[0:00] i will now call the city

[0:01] council meeting of Monday,

[0:01] OCTOBER 6th, 2025 to order

[0:02] Clear.

[0:02] >> Please call the roll.

[0:05] Thank you Council member

[0:07] Campbell Thank you Council

[0:13] member Whitburn Councilmember

[0:14] Foster here Council member Ron

[0:18] Wilbur Council Member Campo

[0:18] Yeah.

[0:23] Councilmember Moreno

[0:23] Councilmember Ella Rivera

[0:29] Council PRESIDENT LaCava and

[0:29] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Lee

[0:30] here also attend the meeting

[0:34] Our city Attorney Heather

[0:34] Ferber, Deputy Director in

[0:35] the Abas office Jillian Adelina

[0:39] and myself your city clerk

[0:40] Diana Fuentes Thank you Council

[0:41] PRESIDENT Pro tem Thank you.

[0:41] A quorum is now present and we

[0:44] will begin this morning with an

[0:45] invocation by Clark Fuentes

[0:45] followed by the Land

[0:46] Acknowledgment and Pledge of

[0:47] Allegiance led by council

[0:57] member Campo Grant, Those who

[0:58] hold office in this city

[0:59] the spirit of wisdom, charity

[1:02] and justice that with steadfast

[1:03] purpose they MAY faithfully

[1:03] serve in their offices to

[1:05] promote the well-being of all

[1:10] people.

[1:11] We respectfully acknowledge

[1:12] that the combination of

[1:12] the original inhabitants of

[1:16] the Unceded land now known as

[1:17] San Diego despite enduring

[1:17] the horrors of genocide and

[1:21] colonization, the coming ice

[1:21] spirit remains unbroken.

[1:22] We honor the resilience of

[1:26] their ancestors who fought to

[1:27] protect their culture and land.

[1:27] Today they carry their legacy

[1:31] forward ensuring that their

[1:32] traditions continue to thrive

[1:32] and gratitude and strength We

[1:37] stand with the culmination

[1:37] connected to our past and

[1:38] committed to a thriving future.

[1:42] Please to face the flag.

[1:42] Ready Begin.

[1:47] I pledge allegiance to the flag

[1:48] of the United States of America

[1:49] and to the Republic for which

[1:51] it stands one nation under GOD,

[1:52] indivisible with liberty and

[1:57] justice for all.

[1:58] >> The clerk will now go over

[2:02] how the public can offer their

[2:03] public testimony.

[2:03] Thank you Council PRESIDENT Pro

[2:04] Tem I'll now highlight

[2:07] the slide on the screen that

[2:08] reviews how the public can

[2:09] offer their public testimony

[2:09] during today's meeting.

[2:12] If you're located in person

[2:13] please continue speakers live

[2:13] and submit it to the front of

[2:14] the room.

[2:14] No further in-person testimony

[2:18] will be taken once the Council

[2:18] begins virtual testimony for

[2:19] better meeting management

[2:22] purposes Each speaker will have

[2:23] one minute per item per person.

[2:23] If you would like to speak on

[2:24] three or more items you will

[2:25] have a maximum of three

[2:26] minutes.

[2:31] The Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem

[2:32] Thank you.

[2:32] The clerk now read the closed

[2:33] session items into the record.

[2:36] Conference with Legal Counsel

[2:37] Existing litigation pursuant to

[2:38] California Government Code

[2:41] Section 5495 6.91 if he has one

[2:42] Lisa Castro versus City of San

[2:47] Diego csu is Uzma Ahmed versus

[2:48] Henry is Sara Estados ak

[2:48] Alvarado at all.

[2:51] She has three is Harold Toombs

[2:52] versus City of San Diego or

[2:56] Gerald Toombs and Sears for his

[2:57] or Ryan Construction Balboa

[2:58] Construction jv versus City of

[2:58] San Diego.

[3:02] Thank you Council PRESIDENT Pro

[3:03] Tem Do we have any public

[3:06] coming out at the five minute

[3:07] time or.

[3:07] I do not see any public

[3:08] comments because here in

[3:09] council chambers we'll go to

[3:11] those proceeding online

[3:12] starting with the million mile

[3:13] man If you can please unmute

[3:16] and let me know which item or

[3:21] items you wish to speak to.

[3:22] I'm here for the non agenda

[3:27] public comment.

[3:27] >> Okay.

[3:28] That will be at the conclusion

[3:31] of the 2 P.M. Session towards

[3:32] the end of the 2 P.M. Session

[3:32] You can raise your hand again

[3:36] at that time the original If

[3:37] you can please unmute and let

[3:38] me know which item or items you

[3:42] wish to speak to You know as

[3:46] many as possible so see as 130

[3:47] as forward You'll have three

[3:47] minutes.

[3:48] Please proceed.

[3:52] Yes So and also I just you know

[3:53] for housekeeping you guys can't

[3:53] even show up on time.

[3:54] It's interesting that you're

[3:57] always like starting

[3:58] the meetings late And you know,

[3:58] that's one thing Nathan

[3:59] Fletcher did, right?

[4:02] He's a tyrant But he always

[4:03] started his meetings on

[4:03] the dot.

[4:03] It was like military time

[4:07] Anyway when you guys are

[4:08] dealing with all of these and

[4:13] falls and on a constant basis,

[4:14] you know I just even though

[4:14] the money's coming from

[4:18] the people you know hopefully

[4:19] you're doing you know what's

[4:20] best for whoever's been injured

[4:24] and to make sure that they can

[4:25] you know, to you know, be able

[4:25] to take care of themselves

[4:30] whatever the injuries worth or

[4:30] significant or whatever that

[4:31] you're, you know, making up for

[4:34] it because of the lack of you

[4:35] know, you know your ability to

[4:40] keep up with the infrastructure

[4:41] or you know, hopefully you can

[4:42] make up for it on that end.

[4:45] It's just unfortunate that we

[4:46] constantly have to pay out

[4:47] money for trip and falls that

[4:51] come and arise from, you know,

[4:52] different things On

[4:53] infrastructure I mean one of

[4:56] these is a slip and fall on

[4:57] grass, you know, So perhaps it

[5:02] was, you know, extremely wet.

[5:02] Maybe the conditions weren't

[5:03] right But you know, it's hard

[5:07] to I mean you guys can't be

[5:08] trusted but you know, when

[5:08] you're going and you're

[5:11] litigating against people who

[5:12] lost things in the storm, you

[5:13] know, it's hard to see where

[5:17] you guys are going with these

[5:18] things And that's what's so

[5:19] funny as you like to keep it

[5:19] really obscure and hide

[5:23] information in and make sure

[5:24] that you know, the people just

[5:24] have enough to just like it

[5:28] because you can't really speak

[5:29] on these things when you're

[5:30] like someone tripped and fall.

[5:30] Well anybody could stubbed

[5:34] their toe in the city and go

[5:34] file a lawsuit Like I could

[5:38] just go stub my toe and and

[5:39] then, you know, say that you

[5:40] guys owe me a million bucks.

[5:44] So it's a fine line between,

[5:45] you know, negligence of

[5:45] the city and people probably

[5:50] trying to take advantage of,

[5:51] you know, part of the time.

[5:51] But when you also have things

[5:55] like a breach of contract and

[5:56] you know it's with construction

[6:00] and contracts with the city,

[6:01] you know, if the city's the one

[6:02] engaging in these breach of

[6:03] contract, you need to make sure

[6:06] that you guys are of course

[6:06] correcting and figuring out,

[6:07] you know, what led to it, why

[6:11] it's happening and you know,

[6:11] make sure it doesn't continue

[6:12] to happen because it's

[6:13] ridiculous that the people have

[6:16] to pay extra money when you

[6:16] already take the people's money

[6:17] and throw it away, you

[6:17] basically throw it into

[6:20] the sewer and give it back to

[6:21] us as water.

[6:22] You know, you just can't be

[6:26] trusted to, you know, handle

[6:27] things in a way that is going

[6:31] to be productive for the people

[6:32] that you know, we're really

[6:32] going to see our money being

[6:33] spent wisely.

[6:36] You know, we just seeing it

[6:37] being thrown down the drain all

[6:37] while you guys sit up there.

[6:38] You're late.

[6:39] You know you don't do what

[6:42] you're supposed to be doing yet

[6:43] We just shove out shovel out

[6:44] more and more money every time

[6:48] And so it's just that hopefully

[6:48] one day that this doesn't

[6:49] happen But that's the way

[6:50] the government works.

[6:52] Good job.

[6:53] That does conclude public

[6:54] comment on closed session.

[6:54] Thank you.

[7:04] The Good afternoon and I will

[7:09] now reconvene the city council

[7:09] meeting of Monday, OCTOBER 6th,

[7:10] 2025.

[7:10] Clerk Will you please call

[7:11] the roll?

[7:13] Thank you.

[7:14] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem

[7:14] Council PRESIDENT LaCava

[7:18] Council Member Campbell Council

[7:19] Member Whitburn here Council

[7:20] Member Foster Council Member

[7:24] Von Wilpert Council Member

[7:24] Campion here Council Member

[7:28] Moreno Present Council member

[7:28] Eli Rivera and Council

[7:33] PRESIDENT Pro Tem Lee here also

[7:34] attending the meeting are

[7:34] Assistant City Attorney Leslie

[7:35] Fitzgerald, senior fiscal and

[7:39] policy analyst and the aba's

[7:39] office Aaron Noel and community

[7:40] representative in the mayor's

[7:43] office Emily Tennessee and

[7:44] myself City Clerk Diana Funches

[7:45] Thank you Council PRESIDENT Pro

[7:49] Tem a quorum is now present.

[7:49] Are there any Mayor City

[7:50] Council City Attorney

[7:51] Independent Budget Analyst or

[7:56] city Clerk Comments Seeing

[7:57] none.

[7:58] >> The clerk will now go over

[7:58] how the public can offer their

[8:01] public testimony.

[8:02] >> Thank you.

[8:03] I will highlight this slide on

[8:06] the screen that will be coming

[8:07] up momentarily that does review

[8:08] how the public can offer public

[8:11] testimony by laying out

[8:12] the phone numbers and webinar

[8:12] IDs.

[8:13] The order can be found on

[8:16] the agenda summary found online

[8:17] or at the table in the back of

[8:21] the room If you are in person

[8:22] please complete the speaker

[8:22] slip located at the entrance of

[8:23] chambers and bring it to

[8:25] the front of the room.

[8:26] Place it in the clear box.

[8:27] Council ambassadors are

[8:27] available near the entrance of

[8:31] chambers and can assist with

[8:31] questions and speaker slips.

[8:32] No further in-person testimony

[8:36] will be taken once the council

[8:36] begins Virtual testimony.

[8:37] Thank you.

[8:40] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Clerk

[8:41] Please introduce item 201 Sure.

[8:41] Item two one is an

[8:45] informational item It is

[8:46] the performance audit of

[8:47] the city's contract management.

[8:50] If you'd like to speak on this

[8:50] item please be sure to submit

[8:51] your speaker slip now to

[8:52] the front of the room in

[8:52] the clear box.

[8:55] Or if you're participating

[8:56] remotely now's the time to

[8:57] raise your hand by pressing

[8:57] Star nine or the raise your

[8:58] hand icon.

[9:00] Thank you cfo Feel Please

[9:05] introduce yourselves for

[9:05] the record and just let us know

[9:06] how much time you'll need for

[9:07] the presentation.

[9:07] Good afternoon Councilmembers

[9:10] Andino, City Auditor and Co.

[9:11] We have about ten minutes

[9:11] please.

[9:11] Thank you.

[9:12] Thanks.

[9:15] Over each of the last few years

[9:16] the city of San Diego paid

[9:16] hundreds of millions of dollars

[9:19] to outside contractors to

[9:20] provide goods and services.

[9:21] The San Diego Municipal Code

[9:25] requires city council to review

[9:26] and approve certain changes to

[9:30] those contracts such as larger

[9:30] changes in value.

[9:31] The City Council's review

[9:31] ensures public oversight and

[9:35] transparent in the use of

[9:36] taxpayer dollars and thus

[9:36] public oversight and

[9:40] transparency are reduced when

[9:41] changes to contracts are not

[9:44] brought to council as required

[9:45] .

[9:45] Additionally, when contract

[9:46] alterations are brought to

[9:49] council late it puts pressure

[9:50] on the Council's approval

[9:51] responsibility and MAY impact

[9:51] the Council's ability to

[9:54] provide meaningful oversight.

[9:55] If there is not time to

[9:56] consider other vendors without

[10:00] disrupting critical services as

[10:00] I turn it over to the audit

[10:01] team I do want to first think

[10:02] city management including

[10:05] purchasing contracts as well as

[10:06] the city attorney's office for

[10:06] their help on this audit and

[10:10] the audit team With me here

[10:11] today is principal performance

[10:11] auditor Nathan Otto.

[10:12] Senior Performance Auditor

[10:14] Andrew Reeves and Performance

[10:15] auditor Kayla Edwards And I'll

[10:16] turn it over to them for

[10:16] the details.

[10:17] Thanks, Andy.

[10:20] Good afternoon everyone.

[10:21] Our formal audit objective for

[10:21] this one was to determine

[10:22] whether the city appropriately

[10:25] extended or increased the value

[10:26] of goods and services contracts

[10:27] in accordance with

[10:30] the municipal code and best

[10:31] practices and not the awarding

[10:32] of contracts to the upfront

[10:35] staff at the alterations to

[10:36] determine this.

[10:36] We reviewed 157 contract

[10:37] alterations that appeared to

[10:40] meet the criteria requiring

[10:41] city council approval.

[10:42] And we had three findings to go

[10:46] through briefly here today.

[10:46] The first finding was that

[10:47] the city altered spending

[10:51] limits by at least $15 million

[10:52] without required council

[10:52] approval.

[10:55] So the second finding which

[10:55] we'll get it to in a moment

[10:58] gets into the timeliness

[10:59] aspects of this One is focusing

[11:00] on whether the approval that

[11:00] should have happened happened

[11:04] at all San Diego Municipal Code

[11:05] describes when contract

[11:05] alterations require city

[11:06] council approval including if a

[11:09] contract extends beyond five

[11:09] years or if it's altered by

[11:10] over $200,000.

[11:14] And in our evaluation we found

[11:14] that at the time we did

[11:15] the audit, 11% of the contract

[11:19] alterations that we reviewed

[11:20] had not been brought to council

[11:23] for approval and that totaled

[11:23] $15 million.

[11:28] Now notably that was just 3% of

[11:29] the value of the reviewed

[11:29] alterations You can see on

[11:30] the slide for those following

[11:33] along there is the little red

[11:33] slice on the right hand side.

[11:38] And also as part of our

[11:39] recommendation followup efforts

[11:40] we can confirm that pmc has

[11:43] worked on taking care of these

[11:43] and they did bring these

[11:44] forward in JULY of this year.

[11:48] And in terms of why this

[11:48] happened now we found that

[11:49] confusion around approval

[11:50] requirements appeared to be

[11:53] the leading reason specifically

[11:53] operational departments that we

[11:54] spoke with told us they heard

[11:58] different interpretations from

[11:58] their departmental city

[11:59] attorney liaisons on whether

[12:00] particular contracts needed

[12:03] council approval.

[12:03] We also found that

[12:04] the threshold amounts for city

[12:05] council council approval hadn't

[12:08] been updated since 2012.

[12:13] And as we all know things have

[12:14] gotten more expensive since

[12:15] 2012 and so that could help

[12:18] the city identify and

[12:19] prioritize higher value

[12:19] contract alterations.

[12:23] The $200,000 back then was it

[12:24] would be closer to 300,000

[12:24] today.

[12:28] So to address the issues

[12:28] identified in funding one we

[12:29] made four recommendations.

[12:32] First for the applicability

[12:33] department to present those

[12:33] those active contract

[12:37] alterations that we identified

[12:37] in the audit to council.

[12:38] We talked about that and that

[12:39] has happened.

[12:42] Second to propose updated

[12:43] municipal code language around

[12:44] approval thresholds and

[12:44] updating some language

[12:48] clarifying city council

[12:48] approval requirements.

[12:49] And then after those changes

[12:53] are proposed the City

[12:53] Attorney's office and

[12:54] purchasing and contracting

[12:55] should work together to issue

[12:56] updated guidance around

[13:02] the contract alterations.

[13:03] >> Our second finding is that

[13:03] departments submitted 19% of

[13:07] contract alterations which

[13:08] totaled nearly $64 million to

[13:09] council for approval after

[13:09] the fact.

[13:12] This is shown in the Orange bar

[13:13] on the exhibit in the slide.

[13:17] >> And additionally we found

[13:17] that 11% of alterations

[13:21] totaling about $75 million were

[13:22] submitted less than 90 days

[13:22] before contract expiration.

[13:25] And one third of those were

[13:26] submitted within just 30 days

[13:30] of the contract expiring.

[13:31] >> Putting it all together, we

[13:34] found that 42% of reviewed

[13:35] alterations and 30% of reviewed

[13:36] contract dollars were presented

[13:36] to council in an untimely

[13:40] manner retroactively or not at

[13:41] all.

[13:41] Making contract alterations

[13:42] without proper approvals

[13:45] exposes both the city's and its

[13:46] vendors to risk.

[13:47] For example, staff MAY allow

[13:50] work to continue after a

[13:51] contract exceeds its approved

[13:52] limit to avoid service

[13:52] disruptions.

[13:53] But if a contract does not

[13:56] comply with city rules and

[13:57] regulations it becomes void and

[13:57] unenforceable potentially

[14:00] leading to nonpayment.

[14:01] Additionally, there is a risk

[14:02] that City council members MAY

[14:03] feel pressured to approve these

[14:06] contracts to continue services

[14:06] possibly compromising

[14:07] the review process.

[14:11] >> Our review found that delays

[14:12] and alterations occurred for

[14:13] several reasons including covid

[14:17] 19 impacts poor planning and

[14:18] the absence of a formal

[14:18] contract alteration process.

[14:22] Guidance on changing contracts

[14:23] to shared through training but

[14:23] it is not formally documented

[14:24] which makes it harder to ensure

[14:27] consistency.

[14:28] We also found that contract

[14:28] administration roles and

[14:29] responsibilities were unclear

[14:33] and that some contracted

[14:33] penetrators MAY be experienced

[14:34] in these responsibilities.

[14:35] For instance, administrators

[14:38] MAY not sufficiently estimate

[14:39] future price changes or wage

[14:40] increases while budgeting their

[14:40] contracts.

[14:43] Benchmark agencies help with

[14:44] this by assigning a specific

[14:45] contract coordinators within

[14:48] operational departments that

[14:49] receive extra training.

[14:49] Finally, these benchmark

[14:50] agencies require written

[14:54] justifications to submit for

[14:55] retroactive approval which

[14:55] include detailing why

[14:56] the normal procedure was not

[14:56] followed.

[15:00] Why the pricing is fair and

[15:00] reasonable and corrective

[15:04] action to prevent reoccurrence

[15:04] .

[15:05] To address the risks outlining

[15:06] finding too we made five

[15:06] recommendations.

[15:09] First, the person contracting

[15:09] department should work with

[15:10] each city department to

[15:11] designate contract points of

[15:14] contact and provide them with

[15:15] additional training.

[15:16] Second, a written procedure

[15:16] should be developed for

[15:19] submitting ratification

[15:19] requests.

[15:20] Third guidelines should be

[15:21] created to help departments

[15:25] provide counsel with ongoing

[15:25] updates on contract activities.

[15:26] And finally a formal contract

[15:30] alteration process should be

[15:31] established and implemented.

[15:31] As of JUNE 2025.

[15:32] Four of these recommendations

[15:36] including recommendation 2.1

[15:37] have already been put in place.

[15:40] I'll turn it over to Kayla for

[15:40] finding three.

[15:41] >> Thank you Andrew for finding

[15:41] three.

[15:45] We found that accurate

[15:46] information is not readily

[15:46] available in the city's

[15:47] contract management system.

[15:50] Ariba.

[15:51] One specific issue is that

[15:52] the contracts Benfield and

[15:55] Ariba shows how much money has

[15:56] been set aside for a contract

[15:57] not the amount that has been

[15:57] spent.

[16:01] Since City staff use a rebate

[16:02] to manage contracts, this

[16:03] system limitation means that

[16:06] staff do not have up to date

[16:07] information on contract

[16:07] spending.

[16:08] Consequently this can lead to

[16:11] potential overspending,

[16:12] inefficient contract planning

[16:13] and delays in bringing contract

[16:17] alterations to council as

[16:17] required.

[16:18] We determined that many of

[16:22] these issues could have been

[16:23] mitigated through implementing

[16:24] previous audit recommendations.

[16:27] Issues around Target value

[16:28] control, accurate contract

[16:28] information and establishing

[16:32] procedures were identified in

[16:33] previous audits dating back to

[16:33] 2015.

[16:38] The continued in process status

[16:39] of these recommendations

[16:39] contributed to contracts with

[16:43] missing documentation contracts

[16:44] missing from Ariba and contract

[16:44] alterations following

[16:48] inconsistent procedures.

[16:49] >> One example of the impact of

[16:54] lack of written policies is

[16:55] the city's contract with Herc

[16:55] for critical rental equipment.

[17:00] This exhibit shows that council

[17:00] approved the first contract

[17:01] increase but staff later raised

[17:06] them out in a reboot twice so

[17:06] payments to the vendor could

[17:07] continue.

[17:07] By MARCH 2024 contract spending

[17:11] Ariba had exceeded the council

[17:12] approved value by over $6

[17:12] million.

[17:16] Although there MAY be a need

[17:17] for some flexibility to

[17:18] continue vital services without

[17:22] formal documentation, we cannot

[17:23] determine whether these system

[17:24] changes follow the proper

[17:24] procedure.

[17:27] Additionally, this contract was

[17:28] brought to Council for approval

[17:29] retroactively.

[17:32] Recommendations that Andrew

[17:33] mentioned in writing to such as

[17:34] implementing a formalized

[17:37] contract alteration process and

[17:38] providing written

[17:38] justifications about why

[17:39] changes occurred before

[17:43] receiving council approval and

[17:43] corrective action to prevent

[17:44] recurrence could help ensure

[17:48] contracts receive proper

[17:48] approvals.

[17:49] We made four additional

[17:53] recommendations three of which

[17:53] were implemented.

[17:54] These include that

[17:55] the purchasing and contracting

[17:58] department should develop a

[17:58] policy outlining where

[17:59] contracts are electronically

[18:00] stored and managed.

[18:04] Implement and monitoring

[18:04] control to integrate sap and

[18:05] Ariba contract Spend

[18:05] information.

[18:09] Establish a written policy

[18:10] requiring a written maximum

[18:11] value to be specified on all

[18:15] goods and services contracts.

[18:15] And develop guidance for its

[18:16] staff on altering Ariba in

[18:17] the absence of formal contract

[18:21] alterations.

[18:22] Into it all we issued 13

[18:22] recommendations.

[18:26] 12 recommendations to

[18:26] management and one

[18:27] recommendation to the city

[18:27] Attorney's office.

[18:31] The respective departments

[18:31] agreed to implement all of

[18:32] them.

[18:32] And with that we are available

[18:35] for any questions you MAY have

[18:36] .

[18:36] >> Thank you for

[18:37] the presentation.

[18:37] Next we have a representative

[18:40] from purchasing and contracting

[18:50] makes some remarks.

[18:51] >> Good afternoon.

[18:56] Council Pro Tem Lee and members

[18:57] of the Council.

[18:57] My name is Claudio Bach, a

[18:58] director of Purchasing and

[18:58] contracting.

[19:02] Thank you for the opportunity

[19:02] to provide a brief update on

[19:03] the performance audit that

[19:04] the city's contract management

[19:04] process.

[19:07] Effective contract management

[19:07] is essential to ensuring that

[19:08] public funds are used

[19:12] efficiently transparently in

[19:12] responsibly.

[19:13] Strong oversight promotes

[19:13] accountability safeguards

[19:17] public trust and helps prevent

[19:18] cost overruns, project delays

[19:19] and disputes ultimately leading

[19:23] to better outcomes and fiscal

[19:23] stewardship.

[19:24] Over the past several years

[19:25] purchasing and contracting has

[19:28] focused on strengthening

[19:28] internal operations including

[19:29] achieving pay parity for

[19:33] procurement officers, filling

[19:34] critical vacancies within

[19:35] the Goods and Services Division

[19:38] and launching the procurement

[19:39] Academy to expand citywide

[19:40] procurement knowledge and

[19:40] training.

[19:44] While these improvements have

[19:44] advanced our internal capacity

[19:45] responsiveness to external

[19:45] issues identified in last

[19:49] year's audit and prior audit

[19:50] reports have been slower than

[19:50] desired.

[19:55] The audit report made 13

[19:55] recommendations of which eight

[19:56] have been fully implemented.

[19:57] I'd like to briefly highlight

[20:00] progress on the remaining items

[20:04] Recommendations 11.2 and 1.3

[20:04] which relate to updating

[20:05] council approval thresholds and

[20:09] clarifying alteration for goods

[20:10] and services Contracts required

[20:10] Municipal Municipal Code

[20:11] amendments.

[20:15] P and c had been coordinating

[20:16] with ncp on a combined update

[20:20] but at after several

[20:20] discussions it was decided that

[20:25] these efforts should be

[20:25] separated with the addition of

[20:26] other requested code changes.

[20:30] Progress has been slightly

[20:30] delayed however pnc expects to

[20:31] bring these items forward to

[20:32] Council for consideration

[20:36] within the next six months if

[20:37] not sooner.

[20:37] Recommendation 1.4 which

[20:41] involves the City Attorney's

[20:41] office updating its written

[20:42] guidance will follow

[20:44] the completion of

[20:49] recommendations 1.2 and 1.3 for

[20:50] recommendation 2.4.

[20:50] It calls for developing a

[20:51] process to keep council

[20:55] informed about key contracting

[20:55] activities such as upcoming

[20:59] expirations, capacity limits,

[21:00] ratifications and sole source

[21:04] contracts to address this and

[21:05] pnc will begin issuing

[21:06] quarterly memoranda summarizing

[21:10] this information.

[21:10] The first memorandum covering

[21:11] the first quarter f f y 26 will

[21:14] be issued this week.

[21:15] Lastly recommendation 3.4 which

[21:16] directs pnc to establish

[21:20] guidance for staff on how to

[21:20] document changes in a Ariba

[21:21] when formal contract

[21:25] alterations are not required is

[21:25] nearly complete.

[21:30] A draft policy is currently

[21:30] under management review and

[21:31] will be finalized and submitted

[21:32] to the auditor's office within

[21:35] the next few weeks.

