Good morning.

I am Ward for Councilmember Janice Swiss George, Chair of the Committee on Facilities.

It is 9 48 a.m.

on Thursday, May 7th.

And we are holding this budget oversight hearing for the Department of General Services and the Department of Parks and Recreation via hybrid format with government witnesses testifying here in person in room 500 of the John A.

Wilson building and council members joining via Zoom and in person.

This hearing is for the government witnesses only as public witnesses for DGS and DPR testified on April 27th.

And witnesses have continued to upload their testimony to the hearing management system.

This hearing is being broadcast on the council uh website as well as Janice Ward 4.com backslash live.

All testimony and prehearing documents that have been submitted are available now on the council's hearing management system.

As a reminder for public witnesses watching, the deadline to submit written testimony for the record for DGS and DPR is Monday, May 11th.

Written testimony can be submitted either by uploading the testimony to the council's hearing management system or emailing facilities at DC Council.gov.

The work of the Department of General Services and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Their portfolios are growing and costs are rising.

That is the central issue we have to work through today.

I want to acknowledge the people who do the daily work at DGS and DPR.

They maintain more than 840 municipal properties, 80 recreation centers, 36 pools and aquatic centers, and 244 park sites.

They served 2.24 million visitors to recreation centers in fiscal year 25 alone.

None of what follow, none of what follows takes that work for granted.

And so we're going to discuss priorities, impacts, and potential areas of restoration by the council, as the agencies see necessary.

For DGS, I just want to know what these numbers mean in practice, how many fewer work orders, how many fewer cleanings, what locations lose security coverage, and how the agency plans to monitor whether these cuts shorten the useful life of our buildings and equipment.

One out of the 60 million in federal matching grants for energy work.

The district has spent 3 million because we have not put up the local match.

We're going to determine if this is this gap is a policy choice.

For DPR, I want clear answers on which programs end, which sites lose hours, and which positions are eliminated, and how DPR plans to absorb the new programming requirements without pulling funds from existing youth services.

After this hearing, I hope the public and my colleagues with a clear will have a clear understanding of what these budgets fund, what they no longer fund, and what the agencies need to actually meet their obligations to district residents and the demands of so many as well.

And so we must not let budget cut costs uh nail cut costs even more in the years to come.

And so hopefully uh we will be able to work through how we can not only meet the obligations of district residents, employees, and visitors, uh, but the real goals of the agencies and what they want to do to make our district better.

And so with that, we will start with the budget oversight hearing for the Department of General Services.

Joining us uh from DGS is the Director, uh Delane O'Hunter, who's the Depart Director of Department of General Services, Osay Hedley, who is our deputy director of construction services division, and Jen Croft, who is associate director of the sustainability and energy division.

Um, if you all would please raise your right hands.

Do you swear or affirm under pillow perjury that the testimony you are about to give to the committee on facilities is the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

I do.

Thank you all so much.

Um, Director Hunter, you may begin your testimony.

Good morning, Councilmember Lewis George and committee members.

My name is Delane O'Hunter, and I'm proud to serve as the director of the DC Department of General Services.

First, I want to acknowledge the dedicated public servants that I am proud to call my colleagues at DGS.

And I want to thank Mayor Mario Bowser, our city administrator, Kevin Donahue, and the assistant city administrator, Dr.

Christopher Rodriguez, for support of the agency's mission.

Today I'm joined by Osay Hedley, Deputy Director of Capital Construction, and Jen Croft, our associate Director of the Sustainability and Energy management Division.

Mayor Bowser's proposed FY27 budget entitled Grow DC was formulated with three key considerations in mind.

How to drive growth in our economy, to fund the services and programs that residents count on, how to keep families in DC and attract new residents, and how to create a business environment that draws new investments and creates new jobs.

We're navigating a pivotal moment that demands a more deliberate approach to growth.

The federal dollars that once expanded our programs in unprecedented ways have been exhausted, and the federal workforce reductions have introduced new pressures on our economy and commercial corridors.

That being said, it is important to be clear.

Revenues have slowed, but the city maintains a strong financial foundation on which we can build by making the kinds of strategic and targeted investments that will allow DC to continue to grow while delivering the high quality services our residents depend on.

And DGS, of course, plays a critical role in managing our finances through strategic investments and safeguards that protect our inventory.

My testimony today will focus on three areas and is accompanied by a very short PowerPoint presentation.

First, I will outline the FY26 operating budget and how funds are allocated across our divisions.

Second, I will explain how the mayor's proposed FY27 budget builds on the strong results achieved in FY26.

And finally, I will highlight our strategic stewardship of taxpayer resources and the outcomes we are delivering in energy management, leasing, and security, as well as critical investments we are making in capital fleet purchases, small capital projects, and preventative maintenance.

First, I'd like to begin with an overview of the FY26 DGS operating budget.

The DGS budget supports the operations of nearly every agency in district government.

If we think of the agency's FY26 operating budget as a single dollar, the largest portion, 36 cents, supports lease and rental payments.

These funds cover leases for district facilities used by multiple agencies, and our presence in these buildings is a stabilizing factor for the community and often serves as an economic catalyst for private sector development.

The facility management division or FMD accounts for 20 cents of every DGS operating dollar in FY26.

These funds support the maintenance of more than 850 municipal properties and cover essential services such as landscaping, janitorial, playground and equipment repairs and replacements, emergency repairs, elevator upkeep, and much more.

Utilities comprise another 20 cents of our operating dollar.

DGS manages electricity, water, waste, natural gas, and steam costs for many district agencies.

Personnel services account for 16 cents of our operating budget and support the staff who carry out these essential services.

The protective services division of PSD accounts for seven cents of our operating dollar, and this division, as you know, provides security at district facilities and oversee a 24-7 command center across our portfolio.

Finally, our DGS administrative budget represents a penny of our operating budget.

DGS is a lean agency that delivers results.

All right, section one.

Now I'd like to pivot to our FY27 operating budget and what is proposed in the mayor's budget.

The operating budget rent still comprises 36 cents of the operating dollar at 174 million, with utilities accounting for 28 cents.

The utilities budget increased from 92 million to 139 million due to the following factors.

Funding allocated from a special purpose fund created by Council for Utilities and a transfer of funding to DGS, which reflects the new role we have in paying district utilities on behalf of many agencies, including DC Public Schools.

Personnel, which is at 16 cents of our proposed operating dollar, increased by 5.5 million to more accurately reflect actual overtime spending by DGS, considering historic trends.

FMD represents 14 cents of the proposed operating budget for FY27.

This reflects reductions in janitorial, mowing, and other areas, including HVAC ITM.

We are committed to working with our client agencies to mitigate the impact of these cuts.

Finally, PSD represents five cents of the proposed operating budget, which is less than FY26 due to cost savings and reductions.

Section two, DGS's strategic stewardship.

We embrace our role as a steward of taxpayer resources through proactive and strategic management.

By making targeted investments, we reduce utility consumption, generated lease savings, strengthen security operations, and supported capital improvements through savings and cost avoidance.

First, I'd like to touch on utility use.

DGS's sustainability and energy management division tracks energy and utility across the DGS portfolio.

SE supports efforts across the agency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help offset utility costs.

The following are just a few examples of this work.

Early results from BEPS Cycle 1 are promising and contributed significantly to cost avoidance.

To highlight one example, DCPS energy use decreased by 9% from 2019 to 2025, despite growth in square footage for modernized schools.

DGS installs solar panels wherever technically and financially feasible.

Our two most recent solar contracts will provide no cost electricity for 20 years and are projected to save the district 35 million over their full terms.

DGS is advancing the district's first energy savings performance contract, now in final planning.

The first bundle will deliver 70 to 80 million in energy and water efficiency electrification and clean water improvements across more than 40 buildings.

DGS's block and index electricity procurement strategy continues to hedge against market volatility.

Without the strategic work of SE and our chief administrative office and their team, the district will face significantly high utility costs due to rising rates.

While increases in energy costs are putting unwelcome pressure on the district's utility budget, we recognize that without our previous ongoing efforts to reduce our energy footprint and improve our purchasing strategy, we would be in significantly worse position.

Lease savings, since 2020, DGS has generated $30 million in lease savings.

The district's strategically leased government office space in targeted neighborhoods helped to stimulate economic activity.

Historically, the Reeves Center catalyzed revitalizations at 14th and U Street in Ward 1 and more recently, the Department of Employment Services and DGS's headquarters in Ward 7 has supported economic growth.

While the new headquarters for DC Health and DHCD have contributed to development in Ward 8 and historic Anacostia.

Our portfolio division achieves lease savings by negotiating rental rates below prevailing market costs for large-scale office leases.

On average, we pay approximately $52.50 per square foot for its full service office leases versus the DC market average for office space of $64.50 per square foot.

These savings expand agency purchasing power while supporting economic development across the district.

Furthermore, we are exploring ways to ensure that independent agencies who are not under the mayor's personnel authority are good stewards of taxpayer funds to come and come into the office rather than excessively working from home.

DGS pays tens of millions of dollars in leasing costs for agencies like OCFO and OAG.

And if the employees do not come into the office, it is prudent and sound financial management to consolidate office footprints for such agencies to save the district money.

Last year, I outlined our plan to reduce the Protective Services Division budget by converting a portion of contract security offices into 23 full-time in-house positions.

12 officers are currently completing their required 90-day training and will report for duty this summer.

Seven more in the final stages of hiring and will begin training soon.

An additional four offices are expected to join late summer, early fall.

These officers will staff the John A.

Wilson building and the Mary and S.

Berry Jr.

building.

We also achieve additional FY27 savings by working with agencies to identify locations where security coverage could be safely reduced.

Further, once all in-house officers are on board, the transition from contract security is expected to generate approximately 1.85 million in annual savings based on current contract cost of 4.15 million compared to in-house staffing costs of 2.3 million.

Section 3 from our third and final section, I'll provide an overview of critical investments proposed in the mayor's FY27 budget that are vital to operations.

Capital investment in fleet.

Amongst district agencies, DGS must work with an agent fleet.

This has negatively impacted our operations.

In some cases, staff response to work orders is delayed simply because they must wait for a vehicle to return to the warehouse.

While the fleet budget has been reduced to meet other pressing needs, the operational demand for vehicles has not diminished.

To bridge this gap, DGS relied on operating funds to rent or lease vehicles long-term when capital dollars were unavailable.

For instance, in FY25, we spent 757,000 on rentals and leases, in addition to approximately 1.3 million to keep its aging fleet operational.

So far in FY26, lease and rental costs have risen to $858,000, with another $518,000 spent on maintenance.

This approach is not sustainable, especially as operating dollars, particularly within FMD continue to decline.

To address this, we are proposing investing $1.2 million in capital funds beginning in FY27 to purchase 30 vehicles to replace the oldest units in FMD's fleet.

We are also in the process of using our remaining allocated dollars to acquire eight additional vehicles and essential equipment needed to support operations.

Small capital investments.

This year's project ranged from HVAC upgrades, 88 compliance, roofs, elevators, and athletic fields and playground equipment to name a few.

I want to highlight some projects that are underway or have been completed this year, such as the HC Woodson High School Athletic Field Upgrade in Ward 7 and the HVAC upgrade for Tacoma Community Center in World 4.

This summer will complete park improvements at the Marvin Gate Park in Ward 7 to include an improved playground, splash pad, basketball court, and shade structures.

In FY27, we added projects such as the HVAC replacement at School Without Walls in Ward 2 and an elevator replacement at SUSE Middle School in Ward 7 and a roof replacement at the North Michigan Park Recreation Center.

We know that targeted small capital investments extend the lives of schools, parks, and other government facilities by addressing issues before they escalate into full capital needs and help make the environment more comfortable until there is a modernization.

All right, now I want to talk about preventative maintenance.

We're in our fifth year of implementing the HVAC integrated testing and maintenance program, inspection testing and maintenance program, rather, or ITM in FY25, our sustainability and energy management team, working closely with our boiler plant operator staff and HVAC technicians completed annual inspections and maintenance on heating and cooling systems.

This proactive work led to fewer system failures and zero school closures due to HVAC issues despite the extreme weather faced on Snow Creek earlier this year.

We expand HVAC preventative maintenance because we have consistently seen fuel disruptions and unexpected breakdowns.

Thus far in FY26, more than 25,000 preventative maintenance tasks have been performed on heating and cooling equipment.

While preventative maintenance efforts will not be as robust in FY27 due to budget constraints, we remain committed to maximizing resources available to preserve some of the gains achieved in previous years.

In conclusion, I want to thank you, Councilmember Lewis George, and your team for your continued partnership with your collaboration.

We have strengthened services, advanced capital projects, and expanded sustainable operations across the district.

I also want to extend my sincere appreciation to Mayor Bowser and her leadership and commitment over Grow DC and our FY27 budget.

And just want to take a uh just take a personal moment just to thank Mayor Bowser for uh her uh trust uh in me in particular.

Uh as a uh Native Washingtonian and a product of our institutions.

Uh it's been a great professional honor to serve her over the last 12 years.

Uh and I really appreciate her both personally and professionally for her support and what it's meant for me, my family, and my community.

Uh with that being said, thank you, and I'll answer your questions.

Uh thank you so much.

Um, we're gonna start with contracting and procurement.

Uh, contracting and procurement services looks like it's up 8.5% from fiscal year 26 and 28 percent since fiscal year 25.

Um, given that some services are being cut, I imagine this increases largely due to even greater increases in cost.

What are the services or what services do we contract out that are seeing the largest increase in cost?

And is that the reason why we're seeing an increase in costs?

Well, it's uh I think you're referring to reductions in the root cause of those sort of reductions.

Is that your question?

If I'm understanding it looks so it looks like um under contracting procurement services, we're up about 8.5 percent, which is 28 percent more.

