are eleven more cars that will have to be turned in to the City's Administrative Office. Director Chiu said he wanted to inform the Commission of this situation because some staff members had already complained about not having a City vehicle, but there is nothing that the Department could do about this, as it is a new policy. Director Chiu asked the Commission if they had any questions.

Commissioner Guinnane asked about the carpool situation that DBI was participating in and asked if the Department had loaned six cars to the City. Director Chiu responded that it was five cars. Commissioner Guinnane asked what were the years and how new were those cars? Director Chiu said that they varied as some were older and only one or two were CNG or newer cars. Commissioner Guinnane asked if Director Chiu had the option to switch those cars around and pull those newer cars out of that pool and replace them with two or three of the other vehicles that now had to be turned over. Director Chiu said that he did not believe that the Department could do that now, because those cars were already assigned to the City pool, but stated that DBI was working very hard to identify the eleven more cars. Director Chiu said that the goal was to find staff that could do without a car full time. Commissioner Guinnane said that he saw a problem with the Department trying to save money and having cut down the vehicle pool by eight cars and then eleven more, then obviously the individuals that don't have a City car are going to have to use their own car and get paid so much a mile, so how would this balance out. Director Chiu replied that obviously the Department's first priority was to make sure that the people who don't have a car, but need one to conduct DBI business would first try to obtain one within the DBI carpool, and if that doesn't work then the would have to use the City-wide carpool. Director Chiu said that the scenario of an employee using their own vehicle would be a last resort. Assistant Director Amy Lee said that the cars that were previously provided to the carpool would be counted as part of the reduction of the requested total. Ms. Lee stated that there was still discussion between City Administration and DBI because initially the turn-in requirement was for general fund Departments and Ms. Lee said that she pointed out that DBI is a special fund and should not have been included in the requirement. Ms. Lee said that in the spirit of cooperation the Department participated, but could count those eight vehicle that were too old to resuscitate, as well as additional cars provided to the City-wide carpool. Ms. Lee said that she was hoping to find a balance in negotiating agreements with the City administrative office to make sure that DBI does not have a service impact to staff and customers.

b. Report on requirements for Processing Payments for Outside Legal Counsel.

Director Chiu said he doesn't intend to go into detail as this was basically and informational item. Director Chiu stated the Department recently received a memorandum from the City Attorney and the Controller's Office outlining the procedure for seeking outside legal counsel for the Department and/or the Commission. Director Chiu said basically the Department would always first seek advice from the City Attorney's office and there are only two instances where DBI could seek outside counsel other than the City Attorney and have the City pay for it. Director Chiu stated that department or commission may retain outside counsel for a matter where the City Attorney has a conflict of interest or may retain temporary outside counsel for specific purposes, subject to the consent of both the Mayor and the City Attorney. Director Chiu said that if the guidelines are not followed and the Department seeks outside counsel then the Department on their own as far as payment is concerned. President Fillon asked if these rules were in the City Charter. Director Chiu said that was correct and there are procedures in place for the Department to follow. Commissioner Guinnane asked in what kind of case would the Department have to seek outside counsel and was this something DBI was looking at in the future, because this has been a long standing policy. Commissioner Guinnane said as a matter of fact he had looked into this issue a few years ago about not having to use the City Attorney. Vice-President Hood said that the Department gets a better price from the City Attorney. President Fillon asked who determines there is a conflict in the City Attorney's office and who makes that decision. Director Chiu said the Department would initially question the City Attorney's office and let them know that a conflict might exist. President Fillon stated that the City Attorney is the one who determines whether or not he has a conflict. Director Chiu said this is the way he reads the policy. Vice-President Hood said the Commission took this up when this Commission first started with Louise Renne, because she was very critical of the Commission and the issue was taken as far as it could go. Vice-President Hood stated somebody who was on the Commission at that time felt very strongly about not using the City Attorney's Office, but it turned out that it was impossible.

c. Report on Supervisor Tony Hall's proposed blight ordinance and its affect on DBI's Code Enforcement.