[21:36] The purchasing and contracting

[21:36] department remains firmly

[21:40] committed to building and

[21:40] refining policies that

[21:41] strengthen contract oversight,

[21:44] promote compliance and ensure

[21:45] timely and effective service

[21:46] delivery across city

[21:46] departments.

[21:47] I would like to close by

[21:51] thanking the Office of the City

[21:51] Auditor for their collaboration

[21:52] and diligence throughout this

[21:52] process.

[21:56] We are available to answer any

[21:56] questions the Council MAY have.

[22:00] Thank you.

[22:01] Thank you.

[22:02] Clark do we have any public

[22:02] comment?

[22:05] Yes we do, Paul.

[22:06] Paul Gerber if you can please

[22:11] come time stated by Tim Douglas

[22:15] Maybe I'm saying your last name

[22:16] incorrectly you 202 hundred My

[22:21] apologies.

[22:21] My apologies.

[22:22] It was first So you We have no

[22:28] speakers for item 2a1 I'm going

[22:29] to those participating remotely

[22:30] and we have five speakers in

[22:34] the queue starting with

[22:34] Kathleen Lippert.

[22:35] If you can please unmute.

[22:35] Thank you.

[22:39] Good afternoon.

[22:40] Previously noted the ongoing

[22:44] recommendations by the city's

[22:45] fiscal performance audit

[22:45] department.

[22:50] There should be a limit as to

[22:51] when those recommendations are

[22:55] implement and if not city

[22:56] council should come back within

[23:00] a 30 day window to provide

[23:01] justification for why the delay

[23:05] is What is causing the delay?

[23:06] This is a lot of money and in

[23:11] that previous system was not

[23:11] updated since 2012.

[23:16] That's really problematic.

[23:16] So I don't know who else is

[23:21] responsible for it but please

[23:21] do make sure that you listen

[23:25] that the city council listens

[23:26] to its auditor independent

[23:26] audit.

[23:27] This is one of the best

[23:31] departments you have and they

[23:32] give wonderful advice and

[23:32] thankfully it is not

[23:37] politically this it is not

[23:37] political.

[23:42] So it's really important to

[23:42] listen to it.

[23:43] So thank you for letting me

[23:46] speak.

[23:46] >> Thank you.

[23:47] Next is the original If you can

[23:51] please unmute.

[23:52] >> This it's just highlights

[23:56] the fraud waste and abuse that

[23:57] you guys engage in on a regular

[23:57] basis and why you know funding

[24:01] should be cut when you guys

[24:02] can't even make sure that

[24:02] the money that you get from

[24:03] the people and that you're

[24:06] spending is done in a manner

[24:07] that is the way that it's

[24:07] supposed to go.

[24:11] You guys wait until the last

[24:12] minute to push contracts and

[24:13] much of the time it seems like

[24:17] that would be done because it

[24:17] MAY not be passed if you didn't

[24:18] do it in that manner.

[24:21] You know, using the excuse that

[24:22] it's to continue services that

[24:22] are needed.

[24:26] Well, if they weren't, you

[24:27] know, so important you would

[24:27] make sure that you're doing

[24:28] your due diligence to make sure

[24:31] that contracts are being kept

[24:31] and that you're not waiting

[24:32] until the last minute.

[24:35] And then you also have people

[24:36] self-report.

[24:36] So there's times when you know

[24:37] there's going to be negligence

[24:41] in that and when things are

[24:41] committed like you guys

[24:42] shouldn't be giving contracts

[24:46] to people who are having people

[24:46] die on a regular basis Like at

[24:47] Tent City you continue to

[24:51] increase contracts for that.

[24:51] And Shannon Amelia Ball, 49

[24:56] years old, just died a couple

[24:57] of weeks ago.

[24:57] It will be three weeks on

[24:58] Thursday.

[24:58] He died of a fentanyl overdose

[25:01] because she was laced in by her

[25:02] neighbor Bambam who was next to

[25:02] her in her tent.

[25:07] So and the staff was told not

[25:07] to touch her because of covid

[25:11] And it's like what is

[25:11] happening?

[25:12] Nobody could do anything.

[25:12] So this woman died because

[25:16] the staff that these people are

[25:17] hiring are negligent and told

[25:17] by Dreams for Change And

[25:21] Theresa Smith to do nothing and

[25:22] let these people die.

[25:22] It is absurd.

[25:26] They're also hiding sexual

[25:27] assault in Tent City and yet

[25:27] you guys increase contracts,

[25:31] you continue to do it without

[25:32] going and auditing and making

[25:32] sure that people aren't dying

[25:37] Instead Steven Whitburn sits up

[25:37] there and laughs in my face and

[25:38] when I'm telling him of

[25:41] the last woman who died and

[25:42] Tammy and it's like so instead

[25:46] of doing something you're

[25:46] laughing about it because

[25:47] Theresa Smith is your friend.

[25:48] So you guys can't be trusted

[25:51] with money because people are

[25:52] dying on your watch all while

[25:53] you say that it's safer for

[25:53] them to be there.

[25:56] You guys got a course correct

[25:57] because people are dumb.

[25:57] Your time has concluded.

[26:00] Our next speaker is 5868.

[26:00] After that Blair Beekman and

[26:03] then phone number ending in

[26:03] 7499.

[26:14] If you can please unmute.

[26:14] Okay.

[26:14] Can you hear me okay?

[26:15] Yes.

[26:18] Please proceed.

[26:19] >> Thank you so much.

[26:20] Well, first of all I want to

[26:23] commend the city auditor for

[26:24] this great work that they did

[26:28] last year and that we're

[26:29] finally seeing some fruits of

[26:29] their labor.

[26:34] I, I commend this department.

[26:34] Again, like the previous caller

[26:39] for these savings, I do have

[26:40] concerns about why some of

[26:43] these recommendations are

[26:44] taking so long to be

[26:44] implemented.

[26:49] I saw the letter from is it

[26:49] from MS..

[26:54] >> Claudia abarca She wrote in

[26:54] JULY of 2024 about these

[26:55] recommendations.

[26:58] So that's like, you know, 14

[27:03] months ago that her department

[27:04] has had the chance to work with

[27:05] other departments to implement

[27:05] these.

[27:08] And now she's asking for

[27:09] another six months.

[27:10] So that is rather alarming to

[27:14] me And I hope that the city

[27:14] council will get monthly

[27:18] updates from her.

[27:19] >> For example, something as

[27:20] simple as having each

[27:23] department have a contract for

[27:23] contracts.

[27:28] That to me would be so simple

[27:29] to do.

[27:29] You find out who your

[27:30] department you know every

[27:33] department they have to choose

[27:34] a contact Whoever the lead

[27:39] department person is they can

[27:39] do it or they can find someone.

[27:40] So I rather shocked that that

[27:43] wasn't completed.

[27:44] But anyway kudos for the office

[27:48] of the auditor and I really

[27:48] hope that the City Council

[27:49] keeps on this because this is

[27:54] where a lot of money can be

[27:54] wasted.

[27:55] >> Thank you so much.

[27:55] Thank you.

[27:58] Our next speaker is Blaire

[27:59] Beekman.

[28:00] The five minute timer has also

[28:00] concluded there are three

[28:01] speakers in the queue.

[28:04] No additional speakers will be

[28:04] taken after that.

[28:05] >> Lana, please proceed.

[28:05] All right.

[28:09] Thank you, baby.

[28:09] Happy Monday to everyone.

[28:10] Thanks a lot for this item.

[28:14] This is years of work and

[28:14] Councilor Persephone Wilpert

[28:18] has really tried to lead an

[28:19] important effort.

[28:19] But a better sense of

[28:23] accountability can take place

[28:24] for our future contract issue.

[28:24] Thank you.

[28:27] The first public speaker today

[28:28] mentioned how this kind of item

[28:32] can be nonpartisan which is

[28:33] interesting.

[28:34] The work I do with tech

[28:38] accountability which we often

[28:39] try for the same goals and

[28:43] the good feeling and just good

[28:44] reasoning that's a part of this

[28:49] item I try to work the same

[28:49] principles with the future of

[28:50] tech accountability and what we

[28:53] can be doing that it's not a

[28:54] nonpartisan issue it's just

[28:54] cleaning up, you know, previous

[28:58] bad patterns and learning how

[28:59] to do that well And we're doing

[29:00] learning how to do that with

[29:00] his item.

[29:04] Thank you.

[29:04] i hope you can be doing

[29:05] the same for tech

[29:05] accountability.

[29:08] There's a lot of loose ends in

[29:09] tech that we can clean up and

[29:10] it's not too difficult clean up

[29:13] if we just apply ourselves to

[29:14] it And it's just a matter if we

[29:15] want to apply ourselves And

[29:18] you've done that here and I'm

[29:18] really looking forward how this

[29:19] is going to be developing

[29:23] having better accountability in

[29:24] the city is just going to be

[29:25] awesome and the ways we can do

[29:28] that.

[29:29] So thank you.

[29:30] To quickly offer you you have

[29:34] contract issues with the aop

[29:35] are things that how is that

[29:38] process going at this time.

[29:39] Can you learn to make that a

[29:43] public conversation open

[29:44] process where the negotiations

[29:45] stand where where you'll be

[29:48] moving forward to I've spoken

[29:49] often for months on this issue

[29:50] and best practices and that you

[29:54] guys want to do so I don't

[29:54] think you have to fear talking

[29:55] in public about it which I

[29:59] think you are.

[30:00] So good luck with the contract

[30:01] process overall and talking

[30:01] about our future Rail pr and

[30:04] thanks a lot for your efforts

[30:05] all together on this item.

[30:05] >> Great work.

[30:06] Thank you.

[30:09] Phone I'm writing in 7499 after

[30:13] that will be Million Mile Man

[30:14] Bob Kozinski here I just want

[30:15] to add that the management of

[30:19] contract in this city has been

[30:20] terrible.

[30:20] I've seen this firsthand

[30:21] through the horrible

[30:24] mismanagement of the contract

[30:24] at Torrey Pines Glider port.

[30:25] This is yet another reason to

[30:29] take advantage of outside

[30:29] resources such as advisory

[30:30] boards which are extremely cost

[30:34] effective tools for providing

[30:35] independent oversight of city

[30:39] contracts and performance under

[30:40] those contracts.

[30:40] These advisory boards are

[30:44] additional watchdogs provided

[30:44] for free by citizens who

[30:45] volunteer to help.

[30:50] It is shameful that this city

[30:50] has allowed these invaluable

[30:51] advisory boards including

[30:51] the Torrey Pines City Park

[30:55] Advisory Board to be disbanded.

[30:56] Shame on you Joe LaCava for

[30:56] your own mismanagement of

[31:00] advisory boards in your

[31:12] district and shame on Mary

[31:12] Mayor Gloria and shame on all

[31:13] council members for your

[31:13] similar failures.

[31:13] Furthermore, I endorse

[31:13] the comments spoken by earlier

[31:13] speakers Kathleen Leppert,

[31:13] the original and others.

[31:14] >> Thank you.

[31:15] Thank you.

[31:16] >> And our final speaker is

[31:16] Million Mile Man If you can

[31:20] please send me Thank you for

[31:25] having me play Bob Bob if

[31:26] you're still there I

[31:30] communicated with you You

[31:31] remember from Tampa from Tampa,

[31:32] Florida in Clearwater about a

[31:36] month ago we were filming And I

[31:41] got to tell you, Bob, you've

[31:41] got to get real, man.

[31:42] Feel the pain And to all of

[31:46] the people directing duration

[31:47] and emotional and psychological

[31:51] abuse for this council,

[31:52] remember when you run as a

[31:56] candidate you are going to be

[32:01] hurt deeply Very, very hard.

[32:02] You're going to be hit hard in

[32:06] my recommendation Stop

[32:07] complaining all of you.

[32:07] Every one of you stop

[32:12] complaining and do something.

[32:17] Do something that will help.

[32:18] Complaining will not help put

[32:18] your name on a ballot.

[32:22] Do it and you know to get

[32:23] nominated to get nominated just

[32:28] to put your name on the ballot

[32:28] you've got to get over 100

[32:33] signatures sometime over 200.

[32:33] And do you know how many people

[32:38] will spit in your face and call

[32:39] you horrible names and not even

[32:43] sign your nominating paper?

[32:47] I got over 400 signatures on my

[32:48] own One man Yeah.

[32:48] And I was hurt.

[32:53] Trust me.

[32:54] And I'm tired of hearing all

[32:58] this over and over and over.

[32:59] I'm too old for this.

[33:00] I'm too old.

[33:00] It's like the worst thought

[33:04] ghetto you know You'll find out

[33:05] of the ghetto with a pitchfork

[33:09] And Bob, you know what I'm

[33:10] talking about.

[33:10] You're Polish like I am.

[33:14] Get out there and frickin fight

[33:15] Bob Dole it If you want to help

[33:15] me, help me.

[33:19] Otherwise don't even call in

[33:20] any more.

[33:20] All of you.

[33:24] Thank you.

[33:25] But that doesn't involve a call

[33:29] on an item to a one thank you

[33:29] to the public for their

[33:33] comments Will now take

[33:34] councilmember questions and

[33:35] comments As a reminder this is

[33:35] an informational item and so no

[33:36] motion is required and we'll

[33:39] start with the chair of our

[33:40] audit committee.

[33:41] Councilmember Renaud, thank you

[33:45] for the presentation and thank

[33:45] you to the auditor for

[33:46] conducting this audit Although

[33:50] i am disappointed by

[33:50] the findings contained in this

[33:51] audit I wasn't surprised by

[33:51] them.

[33:55] I was particularly disturbed

[33:56] that staff altered contract

[33:56] spending limits on goods and

[34:00] service contracts by at least

[34:01] $15 million in the last seven

[34:05] years without the required

[34:06] council approval On average

[34:06] that's approximately 2 million

[34:10] per year in taxpayer dollars

[34:11] that the public cannot account

[34:16] for.

[34:16] This is not good government

[34:17] When that happens it's not just

[34:21] about the city council getting

[34:22] bypassed.

[34:22] What this really means is that

[34:26] the public is being denied its

[34:27] right to know how its money is

[34:28] being spent because there's no

[34:32] public hearing to discuss

[34:33] the changes in the contract.

[34:33] Additionally the auditor found

[34:37] that staff brought 19% of

[34:41] contract alterations totaling

[34:42] nearly $64 million to council

[34:42] for approval retroactively over

[34:46] the last seven years.

[34:50] That works out to an average of

[34:51] $9 million per year of spending

[34:52] with no public discussion prior

[34:56] to the money being spent.

[34:57] Unfortunately it's not an

[34:57] uncommon occurrence for

[35:01] the council to be put in a

[35:02] position of having to approve

[35:02] retroactive contract increases

[35:06] or be asked to approve a

[35:07] contract at the last minute

[35:12] with little recourse if

[35:12] the Council disagrees with

[35:13] the action Because if we don't

[35:17] approve it then work will stop

[35:18] mid project or if the work is

[35:18] already completed the vendor

[35:22] could sue the city for

[35:22] nonpayment.

[35:23] Overall 42% of contract

[35:28] alterations totaling $155

[35:29] million were presented to

[35:33] council in an untimely manner

[35:34] retroactively or not at all.

[35:38] Exhibit 715 in the report shows

[35:39] an example where the department

[35:39] staff increased the spending in

[35:44] a contract to the tune of $6.7

[35:47] million in the fall of 2023

[35:48] months before obtaining council

[35:48] approval to allow for

[35:53] the additional spending staff

[35:53] finally brought forward a

[35:54] request to increase

[35:57] the contract in APRIL of 2024.

[35:58] I find it very difficult to

[36:02] believe that nobody was aware

[36:03] that over $6 million being

[36:03] added to a contract would not

[36:08] need council approval.

[36:09] I also want to mention that

[36:09] the timing of contracts coming

[36:13] to council whether it is an

[36:14] amendment to a contract or a

[36:15] new contract has been

[36:19] inefficient Bringing a contract

[36:19] to council to replace an

[36:24] existing contract after

[36:24] the current contract has

[36:25] expired is inappropriate,

[36:29] unnecessary and extremely

[36:30] frustrating because the council

[36:31] is put in a position of either

[36:32] approving a contract that might

[36:35] be flawed versus not approving

[36:35] it and the city not having

[36:39] access to that service anymore

[36:39] .

[36:40] I really prefer that

[36:41] the council see proposed

[36:44] contracts to be replaced or

[36:45] extend existing vendors at

[36:45] least several months before

[36:50] they expire.

[36:50] That would allow sufficient

[36:51] time to address any issues that

[36:52] the Council or members of

[36:55] the public raised.

[36:56] I do appreciate that staff has

[36:56] agreed to all of

[36:57] the recommendations and want to

[37:02] recognize that eight out of

[37:02] the 13 have been implemented

[37:03] since the audit committee

[37:07] discussed this item in 2024.

[37:07] That represents good work by

[37:12] the purchasing and contracting

[37:13] department to move forward on

[37:13] some very important changes.

[37:18] >> Lastly, implementing all

[37:19] recommendations under findings

[37:19] seven that would create formal

[37:23] procedures for contract

[37:24] alterations is critical as this

[37:25] will help prevent what we saw

[37:29] happen in the Reba system with

[37:30] the work contract which was

[37:34] increased by millions of

[37:34] dollars six months before it

[37:35] was brought to council.

[37:39] Four out of the five

[37:39] recommendations related to

[37:40] internal processes being

[37:44] improved have been implemented

[37:44] and this is great and I want to

[37:48] thank the Department for that.

[37:49] >> Thank you overall and I look

[37:49] forward to continuing to see

[37:53] progress from this department

[37:54] in implementing the remaining

[37:54] recommendations.

[37:55] And that concludes my comments.

[37:59] Thank you.

[37:59] >> Thank you.

[38:00] We'll turn next to council

[38:04] member Yvonne Wolpert for thank

[38:04] you to the City Auditor for

[38:09] your work here.

[38:09] This is one of the most

[38:10] important audits I think I've

[38:14] seen out of your department

[38:15] because it has to do with our

[38:16] fiscal responsibility of

[38:20] the city.

[38:20] You noted that last year in fy

[38:21] 2020 forward the city has

[38:24] budgeted over $700 million of

[38:24] taxpayer money for outside

[38:25] contracts for goods and

[38:30] services to provide things our

[38:30] public needs everywhere from

[38:31] public safety equipment and

[38:34] disposing of hazardous waste

[38:35] our water authority to making

[38:36] sure that we have chemicals

[38:39] that people can drink operating

[38:40] homeless shelters And it is

[38:45] the city Council's job to

[38:45] oversee the over $700 million

[38:46] in taxpayer money that is being

[38:50] sent to know that is being

[38:51] spent appropriately, to know

[38:51] the contractors are doing their

[38:52] jobs, to know that this is

[38:55] going to a valid purpose, to

[38:56] know that we are complying with

[39:00] the law and the city council

[39:01] cannot do any of those things

[39:06] If contracts are approved

[39:06] unilaterally and unlawfully I

[39:08] MAY add by city staff and by

[39:13] city management.

[39:14] This is why I have been voting

[39:15] no on every expired contract

[39:16] that has come to me for

[39:21] the past year and a half and

[39:25] these are not small dollars $64

[39:26] million was found in this audit

[39:27] that was spent without

[39:31] authorization.

[39:31] That's against the law The San

[39:32] Diego political code requires

[39:36] by law that this council

[39:40] approve contract alterations

[39:41] over $200,000 And the reason is

[39:42] we need to know where our money

[39:45] is going.

[39:47] >> Can you please bring up

[40:03] slide 14 again or bring it up?

[40:04] >> Thank you for your patience.

[40:38] Of course

[40:39] it's the hawk rental

[40:39] car tax slide I have 14

[40:40] whatever That that one.

[40:42] Thank you.

[40:47] Could you zoom in on that one?

[40:48] So if we're reading this

[40:49] correctly, this is a graph

[40:49] showing that someone in city

[40:53] management spent $6.7 million

[40:58] on rental equipment without

[40:59] asking this council's

[41:00] permission to make that budget

[41:01] adjustment.

[41:06] Is that correct?

[41:07] The spending was this is a

[41:11] citywide contract You said

[41:12] spending so the spending would

[41:12] be a lot of different

[41:13] departments But yes, someone in

[41:17] city management adjusted

[41:17] the allowed contract value

[41:21] without the council's approval

[41:26] by $6.7 million Correct.

[41:27] Do you realize that we had a

[41:30] budget fight this last year

[41:31] over $4.5 million in which

[41:32] the mayor vetoed it and we

[41:35] overrode the veto?

[41:36] Do you know we were going to

[41:40] use that general fund money for

[41:41] funding for the arts and

[41:42] culture communities a chief

[41:45] operating officer position

[41:46] stormwater contingency funding

[41:50] project management enforcement

[41:51] ,recreational programing at

[41:52] the Lakes and instead someone

[41:52] from the city staff and

[41:55] management decided we're not

[41:56] going to spend money on

[41:57] the things that the council

[41:57] voted for.

[41:59] We're going to spend that $6.7

[42:00] million on something else.

[42:01] How do we know that Steven

[42:05] authorized How do we know who

[42:05] that went to?

[42:06] Who decided this?

[42:07] I would like to know who made

[42:08] that illegal adjustment to a

[42:13] contract.

[42:18] >> And the reason I'm so upset

[42:19] is because it keeps happening.

[42:20] $64 million was unauthorized

[42:24] spending.

[42:24] Thank you for the question

[42:25] Councilmember Wolpert.

[42:29] What occurred during that time

[42:30] was that departments were

[42:30] engaging with her car rentals

[42:34] directly to ask for services

[42:35] that MAY or MAY not have been

[42:39] on appeal And we were and we

[42:40] ended up finding that we were

[42:44] behind on payments because of

[42:45] these repeated requests And so

[42:49] we were in a deficit of what we

[42:50] owed the vendor itself.

[42:50] So that's how we got to that

[42:54] point of going beyond our

[42:54] anticipated spend.

[42:59] But this graph is showing our

[42:59] Ariba system which is our

[43:00] software system to allow people

[43:04] to continue making purchase

[43:04] orders on a contract was

[43:05] adjusted without city council

[43:09] approval so somebody had to use

[43:10] a computer, a city computer and

[43:13] make that adjustment unlawfully

[43:14] .

[43:14] It's against the miscible code

[43:15] to do that.

[43:15] So who did that?

[43:19] My staff did that by staff did

[43:20] that.

[43:20] We own that And again it was

[43:24] because we owed the vendor

[43:24] several millions of dollars

[43:25] without having the appropriate

[43:32] purchase orders in place.

[43:33] Well clearly that's

[43:33] unacceptable.

[43:34] I completely understand And

[43:37] we've had that discussion with

[43:38] staff and we've created

[43:39] policies to ensure that doesn't

[43:39] happen.

[43:42] It's one of the audit

[43:43] recommendations as well.

[43:43] And I think part of the issue

[43:47] is is we get put up against

[43:47] the wall sometimes by

[43:51] departments who aren't telling

[43:52] us the entire story.

[43:52] Sometimes purchasing is

[43:56] the last department to know.

[43:57] So did you tell the mayor or

[44:01] the ceo or whoever's chief

[44:02] operating officer at the time

[44:02] whoever is supposed to be

[44:03] running the city that this was

[44:03] happening?

[44:06] We did And that's why we worked

[44:06] very, very quickly.

[44:07] It didn't seem that way to get

[44:11] the item to council and

[44:12] requested from the departments

[44:12] that they provide us what their

[44:13] anticipated spend for

[44:17] the contract was going to be

[44:17] moving forward because we

[44:18] didn't want to be in

[44:18] the situation where we were in

[44:21] arrears.

[44:22] So then what was the mayor's

[44:22] response?

[44:26] I don't I don't know that it

[44:27] went to the mayor himself.

[44:28] I know that I did bring this up

[44:31] to the dca and we've been

[44:32] working on this contract for

[44:33] quite some time.

[44:37] We've done several several

[44:37] refinements on how we are

[44:41] monitoring and actually

[44:42] managing the spend for each

[44:43] department to ensure that we

[44:46] don't get to this place again.

[44:47] >> Councilmember, if I MAY

[44:47] Deputy Chief Operating Officer

[44:51] Christina Peralta So Claudio's

[44:52] absolutely right.

[44:53] Her and her department flagged

[44:53] it immediately for her deputy

[44:56] chief operating officer and

[44:57] then sprang into action on how

[44:58] we could mitigate the issue.

[45:01] Contract management is a team

[45:02] sport and it's not Claudio's

[45:06] team's responsibility to manage

[45:07] nor does Claudio have

[45:08] the ability to manage her peers

[45:12] and hold them accountable for

[45:12] making sure that their staff

[45:13] are doing the right things.

[45:14] She's leapt into action.

[45:16] She's done all of

[45:17] the mitigating factors that we

[45:18] need to put our arms around

[45:18] this.

[45:19] I know it's not a satisfying

[45:22] response for you but she did

[45:23] everything right to address

[45:23] the situation and flag it for

[45:26] management and we've done

[45:27] everything that we can to

[45:28] quickly put our arms around it

[45:29] and to work with our department

[45:29] directors to hold them

[45:31] accountable.

[45:32] >> Well, I'm sorry I'm not mad

[45:33] at you.

[45:33] You're doing a great job.

[45:36] You're trying as hard you can

[45:37] You have so well with with this

[45:38] So I apologize.

[45:41] I don't mean to come up and

[45:42] that of you I know that you

[45:43] have a million things on your

[45:44] plate I just In the future

[45:47] though I do wish that you could

[45:47] call us directly say that

[45:48] they're asking me to make an

[45:52] unauthorized adjustment to a

[45:52] river that I'm not supposed to

[45:53] be doing because I don't want

[45:57] this to fall on your shoulders.

[45:57] I know that you are trying very

[45:58] hard and you're not the one

[45:59] making the purchase order.

[45:59] So just for the public to know

[46:02] Claudia is trying very hard on

[46:03] this but is still somebody

[46:06] who's spending unauthorized

[46:07] money to the tens of millions

[46:08] of dollars and then six months

[46:08] later asking this council to

[46:12] approve it And this is just one

[46:12] contract If we're not over if

[46:16] there's no watchdog at the hen

[46:17] house, who knows how many other

[46:18] hands are gone?

[46:18] The point of oversight is to

[46:21] make sure that we know what

[46:22] we're spending.

[46:26] And so quite frankly after all

[46:27] this hadn't been fixed.

[46:28] This has not been fixed.

[46:28] We're still waiting for

[46:31] municipal code updates.

[46:32] You said you need we will we

[46:32] will do them We will vote on

[46:33] them here at City hall.

[46:36] Ariba is still a problem.