So I'm what is that increase attributed to?

I think I was assuming it was attributed to um I guess greater cost just greater increases in cost of doing things, but what are what's that percentage attributed to?

Right.

So I can maybe speak more broadly.

While you may notice an overall increase in DGS's operating budget, it's because certain um expenses are now funded through DGS.

Uh we in my testimony I talked about the um electricity costs and how the special purpose account created by council formerly the sustainable energy trust fund.

Now that money is baked into DGS's budget.

In addition, we have uh allocations from DCPS as well.

Uh overall, as it relates to to core maintenance and contractual services, we've actually seen a decrease.

Um in FY 26, we are funded at about 91 million across FMD, uh, and we're seeing uh potential reductions to 67 million across facilities maintenance.

Uh and those costs are more broadly, uh HVAC ITMA the largest reduction, but also janitorial landscaping, mowing, and several other environmental services and also security.

Okay.

So are we seeing any increases in services that we contract out?

And if so, in what areas?

Not in the proposed budget.

I don't anticipate uh any any planned increases in any services.

Okay.

And outside of PSD, are there any other areas DGS is looking to bring in-house?

I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Outside of PSD.

Are there any other areas DGS is looking to bring in-house?

I would PSD is the largest.

Um, I guess the best example, uh, I would also add that there may be um uh some opportunities to, well, we'd have to look at how can we accomplish more in-house.

Um fortunately, in this budget cycle, our uh FTEs have been preserved, so we look to aggressively hire uh our skilled trade professions to be able to accomplish as much as possible as we could in-house.

Okay.

Um I want to talk about as we talk about contracts.

I want to talk about warranties.

Um, we've been working for almost four years on strengthening the terms, monitoring and enforcement of our warranties for equipment systems and buildings.

What in this budget specifically uh do we have for ensuring we are not paying contractors for work they did not do or did not do well or make them pay when things stop working before they should?

We uh have what I would describe as robust uh enforcement of our contract provisions.

As I indicated uh a few months ago in our performance oversight hearing, we continue to issue more cure notices, uh more terminations than previous years in an effort to hold uh contractors accountable.

But by and large, uh we um have quality contractors, but when it is warranted, we will not hesitate to hold them accountable.

Also, we've been proactive.

We have expanded our QAQC program beyond DCPS now to DPR facilities, and most notably the Fort Davis Recreation Center and Jellif recreation centers have robust QAQC uh that will catch the issues ahead of time.

Uh also additionally, we uh have not hesitated beyond just FMD, even in contract uh protective services division to terminate uh contracts when it's not working out in the district or agency's best interest.

Okay.

Um did we have any settlements that resulted in return uh around warranties?

We well, in terms of settlements, we we still continue to more closely track warranty repairs now through Salesforce.

Uh that um is something that I'm really proud of, and that'll continue beyond just the DCPS portfolio.

Uh and uh we have went just beyond projects that are under warranty.

Um repairs were recently uh last fiscal year, uh, beginning of this fiscal year made at uh McFarlane Middle School.

Uh we noticed a latent defect, a design flaw, and that project had been delivered four or five years ago.

The contractor came back out and made it right.

Uh also there was another uh latent deflect that we noticed at the sobering center, DBH's sobering center, uh on K Street Northwest with some waterproofing issues that contractor made out came back out and made it right at no expense to the district.

Uh so if you're gonna continue to do business with DGS in the district, you have got to do good work, even if it extends beyond your warranty.

If we found that there was some designs flaw, we will hold you accountable and you will come back out and remedy it at no cost to the district taxpayers.

Got it.

Thank you so much for that work.

I want to turn to facilities management division.

I think this is where I have my most concern.

Um in fiscal year 24, we spent 166 million on facilities operations.

The budget for next year is 114 million.

Uh 31.6 reduction across the board.

So next year, when I look at the budget books, we're looking at 9.5 million reduction for DCPS, which is a 17% reduction from fiscal year 26 and a 40% uh reduction from two years ago.

8.9 million reduction for the government operations cluster, which is municipal buildings like the Wilson building and agency offices, and this is a 36% uh percent reduction for fiscal year 26 and 60 percent from two years ago.

It looks like one million or five percent reduction to public safety and justice, two thousand uh small increase to janitorial services, a hundred and sixty thousand modest increase to parks and recreations, and a hundred and seventy seven thousand or two point six increase to human support services.

I know these reductions are are not good, and I know you you all know that.

What I want to understand and the public to understand is tangibly tangibly what does these reductions mean and what is DGS doing to plan for having fewer resources with higher costs and a larger portfolio.

You know, it's um it is something quite frankly uh that concerns me.

Uh and will, but also I have to temper my concerns with the you know economic reality um we face uh as a district, and I recognize that there are many priorities from education to public safety uh to mental health uh to housing and other uh supports, nutritional needs for families across the district.

So I recognize that uh when we talk about the DGS budget, you you you can't talk about it in a vacuum.

Uh so I temper uh my concern with the reality of the economic headwinds that we face.

What I'll say is that, you know, we'll we'll see how the budget process plays out, and we've begun to we've begin to engage agencies uh already, uh potentially about what our strategy is for next fiscal year.

Uh and the goal is to minimize the impact of those cuts.

Like I I'll give you an example uh with mowing.

Um, what we're considering is, you know, we're accustomed to a full set of uh mowing services from April through November.

We would reduce the frequency of mowing maybe in the early months, uh, like April, March, and April.

Right, and also in the latter months, October and November to be able to preserve mowing to high during the high growth periods in DC, which is really late April through early August.

Right.

So that would be an example of how we would blunt the impact of those 1.3 million reductions.

Uh in other areas like security, what we've done, we work with agencies.

How do we prioritize uh armed officers when necessary to protect employees?

And we have some what we call vulnerable and high threat sites where we've had incidents of violence or gunplay.

So the goal would be to preserve armed access there.

In other areas where we're just protecting property, maybe we will look at unarmed SPOs or maybe security officers to be able to minimize costs.

So that's just an example.

What we'll do once the budget is finalized, we'll start our spend plan more formally, and we will only budget services based upon what we believe to be available in FY26.

Agencies will have an opportunity sometimes to close that gap through interdistrict funding.

They may say, hey, I can't match this dollar for dollar, uh, but we'll move you funds or we'll transfer funds to be able to preserve a portion of this.

So this is what we prioritize.

So we'll work with agencies on a case by case basis.

We'll develop a spend plan.

Uh and then there may be opportunities for uh adjustments, not just through this budget cycle, but maybe in a new fiscal year through reprograms.

There are no changes to the FTE counts in each cluster.

Can you confirm that that means our FMD employees, which in total has about 390 FTEs, are staying put?

And that these reductions are all MPS money for contracts, work orders and school readiness.

That is true, that is true.

And actually, um, there's an unintended benefit to the increase in overtime.

Right.

For overtime, in order to funnel time, you had to keep positions vacant, right, to achieve vacancy savings to fund overtime and for agencies like DGS, emergencies 247 three sixty-five, it's unavoidable.

Uh and I'm proud that we've been able to reduce over time.

We we average just after COVID close to eight, eight and a half million.

We've been able to reduce that to five five and a half million, and it's been a team effort, I'm really proud of that.

Uh well the the the unintended benefit of this is that we won't have to hold as many positions vacant.

So I actually uh we're working closely with our AFO to be able to develop a hiring plan for next year that will allow us again because we don't have to artificially hold these positions vacant to hire against those vacancies, and I think that'll make a big difference.

And I will prioritize frontline rent turners, mop wielders, uh folks that have an impact on keeping our facilities clean and accessible and within FMD.

Understood.

Um we need to just take a quick break for a technical issue to fix.

So if we could just take a quick three-minute break.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you, Director.

Uh my apologies.

Um I wanna talk about continue under facilities management division.

Okay.

Does DGS have an estimate on how many fewer work orders you will be able to do in fiscal year twenty-seven compared to fiscal year twenty-six?

Uh we we don't.

Um, as we've discussed, typically work orders are are unfunded, right?

There is not a line item for work orders, and we typically tackle work orders with what remains, right?

So there will be uh less remaining.

These cuts contemplate really cuts to what we call routine services.

There will be a ripple effect on work orders because with ITM, a portion of that is addressing work orders through the repair and replacement line items.

So it's hard to give an exact number, uh, but the cuts right now are planned through straight traditional what I call routine services.

Okay.

Um will there be an analysis for each cluster?

There will be.

What what we would do when we say analysis, we would work with agencies on developing as we develop our spend plans like strategies.

So again, I gave the example of mowing.

Uh the same for janitorial.

What we discuss sites that may be accustomed to six-day a week service, may have five-day a week service, uh, those that are service maybe three times a week, maybe one time a week, those that may have twelve hours of service, maybe reduce to eight hours of service.

So we'd work hand in hand with agencies to uh again try to blunt the impact of those cuts.

What we typically do you in our budget book, you'll see appropriations like by agency, right?

You'll see um from DCPS, and what we do is this DCPS DPR DHS.

Uh and what we do is we repurpose those funds into like a spend plan, right?

Like I'll give an example.

Like we won't procure mowing separately for public schools.

There's one mowing contract or a mowing contract that services all awards, then they're group by cluster.

So we'll take the DPR allocation.

Let's say hypothetically if it was for every dollar spent, DCPS was fifty cents of that dollar on mowing and DPR was 25 cents, and the other agencies comprise MPD FEMS, the remaining 25 cents.

We pull those funds together for economy of scales.

Uh, we seek vendors and issue contracts, right?

And they're they're clustered in that approach.

So what we would do in this instance, we would um look at what is available, take that same approach, and we would look to limit those reductions to where they, because it it's not equal.

Like I'll give you an example.

For the janitorial cuts are more so good towards government operations centers.

Uh mowing is across like across the inventory as a whole.

So we would look to spend whatever is funded in alignment with how it is budgeted in our budget book as much as possible.

Gotcha.

I want to talk about preventative maintenance or integrated testing maintenance after years of significant investment and progress.

I understand there are now cuts to the HVAC ITM program.

There is 10.95 million reduction to the public education cluster, and then 760,000 reduction for the public safety cluster.

How will these reductions affect preventative maintenance?

In other words, what will still be able to be done and what won't be able to be done anymore?

What we would look to do, you know, again, is to um if you think about the program, like we the preventative maintenance is RTM, right?

Inspection testing and maintenance, um, routine inspections of our systems, uh testing of the systems and how they operate, replacement of of belts, uh, and then there's a maintenance portion, right?

At the very basics is just like changing filters, but it's more than that, right?

Also repairs when are necessary, sometimes small repairs that are less than $5,000, and then sometimes larger repairs that are you know six figures.

So what we would look to do essentially, ITM would be reduced to essentially no I know T, but the M.

And of the M, very small-scale repairs and likely filter changes.

Um, did I miss anything?

Uh yeah, that was very detailed.

Thanks.

I would just add just to give some sort of more flavor on ITM.

In addition to, you know, it's not just filter changes quarterly, it's cleaning coils, it's inspecting exhaust fans, it's tightening electrical connections, lubricating um moving component parts, um, and it's full performance testing.

So when you think about an HVAC system, it's not just the filter, um, it's all the other parts that go along with it, and that need to be inspected and and cleaned and maintained as well.

Um so I'd say to the dis to the director's comments, you know, we typically do quarterly filter changes, and some of that's changing filters, but also some filters you have to take out and manually clean, and there are man hours associated with that.

Um, we'd probably be going from a quarterly filter change to probably um twice a year.

Gotcha.

And again, I know DGS does not want to be in this position, but I want to make sure the agency council and the public are on the same page about what these changes means.

So can we expect more HVAC problems that are going to require more work orders or small capital projects to respond to more frequent and more severe issues?

Um I think that's fair to say, um, there are several small capital uh HVAC projects that are underway for our chronic sites, uh, such as next year school without walls, and also Patterson are funded.

So that that will help, right?

Um, but ideally, if you want to keep systems that we're replacing in good work and order, so you don't see issues, you know, PM could be the difference, like when we replace that HVAC unit at uh school without walls or Patterson, it can be the difference between you know seeing failure three or four years later or maybe five to seven years later, right?

Because preventative maintenance does extend the useful life cycle of those products, those um those materials.

Yeah.

Um, the HVAC system at school without walls.

Um, I I know you all heard the testimony, I think it was three students or four students who testified.

I know you all were listening in, they cited the conditions as issues and barriers to learning.

Um, how will DGS respond to increasing complaints from the students and educators about the classrooms, climate impacting students' best success, especially given the cuts to the public education cluster?

Um so my understanding is a school without walls, HVAC um system replacement has been funded in the FY27 budget.

Um so it was prioritized by DCPS, and so that HVAC system should be replaced.

Okay.

Is there a timeline that I could we could say to the students?

Um I would need to check with our small caps team, but I would just say design would start in FY27.

These are typically two-year um uh programs where you know the process takes two summers, but again, we can get back to you on that.

Okay.

And beyond the HVAC system, we also heard from the school without wall students about uh mold and gas leaks.

Did you all have a chance to also um look into the issues that they raise around mold and gas leaks?

We did.

We don't have any open work orders for mold or or active gas leaks.

We think that may uh possibly have been dated information, uh, but we're happy to um, you know, go back out and take another look, but we don't have any active work orders for mold.

Okay.

Um the HVAC system at Whittier has been a consistent issue over the last year, and we received testimony from students about the impacts that this had on their education.

Is there an update that we can provide for the students' parents and educators that they can expect regarding Whittier's HVAC system to be fixed?

Well, as you know Whittier transitions to their um modular cottage across the street this summer, so we're you know, with T-5 weeks remaining in the school.

Um so we'll continue to um honestly band-aid the system as much we can until we can get to the finish line in June.

Understood.