Director Chiu said he would give the Commission a brief report on Supervisor Tony Hall's proposed blight ordinance. Director Chiu said Supervisor Hall is not actually proposing the ordinance yet, but has done a study, so to speak, and compared departments in San Francisco including DBI, Planning, Fire Department, DPT, Public Works and whatnot to department's in San Jose. Director Chiu said that San Jose, in the last couple of years has consolidated all of their code enforcement to include such things as vehicle abandonment, construction debris, or site problems and whatnot into one Department. Director Chiu said it appears to him that looking at other jurisdictions Los Angeles has also followed a similar path with enforcement in each of their respective departments such as Planning, Building, Public Works, DPT, and whatnot by having one central department. Director Chiu referred to the BIC packet that included the extensive study, which is a comparison between what happens in San Francisco and what San Jose has recently implemented. Vice-President Hood asked Director Chiu if he thought San Jose worked better as a result of that. Director Chiu said he hadn't really talked to the San Jose Code Enforcement Department yet, but it would depend on how someone would look at it. President Fillon asked if this was a separate agency. Director Chiu said they created a separate Department and gave it a different name other than code enforcement. President Fillon asked if this were done in San Francisco how would it affect the DBI staff. Director Chiu said that at DBI there are outreach programs, code enforcement, and a separate division for disability access so if those were all centralized then it would have a great deal of impact on DBI, because the Department might have to give up the money or resources or the City might want to take some staff away from DBI. Director Chiu said that at this time he was only bringing this information to the Commission, and was not ready to talk about implementing anything as this report is still being reviewed. Director Chiu stated that he was meeting with DBI Managers and staff to reviewing the whole thing. Director Chiu said that he wanted to have the Commissioners look at it carefully, because it may or may not have an impact on DBI. Director Chiu said from his experience with Los Angeles they essentially took some resources away from each agency and put them under one umbrella. Director Chiu said he thinks Supervisor Hall is just seeking comments from all of the various agencies, Departments, and Commissions as to what they think about this proposal. Vice-President Hood said that this would make a lot more sense in Los Angeles or San Jose because they have a lot of vacant land, but that is not the case in San Francisco. President Fillon said there's no free parking; there are no days that there aren't cars on the street. Director Chiu said President Fillon was correct as these were not problems in San Francisco, but were problems in those suburban areas. Director Chiu stated that although San Francisco does have some problems, they are not as great as in San Jose or Los Angeles. Vice-President Hood said these problems would exist a little bit more likely in an area such as Hunter's Point or the City's industrial areas. Director Chiu said he was asking the Commission to pay a bit of attention to the proposal and take a look at it and at some point it would need to be agendized to see what the Commission's and/or the Department's decision is and get back to Supervisor Hall. President Fillon asked if the Commission needed a committee to look at this. Director Chiu said he did not think that a committee was necessary. Director Chiu stated he thought that all of the Commissioners should have some input at some point. Vice-President Hood said she thought it would be great to get somebody from one of those other cities that have this program to come and tell us why they think it's so great.

4. 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.

5. Review of Communication Items. At this time, the Commission may discuss or take possible action to respond to communication items received since the last meeting.

a. Agenda for DBI's Brown Bag Lunch Talks.

