[0:15] Good afternoon everyone. It's Ona
Egnandez, council member for the first
[0:19] chair of the public works committee and
it's shortly after 2:30 and I'm calling
[0:22] this special meeting to order. Mr.
Espinosa, can you please call the role?
[0:28] » Thank you, Madam Chair. Council member
Hernandez,
[0:30] » present.
>> Council member Padilla,
[0:32] » present.
>> And council member Hut. Council member
[0:35] Hut is currently absent. So that's two
members and a quorum.
[0:37] » She's she's right here. Oh, she's coming
right now.
[0:42] Um, we'll just add her in when she comes
in. Thank you so much. Let's go ahead
[0:45] and move to public comment.
[0:49] [clears throat]
[0:51] Sorry, Mr. Costello Vega, can you please
read the instructions for public
[0:54] comment?
>> Yes, Madam Chair. We will now take
[0:56] public comment. As this is a special
meeting, there is no general public
[0:59] comment, only agenda item comment. When
your name is called, please come to the
[1:03] podium. As there is only one item on
today's agenda, you will have one minute
[1:07] to speak on that item. We will let you
know when your time is up. When speaking
[1:11] on the agenda items, you must be on
topic. If you are not speaking on topic
[1:14] or if we cannot tell if you are speaking
on topic, you will get one brief warning
[1:18] from the chair or me. If you do not
immediately get back on topic or again
[1:22] straight off topic, the chair will cut
you off and you will forfeit the rest of
[1:26] your speaking time. Thank you,
[1:31] » Ashley.
When I call your name, can you please
[1:34] line up behind the podium? Audit LA,
Lara FM, Rachel Golding.
[1:43] » Going once.
>> Other speakers, Dustin Go, Ty Foreman
[1:52] went twice. All right, since we have no
speakers, we're going to go ahead and uh
[1:57] close public comment.
[2:01] Colleagues, today we only have one item
on the agenda to learn about the board
[2:06] and bureau's fiscal year 2026 2027
budget letters. Budget letters that I
[2:12] may add are public. This is a critical
first look at how our core public work
[2:17] works functions are being proposed for
the next budget cycle. Having these
[2:22] discussions now is essential to
anticipate service delivery impacts and
[2:26] budget trade-offs.
[2:29] And let's be real, uh we remain in a
difficult financial position and we will
[2:33] have to make more difficult decisions in
the next budget cycle, especially with
[2:37] the looming threat of cuts from the
federal government, economic uh
[2:41] volatility, and rising costs. We need to
clearly understand the budget request
[2:45] and what it will mean on the ground for
residents, such as street and sidewalk
[2:49] conditions, cleanliness and sanitation
services, street lighting reliability,
[2:54] and safety. Although this is not the
final version, the mayor will the mayor
[2:59] will release her budget on April 20th,
which will include the proposed fiscal
[3:03] year 2026 2027 budget allocation for
each program and staffing positions.
[3:09] This [clears throat] is an early
opportunity to understand the department
[3:12] requests and prepare for budget season.
Um, now we're going to go ahead and um
[3:18] get started with item number one. Mr.
Espinosa, can you please read the item
[3:21] into the record?
Thank you, Madam Chair. Item number one
[3:26] is a verbal discussion for the board
board of public works and the public
[3:30] works bureau's current funding levels
fiscal year 2026 and 27 funding request
[3:36] funding changes from the fiscal year
202526
[3:40] budget and core program and service
impacts.
[3:44] » Thank you, Mr. Spinosa. We will have a
total of six presentations. We will be
[3:49] joined by the Bureau of Street Services,
the Bureau of Sanitation, the Bureau of
[3:53] Engineering, the Bureau of Street
Lighting, the Bureau of Contract
[3:56] Administration, and the Board of Public
Works. For this meeting, we asked the
[4:01] board and bureaus to walk us through
their fiscal year 2026 2027 budget
[4:06] requests. And in um number one providing
an overview of the funding changes
[4:10] between this uh fiscal year uh any
proposed program changes or budgetary
[4:15] reductions, core program funding levels,
anticipated impacts to service delivery
[4:21] and any new or increased funding
requests. I have reviewed the submitted
[4:25] presentations and it is clear everyone
had the same tutor for this assignment.
[4:31] Not everything we requested was
submitted and presentations came off the
[4:34] same and uh we do our homework in this
house. So, uh I just want to share that
[4:41] if you are presenting today, please pull
up your budget letter and be prepared to
[4:45] refer to it to answer questions today.
This committee appreciates the work our
[4:49] city employees do and looks forward to a
good and maybe at times tough
[4:53] conversation today. But it's all with
love and it's all to move our city
[4:56] forward. That said, can we have
representatives from the Bureau Street
[5:00] Services join us at the table? Uh,
please introduce yourselves.
[5:24] » Thank you, Keith. Can you press the
button, please?
[5:27] Thank you.
>> Good afternoon. Shirley Laauo, executive
[5:30] officer for street services.
>> Thank you. Please take it away.
[5:35] » Uh, yes. I'll go ahead with a very brief
presentation. Um, let me
[5:41] All right.
[5:47] So uh
as uh members you all know these uh
[5:52] what's before you on this slide these
are a lot of our very uh important core
[5:57] services and core programs that um uh we
at the Bureau of Street Services were
[6:03] very proud of these services have been
reduced um in fiscal year 2526.
[6:10] Shown here are the percentages in red
that represent uh respective percent
[6:16] decrease in both position authorities
and the budget funding in fiscal year
[6:21] 2526.
Um the next slide uh we wanted to
[6:26] highlight that since fiscal year 23 24
the adopted budgets and the number of
[6:31] authorized positions for the bureau has
decreased by 26% or 406 positions.
[6:39] many positions that um we feel are
critical for this bureau are and uh
[6:45] we'll start with these three um and then
uh Keith can probably elaborate on why
[6:51] these three are very very critical to
the bureau. Um they're the heavy duty
[6:54] truck operators, the truck operators and
equipment operators. We use these three
[7:00] classifications across the bureau in all
of our uh core services. They hold
[7:04] commercial license. Uh without them we
can't really operate efficiently or
[7:10] operate at all. They drive our
commercial trucks. They uh operate our
[7:14] key equipment to maintain our streets,
repair our potholes, maintain our urban
[7:19] forest, and reconstruct sidewalks and
access ramps. Um, I understand uh
[7:26] uh council member and uh there's other
other um people very interested in what
[7:31] we're doing this year with the large
asphalt repairs. And um Keith can
[7:36] probably elaborate right here since
we're on this slide on these particular
[7:40] positions and why they're critical to uh
our paving operations and specifically
[7:45] our current uh large asphalt repair
work.
[7:48] » Yes. And if I could just I just want to
get clarity real quick, Shirley. So, in
[7:53] the last two fiscal years, correct me if
I'm wrong, if I'm seeing this correctly,
[7:59] you all have lost 26% of your staffing
authority. So, like the staff that
[8:04] actually do the work in the department.
Is that correct?
[8:07] » Correct. It's a deletion of prior
vacancies. Yes, correct. Okay. Yeah.
[8:12] » Does that include also any filled
positions or just vacant positions?
[8:16] » Uh, no filled positions. Those were
restored.
[8:19] » Okay, great. Um please Keith, thank you.
>> Um so in addition to that uh two years
[8:24] prior to that we lost the contract truck
program of 96 heavy duty uh drivers so
[8:29] to speak that were basically hauling
asphalt uh for us. Then subsequently in
[8:33] the following year we lost 136 of these
positions in total the heavy duty truck
[8:36] operator truck operator and equipment
operator. And these are the folks that
[8:41] drive you know the that haul asphalt,
haul grindings, haul all our materials
[8:45] to and from our job sites and are also
our equipment operators. Without these
[8:49] positions, basically we're ineffective
in trying to do our work. That's one of
[8:53] the reasons why we had to pivot to doing
large asphalt repairs because this
[8:56] current fiscal year, we do not have
enough drivers, truck drivers, basically
[9:00] to haul our asphalt material. So, we
have to pivot to basically doing a
[9:04] pavement preservation practice called
buminous patching, which is a large
[9:07] asphalt repair. And we're doing that on
uh basically high visibility corridors,
[9:12] highly travel corridors where basically
you see a lot of rollups, failures and
[9:16] things like that to stabilize those
areas and make those areas uh safe and
[9:19] passable in addition to also uh losing
some positions in other field
[9:24] classifications that also do the the
work.
[9:27] » And I'll pass it to and and we're going
to be peppering y'all. So just uh there
[9:33] won't be like a Q&A at the end. There
might still be. But um Keith, can you um
[9:41] like I want people to understand really
like why do you need heavy truck
[9:44] operators? Um why are they so critical
to the mission of the Bureau Street
[9:48] Services?
>> So on any given day um right now I have
[9:52] six resurfacing crews. I should have 10
hypothetically. U but with that being
[9:57] said I have 24 trucks dedicated to these
six crews and that's just not enough.
[10:02] Each crew needs about say you know say
10 to 14 trucks up top more depending on
[10:07] on the work location that they're
working at. So right now basically
[10:10] they're only because of the lack of
trucking I can limit it to just small
[10:14] these large asphalt repairs these
smaller type repairs. I can't basically
[10:18] do full on resurfacing on a given fiscal
year. We should be paving upwards of say
[10:24] I'll say 6 to 700 lane miles of streets.
This year I'm limited be also because of
[10:29] our limited capacity to construct access
ramps to 60 lane miles. So it's a big
[10:33] difference. The large asphalt repairs
that we're going to make this year,
[10:37] we're under well over a thousand. And
this will include, you know, alley
[10:40] locations, some other locations or other
places where we need to make the road
[10:44] safe and pass boat. We're looking at
locations where we're getting a lot of
[10:47] 311 complaints due to storm damage or
other things um and like that. and also
[10:52] at intersection where you see a lot of
different like say rollups or where the
[10:56] asphalt shop.
>> Thank you. And
[11:01] » okay um and so
you talked about why they're critical
[11:07] but now because we don't have them we're
limited into what we can do what we can
[11:11] focus on which is the large asphalt
repairs. Right. Correct.
[11:14] » But if we had those those truck
operators what could we do? So basically
[11:20] um this is also in addition to street
resurfacing it also includes our pothole
[11:24] trucks and things like that that are
impacted by this the the reduction in
[11:28] truck operators and heavy duty truck
operators. So with this we'd be able to
[11:32] do more asphalt related work more full
scale paving and things like that but
[11:36] also again part of our issue also not
having the capacity to do access ramps
[11:42] which is critical to street resurfacing.
So in order to do a robust 2400 say lane
[11:48] mile program like we've done like say
that was a best practice for us years
[11:51] ago we've had we had ample amount of
trucking and capacity now uh coupled
[11:57] with you know say meeting our federal
requirements for ADA installing ADA
[12:01] access ramps and meeting HA requirements
we need to have the capacity to build
[12:05] out these access ramps well ahead of the
paving crew and right now uh this year
[12:10] we're only limited to say doing only 300
uh construction of access ramps So, we
[12:14] need more capacity that in that arena.
>> Great. And so, these positions would
[12:19] help with that. Right.
>> Correct.
[12:20] » Great. Can I I'll pass it to you,
Councilwoman Padilla.
[12:26] » This is not much of a a question. and I
um empathize with the amount of people
[12:29] that you've lost um over the last couple
of years, but I wanted to just bring it
[12:34] to your attention that I have
constituents who have been telling me
[12:37] that in the
you know, it's a it's a
[12:43] it's a it's an asset when we have street
sweeping, but I've been getting more and
[12:48] more complaints about LA DOT not doing
their part to put up postings so that
[12:55] your street sweepers can sweep
um closer to the curb. Can you tell us
[13:01] about those observations? Are you
hearing it as well? And and how do we
[13:04] improve that?
>> So, we do um just to let you know our
[13:08] street sweepers, we have 79 motor
sweeper operators um in the bureau. And
[13:13] um on average, we're probably running
like say uh 60some sweepers per day. And
[13:19] uh we lost uh we used to have 103 motor
sweepers and during SIP basically a lot
[13:24] retired. And then in the subsequent
years as far as when positions were
[13:28] lost, they weren't backfilled. During
CO, we had to switch to bi-weekly
[13:33] sweeping because of our staffing uh
shortages in that particular area. We
[13:37] have the sweepers as far as the machines
themselves, but we don't have the
[13:40] positions right now to fill the seats uh
fill those seats. So, we had to switch
[13:45] to bi-weekly sweeping and also um we did
receive monies to sweep some of our
[13:50] commercial corridors, which we sweep in
the AM routes. So we do send a uh we do
[13:55] coordinate with L DOT on a daily weekly
basis. They we have like we uh share
[14:01] information electronically uh verbally
and by phone and we do meet with them to
[14:04] talk about these things to where there
are days to where we do need their
[14:08] support. Um I can't speak to their um
maybe staffing issues or other issues
[14:12] that they may be having but I can tell
we do communicate them. So it's
[14:16] important for as you mentioned that they
come out and do their part as far as to
[14:21] say ticket a vehicle or get a vehicle to
move and then our sweepers
[14:24] [clears throat] as you mentioned can get
closer to the curb.