Uh how is DGS going to be monitoring, monitoring the effect of stopping almost all ITM on our equipment systems and buildings?

How are we gonna be monitoring it?

Um, well, I think it's gonna show up in a few different ways.

Um I would expect to the for the systems to be working harder, so we're probably gonna see increases and in energy consumption, and that'll be an indication.

Um I would expect systems to break down more frequently, so we're gonna see a larger need for repair and replacements.

Um, is stopping all uh a lot of the ITM besides filter changes going to shorten the useful life of our HVAC systems?

Yes.

And what is the funding gap to not go down this road of stopping ITM?

It's 11.7 million.

Uh 11.1 of that is through DCPS, and another 700,000 approximately is for uh our public safety locations, primarily uh FIMS and MPD.

Okay, thank you so much.

Um looking at other cuts in FMD, uh I understand there's a 6.3 million reduction in janitorial services, uh, 1.2 million in mowing, which you mentioned, and 200,000 reduction landscaping.

Starting with janitorial, I know we can't reduce the number of buildings that need cleaning.

So does that meaning mean buildings will be getting cleaned less often?

Yes, we will look to reduce uh frequency uh for facilities uh that may be accustomed to six-day a week cleaning.

Uh we would may need to reduce the we will work with the client agency uh to determine the day with the least utilization.

Let's say hypothetically if the site was open Monday through Saturday and Monday was the lightest day, we would reduce services then and sometimes we would reduce the number of hours per day, right?

If it was 12 hours of cleaning or eight, maybe it would be reduced to eight or six.

Okay.

And do you all does DGS have a schedule of how often janitorial services will be provided for each building in its portfolio?

We we do.

We do we have a schedule, and what we do, we we rank our sites based upon um low and medium risk uh for services.

Okay.

Uh so what we would do, like the like the goal would be for sites, let's say if it's like a senior feeding site at like a wellness center, or let's say, like a really popular pool like Tacoma or Jackson Reed, the goal would be to preserve services as much as possible, like at those locations, uh, and maybe locations that don't serve the public or have lower utilization, we'd look to reduce services there first.

Okay.

Turning to mowing, that 1.2 million cut leaves how much in the mowing budget?

Yes.

That 1.2 leaves how much left do we have in mowing?

Um let's see.

I think that was uh I can get this exact number, but it's um it probably that's another eighty-eight or so million or so, but I'll get that number for you shortly.

So it is a sizable cut, but there does remain a good portion.

And I heard you speak earlier about this.

Essentially, that means you'll try to shorten when you mow to sort of the high high time areas.

That's right.

We mow typically the end of March through November.

We would reduce the frequency of mowing early in the season, like March and early April, uh, and in October and November.

So maybe instead of um cuts every eight days, it would be maybe uh every 14 days or every 12 days.

Uh but the goal would be in this instance to preserve the frequency, which now is once every eight days for uh during the primary growing season, which is late April, early May through uh through August.

Got it.

And then landscaping, the two hundred thousand dollar cut there, uh, leads how much left for DGS outdoor portfolio.

Yeah, I'll get that uh exact number for um for landscaping as well.

Again, it was a like a 200,000 reduction, but I can get that.

Yeah, uh actually uh 4.2 million total for landscaping.

Okay.

Is DGS concerned that less landscaping may be noted by the federal government and its beautification efforts?

And if so, how are we gonna ensure our local outdoor spaces do not become sort of unattractively unruly?

Well, um, again, it will be a challenge uh to while we can't totally in one hiring cycle uh replace the reductions from contract services.

You know, again, my focus would be on hiring as many frontline staff as possible to bring some of these services in-house.

The reality of the matter is that uh that that number of uh folks, maybe our custodial mowing team across our maintenance divisions.

If we can maybe add to that another 20 or 30, you know, again I won't replace uh those contractual services dollars, but but it will help.

The idea would be how do we get as um much as possible, which is why some of the other complimentary investments are really important.

Like in our fleet uh fleet, uh we have an aging fleet.

I believe we have the oldest uh fleet inventory in the district, right?

And they rely on that to get the site to site, whether it's for janitory or mowing services.

So I think long term, and again, it it's not it can't be done in one single year.

I think as an agency over the course of multiple years to blunt the impact of such cuts, especially if they or reductions, right?

If they continue in subsequent fiscal years, to do as much in-house as possible, I think is the way to go.

Um the model with protective services division of bringing this in-house is something I think that we'll have to look to replicate.

Yeah.

We heard testimony from residents near Friendship Turtle Park, uh, that overflowing trash, standing water, and deferred maintenance are contributing to worsening rodent infestations and limiting park usability.

As DGS reduces janitory and outdoor maintenance services, will you does DGS track maintenance-related rodent complaints or sanitation hotspots across its outdoor portfolio?

And what metrics is DGS going to use to determine when a park or public space requires more rodent abatement?

Well, we are um there still is adequate funding uh for pest control.

We we saw some reductions in our environmental services, primarily related to uh maybe some mold testing and abatement uh and some other environmental services like storm water management right now.

Pest control services would continue in FR27, the same as it is funded in FR26.

Um, you know, it is a process.

Uh, we've made adjustments to our work water management system to adequately reflect reflect the uh full course of treatments for rodent services.

Uh so that work will continue.

Every site, we we treat on a case-by-case basis, as you know, a site that isn't a densely populated neighborhood, or near maybe restaurant activities, have has its own unique challenges.

So we would continue to attack those on a case-by-case basis, but the goal would be to preserve as much of the pest management services that we currently provide.

Okay.

Two questions.

Can you all please check out check on Friendship Turtle Park and the issues that uh arose with the from the testimony of residents?

And second question, does road abatement have a dedicated budget?

Excuse me.

Does rodent does rodent abatement have a dedicated budget?

So it's funded through it's funded through our environmental services division, and then we look to um we look to so it's broader, it's funded, it's a line item within environmental services, uh, and it has not been a reduction in in particular.

So, no impact.

The way the budget book is worded, it doesn't drill down that deep into every single program, but you will see that that allocation in DGS's environmental services.

So, what we can say to the public is that rodent abatement is not it's funded that's right at the levels it has been previously funded for the last two years, and we won't see a reduction in rodent abatement services across the district.

That's right.

Okay, that's correct.

Thank you.

Uh how much is the proposed supplemental for school readiness for summer 2026?

Approximately five and a half million.

I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask it anyway.

Um are schools' priority lists going to be shorter this year?

Yes.

Um can DGS make sure uh we get the school list when they are created in the final status report at the end of the school readiness in October.

Yes.

Okay.

Um and how much is in uh so you said it's gonna be five point five.

That's right for school readiness for summer twenty twenty-seven.

That's correct.

And will it be added um in the supplemental?

Yes, that's right.

That's right.

It's getting bleak.

Okay, continuously bleak here.

Um now I want to turn to utilities within FMB's budget, starting with electricity.

Okay.

Okay.

Um as you know and can see uh on the screen, the district's utilities costs have skyrocketed over the last several years.

In fact, DGS utilities budget has doubled from 65.8 million to 133.3 million, with electricity being the largest share for three of the last four years.

Last year, the mayor moved 8.6 million for electricity from DGS DCPS budget to DGS budget.

DGS budget this year again includes DCPS electricity bills.

Given the impact this transfer has on charter schools, there is a debate about whether to move this money back to DCPS or keep it in DGS, but have it count as DCBS spending for the uniform per student funding formula.

Uh we had several witnesses testify on this impact to um this different difference of as it impacts charter schools, particularly for DCPS and all other agencies.

I want to talk how electricity usage is projected, budgeted and monitored to start.

Are all of the government's electricity bills now within DGS's budget?

And do any agencies still pay for electricity themselves?

Yeah, thank thank you for the opportunity to discuss this.

And I think that, you know, as the um the budget's a little complicated.

So at first glance it may look like electricity has doubled, but in fact, it hasn't.

It's from FY26 to FY27.

The electricity budget is only increasing by three percent.

Um, and we can talk through that.

Um I believe in FY27, there's about 35.5 million in local um 86,000 in Eastern Market SPR funds, 39.7 in um MESF, uh, which I believe is the mayor's energy surcharge fund.

And then 1.89 in intra district, which totals uh 77.2 million.

So again, 77.2 million.

Yeah.

Okay.

And so to the original question, is are all government electricity bills now within DGS's budget?

Not quite.

There's still 1.89 in uh interfund.

Um and then, but the rest, I suppose, would be considered within DGS's budget, the 75 million.

So the okay.

So the vast majority of DC government bills are now within DGS's budget.

Yes.

Okay.

And do any agencies still pay for electricity in themselves?

Yes.

And let me get that for you.

If you want the full list, I'm happy to share.

Is it a long list?

Uh it's 10 to 12.

Okay.

So about 12, 80, that's fine.

Yeah.

About 12 agencies are paying for electricity themselves, and everyone else is sort of under DGA under score.

And I think as an example, um DDOT still for street lights, right?

So you imagine electricity to power out street lights on our highways and streets, uh, they pay DDOT will pay for the line's share of those uh those electricity costs through their budget.

Okay.

And they are they all mostly or all independent agencies?

Um it's agencies like OAG, DOES, Aussie, oh, okay.

Um, uh CFSA, DBH, Wilson Building.

But we now we I want to clarify, we still pay those on their call.

We still pay and manage those electricity bills on their behalf, but their funds are sent to us through an MOU.

Gotcha.

Through interdistrict funds because some are some of the form funds are obtained either, let's say from like a federal source, let's say like hypothetically DC Health, right?

They have federal funding, that federal funding will flow from the federal government to DC Health, DC Health will then transfer those dollars to the agency to pay for the electricity costs.

So we still manage, but in terms of agencies that like pay electricity on their own, not through DGS when we won't manage, very few.

One includes like DDT for like street lights.

Understood.

Um we had several witnesses from uh from charter schools testify.

What is the rationale for moving not moving uh the money back to DCPS and having it count as DCPS to uh based on the uniform per student funding formula?

We we're agnostic to funding uh we did not weigh in, and I would have to defer to DCPS on it.

Okay, um how does DG how do you all project usage and how far in advance are is usage projected?

Sure.

So um we project usage based on past years.

So um for instance last summer uh which is summer 2025, we were um formulating the budget and the usage for FY27.

Um so it's usually a year and a half to two years in advance, and how close are the projections from usage?

So for example, can DGS provide how much electricity was projected in fiscal year 25 and how much was actually used?

Um yes, I think we can.

Yep.

We'll get back to you on that.

Thank you.

And how does DGS project electricity cost for new buildings that will be brought online in the upcoming fiscal year?

Yeah, it's it's a little um it's a little complicated because if you try and like zoom in on each individual building and every line item in the PEFCO bill, uh it's it's almost like trying to read a crystal ball on how some of these line items will increase.

So um we have to assume that a similar amount of buildings typically leave the portfolio for modernization, you know, while they're under construction that enter the building, but we try and um ballpark, you know, and as every like school, for instance, is modernized that increases its square feet, and we we don't always know exactly how um how many total square feet that's gonna be.

So we sort of estimate um a slight increase in uh in consumption based on the expected increase in gross floor area.

Got it.

And does DGS take into account increases in renewable energy generation when making electricity projections and budgets?

Yes, um, and again, that is a little complicated because so we we always forecast our our win based on our win PPA rate.

So that's like 25 to 30 percent of the um energy use on an annual basis or electricity use, but we also for solar um, even when we execute a PPA, uh all those sites in that power purchase agreement won't actually be installed and reach interconnection for two to three years, and it's usually a phased process.

So, yeah, one will reach interconnection, then maybe the next year another group will.

Um, so it it can be a little tricky to um nail that down.

Got it.

Does DGS know how much electricity and money is saved from renewable energy generation in its portfolio?

Yes, I, you know, we've done some recent calculations on the solar PV alone, and um our most recent two solar uh PV contracts are expected to save about 35 million over the next 20 years.

Okay.

I'm sorry, say that again.

Uh 35 million saved over the next 20 years from the two most recent solar power purchase agreements.

Okay.

To that notion, a number of public witnesses raised concerns about DC leaving federal dollars on the table, specifically 60 million dollars in federal matching grants for our energy programs.

Uh to date, we've only been able to draw on around three million of the available grants in large part due to the lack of local investment.

The fiscal year 27 budget continues this trend by transferring 10.5 million from the sustainability and energy trust fund to cover DGS utility costs rather than our energy programs.

How much has DGS taken from the SETF in each of the last three fiscal years?

And what is DGS plans to reduce reliance on those transfers?

So I'll try and answer each question.

I believe in FY27 funding is coming over from the MESF, not the SETF.

Um in FY26, I believe our budget authority also lied um with the MESF.

Uh we continue to pursue um energy reduction and electrification programs, um, to help reduce costs, as well as we continue to um buy electricity in sort of a unique way to help hedge against those market fluctuations.

So some of those programs I referenced, the energy savings performance contract, um, a lot of those savings will go to pay for the um measures that are installed, but we expect it to um to help uh again hedge against those market fluctuations.

Um you know, we also are installing solar as quickly as we can, particularly before the um federal ITC goes away.

Um, and I think just I I would just say like we've When is the federal ITC go away?

Um it's a little complicated.

There are two primary deadlines.

So the first is this July 4th, 2026.

Um for the I the IRS basically says that you need to have a binding contract in place, and you need to have um uh paid out five percent of total material costs by that date in order to be eligible for the ITC.

And even with that, I think all the solar industry would agree there's still some fuzzy um fuzziness in defining that.

The second is you need to have every the other like pathway is you need to have everything constructed and I believe interconnected by July 4th, 2027.

Oh boy, yeah.

Okay.

Are there any other grants that we are uh that we are utilizing?

Yeah, I and I did hear the like leaving money on the table and so forth.