b. Copy of letter dated March 7, 2003 from Director Frank Y. Chiu to Chris Rojahn, Executive Director of Applied Technology Council regarding the Suspension of CAPSS Contract.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he had a question regarding item b, the letter from ATC to Director Frank Chiu regarding CAPSS. Commissioner Guinnane asked Director Chiu if he could tell him why the suspended effective date was April 5, 2003. Assistant Director Amy Lee said she could answer the question. Ms. Lee said that initially when she was provided a copy of the contract by Technical Services she reviewed it to clarify the time constraints to look at the requirements for cancellation or suspension of the contract. Ms. Lee stated that in her version of the contract it did not include any language about any 30-day restriction. Ms. Lee said subsequently when she had more time to look at it that evening, she read it again and realized that some of the pages were missing in the back. Ms. Lee said she then requested an original of the contract and determined that cancellation would require a thirty-day notice and that is why it was subsequently changed. Commissioner Guinnane asked when notice was given. Ms. Lee said notice was given the day after the Commission met at the last meeting. Commissioner Guinnane asked if that meant that the Department had no control over this spending until April 5, 2003. Ms. Lee said that certainly, as she mentioned before, there are some outstanding invoices to be paid, and those need to be evaluated as to whether or not it is proper to pay for those services. Ms. Lee said she had reviewed the invoices in terms of the financial implications, but didn't know if there had been a thorough review by program staff or whether or not the work attributed to those invoices is valid and appropriate. Vice-President Hood asked if the program staff still consisted solely of Laurence Kornfield. Ms. Lee said she believed that Laurence Kornfield was working with Lou Aurea. Ms. Lee reported that she received a memo today from ATC, stating that they were upset that she made the allegations about some of the items on the invoices, and validating some of the costs that she had questioned. Ms. Lee stated that she would be sending a memo to Laurence Kornfield to make sure that he is doing the review that she thinks he is doing, in terms of the programmatic review versus the financial review. Commissioner Guinnane said at the last Commission hearing he made a request for a copy of the contract, and copies of all of the bills so that the Commission could go through them. Commissioner Guinnane said then the Commission was going to put this on the agenda, because there was some discussion about these bills, the way they were being billed, and who was approving them. Commissioner Guinnane said Ms. Lee had Lee mentioned that Deputy Director William Wong was in charge. Ms. Lee said that Laurence Kornfield approves everything; he approves the entire contract and payments. Vice-President Hood said the Commission said that they did not want this to continue and wanted the Department to have some oversight. Vice-President Hood said she wanted to have those minutes, because Assistant Director Lee and Director Chiu again need to know what is going on with this issue. Ms. Lee said she had reviewed those minutes and stated that she was just instructed to review the invoices. Ms. Lee stated that she sent a letter to make sure that not just Laurence Kornfield, but Deputy Director William Wong and everyone else involved knew about this situation. Ms. Lee said she would be doing a careful read of the reports. Ms. Lee said the reports are highly technical and a little beyond her scope. Ms. Lee stated that she reviewed the invoices, but she assumed, as well as the Commission did, that the program staff was reviewing this information to ensure that the payments that were approved were for the services provided. Ms. Lee said she hears the Commission's concerns loud and clear and the Department will make sure that it is being done. Ms. Lee said as she mentioned before, because she was concerned, she only approved two of the invoices even though there are three additional months of invoices sitting on her desk and she didn't feel comfortable in approving those three without further guidance from the Commission. Commissioner Guinnane said he would like to get a copy, before any more money is paid out, of the invoices that are sitting on Assistant Director Lee's desk, as well as all of the prior invoices that were paid and a copy of the contract. Commissioner Guinnane said he would like to see who signed off on what. Vice-President Hood said if Laurence Kornfield or Deputy Director

William Wong is responsible for approving these invoices or if it is Assistant Director Lee or Director Chiu, she wanted to see who approved each and every item. Vice-President Hood said the Commission just got this copy of a letter that has all these cell phone charges on it, but it doesn't tell whom those cell phone calls were to or from, what the purpose of the call was, or any of the things a company would have to list if they were billing a private client. Ms. Lee said that this is exactly what she was concerned about when she reviewed those invoices.