[14:27] » Yeah. Because it happened in my where I
live where I saw the sweeper go down the
[14:31] middle and nothing near the curb and
then I have constituents sending me
[14:36] videos. Um so maybe it's something I'll
take up with them but it is something
[14:40] that I think um as budget season
approaches that we we talk about how to
[14:44] improve this.
>> Yes. And also on the next slide you have
[14:48] that you need these positions right. Can
you tell us a little bit more about the
[14:51] actual number uh because you said other
key positions being requested are the
[14:55] motor sweep uh sweeper operators right?
>> Yes. So basically the bureau um we have
[15:02] approximately 1100 uh positions in the
bureau of street services currently and
[15:06] we do need uh all these positions across
the board because we're also losing
[15:10] people to attrition retirements or
promotions are going other places and
[15:14] things like that and so these again are
more uh critical positions the tree
[15:18] sergeants to trim the trees obviously
carpenters that basically form uh they
[15:23] work on our grant related projects and
our ADA access grant program uh
[15:27] projects. So we need all these positions
basically to make the bureau uh operate
[15:31] efficiently and effectively uh no matter
what we do.
[15:34] » I have one question.
>> Go ahead.
[15:37] » Um
>> thank you.
[15:40] » HLA um is completely changed the way you
prioritize uh street repaving. Can you
[15:47] tell us a little bit about what you're
doing to rethink that process?
[15:52] » Yeah, so basically there's it's not just
HLA, it's a federal ADA requirement.
[15:57] every time you basically change as far
as the say contour of the street by
[16:01] doing street resurfacing, we're required
by federal law to basically install
[16:05] access ramps. We're also working as far
as on other issues as it relates to
[16:10] that. And so just if you just forget HLA
just for a moment, just to meet federal
[16:15] ADA requirements, we have to install
these access ramps. Now, as I mentioned
[16:19] before, um when it comes to street
resurfacing, if I have a, you know,
[16:23] whatever my program budget is, I need um
basically to match that with the uh
[16:29] capacity to uh build out these ramps.
And so, uh with that being said, this
[16:34] year I have six crews that are dedicated
to building access ramps for pavement
[16:38] preservation. That leads to only 300
ramps being built. And, uh from that,
[16:43] I'm only able to do 60 lane miles. Now
as it relates to HLA, we are doing like
[16:47] say a Olympic HLA project on MLK
Boulevard uh this year um from central
[16:54] say to Figaro that will be resurfaced
again that's an HA project. We are
[16:58] looking at um as we build out the access
ramps going into next year to include
[17:04] HLA projects when and where we can to
coordinate with LA DOT to work with them
[17:08] on their priorities. We're actually be
putting uh posting our we're actually
[17:12] reconfiguring our five-year resurfacing
program and we are have always been
[17:16] inclusive of HLA projects and all
projects. But uh with that being said,
[17:21] um it does limit our ability to uh
resurface streets unfortunately and it's
[17:25] not just that it needs a mobility bike
lane or anything like that. It's the uh
[17:30] inability of us to construct enough
access ramps to stay ahead of the paving
[17:34] crew.
>> Thank you. Very helpful. And
[17:39] » [clears throat]
>> And earlier you said that, and correct
[17:41] me if I'm wrong, Keith, but that used to
have contractors to do the driving and
[17:45] also city uh city staff that did the
driving of the big trucks.
[17:50] » Yes.
>> But that we don't have we don't have the
[17:53] contracting and you don't have enough
drivers. And that is also one thing that
[17:56] slows down our access ramps. Right.
>> Correct.
[17:59] » Well, I won't say they're related, but
they're not tied together. Okay. it it
[18:02] the con the trucks are more so for the
paving we need a lot of trucks for the
[18:08] serviceing we need like say 100 to 150
trucks just so we can have a robust
[18:13] program but the concrete access ramp we
need the crews to basically to match
[18:18] that and and just to give you a for
example in approximately one mile of
[18:23] street there's about approximately 14
ramps in a mile one crew um to build out
[18:29] those 14 ramps would take approximately
three months to basically construct
[18:33] those 14 access ramps. A paving crew on
a good day on a weekend if we had amble
[18:39] trucks could pave that same mile in a
weekend or one week at most. So they
[18:44] move at a paving our paving moves at a
much faster rate than our access ramp
[18:49] crews have the ability to construct and
build out, you know, that same stretch
[18:52] of corridor.
>> Yeah,
[18:55] understood. Thank you. And you have two
one more slide. I'm going to let you
[19:00] finish your presentation. Counciloman,
you want to ask questions now? But
[19:04] » okay.
>> Yeah, that's good. Thank you.
[19:06] » Thank you. Um, so, uh, and we spoke a
little bit about some of these other key
[19:11] positions like the motor sweeper
operators, tree surgeons, carpenters,
[19:14] and cement finishers who are, um,
crucial for again, uh, you know,
[19:19] cleanliness, u maintaining our urban
forest, and also construction of our
[19:23] concrete work, which is sidewalks and
access ramps.
[19:27] Um this is I believe the last slide
which is the performance metrics and so
[19:31] just to give you a um comparison for the
last two fiscal years because uh we have
[19:36] articulated that we have a loss of 406
positions 26% of the bureau and so there
[19:42] are impacts um uh you know a lowering of
a lot of the metrics on the core
[19:47] programs. So
>> now for the first one it's percentage of
[19:51] street network in good condition. So
fiscal year 2024 2025 we're at 60%. And
[19:57] we're anticipated to drop 7% to down to
53%.
[20:02] Can you just tell us a little bit about
what that means in real life?
[20:07] » So basically of our network 60% are
basically u condition for what it is.
[20:13] The other say uh you know the other 50
when it drops 7% that means 7% streets
[20:19] will basically fall into say poor
condition. And what does that look like
[20:23] in application on the street?
>> Yeah, so that 47% basically you get more
[20:27] potholes, you get more cracking, things
like that. You see more ruting. Um the
[20:31] when you see a light gray street, you
know, typically that means it's time for
[20:35] resurfacing and that's where you start
seeing more problems on the roadway.
[20:40] » Understood. So that 7% drop, what that
means is that more of our streets are in
[20:46] a lower quality a lower condition than
they're supposed to be. And that looks
[20:51] like more potholes, more cracks, maybe
more of those waves that we saw when we
[20:55] were driving and did the drive. Um,
and
[21:00] those are some of the things that lead
to liability costs. Uh, is that correct?
[21:05] Like we see lawsuits from some of these
um is it dangerous conditions sometimes
[21:09] they call it? Yes.
>> Uh, when these cases are filed. So just
[21:13] I wanted to highlight that that in one
year we dropped 7% and as a worldass
[21:17] city we should probably be reinvesting
so that it's higher and the city doesn't
[21:22] turn into a big pothole. Um can you just
can you talk a little bit about the some
[21:27] of the other metrics? Uh resurfacing
lanes. It's a it's a a 252
[21:33] mile reduction. We went from 312 to 60.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
[21:39] Uh right that so that is um related to
what Keith had mentioned earlier is our
[21:43] capacity to do ramps quick enough and uh
we want to do them before we go to pave.
[21:49] Um a lot of these new ramps that we com
construct they cut into the streets uh a
[21:55] little more. So for us to um it's pref
it's preferable we do them first and
[22:00] then we come in and pave it. Otherwise
it would look it would not look good if
[22:04] we paved it and then we did the ramps.
So um because of that policy we are um
[22:10] shifting and also due to the trucking
issue that you see that uh big gap in
[22:15] the resurfacing lane miles.
>> Great. Thank you. And um
[22:22] » thank you. Go ahead.
>> Oh, did you want me to go into any other
[22:25] » Yes. Any any other ones that you want to
highlight? Um that would be great.
[22:28] » Uh right. And the slurry seal uh lane
miles that's also um lowered. Uh we did
[22:32] have um some uh expense funding reduced
in this fiscal year and that's why uh
[22:37] slurry is predominantly performed by a
contractor. Um so we have a little bit
[22:42] of a reduction in that. Uh and then the
large asphalt repairs we uh were not
[22:47] doing that uh in the prior f in 2425 but
we are doing that right now.
[22:52] » Um
>> hello
[22:53] » that's correct. And then uh the access
ramps we have increased a little because
[22:59] uh we were able to um gain two crews
extra. And then um for the average
[23:05] number of days for repairing of the
pothole as Keith mentioned earlier for
[23:08] the truck operators who are so crucial
to our pothole operations um we need
[23:13] more of them in order to increase our uh
average number of days to repair the
[23:18] potholes.
>> Thank you. and that um that number has
[23:22] gone up to seven days and we just got a
presentation about um these potholes in
[23:27] one of our last committees. So, it was
really good info to get um and seeing
[23:32] what what are some of the factors that
led to that including not enough team
[23:35] members. Um Ashley, you're keeping us on
time check, right? Because we have 60
[23:40] six departments to go. Okay. So, I'll
wait for you to to keep us uh there.
[23:44] Anything else, Shirley, you want to add
before I pass it to Councilwoman Hut and
[23:47] then I do have more questions. Uh, no,
not right now. Thank you.
[23:50] » Awesome. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
[23:52] » Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for
being here and giving us an update. I
[23:56] have three questions and I'll probably
ask each department the same way. Which
[24:02] um core services are most impacted by
city uh budget cuts and most sensitive
[24:08] to the fluctuation in the general fund?
>> For the general fund,
[24:14] » yeah. Which which core services are
impacted? Well, for us it could be
[24:18] investigation and enforcement. Um,
basically they're primarily um general
[24:22] funded and so anytime that is cut,
basically we're we have trouble um
[24:26] filling those positions.
>> What do they do, Keith?
[24:29] » Basically, they enforce everything
within the ride ofway um for signs,
[24:34] illegal water drainage, um you know, I
can't list them all, but basically they
[24:40] check for inspect for illegal dumping uh
things of that nature.
[24:44] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. Oh, on special events
[24:46] permitting.
>> Thank you.
[24:48] » Say that one more time.
>> Special events permitting.
[24:50] » Okay, great.
>> Yeah.
[24:51] » Then my next question is, which programs
or line items might experience the most
[24:56] significant funding changes from the
current fiscal year and why?
[25:02] » So, can you repeat that question?
>> Yeah. Which programs or line items line
[25:06] items might experience the most
significant funding changes from the
[25:12] current fiscal year and why? Well,
basically pavement preservation is an
[25:16] expensive proposition to basically
maintain our street network. We need to
[25:20] fund our basically our streets need to
be funded to do like several hundred
[25:25] lane miles a year, you know, hundreds of
lane miles a year. And with that um if
[25:29] we have like say a you know whatever our
budget is for preservation, we need an
[25:35] ample budget to match it with our
ability to construct access ramp. So we
[25:39] need equal budget um in that arena as
well. So um it's um and also asphalt is
[25:45] you know a commodity so to speak. So as
u as you know inflation and things like
[25:50] that hit basically we're impacted by
those costs.
[25:55] » And then um
what my last question madam chair what
[26:00] operational efficiencies or cost-saving
measures are being implemented to
[26:05] mitigate service impacts for the 26 27
fiscal? Well, we each each year
[26:12] basically we plan out um all of our
programs, tree trimming, pothole
[26:17] repairs, street resurfacing, access
ramps, you name it. Strategize to
[26:21] basically make sure that we go where the
need is citywide, no matter what it is
[26:25] or where it is. And so, uh we look at
everything holistically and that way
[26:29] we're able to provide uh we try and
provide greater service to uh the city
[26:33] as a whole. and we look at all of our
operational um you know efficiencies on
[26:37] where we can basically uh be more
effective and doing our work and also we
[26:43] uh move resources around as needed to
basically match you know as far as need.
[26:49] » Thank you.
>> Thank you madam chair.