I I think that they are potentially referencing another agency and not DGS.

Um we have pursued many grants, some with our sister agencies such as DOEE.

Um these are during that, there are a lot of them are IRA grants that are extremely competitive.

Um if there are any grants that still exist that would be applicable, we'd be more than happy to pursue them as well.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Um can DGS provide uh to us at some point some of the federal funds available and the related local funding.

Uh sure, yeah.

Well, we can list any um, so you're asking for existing uh existing existing, yes.

Um turning to waste management.

Uh DGS waste management budget increases 197% for fiscal year 26, a larger percent increase than any other utility.

How much of this increase is due to an expanding portfolio and how much is it due to increasing cost?

Yeah, just yeah, thanks for the opportunity to discuss this.

Um, the waste budget is actually increasing by 19% from FY26 to FY27.

And I can see how it could be very confusing.

Um for folks to interpret that increase.

Um, but a lot of it has to do with um, you know, prior money coming from like the SETF to now coming from the MESF.

Um, but we'd be happy to share any additional detail on that.

And I think you'll see more broadly uh that any perceived increases uh aren't necessarily increases to local, but it's the composition of the funding, right?

Um some again funded through local, others are funded through MOU or intradistrict funds uh that that is what has changed.

If you look by and large at our budget, you won't be local.

Okay.

What I'll say is that we normally have a spin plan that we develop based upon the number of sites, and sites are constantly coming online but also going offline, right?

As an example, you we don't have to service a Fort Davis recreation center.

We won't have to service a Jelliff recreation center as those sites are being modernized.

Uh you won't have to service a Harriet Tubman elementary school right as that site is being modernized.

So as new sites come online.

It isn't always necessarily like a one-to-one replacement.

What we look at is when we have brand new assets, right, that have not been serviced before.

Like one example is COP Park.

In fact, we have a uh groundbreaking or ribbon cutting router celebration on Saturday, like that's a brand new park that had not been in our inventory that we have to account for.

Um we do budget, we will make a request for that, and in some years that has been funded.

Got it.

I wanted to there's a discrepancy in the budget book, page one of the tables if under contracting and procurement services.

I guess why don't the numbers align up with the increases in this table?

Under contract and procurement services.

So like the increase for waste management, it seems like is a much less percent than what is listed.

But I would um I would say that perhaps I would break it out by local Eastern Market SPR, SETF, SPR, MESF, SPR, and Interfund.

That's how that's kind of how we've been able to get a better understanding of the year over year increases.

Yeah, and I'll add that approximately 3.2 million was realigned from a client interagency fund DCPS to DGS local.

Um so again, one view that the total gross funding level, which includes our interfund agencies, waste costs only increase by 1.5 million or 19% year over year.

So again, it's confusing with how funding has been allocated, but no drastic doubling of of budget.

I would into the director's comments, I would know I think in past years the interdistrict budgets would be more, they would be here perhaps, but now they are in each agency's budget.

So you would have to go to each agency's budget to find how much they are budgeting for like electricity, for instance.

Because money now with our new financial system is still resides with the client agency, and we would have direct bill, essentially spending from the accounts.

It's the equivalent of if I had a debit card to your account, right?

And then I knew I could spend $100 on X expense versus before you may have cashed out meet the $100.

Right.

So a little confusing, but in a nutshell, that's sort of how it works.

So we should send our budget office to look at the agencies to better understand the percentage discrepancies here.

Yeah, that's definitely part of it.

The other part is just looking at the SETF and MESF.

I'm not sure how it's captured here.

Okay, um, I want to go to, uh we'll work together to figure that out with the budget office just so we can understand the accuracy.

Um, I want to also go to zero waste and composting in our sustainability energy division.

Uh DGS currently has a food scrap collection contract and an opt-in process for schools, and the proposed for school of 27 budget includes additional funding for composting efforts.

How many schools are currently participating and what would it take operationally to expand that number to all schools?

Yeah, thank you for that.

So right now we have a uh a base and a four-option year contract um solicitation that um we're having better submit proposals to.

Um, and I'm you know, I'm really hopeful that that will enable us to do more consistent year-over year organics collection and to enable us to expand organic collection.

And as an interim measure, because you know, RFPs and solicitations take a very long time.

Um, we're doing a small purchase order that would start uh toward the end of this month for just a few a few schools, but in the new school year, our our target is to eventually get to 20 um 20 schools.

We issued a um uh like uh interest form to all the 120 or so schools, and 13 responded saying that they would like to participate.

We send it to all of the schools and we had 13 respond.

Yes, okay, and this is only DCPS schools, yes.

Okay.

Um does DGS view that as a facilities or capacity issue, or is is or is the school demand itself limited?

Um I think it has to do with just the schools and all their competing priorities.

Um it's you know part of what DGS does is we collect the organics, and um we're thankful for the three FTEs that the zero waste law has provided us, um, and we've been using them to uh just try and ensure that our core services are accurate, but also do more education and training.

So we'll we'll collect the waste, we'll provide the materials for the inside of the building, and we'll do training wherever we can.

But um I think a lot of schools are just overburdened with a lot of other issues, and it may not be their top priority.

Got it.

Um, and you also, and you said the additional schools DGS expects to support in fiscal year 27 with the proposed increase in funding would be getting us to a total of 20 schools.

Yeah, we want to start out with the 13 that have expressed interest, but our hope is that um through those schools participating, we're word will spread and maybe more um more interest and commitment on other schools' behalf will uh start growing.

Okay.

Um for the schools that want to separate food waste, um, what infrastructure does DGS need to provide for the program to work well?

Are there bins, signage, storage areas, and collection points consistently available at the participating schools?

So um, so we provide the uh bins on the interior, and the schools tell us where in the cafeteria they would like them located, and every school's a little different, and then we also provide the exterior containers, we provide the liners that typically last for about a year before they you know start disintegrating, and we provide the signage.

Okay, because we had heard that DGS covers collection but not school level equipment cost.

Is that correct?

I think when it comes to um trash and recycling containers, uh we don't that is uh split between a few agencies that those responsibilities, interior containers for trash and recycling.

But for organics, if a school is in our organics program and participating, we will provide all the materials.

Okay, great.

Um we have heard that successful expansion also may depend heavily on coordination with food and nutrition services and vendors handling back of house food waste.

How involved is DGS in those conversations?

Um, so yeah, we've worked with um food and nutrition services before.

Um we have conducted some audits of um those schools that prepare meals from scratch, which I I would need to defer to DCPS to know how many there are, a lot just warm up food.

Um but what we found from our audits is there's not actually that much uh scraps to be collected, but what we're going to do in the new fiscal year is do more of those audits and re-engage um food and nutrition services.

Uh thank you.

Um I'll come back there.

I'm gonna turn to my colleague, Councilmember Christina Henderson, uh, who is with us for a round of questions.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis George.

Gonna sent up a flare.

Okay.

Hello.

All right, um, it's still morning.

Good morning, Director.

All right, so last year I moved um a recreation specifications establishment subtitle and the budget support act.

This subtitle required the Department of General Services to conduct an annual survey on the condition of spray parks, artificial turf fields, playgrounds, and courts, such as tennis, basketball, similar hard surfaces, and then the results were supposed to be made public, transmitted to the council, and the chairperson with oversight by March 1st of each year.

What's the status?

We're close, we're close.

Still working on completing our survey and want to get that posted as soon as possible.

Okay, but we're it it is happening though.

Yes, it is.

Okay, that's that's great to hear.

Um sort of uh similar related but a little bit different.

Um, when there are delays in projects that you guys had planned for, um, so for instance, um the Upshur pool, um, which is like on Arkansas and 14th.

Um, how do we or how whose responsibility is it to go back to the community to say, hey, the planned modernization or the the planned construction is not going to go forth on the schedule that we had originally talked about?

Yeah.

Um tip I I think that's an opportunity for improvement to strengthen communication with the public, like after the last community meeting and when construction starts.

Uh, there was an operational decision which we support made by DPR to keep Upshur pool open for this summer because of all the other pools under construction, right?

From Jellif pool, which is offline, right?

Uh, to um new pools at Fort Davis and and uh not Fort Davis, forgive me, Fort Grubbel and several others, right?

We are operating less pools this year than we have traditionally operated because of construction, right?

Which is a great thing.

Yeah, we want the updates, but I get for the capacity questions, it gets a little dicey if too many are offline.

Yeah, well, I I don't think so.

My my theory is always you do construction when you get funding and you can do it.

You know, that sort of belief of getting get it while the getting is good.

Uh so I think that's a good thing.

Uh, but the decision was made to keep the pool open this summer, right, to accommodate the public, right?

And then also, but what we have decided to do is to move forward with the playground renovations, right?

Oh, okay.

And that work will begin this May.

Uh, but but I agree we have to work with DPR to strengthen if there's any adjustments or changes, whether it's a valid operational decision.

I think there's there definitely is an opportunity to strengthen how we engage with the public so that they're up to date.

Yeah.

Um, I you know, social media is what it is, but I hate for folks to sort of learn about the plans to delay because some neighbor walked by and they were like, wait, they're putting water in the pool.

So I guess it's not happening.

And that's kind of what happened there.

Um, speaking of pools, because this is now come up of late.

Um, what's what's our East Potomac pool?

Did we just give it back?

What's our plan?

Yeah, that's been a long casualty of yesteryear.

Uh, I think the you did that pool closed what almost 10 years ago.

Yeah.

Uh 2016.

So there are no plans that um allocation was moved many budget cycles ago, so there are no plans to reopen East Potomac Pool at this point.

Okay.

Um for the purposes of the conversation around what is happening on Haynes Point with the federal government.

Do we just not?

We were just operating East Potomac Pool, is that correct?

Or is is that ours?

I I don't think it's ours.

It was a transfer of jurisdiction, right?

Meaning that we specifically had the footprint of the pool, but not the mini golf or the golf course or the other uh assets.

Okay.

Right, but it was not an owned district asset.

Right, but it was a transfer.

That's correct.

Was it transferred back or no?

Uh essentially the transfer sort of dormant, right?

It would the TOJ, to my knowledge, was not formally revoked at one point uh when we last had discussions, I was at DPR at the time.

Uh we last had discussions with the uh National Park Service about the future of that site, it was around like the remediation, yeah, uh and and the the backfilling of the materials to ensure that it was it was safe.

Okay, all right.

Um I wanted to ask about um the status of some FY27 capital projects or projects that you guys will still be working on in FY27.

Um, so first the Oak Hill campus sewer and water upgrades.

Um where are we with that?

Um good morning, uh council members.

Um so the Oak Hill uh uh project is still ongoing.

Um we've had uh some challenges with the contractor um being able to uh procure uh some of the long lead items that we needed out there.

Um but we've since, and also we had um some challenges moving funding around in time to to advance the project in a timely fashion.

Um we've since worked through a lot of those issues uh with the contractor.

Um we are in the uh process of submitting our perm uh documents for permitting okay um and again we've we've that project is is currently um in progress.

All right.

Um the Marion Barrie Jr.

building.

Where are we with that one?

Uh there are a number of projects in Marionberry building, as I know we've made several ADA bathroom upgrades, facade work, we're working on roofing and waterproofing work.

Uh there is some funding, but not full funding to replace the elevators.

So we are evaluating to do one set of elevators at a time.

Uh and that that is likely to be our course of action for future fiscal years.

Okay.

Elevators.

Okay, this came up with DCPS last week with Dumbar, um, and a couple other schools.

Uh you why do we choose a different elevator company every time we put an elevator in?

Which I think creates some difficulties in terms of when there is a problem finding the part for the the one company that we happened to use that one time back then.

Is this not something that we could also going forward?

Obviously, what's there is there, but going forward, is elevators not something we can standardize in terms of we're gonna use this company and go.

There's a balance to be achieved.

I'll give I'll highlight the Wilson building as an example.

Uh these elevators, uh, believe it or not, have been around since the nineties.

They're a uh we joke when we need parts for to service these elevators, we have to go to the Smithsonian.

Uh and they are serviced by a vendor with a proprietary system.

As you may be aware, we are replacing the entirety of the elevators here in the Wilson building, and we're using a non-proprietary vendor, right, which will make it easier to sort of to access parts.

Right.

We have strengthened the elevator specs for our capital projects that gives us some flexibility.

We'll no longer use uh proprietary vendors, but with regards to like types of elevators that we're utilizing, and if you can speak to it, uh say a bit about like like elevator components that we look for.

What I would say, not in the case of Dunbar, what I would say in many of these elevator outages, they're just old and need to be replaced.

Yeah.

Wilson, again, Wilson, but these elevators are 30 years old.

You know, I always I joke with folks, you know, if you had a Honda Accord that, you know, crossed the 450,000 mile marker, you wouldn't say, wow, this car broke down, what's wrong with that mechanic?

You should be giving them an award.

And that's the case for many of our elevators.

Like this simply like past their useful life.

Uh, and I'm proud that, you know, SUSE is budgeted also replacing elevators at about five or six schools projects, and uh my heart's desire is that that clip will increased for small capital elevator replacement.

So again, I don't want to speak to Dunbar, I need to dig a little deeper.

We're obtaining pricing, uh, but for many of our schools, like I was speaking with the chairman about um Cleveland, and we went back and we did our research.

I think that elevator was installed uh in 2009, right?

So it's it's rounding 20 years, it needs to be replaced.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, I think that people sometimes sort of shrug off the elevators, but when you have a student who can't get to the second floor of the building and go to class, that we've got some ADA challenges there.

I'm gonna keep going on some of these Eastern Market Metro Park I think this came up during last year's um budget but uh where are we on this particular project?

