San Diego Budget Review Committee Meeting – May 5, 2016
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San Diego Budget Review Committee Meeting – May 5, 2016
The San Diego City Council's Budget Review Committee convened on May 5, 2016, to review the proposed fiscal year 2017 budgets for the Transportation and Stormwater, Public Works, Public Utilities, and Environmental Services departments. The meeting featured extensive public testimony and detailed staff presentations focusing on infrastructure investments, safety improvements, and efficiency measures.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Rochelle Melios (District 5, Community Forest Advisory Board): Stressed that trees should be a standard component of public works projects, not an optional element, citing benefits for temperature reduction, asphalt longevity, and climate action goals. Requested arborist involvement from the beginning of projects.
- Kathleen Farrier (Circulate San Diego): Expressed support for Vision Zero, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and highlighted funding for traffic calming and specific projects like the University Avenue Mobility Plan and Elkhorn Boulevard bike lanes.
- Andy Hanshaw (San Diego County Bicycle Coalition / Bicycle Advisory Committee): Thanked the council for prioritizing bike and ped safety, noted the need for protected bike lanes to achieve mode share goals, and requested ongoing maintenance of bike facilities.
- Randy Van Vleck (City Heights CDC): Supported complete streets investments but noted the ongoing pedestrian safety crisis; cited the death of 15-year-old Jonathan Cortez due to lack of sidewalks. Called for redirecting road widening funds to sidewalk projects.
- Southwestern College San Isidro Campus (Cynthia Nagura, students, Chief Michael Cash): Presented video evidence of dangerous crosswalk conditions at the campus entrance, reporting near-miss incidents. Requested a traffic signal, noting the location is the site of the 1984 McDonald's massacre and that the campus will expand.
- Southwest Middle School (Students and Principal Bill Walsh): Thanked the council for funding a rapid flashing beacon crosswalk at the school; emphasized proactive safety measures to prevent accidents.
Discussion Items
Transportation and Stormwater Department
- Director Chris McFadden presented extensive updates: 92 active utility undergrounding projects, 29 channel clearings, 223 miles of street repairs (on track for 308), graffiti abatement insourced, and completion of sidewalk inventory. Budget requests include 45 new positions, $17.3 million for channel clearing, $2 million for sidewalks, and $1.4 million for street light circuit upgrades.
- IBA review (Charles Modick) noted the department's $130 million budget with less than 1% net change. Emphasized stormwater compliance costs of $3.1 billion through 2040 and the need for continued work on permit requirements. New positions aim to support increased workload.
Public Works Department
- Director James Nagelfort outlined three branches: General Services (facilities maintenance), Engineering & Capital Projects (CIP support), and Contracts. Requests include 23 new FTEs for facilities, 49.5 for engineering, and 1 for contracts. Cited 41 engineering vacancies and space constraints.
- IBA review highlighted $400 million in deferred building maintenance needs and the lack of official council-approved service level standards. The condition assessments for city buildings were noted.
Public Utilities Department
- Director Hala Rozak reported no new positions and a $14.2 million reduction across water and wastewater funds. Key initiatives: Pure Water program (pre-design for 30 MGD by 2021), $75 million in state revolving fund loans, replacement of 35 miles of water mains and 45 miles of wastewater pipelines, and progress on the compressed natural gas fueling station.
- IBA review noted operating budgets of $503 million (water) and $357.6 million (sewer), with reductions due to conservation and shifted costs. New KPIs were introduced.
Environmental Services Department
- Director Mario Sierra highlighted the Zero Waste Plan (75% diversion by 2020, 90% by 2035), 26 million annual sanitation stops, and 15 MW of energy from landfill methane. Budget requests include two sanitation drivers, a community development specialist (lead paint settlement), $900,000 for CNG station construction, and transfer of 18 code enforcement FTEs to general fund.
- IBA review noted the five-year transfer of Sycamore franchise fees to the recycling fund and phase-out of the general fund discount at the Miramar landfill.
Key Outcomes
- Transportation & Stormwater: Funding for 45 new positions approved for discussion; additional $17.3 million for channel clearing; $2 million for sidewalks; $1.4 million for street light circuit upgrades. Commitment to evaluate traffic signal for Southwestern College and install rapid flashing beacon at Southwest Middle School by September 2016.
