San Diego City Council Budget Review Committee Meeting - May 3, 2019
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
San Diego City Council Budget Review Committee Meeting - May 3, 2019
The Budget Review Committee of the San Diego City Council met on May 3, 2019, to review the proposed Fiscal Year 2020 budgets for several city departments, including Internal Operations, Purchasing and Contracting, Information Technology, Human Resources, Real Estate Assets, Personnel, and the City Clerk. The committee heard presentations from department directors, received an analysis from the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), and engaged in discussion on budget priorities, staffing levels, and departmental performance.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ms. Hagins, a member of the public, expressed concern about the reclassification of 12 positions from classified to unclassified within a department. She argued that management could have achieved better outcomes by using existing processes to increase wages for classified employees, rather than creating unclassified positions at higher cost. She noted that the cost of absorbing the work of these 12 positions would double or triple.
Discussion Items
-
Internal Operations Overview (Jeff Sterak, Deputy Chief for Internal Operations): Presented the department's role in supporting all city departments through fleet management (over 4,400 vehicles, 12 facilities, ~50,000 repair tickets annually), human resources (11,500 employees, six employee organizations), information technology, purchasing and contracting (over $2 billion contract portfolio), and real estate assets (120,000 acres including stadium, concourse, airports). Highlighted plans for an enterprise asset management system, purchase of 50 electric vehicles, and a wireless radio system upgrade.
-
Purchasing and Contracting (Christina Prata, Director): Reported achievements including certification of 210 small local business enterprises by Q3 FY19, $126,000 savings from the administrative hearing program serving 1,500 citation recipients, implementation of electronic payroll reporting for living wage compliance, and publication of the first citywide procurement plan. Future priorities include expanding the administrative hearing program and implementing an AREBA module for vendor performance monitoring. Councilmember Moreno inquired about asset ownership if a contract is not extended; Prata confirmed that city-funded assets remain with the city. Councilmembers expressed concern about the disparity study and the reclassification of 12 FTEs.
-
Information Technology (Jonathan Bankie, CIO): Reported 120 employees providing citywide technology services and public safety radio communications. Key accomplishments: improved radio systems for first responders, completed transition of network services contract to Zensar Technologies, and streamlined budget publication. The IT fund budget includes a nearly $50 million increase to account for pass-through expenses, $821,000 for data center transition, and $531,000 for enhanced cybersecurity. Councilmember Sherman asked about performance indicators; Bankie noted over 100 internal SLAs. Councilmember Moreno emphasized the need for back-end integration to ensure compliance.
-
Human Resources (Julie Rasco, Director): Highlighted that 13% of new FY18 hires were former City volunteers, interns, or mentees. Completed one city management academy (35 employees) and six supervisor academies (177 employees). The FY20 budget increases by approximately $500,000 due to a net increase of three FTEs, including two program managers for senior HR officers (made permanent) and one program coordinator for employee assistance and light duty programs. A reduction of one employee assistance program manager is proposed, with services to be outsourced. The department also requests $250,000 for an external EAP contract.
-
Real Estate Assets (Sibelle Thompson, Director): Manages the city's real estate portfolio including stadium, concourse, airports, and Petco Park JUMA. Identified 22 properties zoned residentially for city purposes. Sold $13 million in property in FY18 and $2 million in FY19. Airports division completed a $12 million runway rehab at Brownfield and obtained approval for a 50-year lease with Metro Air Park. Future work includes an RFP for eight city-owned sites for permanent supportive housing, potentially yielding 265 units. Budget adjustments include $689,000 for relocation to 101 Ash Street, $180,000 for central plant maintenance, and addition of one property agent for telecom leases. Reductions include two vacant positions (associate management analyst and property agent) and significant cuts to facilities maintenance (10 FTE reductions, leading to primarily reactive maintenance). The IBA noted concerns about the loss of a position tracking city-owned land, the need for a long-term real estate strategy, and ongoing negotiations with SDSU for the stadium site.
-
Personnel Department (Doug Edwards, Director): Briefly presented the department's role in supporting a diverse workforce through personnel services and civil service commission support.