Sure we we just had an unveiling for the loving hands statue uh which is a long time coming and we recently completed uh projects replacing those lights right the flesh mount or flush mount lights from bollards which had been uh damage to vandalism uh we put an erosion control measures including um drainage to help and then also we're making well we're finishing up several uh other small capital projects related to uh some of the um the the boards and and planking throughout the park was there not a planned playground that was going to happen there or did that get scratched because what is the playground across the street right yeah okay so not in the the park that is nearest to the metro entrance but caddy corner there's a very active playground in splash park yeah that are well utilized well maintained we don't have any any major concerns with those okay um going back to the Oak Hill campus really quickly so they have several abandoned structures there at the front of the campus that are in severe disrepair some have broken windows deteriorating wood visible signs of structural detigration um we're not using those buildings obviously because they're abandoned but my worry is that they hit a point of being so falling into such disrepair that now it's causing other issues for the property um what are our plans um in addressing some of those conditions you know I ideally we need a master plan for the Oak Hill campus.

In previous years the mayor has proposed master plan funding but it was removed by council uh and I think at some point we need to revisit what is our broader vision for Oak Hill uh as a city as a district I mean it's over 800 acres presents a great amount of opportunity for activation uh right now as you may be aware our biggest user on the campus is DYRS with new beginnings we also we have several office warehouse space managed by OCP and more recently the and also the youth challenge academy managed by the National Guard but the most promising and new use is just through DYRS and their OASIS campus right we're building two uh new uh cottages uh for um residential use by students and then also there are number of um I'll call them Igloos uh but essentially they are um units that house both families and youth for activations by DYRS that's the newest and I would say um most promising or innovative usage of the campus but again at 800 acres total it provides an opportunity for a much more thoughtful expansion for the district.

800 acres that's right okay that was a lot of space um I want to ask a couple more questions and um we've been joined by council member Wendell Felder from Ward Seven.

I'm a stand-in so I'm just gonna ask my couple of other questions and then I'll turn to you.

So the accounting division um for DGS had been funding funded at zero dollars since fiscal year 2023 and the FY27 proposed budget includes approximately 1600 for the accounting division including um some FTEs and fringe uh I have to believe that y'all had somebody in accounting before and perhaps they just were on the wrong or different line or is this a new position that you guys are bringing on no new positions that that I'm accustomed to uh but I I'll check it could be a function of and my team will correct me it could be a function we sometimes fund shared services with O CFO right meaning that um OCUFO is organizing clusters right and while you have like an AFO um sometimes they're shared services so there's maybe a reflection of one of those shared services positions being allocated through the DGS budget.

Sorry, it's in the accounting division, but it does appear to be for a legal services position.

Okay.

So somebody in legal.

I'll have to check, but I'm not aware of it.

Oh, I know we don't have any new FTEs.

I'm happy to maintain the ones that we have, but I'm happy to double check okay um and then finally, so the materials that we have reflect an approximately 9.1 million dollar increase in rentals, lands, and structures when in the writ and lease services division.

What's driving this increase and um?

Two questions.

One, what's driving this increase?

And two, I kind of think of DGS as sort of our version of the Fed's um GSA.

To what extent are you guys auditing whether or not our government agencies are actually using or need their space?

Um this kind of came up earlier this week where one of our quasi-independent agencies, um, who has space in this building that have space in Southwest and they have space on North Capitol Street.

But when we look at the swipe of people going in and out of the building, it's it's less than two percent monthly.

Um, but we pay that lease, and that's that's a savings that could be there.

So that's just my two questions today.

We have been instructed by the Office of the City Administrator to engage independent agencies on formal consolidation exercises, uh, and the the first engagement will be with the office of the chief financial officer and also the office of tenant advocacy, and those engagements will begin momentarily.

Okay.

Um, but the increase in the 9.1 million is that just the normal rise in rent?

Or are we acquiring new space?

Rent increases, that's mostly driven by 11.2 million dollars, uh, which was a part of D CPS's budget for rent, which is now funded through DGS, so no net increase in new rent, but again, how those funds were allocated uh has been shifted to be accounted in DGS's budget.

Is that just for efficiencies that it comes that we're not no longer doing a pass through?

Um there are a lot of shifts from DCPS to you guys that has our other side of the public school sector very uncomfortable.

Um, and so I'm trying to understand why.

Uh we're agnostic to funding, and we um, yeah, we're agnostic to funding.

Okay.

Um sorry, Councilman Lewis George, I just have one final question.

I needed to ask about the status of the animal shelter demo on New York Avenue.

Um, yesterday was the hearing for Department of Human Services, and I was asking about what is the status for the New York Avenue shelter that's supposed to go on that site.

She said that there were some zoning things that needed to happen, and that has cleared.

Um, but now the timeline for the New York Avenue shelter, she's saying is fiscal year 30.

And I'm no, we we expect to break ground this calendar year on our property.

We're reviewing pricing now.

Okay.

Uh we uh had to go back and value engineer the space.

Yes, she did mention that that the design needed to that's right to accommodate our current budget allocation, which is about mid-60s uh million.

Yeah, and also if you could speak to because we just discussed this for another matter at the timeline.

No, that's right.

Um so we're currently uh back.

Um, if I meet in this director said um the design, um we anticipate that um in this month, as a matter of fact, um, we'll have um uh procurement out uh for a design uh for a contractor rather to come on board and start okay by the demolition process, and once they're on board, we anticipate by the end of the year we should be knocking on the doors um of the animal shelter to say um time for demo.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Storch.

Thank you so much.

Uh, we have been joined by our ward seven uh council member Wendell Felder, and I will recognize him for a round.

Uh thank you, madam uh chairperson.

Uh Director Hunter, members of your senior leadership team is always good to see you.

First, I want to thank you for your continued investment in Ward 7.

Uh many of the proposed investments align with the things that I've heard from everyday Ward 7 of residents.

For example, um, when it comes to HD Wilson's uh field, which is in dire knee of upgrades or Marvin Gate Park that can stand a refresher, uh, and school mark maintenance concerns remain my top priority.

I was also glad to see your opening testimony.

You talked about SUSE.

Um now Ward 7 residents consistently raise concerns about delayed facility repairs, school building conditions, and recreation maintenance.

Given these persistent issues, Ward 7 deserves clear accountability from DGS.

And we want to make sure that the resources are being deployed uh east of the river adequately.

Um I'm particularly concerned when I look at your budget about the $19 million decrease in the overall facilities operations budget.

Given that there are currently are uh I want to say 600 open work orders uh across DGS's operated facilities in Ward 7.

Director, my question is how does this reduce uh or rather how does this reduction in uh funds impact your ability to address these open work orders?

It'll be challenging.

Uh if you look closely at the reductions, the spread across several line items from mowing uh to janitorial uh to landscaping, uh and most notably uh the reduction in HVAC uh preventative maintenance.

Uh so we'll you know do the best that we can with what we have.

Uh we'll see how this process unfolds during the budget cycle.

We'll work closely with agencies, including DCPS on strategies for next fiscal year.

Uh there may be an opportunity either through replenishments during this budget cycle or maybe even reprogramming to make up uh some of that gap to close some of that gap.

Uh but we'll when the budget is approved, we'll just simply develop a spend plan in accordance with what we have.

I appreciate your transparency, Director.

Uh, given that it's a challenge, how do you prioritize cases?

So, what we would do uh again, um I'll give mowing as an example, right?

Um, no small but DCPS mowing.

Um, one of the things I shared with uh chairperson is that we would look to reduce mowing during the non um, I'll call it prime growing seasons.

So I think there's like a one million one point three million dollar reduction uh in landscaping services for mowing.

So maybe we will cut fewer times like in November and October and on the front end of the season uh in March and in April to try to preserve mowing during that essential growing season, which is essentially now through uh August.

So, like that that's an example of what we will look to do for our HVAC preventative maintenance program.

There are three components inspection, testing, and maintenance.

Um, what we would do, we would have to strip away the inspection and testing, and we would prioritize very small scale maintenance to include like filter changes.

Um, so would there be an impact?

Absolutely.

Uh, and we would work with those client agencies to you know so they can know with certainty what you can count on the agency for.

How um given the proposed reduction uh and some of the challenges, have you communicated those challenges with either schools who have submitted the open um work orders or vendors that you historically have worked with?

We we have.

I mean, we're we're strategizing now with with the chancellor and DCPS's central office, even for this year, you know, um in terms of our summer readiness schedule.

Likely it'll be reduced from what we've had.

Um I think schools and client agencies, I think they understand uh because they face their own challenges.

Uh and you know, always temper my concern with recognition of some of the broader challenges we have as a as a district and as a city, and I think we all are called on as government to be more resourceful, be more entrepreneurial, uh, and to try to do as much as we can with what we have, you know, we're already thinking of of ways to sort of mitigate some of this.

Um, you know, our FTE authority uh will likely has not been diminished through this budget cycle.

Uh, we'd really need to stand up an internal HVAC team, right?

We have a boilerplant operations team, but we have a uh a very small HVAC team, less than eight FTEs, right?

That permanently triage and we rely on contractor services.

I think in the long term, uh, we want to increase the ranks uh of our FTE authority, be able to get to some of this work, right?

At least for some of that basic maintenance.

So that's gonna be our approach.

Copy.

Now, with the $19 million uh decrease, are you confident that the work open work orders will be addressed, or do you feel like because you don't have the proper resources, they won't get addressed at all?

That's fairly.

That's fair to say.

Yeah, if it's hoping it'll remain open.

Do you think it would get addressed, or do you think some of those?

No, it'll it'll we'll do our best, because it's essentially like we're there isn't a much dedicated like funding for for work.

Like I'll give you an example, right?

We'll stay in War 7.

One of the prominent examples I give uh at SUSE, you know, it was flagged a couple years ago.

Like the principal, there was a work order to replace the lighting in the auditorium at SUSE.

Uh and uh while it was a work order, I mean that was like I think like like low 100,000 like to replace.

And we did that during our summer readiness effort, right?

Uh, because we had dedicated funding.

So um those sort of things may linger a little longer than we would have liked.

It's all it's always our commitment to use whatever funding to prioritize like fire life and safety issues, doors and locks, alarms, PA systems, ADA accessibility, including doors and elevators, right?

Because there historically has not been dedicated money for work order, our goal would be to try to maximize what we can complete with internal staff.

Um, one of the things that I shared during the previous line of questions is that because we are our funding overtime, it'll give us the ability to hire against vacancies that we have historically had to keep vacant to accrue vacancy savings.

So I do anticipate more boots on the ground.

Can I replace one-for-one those cuts?

Like, no, I can't, but I can try to close that gap by doing as much as possible with internal resources and and and that would be our goal.

Also, we'll work with agencies.

Some agencies may choose to say, hey, no, this is too essential.

Uh we'll we'll we'll pony up and find dollars to help to close that gap.

So, no silver bullet, uh, but we'll we'll have to make changes incrementally in all those areas that that I mentioned.

Uh thank you, Director.

My prioritization is at the top of that.

Thank you.

Uh could you describe the services that are in your public education division under the facilities operations?

Well, it's wide ranging.

I think um many times when you think of the the FMD division, you think of plumbing, you think of electrical, you think of carpenters and and locksmith, you think of um, you know, landscaping and janitorial services, you think of consolidated maintenance vendors.

Uh, but also that there's really important work through our environmental services division.

That's mold testing and abatement.

Uh that's pest management services.

Uh there are other preventative maintenance programs for not just HVAC, but also for elevators that we're really proud of.

Uh, so that that just encompasses some of the line items within the facilities maintenance uh division.

Now, within your proposed budget, I did notice a 9.5 million dollar uh reduction.

Uh could you speak to how would this impact your agency's ability uh to get these issues addressed within a timely manner?

I think you're referring to the DCPS uh HVAC uh preventative maintenance program.

Um the three components of that program include inspection testing uh and maintenance and what we will look to do with available funding is to prioritize uh filter changements changes, which is uh one component of our maintenance um uh needs for those systems.

Okay.

Now I noticed that um your waste management division is seeing an increase of about 5.5 million dollars.

Uh can you share more about um what this division does and why it's so important?

Yeah, they're responsible for um the waste management across our facilities.

Um those blue recycling cans that you see in the DPR parks were responsible for, but also the large dumpsters, right?

That you see like at schools, those large dumpsters that are that are serviced by the the large front loading trucks uh we're responsible for maintaining those as well across our inventory, DCPSR municipals, um fire department, police station, etc.

Um that is primarily waste management.

Um Jim, would you like to add to that?

Sure, thanks.

Um so just as the director uh noted, we're responsible for collections for trash and recycling dumpsters, for recycling litter cans at DPR properties, um, for bulk hauling, you know, sometimes there's illegal dumping and such at DC government facilities.

Um there's also uh uh education and um training that we try and do on waste diversion and zero waste, and we were just earlier discussing um, you know, getting our organics program off the ground again for schools.

Yeah, but there hasn't there isn't really an increase in in waste.

Um there is how funding funding that previously will come to DGS through intra-district transfers and MOUs is now being funded in DGS's local budget, so no real increase in in no I think the way it's it's in the budget book makes it seem as if it's doubled.

In actuality, it was a more modest uh 19% increase.

You look you you must have really in my mind, I was gonna ask.

Yeah, well, why was the increase needed?

Um and my final question: what visible improvements and waste management can residents expect to see.

Well, I we've come a long way um from waste management.

We switched vendors two or three fiscal years ago, uh and we now uh have uh we can track those vehicles when they make their various stops.

Uh there's video verification.

If we go to a school and the trash can is blocked by vehicles, we we've in time sent those to principals to say, hey, yes, your trash can is overflowing because we can't service in a way to address that activity.

Um while we have some responsibilities in DPW has other responsibilities for trash, and we're working closely and coordinating with them on you know how do we continue to service these sites?

Because I know it can be frustrating to the public, like we're responsible for a portion again, those really large containers or dumpsters, right?