Vice-President Hood said that in reading the letter from ATC, the Commission's motion was very specific about terminating the contract. Vice-President Hood said that the motion made it clear that ATC should be terminating the work immediately, but then the thirty-day notice was not until later. Vice-President Hood said ATC was to be told to stop work, and that should mean no more billing. Vice-President Hood said the guy from ATC who testified at the last BIC meeting said there was only a couple of hundred dollars more to spend under this phase, and they weren't supposed to spend any more money than that. Vice-President Hood asked if this had been effectively transmitted to ATC. Ms. Lee said that it didn't at that point. Ms. Lee stated that in her past memo when this was heard back in November, that was the message that the Commission was supposed to send, but the Commission declined to do so at that time. Vice-President Hood said she was talking about the last time this came before the BIC, at the last meeting. Ms. Lee said that according to the contract the Department could not give ATC shorter notice than thirty-days. Vice- President Hood said this wasn't what she was asking Assistant Director Lee to do. Vice-President Hood asked if Assistant Director Lee did not understand the motion because she wanted this done and the Commission voted and passed on it, so if it wasn't done then it wasn't authorized and it was against this Commission's directive. Vice-President Hood said that the gentleman (Chris Rojahn) from the company doing the work was at the last meeting and said that this phase of the work was almost finished and there was only a couple of hundred dollars more on it. Vice- President Hood stated then there should be a period of review of that phase of the work and that would have filled up the rest of the thirty-day notice. Vice-President Hood said it seems that this was not communicated to Mr. Rojahn. Vice-President Hood said that, in other words, at the end of this phase the Department would need to take a review period and during that time no further work was to be done. Vice-President Hood said reviews are part of the process, part of the notice, but ATC can't be running up the bills on the next phase while the Department is reviewing it. Vice- President Hood asked if this was done. Ms. Lee said yes, because the contract clearly states that before payment is made the Department has the discretion to review the work. Ms. Lee said she believed a copy of the contract was given to all of the members of the Commission several months ago. Ms. Lee stated that this was why in her past memo she encouraged this Commission, as well as staff, to do a review in addition to her review. Vice-President Hood said Assistant Director Lee shouldn't just encourage staff, they should have to do it or the money doesn't get paid. Vice-President Hood said that it is a black and white thing; it's not a gray thing. Ms. Lee said that frankly and unfortunately the reason she wrote the memos to the Commission was because the Commission gave her gray guidelines. Ms. Lee stated that she did not have black and white guidelines from the Commission. Vice-President Hood said that she was not talking about before the last meeting, but was talking about the last meeting where the Commission made the decision to terminate the contract. Vice-President Hood said that the Commission agreed it was a nutty mess before then, but then Mr. Rojahn got up and said ATC were almost done with that phase and there was just a couple of hundred dollars more under that phase of the contract. Vice-President Hood said that the Commission agreed that the work was to end at the end of that phase and the thirty-day notice period would be taken up in reviews. Vice-President Hood said that the vendor should not be doing anything because they have not gotten any feedback to begin the next phase and have been given this thirty-day notice. Ms. Lee said that under contract terms the Department could not tell ATC in five minutes or in twenty-four hours that they can not do any more work. Ms. Lee said the contract clearly states that the Department had to give them a thirty-day notice, and orally this was given. Vice-President Hood asked what the thirty-day notice gives them. Ms. Lee and Commissioner Guinnane said that it is a thirty-day notice from the date the Department wrote the letter. Vice-President Hood said she understood that, but it is just like authorizing these payments because Assistant Director Lee says she reviews the invoices for accounting purposes only. Vice-President Hood stated that if Assistant Director Lee doesn't understand what the work is for, then she can only review it for the accounting, because that's all it is. Ms. Lee said that she received assurances from her staff, Mr. Laurence Kornfield and his supervisors, that they reviewed the work and then the Commission clearly asked her to look at the invoices. Ms. Lee said that unfortunately she was a little bit dismayed at the kind of discussion that she and Vice President Hood were having because she was asked to do the invoice review. Ms. Lee said that she made sure she worked with Laurence Kornfield and he provided her with numerous documentations, binders of information, and Mr. Kornfield asserted to Ms. Lee that the work was appropriate for the services. Ms. Lee said that she questioned the costs, but Mr. Kornfield stated that because of the technical nature of the services provided that it was going to be expensive and the Department received all of these reports. Ms. Lee stated that she has copies of these reports, and she believes that some of the reports were previously provided to the Commission, so yes the Department has been reviewing the invoices. Ms. Lee said that unfortunately Laurence Kornfield was not present at the last meeting because he was sick, and the other staff person that was working on this project also chose not to attend the meeting. Ms. Lee stated she is telling the Commission from what she understood, in terms of managing this Department, that staff is telling her that they are doing this review and she is hearing this from Laurence Kornfield, Lou Aurea, and Deputy Director William Wong. Vice-President Hood said the Commission had the right to set policy, and she really wanted this issue to be taken up with the City Attorney. Vice-President Hood stated that she wanted the issue of CAPSS agendized for the next Building Inspection Commission meeting and she wanted the records that Commissioner Guinnane requested. Vice-President Hood said she wants to know why the Department didn't carry out the motion she made. Vice-President Hood stated it was under the City Charter that the Commission has the right to establish policy. Ms. Lee said that the motion was carried out.