[46:37] I'm reading things in this

[46:38] audit that says Additionally

[46:38] the city auditor found

[46:41] discrepancies between contract

[46:42] documents and information In

[46:46] Ariba, for example, 12% of

[46:47] the contracts had contract

[46:47] expiration date in Ariba that

[46:48] didn't match the signed

[46:50] contracts.

[46:51] Another 9% had mismatched

[46:55] contract values.

[46:55] That's almost 20% of

[46:56] the contracts in our software

[46:57] system are flat out wrong.

[47:00] And so this has not been fixed

[47:04] And this is my asked you to to

[47:05] my colleagues because we are up

[47:09] here and we are the oversight

[47:10] board here and we just

[47:11] rubberstamp this and we allow

[47:14] this to continue And I urge my

[47:15] colleagues to have some some

[47:19] consequences here If we were

[47:19] the board of directors over a

[47:20] corporation and the ceo had

[47:24] allowed misspending to $64

[47:25] million, we would fire the ceo

[47:26] of the corporation if we did

[47:29] not our shareholders would sue

[47:30] us in the shareholder

[47:34] derivative lawsuit and there

[47:34] are lawyers out there making a

[47:35] lot of money on these things.

[47:36] If we were the board of a

[47:38] nonprofit and the ceo of

[47:39] the nonprofit allowed $65

[47:40] million to go spent

[47:44] unauthorized, we would fire

[47:45] the ceo Otherwise the public

[47:45] would stop donating to our

[47:49] nonprofit because the board up

[47:49] here is not making good

[47:50] decisions.

[47:50] Can I please have a few extra

[47:54] minutes If this was a

[47:54] household, if we were a family

[47:59] and we had spending limits and

[47:59] allowed some of our teenage

[48:00] children to way maxed out

[48:04] the credit card, then every

[48:04] time they came to their parents

[48:05] we forgave them and paid their

[48:06] credit card bill.

[48:09] What happens when the roof

[48:10] leaks And we can't fix the roof

[48:11] on our house because we've been

[48:14] allowing people to spend

[48:14] unauthorized amounts?

[48:15] We at this council need to

[48:19] start voting no on these

[48:20] contracts and saying no to city

[48:24] staff doing this to us because

[48:24] some of our libraries might

[48:25] close because now we're

[48:26] spending $6.7 million on rental

[48:32] equipment instead And this is

[48:32] just one contractor.

[48:33] >> Remember there are many

[48:35] others out there 150 million

[48:36] didn't come to us on time

[48:37] appropriately 11 million never

[48:40] came at all.

[48:41] And so as much as we want to

[48:42] sit up here and draft a budget,

[48:46] it's not being followed And I

[48:46] just hope that my colleagues

[48:50] will start voting no because

[48:51] people need consequences and we

[48:52] will help you.

[48:56] You just need to bring us

[48:57] things to help fix this

[48:57] problem.

[48:58] It's not being fixed And

[49:01] clearly again this is not your

[49:01] fault.

[49:02] I know you try hard.

[49:02] You always work with our office

[49:03] but I don't see a chief

[49:06] operating officer here.

[49:06] The buck stops with somebody

[49:12] and the solution is we wrapped

[49:12] our arms around the best we

[49:13] can.

[49:13] >> That's ridiculous.

[49:17] I'm just so sick of seeing us

[49:17] fight about money up here and

[49:18] then the city spends it.

[49:22] How are they Want So I urge my

[49:26] colleagues to start voting no

[49:27] put some consequences We

[49:28] the buck stops with us and then

[49:32] also when you do your quarterly

[49:33] memo on contract status can you

[49:38] please also update us on how

[49:38] many of these recommendations

[49:39] that the auditor has been

[49:41] making since 2015?

[49:42] This is now ten years old.

[49:43] This is two mayoral

[49:43] administrations But guess who's

[49:47] been here The dc Oath They've

[49:47] been here the whole time.

[49:48] Why haven't they fixed it

[49:52] between mayors Update us on how

[49:52] many their recommendations are

[49:56] still outstanding and also what

[49:57] we can do to help you know if

[49:58] you need us to put it in

[49:59] elsewhere for example like

[50:01] where are the new regulations

[50:02] where city attorney let us know

[50:03] we could do to help but I can't

[50:06] sit here and be held

[50:07] accountable for money I didn't

[50:11] spend So that's all I got.

[50:12] >> We understand catch up But I

[50:13] do want to mention a couple of

[50:17] things that we have put in

[50:17] place as well.

[50:18] We have created a report that

[50:19] will allow departments to

[50:22] understand their spend and

[50:23] track it better.

[50:24] You'll see a copy of that with

[50:28] the memorandum that goes out.

[50:28] It'll highlight a couple of

[50:29] different milestones for

[50:33] departments so that they can

[50:33] take timely action.

[50:34] I think that's probably

[50:35] the best report that we have so

[50:37] far.

[50:38] We've also developed a contract

[50:38] administration guide to help

[50:39] departments understand what

[50:42] their responsibilities are

[50:43] after a contract has been

[50:44] awarded and turned over to them

[50:47] for contract management that's

[50:48] in place.

[50:49] We have actually been training

[50:53] since I want to say since MAY

[50:54] we were doing monthly trainings

[50:54] to ensure that contract

[50:55] administrators know how to

[50:58] manage their contracts.

[50:59] I do want to also state with

[51:03] the amount of money that has

[51:04] been approved without Council

[51:04] approval.

[51:05] I agree it's not a good

[51:09] headline but I do want to state

[51:10] that some of that was tied to

[51:14] us amending contracts under a

[51:15] process that we thought was

[51:15] correct and later being told

[51:19] that it was incorrect.

[51:20] So I just want to make sure

[51:21] that that's clarified.

[51:24] That process stopped back in

[51:24] 2023.

[51:25] We have not altered any

[51:28] contracts about $200,000

[51:28] without it coming forward to

[51:29] council.

[51:33] My staff knows that very well.

[51:34] We are doing everything we can

[51:34] as a department to ensure that

[51:38] we stop most of these things.

[51:39] I can't control everything and

[51:39] what's done around me.

[51:43] But but you certainly should

[51:44] know that we are doing our

[51:44] best.

[51:45] Thank you, Claudia.

[51:45] I appreciate it.

[51:50] Let us know again what you need

[51:50] to monitor this.

[51:51] I mean the libraries have gone

[51:54] over their budgets police

[51:55] departments gone over

[51:56] the budget for Contra.

[51:59] Everybody has And it's just

[52:00] it's very hard to fight so hard

[52:01] over a budget up here when it

[52:05] doesn't seem to be followed.

[52:05] And so I just appreciate you

[52:06] very much and please keep us up

[52:10] to date about what you need And

[52:11] I just urge my colleagues to

[52:11] start voting no on these

[52:15] contracts Actually put some

[52:16] consequences in place so

[52:16] departments get their act

[52:17] together and we spend within

[52:20] our limits.

[52:21] So thank you very much.

[52:22] I appreciate the audit and we

[52:22] need to hire a chief operating

[52:26] officer in the city.

[52:26] Thank you, Councilmember Fun.

[52:27] Wilpert We'll turn next to

[52:31] Councilmember Ella Rivera I

[52:32] think you calabarzon pro-tem

[52:32] Thank you.

[52:36] >> And to you and your team for

[52:37] the work on this.

[52:38] Councilmember Moreno, as always

[52:38] for your leadership the audit

[52:42] committee Councilmember Von

[52:42] Wilpert for digging in here and

[52:47] your continued your persistence

[52:48] that the city do better on this

[52:52] front.

[52:53] Uh, I want to acknowledge, you

[52:54] know, some of the points that

[53:01] you raised when you drew a line

[53:01] in the sand awhile back on this

[53:02] and thought it to be important

[53:06] that we not approve these

[53:11] contracts when they come to us

[53:12] after they should have I think

[53:13] one of the things just for a

[53:15] full transparency I struggle

[53:20] with sometimes is that

[53:21] the effects the consequences of

[53:22] who will will bear

[53:26] the consequences if those

[53:27] contracts aren't approved.

[53:27] And I think this is what puts

[53:28] us in a particularly difficult

[53:31] situation as council members It

[53:32] is typically city employees

[53:37] rank and file every day

[53:37] employees who are doing

[53:38] the work and residents who will

[53:42] feel the effects And so

[53:42] the rock and a hard place that

[53:43] I feel myself in in these

[53:52] situations is is that peace and

[53:53] that is an excuse for allowing

[53:58] a practice to go on when it

[53:59] when it shouldn't.

[54:02] Just an attempt to explain what

[54:03] I've struggled with in these

[54:03] situations.

[54:09] Um and I the frustration is

[54:09] real.

[54:10] I mean we've had some high

[54:14] profile and very tense moments

[54:19] on the status of some with me

[54:20] at the tip of the tip of

[54:20] the spear and others with

[54:21] others in that position And

[54:24] when it doesn't feel like to

[54:25] your point.

[54:26] The budget that this council

[54:26] has passed is actually being

[54:29] implemented or or adhered to.

[54:35] So I just want to let you know

[54:36] that I hear you.

[54:36] I definitely appreciate

[54:41] the frustration although I

[54:41] think you've got an

[54:42] exceptionally challenging job

[54:46] to do and it it you cannot on

[54:54] your own correct for what seems

[54:55] to be more of a cultural issue

[55:00] and than than anything else.

[55:01] So just again wanted to make

[55:05] sure I let you know that we're

[55:06] going over I hear you on this

[55:10] and I'm not going to disagree

[55:10] with your frustrations.

[55:11] I do have a question.

[55:17] Um, so there have been there's

[55:20] recommendations that are not

[55:26] yet implemented and I apologize

[55:30] if this was alluded to in one

[55:31] way or another before but if

[55:31] you could very kind of

[55:35] methodically walk us through

[55:36] the plan next steps and

[55:36] timeframes for

[55:37] the recommendations that are

[55:41] not yet implemented but agreed

[55:41] upon.

[55:42] Thank you for the question.

[55:46] Councilmember Ella, were you

[55:46] referring to this specific

[55:47] report?

[55:47] Yes.

[55:51] So they were mentioned Two of

[55:51] them relate to proposing

[55:56] changes to municipal code.

[55:57] We're hoping to be here within

[55:57] six months.

[55:58] It really should would be

[56:01] sooner to bring those forward.

[56:02] >> The third recommendation and

[56:07] can you help us understand how

[56:07] that will change from your

[56:08] perspective?

[56:12] We've got the auditors

[56:13] perspective on recommendations

[56:13] you've agreed to them.

[56:17] So theoretically you believe it

[56:18] would be value to it.

[56:18] Help us understand.

[56:19] Yes, you'd see and how some of

[56:23] the situation that some of what

[56:23] you're hearing frustration over

[56:24] would be different if that

[56:28] change were implemented.

[56:28] Sure.

[56:29] So we can go over the first

[56:30] recommendation that remains

[56:33] which is increase the increase

[56:33] in thresholds.

[56:34] Obviously people believe

[56:35] the $200,000 alteration

[56:38] threshold is low.

[56:39] They also believe

[56:39] the thresholds for a moral

[56:44] authority on contracts is low.

[56:44] We haven't updated those for a

[56:45] little over more than ten years

[56:49] so we are going to be proposing

[56:50] some changes there to help

[56:54] expedite the award of contracts

[56:55] and ensure that those are ready

[56:56] for operational use.

[57:00] Another of the recommendations

[57:00] is going to be to clarify

[57:05] the section on amendments.

[57:06] I think that was where we

[57:06] awarded multiple millions of

[57:11] dollars on some advice that

[57:12] said we could do so as long as

[57:12] we stayed under payroll

[57:13] threshold.

[57:16] So there are some confusing

[57:17] language that we want to change

[57:17] in that particular section to

[57:18] help avoid any issues.

[57:22] Again, we stopped that process

[57:22] since 2023.

[57:23] But just to be clear and to

[57:24] move forward, we do want to

[57:27] clarify that language.

[57:28] Third recommendation is that we

[57:32] work with the city attorney's

[57:33] office to provide updated

[57:33] guidance once we have the new

[57:34] language.

[57:37] If accepted by council for

[57:42] the thresholds and also for

[57:43] amendment process.

[57:43] So that cannot happen until we

[57:46] get the first two completed And

[57:47] then the other two we talked

[57:52] about the fourth one would be

[57:53] alerting council to what is

[57:57] what contracts are due to

[57:57] expire, what contracts are

[57:58] almost at capacity, how many

[58:01] sole source contracts we've had

[58:02] and how many ratifications

[58:02] we've had.

[58:06] We actually have compiled that

[58:07] information for the first

[58:08] quarter of f y 26 and we expect

[58:11] to issue that memorandum this

[58:12] week And following that we will

[58:13] be providing the Council with a

[58:17] quarterly memo so that you will

[58:18] be aware of what is due to

[58:18] expire or at capacity.

[58:22] I do want to make a comment on

[58:27] there in the report you will

[58:28] see that we have color coded to

[58:29] kind of give directors and

[58:33] departments the ability to

[58:33] track a little bit better.

[58:34] However, just because you MAY

[58:38] see a red or orange color which

[58:38] is basically saying we're

[58:42] getting at time a department

[58:43] MAY or MAY not choose to take

[58:44] action, maybe that council is

[58:48] going to stay there and it's

[58:48] just going to, you know, expire

[58:49] and we no longer need services

[58:53] or sometimes they will need to

[58:53] be extended or a new

[58:54] procurement be done But that

[58:58] will depend on which what

[58:59] department wants to do.

[58:59] And then finally the last

[59:03] recommendation is developing

[59:04] developing a policy on how to

[59:08] update our request system with

[59:09] the amendments that that we

[59:10] have We do that We do have a

[59:13] final draft policy routing

[59:14] currently with my staff.

[59:14] We plan to complete that within

[59:15] the next two weeks and forward

[59:18] to the auditor's office for

[59:19] final review.

[59:23] Thank you Claudia.

[59:24] So one of the things that I

[59:29] want to know which is I think

[59:30] adds to the challenges and and

[59:34] the importance of improvements

[59:38] being made quickly is

[59:39] increasing limits is requires

[59:44] trust from the council to do

[59:44] so.

[59:45] I completely understand that

[59:46] One of the reasons for that is

[59:49] to minimize or not minimize or

[59:50] mitigate the sheer volume of

[59:54] items that need to be brought

[59:54] to us for approval because that

[59:55] requires work and slows things

[59:55] down.

[59:59] We all I think understand that

[1:00:04] And when we increase a limit we

[1:00:05] are giving away some of our

[1:00:09] authority and what we are being

[1:00:10] shown is that our authority

[1:00:11] isn't being adhered to as it is

[1:00:14] And so the comments made by

[1:00:19] Katherine von Wilpert I think

[1:00:20] are very much in line with

[1:00:24] comments we heard last week on

[1:00:25] an entirely unrelated item but

[1:00:29] with a shared theme of a trust

[1:00:34] issue that this is here And

[1:00:35] Claudia, this is actually much

[1:00:36] less for you at this point than

[1:00:36] it is for the mayor's office

[1:00:40] And are these heroes I'm not

[1:00:40] going to assume that this isn't

[1:00:44] registering in this way, but

[1:00:45] we're like we're at a tipping

[1:00:50] point in terms of trust and

[1:00:50] the ability to get important

[1:00:54] things done And I just I'm very

[1:00:55] much hoping that we see

[1:00:56] the changes that need to happen

[1:01:00] because we just heard from

[1:01:04] county government Councilmember

[1:01:04] one over made a very just and

[1:01:09] fair request of the rest of us

[1:01:10] to stop approving and then they

[1:01:11] come to us for a contract is

[1:01:14] expired.

[1:01:15] There would be consequences of

[1:01:19] that.

[1:01:20] We had an item last week in

[1:01:21] terms of water rate approvals

[1:01:25] If we're not able to figure

[1:01:25] that situation out in one way

[1:01:26] or another there will be

[1:01:27] significant consequences for

[1:01:30] the city.

[1:01:30] And so the clock is ticking.

[1:01:34] I very much hope that the words

[1:01:35] of my colleagues are being

[1:01:39] taken heard and taken at face

[1:01:40] value and that the council sees

[1:01:44] the changes that need to happen

[1:01:45] in order for us to get the work

[1:01:45] that needs to be done.

[1:01:46] Thank you.

[1:01:49] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Thank

[1:01:50] you.

[1:01:50] Next up is council member camp

[1:01:54] you think Council PRESIDENT Pro

[1:01:54] tem.

[1:01:55] Thank you very much Claudia for

[1:01:55] being here.

[1:01:59] I have a just a practical

[1:02:02] question about the four and

[1:02:03] the two or the two in the $4

[1:02:04] million increase, the $6

[1:02:04] million that were or approved

[1:02:11] without Council authorization

[1:02:11] Was there was there was there

[1:02:16] some sort of downside of

[1:02:17] waiting to pay that $6 million

[1:02:18] by coming to us first?

[1:02:21] Was there some sort of late

[1:02:21] fee?

[1:02:26] Was was I'm trying to give

[1:02:27] the benefit of the doubt to

[1:02:27] someone trying to do the right

[1:02:31] thing and I'm I'm hoping you're

[1:02:32] going to say there was some

[1:02:35] downside but based on

[1:02:36] the amount that was owed at

[1:02:37] the time, yes, it would have

[1:02:37] disrupted services.

[1:02:41] We would have had to return

[1:02:41] vehicles and equipment for

[1:02:42] nonpayment and that would have

[1:02:45] cost more in the long run.

[1:02:46] >> Operationally, yes, we would

[1:02:51] have stopped projects.

[1:02:51] People MAY not have gone able

[1:02:52] to do their work.

[1:02:52] So yes, operationally it would

[1:02:55] have affected under someone

[1:02:56] that I can be sympathetic to

[1:02:57] that But understand that's not

[1:03:00] good enough.

[1:03:01] It's not a good enough reason.

[1:03:02] And here's another practical

[1:03:08] question The whomever adjusted

[1:03:12] internally the ledger so that

[1:03:13] $6 million could go out without

[1:03:14] the city council's

[1:03:17] authorization.

[1:03:18] The who then sends the check to

[1:03:18] the Treasurer's city

[1:03:22] treasurer's office to actually

[1:03:22] pay the bill?

[1:03:23] Correct.

[1:03:27] It would get processed in

[1:03:27] the system and it would come

[1:03:28] out of each department's budget

[1:03:29] to pay those bills.

[1:03:32] Okay.

[1:03:33] And so the City Treasurer has

[1:03:38] the change order form that says

[1:03:38] pay this much more.

[1:03:42] Does the Treasurer's office not

[1:03:43] then check that against

[1:03:44] the contract internally to make

[1:03:47] sure that there's authorization

[1:03:48] for that because the typically

[1:03:52] they won't just the city

[1:03:53] Treasurer won't just take a

[1:03:54] piece of paper from a director

[1:03:56] of a department and say Oh you

[1:03:57] want $2 million, just shoot $2

[1:03:58] million out the door, right?

[1:03:58] Yeah.

[1:04:02] I don't believe it works that

[1:04:02] way.

[1:04:03] I think within our sap system

[1:04:03] and I might turn to Christine

[1:04:06] that help me here the way it

[1:04:07] works is it will get processed

[1:04:08] and again it'll come through

[1:04:12] each department's budget.

[1:04:12] If the department has available

[1:04:13] budget it will just come out of

[1:04:17] whatever accounting that they

[1:04:17] they enter into their purchase

[1:04:18] order.

[1:04:22] I'm Claudius Correct.

[1:04:22] As long as there's available

[1:04:23] funding in that department's

[1:04:24] budget they can issue payments

[1:04:27] as long as it's available in

[1:04:27] their in their fund.

[1:04:27] >> Okay.

[1:04:28] So the city treasurer looks at

[1:04:32] a total number left within

[1:04:33] the contracting budget for a

[1:04:33] department does not actually

[1:04:37] look at the contract to see if

[1:04:38] it's allowable to be paid.

[1:04:39] >> Payments are automated

[1:04:39] through the Department of

[1:04:42] Finance right.

[1:04:43] So the city Treasurer's doesn't

[1:04:43] have much to do with this

[1:04:44] process.

[1:04:47] Okay so let's go to

[1:04:48] the Department of Finance then.

[1:04:52] The Department of Finance is

[1:04:52] the one that's sending

[1:04:53] the check out in this case.

[1:04:57] Okay So the city the Department

[1:05:02] of Finance doesn't actually

[1:05:03] check against the cop.

[1:05:07] We put this into perspective We

[1:05:08] can't have as council members a

[1:05:13] resolution to say hello on

[1:05:13] behalf of the city of San Diego

[1:05:14] without the city attorney's

[1:05:17] office looking at it, the mayor

[1:05:18] staff looking at it, nine other

[1:05:22] council members looking at it.

[1:05:23] The aba probably looks at it If

[1:05:24] it's even if it's a little bit

[1:05:27] more than just saying hello And

[1:05:27] and yet the Department of

[1:05:28] Finance is able to just send

[1:05:33] off millions of dollars without

[1:05:33] cross-referencing it against

[1:05:34] the actual contract that was

[1:05:37] approved.

[1:05:38] So I'm wondering is there

[1:05:38] someone from the Department of

[1:05:39] Finance here who's going to

[1:05:42] tell us why they allow that

[1:05:46] policy without them Just

[1:05:46] checking one more pdf to see

[1:05:50] that it's allowable.

[1:05:51] Is there anybody from

[1:05:55] the Department of Finance here

[1:05:56] ?

[1:05:58] Okay so that's problematic and

[1:06:09] I'm in the city attorney's

[1:06:10] office obviously doesn't look

[1:06:10] over the shoulder of every

[1:06:14] single check that goes out but

[1:06:15] they look over every single

[1:06:15] resolution that we put forward

[1:06:19] and I understand why they do

[1:06:20] that and I'm glad that they do

[1:06:24] that for us There this is is it

[1:06:28] that much more work to put in

[1:06:29] one step to make sure that you

[1:06:30] don't just check that there's

[1:06:30] money in the bank account but

[1:06:33] that it was actually that

[1:06:34] the contract actually said that

[1:06:35] amount But this seems to be an

[1:06:39] easy redundancy for you to put

[1:06:40] in to make sure that we're not

[1:06:43] doing something illegal.

[1:06:44] So Councilmember, I hear your

[1:06:45] concern.

[1:06:45] I think that what would

[1:06:49] probably be useful is if we

[1:06:49] provided information on how

[1:06:53] the contract speaks to

[1:06:54] available funding for spend for

[1:06:59] departments versus the invoice

[1:07:04] processing part of it which is

[1:07:05] based off of I get an invoice,

[1:07:09] I process a requisition so I

[1:07:10] can pay that invoice and then

[1:07:10] as long as I have funding and

[1:07:11] my department fund that I'm

[1:07:15] using that check will go out As

[1:07:16] long as Dios has approved that

[1:07:20] I do have the available funding

[1:07:20] to me and I've done all of my

[1:07:21] internal processes.

[1:07:25] It doesn't speak to the system

[1:07:26] on a global scale, okay.

[1:07:26] Which is I think

[1:07:27] the expectation that I think

[1:07:30] you have.

[1:07:30] That's right.

[1:07:31] The I guess the last point I'll

[1:07:36] make on this is when a city

[1:07:40] employee improperly authorizes

[1:07:43] an expenditure over what

[1:07:48] the city council provides just

[1:07:49] from a discipline point of

[1:07:53] view, do they get anything in

[1:07:54] their employee personnel record

[1:07:58] that says they went beyond

[1:07:59] their statutory authority and

[1:08:04] was had a conversation had

[1:08:04] progressive discipline about

[1:08:05] this and that that happens?

[1:08:09] I hope Absolutely it's okay and

[1:08:10] I have a feeling you can't

[1:08:14] respond as to personnel records

[1:08:14] at this moment So I'm not going

[1:08:15] to go there but I'm really

[1:08:19] hopeful that that's what

[1:08:20] happened here because this

[1:08:20] wasn't a few dollars over This

[1:08:24] was several million dollars

[1:08:24] over.

[1:08:25] Correct.

[1:08:25] Okay.

[1:08:29] All right.

[1:08:30] >> Thank you very much.

[1:08:30] Council PRESIDENT Pro tem And

[1:08:31] thank you, my colleagues for

[1:08:34] the questions.

[1:08:34] 22 Councilmember Whitman Thank

[1:08:35] you.

[1:08:39] Council PRESIDENT Potentially I

[1:08:40] want to dig in a little bit to

[1:08:44] what MISS Peralta was saying

[1:08:45] because I think it sounded like

[1:08:49] you were making a distinction

[1:08:50] between contracting and

[1:08:50] budgeting.

[1:08:55] The city council has a

[1:08:56] oversight responsibility for

[1:08:56] contracting and the city

[1:09:00] council also has an oversight

[1:09:01] responsibility for budgeting.

[1:09:01] And what I think I heard you

[1:09:06] say was that while there MAY

[1:09:11] have been an overspend in

[1:09:11] the contracting which should

[1:09:16] not have occurred that it went

[1:09:17] through because it was still

[1:09:21] within the budget, is that what

[1:09:22] I heard you say?

[1:09:22] Correct.

[1:09:26] So let's take Parks and Rec for

[1:09:26] example.

[1:09:27] Huge department, huge

[1:09:28] departmental spend.

[1:09:31] They are not budgeting down or

[1:09:32] they are not They always have

[1:09:36] some available spend because

[1:09:37] they're not all of their

[1:09:37] expenses always hit at the same

[1:09:38] time.

[1:09:41] So as long as there is funding

[1:09:42] available they can process

[1:09:46] invoices for anything as long

[1:09:51] as it's available.

[1:09:51] Okay.

[1:09:52] So in other words if the city

[1:09:56] council budgets $1 million for

[1:10:01] x and to effectuate that budget

[1:10:02] the City council authorizes

[1:10:06] several contracts up to a half

[1:10:11] million dollars that if

[1:10:11] somebody without council

[1:10:16] approval approves an overage of

[1:10:17] up to $750,000 in the contract.

[1:10:21] We're not going over

[1:10:22] the budgeted amount that

[1:10:22] the city authorized but we're

[1:10:23] going over the contract amount

[1:10:27] that the city authorized.

[1:10:28] Those are different things But

[1:10:28] I wanted to draw that

[1:10:32] distinction because I do think

[1:10:33] it's important to note that

[1:10:34] what you're saying is that

[1:10:37] we're staying within budget on

[1:10:38] these but that we are going

[1:10:42] outside the council

[1:10:43] authorization for

[1:10:44] the contracted abouts and

[1:10:47] that's what needs to be reined

[1:10:47] in.

[1:10:53] Did I get that right?

[1:10:53] Correct.

[1:10:54] And what I will say about Ariba

[1:10:58] as a tool is it's it was not

[1:10:58] meant for government use

[1:10:59] the way that we are applying

[1:10:59] it.