The blue recycling cans, DPW is responsible for um servicing those black cans, and then we pick up loose litter.

Um, so we'll we're working with both DPR and DPW uh to be able to better service those black cans uh that that is our service by DPW.

Uh thank you, Director, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much.

All right, um, I want to go back and want to take a look at last last for environmental services here was the stormwater management.

I understand there's a 400,000 reduction in storm water management.

Is that correct?

And how much is left in the budget?

Yeah, I can answer that.

That is correct.

Uh so that those stormwater management services include um serve certain um, yeah, pollution revention, pollution prevention, excuse me, um, across our portfolio, uh, and there are several um EPA mandated uh guidelines that we adhere to uh to prevent pollution and to um some of our systems.

So um we do have some small remaining funds that'll cover basic EPA uh stormwater requirements and what are known as MS4 testing.

Okay.

What is it?

What will we no longer be able to do as a result of the reduction?

Um so I I think the biggest concern is green infrastructure maintenance, which has resided with DOEE for the last few years, but because uh DOE lost their EPA funding, um, I believe it that responsibility has come back to the agency.

And um, so that's funding like green roofs, bioretention cells, uh bioswales, it's it's weeding, adding more plants, all that stuff.

I think that will probably be hard to um to do.

Yeah, so that's the issue when people put in are now putting in like these storm, you know, these what are great projects?

Let me say that we all agree these are great projects and good for us, but if we can't maintenance them or maintain them, then then they become a huge issue for communities who have them, which then result in those things being overrun, trash, rodent issues, and what is supposed to be a benefit to the community, then becomes sort of uh ISOR, health and safety issue to the community.

So what what is the 400,000?

Is that the what's the gap there to ensure we have some stormwater management of you know these type of projects that we have throughout the city?

And have we instructed?

I guess it's DOE who decides or which agency decides whether we construct them and put them in neighborhoods.

Um they're primarily that's just cited by the um yeah, DOE stormwater compliance requirements, and then occasionally if we're able to, we do voluntary um installations, and then the DOE um River Smart Schools program occasionally installs systems.

Okay.

And as far as the budget, I am not sure because DOE was managing it just in the last year.

I'm not exactly sure what that budget was um we'd have to get with them.

Okay.

Uh next I want to turn to protective services uh division and the portfolio management division.

Uh there is 7.9 million, it looks like, or 19% cut to PSD.

I know part of that is savings from the transition from contractors to in-house personnel.

I guess, but not all of it is without getting into specific locations.

Overall, will this reduction result in a smaller PSD force or fewer hours of the same size force?

Well, there are two types of um personnel we have within our protective services division.

One includes like the officers that that you see our PSD officers, and we are increasing the ranks of those officers by 24, which is a substantial increase to most of it done in a really really long time.

Uh and then also we have contracted officers that are the security officers, special police officers, both armed and unarmed.

So you'll see an increase in the ranks of our FTE PSD officers, and they'll assume security for both the Marion Berry Building and also the Johnny Wilson building and FY27.

The reduction in our contract security officers, what we'll do is we'll change the there will be a reduction at some sites, uh but we'll also change the classifications and the types of officers that we use across our inventory.

So you may see uh a switch from maybe uh an armed SBO to unarmed SPO or maybe an SPO to just a security officer are dependent upon the threat assessment of that site.

And again, our priority is to maintain those services at the most critical sites, especially when you're talking about the protection of um of staff and and constituents.

Um and how are we monitoring the success of bringing more officers in-house if certain metrics are met?

Will DGS be looking to further reduce the contracted offices in fiscal year 28?

There's a balance.

Um I'm sure as you aware, it's it's incredibly difficult to to hire law enforcement professionals uh in this environment.

So we want to hire responsibly or even 24.

Um we've loaded as many potentially looked at maybe upwards of 50, and we thought it would be incredibly difficult to have 50 in one cycle.

So we want to scale responsibly.

Um again, of the 24, uh 12 are in training now, and which is 90-day training where they're training on like district laws and DC code.

They're outfit it with vest and certain firearm training and and other laws and rules.

First ACPR, you know, all of those things to uh equip an officer or with the ability to serve the public responsibly, and then we have nine in the pipeline that are going through some form of background check or verification reference checks that'll start pretty soon.

So what you'll see is they'll assume security again at Wilson Building, Marion Barry World, and I think we'll look to replicate this more.

We do value our contractors and the services that they provide.

You know, again, there are almost a thousand uh contractor security officers across our inventory, and I think including like actual officers' boots on the ground in about a hundred.

So we we can't close that gap.

You'll always have both working in tandem for the foreseeable future.

Okay.

And what assurances can DGS provide that our government buildings are gonna be safe enough?

I know this came up in the past, was a year ago or two years ago when we made the the committee had made the reduction.

Uh I think it was like 2.7 million or something reduction in PSD, and I know that at that time we were told that that would reduce the footprint or jeopardize the safety of our government buildings, and so um I know you don't want to be making this cut, uh, but I'm curious how you know this this is a a smaller cut.

Uh that was a smaller cut, then this is a larger cut now.

Um so does that mean we'll have adequate PSD presence, especially in our government buildings?

Because I know this is a question I'm gonna get from colleagues, um, if they see such a reduction, whether that's gonna turn into safety issues here, the Wilson building, but uh across government buildings.

You know, well, well, our approach has always been in some cases there'll still be a physical security officer or guard there, but we may change the classification again, maybe from a special police officer to a security officer.

Um, you know, it and the difference in that sometimes can be between five and ten dollars per hour, right?

So, but let's say, hypothetically, if a SPO was $55 and a security officer was 48, we're able to that that's a seven dollar savings.

So you still have a deterrent there, right?

And then we're working with our the client agencies that we serve to think of security uh more holistically.

It's not just a guard, right?

Good customer service, uh lighting, uh landscaping, uh, your hours of operation, uh, how you engage the public, those are all deterrents that help with public safety.

You know, I will say having, you know, now been in this space from 2015 to presence, we saw a dramatic increase immediately in the aftermath of COVID, and I think that was closely aligned with the increase just in violent crimes.

And, you know, we now have seen a decrease.

So I do think there's an opportunity to right size.

I've seen locations that have had incidents of violence where you have installed security that maybe we need to wind those down, you know.

Uh where maybe it's not needed, you know, maybe that was an outlier during COVID, uh, but now as the city, you know, with the work in the progress of MPD and others.

Uh it this is a safer city than it was just two or three years ago, and certainly in the aftermath of COVID.

So this may be an opportunity for us to write size.

What you saw was dramatic growth in PSD's budget pre-COVID, and I'm gonna say maybe 2016-2017 to like present, and I don't think that growth was both sustainable.

Uh, and having been a frontline program operator, I know that security is a lot more than just staff and there are other ways to ensure a safe environment.

Um, can DGS provide breakdown of PSD's, I guess, current presence changes to officers and hours, and I guess the new the new presence per facility?

I'm sorry, can you repeat that again?

Can you look can you provide the breakdown of um P like PSD's current presence and changes like officers and hours and the new presence per facility?

Yes, we can or what that presence looks like per facility.

We can okay.

Thank you.

Um I want to go to portfolio management division.

Uh you mentioned the largest portion of DGS' budget, 36% goes to leases and rental payments.

I think Councilmember Anderson um touched on this a little bit.

I'm really excited to hear the efforts you all are undertaking in that regard.

Do independent agencies hold more lease space than supported in agencies?

You said do they do the independent agencies or the quasi-independent agencies, do they hold more leased space than the subordinate agencies?

I would say it's a it's a combination.

We we changed our approach to our great municipals, you know.

10 years ago, 12 years ago, Reef Center, you know, 700,000 square feet, uh daily building, well over a half million square feet.

Mary and Berry building our largest at nearly 900,000 square feet of those, the Mary and Berry building remains uh both daily and Reeve Center.

Again, that's probably 1.5, 1.6 million square feet.

Many of those independent agencies were impacted, right?

And those independent agencies moved into leased spaces.

Uh so that's just, you know, and it was done with the best of intentions.

The goal has been and is to spur economic development, you know, in those areas.

There's a development award for the Reeve Center, and the idea is that the community as a whole benefits from a revitalized Reeve Center that can hopefully be a new anchor for development along the 14th and U Street corridors.

So like that's the goal.

It was done with noble purposes in mind that I think are still will come into fruition.

What we've seen is that um our independent agencies are not coming to the office at the same clip at executive agencies.

We have a 4-1 mandate that is closely monitored through bad swipes.

Um, independent agencies are not coming into that clip, and we've been directed by the office of the city administrator to look at consolidation plans for said agencies.

So the goal would be if we can consolidate the footprint of an independent agency that is not coming into the office at an acceptable rate, then as leases expire, right?

Because leases are contracts, right?

So you can't, you know, cancel a lease without there being some severe financial consequences to the district.

We wouldn't renew those leases, and then those agencies would we would consolidate that footprint.

Okay.

I'm I again I'm really happy that this work is happening and the city administrators directed you all as such.

Um, how long has it been since the district built a new municipal government building that it owned?

Wow.

Um, again, I can't.

When you say municipal buildings, of course you have like um, you know, a D.

A DPW, sort of like like baseline, like we're about to open our Aussie bus depot, you know, on W Street.

But in terms of like Reeves, Marionberry, Daly, the Wilson building is a great mean to support.

Yeah, that's right.

Um, it's been well over 30 years.

The federal government down's housing has put many office spaces on the market or ready for demolition or renovation.

Has DGS Explorer purchasing any of these spaces, particularly in areas that are in need of economic revitalization due uh to the federal government leaving?

Well, we have not more formally because we have very few agencies that are uh looking for new space if you think about agencies that we've transitioned the entirety of agencies that were in the Reeve Center.

We transitioned the entirety of agencies that were in daily, right?

And daily like MPD relocated to Mary and Berry Building, and then agencies like OCP, I'm sorry, um not OCP forgive me, OAG move to lease space.

So there aren't any agencies, there aren't many agencies like significant square footage, maybe 10, 15,000 here and there that are looking for new office space.

I will say that going forward, especially as we look at consolidation and especially supporting downtown, that there could be a presence for uh district government agencies.

But with that being said, there have been benefits to us fanning out.

Uh, that's right.

Like we're in Northeast Heights in um War Seven, I'm sorry, uh, the Fruman, you were council member Felder five minutes ago.

Yeah, right there, yeah.

So I was looking towards seven.

But um, you know, there's development that's happening, I think as a result and historic anacostia, right?

With DACD DC Health.

So there are other benefits to us being decentralized and not in the C.

Yeah.

Um a few months ago, DGS shared a summary of its 2019 land bank study.

Although the data was outdated, the information the government learned from the study was very insightful.

Do you think a new land bank study could be beneficial in identifying opportunities for development or cost savings within the district government's portfolio?

Yeah, I think definitely we want to look at utilizing uh any uh unused space.

Um I will say there just isn't many.

Like if you look at um, and I'm glad you all had an opportunity to see that land bank study.

I'm really proud that when you saw sites like Fletcher Johnson, that's being developed.

You know, when you saw sites like Spingarn, that's being developed.

Uh, when you saw sites like the old minor school, that's now an ECE, the old DPR headquarters on 16th Street.

That's supposed to schedule to be the Bancroft uh Annex expansion.

So I'm really proud that we're activating spaces.

There aren't many, but there are a few pockets, and we're open to working with Council Demped and maybe even private interest.

Um, the biggest opportunity I think you'll see in the coming years will be the United Medical Center site.

Over 30 acres, Southern Avenue, Ward A presents tremendous opportunity.

The mayor's budget allows us to do demo this summer or before the calendar year is out, and I think that'll position that site well for potential redevelopment for either housing or mixed use with retail.

Yeah.

Um, I want to turn uh to something portfolio related, but appears to be changes in the facilities operation at that, and that is the occupancy fixed cost.

There appears to be a 24 million reduction in occupancy fixed costs in several clusters.

11.6 million in public education, 10.1 million in government operations, and a little over a million for parks and rec and public safety and justice.

What is paid for in occupancy fixed costs and what is causing these decreases?

Okay, um, the occupancy fixed costs that you see are reductions, all those FMD reductions.

It's how we classify FMD, they're uh an occupancy fixed cost.

Oh, okay.

And why are the costs unchanged for human support services unlike other clusters?

I'm sorry, repeat that again.

Why are the costs unchanged for human support services unlike the other clusters?

Uh I need to look at that uh specific line item.

I'm happy to do that and get back with the committee.

Okay.

Um turning to agency management, there is a 15% increase in legal services from fiscal year 26.

It looks like there's one FTE added, bringing the total number up to eight from 5.4 in fiscal year 2525.

Are those additional attorneys or just increases in?

Uh, we believe that needs to just be a technical adjustment to our schedule A.

Okay.

So these are not new, like new attorneys or anything.

Okay.

There was a 5% reduction to the performance and strategic management, even though one FTE was added.

What is this cut for?

It's probably just a realignment.

Like there aren't any cuts to any positions.

I think how they are reflected on our Schedule A has shifted, but we haven't had any significant increases or decreases in FTE authority.

I think it's just how it's reflected in our in our budget.

Okay.

As you all know, um, I want to uh and we'll work with the budget office just to clarify what those things are.

Everyone's listening.

Yeah, we're happy to do a crosswalk.

I think you know, we want the committee to have a full understanding, or we could do a crosswalk between all of the acronyms and such.

Um to transmission from operating to capital budgets, I want to talk about parks and outdoor spaces.

UGS plays a central role in maintaining district parks and recreation facilities and in delivering capital improvements.

The facilities operation budget for the parks and restoration cluster is two 28.1 million, essentially flat funded for the from the past two years, and it has a hundred and thirteen FTEs second only to DCPS's 123 FTEs.