[26:51] » Thank you. Um
[26:55] the presentation depicts service
delivery metrics looking back but not it
[26:59] looked forward to 2627 fiscal year. Uh
can you share some of uh the proposed uh
[27:06] some of the metric some of the
performance metrics in the proposed 2627
[27:10] uh letter that y'all submitted?
>> Yeah, I'll say I'll say this um
[27:15] councilwoman. Basically everything that
we've talked about we've submitted a
[27:18] budget package for. It's currently with
the mayor's office uh for deliberation
[27:22] and consideration and I'd be glad to
talk come back in more detail to speak
[27:26] on it.
>> Thank you Keith. A question though. Um,
[27:31] do you have how long tree trimming would
take based off this cycle to the next?
[27:38] » Like last budget cycle we we we saved it
from turning into 17 years, right?
[27:43] » Yes.
>> And so it should be at 15 years, right?
[27:46] » Yes.
>> What does that look like for next year?
[27:49] Are we staying at the 15?
>> That's always my goal as far as to I I
[27:53] want to pave streets, trim trees, and do
everything. and I want to keep I want to
[27:57] increase service levels, but basically
like as I mentioned um right now
[28:00] everything's with the mayor's office and
I'm waiting to hear back from them. So
[28:03] I'm looking to everything that I that I
spoke about as far as on the position
[28:06] cuts, I'm looking to basically add that
back to our bureau at some point, but
[28:10] that's with the mayor and basically uh
and I have to wait to hear back from the
[28:14] mayor on those deliberations.
>> Understood. Uh and and the reason I'm
[28:18] asking these questions is because we
would just want to prepare, right? We're
[28:22] doing our homework so that we can go
through this budget process with clear
[28:26] eyes. We ended last year, mid fiscal
year, at $243 million in the red. Last
[28:33] fiscal year, we had fat to trim. This
year, coming up in the budget cycle, we
[28:38] do not have that fat to trim. And we're
talking about real people's jobs. So,
[28:43] I'm just trying to do the work and the
homework of getting us educated enough
[28:47] to have serious and deliberative
conversations when we're talking about
[28:52] trying to preserve these jobs and
services. That's all I'm trying to do.
[28:56] Nothing else and nothing more. I just
want us to move forward as a city even
[28:59] if things are tight. Like, we we will
figure it out and streamline, but that's
[29:03] all that's all I'm trying to trying to
get. Um, and I know that we're here at
[29:08] almost at time, but I do have one more
question. Um so in the budget letter you
[29:14] all have proposed a new clean pro uh
cleanup program uh based on a current
[29:18] pilot. Can you please provide an
overview of this program including how
[29:21] areas are selected, service activities
uh outcomes, costs and how this is
[29:26] different from OCB and LA Sand delivered
services. Well, I I can say this.
[29:30] Basically, uh the Bureau of Street
Services in uh years past basically used
[29:35] to do all this work and basically I
operate as far as that I can take on
[29:40] this role and responsibility. When I
look at the rideway, I look at it
[29:43] holistically and basically when I go and
pave a street, I want to make sure that
[29:47] the trees are trimmed, the sidewalks are
fixed, the access ramps are installed,
[29:51] and the street is clean. And so that's
my goal as far as when I talk about, you
[29:55] know, everything in a rideway is to
basically when when I drive down the
[29:59] street, I'm a resident of the city. I
basically I take pride in in the city
[30:03] and things like that and I want to see
the city cleaned um across the board for
[30:07] major upcoming events and things like
that. So it's something I, you know,
[30:11] propose uh talked about with the mayor.
>> Okay. And then um is this would this be
[30:17] focused on certain areas like Olympic
sites or
[30:21] um where where do you have that pilot in
mind or the program expanding to?
[30:26] » It's it's across it's across the city.
>> And is it litter or is it bulky items or
[30:31] is it both?
>> It's a little bit of everything.
[30:33] » Okay.
>> Yeah.
[30:34] » Um and how will they be activated? Cuz
you know for like I have clean teams,
[30:39] sanitation has them. People usually call
311 or they call us to get those there.
[30:44] How would that or how is this team
activated?
[30:46] » I would say you can still do the 311.
You can still uh you know basically
[30:51] after the you know mayor's budget we can
you know talk more in detail about it
[30:55] but basically through the normal
channels like if I were to do this you
[30:58] would say hey Keith I have these streets
or whatever and basically I would you
[31:01] know work with you on that.
>> Okay.
[31:05] » Go ahead.
>> You just reminded me about something
[31:08] when you said 311. I'm going to put my
gov operations um hat on today. Um
[31:15] 311 doesn't function the way it used to.
Uh slowly but surely different council
[31:19] offices are talking to ITA about it. And
since I have most of the uh public works
[31:24] folks in the room, I want to just
elevate it to you all that we really
[31:29] need your support to let us know how
things have changed whether it's on the
[31:33] your side, the um constituent side or
your contractor's side because it's
[31:40] affected everyone. So, we really need
that from you. Slowly but surely, more
[31:44] council members are starting to become
vocal as their teams observe it. My
[31:48] prediction is that on 311 when we all
compete with each other for 311s is when
[31:54] everybody is going to lose their head.
So please help us in anticipation for
[31:58] that because we are admitting that it is
not what it used to be. So thank you.
[32:03] » Thank you. We're going to have BOE come
up next, but real quick I do just want
[32:06] to ask Keith, what is the industry
standard for [clears throat] the tree
[32:10] trimming cycle? You know,
>> five to seven years.
[32:13] » Five to seven years. Okay. And then do
you know do we know how much funding was
[32:17] allocated for tree trimming services
uh this like and how many trees were
[32:22] maintained with that funding this year?
>> Oh this year um do you have the
[32:26] » is that the 40,000? Yes, that's 40,000.
>> And can you tell me how much money that
[32:31] was?
>> Uh
[32:32] » or how much funding was allocated there?
>> We'll get you that in.
[32:37] » Yeah, just good thing you have the
budget letters.
[32:39] » 26.8 million.
>> 26 26.8 8 million and that's for 40,000
[32:45] trees.
>> That's correct.
[32:46] » Yes.
>> Okay.
[32:48] Do we know how much uh we paid out in
liability costs uh for tree uh like tree
[32:54] issues?
>> I know we've done things where trees
[32:57] have fallen on people, branches, etc.
>> We could get you that information.
[33:01] » That would be great. Please.
>> We get that from the city attorneys.
[33:03] » I would Oh, I would really appreciate if
you could get me that number. Thank you.
[33:06] » Yes, we'll do.
>> Okay. Thank you so much.
[33:09] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[33:12] All right. So, BOE, please, will you
come next uh up to the desk table? Thank
[33:17] you.
[33:22] I will say I really had to dig into my
imagination for this presentation.
[33:26] [snorts] Yeah. To try to get some
uh information, but please take a moment
[33:34] to introduce yourselves
>> and take it away.
[33:38] » Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, council
member. My name is Alfred Mat. I'm the
[33:41] interimm city engineer for the Bureau of
Engineering. With me here is Eric Bruins
[33:44] from our executive team oversees our
strategic uh efforts. Um taking it away,
[33:50] moving on to slide one. The first slide
just gives a a snapshot of our current
[33:54] budget. So uh you see there our current
budget this year totals 119 million
[34:00] which has been steady about the last
three years has been $120 million. Given
[34:04] that we have cost of living increases
and across the workforce, um we've been
[34:08] able to maintain about the same dollar
figure. Um our authorized positions over
[34:12] the last couple years have dropped by
about 120 positions. And this year we
[34:16] had 841 authorized. Midyear, as you well
know, the convention center project was
[34:21] authorized with additional nine
positions. So now we're up to 850
[34:25] positions.
Moving on to the next slide.
[34:30] In terms of the upcoming budget, we are
assuming a no growth budget next year
[34:34] based on the mayor's instructions. And
we only requested staff increases where
[34:39] grant or special funds could cover the
cost of the new positions as well as if
[34:43] they were related to the games or to um
executive director nine from the mayor's
[34:48] office. Yes.
>> Oh,
[34:56] » a no growth budget.
>> Growth.
[34:58] » Yes.
And I want to apologize. Your
[35:01] presentation was great. It was one of
the other ones that was missing some
[35:04] information. So you're
>> Thank you.
[35:07] » is not missing. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you. I feel much better
[35:10] about this now. [laughter]
>> My bad. No, you're doing great. Thank
[35:13] you.
>> Okay.
[35:16] » All right. So, um, just making sure
we're all on
[35:21] in the same timeline here. So, I'm
looking at our our slide that's titled
[35:25] proposed budget changes. So that's why I
was saying we assumed a no growth budget
[35:29] this year. Um
and we requested staffing increases of
[35:34] where we have grant funded um
opportunities or special funded
[35:38] opportunities and it's related as
instructed by the mayor's uh instruction
[35:43] letters um to us. I was going to add
that we were fortunate to avoid layoffs
[35:47] this year as you mentioned um council
member Hernandez um thanks to your
[35:52] support and all the in the increase of
our permit fees. We adjusted our permit
[35:56] fees of the year to have help save off
some of those cost impacts to us. Um,
[36:01] » can you tell us a little about how much
was generated?
[36:04] » While we're in the process of the
current year's going on, I haven't seen
[36:07] current numbers, but we were
anticipating I think somewhere around $7
[36:10] million of that. So,
>> thank you.
[36:14] » Yes.
Um, moving forward to um service
[36:18] delivery impact slide. So, we're still
significantly understaffed given all of
[36:23] our project workloads. So that's been a
challenge for us. As you all know, it's
[36:27] resulted in a backlog of some capital
projects. In the case of the funded
[36:31] projects though that get delayed, we
oftentimes have cost escalation that
[36:35] occurs from the time the project was
conceived to when it actually gets
[36:39] designed and built. So that's something
we will be preparing for as we move
[36:42] forward. Um but we are focused on
reducing our backlog by focusing on the
[36:47] current projects we have on our plate,
get them delivered so we can move off
[36:50] our plate and move on to the next
projects. Of course, we've had to adjust
[36:54] our schedules to the resources that we
do have. Um, and again, thanks to the
[37:00] permit fee increase, we're able to meet
our targets uh within our development
[37:04] services program.
>> Thank you. A quick question. Uh, for the
[37:07] second point on adjusting schedules and
putting some projects on hold, do you
[37:11] have a list of these projects? Uh, and
do you have a criteria that was used to
[37:15] decide these projects?
>> So, we have a number of different
[37:19] programs as you probably are well aware
of across the bureau. Um, so each
[37:23] program has looked at it differently. We
could um generate a list of the projects
[37:26] that have been pushed out and
rescheduled to the future.
[37:29] » That would be great. Please. Thank you
so much.
[37:31] » Okay.
>> Yes, please go ahead.
[37:34] » Question.
>> So just
[37:35] » when you're preparing that, can you also
include any consolidations you had to do
[37:41] for those programs or anything that was
reduced?
[37:46] » Sure.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Go
[37:49] ahead. I have one question just because
I didn't see it in here. Um, you guys
[37:53] are building my roller derby for Wreck
and Parks and I'm working really hard to
[37:57] get Wreck and Parks and DWP to talk to
each other so that the skate park roller
[38:01] derby and the water pathway DWP Park
look like one park as opposed to three
[38:07] different entities. Um,
but I believe the funding for that
[38:12] roller derby is Prop K, the last of it.
Are you guys not working on Prop K?
[38:18] Because I don't see it on here. Hel
measure W lwp storm water capture water
[38:23] recycling and AHSC. Was that just a
afterthought? What's Prop K list of
[38:30] priorities?
>> Yes. Uh to clarify, so this slide is
[38:33] about um budget requests for new uh
positions. Yes. Okay.
[38:37] » So we do have ongoing continuing
requests that support or have Prop K
[38:41] funded positions working in our PropK
program.
[38:43] » So it's not that my project's going to
stop.
[38:45] » Your project? Yes. Correct. It's not
your project's going to stop. There's a
[38:48] there again this slide just focused on
the new budget request but we we assume
[38:53] a no growth budget. We assume that all
of our continuing positions our
[38:56] positions will continue including the
prop K positions. Thank you for work we
[39:00] will work uh hard. We have a good
working relationship water and power
[39:03] making parks. So we'll work hard to make
sure um we
[39:06] » I don't want it to look like three
different parks. They're right next to
[39:08] each other. It should look like one city
family green space. Thank you.
[39:13] especially as I'm working really hard
with LA28 to bring more attention to
[39:17] that skate park and once the rec center
is built placing a nonprofit there to
[39:23] program it and um reduce the bad element
that has come in the last couple of
[39:27] years. So it is very important to me.