Commissioner Guinnane said that, first of all, Vice-President Hood put a motion forward at the last meeting and he was going to put a second with the motion, but Commissioner Guinnane said he told Vice-President Hood that the motion was very contradictory, because she was saying to stop all spending and then on the other hand was saying to finish up Phase II. Commissioner Guinnane said he basically withdrew his motion, and he made it very simple to immediately cease all expenditures effective that day, March 5, 2003, write and send the letter the next day, and the Department was told to put a thirty-day trigger on it. Commissioner Brown asked if the program was suspended. Commissioner Guinnane said yes it was, until the Commission could get a further review. Commissioner Guinnane stated that ATC was to cease all spending, but the thing is the contract says thirty days, so the Department is on the hook during the thirty-day notice. Commissioner Guinnane said Vice-President Hood could not blame Assistant Director Lee, as there are other people in the Department that stand to take the blame here, and that will come out when the billing is put forward to the Commission. Commissioner Guinnane said then the Commission would be able to see who signed off on what and what descriptions were put on the billings. Commissioner Guinnane stated a lot of the blame lies back with the Commission because the Commission signed the check, they sent it out, and they didn't shoot this down a long time ago. Vice-President Hood said she would have to review the notes to see about that. Vice-President Hood said that she understood what Commission Guinnane had just said as that discussion did transpire. Vice-President Hood stated that there was a gentleman (Mr. Rojahn) at the last Commission meeting who was doing the work and said they were very close to the end of the Phase. Vice-President Hood said there could be a review period, to fill out the contractual notice period. Vice-President Hood said this would have given the Commission a contractual argument to not spend further money. Vice-President Hood asked if Commissioner Guinnane understood what she was saying. Commissioner Guinnane said yes he understood. Commissioner Guinnane said the whole thing was the Commission was talking about a couple of thousand dollars to finalize the project, but then there was another issue about printing and how much the printing was going to cost. Vice-President Hood said that was just a couple of hundred dollars and stated that Mr. Rojahn gave the Commission the number. Commissioner Guinnane said, no the number Mr. Rojahn gave did not include printing and that is why if Vice-President Hood went back and looked at the minutes of the meetings he was talking about, that's why he came up with a $25,000 cap number to stop it then and not to go over that. Commissioner Guinnane stated the $25,000 included the printing because the contract didn't cover any of the printing of the CAPSS information. Vice- President Hood said that she thought that the Commissioners needed the facts in front of them to get this straight, but said that she thought that unfortunately this was symptomatic of the overall contract process. Commissioner Guinnane said it's a bit late now because the money is gone; it's just too late.

President Fillon said it took a while, but the Commission could have taken more direct action on this sooner and some of the Commissioners tried to do that, and there wasn't a consensus on the Commission to make that happen earlier. President Fillon stated the Department is stuck with this contract and the trigger has already been pulled and now the thirty days have to run out. President Fillon said there is no more work that should be done on this contract. President Fillon stated it has got to be perfectly clear to ATC that they are not to do any more work. Director Chiu said the letter did state this. Vice-President Hood said the letter from ATC stated they are not going to do any more work after April 5, 2003, and asked what they were doing right now that is not in its last Phase. Commissioner Guinnane said he wouldn't be worried about a $15.00 cell phone bill, because he's sure there is a lot more money buried in there. Ms. Lee said as she mentioned earlier, because she didn't get help from the Department to do a sufficient review and even though the Department paid invoices that were supposed to be paid, the contract allows the Department of Building Inspection to be dissatisfied with the services, and if the Department were dissatisfied then the invoices would not be paid. Ms. Lee said this is why she has some invoices sitting on her desk, and said that she was telling the Commission that she doesn't feel comfortable that staff has done a review of those three outstanding months. Ms. Lee said that staff had assured her that the review had been done, and she has read some of the reports associated with the two invoices that she paid. Vice-President Hood said that there was staff present who were responsible to tell the Commission what happened and asked for Deputy Director Wong to come forward.