Does DGS have FTE separately dedicated to park maintenance and recreation facility maintenance?

And if so, how many FTEs?

So how we allocate our FTE authority really services the entirety of our portfolio.

So hypothetically, if you have uh an electrician, right, there are no electricians that are exclusively, you know, dedicated just to DPR issues or DCPS issues, they work across the portfolio.

It's really a function of how it's funded, right?

So that FCE authority may sit on the DPR's allocation, but that electrician is going to be used more broadly across our portfolio.

The only FTEs that are exclusively dedicated to DPR would be some of our custodial and our grounds team, right?

Because of course DCPS has janitorial authority, right?

And many of our major municipal facilities like the Wilson Building or Marion Barry building, and they rely on contract, um, contract janitorial services.

So you do have a number of FTEs, and I can get that specific number.

I want to say it's probably someone part of about 60 or so, right?

That they are exclusively dedicated to cleaning DPR facilities and servicing their grounds and then also uh providing uh certain mowing and beautification services that we do in-house versus what's done through contract services.

So again, FCE authorities really just a function of budgeting, but with exception of those positions, all of our FTEs are used more broadly to service our entire portfolio.

Got it.

Um does DGS have separate dedicated funding for park maintenance and recreational facility maintenance.

I'm sorry, repeat that again.

Do you all have separate dedicated funding for park maintenance and recreational facility maintenance?

I think you're looking at FTE authority.

Uh again, it's really a function of of how it's it's it's budgeted, right?

There isn't, I can't say that there's like a specific like allocation for park versus recreation center funding.

A lot of this these budget books, because I remember um taking a close look at this one out when I first started at DPR way back when to try to understand well where the FTE is at.

Right.

And I learned, okay.

Well, really, that's just the function of how it's budgeted.

Okay, uh, thank you.

I'm going to turn to my we've been joined by our ward three uh council member uh Matt Frugan.

I will turn him for a round of questions.

Thank you very much, Sir Person Lewis George.

And uh first apologies.

Uh your team reached out and asked, Am I gonna be here and what questions would I ask?

And I didn't answer, but here I am.

Um, so uh apologies for that, but I don't think it'll be that difficult.

And I'll start with a compliment, which is I think the job that you have done and with the leadership that Councilmember Lewis George has shown, GGS today is in a completely different place than DGS was a number of years ago.

And I think things are getting done.

Uh work orders are being addressed.

I think there's a lot to be proud of for you and for council member Lewis George and the role that she and her team have played in that.

Um thank you for that acknowledgement.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Um, I want to try to check through some things pretty quickly and maybe linger on a couple.

Uh McArthur John Thompson, we on track for delivery in August.

And then, yes.

Uh may the record reflect the director nodded yes.

Uh where are we on the RFP process for the auditorium?

Okay.

Um good afternoon or good morning still uh council member.

Um, uh happy to report that um we have awarded uh that contract and uh we're preparing to enter into our design.

Uh this is for the auditorium expansion.

And is that is are is this breaking news?

Um is there uh does can you say who you awarded to and where the placement of the auditorium might be?

Um so we have awarded to uh I believe it's MCN Bill, the current contractor who's on site through the RFP process there where we received a number of uh proposals, and it was a very competitive process.

Um, and as far as the placement on the campus, I believe it's on the opposite side of um where the current um expansion is happening.

Um but we're entering into um a kickoff, I would say imminently um within the next couple of weeks.

Um kick off uh design build meeting.

It is it on the field or is it on the area near the the current cafeteria?

Will it use up any of the field?

I'd have to check uh on that and circle back to you.

All right, great.

But exciting that it's been granted.

Um Turtle Park.

Where do you feel like we are on Turtle Park?

I get a lot of uh you've done a fair amount of work.

I still am hearing about rodents as an example and flooding.

And I'm curious, do you have things in the pipeline?

How are you seeing where we're at vis-a-vis Turtle Park?

Sure.

Uh, sure.

We have completed a small stormwater uh management um project, and I think we're gonna have to go back to the drawing board uh with DPR to fund more comprehensive uh improvements there.

Okay, well let's be sure we do that.

And um I have heard that the stormwater management thing that you've done has been has worked pretty well, particularly for that area, although I think there still can be flooding in other parts of the park.

So let's stay on that.

Guy Mason, you know there's also been a kind of laundry list of things.

Where do you where do you feel like you stand on game guy mason?

Uh do you have specific questions about Guy Mason?

Maybe I'll come back to you on that.

I mean, I think Jeffrey Russell, who's the Friends of Guy Mason sent a long list of things, and I think there have been meetings on site about this, and I'm just wondering where you are, and maybe we'll get together in the next slide.

I know there was some specific uh request, I think, like for like netting, which is scheduled to be replaced uh on the baseball field.

Uh, we're happy to take a look at those in particular.

Okay.

Um field maintenance.

Um I'm curious.

We hear we hear a fair amount of controversy around grass fields versus turf fields.

Have you done any kind of studies of what's the cost of maintenance over time between a grass field and a turf field?

We do.

Uh grass is significantly, uh has significantly higher maintenance cost in turf.

Because of things like irrigation, which is water, of course, mowing, the physical labor of mowing.

We typically would do a once a season aeration of those those spaces.

Uh grass and infill dirt, uh turf field is uh I'm sorry, grass natural grass frills are significantly more in terms of year-over-year maintenance for artificial turf field, of course there's installation cost, right?

For the, you know, the the capital construction of say turf field, which are averaging now over a million dollars, uh, but you see significantly less cost for like utilities and manpower needed to maintain those fields over time.

I guess at some point I'd like to see those costs shown side by side.

We have we have some uh we probably need to update.

I think this was a topic of a hearing maybe one or two years ago, uh, and we did a cost analysis, so in our formal follow-ups with BOH, we can share those.

And I will say, I mean, one of the costs, a significant cost to a grass field is labor.

Uh people maintaining it, labor.

That's right, and creating jobs isn't such a bad thing.

So I would want to see the costs and the benefit think about the benefits of choosing between turf and grass going forward.

I think this is gonna continue to be an area of controversy.

Um the last, and I'll use my four minutes on it, or maybe I will, Janny.

Um, so where we are on Janny, the skylight had issues, and you're working on the skylight, then that creates a opening to deal with the HVAC system.

Um, and so I think you're planning to do that, and then the geothermal field to drive a new uh uh HVAC system.

One question is where do we stand on that?

But as just laying a predicate, I met with people at at Janny the other day, and they don't understand what's going on and they don't understand what might be coming, including disruption.

Uh, these are good things that you're doing, but disruption to their use of a significant area, what it means in terms of when work will start and how they will deal with it.

This seems like a natural one to convene a community meeting and give people an update on where things stand.

Are you open to doing something like that?

We'd work with DCPS uh on that, and we're happy to participate.

Uh but to answer your questions related to Janey, the skylight replacement, as you know, there was immediate remediation um after the um the break.

All right, uh and our work will be completed this summer.

All right, and uh A.D.

Croft can speak to geothermal wells and and some of the other capital projects.

Yeah, uh thank you for the opportunity, Councilmember Fruman.

The so um over DCPS spring break, uh a sample borehole was drilled at Janny, and we're waiting for the results, and the results will um kind of tell us how many boreholes we would need um for a new HVAC system at the site.

And I think part of the confusion um stems from the way we're hoping to finance Janny um HVAC projects, so it'd be through the energy savings performance contract, and um we're toward the end, but we're still very deep in contract language with um the various attorneys and with uh financier of the contractor, and we're trying to strike a balance that both parties can agree to that you know doesn't break any of the roles of DC government, but tries to mitigate some of the financiers' risk where possible.

Um, so we're trying not to overpromise at Janie until we've all come to an agreement on the um the final contract language.

And is that with energy solutions?

Is that is that with energy solutions?

Uh the a vendor it no, it's with our ESCO called CMTA.

They've done a lot of our net zero energy schools engineering.

Okay, and um and the idea is will they be generating energy that they'll use in a different way?

And so that's how you get you can make the financing work?

So um the way the financing works is there's a capital contribution from district government.

Right now we've identified about 16.6 million, um, and we're looking for another 8 million or so, um, and that helps pay for the like really longer payback items like like ripping out a whole VRF system and installing geothermal.

Um, that paired with what are considered guaranteed savings, like energy and water savings over the 20-year term help um pay for the actual assets themselves.

When might work start happening?

I know you did the test boards, but if you were if work were gonna start happening, when would it happen?

So that's gonna be dependent on when we're able to finalize these negotiations, and then that ESA, if we're able to finalize it, we'll go to council.

We're looking at probably October council session if we're able to get there, and then as soon as that is um executed, then we can start really nailing down the construction timeline, and part of it will depend on you know, DCPS there uh in the school community, and like what um their preferences are, because you we're kind of weighing uh just we don't we want to minimize disruption, but of course, when you're drilling, you know, several boreholes that can be a little loud, but also trying to get the school a new HVAC system sooner than later.

But it does sort of sound like not this summer, but the following summer might be a time where you'd want to start this kind of work.

Right, it's yeah, definitely not this summer, um, and and maybe next summer, but I think there's such demand for a new HVAC.

We've heard from the schools that there's a very small chance it could happen during the school year.

Okay, and what that will be a conversation that we're having next year, including when the package comes to us.

Uh last thing, just as you are thinking about this project, um, the area.

I don't know whether you visited the area or looked at photographs, and it's been made into a garden, and there's stormwater management, and there's a lot of different things there that are actually very important to the community.

So, what is the plan for restoration once you do this work?

Can we, it doesn't have to be brought back identically, but can it come back with the same kinds of functions hosted as exist today?

So it all depends on the testing results and the number of boreholes we need to drill.

So we want to avoid areas where that would require intensive restoration and also the area on the east side.

Um however, we may not be able to because it's a pretty we'll probably need at least 70 wells.

Um so for like the stormwater area, yeah.

That's I think that's gonna be a conversation because if we restore it, that would come from the guaranteed savings, which means we can do less scope.

And as I understand it right now, the district is very um limited in funding for stormwater maintenance, so like green infrastructure like that.

So I think we'd want to like consider all these factors.

Um the swing set we would take out and then put back in.

Um there's been some conversation about eventually getting the school a new um playground, um, but I think that you know that requires money and time that is not available right now.

So we would put um like the swing set back as it was.

So I guess the biggest thing, and I've gone considerably over is and we uh we need to talk with DCPS about this, but educating the community about what kinds of things are being contemplated and making sure that you have a sense from the community of what their priorities are coming out of it.

I think is important to do an ounce of prevention uh can avoid a pound of cure, so let's get together.

Yep, sounds fine.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Jefferson.

Thank you.

Um I want to talk about capital construction, um, and I'll start with net zero.

Um, as you know, the council passed the net zero emergency legislation in the spring for the purpose of allowing uh for the sole purpose of allowing um the capital improvement plan to be budgeted according to updated and modified standards.

Um I have a list that notes which capital projects that are exempt from certain net zero requirements comply with net zero and have enough funds to comply with net zero or need funds to comply or need funds to comply with net zero.

What I don't have but need is which projects, um, which project budgets were modified to bring them into compliance based on the new new exemptions and standards, and which projects do not have enough funding to be in compliance and and how much it will cost to do so.

Can DGS and the city administrators' office get me those numbers very soon?

Yes, we can if you have like in the well if you have specific questions, we're happy to uh do just that.

Okay, because as we finalize the permanent bill, I need evidence that the executive is following and budgeting for the new standards and is no longer avoiding uh the greener building advisory council when it feels GVAC will require additional changes.

That's right, and what I can tell you anecdotally, like I'll highlight Rumsey as an example of the community and and council member, they've already thought like, okay, well wow, maybe we can make additional improvements to the promenade, right?

Connectivity to the eastern market, uh historic eastern market um site and maybe more improvements along, I think a C Street, right, to connect to the community.

So they're already looking at how we can repurpose savings from the change in regulatory compliance to improve the overall project.

Yeah.

Um, and I wanted to check on three net zero infrastructure enhancements we put in the fiscal year 26 budget, the 2.2 million for the new community center at historic crumbles, the Cromel School in Ward 5.

Uh, the 2.6 million for the Fort Davis Recreation Center Modernization in Ward 7, and then the 5 million for the Congress Heights Recreation Center modernization in Ward 8.

Um, I've been told that Congress Heights Recreation Center will now meet uh NZE requirements after multiple revisions due to G back feedback.

So I just wanted to I wanted to see have those zero, those infrastructure enhancement dollars that we put in 20 the 26 budget.

Have them being utilized for net zero, and then wanted to confirm as far as the Congress Heights that that project will not include a pool.

Am I correct?

Uh yes, that's correct.

So that project will not include a pool.

Um, and it uh has received um uh GVAC.

Um or at least we've we've used to answer your question regarding the funding, we have used uh the funds to um ensure that the project will meet uh net zero.

Okay, and is that is that the same for the new community the uh Kremel school for Davison as well?

That's correct.

Okay.

Um does DGS expect to present to GBAC on an exemption for the community center at the Kremel School, or that has that already happened.

Um I believe we are looking um in June.

This is the next uh session.

Um, yeah.

Okay.

We were hoping for it to be sooner.

We're hoping for a session in May, but June is the earliest we can um we can uh accomplish.

Okay, I'm only asking because I want to make sure if the exemption is granted to Cremel, I want to make sure all three projects have sufficient funds to comply with net zero.

Yes, um, if I need to put in net zero funding this year, I cannot emphasize enough that what happened last year with Congress Heights can't happen again, and so the cost of net zero needs to be accurate and funding must go to net zero infrastructure and only net zero infrastructure.

Um, if down the line, net zero is no longer pursued for a project.

I think this committee is going to decide what the net zero money is going to go to.