[1:11:03] So Claudia, GOD bless her and

[1:11:04] her team have tried to work

[1:11:04] within its constraints to make

[1:11:09] it as useful as it can be for

[1:11:09] our organization.

[1:11:10] It's not perfect and it's not

[1:11:14] real time which is part of

[1:11:15] the struggle when it comes to

[1:11:18] think about 40 or 30

[1:11:19] departments all using a

[1:11:19] citywide agreement at the same

[1:11:23] time And it's not it's not

[1:11:24] speaking to our budgeting

[1:11:28] system quickly enough to make

[1:11:34] it even make sense for

[1:11:34] Claudia's team to monitor at

[1:11:35] times which is why the real

[1:11:39] time reporting that her team is

[1:11:39] now making available is a

[1:11:40] godsend to our departments.

[1:11:41] Now as far as contract

[1:11:44] monitoring goes, okay.

[1:11:45] Thank you.

[1:11:45] Well while I am glad about

[1:11:49] the point you're making that

[1:11:50] these are not causing a city

[1:11:55] themselves to go over budget,

[1:11:55] obviously there are all kinds

[1:11:56] of reasons why it's important

[1:11:59] that the City Council have

[1:12:00] oversight over contracts and

[1:12:05] contracting about so I

[1:12:05] appreciate all of the efforts

[1:12:10] that are going in to improve

[1:12:11] this process and I really hope

[1:12:15] and expect that we will see

[1:12:16] this fixed.

[1:12:21] >> Thank you.

[1:12:21] Thank you.

[1:12:22] Got some Republicans seeing no

[1:12:26] other speakers will will turn

[1:12:27] back to council member Von

[1:12:27] Wilpert.

[1:12:28] Thank you very much.

[1:12:29] I have a follow up question

[1:12:29] about whether we're going

[1:12:32] overbudget or not.

[1:12:33] The 6.7 million that was added

[1:12:33] to the contract came from

[1:12:38] the general fund, correct?

[1:12:38] Most of it, yes.

[1:12:43] So then what is suffering

[1:12:43] because we took 6.7 million

[1:12:44] away what it had to we budgeted

[1:12:48] to the t this year Something

[1:12:53] else was gutted so that money

[1:12:54] could be sent to the rental

[1:12:58] company So it wasn't The 6.7

[1:12:58] was a year and a half ago.

[1:13:03] I'm sorry I'm looking at my

[1:13:03] auditors team as if they know

[1:13:09] this was two years ago when we

[1:13:09] brought that request forward.

[1:13:10] I wouldn't know to tell you,

[1:13:14] Councilmember Von Wilpert, what

[1:13:14] was affected.

[1:13:15] We'd have to ask departments to

[1:13:19] see what they MAY have had to

[1:13:20] cut in order to get that

[1:13:20] additional money.

[1:13:24] Okay, so who from

[1:13:25] the Department of Finance knows

[1:13:25] what was moved?

[1:13:26] Councilmember, we can get back

[1:13:30] to you with that.

[1:13:30] Why You don't have the answer

[1:13:31] right now.

[1:13:34] I called the mayor's office

[1:13:35] last week and told the deputy

[1:13:36] chief operating or whoever I

[1:13:36] don't know what their titles

[1:13:40] are.

[1:13:40] Maggie again everyone coda that

[1:13:41] I'm going to have serious

[1:13:42] questions about this and

[1:13:45] expected answers last week I

[1:13:46] didn't want to bother the mayor

[1:13:47] himself because he's doing his

[1:13:50] job and traveling.

[1:13:51] Why don't I have answers now

[1:13:55] when the public is watching

[1:13:56] They don't want me to wait till

[1:13:56] next week.

[1:13:59] Where is the six $7 million go

[1:14:00] Because we budgeted we have

[1:14:01] libraries that don't have

[1:14:01] roofs.

[1:14:02] We have staff that are

[1:14:05] suffering.

[1:14:06] So I understand the rock and a

[1:14:06] hard place but the rock and a

[1:14:07] hard place is just being moved

[1:14:11] to another time You can tell me

[1:14:11] the department of and it

[1:14:12] doesn't know where this money

[1:14:16] went when this order came out a

[1:14:16] year ago who is running

[1:14:21] the Department of Finance?

[1:14:21] >> What is happening here,

[1:14:22] Councilmember I don't think

[1:14:23] that I would have an answer

[1:14:24] that would satisfy you today.

[1:14:26] So we will get back to you with

[1:14:27] the information that you

[1:14:27] requested And I apologize for

[1:14:28] the delay in getting you your

[1:14:28] answers.

[1:14:32] Okay.

[1:14:32] Tell me how to better

[1:14:33] communicate with the mayor's

[1:14:34] office because when I have

[1:14:34] serious questions about how

[1:14:38] we're spending money, I expect

[1:14:38] them to be answered.

[1:14:42] So Claudio, thank you This is

[1:14:43] not your fault.

[1:14:44] I want to emphasize that you

[1:14:44] are trying so hard and you are

[1:14:48] trying to work on our eosio

[1:14:48] problem.

[1:14:49] Are you a contractor to

[1:14:49] problems like you and your

[1:14:50] department are doing

[1:14:50] wonderfully but it is very

[1:14:53] disturbing that it is.

[1:14:54] Software hadn't been working

[1:14:54] since 2015.

[1:14:59] Why?

[1:15:00] And we change the software in

[1:15:00] ten years and this is not a new

[1:15:01] problem Claudia This is an

[1:15:02] upper management problem and

[1:15:04] needs to get fixed So thank you

[1:15:05] again Claudia for your hard

[1:15:06] work and to your department I

[1:15:06] want to emphasize how much I

[1:15:09] value you as someone in

[1:15:10] the city but I cannot believe

[1:15:10] that the U.S. Department of

[1:15:13] Finance isn't here today to

[1:15:14] even answer our questions about

[1:15:14] spending.

[1:15:15] Thank you for the extra time.

[1:15:18] Chair Thank you.

[1:15:24] See no other speakers I'll

[1:15:25] chime in here because I don't

[1:15:25] mean to laugh.

[1:15:29] I just did this is sort of hard

[1:15:29] to fathom the conversation that

[1:15:30] we're having up here on

[1:15:34] the dais and certainly thank

[1:15:35] you Council member Rivera for

[1:15:36] pointing out that it follows a

[1:15:39] week of conversation that we've

[1:15:40] had I think around around trust

[1:15:45] I do want to first of all think

[1:15:45] that our daughter's team for

[1:15:50] your work on this audit was

[1:15:50] completed last year.

[1:15:51] Correct and was presented to

[1:15:54] the audit committee in 2024.

[1:15:55] I guess if you don't mind me

[1:16:00] asking if you know the timeline

[1:16:00] in which it took us I don't

[1:16:01] know how long since it was on

[1:16:02] the audit committee to here at

[1:16:07] a council I don't know.

[1:16:08] Sometimes it does take a while.

[1:16:09] I think your docket was fairly

[1:16:13] busy the first few months of

[1:16:13] the Earth budget issues But you

[1:16:14] know we prefer to take them a

[1:16:17] little sooner But I think

[1:16:18] sometimes it's it's nice when

[1:16:19] they come a little bit later

[1:16:23] because the departments have a

[1:16:24] lot of progress to report

[1:16:24] rather than just, you know,

[1:16:25] saying the same thing that they

[1:16:28] would have said at the audit

[1:16:29] committee two weeks earlier in.

[1:16:30] >> And I guess just to follow

[1:16:33] up on that, you of course

[1:16:33] shared at the presentation

[1:16:34] the recommendations that were

[1:16:35] accepted and the progress

[1:16:38] that's been made on those

[1:16:39] That's the progress that's up

[1:16:39] to date as of now not

[1:16:43] necessarily what was presented

[1:16:44] back when that it was complete.

[1:16:44] >> Correct?

[1:16:44] Right.

[1:16:45] It's the it's the status as of

[1:16:49] JUNE 30th of this year because

[1:16:52] that's when we do our

[1:16:52] recommendation five which we

[1:16:53] just issued and will be

[1:16:54] discussed at the audit

[1:16:57] committee on Wednesday and said

[1:16:58] meaning even to this day

[1:16:58] there's still quite a bit of

[1:16:59] work that's either in process

[1:17:02] or needs to be completed.

[1:17:03] I agree with some of what my

[1:17:04] colleagues have shared on

[1:17:08] the dais.

[1:17:08] Claudia Certainly you and your

[1:17:09] team you're not the ones

[1:17:10] submitting all the contracts

[1:17:13] for approval and I don't think

[1:17:14] that means that we necessarily

[1:17:15] turn around and get to blame

[1:17:19] every department either for

[1:17:19] that work.

[1:17:20] I think what this audit points

[1:17:21] out is that there is a much

[1:17:24] broader challenge that we're

[1:17:25] dealing with from a city

[1:17:29] operation standpoint and it's

[1:17:30] easy to maybe point fingers at

[1:17:30] one particular team or

[1:17:31] the other.

[1:17:34] What I'm going to just point

[1:17:35] out that while you're a deputy

[1:17:36] chief operating officer I don't

[1:17:37] think this is the operational

[1:17:39] branch that you oversee either,

[1:17:40] is it?

[1:17:40] >> No, sir.

[1:17:45] But I am covering for Alia

[1:17:45] Corey because she's not feeling

[1:17:46] well today.

[1:17:46] >> Understood.

[1:17:46] Yeah.

[1:17:50] So I you're taking the spears

[1:17:50] at the moment but not

[1:17:54] necessarily your direct

[1:17:55] department.

[1:17:55] I think this is just going back

[1:17:56] to to point out that this is

[1:18:00] frustrating for all of us and

[1:18:01] you're seeing that boil up and

[1:18:02] that I think that frustration

[1:18:05] stems from the fact that we are

[1:18:05] the eighth largest city in

[1:18:10] the United States and I don't

[1:18:11] know if it goes through anyone

[1:18:12] else's head but I'm going to

[1:18:12] admit I sat here up here

[1:18:15] thinking an Excel spreadsheet

[1:18:16] would tell me when contracts

[1:18:16] are going to expire and give me

[1:18:20] a rough sense of when that's

[1:18:20] simplifying too much

[1:18:21] the challenges that we that

[1:18:25] exist.

[1:18:26] But I think what I'm hoping to

[1:18:30] hear as a result of the city's

[1:18:30] response to an audit that is

[1:18:31] pointing out some severe

[1:18:36] challenges that we have as

[1:18:36] Councilmember Yvonne Wolpert

[1:18:37] pointed out, that really skirt

[1:18:40] the line of whether we're

[1:18:40] operating lawfully that

[1:18:45] the city has a strong answer

[1:18:46] for that And at the moment I

[1:18:50] feel almost frustrated that

[1:18:51] you're here trying to answer on

[1:18:52] behalf of the entire city as to

[1:18:55] why we're having these

[1:18:55] challenges.

[1:18:56] So I would just leave it at

[1:19:00] that.

[1:19:00] Councilmember Ehler very

[1:19:01] pointed out that improving

[1:19:05] the mayoral threshold certainly

[1:19:06] I see why that would help

[1:19:06] resolve some of these but it

[1:19:07] would only resolve them in a

[1:19:10] sense that we would just not

[1:19:11] see them And and that actually

[1:19:11] doesn't solve the underlying

[1:19:15] problem that I think is being

[1:19:16] called out today.

[1:19:16] So if that is still being

[1:19:20] planned for, I would certainly

[1:19:20] urge an earnest conversation

[1:19:21] about what that looks like and

[1:19:22] how it's presented because in

[1:19:26] increasing of the mayoral

[1:19:26] threshold simply to answer this

[1:19:27] audit isn't it it doesn't

[1:19:30] actually solve the problem.

[1:19:31] I'm going to guess based on

[1:19:32] the commentary you've heard

[1:19:32] today that you're going to be

[1:19:35] met with some concern on that

[1:19:35] front.

[1:19:36] Last thing I will note is that

[1:19:41] in our team's meeting with

[1:19:41] the office of the City Auditor

[1:19:42] there was a discussion idea I

[1:19:45] think you had presented just

[1:19:45] one idea in terms of best

[1:19:46] practice examples we've seen

[1:19:50] elsewhere that for example in

[1:19:50] the county of San Diego that

[1:19:51] they have a segment in their

[1:19:54] staff report that allows for

[1:19:55] staff to answer to any

[1:19:56] questions that might arise in

[1:20:00] terms of contract timelines or

[1:20:01] deadlines and anything where

[1:20:05] they've exceeded an amount etc.

[1:20:06] Can you share a little bit

[1:20:06] about that?

[1:20:07] Sure.

[1:20:08] I'll ask my my my team to jump

[1:20:11] in But I think in general it's

[1:20:11] they have kind of a remediation

[1:20:15] process where if there is

[1:20:16] department that has not brought

[1:20:16] a contract on time they have to

[1:20:17] own up to it.

[1:20:20] It has to be in the staff

[1:20:21] reports and present a kind of

[1:20:21] remediation plan for how

[1:20:25] they'll prevent that from

[1:20:25] happening again.

[1:20:26] But I'll let my team add any

[1:20:30] additional details.

[1:20:31] >> Yeah.

[1:20:33] Just to follow up on Andy, it's

[1:20:34] recommendation 2.3 in

[1:20:35] the report which has been newly

[1:20:39] implemented as of JUNE is to

[1:20:39] develop a procedure and

[1:20:40] template for these requests to

[1:20:41] be submitted in writing and

[1:20:44] explain why it's necessary and

[1:20:44] what types of actions will be

[1:20:45] done to prevent it from

[1:20:49] happening in the future.

[1:20:49] >> Understood.

[1:20:50] And I don't believe that's part

[1:20:54] of the recommendations as we

[1:20:54] have presented at the moment.

[1:20:55] But I guess I would turn to

[1:20:56] staff and the mayor's office to

[1:20:58] see if that could be explored

[1:20:59] as a potential addition to

[1:21:04] council potentially it is a

[1:21:04] recommendation and we have

[1:21:08] completed develop that form and

[1:21:09] it should be any time you see a

[1:21:10] contract that is being brought

[1:21:14] forward that form should if

[1:21:14] it's if it's late, if it needs

[1:21:15] ratification that documentation

[1:21:19] should be provided in OnBase as

[1:21:19] well.

[1:21:19] Thank you.

[1:21:23] Claudio, one last thing to ask

[1:21:23] you because of what you've

[1:21:24] heard from us up here, are

[1:21:28] there any upcoming contracts

[1:21:29] that the council might be

[1:21:33] considering that are either

[1:21:33] exceeding the contracted amount

[1:21:38] previously authorized or that

[1:21:38] will be expired?

[1:21:39] >> I know there are several

[1:21:40] that are expiring soon.

[1:21:43] I know my my team has been

[1:21:43] working with each of

[1:21:44] the departments to try to get

[1:21:47] them here timely.

[1:21:48] Whether that happens I think

[1:21:48] we're still going through some

[1:21:53] some speed bumps to make sure

[1:21:53] that all of them get here

[1:21:54] timely.

[1:21:54] But we are absolutely keeping

[1:21:57] track of that.

[1:21:58] I think you heard Councilmember

[1:21:59] Yvonne Wolpert loud and clear

[1:22:02] as we all did.

[1:22:03] So certainly we encourage that

[1:22:07] be done as expeditiously as

[1:22:07] possible.

[1:22:08] I see no other speakers on this

[1:22:12] item that does include item

[1:22:13] 2a1a clerk Would you please

[1:22:16] introduce item 200?

[1:22:16] Thank you.

[1:22:19] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Item

[1:22:20] 200 is an informational item as

[1:22:21] well.

[1:22:21] It is the performance audit of

[1:22:25] the city's fleet maintenance.

[1:22:26] If you'd like to speak to this

[1:22:27] item please submit your

[1:22:27] speakers up to the front of

[1:22:28] the room in the clear box and

[1:22:30] if you are participating online

[1:22:31] now's the time to raise your

[1:22:33] hand by pressing pressing Star

[1:22:34] nine or the raise your hand

[1:22:39] icon in your hand and back over

[1:22:43] to you to introduce this item

[1:22:44] in resume as well and let us

[1:22:45] know how much time you need for

[1:22:48] this time.

[1:22:49] >> Good afternoon again Council

[1:22:53] members Andino City Auditor And

[1:22:54] we are to present our

[1:22:55] performance audit of the city's

[1:22:57] fleet maintenance And can we

[1:22:57] also have ten minutes for this

[1:22:58] one please?

[1:22:58] Thank you.

[1:22:59] Thanks.

[1:23:02] So first off we want to thank

[1:23:03] the Fleet Operations division

[1:23:04] and we really appreciate all

[1:23:07] the time and feedback they

[1:23:08] provided to help this audit

[1:23:08] identify I think a lot of

[1:23:09] different key issues and make

[1:23:12] actionable recommendations to

[1:23:12] address them.

[1:23:13] I also want to quickly thank

[1:23:14] major vehicle operating

[1:23:17] departments who we worked with

[1:23:18] on the side as well including

[1:23:23] City pd Fire Rescue Parks and

[1:23:27] Recreation and public utilities

[1:23:27] .

[1:23:28] The city's fleet is comprised

[1:23:31] of about 4900 vehicles and

[1:23:32] motorized equipment with an

[1:23:33] estimated total replacement

[1:23:36] value of $437 million When

[1:23:36] preventive maintenance and

[1:23:40] safety inspections aren't

[1:23:41] completed on time it can create

[1:23:41] it can increase long term

[1:23:46] vehicle costs, cause costly

[1:23:46] operational disruptions when

[1:23:50] vehicles break down and create

[1:23:51] safety risks for city employees

[1:23:52] and the public.

[1:23:55] Therefore we conducted this

[1:23:56] performance audit with the two

[1:23:56] objectives that you can see

[1:24:00] here on this slide.

[1:24:01] The audit team with me here is

[1:24:02] again principal performance

[1:24:05] auditor Nathan Otto and senior

[1:24:06] performance auditor Nicky

[1:24:07] Kalmus and performance auditor

[1:24:11] Alberto Marino And so I'll turn

[1:24:11] it over to them for the details

[1:24:12] on what we found and

[1:24:12] recommended.

[1:24:13] Great.

[1:24:15] Thanks Andy.

[1:24:16] So we looked at Preventive

[1:24:16] Maintenance services and this

[1:24:17] one we MAY lapse into calling

[1:24:20] them pbm services and these are

[1:24:24] ones that were completed in fy

[1:24:25] 2023 across the city for these

[1:24:29] pm services are fundamental

[1:24:29] things like oil changes, fluid

[1:24:30] checks, clean air or replacing

[1:24:34] basic parts as well as smog

[1:24:35] checks and something called bit

[1:24:35] inspections which are a multi

[1:24:39] point safety inspection for

[1:24:39] heavier vehicles.

[1:24:40] It's required by the state of

[1:24:44] California every 90 days.

[1:24:47] We made ten recommendations on

[1:24:48] this one to address issues we

[1:24:49] found and improve

[1:24:49] the timeliness and compliance

[1:24:50] rates of required maintenance

[1:24:52] and safety inspections help

[1:24:53] streamline services and to

[1:24:54] increase vehicle availability

[1:24:58] for department operations.

[1:24:58] And of note given the city's

[1:24:59] budget position, we believe

[1:25:03] the recommendations are

[1:25:04] generally low to no cost things

[1:25:05] the city can do and management

[1:25:08] did agree to all of these

[1:25:08] recommendations.

[1:25:09] So the city has a big fleet as

[1:25:13] Andy mentioned across a lot of

[1:25:14] different departments.

[1:25:14] You can see some of

[1:25:18] the examples on the slide here

[1:25:18] .

[1:25:19] The six departments have

[1:25:19] the most vehicles citywide just

[1:25:22] in terms of the process

[1:25:23] generally it's the case that

[1:25:24] these departments they have

[1:25:27] their vehicles and they're

[1:25:28] supposed to bring them in to

[1:25:28] fleet who provides

[1:25:29] the maintenance.

[1:25:32] So it's a it's a bit of a two

[1:25:32] way street so to speak.

[1:25:33] There are some things that we

[1:25:37] can do for customer service to

[1:25:37] city departments But a big part

[1:25:38] of the issue too is improving

[1:25:42] accountability for departments

[1:25:43] to be bringing their vehicles

[1:25:47] into fleet services timely.

[1:25:48] And with that, Nicky, we'll

[1:25:48] walk you through Funny one.

[1:25:52] Thank you Nathan In finding one

[1:25:53] we looked at the timeliness of

[1:25:54] preventive maintenance and

[1:25:58] inspections across the citywide

[1:25:58] fleet In fiscal year 2023 we

[1:25:59] found that only 20% of

[1:26:02] preventive maintenance services

[1:26:03] were completed on time

[1:26:03] according to government Fleet

[1:26:04] an industry resource.

[1:26:08] A 10% grace period is

[1:26:08] acceptable before most fleets

[1:26:12] consider maintenance late as

[1:26:13] shown in Exhibit four on this

[1:26:14] slide even when allowing for a

[1:26:17] grace period only 39% of

[1:26:18] services were completed on time

[1:26:22] Both the 20 and 39% are less

[1:26:23] than the industry standard goal

[1:26:23] for timely maintenance

[1:26:27] Compliance which is 90%.

[1:26:28] We also looked into

[1:26:32] the compliance of inspections

[1:26:32] which are required by law to

[1:26:33] ensure driver and public safety

[1:26:37] and environmental protections

[1:26:37] while 96% of smog checks and

[1:26:42] diesel capacity inspections

[1:26:43] were completed on time, only

[1:26:43] 35% of bit inspections which

[1:26:47] are safety inspections on

[1:26:48] heavier vehicles were on time.

[1:26:49] One factor could be that bit

[1:26:53] inspections are required every

[1:26:54] 90 days while smog and diesel

[1:26:54] inspections are required

[1:26:58] annually or once every two

[1:26:58] years.

[1:26:59] The exhibits on this slide show

[1:27:03] that hundreds of safety

[1:27:04] inspections were overdue by

[1:27:05] months and could have been

[1:27:09] unsafe to operate.

[1:27:09] Overdue maintenance can have

[1:27:10] negative consequences on

[1:27:13] vehicle performance such as

[1:27:14] unsafe vehicle conditions,

[1:27:15] lengthier and more costly

[1:27:15] repairs and reduced

[1:27:19] productivity.

[1:27:20] For example, a previous audit

[1:27:21] audit found an 11% reduction in

[1:27:25] productivity for pothole

[1:27:25] repairs when one truck was out

[1:27:26] of service for maintenance Thus

[1:27:30] even having a single important

[1:27:31] vehicle offline can have a

[1:27:31] product productivity impact

[1:27:35] worth hundreds of thousands of

[1:27:35] dollars.

[1:27:35] Finally, when safety

[1:27:36] inspections are late, issues

[1:27:39] MAY persist that can lead to

[1:27:40] increased costs and breakdowns.

[1:27:41] Missing safety inspections on

[1:27:45] larger trucks and equipment

[1:27:46] means letting potential safety

[1:27:46] issues go unaddressed while

[1:27:47] vehicles are still driving

[1:27:50] around.

[1:27:50] We found that bit inspections

[1:27:51] identified safety issues that

[1:27:52] needed to be repaired More than

[1:27:55] half of the time and

[1:27:56] additionally overdue safety

[1:27:59] inspections were even more

[1:28:00] likely at 68% to identify

[1:28:00] needed repairs such as broken

[1:28:04] backup alarms and mirrors and

[1:28:05] brake axle fluid leaks Even if

[1:28:10] most vehicles had a current

[1:28:10] safety inspection there could

[1:28:11] be 200 or more big vehicles on

[1:28:12] roads with an increased

[1:28:14] likelihood of an unaddressed

[1:28:19] safety issue.

[1:28:20] >> When we looked into

[1:28:21] the reasons why behind low

[1:28:21] compliance rates we found that

[1:28:22] Fleet sends out monthly

[1:28:25] notification to departments

[1:28:26] with upcoming due preventive

[1:28:26] maintenance and inspections.

[1:28:30] However, at the time the audit

[1:28:31] was conducted, contact lists

[1:28:31] were out of date Then even when

[1:28:35] notified city departments were

[1:28:36] still not bringing in their

[1:28:36] vehicles on time.

[1:28:37] Further, not all major

[1:28:41] departments were having regular

[1:28:42] check ins with fleet or

[1:28:43] specific fleet coordinators to

[1:28:46] handle maintenance issues.

[1:28:47] And finally as shown on

[1:28:47] the slide fleet removed with

[1:28:48] preventive maintenance kpi for

[1:28:52] the fiscal year 2025 budget and

[1:28:53] reported on it only once

[1:28:57] historically to improve

[1:28:57] the city's preventive

[1:28:58] maintenance and inspection

[1:29:01] compliance we made five

[1:29:02] recommendations in this finding

[1:29:03] We recommend fleet work with

[1:29:03] departments to update contact

[1:29:06] list for maintenance

[1:29:07] notifications with regular

[1:29:08] quarterly meetings to discuss

[1:29:12] fleet maintenance needs and

[1:29:13] report compliance to the Deputy

[1:29:13] chief operating officers.

[1:29:14] We recommend the Chief

[1:29:17] Operating Officer ensure each

[1:29:18] relevant department designates

[1:29:19] a fleet coordinator and that

[1:29:19] the Chief Operating Officer

[1:29:23] work with fleet and city

[1:29:24] departments to develop and

[1:29:24] communicate a set of workable

[1:29:25] and appropriate incentives

[1:29:28] disincentives and our

[1:29:29] monitoring capabilities to

[1:29:29] improve compliance.

[1:29:33] Since we issued the report,

[1:29:34] Fleet appears to have worked

[1:29:35] with departments to update and

[1:29:35] designate fleet coordinators

[1:29:39] for the major departments and

[1:29:40] has started having regular

[1:29:40] check ins according to Fleet.

[1:29:41] This has helped increase

[1:29:45] maintenance and fit compliance.

[1:29:45] I will now hand it over to

[1:29:46] Alberto to present our second

[1:29:46] finding.

[1:29:47] Thanks, Nicky.

[1:29:51] Alberto Moreno.

[1:29:51] A performance order and this

[1:29:52] project inviting to be

[1:29:52] investigated How timely

[1:29:56] vehicles are being returned to

[1:29:57] city departments after

[1:29:57] preventive maintenance.

[1:29:58] We found that more than half of

[1:29:59] maintenance workers that we

[1:30:02] looked at were completed in

[1:30:02] less than 24 hours.

[1:30:03] However, there are some steps

[1:30:04] that the city can take to

[1:30:07] further streamline services.