Deputy Director William Wong said he wanted to apologize to the Commission for some of the frustration that they were experiencing. Mr. Wong stated that, as Assistant Director Lee mentioned, this is a highly technical project. Mr. Wong said what happened was that the Commission had asked for a couple of things, and one of the frustrations that the Commission were experiencing is that they didn't have all of the information in front of them. Mr. Wong said the Commission did ask for a report on the invoices that went back a few months, and the Department provided that, as well as the schedule but Commissioner Guinnane is correct the Commission does not have the contract or the work product. Mr. Wong said that he asked Laurence Kornfield, who managed this project on a day-to-day basis, to provide the information to him. Mr. Wong said he requested a copy of the contract, and stated that he has all of the reports, which are the work products. Mr. Wong said he has two binders of information, but didn't want to transmit them to the Commission until he had a chance to look at review them and do a very simple match. Mr. Wong stated that he wanted to see what the contract called for and what the itemized work products were. Mr. Wong said he was reviewing this process right now, and said that it contained a lot of material. Commissioner Guinnane said that what he wanted to see was very simple; the Commission should be given the bills, a ledger, who signed off on what, and a copy of the contract, and then the Commission could ask for more information from there. Vice-President Hood asked Mr. Wong to give the Commission the work product, which he was already supposed to have given before he approved Laurence Kornfield's payments. Mr. Wong asked Commissioner Guinnane if the Commission would like to have the statements, as he thought this would help because the Commission would have all of the information they have talked about. Deputy Director Wong said he would be happy to make the copies for all of the Commissioners. Commissioner Guinnane said he would like to put the CAPSS issue on the calendar for the next BIC meeting and would like for Mr. Kornfield to be present, and hopes that he is not sick that day. Commissioner Matt Brown said he just wanted to make one comment about this issue, and said that he realized that this was a very touchy subject right now. Commissioner Brown said he thought that all of the Commissioners should approach the CAPSS issue as open mindedly as possible because there might not have been mistakes made. Commissioner Brown said the BIC should approach and look at it very objectively and if there were mistakes made, those would be assessed out and compensated for or the Commission would have to take whatever necessary or immediate remedial steps to correct whatever mistakes were made. Commissioner Brown said that right now the Commissioners are approaching this as if there were huge mistakes made and are not even sure if that is true. Commissioner Brown stated this particular contract was approved in better days when the Department had more money and unfortunately for whatever reasons, the Commission did not get to it quickly enough or maybe the Commission did get to it quickly enough and stopped it right where it needed to be stopped. Commissioner Brown said he just wanted to make sure that the Commission doesn't consider the project a failure before they evaluate it, and said he thought it was really important that the Commission look at this for what the contract said the Commission was supposed to do; then look at what was done at the last meeting and figure out if a mistake was made.

Vice-President Hood said there was another issue that she is concerned about regardless of what the contract is, and that is the processes within the Department where DBI have a handle on what's going on. Vice-President Hood said this is a lot of money; it's a tough time and its been a tough time for a long time, and everybody should be looking very carefully at whether or not any billings to the Department are adequately paid for. Vice-President Hood said that it seemed to her that Mr. William Wong was standing before the Commission and reading the product for the first time and this is of concern to her. Vice-President Hood said it was not that she was just blowing off steam. Commissioner Brown said there was specific language that the Commission had been talking about during this meeting where the word "mistake" was used, and said that he was not responding to the specific comment that Vice-President Hood made. Vice-President Hood said the responsibility to answer questions is what has been driving her concern; it's not that the Commission won't finally be given a lot more information and be able to make much more important decisions, but it's just that what the Commission does know is a source of great concern to her. Deputy Director Wong stated this wasn't the first time he had read the product information and said that he had been getting the progress reports and likewise would copy the Commission. Mr. Wong stated that the Commission has been getting the progress reports under Communication Items and a lot of material to read. Mr. Wong said he is kind of looking at this from the perspective of looking at everything now, and matching against the contract requirements to make sure that everything meets those requirements. Vice-President Hood thanked Deputy Director Wong. President Fillon asked if there was any public comment.