I I do want to flag that even if a building is not supposed to be net zero energy, it still has to um be in compliance with BEPS.

So I wouldn't I would just be cautious about we wouldn't want to like strip um money that would otherwise be used to deliver a high energy performing building.

So even if and you know, with all the different components of net zero energy um are like something DGS is really focused on is reducing the building's overall energy use, and I would still be encouraging project teams to do that wherever possible.

Right, and and and to yes, to uh continue off of that line.

I would say that the funding we receive is is interwoven, net zero is interwoven into the overall construction project.

So we're touching HVAC systems, we're touching you know uh facades, uh roofing, et cetera.

Um, and so it would be difficult, I think, on the back end to say, well, these particular costs um are exactly what the net zero or not achieving net zero um are and to strip them out of the project at a later date, I think would be um detrimental to to the project, especially once we've completed design and received uh permits.

And to that point, some have actually it's the additional funding has helped us to achieve uh the net zero standard while no pool at Congress Heights, Congress Heights is slated to be net zero, uh, and while Fort Davis won't be true net zero, we received an exemption uh for Teddy and SETI, we did make improvements to the design and maximize efficiency.

So uh those funds were you know put put to good use, but again, we could provide a full breakdown of those projects, and right now we're tracking three Congress Heights, Fort Davis, and Cremale.

Okay.

Um I wanted to ask also about some of the net uh small caps, DCPS small caps.

Um eight of nine projects, it looks like the pooled capital projects in DCBS, these include ADA compliance, athletic facilities, HVAC replacement, life safety, major repairs and maintenance, roof repairs, and window replacements.

It looks like eight of nine projects were cut.

So HVAC is the only increase, jumping by twelve point nine million.

The fiscal year 27 CIP sites, Garnet Patterson and School Without Walls projects as the spin plan.

Um the deepest cuts in percentage terms are major repairs at 99.7, which is essentially zeroing it out, life and safety, and athletic facilities.

Each of these pool projects has a spending plan for the fiscal year.

I just I want I just want to start with how the spending plans are created.

Athletic facilities.

How are the projects selected and prioritized and and who's involved?

Uh this is close.

This involves close coordination between the GGS capital team and DCPS capital team on those priorities, and they take into account everything from school population, the greatest need, the age and condition of that asset, and we then work very closely with the uh the budget team uh from OCA to determine well what can we afford and what can be funded.

Um while you do see an overall reduction for what is proposed for FR27, there are some projects that are in the pipeline uh that that will deliver, including uh elevator upgrades at Czech, the Emory School, uh Garnett Patterson, Hardy, uh Lafayette, and also Moton.

So there are projects that were in the pipeline.

Pipeline that will be delivered.

That'll be coupled with new projects like SUSE.

Okay, got you.

And so, and is ODR also disability rights involved in the uh American with Disability Act project for DCPS.

They provide some, I think we we coordinate with ODR.

I know they primarily will sometimes do their own assessments and we'll flag and then we um take the advisement seriously, and we work with DCPS uh to inform, you know, what we seek for funding and and that ultimately informs what is funded.

Got it.

Um I looked at these pooled project budgets since fiscal year 23, and I found that quite a few of them have a low spending rate, resulting in large outstanding balances.

Uh, for example, life and safety has a spending rate of 44%, increasing its balance by over 10 million between fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 26.

The only projects with a spending rate above 60% are HVAC replacement, which grew its balance by 26 million and major repairs and maintenance, which grew its budget by 11 million.

I know the fiscal year 26 funds still have time to be um encumbered or spent, and that projects that were funded previous years may not be spent yet, but even for the fully completed years with completed spending plans, the funds spent and encumbered were less than the budgets.

These match these match the projects with the largest power-ups in their existing balances here.

Is the project's current balance considered when creating the spending plan?

So the cuts appear to be the districts drawing down on accumulated balances rather than abandoning abandoning the work.

Well, what we've seen, I'll speak to some of those um unencumbered or unobligated balances for let's say, like uh elevator replacement project, let's say that's like 1.2 million.

And uh I looked into this closely in preparation.

What we're finding is that many of those projects are either, you know, projects are in three phases within DGS planning, construction, and then close out, right?

Some of these projects are in the planning and design phase, and we have not obligated the construction dollars just yet.

So while I would prefer that the delivery will be a little, you know, more even, again, I I share with you what was in the pipeline.

Uh it's just a function of where we are in the planning and design phase for many of these projects.

But you know, I am confident and the public should be confident that we are delivering on these small capital projects and we treat them with the same level of intensity and resources as we do with our major modernizations across DCPS's portfolio.

At what stage are capital projects cost encumbered?

Excuse me.

And what stage are capital project cost encumbered?

So if again, once we get to that phase, so if we're in construction and we're still permitting, right?

Again, if it's a 1.1 million dollars and we're spending 200,000 on design and permitting, uh, then once we advance to the actual construction, then we'll release those funds to a general contractor for them to pay for labor and then procure the materials.

And that protects us because if we obligate and issue purchase orders for the entire amount up front, then you know it's um I don't think it accurately reflects the work, and then uh we don't want any billing beyond what what is necessary for that phase.

Uh can you add to that, Mr.

Headley?

Um, uh that's that's correct, Director.

Um, so many of our contracts are design billed, and so for the first phase of the project, there's it's in design, we're spending only on the design costs.

Yeah.

Once we have a design in place, we we would then work with that general contractor to build the GMP, which is whatever that ultimate cost is gonna be.

So we would not necessarily know.

I mean, we have an estimate up front what the projected construction costs would be, but we wouldn't have an accurate account of that until design's done.

And at that point, once both DGS and the contractor would agree to that construction costs, that's when we would enter into a GMP, which would obligate um the construction costs to the GC at that time.

And the time frame for that usually is about uh nine to twelve months after an award.

Got it.

What so what happens if the costs at this stage of encumber encumberment is larger than the budget they may have had that you may have had several fiscal years ago?

Um at that point, um, we would go through a value engineering exercise or a school production exercise, and you know we've had several of those recently we've been discussing, correct?

So um there there are interval um uh check-in points um along the way with the general contractor, but oftentimes we don't really get a really good read on what that final cost is going to be until the documents are about 60 65% or more complete.

Okay, do you all have a list of all the completed projects by like by fiscal year?

We we can provide that, okay.

Yes.

In some cases, this it looks like the spending plan takes up the entire budget, which was which I wonder was if it's just it's just somewhere else.

So for example, the 1.5 million budget for ADA compliance will be spent all on an elevator for SUSE, it looks like in those cases, is the plan to use the high outstanding budgets to pay for unfunded issues that arise during the fiscal year.

Uh, could you repeat the the question?

So if we're using the entire ADA compliance, I guess 1.5 million budget will be spent, it's supposed to be spent on SUSE elevator, is the plan to use the high outstanding budgets to pay for unfunded issues that arise during the fiscal year?

Uh I mean, generally we especially with the smaller projects, um, elevators, HVAC replacement that we do on a regular basis.

We our team have a very good understanding of where the budget is because we've done it uh so many times, and so on a 1.5 for SUSE, for instance, we can anticipate that we'll spend all of that on that project.

Um, and since it's a pooled project, if there's any additional funds left over and there's another need elsewhere, um, we'll we'll look to do a reprogramming or a request um to our client agency to move that fund elsewhere to bridge a gap.

Okay, is DGS gonna tap into the 10.3 million balance to do ADA compliance?

Additional ADA compliance projects.

Uh I'm not which uh the 10.3 balance from what line.

The other day, our um I think Jim Boodoff from our budget office said that ADA had a a small cap pooled project.

It was about 10.3 million dollars in it.

Am I right from the um so we do have we do have a spend plan um for that uh that we can provide?

Um there are a number of uh schools uh that are on that list um that would utilize that that balance.

Okay, can you also work with ODR around that?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

Cause right now the spin plan got has one elevator.

So I was like the one elevator is yeah, but if you have 10.3 million dollars for ADA projects, then the spend plan should include more than just SUSE.

That's right.

It should include some other ideally some other ADA projects that we know we need across the portfolio.

That's right.

So we again we can provide that, but those many of those are currently in design, and so that's why you're not seeing that's why we're not seeing the spend plan.

Like I have a breakdown of like check elevators and design for 1.5 million, uh Garrison ADA connector or 3.8 million, Hardy elevator and design for 1.5.

Okay.

Um, and so on and so forth.

So again, those balances that you see once and these projects will be completed in FY27.

So immediately as you cross the fiscal year, we give permits, these will go from design to construction, then all of those balances will then it'll go from you'll see a high balance to almost no balance, right?

Because now they're being obligated.

Uh purchase orders are being issued for construction.

Okay, final stretch uh archives.

Yeah.

Uh the archives has all of its funding from last year, which is great, but the CIP moves the money around over the plan, which creates some gaps in funding from year to year.

For example, there's money in fiscal year 29, no money in fiscal year 20 in fiscal year 30, and then money again in fiscal year 31.

During public testing, we heard public testimony.

We heard concerns about how funding gaps such as these make capital planning and delivery difficult.

Do you share those concerns?

And can you elaborate on why or why not?

And do any other capital projects have funding gaps like the archives does?

Um yeah, absolutely.

Uh we do share those concerns.

Um we we currently have some funding uh for the archives that will get us started.

Um we anticipate using our current balance uh to continue the improvements to the structure uh below the garage, um, as well as pursuing demolition of the the larger um existing building.

We've done some um abatement uh within the existing structure.

The way the budget is uh the way the project is being funded, it creates a gap um for us in I think 2030.

Um ideally we would like to have the money move forward.

That was one of the requests that we had made um in the CIP, um, FY27 CIP.

Having the projects spread out over five years increase not only our our overhead um or the contractors overhead.

Um it it also increases or or the project faces challenge of increased cost escalation.

Um ideally for us, we'd like to have all of the funding uh by FY 30.

That would help us to most um efficiently streamline construction.

Um, and so yes, we we do agree with with uh those sentiments.

Yeah, we just I mean the archives has has been a huge project.

Many people are invested in it.

Uh, myself, including Councilmember Bonds, Chairman and others.

Would it be helpful for DGS if if I worked with the chairman and council member bonds who has oversight over the office of secretary uh to remove the funding gaps in the out years?

Absolutely.

Um, and we can provide uh what we think is the best allocations to make that happen.

Okay, thank you.

Um share recreation.

What is the timeline for completing the upshore recreation project?

Sure, we'll start the playground repairs this month, right?

We'll start the uh pool repairs after the pool season, um, and coordination with DPR was decided that we should delay that construction to allow for under the pool season because of the other active construction pool projects.

So that will work will kick in a high gear uh after this summer, and typically it's about 18 to 24 months of construction.

Okay.

Um friends of Lafayette Pointer and ANC 34G are concerned about the planned approach for phase two of the erosion project.

It seems the current design focuses on moving water away from the lower field rather than addressing the root causes of the flowing water on the upper field.

Um, in addition, the current plans require both fields to be offline at the same time, meaning the only space available will be the new field at the elementary school, which we need to be careful of not overusing with DCPS DPR and public use.

I know DGS and DPR have met with community members and done walkthroughs several times, but I'm c I'm hearing uh the plans have shifted much in response to the community that the plans haven't shifted much in response to community concerns.

Can DGS work with DPR and the community to come up with a plan that addresses the upper field and just let me know if any additional funding is needed to do so?

Yes, yes, we will.

Okay.

Um and then ending where I wanted to, around just uh we've had conversation about the the it sounds like the sustainability funding that is available, the matching sustainability funding, the 60 million.

We've only utilized three million, that would be under the purview of DOEE, not DG DGS.

That's correct.

Okay.

And and but am I correct, and DGS is uh actively working to figure out how sustainability could also help us save money over time in utilities with our government buildings.

That's correct.

We're always um implementing and planning out the next energy efficiency uh project.

I'll just say it does like from planning to design the execution does take some time.

Okay.

Um, and then my understanding, then um with the schools, I will follow up with DCPS in order to make them come into compliance with zero waste.

The zero waste law.

Oh, uh sorry, what what was the question?

I it's I should be I should go to DCPS around zero waste because a lot of it is opt-in from the schools versus DGS.

Not DGS saying you can't do it, but schools only having a few schools saying they can't do it.

Yeah, I think that just the schools have a lot of conflicting interests, and um gotcha.

It's just hard for them to prioritize it.

Uh so you know, we yeah, we welcome any partnership.

Okay.

All right, checking to see if there's anything else.

Okay.

All right.

Uh Director Hunter.

I'll let you have the last word.

I'm just want to um thank you and your staff.

I want to thank you, Councilman Louis George, for your our continued partnership and collaboration.

You know, again, um, I think over the the tenure of your our chairmanship, uh, we we've been able to establish trust.

So I want to thank you, and I want to thank Sebastian um uh and others from your staff.

Uh I mean I mentioned all the names, but I want to thank uh the entire team for just your uh professionalism and your collaboration.

I want to thank again my colleagues uh at DGS for their partnership.

Um the the whole of government, our client agencies, my team and DPR, for my team at DPR to the right for their partnership.

Uh and again, just last but not least, as a point of personal privilege.

I really want to uh thank the mayor for her leadership over the last 12 years.

Uh I continue to be um inspired by her uh courageousness, her true uh love of the District of Columbia.

It's inspired me over the last decade or so, nearly 12 years, and I'm forever uh grateful for the example that she has set and for the trust she's placed in me.

And again, it's been a great honor just to serve the residents of the District of Columbia, uh my hometown.

So um uh just wanted to end on that note.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Um, we're gonna take a short break and then we'll turn to the budget oversight hearing for DPR government witnesses.

Thank you to the Department of General Services to the executive team and and all of uh the members of your agency.

Thank you.

We're gonna have a lot of the other one, I think.