[1:30:08] According to the National

[1:30:08] Association of Fleet

[1:30:09] Administrators, turnaround time

[1:30:12] is a key metric for Fleet made

[1:30:13] its operations.

[1:30:13] Many fleet agencies have

[1:30:14] turnaround time goals for

[1:30:14] maintenance services and

[1:30:18] inspections.

[1:30:19] However Fleet does not.

[1:30:19] This can make it hard for

[1:30:20] departments to plan their day

[1:30:23] to day operations.

[1:30:24] Lack of visibility MAY also

[1:30:25] lead to reluctance to bring

[1:30:25] vehicles in for maintenance.

[1:30:28] Shown on the slide we found

[1:30:29] that longer turnaround times

[1:30:30] appear to correspond with lower

[1:30:30] rates of preventive maintenance

[1:30:33] compliance.

[1:30:34] In other words, departments

[1:30:35] accustomed to delays are less

[1:30:35] likely to bring the vehicles in

[1:30:38] on time.

[1:30:39] The city uses Fleet Focus a

[1:30:40] central database for fleets

[1:30:40] information about maintenance

[1:30:44] and inspection, due date

[1:30:45] equipment, labor and parts

[1:30:45] inventory to help with

[1:30:49] uncertainty.

[1:30:49] There's a self-service

[1:30:50] mechanism in fleet focus for

[1:30:51] city departments to review

[1:30:51] upcoming due preventive

[1:30:52] maintenance.

[1:30:55] However not all departments are

[1:30:56] aware of it or how to use it.

[1:30:57] The average turnaround time

[1:31:00] within the city of San Diego

[1:31:01] was three calendar days.

[1:31:02] The fleet completes most

[1:31:04] maintenance within 24 hours.

[1:31:05] Some lengthy turnaround times

[1:31:06] bring the citywide average up

[1:31:06] to three days.

[1:31:10] However, on average fleet staff

[1:31:11] completed the actual servicing

[1:31:11] of vehicles in just two hours.

[1:31:15] When we look into the cause we

[1:31:16] found that 77% of maintenance

[1:31:16] services had a delay of some

[1:31:16] kind.

[1:31:20] The last the vast majority of

[1:31:21] these delays were caused by

[1:31:22] waiting for labor.

[1:31:22] For example a factory truck

[1:31:25] from the stormwater department

[1:31:26] was brought in for preventive

[1:31:27] maintenance services on a

[1:31:30] Tuesday and waited for three

[1:31:30] days for available staff.

[1:31:31] On Friday the maintenance

[1:31:34] services took just over three

[1:31:34] hours in total.

[1:31:35] Although fleet focused can

[1:31:36] schedule appointments according

[1:31:40] to Fleet, it has not set this

[1:31:40] up due to resource constraints.

[1:31:41] As a result, according to fleet

[1:31:45] departments also commonly drop

[1:31:46] off their vehicles unannounced

[1:31:47] often for weekends or holidays

[1:31:50] which can lead to backlogs

[1:31:51] because departments bring their

[1:31:52] vehicles in when Labor is not

[1:31:52] available.

[1:31:53] Instead of scheduling an

[1:31:56] appointment when we look

[1:31:56] further into labor delays we

[1:32:01] found that the city's fleet has

[1:32:01] grown by almost 1000 vehicles

[1:32:02] since fiscal year 2021.

[1:32:03] But the number of fleet

[1:32:06] technicians to service

[1:32:07] the fleet has not kept pace

[1:32:08] with that growth.

[1:32:08] Furthermore, Fleet has an

[1:32:12] assistant fleet technician

[1:32:13] position but heavily utilizes

[1:32:13] the fleet technician role

[1:32:14] instead.

[1:32:17] The assistant fleet technician

[1:32:17] position could help fleet

[1:32:18] technicians focus on complex

[1:32:19] diagnostics and advanced

[1:32:22] repairs.

[1:32:23] Identifying the optimal share

[1:32:23] of assistant fleet technicians

[1:32:27] to supplement current staffing

[1:32:28] MAY help Fleet achieve its

[1:32:28] maintenance goals in a cost

[1:32:29] effective manner while

[1:32:33] attracting talent that can grow

[1:32:33] and develop from within.

[1:32:34] To help streamline services

[1:32:38] increase vehicle availability

[1:32:39] and improve maintenance,

[1:32:40] timeliness and compliance, we

[1:32:40] made five recommendations to

[1:32:41] Fleet in this finding.

[1:32:44] The key recommendations include

[1:32:45] establishing monitoring and

[1:32:45] reporting turnaround time goals

[1:32:49] and performance, ensuring city

[1:32:50] departments are aware of

[1:32:51] the self-service mechanism for

[1:32:55] reviewing work order status.

[1:32:55] Setting up a scheduling

[1:32:56] appointment.

[1:32:57] Setting up a scheduling process

[1:33:00] and prioritizing vehicles have

[1:33:01] scheduled their maintenance

[1:33:01] appointments in advance.

[1:33:02] And analyzing optimal staffing

[1:33:05] levels of a system fleet

[1:33:06] technician positions.

[1:33:07] Fleet and city management agree

[1:33:07] to all ten recommendations and

[1:33:09] are more than happy to answer

[1:33:09] any questions we have.

[1:33:14] Thank you.

[1:33:15] >> Thank you.

[1:33:16] I believe we'll turn next to

[1:33:16] our original services

[1:33:23] department for comments.

[1:33:23] >> Good afternoon.

[1:33:24] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Lee

[1:33:29] and members of the Council I am

[1:33:29] sure a little director of

[1:33:30] the Department of General

[1:33:30] Services.

[1:33:34] Thank you for the opportunity

[1:33:35] to briefly provide an update on

[1:33:35] our progress.

[1:33:36] As noted by the auditor's team

[1:33:39] there were ten recommendations.

[1:33:40] Of those ten we have completed

[1:33:44] to 1.1 designation of fleet

[1:33:45] coordinators and 1.3 leading

[1:33:50] routine meetings with relevant

[1:33:50] city departments.

[1:33:51] We also anticipate anticipate

[1:33:55] closing to recommendations

[1:33:56] within the next few weeks.

[1:33:57] And I like to take a brief time

[1:34:01] to update you on our progress

[1:34:01] on a few of the remaining

[1:34:02] recommendations as well as

[1:34:06] other items noted in

[1:34:07] the auditor's report.

[1:34:07] As noted by the audit team,

[1:34:11] the growth of fleet staff has

[1:34:12] not kept pace with the growth

[1:34:13] of the vehicles in the fleet.

[1:34:17] We currently have over 5000

[1:34:17] active vehicles and equipment

[1:34:21] in the fleet with over 1700

[1:34:22] vehicles assigned to our

[1:34:27] largest repair facility located

[1:34:27] at Choices Operations yard.

[1:34:28] Those staff growth rate has

[1:34:32] lagged fleet growth.

[1:34:33] We remain committed to finding

[1:34:34] innovative solutions within our

[1:34:37] existing resources to address

[1:34:38] these challenges.

[1:34:39] Third completion of the audit

[1:34:43] we have made remarkable

[1:34:43] progress in our basic

[1:34:44] inspection of terminal

[1:34:44] compliance rate for those

[1:34:49] departments with more than 100

[1:34:49] vehicles subject to bid

[1:34:50] inspection.

[1:34:54] Our current compliance rate is

[1:34:54] 91%.

[1:34:55] This progress is attributed to

[1:34:59] improvements in work or

[1:34:59] assignment internal process

[1:35:00] improvements and our

[1:35:01] technicians who have been

[1:35:05] willing to work periodically on

[1:35:05] weekends.

[1:35:06] I want to take this time to

[1:35:09] thank their entire team for

[1:35:10] their commitment to keeping our

[1:35:11] vehicles operating safely and

[1:35:14] in compliance.

[1:35:15] >> In addition to improvement

[1:35:20] and inspection completion Fleet

[1:35:20] has continued to lead routine

[1:35:21] meetings with most of

[1:35:25] the departments including

[1:35:26] public utilities department,

[1:35:26] Stormwater transportation parks

[1:35:30] and Rec to discuss current

[1:35:31] fleet issues and concerns

[1:35:31] holistically.

[1:35:36] The fleet operations dashboard

[1:35:37] created by Panda is used to

[1:35:41] facilitate most of the meeting

[1:35:41] during our departmental

[1:35:42] meetings.

[1:35:42] All aspects of the fleet

[1:35:43] operations from upcoming

[1:35:46] inspections repair and

[1:35:47] maintenance and vehicle

[1:35:48] acquisition and delivery

[1:35:51] timelines are discussed with

[1:35:52] our customer departments.

[1:35:53] High priority concerns are

[1:35:56] addressed on the spot and often

[1:35:57] resolved during the meeting.

[1:35:58] All departments also have

[1:36:01] access to the dashboard and can

[1:36:02] view the status of all of their

[1:36:03] vehicles at any time.

[1:36:07] We have received positive

[1:36:08] feedback from the department on

[1:36:08] this initiative.

[1:36:12] We are continuing to work with

[1:36:12] Panda to further develop

[1:36:13] the dashboard to include

[1:36:17] program preventive maintenance

[1:36:17] as well as vehicle

[1:36:18] acquisitions.

[1:36:18] In addition to the auditor's

[1:36:23] recommendation 2.5 to conduct

[1:36:23] an analysis of fleet staff

[1:36:28] required to complete Timely

[1:36:29] for Choice Operations Yard.

[1:36:29] We are currently in discussion

[1:36:33] with our rta to shift our

[1:36:34] operating days and hours

[1:36:38] allowing us to serve as

[1:36:39] vehicles when they are not in

[1:36:39] use.

[1:36:43] This model increases access to

[1:36:44] customer vehicles and reduces

[1:36:44] downtime.

[1:36:48] Lastly we are currently

[1:36:49] conducting a base based

[1:36:49] analysis to determine

[1:36:54] additional spaces required to

[1:36:54] keep up with our growing fleet.

[1:36:59] After both the staff analysis

[1:37:00] and base based analysis are

[1:37:00] completed, we MAY request an

[1:37:04] allocation of resources to

[1:37:05] properly manage our fleet and

[1:37:05] perform perhaps more timely

[1:37:10] thereby decrease in repairs and

[1:37:11] ensuring the department is

[1:37:11] meeting the needs of our city

[1:37:15] departments.

[1:37:16] I like to in my comments by

[1:37:17] thanking Andy and his team for

[1:37:20] their professionalism

[1:37:21] throughout the process.

[1:37:22] We appreciate the auditor's

[1:37:22] insight and look forward to

[1:37:26] working through the remainder

[1:37:26] of the recommendations

[1:37:27] presented here today.

[1:37:30] My staff and are available to

[1:37:31] answer any questions you MAY

[1:37:31] have.

[1:37:32] >> Thank you.

[1:37:32] Thank you.

[1:37:35] Clark can we please proceed

[1:37:36] with any public comment?

[1:37:36] Yes.

[1:37:41] This time it is Paul and you

[1:37:41] have time See to Chew by Tim

[1:37:42] Douglas.

[1:37:54] So you will have four minutes.

[1:37:59] >> Good afternoon.

[1:38:00] >> Paul Garraway, vice

[1:38:00] PRESIDENT Of Ask Me a local 127

[1:38:01] and a technician with the fleet

[1:38:05] operations Division within

[1:38:05] the Fleet Operations Division

[1:38:06] of the Department of General

[1:38:06] Services.

[1:38:10] We have approximately 150

[1:38:10] bargaining unit members.

[1:38:14] The job classification

[1:38:15] technical lead technicians mast

[1:38:20] nations and fleet leaders Those

[1:38:21] classifications perform

[1:38:25] essential work including making

[1:38:26] repairs parts replacement

[1:38:26] adjustments, performing

[1:38:30] diagnostic preventative and

[1:38:31] corrective maintenance on city

[1:38:31] vehicles, generating and

[1:38:35] maintaining vehicle equipment

[1:38:36] maintenance records.

[1:38:40] In short, our members know

[1:38:41] the city vehicles inside and

[1:38:41] out.

[1:38:42] The number of fleet technicians

[1:38:45] is not kept pace with

[1:38:46] the growth of the city's fleet

[1:38:50] and require implementing all

[1:38:51] agreed recommendations before a

[1:38:52] meeting and conferring over

[1:38:54] the schedule change at Choice

[1:38:55] Operations Yard.

[1:39:00] Thank you.

[1:39:00] >> Thank you.

[1:39:01] I started the five minute time

[1:39:02] We're going to those

[1:39:05] participating remotely starting

[1:39:05] with the original If you can

[1:39:06] please unmute you will have two

[1:39:10] minutes.

[1:39:11] >> Yeah this is because this is

[1:39:12] showing more of your negligence

[1:39:15] as far as contracting goes.

[1:39:16] I mean you know it's it's kind

[1:39:19] of a you know, two way street

[1:39:20] as far as things happening But

[1:39:24] when you guys increase

[1:39:24] the amount of you know,

[1:39:25] vehicles that you have in your

[1:39:29] fleet and the company that is

[1:39:30] supposed to be maintaining it,

[1:39:34] you know can't keep up with it

[1:39:35] because that wasn't even in

[1:39:36] the contract in the first

[1:39:36] place.

[1:39:39] So you know, you can't put

[1:39:40] the blame on them as though,

[1:39:40] you know, it's their fault that

[1:39:44] you know, all of this is taking

[1:39:44] place and they can't keep up.

[1:39:45] I'm sure there's things that

[1:39:49] they could do to mitigate.

[1:39:49] But if you also have city

[1:39:50] employees who are not you know,

[1:39:53] bringing in their vehicles on

[1:39:54] time to be maintained

[1:39:55] especially for things that are

[1:39:59] going to keep them from needing

[1:39:59] maintenance in the future.

[1:40:04] It defeats the purpose of them,

[1:40:05] you know, even being contracted

[1:40:09] to do it because you guys are

[1:40:10] always going to make it so that

[1:40:10] they're not able to complete

[1:40:11] their job.

[1:40:13] But again, just with this

[1:40:14] amount of people that you guys

[1:40:15] have or amount of vehicles that

[1:40:19] you have increased, it's just I

[1:40:19] mean you should have made sure

[1:40:20] when you were going to increase

[1:40:24] that amount that this fleet

[1:40:25] management was going to be able

[1:40:29] to take care of it, that they

[1:40:30] were going to be able to

[1:40:30] maintain the vehicles you that

[1:40:34] otherwise you're you're wasting

[1:40:35] money by buying these vehicles

[1:40:35] And then when they can't be

[1:40:39] maintained for whatever reason,

[1:40:40] you know, it's like there's

[1:40:40] just they cost more and more

[1:40:41] money.

[1:40:45] So I mean it's just ridiculous

[1:40:45] the things that take place and

[1:40:49] you know how much I don't know

[1:40:49] if it's just that there's so

[1:40:50] many silos and nobody's

[1:40:54] communicating and so all of

[1:40:54] this stuff can take place and

[1:40:55] intentionally so, you know, or

[1:40:59] you know what's going on And I

[1:40:59] it's good that you guys are

[1:41:02] looking at it but this has got

[1:41:03] to stop because this happens on

[1:41:04] a regular basis and it's

[1:41:08] the people that pay the price

[1:41:09] because you always come after

[1:41:10] us to make up for your

[1:41:10] negligence because you need

[1:41:13] more money.

[1:41:14] Your time has concluded at

[1:41:14] Blair Beekman and after Blair

[1:41:19] Brinkman 7499 Please proceed.

[1:41:23] Hi Blair Beekman Thanks for

[1:41:23] this item Thanks for

[1:41:28] the previous words by Andre.

[1:41:28] Yeah I'm curious what this sort

[1:41:32] of item is it related to that

[1:41:33] was spoken on on on

[1:41:36] the previous item all together

[1:41:40] from this one the projects

[1:41:41] about $6 million in additional

[1:41:42] funding for rental things is

[1:41:46] that is that related to this

[1:41:47] item at all And because it's

[1:41:51] curious this item comes up

[1:41:52] recently a lot and I'm I'm

[1:41:52] wondering why it has been

[1:41:56] coming up what is the relation

[1:41:57] to the budget is and such so a

[1:42:01] little cautious with this item

[1:42:02] I hope we can do some good

[1:42:03] important things with it.

[1:42:06] It could be a good sign of how

[1:42:07] we should be building our good

[1:42:08] future and a more energy

[1:42:11] efficient future But we have to

[1:42:12] do it in good terms and I hope

[1:42:16] we're learning how to do more

[1:42:17] accountable good terms together

[1:42:21] openly and clearly For as much

[1:42:22] as the City Council needed to

[1:42:22] comment on what past recent

[1:42:26] practices have been and over

[1:42:27] the past ten years, you know

[1:42:28] city staff wants to make

[1:42:32] changes and I want to I don't

[1:42:33] want to I want to compliment

[1:42:34] them on wanting to try to make

[1:42:38] changes and I hope they can be

[1:42:38] open to those changes.

[1:42:39] What I was just saying what

[1:42:42] council Wolpert was saying you

[1:42:43] know, you guys city staff has

[1:42:47] to report to city council when

[1:42:47] they make changes to budgeting,

[1:42:51] to project planning.

[1:42:52] >> So we're learning those

[1:42:52] better levels of communication

[1:42:57] at this time that I felt were a

[1:42:57] serious problem when I first

[1:43:00] moved here in 2022.

[1:43:01] I feel we're working on it.

[1:43:05] We are trying to improve those

[1:43:06] things.

[1:43:06] We're trying to get out of an

[1:43:10] era of war basically where you

[1:43:10] know money and secrecy and

[1:43:11] budgeting which just all

[1:43:16] private and and internal we're

[1:43:16] trying to open that up and be

[1:43:17] more accountable with each

[1:43:17] other.

[1:43:18] Good luck on our effort to do

[1:43:18] that.

[1:43:21] I think we are trying.

[1:43:21] Good luck with deciding.

[1:43:22] Thank you And thank you.

[1:43:25] Thank you.

[1:43:26] Your time has concluded as well

[1:43:35] 7499 If you can please unmute

[1:43:36] Bob because this key here now I

[1:43:36] can say that both of these last

[1:43:39] two items further highlight

[1:43:40] the mismanagement that is

[1:43:41] endemic throughout the city

[1:43:45] years ago I said that

[1:43:46] the Torrey Pines glider port

[1:43:50] was just a tiny sample tiny

[1:43:51] sample of the gross

[1:43:52] mismanagement throughout

[1:43:55] the city.

[1:43:56] Today's issues have proven me

[1:43:56] correct.

[1:44:00] I'll again assert that advisory

[1:44:00] boards are a cost effective way

[1:44:05] for citizens to help out with

[1:44:06] with the very difficult job of

[1:44:10] managing a huge city as you do

[1:44:11] And I see no reason why

[1:44:16] advisory boards shouldn't be

[1:44:16] used in all areas of the city

[1:44:17] so that citizens who are

[1:44:21] experts in those areas can come

[1:44:22] and participate and contribute

[1:44:22] their knowledge and their

[1:44:26] background and their

[1:44:27] independence to overseeing what

[1:44:28] goes on in this city.

[1:44:31] Shame on you Joe LaCava for not

[1:44:32] doing that with the Torrey

[1:44:32] Pines City Park Advisory Board.

[1:44:36] Thank you.

[1:44:37] >> Thank you.

[1:44:37] That concludes the public

[1:44:38] comment for this item.

[1:44:41] Thanks to the public for their

[1:44:42] comments I will turn next to

[1:44:43] council members for questions

[1:44:43] Comments This is again an

[1:44:47] informational item only so no

[1:44:47] motion is required.

[1:44:48] We'll start with the chair of

[1:44:48] our audit committee.

[1:44:51] Councilmember Moreno thank you

[1:44:52] for the presentation and also

[1:44:53] thank you to the auditor's

[1:44:53] office for your excellent work

[1:44:56] on this audit.

[1:44:57] We did have a lengthy

[1:45:01] discussion on this audit

[1:45:01] committee back in FEBRUARY

[1:45:02] leading up to what was going to

[1:45:06] be I think a very difficult

[1:45:07] budget.

[1:45:07] I was very concerned about

[1:45:08] the inefficiencies found by

[1:45:11] the auditor that ended up

[1:45:12] needlessly costing taxpayers

[1:45:17] more than it should to maintain

[1:45:17] the city's fleet.

[1:45:18] When the city invest in buying

[1:45:21] or leasing a vehicle of some

[1:45:22] type, it's critical that it's

[1:45:23] receiving regular preventative

[1:45:27] maintenance.

[1:45:28] Now if we don't do that, we're

[1:45:28] decreasing the value of

[1:45:32] the life of the vehicle.

[1:45:33] This increases the repair costs

[1:45:37] and waste time for the employee

[1:45:38] who's driving the vehicle as

[1:45:39] well as the employees who

[1:45:43] repair the vehicles because

[1:45:43] instead of simply having

[1:45:44] preventative repairs they have

[1:45:48] to spend much more time doing

[1:45:48] major repairs.

[1:45:53] In addition, this results in a

[1:45:54] greater need for rental cars

[1:45:58] which is an additional cost and

[1:45:59] ultimately lowers the level of

[1:46:00] service provided to the public

[1:46:04] in fiscal year 23 it cost

[1:46:05] the city $2.2 million to

[1:46:08] provide to perform preventative

[1:46:12] maintenance on 3918 vehicles

[1:46:16] and 19.3 million to do repairs

[1:46:17] on 3897 vehicles.

[1:46:22] What were the costs in fiscal

[1:46:22] year 24 and fiscal year 25?

[1:46:27] Relate to preventative

[1:46:28] maintenance versus repair costs

[1:46:40] that were not proactive repairs

[1:46:40] .

[1:46:41] >> Thank you for the question

[1:46:41] Councilmember.

[1:46:42] And fiscal year 2024.

[1:46:49] We had 2.5 million spent on

[1:46:50] and 23.2 million spent on

[1:46:50] repairs.

[1:46:57] 25 was 3.3 million on and 26.2

[1:46:58] million on repairs.

[1:46:58] And with that I just also like

[1:47:03] to highlight by nature are

[1:47:04] less cost expensive right than

[1:47:08] repairs.

[1:47:09] Also from that as our fleet

[1:47:13] increases and past increases

[1:47:14] you will see that cost increase

[1:47:15] as well as we're doing more

[1:47:19] and finding more repairs and

[1:47:19] adding to the fleet that cost

[1:47:20] us increase over the years.

[1:47:24] Can you explain to the public

[1:47:25] what ppm?

[1:47:25] Oh that's a preventative

[1:47:26] maintenance.

[1:47:26] Thank you.

[1:47:30] Thank you for the for that

[1:47:30] answer.

[1:47:31] Now although costs fluctuate

[1:47:35] year to year it does appear we

[1:47:35] could save a significant amount

[1:47:40] per year in repair costs if we

[1:47:40] simply broader vehicles in for

[1:47:41] regular maintenance instead of

[1:47:45] waiting for a problem to

[1:47:46] happen.

[1:47:46] Does the department have an

[1:47:50] estimate on how much of the $19

[1:47:51] million in repairs in fiscal

[1:47:54] year 23 could have been reduced

[1:47:55] if preventative maintenance had

[1:48:01] been performed?

[1:48:01] >> Thank you again for

[1:48:02] the question.

[1:48:02] Councilmember No, that is not a

[1:48:06] data point that we provide that

[1:48:11] we track for premiums.

[1:48:12] Okay.

[1:48:12] Thank you Will.

[1:48:13] Conservatively, even if repairs

[1:48:16] cost were only reduced by $1

[1:48:17] million that is another million

[1:48:17] that could be used for other

[1:48:21] purposes in the budget.

[1:48:22] It was mentioned libraries and

[1:48:26] Alfaro in Parks and Rec

[1:48:26] programing.

[1:48:27] I saw in the management's

[1:48:32] response that proactive repairs

[1:48:33] increased in fiscal year 25.

[1:48:33] Did the department see a

[1:48:37] decrease in the need for

[1:48:37] vehicle repairs directly

[1:48:38] related to the lack of

[1:48:39] preventative maintenance?

[1:48:43] Or do you see this trend

[1:48:44] continuing for fiscal year 26?

[1:48:44] >> So Councilmember, what

[1:48:48] happened?

[1:48:49] We have been conducting more as

[1:48:50] you heard earlier in my

[1:48:54] comments inspections bit or

[1:48:55] safety inspections as well as

[1:48:55] preventive maintenance.

[1:49:00] So that has led to being able

[1:49:00] to complete more of those

[1:49:01] predictive proactive repairs

[1:49:04] that management was alluding to

[1:49:05] in our response.

[1:49:10] So it's just a just to

[1:49:10] reiterate it's the ongoing work

[1:49:15] that you guys are doing

[1:49:16] proactively that there was why

[1:49:16] there was an uptick?

[1:49:21] Yes.

[1:49:21] >> Completing more inspections

[1:49:22] as well as more preventative

[1:49:23] maintenance.

[1:49:26] And do you see the increase Do

[1:49:27] you see this trend continuing

[1:49:31] or are you guys continuing to

[1:49:32] provide more inspections than

[1:49:33] have been done in the past?

[1:49:33] >> Yes.

[1:49:36] The work we've done with

[1:49:37] coordinating with our customer

[1:49:38] department and in our monthly

[1:49:41] and quarterly meetings

[1:49:42] departments are now bringing in

[1:49:43] their their vehicles timely and

[1:49:47] we are working to complete

[1:49:48] those sometimes over

[1:49:48] the weekends as we can within

[1:49:52] our overtime budget.

[1:49:53] But those are meetings as well

[1:49:54] as the dashboard with more

[1:49:58] visibility on the status of

[1:49:58] the vehicles is also

[1:49:59] attributing to that increase

[1:50:00] that you're seeing.

[1:50:03] So you do see the trend

[1:50:03] continuing.

[1:50:03] Okay.

[1:50:04] Thank you.

[1:50:05] Does the department management

[1:50:08] get notified when a monitor

[1:50:09] goes off in a vehicle

[1:50:10] indicating the need for a

[1:50:14] repair like we have in our car

[1:50:15] oil change or check engine?

[1:50:19] If so, is there a procedure in

[1:50:20] place?

[1:50:20] >> I would also notify fleet

[1:50:21] management does not get

[1:50:24] notified of that but

[1:50:25] the operator of that vehicle is

[1:50:30] required for Pre-trip

[1:50:31] inspections And if there is a

[1:50:31] light or a gauge or something

[1:50:35] is out of compliance and

[1:50:36] they're required to bring that

[1:50:36] vehicle in for us immediately

[1:50:40] so we can diagnose and repair

[1:50:40] the vehicle.

[1:50:41] So this is something

[1:50:41] the individual department needs

[1:50:42] to follow up on their own?

[1:50:46] That's correct.

[1:50:46] Wonderful.