>> Thank you.
[39:32] » Thank you.
>> Please take it away.
[39:35] So uh this slide on on our budget
requests just you know as we summarize
[39:39] as you see in the bullets here we have a
number of requests where we realign some
[39:42] of our positions for program efficiency
change some of the funding sources and
[39:47] maybe re um classified some of the
positions to meet our needs. So we're
[39:50] looking forward to going that that would
support our financial management and
[39:53] data analytics program as well. Um we've
also requested games related uh
[39:59] projects. have requests related, as I
mentioned, to the games related efforts
[40:02] that we're working on to support some of
the very things you mentioned, Council
[40:05] Member Pia. Um, we also have requests
related to ED9, support the mayor's
[40:10] efforts to improve project delivery and
CIP project planning throughout the
[40:13] city. Um, and we just saw and then that
one bullet that talks about measure W,
[40:19] U, those are projects we're working on
with the Bureau of Sanitation, safe
[40:22] clean water projects. So, we have some
requests to support that program, which
[40:26] is special funded. All of these are
special funded. the LED storm water fund
[40:30] um parks capture project as well. The
water recycling projects that are going
[40:33] on at our treatment plants in
conjunction with water and power and the
[40:36] bureau of sanitation. We're supporting
those efforts. So, we have an increased
[40:39] need of services there. And then of
course our affordable housing
[40:42] sustainable communities grants program.
We need staff to help deliver those
[40:46] projects. So, we have a request in for
that.
[40:48] » Thank you. In the storm water capture
that that includes MacArthur Park,
[40:52] correct?
>> Yes, that's in Yes. Yes. That's one of
[40:56] the um just to be clear, it's one of the
safe clean water projects that's funded
[40:59] through the Bureau of Sanitation. The
stormwater parks capture project
[41:03] specifically is talking about water and
power, but that's a technicality. It's
[41:06] the same measure W funding source and
we're working on that.
[41:08] » Beautiful. Thank you so much.
>> Very good.
[41:13] » So, uh moving on, we have some slides
here on our sidewalk repair program and
[41:16] curb ramps, which was one of the things
we requested to provide information on.
[41:20] » Yes. So um in in the last year we had
two positions cut from the program but
[41:25] we have out of a total of 28.
>> Um
[41:27] » is this this so the for Willits right
>> for Willlets. Yes.
[41:30] » What uh what positions were they?
>> Um it was a I believe a senior
[41:35] management analyst and maybe Julia's
here she might be able
[41:40] » and a civil engineer
>> and a civil engineer.
[41:42] » What what is their what are their roles
in the Willlet settlement case
[41:46] » like in in the in this process? What are
what do they do? Um well they the
[41:53] administrative staff um supports um
different aspects of the program
[41:58] processing of the rebate applications
eligible under bullets and assisting
[42:03] with inquiries from constituents related
to program and sidewalk repairs. Um and
[42:09] the yeah civil engineers support
supported
[42:13] the the rebate program um which has been
delegated to engineering associates uh
[42:20] with the
uh in the wake of that position cut.
[42:27] » Understood. Thank you. And this is were
these were vacant positions or were they
[42:32] staffed positions?
>> They were vacant.
[42:34] » Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead.
Uh, excuse me. [clears throat] So, the
[42:39] the current budget did allow us to
achieve compliance with the overall
[42:43] program requirements um required by the
Willlet settlement in terms of the
[42:47] annual commitment.
>> Um,
[42:53] sorry, excuse me a second. I lost my
place.
[42:55] » The budget did not include new funding.
>> It Yes, it did not include new funding.
[42:59] Eliminated the new funding for the for
the rebate incentive program. So, we're
[43:03] continuing to operate with the existing
funding that that program has. And the
[43:07] rebate incentive program for Clary,
that's when people can pay to get their
[43:10] sidewalk fixed and they get some sort of
rebate on that.
[43:14] » Yes. It's a kind of a cost sharing
approach.
[43:16] » Beautiful.
>> Yeah.
[43:17] » What percentage of that money is used
annually? Is it usually liquidated?
[43:22] » Uh used up.
>> It's probably hard to give a percentage,
[43:25] but Julia could probably explain a
little bit about how it works. Uh yeah,
[43:29] historically for the not including this
fiscal year, we had received uh
[43:34] approximately 1 million per year um and
had been able to expend at a rate of
[43:39] about $600,000. So we did have a um
sort of surplus of funding from past
[43:47] fiscal years exceeding $2 million in the
program. So although we did not receive
[43:52] new funding this fiscal year, we
continue to work through that available
[43:56] and we'll continue to issue rebates
until that's exhausted.
[44:00] » Great. Thank you.
[44:04] [laughter]
>> We got all this sir and genie whatever
[44:07] stuff. Please continue.
>> Hilarious.
[44:11] » They're always listening. So, one of the
other things we wanted to highlight in
[44:14] the program, as you may recall, in the
last budget, uh, this current budget
[44:16] year, there was $3 half million dollar
swept from the program that was slated
[44:20] for city facilities. Um, so those
projects we were they were in design, so
[44:24] we've put them on hold and they at this
point it's indefinite as to when those
[44:27] return
>> and th that was part of covering to make
[44:31] sure we could keep uh staff on board.
Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you. And
[44:36] currently uh the program is focused on
delivering access requests and the alley
[44:40] 28 games related projects around the
venues and things to support the Olympic
[44:44] games.
>> And could you please just for clarity
[44:47] sake access requests? What does that
encompass?
[44:51] » I'll turn that to Julia. Michigan.
>> Absolutely. Access requests are requests
[44:55] from individuals with mobility
disabilities to remove barriers in the
[45:01] public right of way and pedestrian
facilities such as sidewalk uplift and
[45:04] missing curb ramps.
>> Okay. Around around our city facilities
[45:09] or just in general?
>> In in general, any um pedestrian
[45:13] facility maintained, owned or operated
by the city uh can be um in included in
[45:20] the Willlets program.
>> Great. And this is access fronts as
[45:22] well.
>> Yes.
[45:23] » Great. Go ahead. Thank you.
>> And I would just like to add on to that,
[45:27] just some of clarification, that's
really the the focus of the Willlets um
[45:30] program that we have been tasked to
implement and operate. All the dollars
[45:35] that are allocated to us for that
program are
[45:38] » these requests
>> are expended off of these requests and
[45:40] these requirements. So, um doesn't speak
to the larger sidewalk issues across the
[45:46] city.
>> The proactive fixing, this is responsive
[45:49] fixing.
>> Yes. Correct. Just want to make clarify
[45:52] that.
>> Thank you.
[45:54] » Um, so the the minimum, as you well
know, in the 30 in the settlement,
[45:59] there's a 30-year commitment of annual
expenditures, and it's adjusted every 5
[46:03] years. The minimum annual commitment for
the year 6 through 10, we're starting
[46:07] year 10 in the coming year is $35.7
million. Um, and you see in this current
[46:13] adopted budget, we have $40 million.
We're expecting at least the minimum to
[46:17] be included in the upcoming annual
budget because that's the minimum
[46:20] commitment for the city. So that's our
expectation in terms of the program
[46:24] going forward into the next fiscal year.
>> So uh uh keep going please. My question
[46:29] is that go ahead.
>> Okay. Um I'll just flip to the current
[46:33] ramp program. The the program requires a
minimum expenditure of $5 million per
[46:39] year during the course of the 30-year
settlement agreement requirement. So, in
[46:44] this current year, we have 4.3 million
of measure R funding that's dedicated to
[46:48] the bureau to streets LA for their crews
to do the curb ramp work. And we also
[46:52] are expending some contractual services
to make up the difference to get to $5
[46:56] million. So, in the coming year, we're
going to work within the budget that's
[47:01] allocated to ensure this $5 million
obligation is met, as well as the other
[47:04] obligations of the Willlets program.
>> Now, for that 5 million, how much of it
[47:10] is spent annually?
Yeah, usually very close to the to the
[47:16] $5 million, between five and $6 million.
>> Okay,
[47:19] » great. Thank you. Um, so we have a few
more minutes. Um, do you want to finish
[47:24] up the slide and then we'll get to the
questions?
[47:26] » I I have completed my slides.
>> Okay, wonderful.
[47:30] Um, okay. And how many ramps do you get
done with the five million or in last
[47:36] fiscal year? How many did you get done
with that money?
[47:40] » Yeah, a little over 100. I believe it
was um around 120 and we're projecting
[47:45] 111 for this fiscal year.
[47:51] » Um and then and um you said how many for
this fiscal year?
[47:57] » 111.
>> 111. Thank you.
[48:00] » And this is with $5 million last year.
>> Yes.
[48:04] » Okay.
All right. Thank you so much. Uh I have
[48:09] a question around hillside maintenance
and then I'll pass it to the team. Over
[48:14] the years with increased hillside
development and years of heavy rain, our
[48:17] hillsides are in desperate need of
support to mitigate major uh land and
[48:21] mudslides. The general manager of our
emergency operations department asked
[48:25] me, "What keeps you up at night?" And I
said, "My hillsides falling down,
[48:30] including Mount Washington." And so it's
and I know that's often really hard to
[48:35] fix streets up there or even pave
streets because an accessibility but
[48:40] also the cement that is required in
certain locations. So I understand a lot
[48:44] of that and we've been doing a lot of
work in these hillsides. But so that's
[48:50] why I want to ask this question. What in
your 2026 2027 fiscal year budget letter
[48:55] proposes to address the risk in the
hillside slope stability program?
[49:00] So the in our hillside slope stability
program, we we receive requests such as
[49:06] the ones you're mentioning, we go out
and do a field investigation which
[49:08] results in an analysis and a
recommendation for repair. We include
[49:12] those requests in the CTIP budget
requests provided that funding becomes
[49:17] available or proceed our team proceeds
with the design and then ultimately the
[49:21] construction of those projects. So it's
built in within the CTI planning process
[49:25] or budget submitt process. based on
what's approved, our team moves forward
[49:29] and completes the design.
>> And
[49:33] and so there is no in this in your
budget letter, there's no like line item
[49:38] that says uh this $20 million for
hillside soap stability program that
[49:44] doesn't exist in your budget request as
a line item.
[49:47] » I would say not in the way you're
describing, but the a lot of the work is
[49:51] done through our different divisions.
Like our geotechnical engine division
[49:54] does a lot of that work. they they lead
that program, but it's also supported by
[49:58] our structural engineering division
because they do a lot of the structural
[50:00] design for the improvements if it's a
bulkhead or retaining wall, whatever the
[50:03] case may be. And those are continuing
requests. So, um there isn't a separate
[50:09] line item specifically for that, but
that's the staff that supports those
[50:12] programs.
>> Got it. And what else do they do?
[50:16] » The um like the geotechnical engineering
division, they do they provide support
[50:20] across all of our programs geotechnical.
So like if we're building a building,
[50:23] they'll they'll participate with the
geotechnical investigation, make
[50:27] recommendations of foundation design.
Um,
[50:31] similar to non-building projects in
terms of what the ground condition is in
[50:34] our storm water capture parks pro
projects, we look at um the ground
[50:39] conditions and infiltration rates, the
ability of the soil to absorb and
[50:43] infiltrate water into the ground to
divert it either into an aquifer or away
[50:47] from polluting a body of water that
would otherwise be receiving that water.
[50:52] Um, we also do a lot of work. Um the
city has a lot of um older facilities
[50:57] that have um um contamination in them
and we have
[51:01] » like the Lincoln Heist jail.
>> Uh yeah, I think that's one of them
[51:04] where we we we have an ongoing annual
process to monitor and work with the
[51:08] regulatory agencies to clean up and
improve um the ground conditions in
[51:13] those sites.
>> Great. So they're doing all of that and
[51:15] also have to work on the hillside
stability hillside slope stability
[51:19] program. Okay. and and the CCT IEP I
I've seen that um what is how do you all
[51:27] decide what what project you're going to
put on there?
[51:31] » Generally when we have a request or a
project need is identified we evaluate
[51:36] it try to develop some sort of you know
conceptual idea of what the solution
[51:40] would be a con conceptual cost estimate
and we submit it for consideration. So,
[51:46] um, virtually everything that comes our
way, we submit them in for
[51:50] consideration.
>> Great. My last question around this, um,
[51:53] what is the landscape around, uh,
federal or state or county dollars
[51:58] around hillside stability or hillside
infrastructure investments?