Mr. Joe O'Donoghue of The Residential Builders Association spoke and said that Commissioner Hood was talking about quality control. Mr. O'Donoghue said the Controller's office in their audit talked about quality control, but they weren't talking about the quality control that is being referred to at this meeting. Mr. O'Donoghue said this was his point when he objected to that part of the Controller's audit. Mr. O'Donoghue stated that there was a process at this meeting today, in terms of permit approvals where plans are lost and that is due to a lack of quality control. Mr. O'Donoghue said it was seen in the Elm Street case where again, if that person was able to make a recommendation to the Planning Department upon who then made an approval, even though that staff person did not have that authorization, that was because of a lack of quality control. Mr. O'Donoghue said it is the same way with MIS. Mr. O'Donoghue said that MIS contracts have been made and because of a lack of review and quality control now there is a malfeasance alleged in that Department. Mr. O'Donoghue said this is being seen again with this CAPSS issue in the Department where invoices were given out and one person was then approving the invoices; this also involved quality control. Mr. O'Donoghue said that was the process, which the Commission was speaking about today, and stated that he agreed with Commissioner Brown that it doesn't mean that a mistake was made, but said that anytime there is no quality control, and that has to be very succinct with that peer review, then there are going to be problems in the Department where someone will exceed the bounds of their authority. Mr. O'Donoghue stated that this is when abuses happen and then the whole Department is put into a bad light, because then malfeasances have occurred. Mr. O'Donoghue said in that sense it's good that the Commission is now pinpointing, at this time of economic hardships, all these necessities so that when the better times come back in at least the Department will be able to hold on to a lot more money than it has in the past. Mr. O'Donoghue thanked the Commission.

6. Review and approval of the minutes of the February 11, 2003 BIC meeting.

Vice President Hood made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Santos that the minutes be approved. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOUTION NO. BIC 015-03

7. 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.

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.

Commissioner Matt Brown said he would like to revisit, as an action item, the certification issue for Inspectors. Commissioner Guinnane asked Commissioner Brown could wait for the City Attorney's opinion on this and wait until the Commission gets feedback from their office. Commissioner Guinnane said he was concerned about the State law and if it supersedes the local law. Commissioner Guinnane said the City Attorney's office is researching this issue and he has asked for an opinion on it. Commissioner Brown said that would be fine with him, but stated that he would not be present the second BIC meeting in April, and said that he wanted to make sure that he would be present when the certification issue would be discussed. President Fillon said the Commission would try to coordinate the schedule so that Commissioner Brown would be present at that meeting.