[1:50:47] Thank you.

[1:50:48] Recommendation 2.4 says that

[1:50:48] Fleet should prioritize

[1:50:51] schedule scheduled appointments

[1:50:52] over unscheduled appointments.

[1:50:56] However, the audit found that

[1:50:57] while the fleet focus system

[1:50:57] has the capacity to set up an

[1:51:01] appointment system, it has not

[1:51:02] been set up for departments to

[1:51:03] schedule maintenance in

[1:51:03] advance.

[1:51:07] Can fleet management clarify

[1:51:07] what process you have?

[1:51:08] What what you've done since at

[1:51:12] least FEBRUARY to allow

[1:51:13] departments to be able to

[1:51:13] schedule an appointment in

[1:51:14] advance?

[1:51:17] >> What we are doing is through

[1:51:18] our routine meetings as well as

[1:51:22] visibility of the dashboard we

[1:51:23] are coordinating with the city

[1:51:23] departments on which vehicles

[1:51:27] are due for and bid

[1:51:28] inspections and coordinating

[1:51:28] with them which vehicles are

[1:51:33] required to be brought in such

[1:51:34] that we can complete those

[1:51:34] within compliance.

[1:51:35] We are not using that for

[1:51:38] showing that scale doing

[1:51:38] function within that fleet

[1:51:39] focus yet because there are

[1:51:40] some requirements that we have

[1:51:44] to complete to be able to fully

[1:51:44] turn on that feature.

[1:51:48] >> But we are through our

[1:51:49] routine meetings having a

[1:51:49] discussion and scheduling

[1:51:54] either by phone or by email for

[1:51:55] the departments to bring in

[1:51:55] the vehicles.

[1:51:56] We are on track for.

[1:52:00] I think at the end of

[1:52:00] the calendar year to implement

[1:52:01] that recommendation with

[1:52:05] the scheduling feature and Ford

[1:52:05] Focus.

[1:52:06] Okay.

[1:52:10] This is a question I had Is

[1:52:10] there a list of all

[1:52:11] the vehicles we have?

[1:52:15] There is a list and departments

[1:52:16] on that fleet dashboard can

[1:52:16] drill down to where they can

[1:52:20] see only their vehicles as well

[1:52:21] as the status of those

[1:52:22] vehicles, whether there's a

[1:52:25] more open work order, whether

[1:52:26] it was due for bid inspections,

[1:52:27] whether it's overdue for bid

[1:52:30] inspections for each of those

[1:52:31] vehicles they can see and you

[1:52:31] have a master copy of

[1:52:32] everybody's vehicle?

[1:52:35] Yes.

[1:52:36] Myself and my fleet team can

[1:52:37] see all of the vehicles in

[1:52:37] the fleet.

[1:52:41] So right now you're relying on

[1:52:41] the department director to

[1:52:46] bring in the vehicle Based on

[1:52:46] my.

[1:52:47] >> My fleet manager is

[1:52:48] coordinating with

[1:52:51] the department's fleet

[1:52:52] coordinators on which vehicles

[1:52:53] are due for as well as bid

[1:52:57] inspections And then we're

[1:52:58] making appointments outside of

[1:52:58] that they're bringing in and

[1:53:02] based upon the conversations

[1:53:03] with the fleet managers using a

[1:53:03] dashboard on what to do and

[1:53:07] what's coming due within

[1:53:08] the fleet.

[1:53:09] Now I will recognize I have not

[1:53:12] on the operations side of

[1:53:13] the city of San Diego but that

[1:53:14] sounds like a whole lot of work

[1:53:18] and it sounds like work that we

[1:53:19] have technology right now.

[1:53:23] We have a system.

[1:53:24] It just it seems like a lot of

[1:53:25] work but thank you for

[1:53:28] answering that.

[1:53:29] Recommendation 2.5 says Fleet

[1:53:30] should conduct an analysis to

[1:53:34] determine the optimal share of

[1:53:34] the system.

[1:53:35] Fleet Technician Position out

[1:53:36] of service Professional

[1:53:39] position and or their ability

[1:53:40] to more strategically target

[1:53:44] their time to help achieve

[1:53:45] preventative maintenance goals

[1:53:45] timely and efficiently.

[1:53:46] The audit also found that a

[1:53:49] fleet completes most

[1:53:50] preventative maintenance

[1:53:50] services in less than a day.

[1:53:55] I believe this I know that

[1:53:55] the personnel we have in place

[1:53:56] are very good at their job but

[1:54:00] when the process is not

[1:54:01] streamlined as

[1:54:01] the recommendation in the audit

[1:54:05] audit would accomplish it leads

[1:54:06] to delays where a vehicle sits

[1:54:07] on the lot for days If it can't

[1:54:10] be replaced.

[1:54:11] Think of having to order apart.

[1:54:15] We've all been you know, to

[1:54:16] the mechanic.

[1:54:16] This is obviously not the fault

[1:54:20] of our technician who performs

[1:54:21] the repairs.

[1:54:21] This is the failure of

[1:54:22] management to have an efficient

[1:54:26] system in place.

[1:54:27] What is the current timeline To

[1:54:28] get to conduct the cost

[1:54:31] analysis To conduct the cost

[1:54:32] benefit analysis recommended in

[1:54:36] recommendation 2.5.

[1:54:37] Is this still expected by

[1:54:38] the end of the year?

[1:54:41] Yes, we are still on track with

[1:54:42] that recommendation.

[1:54:42] Thank you.

[1:54:43] If I MAY have my three more

[1:54:43] minutes.

[1:54:47] It's clear to me that one of

[1:54:48] the things we likely need to do

[1:54:52] is hire more technicians

[1:54:52] because the number of staff has

[1:54:53] not kept up with the growth of

[1:54:54] the city's fleet.

[1:54:57] If we do that, more vehicles

[1:54:58] would get repaired faster.

[1:54:58] The cost of hiring more

[1:55:03] technicians would probably be

[1:55:03] offset by the avoided cost of

[1:55:07] having to do less Major repairs

[1:55:08] on vehicles and hiring

[1:55:09] additional technicians should

[1:55:12] be the main way the management

[1:55:13] addresses this staffing

[1:55:17] the staffing issues.

[1:55:18] What I don't want is to see

[1:55:22] current employees forced to

[1:55:23] work hours before beyond I'm

[1:55:24] sorry what should be expected

[1:55:28] of them because that will

[1:55:29] absolutely burn people out.

[1:55:32] And I know we do run the risk

[1:55:33] as well.

[1:55:33] These these guys and these guys

[1:55:37] and girls are a hot commodity

[1:55:38] within the market.

[1:55:39] We're struggling to keep up

[1:55:43] with keeping them.

[1:55:44] So I definitely do not want to

[1:55:44] be pushing too heavily And I do

[1:55:48] want to recognize that their

[1:55:48] work is very much appreciated.

[1:55:53] Finally, does the Department or

[1:55:54] auditor's office have an

[1:55:54] estimate related to how much

[1:55:58] the city has spent on rental

[1:55:59] vehicles specifically related

[1:56:00] to the need for major repairs

[1:56:09] on city owned vehicles?

[1:56:10] >> Thank you again Council for

[1:56:10] the question.

[1:56:14] I think earlier I mean Claudia

[1:56:15] excuse me alluded to this in

[1:56:19] her previous comments regarding

[1:56:19] her rental contracts.

[1:56:20] There are improvements there

[1:56:24] through the new process for her

[1:56:25] rental improvement process that

[1:56:29] the city is undertaking right

[1:56:33] now for the two year period of

[1:56:34] the contract.

[1:56:38] We project that there would be

[1:56:38] 3% of vehicles that will be

[1:56:42] rented due to vehicles being

[1:56:43] down in the shop.

[1:56:44] But currently we do not have

[1:56:48] that calls for f y 25.

[1:56:48] >> Okay.

[1:56:49] Thank you for that and I don't

[1:56:52] know if you have an answer to

[1:56:52] that.

[1:56:53] Sure.

[1:56:54] We do not have an answer to at

[1:56:58] this time but as you know we

[1:56:58] have an audit on our workplan

[1:57:02] this year of vehicle rental

[1:57:02] contracts to hurricane any

[1:57:03] others that we have And so

[1:57:04] that's certainly something

[1:57:07] we'll consider looking into.

[1:57:07] Wonderful.

[1:57:08] Thank you.

[1:57:09] This is another cost that could

[1:57:12] be decreased by implementing

[1:57:13] the recommendations in this

[1:57:13] audit And I would request that

[1:57:18] staff follow up with my office

[1:57:19] on that number You gave us

[1:57:19] the 3%.

[1:57:23] Just to be clear, I do look

[1:57:23] forward to all

[1:57:24] the recommendations being

[1:57:27] implemented.

[1:57:27] Truly believe there could be

[1:57:28] some significant cost savings

[1:57:32] if we can get buy in from

[1:57:33] the department to take

[1:57:33] preventative maintenance

[1:57:37] maintenance seriously over

[1:57:38] the long term.

[1:57:39] We also need to make sure that

[1:57:39] management is working

[1:57:42] cooperatively with our

[1:57:43] representative employees to

[1:57:45] ensure that the department is

[1:57:51] properly staffed.

[1:57:51] I think it's been my second

[1:57:55] year as the audit chair three

[1:57:56] years in total and I just I

[1:58:01] want to bring up the fact that

[1:58:05] I truly appreciate audits that

[1:58:06] let us at least at least

[1:58:07] the council know what's going

[1:58:07] on on the operations side.

[1:58:12] I think the audit presents

[1:58:12] recommendations which you guys

[1:58:13] did You guys are not in

[1:58:16] operation right?

[1:58:17] You're not management.

[1:58:20] And so if we were if management

[1:58:25] was doing things in a

[1:58:26] productive manner then

[1:58:27] the audit would show that

[1:58:27] there's nothing wrong and we

[1:58:31] can move right along When we

[1:58:32] see something wrong we have to

[1:58:32] do something about it And I

[1:58:39] think it's I think it is very

[1:58:40] it's an opportunity to do

[1:58:40] better.

[1:58:44] Feels really weird to say this

[1:58:45] but it's an opportunity to do

[1:58:45] better.

[1:58:46] We should not shy away from

[1:58:49] being told that the way that

[1:58:50] we're doing it doesn't work or

[1:58:51] that it's costing taxpayer

[1:58:54] dollars more money.

[1:58:55] This is a way I think that we

[1:58:55] can move forward and I

[1:58:59] appreciated this audit.

[1:59:00] It was very enlightening.

[1:59:01] It's a lot of money and it's

[1:59:01] not my money.

[1:59:04] It's not our money.

[1:59:05] It's taxpayers money.

[1:59:06] So with that, thank you for

[1:59:10] allowing me to go a little over

[1:59:11] But thank you guys for this

[1:59:15] audit.

[1:59:15] >> Thank you.

[1:59:16] We'll turn next to

[1:59:16] Councilmember Ella Rivera.

[1:59:17] All right.

[1:59:17] Thank you.

[1:59:19] Council PRESIDENT Pro tem and

[1:59:20] always thank you to you and

[1:59:21] the team for your work.

[1:59:24] Always appreciate it.

[1:59:30] So Councilmember Moreno Dove in

[1:59:31] deep as she always does as

[1:59:32] the audit committee chair.

[1:59:38] One I'll start with this

[1:59:39] question and then I'll circle

[1:59:42] back to another from

[1:59:43] the recommendations that have.

[1:59:47] And this is for staff whoever

[1:59:48] would like to answer it.

[1:59:53] The recommendation ones that

[1:59:54] are agreed upon but not yet

[1:59:57] implemented.

[1:59:58] Can we walk through timeline

[2:00:02] and any barriers the Council

[2:00:03] needs to be aware of in

[2:00:04] the implementation of those

[2:00:17] changes?

[2:00:18] >> Thank you Council Member for

[2:00:18] the question.

[2:00:22] We have completed two of those

[2:00:22] recommendations.

[2:00:26] There are two that have since

[2:00:27] the time that the auditor

[2:00:27] reported our status that we are

[2:00:32] in the process of completing

[2:00:33] that is audit recommendations

[2:00:35] 1.3 and 2.2.

[2:00:38] And I'll just read those really

[2:00:48] quickly.

[2:00:49] >> One point three is again

[2:00:53] regular regularly schedule

[2:00:54] meetings.

[2:00:55] And 1.1 which we have completed

[2:00:58] is related to fleet

[2:00:59] coordinators.

[2:00:59] 1.2 we estimate that we will

[2:01:00] complete within the next few

[2:01:03] weeks.

[2:01:04] And this is just updating our

[2:01:05] fleet coordinators and contact

[2:01:08] lists within our city

[2:01:09] departments so they can receive

[2:01:10] notifications.

[2:01:13] And then recommendation 2.2

[2:01:14] We're also scheduled to

[2:01:18] complete within the next few

[2:01:19] weeks.

[2:01:19] That is also related to

[2:01:23] actually updating

[2:01:24] the departments in the fleet

[2:01:25] dashboard ensuring they have

[2:01:29] visibility of all of their

[2:01:30] vehicles within the fleet.

[2:01:30] The rest of the remaining

[2:01:35] recommendations we are on track

[2:01:35] to complete either by the end

[2:01:39] of the calendar year or by JUNE

[2:01:40] 2026 which is the latest that

[2:01:44] we have up on a recommendation

[2:01:45] that will be implemented in due

[2:01:45] course.

[2:01:46] >> Got it.

[2:01:49] Thank you for that.

[2:01:50] So my understanding is that

[2:01:54] absent is being asked to meet

[2:01:55] and confer in response to this

[2:01:55] audit.

[2:01:59] It's not one of

[2:01:59] the recommendations

[2:02:00] necessarily.

[2:02:04] Can you explain to us why

[2:02:05] that's happening prior to

[2:02:06] the implementation of all

[2:02:06] the recommendations being

[2:02:09] complete?

[2:02:10] >> Well, Councilmember, one of

[2:02:14] the issues I think that was

[2:02:15] noted in the auditor's report

[2:02:16] was the department's hesitation

[2:02:19] to bring vehicles in as they

[2:02:20] are needed for use.

[2:02:25] So we wanted to be we wanted to

[2:02:26] take a look at what it would

[2:02:30] require to have those vehicles

[2:02:31] brought in when there's not an

[2:02:34] operational impact to

[2:02:35] the departments.

[2:02:35] We know that all three

[2:02:39] departments do not have a bench

[2:02:40] of vehicles such that if you're

[2:02:44] taking a patch truck out of of

[2:02:45] the fleet for or inspection

[2:02:46] then there's operational

[2:02:49] impacts.

[2:02:50] We were looking at ways that we

[2:02:51] could service vehicles when

[2:02:55] they're not in use by the city

[2:02:55] departments and that it was not

[2:03:00] a audit recommendation but it

[2:03:01] was something that internally

[2:03:02] through the department we

[2:03:05] thought that based upon what

[2:03:06] we're seeing and hearing from

[2:03:06] the departments that we would

[2:03:10] work with our unions to pursue.

[2:03:11] >> Got it.

[2:03:11] Okay.

[2:03:16] Katherine Morello made

[2:03:21] the point about ensuring that

[2:03:22] we are able to maintain

[2:03:22] the workforce that we have.

[2:03:26] It's taken a lot to get those

[2:03:26] folks as you know, get those

[2:03:27] folks hired to retain them And

[2:03:31] we don't want to lose them

[2:03:32] unnecessarily.

[2:03:37] So I think bringing them into

[2:03:38] the fold for problem solving

[2:03:43] prior to formally requested a

[2:03:48] meeting confer session.

[2:03:49] Strongly recommended for me You

[2:03:52] all were on the operation side

[2:03:53] so you can do it with that what

[2:03:54] you will to that point And I

[2:03:58] know we talked about this

[2:03:59] during the briefing but I, I

[2:04:02] think this audit maybe more

[2:04:03] than any other that I've seen I

[2:04:04] think really could have

[2:04:08] benefited from conversation

[2:04:09] with aps me and and and perhaps

[2:04:13] some of you as well to have a

[2:04:18] 360 degree thorough analysis

[2:04:18] not just of problems with

[2:04:19] potential solutions.

[2:04:23] I think getting the voice of

[2:04:24] the workers who are doing that

[2:04:24] work would be incredibly

[2:04:25] valuable.

[2:04:29] And so I do I do hope that in

[2:04:34] in the future when there are

[2:04:34] items like this that are so

[2:04:35] operational in nature that we

[2:04:36] have conversations with

[2:04:39] the folks who are doing doing

[2:04:40] that work to the greatest

[2:04:40] extent possible.

[2:04:41] And I certainly hope that

[2:04:44] management would make those

[2:04:49] those workers and available to

[2:04:49] the extent possible.

[2:04:50] And then certainly we've got

[2:04:54] representatives by way of

[2:04:55] the Oreos and that's what

[2:05:00] they're there to do.

[2:05:00] We just heard from an expert

[2:05:01] who is who's doing some of this

[2:05:07] work about there's just a very

[2:05:08] important vantage point there

[2:05:09] and I want to make sure that

[2:05:13] included in the conversation to

[2:05:13] the greatest extent possible.

[2:05:14] But as always, thank you again

[2:05:15] for all of your work to

[2:05:15] the audit team.

[2:05:18] We appreciate you.

[2:05:18] Thank you.

[2:05:19] Council PRESIDENT Pro tem Thank

[2:05:19] you.

[2:05:20] We'll turn next to council

[2:05:23] members on Wolpert and thank

[2:05:24] you to you for your work and

[2:05:28] your presentation on this.

[2:05:29] My colleagues asked a lot of

[2:05:33] the questions you know and I'm

[2:05:34] particularly concerned of

[2:05:34] course about making sure that

[2:05:35] our workers are included in

[2:05:39] these discussions and so

[2:05:39] they're the ones actually doing

[2:05:40] the maintenance work.

[2:05:40] And I'm wondering how much

[2:05:44] involvement did ask me when 27

[2:05:49] or MAY have in the audit.

[2:05:50] So this audit was was you know,

[2:05:55] we used a lot of the data to

[2:05:55] identify the causes of

[2:05:56] the delays right like 88 And

[2:05:59] that's why we point out 88% of

[2:06:00] the time there's a delay Once

[2:06:01] the vehicle has been brought in

[2:06:04] it's due to lack of labor And

[2:06:05] that's why we make

[2:06:05] recommendations on, you know,

[2:06:06] taking a look at their staffing

[2:06:09] levels especially for assistant

[2:06:10] fleet technician.

[2:06:10] We didn't engage them directly.

[2:06:15] We have before when we do

[2:06:20] audits that look at you know,

[2:06:21] kind of on the ground work

[2:06:21] where conditions like you MAY

[2:06:25] recall the strategic human

[2:06:26] capital audit from a few years

[2:06:26] ago where we recommended

[2:06:30] compensation philosophy for

[2:06:31] the city workforce reports,

[2:06:32] things like that.

[2:06:32] But actually happy to you know,

[2:06:36] consider it as a checkpoint on

[2:06:37] audits going forward you know

[2:06:37] when it seems like it's

[2:06:42] relevant to those groups.

[2:06:43] >> Yeah I, I think you should

[2:06:43] honestly I mean it's

[2:06:44] the workers are the ones who

[2:06:47] also might be seeing it day in

[2:06:48] day out and have ideas or

[2:06:49] thoughts or problems that it

[2:06:49] doesn't know about or they

[2:06:53] report to management they MAY

[2:06:53] not report to you.

[2:06:54] And so I wouldn't engage

[2:06:55] the workers because you guys

[2:06:58] are the ones who see every day

[2:06:58] what you're struggling with And

[2:06:59] before this audit comes out and

[2:07:04] suddenly ideas are handed to

[2:07:04] them it'd be better if they

[2:07:05] could be participating in it

[2:07:09] before a meeting confirmed is

[2:07:10] triggered Because I think you

[2:07:10] know, morale is hard right now.

[2:07:11] The city doesn't pay as much as

[2:07:15] we should to these workers and

[2:07:15] they're working very hard And

[2:07:16] so I think it'd be a huge

[2:07:17] morale boost if people would

[2:07:20] engage them before these things

[2:07:21] are published about them.

[2:07:21] >> I also remember that you

[2:07:22] asked me a question but I just

[2:07:25] wanted to clarify that So we we

[2:07:26] did have conversations with our

[2:07:30] staff in our routine meetings

[2:07:31] but because of the meet and

[2:07:35] confer process we could not I

[2:07:36] guess divulge the details of

[2:07:36] what we're considering What we

[2:07:41] did have conversations with all

[2:07:42] of our fleet technicians just

[2:07:42] at choice repair facility

[2:07:46] because that's the only place

[2:07:46] we're looking to implement this

[2:07:47] change.

[2:07:47] But because of that process we

[2:07:52] could not provide all of

[2:07:53] the details with them But we

[2:07:53] did let them know solicit

[2:07:57] feedback from them as well as

[2:07:58] but we could not follow once we

[2:07:59] got closer to that process and

[2:08:02] actually issued a notice we can

[2:08:03] could not devote all of

[2:08:03] the details of that until we

[2:08:04] actually go in to meet and

[2:08:08] confer.

[2:08:08] Okay.

[2:08:09] I mean understood.

[2:08:13] You know I would a labor lawyer

[2:08:14] before this and I was on

[2:08:15] the dca negotiating team when I

[2:08:15] was a deputy city attorney and

[2:08:19] there could have been a waste.

[2:08:20] We didn't even get to be

[2:08:20] confer.

[2:08:21] You know, if you had more open

[2:08:24] conversation with the workers

[2:08:25] then you wouldn't need to go to

[2:08:25] the forum union for process.

[2:08:29] So I just I just communicate

[2:08:30] with the folks actually doing

[2:08:35] this work And I'd like to see

[2:08:36] that the audits going forward

[2:08:37] because you know, we have a lot

[2:08:37] of different ideas.

[2:08:40] I used to work for a

[2:08:41] congressmember who used to

[2:08:45] bring in, you know, uaw

[2:08:46] informed for example to

[2:08:46] the office and they talked

[2:08:47] together.

[2:08:47] They have a joint management

[2:08:50] employee task force and they

[2:08:51] talk about issues as they came

[2:08:51] up.

[2:08:52] Eventually things would happen

[2:08:53] where they'd have to go to

[2:08:56] the National Relations Board or

[2:08:56] others.

[2:08:57] But I just I see this on so

[2:08:58] many levels and I don't see

[2:08:58] the city doing it.

[2:09:01] I never really have And so I

[2:09:02] think asking the workers more

[2:09:03] what they think before problems

[2:09:03] go to being cared for would be

[2:09:07] a really beneficial idea.

[2:09:08] I also have a question about

[2:09:12] our public safety fleet.

[2:09:12] So is Othello now

[2:09:13] the operational area where

[2:09:17] we're going to fix the fire

[2:09:18] trucks and other things?

[2:09:19] We had so many problems with

[2:09:23] that real estate transaction

[2:09:23] but as far as I know it's up

[2:09:24] and running it It's up and

[2:09:28] running There is okay because

[2:09:28] we can't have fire apparatus

[2:09:29] not respond and walk off.

[2:09:33] I mean very different than and

[2:09:34] same thing with police cars So

[2:09:38] are we prioritizing our public

[2:09:38] safety fleet when things need

[2:09:39] to get fixed?

[2:09:39] Yes we are.

[2:09:44] I invite our deputy director to

[2:09:44] talk a little bit more about

[2:09:45] that If you'd like to hear more

[2:09:48] about current inmates in how

[2:09:49] we're repairing our fleet

[2:09:49] there.

[2:09:54] >> Thank you.

[2:09:55] Good afternoon.

[2:09:55] Council members Mike Simon is a

[2:09:56] deputy director for Fleet

[2:09:56] Operations.

[2:09:59] So yes, the Fleet Operations

[2:10:00] Department is divided between

[2:10:04] police fire esd and then

[2:10:05] the remaining fleet which would

[2:10:06] be transportation duty.

[2:10:06] Each repair facility has its

[2:10:10] own staff, their own people

[2:10:11] that work on it and their own

[2:10:11] priorities.

[2:10:15] So yes and pleasure.

[2:10:16] So as you can imagine it is a

[2:10:16] lot of it is seasonal When it's

[2:10:21] warm resources are diverted to

[2:10:21] fire any help that they need.

[2:10:22] You also have transportation,

[2:10:22] things like that.

[2:10:26] They're the number one priority

[2:10:26] all the time.

[2:10:27] So every day is basically a

[2:10:27] dance between what's

[2:10:31] the priority for the day?

[2:10:32] But yes, all of those repair

[2:10:32] facilities have their own staff

[2:10:35] and they are focused on just

[2:10:35] that one fleet.

[2:10:35] Okay.

[2:10:36] All right.

[2:10:36] Thank you.

[2:10:37] I appreciate that very much.

[2:10:40] And I think two more questions

[2:10:40] Why did fleet management take

[2:10:45] meeting preventative

[2:10:46] maintenance goals out of your

[2:10:46] key performance indicators in

[2:10:56] the city budget this year?

[2:10:56] Thank you for the question.

[2:10:57] So in previous years the KPIs

[2:11:01] were included in the budget but

[2:11:02] not reported on because of

[2:11:02] the maintenance gauges were not

[2:11:06] accurate.

[2:11:07] So we thought that we would

[2:11:07] take the time we would take it

[2:11:11] out of this year's budget and

[2:11:12] allow time for us to complete

[2:11:13] those goals just so that we can

[2:11:17] report it and not simply have

[2:11:18] it in the budget and not report

[2:11:19] on it because I think that was

[2:11:20] one of the things noted that it

[2:11:23] was in the budget but it was

[2:11:23] not actually being reported on.

[2:11:24] It reported being reported

[2:11:27] because of the maintenance

[2:11:27] scale.

[2:11:28] Those were not properly aligned

[2:11:29] And so we didn't want an

[2:11:33] inaccurate reporting or where

[2:11:33] we were were preventative

[2:11:38] maintenance.

[2:11:38] Okay.

[2:11:39] So what's the plan for the next

[2:11:39] budget cycle?

[2:11:43] So we are currently working on

[2:11:43] aligning all of our and

[2:11:48] vehicles and schedules within

[2:11:49] our fleet management

[2:11:49] information system and then we

[2:11:54] will be adding that to

[2:11:54] the dashboard that I spoke to

[2:11:55] earlier so all the departments

[2:11:56] can see where we are and we

[2:11:59] will be able to report on

[2:12:00] the status instead of annually.

[2:12:04] You can there will be near real

[2:12:05] time reporting on that.

[2:12:05] So any departments our decals

[2:12:09] which we are preparing a

[2:12:10] quarterly report up two days

[2:12:10] ago was on everything from

[2:12:14] prompts to inspection and our

[2:12:14] compliance.