[52:04] » It I would say it's limited. I don't I'm
not aware of any program that funds that
[52:07] type of work. I know there's been some
talk and looking to see if there are
[52:10] certain hazard mitigation funds that
could help, but I don't think any of
[52:14] that has proved out to be something that
would be a funding source for it at this
[52:17] point.
>> Are you saying
[52:18] » Yes, please. Are you saying you're not
seeing those funds from any level of
[52:23] government?
>> Well, um I I guess to be clear, a lot of
[52:26] those projects now are being funded
through the gas tax funds and some of
[52:29] the other road uh improvement funds that
we have. So, they are getting funding,
[52:32] but um I think in terms of other
specific programs where we pursue grant
[52:36] funding or outside funding sources, I we
I don't think we've identified any, like
[52:40] I said, we've looked at hazard
mitigation grants, but that didn't pan
[52:43] out to be something that we would be
able to qualify for.
[52:46] » I too have hillsides that suffered
mudslides and so we're always concerned
[52:52] about when it's raining. So,
>> thank you.
[52:57] [clears throat] Yes, we have whole
hillsides melting into our roads up
[53:01] there. Um, and and the reason I ask is
because it looks like there is no
[53:05] dedicated funding to address some of
these infrastructure issues. CIT, CTI is
[53:12] away, but even those that process is
limited, those resources are limited.
[53:16] So, just food for thought in the future,
I I would like to see how we create a
[53:21] line item specifically for this type of
work and assess whether that could be,
[53:27] you know, done through grants and we
need to hire folks to get those grants
[53:30] or
um just wanted to put it out there. Any
[53:34] other questions for BOE? Great. Um and
then
[53:39] how many last question, how many access
ramps are you projected to complete in
[53:44] the next fiscal year? Hi.
>> Yeah, under the the sidewalk repair
[53:51] program, we'll um have that $5 million
obligation under the Will it settlement
[53:56] agreement. So, uh we will be uh
constructing more than 100 ramps with
[54:02] that funding.
>> Okay. At least at least more than 100
[54:05] » is what you're saying. Okay. Great.
Thank you so much. Appreciate y'all.
[54:08] Thank you.
Wonderful. Next, um,
[54:16] sorry, let's see.
Next, we'll have LA Sand. Please join us
[54:23] at the table. Thank you. I don't know
where the paper went.
[54:46] Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Please
go ahead and take us away.
[54:53] » Can you press the button, please? Right
there. Thank you.
[54:56] » There we go. Tracy Minamedi, interim
director and general manager, LA
[54:59] Sanitation and Environment.
As you know, LA Sanitation and
[55:04] Environment has a very large and diverse
array of program responsibilities. We
[55:09] have a current workforce of over 3,500
employees and manage five key programs
[55:16] focused on protecting public health and
the environment. Recently, with council
[55:20] support, Ellie has been working to
preserve the bureau's operations and re
[55:25] reduce our reliance on the general fund.
We have successfully obtained and
[55:31] updated sewer service charge last fiscal
year and updated our solids rates and
[55:36] multifamily bulky item rates this fiscal
year, eliminating or significantly
[55:41] reducing the department's reliance on
general fund subsidies for our
[55:45] operations.
While much of our work is special
[55:48] funded, some of our most critical and
visible operations can only be supported
[55:54] through the general fund. For the
purposes of this presentation, we will
[55:58] focus on the livability services and
environmental quality programs that have
[56:02] been impacted by reduced funding. So,
I'm going to turn it over to Sarai Baga,
[56:08] our chief financial officer, and also
Gabriel Miranda, our assistant director
[56:13] in the solids resources program.
>> Thank you, Tracy. Good afternoon,
[56:17] council members.
Last fiscal year, our budget was reduced
[56:21] by approximately 15 million or three and
a half% compared to fiscal 2324 that
[56:27] mostly impacted our solid resources and
environmental quality programs. Current
[56:32] year uh current fiscal year shows a
slight overall increase compared to last
[56:37] fiscal year primarily driven by new
sewer revenues as Tracy mentioned
[56:42] supporting growth in our clean water
program. Uh the total increase is about
[56:46] 19 million or about 13%.
However, that increase sort of masks
[56:52] what happened to our environmental
quality program which was reduced by
[56:56] almost 21 million or 27%
uh this fiscal year. And when you look
[57:02] at cumulative impacts over the last
several years, this program has been cut
[57:07] by a total of 26 million or 32% since
fiscal year 2324 with the majority of
[57:14] the reductions coming from position
eliminations of about 159 authorities.
[57:22] So, as a result of position deletions
this year, we have reduced our brown
[57:27] fields program, biodiversity and healthy
soils and climate action programs, which
[57:32] means we have fewer staff available to
address contamination
[57:36] uh remediation efforts for affordable
housing, tracking the city's
[57:40] biodiversity index and the city's
greenhouse gas emissions.
[57:44] The cleanup greenup and mobile hygiene
programs were suspended this fiscal
[57:49] year.
In order to maintain a base level of
[57:53] care, care plus operations, the program
was reconfigured to adjust for the
[57:58] reductions to maintain the base level of
two days of service.
[58:03] Overtime funding was also significantly
reduced which limits our ability to
[58:07] address non-deferable work. And this is
further compounded by the elimination of
[58:13] vacancies. Whereas in the past, we would
use salary savings to uh and transfer to
[58:19] overtime so we would have sufficient to
cover non-deferable work, we don't have
[58:22] that flexibility now since we've lost so
many position authorities.
[58:28] » I will now turn it over to Mr. Miranda.
>> Great. Thank you, Sarai. Uh good
[58:32] afternoon, Madam Chair, Council Member
Hut. Um, as Sarai briefly mentioned, the
[58:36] majority of the budget cuts were within
the livability services division, which
[58:40] is the sole general funded division
within LAN. I want to give you a quick
[58:45] snapshot of the fiscal year 2526
reductions and what they mean
[58:49] operationally.
Overall, the LSD had a 20.7 million
[58:54] reduction. This accounted for 114
position authorities that were deleted
[58:59] in comparison to the previous fiscal
year. We are grateful to the council and
[59:04] the budget and finance committee for
restoring several positions. But even
[59:07] with those restorations, the impact of
these cuts have been significant.
[59:12] As we work through these reductions, our
guiding principle was to protect core
[59:16] services as much as possible. We also
made a deliberate effort to reduce our
[59:20] reliance on contractual services.
Starting with the Care and Care Plus
[59:25] program, uh before the reductions, Care
Plus was scheduled to expand five days a
[59:30] week in all 15 council districts. As a
result of the budget cuts, service was
[59:36] maintained at two days for Care Plus and
three days for care for each council
[59:39] district. Of the 114 positions that were
deleted, most were vacant positions that
[59:46] had been planned to support the care
expansion, which is where the service
[59:49] impacts are now being felt.
For a bridge home service, uh this was
[59:54] reduced from four dedicated care plus
teams to one care plus team, which means
[59:59] that we were providing service once a
week and now it's being provided once
[1:00:03] every four weeks.
Additionally, the dedicated care plus
[1:00:07] teams for the Grand Avenue corridor as
well as the coastal region were
[1:00:11] consolidated into one team. This
resulted in an overall reduction of 50%
[1:00:16] within those two regions.
As Sarai mentioned, the mobile hygiene
[1:00:21] unit program has been suspended.
Previous to that, we're providing
[1:00:25] bathroom and shower services to the
unhoused with 13 mobile hygiene units.
[1:00:31] Moving on to overtime funding, um that
was reduced from 3.2 million to 506,000,
[1:00:37] which is about a 85% reduction. Um the
services that we provide from care and
[1:00:43] care plus operations to illegal dumping
collection, servicing of public street
[1:00:47] receptacles. We approach each of these
operations as non-deferable.
[1:00:52] Overtime has been a critical tool to
ensure that the work gets done daily
[1:00:55] without delays or service interruptions.
It's also essential for emergency
[1:01:00] response. We've prided ourselves on
being available and responsive um to any
[1:01:05] of the needs throughout the city, but
with the limited funding, that has been
[1:01:09] a challenge.
[1:01:12] And lastly, the additional expenses. Um
as part of the reduction, we did
[1:01:16] consolidate our regional deployment
yards. These facilities still require
[1:01:21] essential funding for things such as
security services, utilities, which
[1:01:25] remain an ongoing operational challenge.
Um while these budget reductions were
[1:01:30] challenging, they also gave us an
opportunity to restructure the division
[1:01:33] with a clear focus on prioritizing our
core services. Um as you notice, our
[1:01:37] illegal dumping and the receptacle
programs are not reflected in this
[1:01:41] slide, but these remain critical
programs. Um and we were able to
[1:01:45] maintain service capacity despite the
reduction. And again, this is thanks to
[1:01:49] you, Madam Chair, and the budget and
finance committee last year. Um I will
[1:01:54] say though the de demand for illegal
dumping response and enforcement
[1:01:57] continues to increase. Um we are working
towards a goal of responding to illegal
[1:02:02] dumping service requests within 48
hours. Um and this was discussed in the
[1:02:06] presentation two weeks ago. Um this is
something we accomplished prior to the
[1:02:10] budget cuts. Um and there were several
factors that contributed to us obtaining
[1:02:15] a backlog and we've been working
diligently to really bring that number
[1:02:18] down. Um, but we know illegal dumping is
not a Monday through Friday issue. It's
[1:02:24] why we expanded the program seven days a
week with two shifts. We have crews
[1:02:28] working around the clock. Um, we didn't
want to use some of the budgetary
[1:02:32] challenges as an excuse to provide the
level of service that folks expect of
[1:02:36] us. And we're going to continue to find
ways to be creative and work within the
[1:02:40] budget that's allocated to us. Um, we're
going to continue to make operational
[1:02:44] adjustments. I know council member
Padilla who's not here did mention my
[1:02:47] LAA and we've been working on
enhancements to increase that capacity
[1:02:51] to really streamline those processes.
And with that I'll kick it back over to
[1:02:55] Sarai.
[1:02:58] Regarding our
sorry regarding our fiscal year 2627
[1:03:04] budget request goals uh as you know we
submitted a very large budget proposed
[1:03:09] book uh but some highlights are uh
funding for clean water and stormwater
[1:03:14] capital investments resources to address
illegal dumping and enforcement over
[1:03:20] time as Gabe mentioned to me uh
sufficiently cover non-deferable work uh
[1:03:25] an extension of our cleanliness services
and collect collaboration with sister
[1:03:29] bureaus and uh the board and city
leadership and one position to serve as
[1:03:35] our lead in support of the upcoming
major games. So that concludes our
[1:03:40] presentation. We're all available to
answer any questions.
[1:03:43] » Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much. Um I have
[1:03:50] about six questions. The presentation
shows a reduction in staffing in fiscal
[1:03:54] year 2526
but does not uh specify the proposed
[1:03:59] staffing levels for fiscal year 26 27
27. Can you please provide a breakdown?
[1:04:07] » We don't have that information right at
hand. We can definitely circle back and
[1:04:11] provide that to you and it will also be
you know based on what what ends up
[1:04:15] being approved by the mayor.
>> Great. Do you have do you have a
[1:04:18] proposed number in your budget letter
that you can reference?
[1:04:21] » If you want to move on to your next
question, I can see.
[1:04:24] » Great. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:04:26] » Um, the presentation doesn't give
service delivery metrics look back or
[1:04:30] look forward for fiscal year 2627. Uh,
but it does give budget goals. Uh, what
[1:04:36] is your proposed uh what what do you
propose in your 2627 fiscal year budget
[1:04:41] letter that will achieve your LA
sanitation goals?
[1:04:50] Uh thank you, Madam Chair. Um as
mentioned with illegal dumping, we
[1:04:54] understand the need for more proactive
work. Um anytime that crews are doing
[1:05:00] proactive work, it's taking our ability
away to be responsive to service
[1:05:04] request. So, our goal is to get our
illegal dumping program back to being
[1:05:09] responsive within 24 to 48 hours, all
while expanding our capacity proactively
[1:05:14] to make sure that we can continue to be
responsive to service requests, but also
[1:05:18] understand that there's a huge demand
for proactive work in areas that may not
[1:05:22] be as visible, but still have a huge
need to make sure that we're addressing
[1:05:26] the dumping.
>> Great. Thank you. And um
[1:05:30] what what in your budget letter what are
you proposing your budget letter to
[1:05:34] achieve that?
>> I'm sorry I don't have the specifics as
[1:05:39] it relates to the budget letter to to um
address that. But I do know that we are
[1:05:44] working to make sure that we build in a
proactive element to the work that we're
[1:05:48] doing. But I can definitely report back
on the specifics.