Vice-President Hood said she did not want a long report on quality control, just a lot of written material because that could create a book on quality control. Vice-President Hood said she would like to think of a way, perhaps President Fillon could think of a way to discuss this, because it would just come up again and again. Vice-President Hood said maybe the Commission could come up with a way to get on it in a simple, efficient way. Director Chiu said he had been thinking about the same thing, and stated that the Department recently had been spending more time, and rightfully so, to look at all of the quality control issues, particularly regarding all of the fees and contracts for MIS. Director Chiu said he was wondering if the Commission was concerned about all of the contracts, and maybe the new policy should be that all future contracts, all RFPs, and all payments for those large items would have to come to the Commission or a committee before the Department acts on it. Director Chiu said he thought that by meeting with a sub-committee of the Commission the MIS had begun to move a little bit faster. Director Chiu said he and the Department are concerned about all of the contracts and said that he thought that there should be a policy from the Commission to establish in the future that all contracts, beginning from the RFP to selection of the contract, that if the contractor made a payment it should be reviewed and approved by a Commission Committee or the Commission. Commissioner Guinnane said that he thought that Director Chiu should come up with a dollar amount in order to keep somebody from getting around the amount and should pick an amount that is done on an annual basis, not an amount for each contract. Commissioner Guinnane said that the Commission could come up with an amount of $75,000 for example, and separate contracts could come in for $60,000 several times in the year so that is why this magic number should cover an annual basis. Director Chiu said he thought this was what the Commission was probably looking for. Vice-President Hood said that she thought that along the lines of this discussion and the implications of it there are also things like tracking the permits that have been a long time problem. President Fillon said that he did not want to see the accountability for managing these contracts passed on to the Commission or a committee. President Fillon said it needs to be done by Executive Staff. Vice-President Hood said the Commission needed to talk about this some more so it should be put on the agenda. President Fillon stated that he thought that there would be a way to incorporate a committee from the Commission to oversee the big contracts, but ultimately the responsibility should be with the people running the Department. Vice-President Hood said that the Commission should discuss this issue when it is agendized. Director Chiu said he liked the idea of having a committee oversee the big contracts, but maybe not every $2,000 contract. Commissioner Guinnane said that is why he said the Department and the Commission should come up with a number. Commissioner Guinnane said he would like to put CAPSS on the next agenda and would like copies of all of the invoices from the very first date to the present, even the ones not paid out. Commissioner Guinnane said he would like to know who authorized the payments, as he wanted to see what was done. Commissioner Guinnane stated he wanted to agendize the issue of the South Van Ness property, because the Commission has been assured through quality control that the Department does not lose plans anymore. Commissioner Guinnane said that he has talked about this until he was blue in the face about coming up with some kind of a bar system like UPS to track these permits. Commissioner Guinnane said there was also some discussion that certain people keep losing the permits and stated that maybe the Department should give those employees a few days off and then they wouldn't be losing the permits as much. Commissioner Guinnane said if Management had a problem with this policy, then maybe the Department should give the bosses few days off. Commissioner Guinnane stated he would also like to agendize a Closed Session with the City Attorney present to discuss the issue of Mr. Armstrong to see where the Department is with this particular case. Commissioner Guinnane said that he did not want to get into an employee issue, but said he is concerned about the litigation part and if the Department should move forward and what is it going to cost. Director Chiu said he has already made a request to the City Attorney's office. Director Chiu stated that the City Attorney's Office is also going after the prime contractor of all MIS contracts, along with one of the Department's employees. Commissioner Guinnane said he has a problem with this because if there was a bankruptcy, a Chapter 7, the Department might be wasting its money going after these people because they wouldn't be able to get anything for their money. Commissioner Guinnane said the Department could not get the employee for fraud. Director Chiu said that he had expressed the Department's concern and said he would be having a meeting with the City Attorney's office some time in April. Commissioner Guinnane said he was concerned about the money issue, and said another question he had is, if this particular case is a criminal issue then how come the District Attorney is not prosecuting it at no charge to the Department versus the City Attorney. Vice-President Hood stated that the Commission should just put this item on the agenda and all of the questions could be answered. Commissioner Guinnane said he would have some more questions before the next meeting.

Director Chiu said he would like to agendize the item from the Mayor's office where they are proposing to increase the building facility surcharge from the current 5% to 6.5%, as the Commission's approval is needed on this particular item. Vice-President Hood asked Director Chiu to repeat the proposal because she didn't catch it. Director Chiu stated that the Mayor's office is proposing to increase the building facility surcharge, because as the Commission knows, on any permit that comes into the Department there is a surcharge for DBI's building. Commissioner Guinnane asked once the fee is increased who gets the money and where would it ultimately be going. Assistant Director Lee said the money is supposed to go for payment of 1660 Mission Street, for the building itself. Ms. Lee said that she did not think that the Planning Department had enough funds to pay for the yearly payment that they and DBI pays for the building. Ms. Lee said that as a result the Mayor's Office wants to increase the funds overall for the Planning Department and DBI. Ms. Lee said that this would help the Department pay off DBI's portion a lot faster, and the Planning Department would be able to pay a lower contribution. Commissioner Guinnane asked why the Planning Department couldn't just raise their fees, because they have got so many bodies in there. Ms. Lee said that it is because this is a surcharge. Director Chiu said at the time this item would be presented he hoped to have a representative from the Mayor's office present so the Commission could ask that person why or where the money would be going. Commissioner Guinnane said the Department just upped this fee from 3.5% to 4% within the last 12 months. Vice-President Hood said she thought the Commission needed to agendize this, along with all of the other issues. Director Chiu said another item he knows the Commission was very interested in, and would take a lot of time is the issue of Major Alteration versus Unlawful Demolition and said that he hadn't forgotten about this.

8. 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.

9. Adjournment.

President Fillon made a motion, seconded byVice-President Hood, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. BIC 016-03

The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 pm.

_______________________
Sonya Harris Secretary

_______________________
Ann Marie Aherne Commission Secretary