[2:12:19] So once we have that complete

[2:12:20] it'll be more in a real time

[2:12:20] time frame.

[2:12:21] Okay.

[2:12:21] So do you anticipate that being

[2:12:25] back in the budget in 2026 or

[2:12:28] so We are in by 2627 and 22 is

[2:12:34] seven a Can I get back with you

[2:12:34] on that?

[2:12:35] I don't know the due date for

[2:12:36] the kpi so I want to make sure

[2:12:39] we are our work is done for

[2:12:39] that before we I commit to

[2:12:40] putting it back in the budget

[2:12:44] because it is a lot for us to

[2:12:45] do to go through all that 5000

[2:12:48] vehicles and then one by one

[2:12:48] making sure we have

[2:12:52] the accurate council in there

[2:12:53] and four but it is something

[2:12:54] that we're currently working on

[2:12:57] and adding it to our dashboard

[2:12:57] Excuse me.

[2:12:58] >> Okay.

[2:12:59] Have you tried talking to

[2:12:59] the rental car companies

[2:13:02] because they have to maintain

[2:13:03] thousands of cars as well and

[2:13:04] give them oil changes and tire

[2:13:08] rotations and we have not

[2:13:08] reached out to rental car

[2:13:12] companies before.

[2:13:13] >> Thank you for the input.

[2:13:14] We could certainly do that.

[2:13:16] Yeah we have 5000 of them at

[2:13:17] the airport as in the airport

[2:13:18] authority so I'm happy to make

[2:13:18] a connection for you there

[2:13:22] because they have to maintain

[2:13:22] their fleets too.

[2:13:23] >> So we did have a routine

[2:13:27] conversations with the county

[2:13:27] and as far as how they are

[2:13:28] managing their fleet but we

[2:13:32] have not reached out to my car

[2:13:32] companies.

[2:13:32] Okay.

[2:13:33] So I appreciate the connection.

[2:13:33] Okay.

[2:13:37] Thank you.

[2:13:38] My last question is about one

[2:13:42] of the recommendations.

[2:13:43] It was recommendation 1.2 to

[2:13:44] the order for me to update

[2:13:45] the fleet coordinator contact

[2:13:47] list for meeting certification

[2:13:52] and apparently it's been 248

[2:13:52] days and we still don't have a

[2:13:53] notification list like just

[2:13:57] contacts and names So that

[2:13:57] happening.

[2:13:58] >> So our first step to that

[2:14:00] was recommendation 1.1

[2:14:01] identifying fleet coordinators

[2:14:05] But for those departments that

[2:14:06] are large like public utilities

[2:14:07] department we recognize that is

[2:14:10] probably not going to be one

[2:14:10] person.

[2:14:11] So we were getting the contact

[2:14:14] list of all of those folks

[2:14:15] essentially contact additional

[2:14:16] contacts who will be added to

[2:14:20] the system and then would

[2:14:21] receive those notifications.

[2:14:25] Again we are it's just a matter

[2:14:25] of us closing out to

[2:14:26] the recommendation with

[2:14:30] the audit team but that is

[2:14:31] something that we anticipate

[2:14:31] closer within the next few

[2:14:33] weeks.

[2:14:34] Okay.

[2:14:38] Well hopefully I don't know who

[2:14:39] the deputy chief operating

[2:14:40] officer is over this but they

[2:14:44] should be able to tell

[2:14:44] the departments to give you

[2:14:45] the list of people in charge of

[2:14:46] maintenance of their fleets.

[2:14:49] >> Yes, we do have the list is

[2:14:50] just to audit us putting it in

[2:14:51] the system and then closing

[2:14:52] the recommendation out with

[2:14:54] the auditors.

[2:14:55] >> Okay.

[2:14:55] Yeah.

[2:14:55] All right.

[2:14:56] Well thank you and thank you

[2:14:59] for the audit.

[2:15:00] >> Next up is Councilmember

[2:15:04] Foster.

[2:15:05] Just a quick question and i

[2:15:08] guess first thank you for

[2:15:09] the conversations that we're

[2:15:09] having today.

[2:15:15] But you know, as I look at this

[2:15:15] and we were doing an audit and

[2:15:19] isolating fleet per se, right.

[2:15:24] How are we are we able to work

[2:15:24] ?

[2:15:25] Well, let me tell you what my

[2:15:25] concern is.

[2:15:26] My concern is everything that I

[2:15:30] see a lot of what I see

[2:15:30] identified has cost

[2:15:34] implications, right As we talk

[2:15:35] about vehicle maintenance said

[2:15:40] impacts, I like to think that

[2:15:45] as we are talking about

[2:15:45] inefficiencies, cost impacts

[2:15:50] that these are directly or

[2:15:50] things that are being

[2:15:51] identified are directly

[2:15:55] impacting cost of service

[2:15:55] studies.

[2:15:56] When we talk about enterprise

[2:16:00] departments trash and vehicles

[2:16:01] as we talk about public

[2:16:06] utilities and vehicles and

[2:16:10] equipment, is that accurate or

[2:16:16] am I missing the connection?

[2:16:20] I'm not I'm not really

[2:16:21] following your question,

[2:16:21] Councilmember.

[2:16:22] >> I'm sorry.

[2:16:26] So we are looking at the city's

[2:16:26] fleet maintenance.

[2:16:30] Is this only for general fund

[2:16:31] vehicles or does this impact

[2:16:36] vehicles in our enterprise

[2:16:37] departments are correct

[2:16:37] Citywide citywide not city wide

[2:16:41] right?

[2:16:41] Yes.

[2:16:42] So as we go through and we are

[2:16:46] having conversations about cost

[2:16:46] of service studies rates

[2:16:51] increasing so on and so forth

[2:16:52] are the inefficiencies that we

[2:16:56] are seeing here.

[2:16:57] Is it safe to assume that those

[2:16:58] are directly impacting as we

[2:17:01] say costs are escalating which

[2:17:02] is why we are increasing rates

[2:17:06] and doing certain things.

[2:17:07] Is it safe to say that this

[2:17:11] does impact those conversations

[2:17:11] and discussions?

[2:17:16] I don't know what percent of

[2:17:17] those enterprise funds are

[2:17:21] related to vehicle costs alone

[2:17:22] and we weren't able to put an

[2:17:23] exact number on here because

[2:17:26] we're not doing preventive

[2:17:26] maintenance on time.

[2:17:27] That's likely increasing our

[2:17:31] long term maintenance costs

[2:17:32] 25%.

[2:17:33] But it's safe to say yes by not

[2:17:36] doing preventive maintenance on

[2:17:37] time it is increasing total

[2:17:41] vehicle costs including for

[2:17:42] more significant maintenance

[2:17:42] That would need to be done

[2:17:43] because the preventive

[2:17:47] maintenance wasn't done could

[2:17:47] be also driving increased use

[2:17:48] of the rental contract that

[2:17:49] we've already talked about

[2:17:51] today.

[2:17:52] So I don't have an exact number

[2:17:53] for you And what percent of

[2:17:57] those departments budgets that

[2:17:57] would not add up to but it's

[2:17:58] safe to say that it would have

[2:17:59] some kind of an impact.

[2:18:01] Yes.

[2:18:02] >> Okay.

[2:18:03] So my next question will be as

[2:18:04] we are looking ahead and we are

[2:18:06] looking at what our rental is,

[2:18:07] we're going through an audit

[2:18:11] You mentioned it earlier as we

[2:18:12] are looking at how are we

[2:18:12] taking those things into

[2:18:13] account where we can start

[2:18:16] looking and isolating

[2:18:17] the enterprise departments and

[2:18:17] impacts as we are continuing to

[2:18:21] have these very challenging and

[2:18:22] difficult conversations You're

[2:18:26] talking about in an upcoming

[2:18:27] work audit, right?

[2:18:27] Yes.

[2:18:28] Yeah.

[2:18:28] Those are all things that we

[2:18:31] will will take into

[2:18:32] consideration Sometimes there

[2:18:32] MAY not be data on certain

[2:18:36] things for us to look into but

[2:18:36] I think looking at it

[2:18:37] enterprise versus general fund

[2:18:37] makes sense.

[2:18:38] >> Okay.

[2:18:40] Okay.

[2:18:41] Thank you for that.

[2:18:46] And I just I guess I just

[2:18:46] cannot stress the importance

[2:18:47] enough is as I've said on this

[2:18:51] Dyess on numerous occasions is

[2:18:52] departments understanding their

[2:18:52] book of business and importance

[2:18:56] thereof to where as we have

[2:18:57] these isolated conversations to

[2:19:00] keep in mind that they do go

[2:19:01] back and impact our rates, cost

[2:19:05] of service studies and what we

[2:19:06] are going back to our rate

[2:19:10] payers And so forth and having

[2:19:11] these challenging

[2:19:11] conversations.

[2:19:12] So I just want to stress

[2:19:16] the importance of as we do

[2:19:16] these identifying the issues,

[2:19:20] implementing the per say

[2:19:26] resolutions to those issues or

[2:19:26] however we are going to proceed

[2:19:27] and just make sure that

[2:19:31] the mayor and his team is

[2:19:31] prioritizing and making sure

[2:19:35] that we are doing what's in

[2:19:36] the best interest of our

[2:19:36] ratepayers.

[2:19:37] Right.

[2:19:37] Okay.

[2:19:41] Thank you.

[2:19:41] Thank you, Governor Foster.

[2:19:45] I see no other speakers on

[2:19:46] the lights maybe to bring this

[2:19:51] home a little bit I think See

[2:19:51] the report actually helped me

[2:19:52] identify something that we see

[2:19:56] each year when we talk about

[2:19:56] the fleet Typically in our

[2:20:00] budget is the 4900 vehicles and

[2:20:03] a total replacement value of

[2:20:04] $437 million I think is what

[2:20:08] was identified.

[2:20:08] That is a significant amount.

[2:20:09] I mean that's almost close to

[2:20:12] half $1 billion of vehicles

[2:20:13] that we were responsible for.

[2:20:14] And so when we talk about

[2:20:17] maintenance and the cost,

[2:20:18] that's a that's that's a degree

[2:20:19] in which I think Councilmember

[2:20:22] Moreno mentioned early on even

[2:20:23] saving $1 million or two here

[2:20:24] or there when it comes to

[2:20:27] repairs is a huge amount that

[2:20:28] in a year when we were

[2:20:29] struggling to fight over small

[2:20:29] things what we think are might

[2:20:32] be small things and our budget

[2:20:37] has a tremendous impact.

[2:20:38] We get asked by residents a lot

[2:20:38] in the city about different

[2:20:42] things that we're facing.

[2:20:43] I was at the Mare Mesa Street

[2:20:47] Fair this last weekend and I

[2:20:47] just want to be open.

[2:20:48] I mean one of the questions

[2:20:49] that I was asked about was

[2:20:49] the city's decision to

[2:20:52] implement the collection of

[2:20:53] trash and collecting a fee for

[2:20:53] that.

[2:20:57] And I think this actually ties

[2:20:57] a little bit into what

[2:20:58] Councilmember Foster just

[2:21:02] pointed out, which is for

[2:21:02] example, as the city is setting

[2:21:07] up a new fee and system when it

[2:21:08] comes to collecting trash, I'd

[2:21:09] like to think that what we were

[2:21:12] setting up is also a system

[2:21:13] that will not encounter

[2:21:17] the same degree of maintenance

[2:21:18] backlogs to its fleet as we see

[2:21:23] across our general sort of

[2:21:27] funded fleet services today I

[2:21:27] know the audit doesn't point

[2:21:28] that out but when we are

[2:21:32] setting case rates for water

[2:21:33] for trash, for other services

[2:21:37] that are in these enterprise

[2:21:38] departments, we are telling

[2:21:38] voters and we were telling

[2:21:42] residents that the fees that

[2:21:43] they are being charged for to

[2:21:44] help uphold the service at

[2:21:44] the level at which we believe

[2:21:47] is necessary for us to deliver

[2:21:48] to the public.

[2:21:51] And so I point this out because

[2:21:52] one of the examples of my

[2:21:53] discussions with residents is

[2:21:57] about trash trucks.

[2:21:57] We've we've discussed the trash

[2:21:58] trucks in the city of San Diego

[2:22:01] are running in some cases 12

[2:22:01] years when they really have an

[2:22:02] eight year lifecycle that many

[2:22:06] of our vehicles are

[2:22:06] underfunded, our current

[2:22:07] maintenance of our vehicles is

[2:22:07] underfunded and understaffed

[2:22:11] and that has a significant

[2:22:11] impact on our ability to

[2:22:12] deliver service.

[2:22:15] These are things that I frankly

[2:22:16] think that every single day our

[2:22:17] residents are actually not

[2:22:17] they're not hearing they don't

[2:22:21] know is an actual challenge in

[2:22:21] the city because that connects

[2:22:25] directly to the services that

[2:22:26] they are concerned about.

[2:22:27] Um anyway, so to Councilmember

[2:22:31] Foster's point, I do think that

[2:22:32] separation between general fund

[2:22:32] and enterprise is really

[2:22:33] important because for those

[2:22:34] enterprise departments I would

[2:22:36] like to think that we are

[2:22:37] sufficiently staffed when it

[2:22:41] comes to technicians And again

[2:22:42] I don't know that the audit

[2:22:46] necessarily points that out but

[2:22:47] I'm going to guess that if that

[2:22:47] is still a problem even in

[2:22:48] those enterprise funded

[2:22:49] departments then we have a we

[2:22:51] have a pretty severe issue And

[2:22:52] if an enterprise one it

[2:22:55] departments we are not seeing

[2:22:56] the same backlogs but that

[2:22:57] means that we are currently

[2:23:00] masking the degree at which our

[2:23:06] general fleet is underfunded.

[2:23:07] I appreciate customer Yvonne

[2:23:07] Wolpert calling out the KPIs

[2:23:08] and sure I just want to thank

[2:23:11] you for just being honest about

[2:23:12] that because I think when we

[2:23:13] saw the in the audit report

[2:23:13] the fact that we've included

[2:23:17] these KPIs for a number of

[2:23:18] years but never reported on

[2:23:21] them yes I will agree that

[2:23:22] having the KPIs in the budget

[2:23:23] and then never hearing

[2:23:24] the results of it is not that

[2:23:27] helpful.

[2:23:28] But at the same point I do

[2:23:28] think we do want to see those

[2:23:29] returned back in the budget

[2:23:32] because they serve a purpose in

[2:23:32] actually tracking our progress

[2:23:33] moving forward.

[2:23:38] Um when I look at this audit

[2:23:39] the main problem that I see

[2:23:39] behind all of this is on

[2:23:42] the slide that talks about

[2:23:43] the shortage of fleet

[2:23:43] technicians.

[2:23:44] I don't think there's anything

[2:23:48] other than that one single line

[2:23:49] that defines the entire

[2:23:53] challenge the city faces.

[2:23:54] When you look at the change

[2:23:54] from 2021 to 2025 when our

[2:23:58] fleet technicians went from

[2:23:59] overseeing 34 vehicles on

[2:24:03] average to 39, I think that

[2:24:04] tells the entire story that we

[2:24:04] know.

[2:24:05] So you look at every other

[2:24:05] backlog that we've got other

[2:24:09] improvement opportunities

[2:24:09] That's all wonderful.

[2:24:10] I think you saw some questions

[2:24:11] or had some questions about

[2:24:14] where we are in terms of fleet

[2:24:15] coordinators to this point

[2:24:16] since the recommendations were

[2:24:20] adopted.

[2:24:20] I think it's important for us

[2:24:21] to get an update as to where

[2:24:21] they actually are.

[2:24:24] I'll admit it sounds like it's

[2:24:25] taking much longer than it

[2:24:26] should be just to collect

[2:24:26] contact information to update

[2:24:30] folks on where things are.

[2:24:31] But behind all of this I think

[2:24:35] is the true challenge which is

[2:24:36] that the city is severely short

[2:24:36] on fleet technician fleet

[2:24:40] technicians and that is leading

[2:24:41] directly into our shortfall in

[2:24:45] terms of maintaining

[2:24:46] the schedule that we need for

[2:24:46] vehicles.

[2:24:47] The only way I see us truly

[2:24:51] turning the corner on that is

[2:24:51] to actually add additional

[2:24:52] technicians and to consider

[2:24:56] the trade off in our budgets

[2:24:57] When we talk about short term

[2:24:58] needs versus long term cost of

[2:25:01] the city And again I think when

[2:25:02] we look at enterprise funded

[2:25:03] departments that gives us an

[2:25:03] example There should not be a

[2:25:07] single enterprise funded

[2:25:08] department that is not fully

[2:25:12] funded for its fleet needs

[2:25:13] because the shortfall that we

[2:25:14] see there translates directly

[2:25:18] into the next cost for repairs,

[2:25:18] for water, for trash or

[2:25:19] anything else.

[2:25:23] So if we're making those long

[2:25:24] term decisions they should be

[2:25:24] fully funded to the necessity

[2:25:28] that they have to provide

[2:25:29] the services.

[2:25:29] There's the mention It was sort

[2:25:34] of alluded to but I think I'll

[2:25:34] get straight to the core of it

[2:25:35] which was the consideration of

[2:25:36] changing the Fleet minute

[2:25:39] schedule and it sounded like

[2:25:39] what that was was to include

[2:25:40] weekends And I'm not going to

[2:25:44] opine on on whether that might

[2:25:45] add any ability from a schedule

[2:25:45] standpoint.

[2:25:49] I think the auditor pointed out

[2:25:50] that there are actually a lot

[2:25:51] of other challenges as they

[2:25:52] exist already in terms of when

[2:25:55] vehicles are brought in that

[2:25:56] contribute to the timeline.

[2:26:00] But I will say that I am not a

[2:26:01] believer that adding weekends

[2:26:02] into the schedule would

[2:26:05] actually change anything if

[2:26:06] there are no actual people that

[2:26:11] are being added with it.

[2:26:12] If we're just shifting the time

[2:26:12] frames in which people are

[2:26:16] working to the weekends frankly

[2:26:17] I'm not sure how other

[2:26:17] employees are going to drop off

[2:26:18] vehicles on weekends unless

[2:26:19] they're a department that is

[2:26:19] consistent working.

[2:26:22] Then I'm not sure that's

[2:26:23] actually I don't see where

[2:26:23] the resolution to that is If it

[2:26:26] doesn't actually add hours for

[2:26:27] the work to actually take

[2:26:27] place.

[2:26:28] So I appreciate the audit.

[2:26:32] I just think beyond the simple

[2:26:33] recommendations that we see

[2:26:34] here that certainly makes sense

[2:26:37] to all of us is this deeper

[2:26:38] rooted issue of building up

[2:26:38] number of technicians that we

[2:26:43] need to do the job

[2:26:43] appropriately.

[2:26:44] And I say this because I think

[2:26:48] as a reminder as we go out

[2:26:48] talking to the public and we

[2:26:49] talk about the shortfalls that

[2:26:50] the city has when it comes to

[2:26:53] potholes, repairing streets

[2:26:54] where the trash isn't getting

[2:26:54] picked up it actually all comes

[2:26:55] back to having people it's not

[2:26:58] just the people doing those

[2:26:58] jobs but it's the people

[2:26:59] ensuring that the vehicles that

[2:27:00] the city's purchasing and

[2:27:03] spending tons of money on can

[2:27:04] actually stay out on the street

[2:27:04] to do the job.

[2:27:05] So that's a message we've got

[2:27:08] to get across because again if

[2:27:09] we want to change that we're

[2:27:10] going to need an investment

[2:27:14] from those very people and

[2:27:14] the trust from them that will

[2:27:15] complete that job.

[2:27:15] So thank you.

[2:27:19] And again, just just to clarify

[2:27:20] ,Councilmember, I think I

[2:27:20] think you already know this but

[2:27:21] we didn't recommend changing

[2:27:24] the schedule.

[2:27:25] We recommended scheduling

[2:27:26] appointments to kind of smooth

[2:27:26] out their workload and also

[2:27:30] looking at adding certain

[2:27:31] classifications of employees to

[2:27:32] help with with the workload as

[2:27:35] well.

[2:27:36] Yeah, I certainly understood

[2:27:36] that.

[2:27:37] I think because we heard from

[2:27:37] the department that there was a

[2:27:41] consideration that that might

[2:27:42] be something that is being

[2:27:42] discussed.

[2:27:43] I mean I'll say very upfront

[2:27:43] that I don't see that being

[2:27:46] resolved without actually

[2:27:47] having more people.

[2:27:48] I, I would just like to provide

[2:27:51] a comment on the weekends.

[2:27:52] So what we have going on right

[2:27:57] now is I have volunteers that

[2:27:57] will work overtime on a

[2:28:01] Saturday actually is averaging

[2:28:02] 44 on a Saturday just at

[2:28:06] Choice division If I have a

[2:28:07] Sunday as well that's almost

[2:28:08] 100 that I can get at a

[2:28:08] weekend because if

[2:28:12] transportation is out paving a

[2:28:13] street and they have eight

[2:28:13] vehicles they need to do it.

[2:28:14] They're not going to turn into

[2:28:15] one if they need all eight.

[2:28:17] So what we try to do with come

[2:28:18] up with a way that is one

[2:28:21] weekend day they get a 410 plan

[2:28:22] that will get three days off.

[2:28:23] I have other departments or

[2:28:25] other repair facilities where

[2:28:26] they work five days a week.

[2:28:27] The other technicians would

[2:28:27] love to have a 410 schedule and

[2:28:31] it was just trying to figure a

[2:28:31] way to get more labor hours

[2:28:32] that wouldn't have departments

[2:28:36] that work five days a week.

[2:28:36] >> That's all we were trying to

[2:28:37] do with that.

[2:28:38] Well I certainly look forward

[2:28:40] to I'm sure you'll be talking

[2:28:41] to folks about what a potential

[2:28:42] for implementation is.

[2:28:45] I think for me it does Again

[2:28:46] just come down to beyond just

[2:28:47] having those hours having

[2:28:48] the actual capacity to do

[2:28:51] the work and I imagine there

[2:28:52] are a lot of complications to

[2:28:52] looking at both adding

[2:28:53] Saturdays and Sundays if we're

[2:28:56] already looking at overtime for

[2:28:57] one of them or I mean imagine

[2:29:01] it's even more challenging to

[2:29:02] shift that from overtime to

[2:29:02] requiring that those are

[2:29:03] the actual days that people

[2:29:03] work.

[2:29:06] So I see no other comments from

[2:29:07] colleagues that does bring us

[2:29:08] to the end of this item as

[2:29:08] well.

[2:29:10] Thank you to the Office of

[2:29:11] the City Order for both

[2:29:16] presentations and with that we

[2:29:17] will now take up non agenda

[2:29:21] public comment that Council

[2:29:22] members respect and appreciate

[2:29:22] the public's input and are

[2:29:23] fully committed to protecting

[2:29:26] every free every participants

[2:29:27] free speech rights at council

[2:29:27] and committee meetings.

[2:29:28] Quickly please proceed with

[2:29:29] knowledge and public comment.

[2:29:32] Thank you Council PRESIDENT Pro

[2:29:33] Tempore Role 2.7 not agenda

[2:29:33] Public comment is an

[2:29:34] opportunity for members of

[2:29:37] the public to comment on items

[2:29:38] that are not on the agenda but

[2:29:39] within the subject matter

[2:29:39] jurisdiction of the City

[2:29:40] Council.

[2:29:42] Each speaker will have two

[2:29:42] minutes.

[2:29:43] Please note if there are more

[2:29:44] than eight speakers on a single

[2:29:47] topic the time will be 16

[2:29:48] minutes.

[2:29:48] If you are in chambers please

[2:29:49] submit your speaker slip If you

[2:29:53] are joining us virtually please

[2:29:53] raise your hand by tapping

[2:29:54] the raise your hand icon or if

[2:29:57] you're calling Participant Star

[2:29:58] nine here in chambers we have

[2:29:58] Suzanne tell if you'd please

[2:30:01] come up to the podium You will

[2:30:01] have two minutes when you're

[2:30:06] ready.

[2:30:07] >> Good afternoon.

[2:30:11] My name is Suzanne Gelb.

[2:30:12] I am director for Division two

[2:30:13] Padre Town Municipal Water

[2:30:13] District.

[2:30:17] Today though, I am speaking as

[2:30:18] a private citizen of San Diego

[2:30:18] County.

[2:30:21] Last week the city of San Diego

[2:30:22] displayed a bar graph itemizing

[2:30:23] average monthly water bills for

[2:30:26] the San Diego County Water

[2:30:27] Agency.

[2:30:27] The city of San Diego did not

[2:30:32] contact Padre Dan mwd for data

[2:30:33] for this graph.

[2:30:33] I request the City of San Diego

[2:30:34] to release the data and

[2:30:38] the methods used to create this

[2:30:38] bar graph.

[2:30:42] >> Last week's proposed 63%

[2:30:43] water and 31% rate increases

[2:30:47] are unnecessary.

[2:30:47] Why?

[2:30:48] In my opinion the rate hikes

[2:30:52] are due primarily to failed

[2:30:53] business transactions produced

[2:30:53] by the San Diego County Water

[2:30:54] Authority.

[2:30:58] For example, the San Diego

[2:30:59] County Water Authority take or

[2:30:59] pay contract for desalinated

[2:31:02] water guarantees each year more

[2:31:07] profit for private investors in

[2:31:07] Europe.

[2:31:08] Consequently, the city of San

[2:31:09] Diego's proposed double digit

[2:31:09] water rate hikes.

[2:31:13] We'll provide more profit for

[2:31:13] foreign investors at

[2:31:18] the expense of San Diego

[2:31:18] residents and voters.

[2:31:19] There are affordable

[2:31:23] alternatives to these rate

[2:31:24] hikes.

[2:31:24] Padre Dam Municipal Water

[2:31:25] District a five year business

[2:31:28] plan guarantees a0I repeat 0%

[2:31:33] water and sewer rate increase

[2:31:33] for 2023 to 2027.

[2:31:38] I encourage the San Diego City

[2:31:39] Council to meet with Padre Dam

[2:31:44] Mwb Padre Dam mwd and City of

[2:31:45] San Diego can in the spirit of

[2:31:49] bipartisanship examine and

[2:31:50] discuss the range of

[2:31:54] alternatives to ever increasing

[2:31:54] water and sewer rate hikes.

[2:31:59] >> Thank you very much.

[2:32:00] Thank you.

[2:32:00] I started the five minute timer

[2:32:01] going to those participating

[2:32:01] remotely.

[2:32:04] We currently have seven people

[2:32:05] in the queue.

[2:32:05] Francine Maxwell If you can

[2:32:08] please unmute.

[2:32:09] >> Good afternoon Francine

[2:32:14] Maxwell Southeastern San Diego

[2:32:14] resident.