-
City Clerk: Presented achievements including a passport acceptance facility that processed over 21,000 applications and generated $700,000 in gross revenue since 2014, and efforts to provide online disclosure materials and maintain the municipal code.
Key Outcomes
- Councilmember Campbell requested that the Real Estate Assets Department provide a complete list of the city’s 1,600 owned properties to all council members to identify potential sites for housing and homeless support programs.
- Councilmember Sherman asked the Information Technology Department to consider including additional performance indicators in future briefings beyond the near-100% metrics currently reported.
- Councilmembers expressed support for the use of city-owned land for permanent supportive housing and directed staff to work with the mayor's office on the RFP.
- The committee noted concerns from the IBA about reduced facility maintenance staffing potentially accelerating deferred capital backlog and costs, and about the loss of a position that tracks city-owned land potentially delaying responses to council requests.
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting served as a review and discussion session for proposed FY20 budgets.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, everyone. Uh welcome back to the budget review committee meeting of the city council. Uh clerk, please call the roll. Councilmember Campbell. Councilmember Ward. Councilmember Montgomery. Councilmember Kercy. Councilmember Kate. Councilmember Sherman. Council Councilmember Moreno. Council President Gomez. Council President Pro Tim Bree. Here. The public is welcomed and encouraged to participate as the Council reviews the budgets of city departments and partner agencies and makes decisions about how to best spend taxpayer dollars. A reminder that in addition to the hearings which will this week, which conclude uh after this mornings for this week, and then we have a few days next week. Uh the public is again encouraged to attend an evening hearing of the full city council on Monday, May 13th at 6 p.m. to provide input on their budget priorities. Uh we will now proceed with non-agenda public comment. This portion of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the public to address the committee on items of interest within the committee's jurisdiction. Do we have any? We have no non-agenda this morning. Is there any committee comment? Comments from the city attorney, IVA, or mayoral staff. Nope. Uh clerk, please introduce the item and then uh we'll have public testimony. Yes, sir. First item is an overview from the Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Sturrich on uh internal operations. Well, good morning, Council President Pro Tim Bree, Council President Gomez, Council members of the budget review committee. I am Jeff Sterak and I am the Deputy Chief for Internal Operations. With me today is Franklin Cooper Smith from our HR department. The internal operations branch includes fleet operations, human resources, information technology, purchasing and contracting, and real estate assets. It is our job to support all the city's departments behind the scenes to ensure that they are successful in their mission. And we strive to be a nationally recognized leader in internal municipal service delivery. The fleet operations department, led by Ali Accori, provides a comprehensive fleet management service for over 4,400 vehicles of all sizes, from 12 facilities located throughout the city, processing close to 50,000 repair tickets annually. Human resources is led by Julie Rasco and is responsible for providing various programs on classified recruiting and training for approximately 11,500 employees, in addition to labor relations with our six recognized employee organizations. For example, on a monthly basis, an average of 4.5 million email email messages are read, with 80,000 of those blocked for malicious activity. Purchasing and contracting, led by Christina Peralta, oversees the pure procurement of goods and services, and has oversight of a contract portfolio worth $2 billion. And our real estate assets department, led by Sabelle Thompson, manages our real estate portfolio encompassing 120,000 acres of city owned property. And that includes the stadium, concourse, and our airports. And we are excited in fiscal year 2020 or 2020 to add the facilities division to read and our branch. And our information technology wireless division completed an upgrade of our very high frequency radio system that increases coverage throughout the city. In our branch, we're looking forward to a very exciting year in fleet. We will have full implementation of our enterprise asset management system, which gives us the data to identify efficiencies with our vehicle fleet. We'll also be purchasing 50 electric and zero emission vehicles to support the city's climate action plan. And this will be a busy year for human resources and for all of us with contract negotiations with at least five of our six employee organizations. We'll also be completing eight supervisor academies where we train our future leaders. And for our GIS team in IT, where we are a tech leader. We will continue to improve efficiencies in the hundred applications that are supported by GIS. And purchasing a contract, we will implement our supplier performance management tool, which gives us the ability to better track our vendor performance and also our disparity study for public works. And an additional 75 million, and the majority of that coming into the IT fund, and Jonathan will be discussing that in his presentation.
openpublica.com