- Public Works: 23 new facilities maintenance positions and 49.5 for engineering capital projects proposed; further discussion on space needs and service level standards for buildings deferred.
- Public Utilities: No new positions; Pure Water program advances with $75 million in loans; ongoing replacement of cast iron water mains (small diameter by 2017, large by 2023).
- Environmental Services: Transfer of code enforcement program completed; CNG station construction to begin June 2016; continued expansion of public space recycling and LED streetlight conversions (15,000 of 22,000 remaining).
- General: Committee requested FY16 target KPIs from multiple departments; sidewalk condition map expected later in May; council members expressed support for Vision Zero and stressed need for accelerated sidewalk funding.
The meeting concluded with all departments being reviewed, and no formal votes were taken; the committee will forward recommendations to the full council.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon, everyone. I'll call the council's budget review committee meeting back to order. Good afternoon and welcome back. So we we're gonna try and cram a whole lot of business into a few hours this afternoon. Uh we'll start this afternoon with an overview from the DCO of Infrastructure and Public Works. Uh pause will be there. Uh we'll be first. Um I wanted to ask, I see we have a good number of public speakers here. This is fantastic. I'm glad that you're here. If you could submit your speaker slips, I think many of you are here for one of the later items in the afternoon. But if it's only speakers on that item, I'm happy to advance your pre that presentation to be respectful of your time. So basically what I'm saying is is that um if I can manage this meeting correctly, I'd like to help you all get out of here in an hour's time. You only have to pay so much on the parking meter, if that makes sense. Um, and then you can be about your way. Uh I I really do appreciate, I think the entire council appreciates people when they take the time to come down here to share your thoughts. This is exactly why we have these meetings. So if everyone can submit their speaker slips now, if my sense of it is true that everyone's here for transportation and stormwater, we'll do that right after the DC DCOO presentation, and again, try and get you on your merry way if that's cool. So just trying to be a little bit a little good customer service around here, okay? Um so with that said, pause how much time do you need for your presentation? Four minutes, please. The floor is yours. Thank you, sir. First of all, happy Cinco de Mayo. So Chairman Gloria and members of the budget review committee. Good afternoon. And just wanted to start it off. My first of all, my name is Paz Gomez. I'm the Deputy Chief Operating Officer for Infrastructure and Public Works, and I wanted to thank all of you for what you do on a day-in-day-out basis. And this morning, it really hit home with regards to the things and the impact that all of you provide to our residents. And so thank you. As part of the infrastructure public works branch, um, I have the privilege of working with four departments, environmental services, which is managed by Mario Sierra, public utilities managed by Hala Razak, Public Works Department, which is managed by our director, James Nagelfort, who's to my right and he's also the Cynic Engineer, and Marnella Gibson, who's assistant public works director. And transportation and stormwater, which is managed by Chris McFadden. And I tell you, in the 10 months that I've been here, I have absolutely loved working with these four amazing directors. And a program manager, Aaron Noel, is here with me as well. I am excited about the IM program. And I'll touch on it a little bit more later on. With regard to the branch, there are over 3,500 FTEs and expenditures and revenues both are about 1.3 billion dollars. So with regards to our mission, it's effectively manage the city's infrastructure and related services. And Chairman Gloria, when you were talking about tactical plans, it's basically our roadmap with regards to how are we going to move forward with regards to the given fiscal year. Part of that, we developed the key performance indicators. And I heard from yesterday's hearings that there were certainly some concerns with regards to that. And we will certainly provide any of the information with regards to the FY16 and uh and work with performance and analytics on that. But I just wanted to let you know last night I dusted off the FY16 budget book and compared it to our KPIs. And basically for the entire branch in FY16, we had 45 KPIs, and this year we have uh 42, and only 18 of them were the same. However, the new ones are all tied to the climate action plan, for example, in moving forward with a compressed natural gas fueling station that we're moving forward with in FY17, the zero waste plan, pure water, and things along those lines. So I think in moving forward, you will find that these key indicators will be significant. Because each of the directors will be covering all of the information in detail, and they'll be following me here shortly. What I am going to touch on is the IAM program. And we have five FTEs in total within the branch.
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