[1:05:51] » Do you have it in the budget letter that
you can reference? I can give you time.
[1:05:54] » I don't have it on me or
>> Okay. Well, I'll give you time to pull
[1:05:57] it up.
Um, at our last meeting, and this is
[1:06:00] another legal dumping question. At our
last meeting, we discussed illegal
[1:06:03] dumping collection and enforcement, and
LA Sanitation uh mentioned that you all
[1:06:07] have a backlog that you're working
through this fiscal year, and due to
[1:06:10] staff eliminations, enforcement is only
being done uh that affect our water
[1:06:15] system. What in your 2026 2027 fiscal
year budget letter proposes to improve
[1:06:20] illegal dumping collection, and
enforcement? So, following up on the
[1:06:24] same question I'd asked,
>> right? And if I can, I'd like to bring
[1:06:27] my colleague uh Robert Potter to discuss
the enforcement element of illegal
[1:06:30] dumping.
>> Thank you.
[1:06:41] » Uh thank you, Gabe. Robert Potter,
assistant director um clean water
[1:06:45] programs. So, in our 2026 27 27 package,
which is already out there, um we have
[1:06:52] two basic um enforcement packages that
we're putting forth. The first is a
[1:06:57] city-wide package, which which engages
all 15 council districts and it includes
[1:07:02] uh an additional uh 17 staff. Um we did
some numbers from when we had the
[1:07:07] funding back in 2023 with about 30% of
the staff working on illegal dumping and
[1:07:12] and it resulted in about 221 citations.
Uh and we saw some reductions in the
[1:07:17] amount of uh repeat locations. Um this
package includes uh 18 personnel I
[1:07:22] apologize from chief uh tombs uh down to
what the field staff of uh environmental
[1:07:28] compliance inspectors 10 of them. Um
this package as a whole runs about $2.4
[1:07:34] $4 million. Um, but this is going to be
embedding the uh illegal dumping ECIS
[1:07:40] that are doing the the the enforcement
with the crews that are doing the the
[1:07:45] actual um bulky item and and illegal
dumping collections.
[1:07:49] » Uh, it will target the chronic and
repeat locations throughout the city and
[1:07:53] it will be using physical um evaluations
and surveillances along with camera
[1:07:58] surveillance with our high-tech cameras
that can track who's doing the dumping.
[1:08:01] We are very in tune with where these
locations are, especially the chronic
[1:08:06] ones, because we use our my one my 311
data and plus our crews informations and
[1:08:10] our GIS specialists to to monitor it.
Um, there's an additional $900,000 in
[1:08:15] this program that covers those cameras.
So, we would be increasing from the 20
[1:08:19] cameras we have now available up to 45
cameras through the program, which could
[1:08:23] be distributed all through the city. Um,
we would estimate that we'd have roughly
[1:08:27] about 16,000 uh hours of actual
surveillance in the field and that could
[1:08:32] produce up to 700 additional citations
uh and and and put a uh put put the the
[1:08:41] reduce the number of repeat locations
because the offenders will stop going
[1:08:45] there and the message will get out that
we're enforcing the rules. And I
[1:08:49] believe, Ashley, correct me if I'm
wrong, but there's a motion right now by
[1:08:53] the council president and and others to
increase those citation costs. Have you
[1:08:58] done an analysis on um let's say you
estimate 700 new citations? What what
[1:09:04] that revenue generated could look like
under the new uh the new cost for these
[1:09:10] citations?
>> So, I I haven't had the anal the chance
[1:09:13] to do the analysis, but but I do have
the report that was dated yesterday,
[1:09:17] actually. Um, then that shows that
there's the potential to increase the
[1:09:20] the fines if it depends on if it's state
issued, if it's a misdemeanor versus if
[1:09:25] it's a municipal code issue. And that
that amount could be anywhere be from
[1:09:30] anywhere from $100 to $1,000 uh of
fines. Um, I'm sure the city attorney
[1:09:35] could weigh in a little more on what the
outcome is, but we haven't done that
[1:09:38] analysis as of now, but we are actively
reviewing this this uh report.
[1:09:43] » Great. Thank you. And and the only
reason I ask is because we always
[1:09:46] looking for offsets, right? Yes.
>> And if there's an opportunity to have an
[1:09:49] offset to increase the these teams that
will get us closer to LA Sand's goals of
[1:09:55] um picking up illegal dumping quicker,
then I just wanted to make connect the
[1:09:59] dots for us um on that. But I have a few
more questions. I'll pass it to
[1:10:03] Councilwoman Hut. Uh what role does LA
Sand play in the clean streets program
[1:10:07] and how much is the funding allocation
split for your bureau and how much?
[1:10:11] Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. Go ahead.
[1:10:17] And the next one's around care plus and
care.
[1:10:19] » That's Gabe
>> and 311.
[1:10:22] » While Gabe's settling in, I can go back
to your first question. So in uh current
[1:10:26] year, our staffing level is
>> 3,621
[1:10:30] » and what we are what we have included in
our proposal for next fiscal year is
[1:10:34] 3,933.
>> Okay, beautiful. Thank you so much.
[1:10:38] » And so Gabe, let me uh I'll go again. uh
what role does LAN play in the clean
[1:10:42] streets program and how much um funding
allocation is split for your bureau?
[1:10:51] So, I don't have the details as it
relates to um our role, but I will say
[1:10:55] that our core services are focused on
the public rideway with all of the
[1:11:00] programs that are within the livability
services division via public street
[1:11:03] recepticles, our illegal dumping
collection, even our homeless encampment
[1:11:07] services. Um they are focused on on the
public rideway. And I think what we're
[1:11:12] looking to achieve is really an ability
to be more proactive with the work that
[1:11:16] we do. um considering that the demand
has outweighed our capacity um and
[1:11:21] that's really our goal moving forward to
ensure that we can continue our capacity
[1:11:25] focusing on the public right away.
>> Great. Thank you. Um do you want
[1:11:29] something?
>> No, I just wanted to uh reiterate what
[1:11:32] Gabe was saying in regard to being
proactive working with the Bureau of
[1:11:36] Street Services. We're partnering with
them um to be more on the front end as
[1:11:41] opposed to just reacting to the service
requests that come through.
[1:11:44] » Great. And thank you for saying that,
Tracy, because I was just about to say
[1:11:47] we just had BSS come up. They talked
about their team. Uh we have OCB that
[1:11:52] has their teams. You have this program.
Again, as we come in into this next
[1:11:58] budget cycle, how can we clearly
articulate the collaboration that's
[1:12:02] happening so that we can protect that
and and show that it works and we can
[1:12:07] make sure that there's no cuts in these
livability
[1:12:11] services that keep our quality of life
up, right? Uh so I just want to put it
[1:12:16] out in the ether. Um and also everybody,
please just have your budget letters
[1:12:20] ready because we're going to be digging
into those for the next ones. Um uh are
[1:12:25] there any proposed changes to increase
service levels for care and care plus in
[1:12:28] this next uh year budget letter?
>> Um thank you madam chair. There are not
[1:12:34] any proposed um line items for expanding
care and care plus. However, one area
[1:12:39] that we are looking at is how we can
build some of the work that we do within
[1:12:44] the program inhouse. Uh our contractual
services budget was reduced tremendously
[1:12:49] in the last budgetary cycle. um and we
have a lot of contractual costs as it
[1:12:53] relates to the hazardous waste removal.
So we have been exploring options with
[1:12:57] our environmental compliance inspectors
to really build that in-house but can
[1:13:01] naturally expand the program um based on
our existing budget. So those are things
[1:13:05] that we're continuing to identify and
find ways to be more efficient.
[1:13:10] » Great. I would love to hear more about
that in the future
[1:13:12] » if if I can add to that. I think one
thing we did include was additional
[1:13:15] overtime or to restore basically to our
>> prior overtime level. Uh, and you're
[1:13:22] talking about the five days a week, that
level or what level are you talking
[1:13:26] about?
>> Yeah, thank you, Sarai. So, the overtime
[1:13:29] budget is going to be for the entire
livability services division, which
[1:13:32] would support care and care plus, but
would also support our illegal dumping
[1:13:36] program, our receptacle servicing, um,
each of the programs that we have
[1:13:39] because we consider them all
non-deferable. But that is a valid point
[1:13:43] because unfortunately the fluid nature
of our Careare Plus operations,
[1:13:46] especially Care Plus where we provide
posted notices and there's a lot of work
[1:13:50] involved prior to the actual day of the
operation. Um there can be delays,
[1:13:55] service impacts, um operational delays
and when those delays occur, we've
[1:14:00] always used overtime as a tool to make
sure that we complete that day's
[1:14:03] assignment and that's increasingly
become more challenging with our limited
[1:14:06] budget. So, the overtime budget that we
are requesting will support Care and
[1:14:11] Care Plus um and especially our Care
Plus operations.
[1:14:14] » How much is that request?
>> Uh it was just over $2 million.
[1:14:18] » Great.
>> Yes.
[1:14:19] » Thank you.
>> Okay. And yes, you you talk about the
[1:14:23] fluidity. Yes. It's the moving of teams.
It's um also the weather. I I know that
[1:14:30] we've had several of those um several of
those operations delayed. Um, do you
[1:14:36] have any outreach or community
engagement efforts to promote 311?
[1:14:43] » And it's for everybody because March is
coming up and we're all going to get
[1:14:47] really excited about it.
>> But I want to know like and for
[1:14:51] everybody, what are y'all doing to
educate people on 301 um and how to
[1:14:55] access your services through that?
>> Right. We have quite a bit of outreach
[1:14:59] efforts that that continue with that. We
have our um customer services group.
[1:15:03] Alex Hale is actually here might be able
to address this in more detail, but 311
[1:15:08] is definitely on the forefront of of our
minds in terms of needing improved
[1:15:12] outreach. So, Alex,
[1:15:19] » thank you, Tracy. Good afternoon, Madame
Chair. Good afternoon, Council Member
[1:15:23] Hut. Alex Hello, assistant man manager
LA Sanitation. We uh operate the only
[1:15:30] 247 non emergency center for the city.
It's uh our operators are available
[1:15:36] Monday through Sunday, seven days a
week. We also have a very robust team of
[1:15:43] uh of staff who attend community events,
uh neighborhood council meetings. We did
[1:15:49] presentations all basically every single
day telling them about the 1-800 number
[1:15:53] and the my LA 311 app that people could
use to place the request in and we are
[1:16:00] coordinating with ITA to help uh
improvements on that front working very
[1:16:06] closely. Um, our staff are available to
address any questions, but we are very
[1:16:12] involved with the community. Uh,
outreach, uh, neighborhood events,
[1:16:17] neighborhood council meetings, we attend
all of those.
[1:16:20] » Great. Thank you. Uh, do you have a
specific line item for that outreach?
[1:16:26] » It's it's in our budget that we have a
group uh that's uh, but I don't know. I
[1:16:32] have to get back to you if we have
because usually it's embedded in all the
[1:16:36] community external affairs and
everything else in that one and our
[1:16:39] staff are divided into multiple groups.
So we try to leverage for example we're
[1:16:44] doing earth day event we use the same
staff to do it. So this way we don't
[1:16:48] have to incure extra cost also when we
have neighborhood meetings at night we
[1:16:53] send staff they are very well trained on
all the services that sanitation and the
[1:16:57] city service so they can give all that
brochures the information out. So it's
[1:17:02] really embedded in the entire program
and this way we find it to be more
[1:17:06] efficient and less costly. And uh do the
materials that you have come in various
[1:17:11] languages?
>> Oh yes, absolutely. I mean the board and
[1:17:15] President Kang and the board make sure
we are using at least eight to 10
[1:17:18] languages uh from English, Spanish,
Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, uh Tagalog.
[1:17:25] So we cover all the languages and it's
available also on our website.
[1:17:30] » Great. Thank you. Chairwoman, do you
have any questions?
[1:17:33] » Please take it away.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I have a
[1:17:40] couple of questions. I'm just reading a
text I'm getting from a constituent that
[1:17:43] said they called uh 311 five times about
their lights and they don't have a
[1:17:51] response or a fix. So, I'm really hoping
I know. I know. Yeah, I know. That's
[1:17:56] your turn. [laughter]
>> I
[1:18:00] I'll hold it for you, but that just came
in right now. Um, I'm interested in
[1:18:05] knowing in for sanitation, are there any
critical cla uh classifications at risk
[1:18:10] of uh reduced staffing that could affect
public health safety
[1:18:16] um or regulatory compliance?