[2:32:15] I'm concerned with the lack of

[2:32:15] attention.

[2:32:19] Given by the city of San Diego

[2:32:19] for the adjournments especially

[2:32:24] the public Safety Committee

[2:32:25] when the people were excited to

[2:32:29] see our new commissioner that

[2:32:30] are being onboarded But

[2:32:30] the fact that the annual report

[2:32:35] is still in draft form the fact

[2:32:35] that the interim executive

[2:32:40] Director Council decides not to

[2:32:40] follow the city council and

[2:32:41] when there's an informational

[2:32:45] item allow the public comment

[2:32:46] to speak on it.

[2:32:47] He has decided to use Robert's

[2:32:50] Rules of Order incorrectly and

[2:32:51] this is being allowed.

[2:32:52] I think there was a

[2:32:55] councilmember today on

[2:32:56] the diocese that mentioned why

[2:32:57] don't you talk to the officers

[2:33:01] and meet and confer or be

[2:33:01] different?

[2:33:02] Why doesn't the chair of public

[2:33:02] safety bring in the community

[2:33:05] and hold a hearing?

[2:33:06] Is trust going to be on

[2:33:11] everybody's reelection

[2:33:11] materials?

[2:33:12] Because I'm sure hearing trust

[2:33:16] come from the diocese more than

[2:33:16] ever.

[2:33:17] You want us to trust you.

[2:33:21] You want the community to trust

[2:33:21] this and that.

[2:33:22] When you know that we literally

[2:33:25] can do a pray see who you're

[2:33:26] meeting with, where you're

[2:33:30] going And pretty much within 2

[2:33:31] to 3 phone calls find out what

[2:33:31] was done.

[2:33:32] And so trust is far, far away

[2:33:35] from those of you that are

[2:33:36] sitting on this diocese for

[2:33:37] the city of San Diego And what

[2:33:40] you are costing us.

[2:33:40] You've done some things that

[2:33:45] you need to atone to.

[2:33:46] Once you begin to apologize and

[2:33:50] ask for forgiveness then people

[2:33:51] can then begin to build trust

[2:33:52] in our elected officials within

[2:33:55] the city of San Diego.

[2:33:56] Cbp is absolutely independent

[2:34:01] and the more the city council

[2:34:01] continues to say that you can

[2:34:02] call the mayor's office or you

[2:34:06] can't it's the city council

[2:34:06] responsibility to make sure

[2:34:09] that our cip is everything that

[2:34:15] it needs to be.

[2:34:15] Thank you.

[2:34:16] Next is Blaire Beekman.

[2:34:16] After that Megan Stewart and a

[2:34:17] million male men.

[2:34:20] Claire please proceed.

[2:34:20] >> All right.

[2:34:21] Thank you.

[2:34:21] Thank you for that previous

[2:34:25] public comment.

[2:34:25] Good luck on the continuing

[2:34:26] work that the Commission.

[2:34:30] I wanted to comment that this

[2:34:30] council has a lot of

[2:34:34] complaining to do about

[2:34:35] previous practices, contract

[2:34:40] use issues and real kudos to

[2:34:41] all the efforts that

[2:34:41] Councilperson Persephone will

[2:34:42] produce been trying to do for

[2:34:45] the past few years to bring

[2:34:45] this to light.

[2:34:46] It's now brought to light.

[2:34:46] Thank you.

[2:34:51] You have a lot of work to

[2:34:51] continue to do.

[2:34:52] Good luck in those efforts As

[2:34:55] from that I'm trying to say we

[2:34:56] need to acknowledge what we're

[2:34:56] doing well and that we are

[2:35:00] doing some of this new

[2:35:01] accounting practice as well and

[2:35:01] it's sorely needed.

[2:35:05] How we can be addressing

[2:35:05] the future of our.

[2:35:09] These are issues of strong

[2:35:09] mare.

[2:35:10] It can drift into that.

[2:35:11] I hope we can keep steady with

[2:35:14] that.

[2:35:15] I just keep we feel that city

[2:35:18] Council has a more of a

[2:35:19] prerogative and good intentions

[2:35:24] to build what's fair and equal

[2:35:25] an equal process and an

[2:35:25] accountable process.

[2:35:29] And so I hope that we're taking

[2:35:30] seriously how we build

[2:35:30] the future of these practices

[2:35:35] and with that we acknowledge

[2:35:36] ourselves along the way that we

[2:35:36] are doing a good job together.

[2:35:40] We have to be doing that with

[2:35:40] tec accountability.

[2:35:41] Again, we are trying

[2:35:45] desperately to come out of an

[2:35:46] era of continual war and 911 in

[2:35:50] this country So these practices

[2:35:51] what we're doing is incredibly

[2:35:51] important to myself.

[2:35:54] Accountability is totally a

[2:35:55] part of that.

[2:35:55] The work we do here at

[2:35:59] the local level asks what

[2:36:00] they're doing at the national

[2:36:00] and international level who

[2:36:04] keep voice during war.

[2:36:05] We have some promises of peace

[2:36:09] talks but countries are gearing

[2:36:09] up to build their economies

[2:36:10] towards war.

[2:36:14] What does that mean for us on

[2:36:15] the local level?

[2:36:15] We're building accountability

[2:36:16] and peace.

[2:36:19] That's what we share with

[2:36:19] the world and the world better

[2:36:20] listen to what we're doing well

[2:36:20] right now.

[2:36:24] Keep up the good work.

[2:36:24] >> Thank you.

[2:36:25] Thank you.

[2:36:25] Next is Megan Stewart.

[2:36:28] If you can please unmute.

[2:36:28] >> Thank you.

[2:36:29] Good afternoon council members.

[2:36:33] Thank you for the opportunity

[2:36:34] to speak today.

[2:36:34] My name's Megan Stewart and I

[2:36:35] work with youth in the world of

[2:36:38] public health prevention.

[2:36:39] >> OCTOBER 10th is World Mental

[2:36:39] Health Day which serves to

[2:36:43] remind us that mental health

[2:36:44] must be a priority in every

[2:36:45] policy decision.

[2:36:48] I want to draw your attention

[2:36:49] today to the effects of

[2:36:49] substance use, particularly

[2:36:53] marijuana on youth mental

[2:36:54] health and to urge stronger

[2:36:54] protections in how we regulate

[2:36:58] and promote it.

[2:36:59] >> DR. Daniel Arman,

[2:36:59] psychiatrist and brain imaging

[2:37:03] specialists reports that and

[2:37:03] studies comparing about 1000

[2:37:07] marijuana users to over 25,000

[2:37:08] non-users using spect brain

[2:37:08] imaging.

[2:37:12] Marijuana users show lower

[2:37:13] cerebral blood flow across

[2:37:18] nearly every brain region.

[2:37:18] The hippocampus critical for

[2:37:19] memory and learning was

[2:37:19] especially affected.

[2:37:23] These findings challenge

[2:37:23] the portrayal of marijuana as a

[2:37:27] harmless substance.

[2:37:28] What's especially dangerous is

[2:37:29] that young adult brains are

[2:37:29] still under development.

[2:37:33] DR. Ahmed warns that when

[2:37:33] someone begins using marijuana

[2:37:38] before age 25 it can arrest

[2:37:38] normal brain maturation.

[2:37:39] If you heard it early, he says

[2:37:42] it might not ever catch up.

[2:37:43] There's also evidence that

[2:37:44] consistent marijuana use MAY

[2:37:44] accelerate brain aging by an

[2:37:48] estimated three years on

[2:37:49] average in people with

[2:37:49] marijuana use disorder.

[2:37:53] These harms are not

[2:37:54] theoretical.

[2:37:57] Local surveys show that only

[2:37:57] 32% of youth believe marijuana

[2:37:58] is extremely bad or very bad

[2:38:02] for them compared to 75% who

[2:38:03] feel that way about tobacco.

[2:38:07] These perceptions matter

[2:38:08] because when youth see

[2:38:08] normalizing messages and ads,

[2:38:14] billboards or permissive public

[2:38:14] policy it weakens prevention

[2:38:15] efforts not only during this

[2:38:18] month but every month.

[2:38:18] I would like to urge

[2:38:19] the Council to act with courage

[2:38:20] in protecting the mental health

[2:38:22] of San Diego youth.

[2:38:23] Please strive to adopt strong

[2:38:24] limits on marijuana

[2:38:24] advertising.

[2:38:28] Enforce clear restrictions

[2:38:28] around access for youth.

[2:38:29] Stringent protections against

[2:38:33] normalization in public spaces

[2:38:33] including promoting smoke free

[2:38:34] spaces.

[2:38:34] >> Your time has concluded.

[2:38:37] Next as Million Dollar Man If

[2:38:42] you can please unmute.

[2:38:43] Okay I promise I'll keep my

[2:38:47] composure.

[2:38:48] I agree with the previous

[2:38:52] speaker on marijuana If she's

[2:38:53] still in the room she can call

[2:38:53] me.

[2:38:54] We'll talk about it.

[2:38:58] But I also agree what MR.

[2:38:58] Foster made a very very

[2:39:03] intelligent question and I

[2:39:04] completely agree on what he was

[2:39:07] talking about but I'd like to

[2:39:08] talk about something that you

[2:39:13] will you'll never believe this

[2:39:14] and I have to get it off my

[2:39:14] chest.

[2:39:18] A lady in my neighborhood came

[2:39:19] over to my house about a year

[2:39:23] and a half ago and I told her I

[2:39:24] said, you know, I ride my

[2:39:25] peloton bike on my driveway in

[2:39:29] my thong bikini and I get a lot

[2:39:29] of abuse from people.

[2:39:33] And she said don't worry about

[2:39:33] it, Danny, I I'm with the Pride

[2:39:38] parade and I agree with you and

[2:39:38] you get pride and you ran in

[2:39:39] pride and we're all for you and

[2:39:43] don't worry about it You can.

[2:39:44] Well anyway, a couple of days

[2:39:48] ago our next door accom

[2:39:49] the same lady commented on my

[2:39:54] thong bikini and she said No

[2:39:55] one will vote for you because

[2:39:55] you you wear that thong bikini

[2:39:56] on your driveway.

[2:40:02] Well the lady is the partner of

[2:40:07] Gen Campbell and my opponent is

[2:40:12] work for Gen Campbell and he's

[2:40:13] gay and he's on the Pride

[2:40:16] committee And if you don't

[2:40:22] think that oh my GOD, you know

[2:40:27] I've I've seen it all and I've

[2:40:28] heard it all until until now.

[2:40:32] But but nothing could be more

[2:40:36] blatantly disgustingly

[2:40:37] hypocritical than what I just

[2:40:41] told you and my friends

[2:40:42] everything is fair in love and

[2:40:47] war in all ad politics.

[2:40:48] >> Your time has concluded

[2:40:48] Madison if you can please

[2:40:52] unmute I'm beginning council

[2:40:52] members.

[2:40:57] >> My name is Madison and I'm

[2:40:57] here tonight to speak in

[2:40:58] support of Youth Drug

[2:40:58] Prevention Month and to draw

[2:41:02] your attention to an important

[2:41:03] emerging public health concern

[2:41:03] which is second hand exposure

[2:41:07] to e-cigarette and tobacco

[2:41:07] smoke among youth, according to

[2:41:11] a newly released study from

[2:41:12] the 2023 National Youth Tobacco

[2:41:12] Survey.

[2:41:15] Over 64% of us students in

[2:41:16] grades six through 12 which

[2:41:20] amounts to an estimated 18

[2:41:21] million children reported

[2:41:24] exposure to second hand

[2:41:25] e-cigarette or tobacco smoke

[2:41:25] within the past 30 days.

[2:41:29] That means most of our youth

[2:41:29] are routinely breathing in

[2:41:30] harmful substances even if they

[2:41:31] don't personally use these

[2:41:34] products.

[2:41:35] The study found that second

[2:41:35] hand exposure especially to

[2:41:39] e-cigarettes is strongly

[2:41:39] associated with the early

[2:41:40] stages of youth e-cigarette use

[2:41:44] including increases of debility

[2:41:45] and experimentation.

[2:41:46] For example, students exposed

[2:41:50] to e-cigarette vapor were more

[2:41:50] than twice as likely to try

[2:41:51] e-cigarettes compared to those

[2:41:54] with no exposure though

[2:41:55] the study didn't find a direct

[2:41:56] link between secondhand

[2:42:01] exposure and daily use or quit

[2:42:01] attempts.

[2:42:02] The findings are clear.

[2:42:06] Exposure drives initiation.

[2:42:06] As we recognize OCTOBER as

[2:42:07] Youth Prevention Month and

[2:42:11] prepare for Red Ribbon Week, I

[2:42:12] urge this Council to consider

[2:42:12] strategies to reduce youth

[2:42:16] exposure in public spaces

[2:42:16] especially parks, schools and

[2:42:17] multifamily housing.

[2:42:21] We must ensure our local

[2:42:22] environments protect and not

[2:42:22] endanger our young people by

[2:42:27] limiting second hand exposure.

[2:42:28] We don't just protect lungs, we

[2:42:28] protect futures.

[2:42:32] Thank you for your time and

[2:42:33] continued commitment to public

[2:42:33] health.

[2:42:33] >> Thank you.

[2:42:34] Next is Barbara Gordon After

[2:42:40] that will be Kathleen Lippert.

[2:42:41] Good afternoon.

[2:42:45] I wanted to recognize that

[2:42:46] OCTOBER is substance use

[2:42:46] prevention month.

[2:42:51] I think increasing public

[2:42:51] awareness of the dangers of

[2:42:56] substance use and its effect on

[2:42:56] the community is vital.

[2:42:57] This month provides an

[2:42:57] opportunity to remember

[2:43:01] the value of prevention

[2:43:02] prevention, preventing

[2:43:07] substance use like vaping or

[2:43:08] marijuana at before it starts.

[2:43:09] It's a crucial part of a

[2:43:12] comprehensive approach to

[2:43:13] addressing our addiction

[2:43:13] crisis.

[2:43:17] Substance use trends in

[2:43:18] the U.S. Have changed in recent

[2:43:22] years, especially with

[2:43:23] the landscape of marijuana

[2:43:24] which is the most common

[2:43:28] substance among our 12 to 25

[2:43:29] year olds.

[2:43:30] And that is being treated for

[2:43:33] substance abuse disorder,

[2:43:34] outpatient or inpatient.

[2:43:38] It says in 2020 for e-r visits

[2:43:39] linked to marijuana surpassed

[2:43:43] those driven by opiates and

[2:43:44] those related only to marijuana

[2:43:44] use.

[2:43:52] Rose 37% in 2021 to 58% in

[2:43:52] 2024.

[2:43:53] Marijuana use has played a

[2:43:57] significant bit role in

[2:43:58] the overall substance abuse in

[2:43:58] America.

[2:44:03] The National Survey on Drug Use

[2:44:07] and Health data in 2024 saw

[2:44:07] 20.1 million cases of marijuana

[2:44:12] use disorder vastly more than

[2:44:12] opiate cocaine or meth.

[2:44:17] The city must not prioritize

[2:44:17] marijuana businesses while

[2:44:18] ignoring the risk factors.

[2:44:23] We must do more to enact

[2:44:23] protective factors that buffer

[2:44:28] and educate young people about

[2:44:28] the harms of substance use and

[2:44:29] abuse.

[2:44:33] Thank you for letting me speak

[2:44:33] .

[2:44:34] Thank you.

[2:44:34] Next is Kathleen Lippert.

[2:44:35] If you can please unmute after

[2:44:39] that is the original 77499.

[2:44:39] Please proceed.

[2:44:40] Thank you.

[2:44:40] Good afternoon.

[2:44:44] Cheryle and committee members.

[2:44:45] >> Those of us who follow

[2:44:45] public health research

[2:44:49] celebrated the governor's

[2:44:49] signing of ab 455 a law

[2:44:50] requiring sellers of single

[2:44:54] family residential properties

[2:44:55] to disclose in writing previous

[2:44:55] smoking or vaping on

[2:44:59] the property.

[2:45:00] The Department of Toxic

[2:45:01] Substances Control will update

[2:45:05] the homeowner's guide to

[2:45:05] environmental Hazards to

[2:45:06] include information on

[2:45:07] the dangers of the chemical

[2:45:11] residue left by smoking and

[2:45:12] before 55 would not have been

[2:45:16] necessary if a cost benefit

[2:45:16] analysis of the unintended

[2:45:20] harmful impacts on the public

[2:45:21] and the environment had been

[2:45:22] undertaken.

[2:45:22] Public electeds and the public

[2:45:27] would have recognize that

[2:45:27] the harms from agreeing to a

[2:45:28] policy and bargain of treating

[2:45:32] public health safety and

[2:45:33] the environment for promised

[2:45:34] drug revenues were predictable.

[2:45:38] The adverse health impacts on

[2:45:39] the public and the environment

[2:45:40] will take generations and

[2:45:43] hundreds of millions of dollars

[2:45:44] to uncover and even longer to

[2:45:44] mitigate.

[2:45:49] But much of the damage to

[2:45:49] the lives of users, their

[2:45:50] family of communities and

[2:45:54] environmental damage to public

[2:45:54] parks state, county and federal

[2:45:59] lands MAY never be remediated

[2:46:00] in accordance with the state's

[2:46:00] decision to protect the public

[2:46:04] from the harms of third hand

[2:46:04] smoke could be furthered if

[2:46:08] the city would take similar

[2:46:09] steps to adopt an ordinance

[2:46:10] requiring all low income,

[2:46:14] public and private properties

[2:46:15] be smoke free.

[2:46:15] Thank you for letting me speak.

[2:46:16] Thank you.

[2:46:20] Next is the original If you can

[2:46:22] please unmute then 749 and 1384

[2:46:28] is our final speaker.

[2:46:29] >> The original academy before

[2:46:29] you?

[2:46:29] Yeah.

[2:46:34] I wanted to know when going to

[2:46:34] audit Tent City.

[2:46:39] I want to know how many more

[2:46:40] people are going to need to die

[2:46:45] before something because like I

[2:46:49] said a minute ago Shannon from

[2:46:50] the earlier fall has passed

[2:46:51] away a couple of weeks ago on

[2:46:55] Thursday.

[2:47:00] She died of an overdose and she

[2:47:00] was 49 years old And just

[2:47:05] before that Tammy Jackson was

[2:47:06] 37 as well died in her chair.

[2:47:11] And again, people are being

[2:47:11] sexually assaulted.

[2:47:16] You know, and when Shannon died

[2:47:17] the employees are sitting there

[2:47:17] saying don't give her anything

[2:47:18] like don't give her nor can she

[2:47:21] give her life could have been

[2:47:22] saved if they weren't getting

[2:47:26] instructions that were deadly

[2:47:26] to me.

[2:47:27] And you guys sit there and you

[2:47:28] say that you know, you're

[2:47:31] helping homeless people and

[2:47:32] they're literally dying on your

[2:47:32] watch and you're not doing

[2:47:36] anything about it but laughing

[2:47:37] And I just don't understand

[2:47:37] that It's like you know, I mean

[2:47:38] even the food that they're

[2:47:42] contracted to give none of

[2:47:43] these guys would eat that.

[2:47:43] You sit up on that diet and you

[2:47:47] gloat like you're helping

[2:47:47] people and people I mean

[2:47:52] seriously, who else has to die

[2:47:52] ?

[2:47:53] Like how many times do I have

[2:47:54] to say it and then come back

[2:47:55] and report that someone else

[2:47:58] has died And it shouldn't be

[2:47:59] that you know, Steven is

[2:48:03] sitting there laughing about

[2:48:03] it.

[2:48:04] These are people's lives who go

[2:48:05] into those centers thinking

[2:48:08] that they're going to get help

[2:48:09] and they don't.

[2:48:09] They get stuck there And then

[2:48:10] when something happens like

[2:48:14] they're being told to go into a

[2:48:19] bathroom and you know, give

[2:48:19] oral sex to an employee because

[2:48:23] he gave someone drugs and

[2:48:24] alcohol and then they're told

[2:48:24] not to report it And then just

[2:48:29] because they fire someone, that

[2:48:30] person is roaming the streets

[2:48:30] And this is all because of you

[2:48:34] guys.

[2:48:35] >> Your time has concluded Next

[2:48:40] 7499 if you can please unmute.

[2:48:45] >> Bob Kozinski here I want to

[2:48:46] start by saying good job to

[2:48:46] council member Von Wilpert for

[2:48:50] holding staff accountable here

[2:48:51] in council chambers and for not

[2:48:51] accepting a quote.

[2:48:55] We'll get back to you, answer

[2:48:55] Council member Von Wilpert If

[2:48:56] you use that level of passion

[2:48:57] to dig into the terrifying

[2:49:00] slide or issue you will find

[2:49:00] some surprises.

[2:49:01] We've never had a meeting and

[2:49:05] I'm hereby requesting a meeting

[2:49:06] with you Council member Von

[2:49:06] Wilpert.

[2:49:07] The City Clerk has my contact

[2:49:11] information if you should

[2:49:11] decide to honor that request.

[2:49:12] As I mentioned in my earlier

[2:49:16] comments, today's meeting

[2:49:16] highlights the gross

[2:49:17] mismanagement that is endemic

[2:49:17] throughout this city.

[2:49:21] We are seeing it everywhere.

[2:49:22] It's in the finance department.

[2:49:23] It's in the operations

[2:49:23] department.

[2:49:24] It's in the contracting

[2:49:26] department.

[2:49:27] It's everywhere throughout

[2:49:27] the city government.

[2:49:31] This city needs independent

[2:49:32] oversight from the top to

[2:49:32] the bottom.

[2:49:33] Former city leaders have

[2:49:37] recognized this need and that's

[2:49:38] why both citizen's committees

[2:49:38] and advisory boards are

[2:49:42] provided in the city charter.

[2:49:42] The auditor's office has

[2:49:43] uncovered some shocking things

[2:49:47] that they've looked into but

[2:49:47] the auditor's office cannot

[2:49:48] constantly review and inspect

[2:49:52] all of the contracts and

[2:49:53] departments and operations

[2:49:53] throughout this city.

[2:49:58] Furthermore, even the city

[2:49:58] auditors don't have

[2:49:59] the expertise to recognize all

[2:49:59] of the problems that might

[2:50:03] exist in this city.

[2:50:03] Councilmember Moreno got it

[2:50:04] right.

[2:50:04] The city does not have that

[2:50:08] broad expertise.

[2:50:09] It is therefore irresponsible

[2:50:10] of this council to deactivate

[2:50:13] any advisory boards such as

[2:50:14] the Torrey Pines City Park

[2:50:14] Advisory Board.

[2:50:19] I am again requesting that any

[2:50:20] one of you council members any

[2:50:24] one of you request an agenda

[2:50:24] item to reactivate the Torrey

[2:50:25] Pines City Park Advisory Board

[2:50:29] and bring that item to this

[2:50:29] Council.

[2:50:30] Any council member can do that

[2:50:30] so you're all accountable.

[2:50:31] Take the initiative.

[2:50:34] It's time to step up.

[2:50:35] Also good job to all public

[2:50:36] speakers especially Francine

[2:50:36] Maxwell.

[2:50:40] Very well said.

[2:50:40] >> Thank you.

[2:50:41] Thank you.

[2:50:42] Our final speaker is 1384.

[2:50:48] >> If you can please unmute.

[2:50:49] >> Ernie Casco La Hoya resident

[2:50:53] Senior pilot sdp.

[2:50:54] You referred me to the district

[2:50:58] attorney to stop the illegal

[2:50:59] commercialization of Torrey

[2:50:59] Pines by the board by an out of

[2:51:00] control sex shop flight

[2:51:04] director turning her freedom

[2:51:04] into a privilege for license

[2:51:05] and plea And this is completely

[2:51:09] illegal needs to stop $400

[2:51:10] annually to use the airport by

[2:51:14] threat of violence or else is

[2:51:15] completely unacceptable under

[2:51:15] any terms and retaliation.

[2:51:18] I've been assaulted given

[2:51:19] the deadly wing that collapsed

[2:51:20] in mid-flight.

[2:51:24] My hope is abated that with net

[2:51:25] sales poisoned with a deadly

[2:51:25] virus and a biohazard.

[2:51:29] Is the city committing genocide

[2:51:30] Because I'm dying with stage

[2:51:30] four cancer.

[2:51:31] It's time to compensate those

[2:51:35] who have been damaged falsely

[2:51:35] accused and arrested.

[2:51:36] The San Diego recreational

[2:51:40] waiver stops the crime, secures

[2:51:40] city liabilities, restores our

[2:51:41] constitutional recreational

[2:51:45] rights and freedoms back to

[2:51:46] the original agreement.

[2:51:47] I have a petition on Change.Org

[2:51:50] with nearly with over 600 700

[2:51:51] signatures demanding

[2:51:55] authorities take acid black

[2:51:56] Beach recreational scandal to

[2:51:56] stop the commercialization and

[2:52:00] privatization of the San Diego

[2:52:00] Park.

[2:52:01] It's time to end the dispute

[2:52:05] and implement the San Diego

[2:52:06] recreational waiver as

[2:52:06] the solution for JULY report.

[2:52:10] Thank you, Ernie Casco Thank

[2:52:10] you.

[2:52:11] >> And that does conclude non

[2:52:12] agenda public comment for

[2:52:15] today's meeting.

[2:52:16] >> Thanks to the public for

[2:52:21] their comments and I believe

[2:52:21] that brings us to the end of

[2:52:22] today's agenda.

[2:52:25] So we will now conclude today's

[2:52:30] meeting and oh yes sorry

[2:52:31] looking forward at first to

[2:52:31] the city attorney, do you have

[2:52:32] anything to report up from

[2:52:32] closed session?

[2:52:35] Yes, Thank you.

[2:52:36] Council PRESIDENT Pro Tem Today

[2:52:37] in a closed session meeting

[2:52:39] the city council took

[2:52:40] the following action.

[2:52:41] The city council voted on

[2:52:44] closed session item number one

[2:52:44] Lisa Castro versus city of San

[2:52:45] Diego.

[2:52:48] San Diego Superior Court case

[2:52:53] number 37 2023 55625cupo ctl To

[2:52:57] accept a signed settlement

[2:52:58] offer in the amount of

[2:52:58] $115,000.

[2:53:02] The motion passed 720 with

[2:53:02] council members LaCava and

[2:53:03] Marino absent.

[2:53:06] That concludes my report.

[2:53:07] >> Thanking the City Attorney's

[2:53:08] office will now adjourn council

[2:53:12] the next regularly scheduled

[2:53:12] council meeting on Tuesday

[2:53:21] OCTOBER 7th, 2025 at 10:00 am

City Council Meetings — Monday Agenda

Transcript