So, what could those reductions do?
[1:18:26] I would say uh historically those most
vulnerable are the positions that are
[1:18:32] really on the front line. Our
maintenance [clears throat] labor
[1:18:34] positions, advanced workers,
>> um
[1:18:38] » uh the operators of that type
[1:18:45] and so are are we at risk of reducing
some of the staff on those frontline
[1:18:50] positions?
>> Well, it's hard to say exactly how
[1:18:52] things will come out in the budget. uh
but we we do our best to try to preserve
[1:18:56] those um and uh justify the need.
>> I following up on that I think where
[1:19:05] where we are at most risk is where we
receive general fund and where we
[1:19:09] receive you know where our funds are
subsidized or our programs are
[1:19:12] subsidized for sanitation that primarily
is environmental equality. We we've
[1:19:17] talked about LSD. The other location or
other program would be our wershed
[1:19:22] protection division. That program is
subsidized heavily by the general fund.
[1:19:26] We already had six positions reduced or
eliminated this year. Um those are key
[1:19:32] positions that uh help us with the LIP
program and one position that we are
[1:19:38] hoping we we've included that will
address a potential new fee um
[1:19:43] inspection fee.
So I would say the wershed protection.
[1:19:49] » Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
That's all. Thank you so much. Thank you
[1:19:54] to all of you. Appreciate you. Um,
next we will have BSL.
[1:20:01] Thank you.
Make sure you have your letters, please.
[1:20:21] Good afternoon, committee members. Uh
Miguel Sangalong, I'm the director of
[1:20:25] Bure of Street Lighting. I'm going to go
over a quick presentation right now. If
[1:20:29] we can fast forward just a couple beyond
that one. Um wanted to highlight a
[1:20:35] couple of the the programs that we do
have here. One to the left is our more
[1:20:40] fee or permit based um program that we
have. It's the collocation where we've
[1:20:46] had about a 35% reduction over the past
two years. Uh and uh on the right there
[1:20:52] is our restoration and fortification.
This is kind of all the hardening that
[1:20:56] we're doing with regards to our uh
street lighting network. About a about a
[1:21:00] 15% reduction or so over the past two
years. Uh leveling off from last year to
[1:21:05] this year. uh but nonetheless uh a
reduction that uh we can feel in to in
[1:21:11] terms of the total budget itself. Um
over the past two excuse me over the
[1:21:17] past two fiscal years we've had about a
13% reduction uh in total for for the
[1:21:23] budget from about $56 million to about
$49 million this year. Um, in terms of
[1:21:29] people, the the the men and women that
um actually do the work get get the uh
[1:21:35] lights on 22 uh 23% between 22 23%
reduction from our total staff u from a
[1:21:44] couple years ago. We were a little over
400 staff. Now we're a little over 300.
[1:21:49] Well, we're at 315 or so authorized
positions for the bureau itself. Um and
[1:21:55] you know in in context I think some of
the things that I also wanted to
[1:21:59] highlight uh because this is you know I
think most glaring uh is the fact that
[1:22:06] we have outages that blanket city block
city streets um through many of our
[1:22:12] neighborhoods that are glaring because
of theft and vandalism that has
[1:22:16] essentially done mining operations and
ripped the copper straight out of our
[1:22:20] streets. Uh but what keeps me up at
night is actually the deferred
[1:22:25] maintenance backlog that we have. And so
um many of our routine maintenance
[1:22:29] programs that we've done and this this
will um I'll give a little bit more
[1:22:33] context. Many of our routine maintenance
programs that we've done in past years,
[1:22:38] for instance, the LED program, uh it is
essentially zero. our pole replacement
[1:22:44] program. These are the things that are
we essentially have tall heavy
[1:22:47] structures that 400 lb each um along the
ride ofway. The pole replacement program
[1:22:53] is zero. Our conduit replacement program
for anything that goes underground
[1:22:57] because all all things eventually
deteriorate in terms of infrastructure
[1:23:01] that is also zero. Some of these things
were cut from the last recession, right?
[1:23:06] The great recession. So things that
we've been trying to build back over
[1:23:09] time that are necessary for us in order
to operate um have been uh uh reduced to
[1:23:16] things that u will will make it very
difficult for us to maintain an actual
[1:23:21] system longer term. Um this next
>> Miguel and some of the LEDs like those
[1:23:28] are some of the purple lights that we
see out there right in this in the
[1:23:31] community. Are those some of that need
to be replaced under the LED replacement
[1:23:34] program? Th those are some of the purple
lights. Those are also lights. For
[1:23:39] instance, we we did a repair where we
actually fortified a stretch close to
[1:23:43] the airport. As soon as we were done
doing the repairs and hardening it, what
[1:23:48] we noticed was that all the lights were
dimmer in the area. And if you actually
[1:23:53] look at the LED bulbs themselves,
there's only maybe four or five of the
[1:23:58] 35 LEDs that are in the array. So things
that are eventually degrading and
[1:24:02] failing. Yes, they shed some light. it
does not meet any of our standards um
[1:24:06] and are at risk of failing.
>> Thank you. But that's um pretty eye
[1:24:11] opening to see no money for condo
replacement, no money for
[1:24:16] the pole replacement, and no money for
even just basic LEDs.
[1:24:20] » Yeah. Um and and this brings me to the
next graph I have on page five. This is
[1:24:26] really, you know, the the the
main point, right, where this this
[1:24:32] current fiscal year alone, half of our
LEDs will essentially be end of life.
[1:24:38] I'm I'm going to repeat that. Half of
our LEDs are going to be essentially out
[1:24:43] of uh end of life. That means they must
be replaced. Uh they have
[1:24:47] » How many is that?
>> Uh 100,000 lights. We have
[1:24:51] » 50% of those are 100
>> our our total assets in the field is
[1:24:56] essentially a quarter of a million.
>> Okay.
[1:24:58] » So a 100,000 lights nearly half of of
all of those lights are are at end of
[1:25:03] life right now.
>> Right now.
[1:25:04] » Right now.
>> That has zero to do with copper wire.
[1:25:07] » That has zero to do with copper wire
theft. And Miguel, I've heard the the
[1:25:12] point of uh that yes, we have copper
wire theft impacting our lights, but is
[1:25:17] it true that it's at least 60% of our
street lights are out because of
[1:25:21] deferred maintenance and lack of
maintenance?
[1:25:24] » From the data that we see um historic,
excuse me, from historical data that we
[1:25:29] see about 40% is related to theft and
vandalism, you're correct that 60% or
[1:25:34] the the larger bulk is related to
routine maintenance. That can include
[1:25:38] the LED being out, um, ground outs for
instance, so wires that eventually go
[1:25:44] bad or conduit that that uh, erodess the
poles themselves, etc. So those make up
[1:25:50] the bulk of it at 60%.
>> That's and that's what keeps you up at
[1:25:55] night, you said.
>> Yes. So again, like we we have probably
[1:25:58] 30,000
well, we have about a backlog of 30 I'll
[1:26:03] I'll get to that slide right now, but
about a backlog of uh 30,000 service
[1:26:08] requests. We we think we have or we're
pretty sure uh our estimates are about
[1:26:15] 30,000 total lights out. That's around
14% of the total system. Uh right. Uh
[1:26:22] but if we're talking about the 30,000
that are out that are a mixture of theft
[1:26:27] and vandalism and regular repair, um you
can still have half the system that goes
[1:26:32] out from the LED perspective. And so
that's one of the things that we're
[1:26:35] trying to uh really push for and um also
make sure that we're cognizant that we
[1:26:40] have to keep an uh an eye on. Um and uh
we expect just on the other side of that
[1:26:47] from from the luminires that require
more attention to the polls that um we
[1:26:52] replace about once every 75 years or so
or at least that's our engineering goal.
[1:26:56] Our uh u uh our best practice and st
industry standard as you you will expect
[1:27:03] half of those to be end of life by 2050
as well.
[1:27:07] So, so lots of things that we are
looking from the deferred maintenance uh
[1:27:11] perspective to to kind of do. Uh this
next slide, um a little outdated, but
[1:27:16] still the numbers are fairly consistent
with regards to 37,000 I'm sorry, 30,000
[1:27:22] uh service request backlog that we have.
Um, a couple things I wanted to note
[1:27:27] that the previous year or last year, um,
we saw a total as we're talking about
[1:27:32] 311 right now, we saw a total of about
56,000 service requests coming in for
[1:27:38] the Bureau of Street Lighting. We were
able to close Oh, my phone turned off
[1:27:43] one second.
Um, within that year, about 42,000
[1:27:50] service requests. So, we about 75%
closure rate. Um and uh this year
[1:27:57] halfway through the year we're only able
to about close to close about 31% or so
[1:28:02] uh to date with the total number that we
have and we have about 24,000
[1:28:06] new service requests that have come in
and about 8,000 or so that we've closed
[1:28:11] so far too.
>> So give me one more time what was the
[1:28:13] previous fiscal year percentage closed.
The
[1:28:16] » previous fiscal year percentage closed
about 70 76%.
[1:28:20] » Okay. And then this fiscal year closure
rate, what's it looking like?
[1:28:23] » Right now, year to date, it's about 31%.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:28:27] » Now, granted, some of these things are
are going to get cleaned up. So, as we
[1:28:31] go through the system, I think we've
done a lot in terms of the back office.
[1:28:35] We're using a lot more technology to
have smart nodes that can actually tell
[1:28:39] us whether things are on or off and and
other diagnostics. But the bookkeeping
[1:28:44] will eventually come up with this. I I
probably expect or suspect we'll hit 75
[1:28:49] or 80% so or so closure for this year.
But nonetheless, the gap, the fact that
[1:28:54] we have from previous year 25% or so
that we haven't been able to deal with,
[1:28:58] that just adds to the to the backlog.
So, it's ever growing at that point.
[1:29:02] » That's like those moments where I get
hit up like, "It's been over a year and
[1:29:06] my thing my street lights fixed."
>> Yeah. That the the text message that you
[1:29:10] just get, right?
>> Yeah. And just to name that out of the
[1:29:13] general fund, well, y'all get only 0.5%.
>> That's correct. We're predominantly
[1:29:18] funded by by the assessment. Um I do
want to note because I think last year
[1:29:23] at the the table I was saying um we
would be around 9 months to a year in
[1:29:30] terms of the the repair times for our uh
systems. We're now I I am telling staff
[1:29:37] now that our official time is a year. uh
that is because although some of our
[1:29:43] numbers look to be better. So uh for
instance things that we're doing around
[1:29:47] theft and vandalism we saw it
approaching 200 uh days essentially. It
[1:29:52] looks like it had went down. It went
down to like 190 or so from from our
[1:29:56] data. However, that is because people
are um
[1:30:02] uh that is because there's additional
service requests that are essentially
[1:30:07] bringing our averages down. So if
there's an old service request and 10
[1:30:12] new ones, that's going to make it look
like we're doing it faster.
[1:30:16] » But in reality, if you look at the aging
of all of our service requests, one in
[1:30:19] seven or older than a year. Um, and a I
believe a third of that is actually
[1:30:24] around u 14 months or so. So there is a
subset where we're trying to get to the
[1:30:31] actual service requests. I think one of
the most challenging things that we're
[1:30:35] trying to to convey to constituents and
and by the way um we do absolutely love
[1:30:40] and want more pe people to use 311. Um,
our issue is that the information that
[1:30:46] we get to kind of convey back to them,
given the size of the bureau and the
[1:30:50] fact that the information flows a little
bit more slowly, the the lag of time
[1:30:54] that people hear is is due to the the
the
[1:31:00] size of the backlog and the complexities
of repair that we have to do. We see and
[1:31:04] we hear you. I just want to be very
clear. We we look at all of the service
[1:31:08] requests. We have new um we we have the
the new cardigraph and programs that we
[1:31:14] we do. We have a datadriven run um
analysis of how we're approaching
[1:31:19] repairs. We just had our meeting this
morning about it as well. We see all
[1:31:23] those um are the fact of the matter is
for the 200 field staff that I have
[1:31:28] essentially 30 crews to tackle 56,000
service requests that will require us
[1:31:34] some time in order to get to it. So, we
hear you. We see you. But we're a little
[1:31:37] far away in terms of the queue.
I'll pause if there's any questions.
[1:31:42] Just
>> if you have questions, please. But I
[1:31:45] know that the assessment will probably
answer
[1:31:47] » Yeah, there's
>> a lot of questions. Go ahead, though.
[1:31:49] » I do have a question about um a postcard
on an assessment. Is that happening?
[1:31:56] » I'm sorry. Can you ask
>> a postcard asking people to increase the
[1:32:00] assessment?
>> The process.
[1:32:02] » The process. So, I can I can get into
that right now. Um, I did have a a kind
[1:32:08] of recap. So, in back in November 2022,
we had our original kind of needs
[1:32:14] assessment that the bureau did with
regards to what would be necessary in
[1:32:18] order for us to operate. We came with a
uh
[1:32:23] an analysis that showed we we ultimately
need about $125 million assessment
[1:32:29] budget in order for us to do it. The CEO
last year completed its third-party
[1:32:33] analysis and basically agreed with us to
to about 90% of the the levels. Um, and
[1:32:39] what's what's going through right now,
it just as as we see at the very last
[1:32:43] bullet there, um, we're transmitting a
support contract for council and their
[1:32:47] consideration. This is to allow us to to
augment our uh, back office staff to be
[1:32:53] able to go out to ballot with that
contract in place. Once we get it in
[1:32:56] place, hopefully we get in place
>> when we get it in place. when we when we
[1:32:59] get in place that's I will use that word
uh when we get in place then um it will
[1:33:04] take me about four month uh four four
weeks or so to turn around a brand new
[1:33:08] engineers report and ordinance package
to council.
[1:33:13] My hope is to present the ordinance
package to council in in March for
[1:33:19] consideration and depending on its
approval. Then my hope is that we go out
[1:33:24] to ballot shortly thereafter in the uh
April and May and June time frame. Those
[1:33:31] are the that's the time frame.
>> Can you explain to us what that ballot
[1:33:35] looks like because it is an election
year. So yes now. Yes, that absolutely
[1:33:40] that's a great question and um ours is a
little different. So you're absolutely
[1:33:45] right. It is an election year. There is
the normal electorate. Uh however, that
[1:33:49] is not how we fall. The Bureau of Street
Lighting is an assessment. It follows
[1:33:55] Prop 218 rules. And so we are a separate
ballot that is mailed to affected
[1:34:00] parties. In this case, it's an
assessment on property owners. Uh and so
[1:34:05] it would be a property owner vote um
weighted uh with with um the total value
[1:34:12] of the assessment. They will be mailed
uh the ballot. Again, once once it's
[1:34:17] approved, they will be mailed the ballot
hopefully around April or so. There's
[1:34:22] then a 45day voting period in order for
them to return the ballots. All ballots
[1:34:27] in order to be counted must be returned
within that 45day period. After that, it
[1:34:32] will be a couple weeks for the city
clerk's office to tabulate and calculate
[1:34:37] the votes to which then we would present
to the city council for ratification.
[1:34:42] » And then tell me how that works. Does it
have to be a threshold of 50 plus one of
[1:34:48] the ballots you mailed out or does it
have to be what does it look like?
[1:34:51] » Right. It's essentially a protest vote,
which means um we
[1:34:56] uh in order for it to pass, it must have
50% plus one of the weighted vote. And
[1:35:04] so the difference is uh for instance, if
it was you, council member,
[1:35:09] » yeah, you council member with a $10
assessment and then me and Fabian with
[1:35:14] $2 assessments for our properties. If we
both voted no and you voted yes, the
[1:35:19] ballot would actually proceed because
it's it's based off of the weighted
[1:35:23] value of the assessment itself.
>> But like let's say she doesn't let's say
[1:35:26] she doesn't submit her ballot. Was that
counted as a yes?
[1:35:29] » That is that is
>> because it's a protest vote, right? So
[1:35:32] they
>> it is not counted as yes. It is not
[1:35:34] counted a no. What matters is counting
nos.
[1:35:37] » What matters is what?
>> Counting noses. Making sure that there's
[1:35:40] not more than 50 plus one of the nos
>> on the nose. Is this similar to what
[1:35:44] sanitation did when they were increasing
their their fees?
[1:35:47] » It's essentially we absolutely right. We
we do we're similar to sanitation in
[1:35:53] that we do follow uh 218
>> like what my question is lit is
[1:35:57] literally will it look like that process
because I know when I got the sanitation
[1:36:01] one it didn't look like a ballot that I
had to submit. It was more like if you
[1:36:06] were not in favor. Yeah. It looked like
a survey like it. So it doesn't it's not
[1:36:09] like we're mailing you out a ballot that
looks like a BA ballot or are we doing
[1:36:13] that's I think that's a detail
>> I understand when when I understand um
[1:36:18] when we present the ordinance package I
will actually be in in u with the
[1:36:24] consultant's help we will actually be
designing and then presenting the ballot
[1:36:27] so you will all see what it looks like
and our intent is to be as as clear as
[1:36:32] possible on what people are actually
then voting for.
[1:36:35] » Great. And then for the sanitation when
it was also a protest vote, right?
[1:36:39] » Essentially. Yes.
>> Okay. Great. And so not enough people
[1:36:41] protested against it. That's why we it
was able to move forward.
[1:36:47] » Correct. Or you could vote positively
for it. Yes.
[1:36:50] » Exactly. Which we would like that. But
yes. Okay. Understood. Um Councilwoman,
[1:36:54] any other questions on that?
>> Because I have more questions. I do want
[1:36:57] to know,
>> do the homeowners or the voters, do they
[1:37:03] have to put a stamp on it to return it
or is it self stamped?
[1:37:08] » I will have to get back to you on that
one. I do believe it is a um return.
[1:37:14] » Yeah, it's not self address stamped. I
mean self-address, but it's not stamped.
[1:37:18] I think they have to provide a stamp,
but we can check on that.
[1:37:20] » They have to buy the stamp. Okay.
>> Or they can drop it off our office, too.
[1:37:25] » Okay. Great.
>> Thank you.
[1:37:28] » Thank you.
>> So, so my first question is what is the
[1:37:32] status of the street lighting assessment
which you've already shared uh that that
[1:37:37] report that you said has been submitted
is going to be in front of us. Do you
[1:37:41] know when we're going to vote on it?
>> The the contract
[1:37:45] » for for our support um I believe is
being transmitted to C uh
[1:37:50] » it's being transmitted to council. Okay.
Um and and we are working right now with
[1:37:55] the clerk's office, the CLA and the
offices, the council office in order to
[1:37:59] agendaize.
>> Great. So agendaizing this contract once
[1:38:03] it's approved, four weeks to do the work
to hire the people to do this work and
[1:38:09] that hopefully will take us into April
when you want to release it or what's
[1:38:14] the step between the contract and April?
Uh March is when I I expect to be back
[1:38:21] in front of council prevent uh
presenting the entire ordinance package,
[1:38:26] the engineers report, the timeline for
the ballot and what the ballot looks
[1:38:30] like as well.
>> Beautiful. So this report, the hiring
[1:38:34] the contractors, March, you'll present
the package to us and then hopefully by
[1:38:39] April it is submitted out for vote.
>> April submitted out for vote. I I think
[1:38:45] the the piece and um with the timeline
that you're saying, April, May would be
[1:38:50] the expectation, mid May to end of May
would be the expectation that the votes
[1:38:54] or everything is closed.
>> How much time do they get to close? How
[1:38:58] much how long is that election
>> from the assuming April 1st, you'd have
[1:39:03] it 45 days after? So, it would be May
15ish, right, that we would be doing.
[1:39:09] » Great. Great. Um what Okay, go ahead.
What's the outreach plan?
[1:39:15] » A few uh different ones. We're going to
do everything that's legally mandated,
[1:39:20] so putting it in in the papers and all.
That's also why we have a contractor
[1:39:25] that is augmenting what our um online
presence would be. Um we have created
[1:39:31] collateral to uh to give out essentially
pamphlets for for information. and we
[1:39:36] are working very closely with all the
council offices and and neighborhood
[1:39:40] council in order for us to get in front
of um you know our constituents,
[1:39:44] residents, property owners in order to
talk about it as well. Um there's uh um
[1:39:50] additionally u I'm forgetting exactly
what it's called but there there will be
[1:39:54] additional kind of media presence right
directing people to to greater
[1:39:59] information um for the the assessment
itself. That's part of part of the
[1:40:04] larger kind of outreach plan as you're
speaking.
[1:40:06] » Thank you.
>> Great. Thank you. And that that also
[1:40:08] includes like street banners, right?
>> Yes, we're we're we're trying uh the
[1:40:14] answer is yes.
>> Um and we're trying to make sure that
[1:40:17] everything that we are putting out there
is up to par in terms of how we can
[1:40:21] approach um the the ballot itself. So,
we're working with the city attorneys on
[1:40:25] that.
>> Beautiful.
[1:40:29] » No, I'm kidding.
>> No. Yes. that. No, they won't let you
[1:40:31] tie anything on light poles as I found
out. Um,
[1:40:35] » but is it a light if it doesn't work?
>> No. Well [snorts] then, yeah, that's
[1:40:38] true. I still have a few more questions
and I know actually we're running on
[1:40:41] time. Um, so give me a second. Um,
my question is, does your 2026 2027
[1:40:50] budget letter proposed to restore the
utilitarian like program?
[1:40:54] » Uh, it does not. Um,
>> please tell us why. If not,
[1:40:58] » uh th that is one that we did not
request. It is um predominantly related
[1:41:04] to a discussion with DWP. We would have
to have those discussions. I think that
[1:41:08] could probably happen separate of the
budget process into the budget process
[1:41:12] itself. So,
>> great. So, [clears throat] yeah, that's
[1:41:16] important to me. Um, I'm going to be
following up on this conversation
[1:41:20] because there are certain parts of our
district where utilitarian lights have
[1:41:25] saved us from a lot of issues and where
we couldn't put a regular light pole
[1:41:29] like in some of our hillsides. So, I I
will be following up on I think during
[1:41:34] the budget process when LAWP is also
proposing to have more information to
[1:41:38] help us advocate for that. A Miguel, I
would love appreciate that support. Um,
[1:41:44] do you have uh do you have any outreach
or community engagement efforts to
[1:41:47] promote 311?
>> Uh, the the short answer is yes. I think
[1:41:53] it is a little bit more anemic than my
my sister and uh bureaus and
[1:41:58] departments. We're obviously on the the
smaller side when it comes to full
[1:42:01] staff, but we have um some of the people
from our community impact and asset uh
[1:42:06] protection division that will be part of
that. and um uh some of the people
[1:42:11] Jessica on my team works very closely on
trying to make sure we're also conveying
[1:42:15] information to neighborhood councils
with car.
[1:42:18] » Great. And how have you all been
adapting to the change in the app?
[1:42:23] » Pardon?
>> How have you been adapting to the change
[1:42:25] in the app?
>> Uh this bureau loves technology just to
[1:42:28] be clear. Um
>> you do that camera that analy you know
[1:42:31] that one camera but yes
>> well but that one wasn't a camera that
[1:42:35] was lighter. Yeah. So anyway, sorry
we're not nerding out. Um but uh the
[1:42:41] with regards to the um 311 app itself
there there are great um advantages to
[1:42:47] it because many of the things that I
think were um issues that we had for
[1:42:52] instance we tried to change some of the
wording where we were telling people it
[1:42:55] would take longer etc what does complete
mean you know in the previous iteration
[1:42:58] of it would have cost us another $45,000
in six months to do now we can do that
[1:43:03] on the fly with ITA but there are things
that we're trying to work out in terms
[1:43:06] of kinks So for instance um there was at
one point in time for some for some
[1:43:11] reason there was just a breakage in how
some of the um service requests were
[1:43:15] being transferred so we were missing
some but all of that is getting cleared.
[1:43:19] So I think it just continues to be a
work in progress for for the online
[1:43:23] system itself.
>> Great. Thank you. And last question.
[1:43:25] Sorry Ashley. Um what requests do you
have in your budget letter to prepare
[1:43:30] for the Olympics?
>> I'm sorry. Say that again.
[1:43:32] » What requests do you have in your budget
letter to prepare for the Olympics?
[1:43:34] There there are um a few that we're
proposing um and they all relate to the
[1:43:42] the fortification extra work that we're
doing in order to fortify the lights
[1:43:47] because I do think that our lighting
system or lighting assets will be very
[1:43:50] important in the future. So for
instance, sanitation was here talking
[1:43:53] about some of their cameras. Well, guess
where they place them, right? Uh so
[1:43:58] we're going to end up being a platform
for the larger city. Uh and those are
[1:44:02] some of the requests that we do in
addition to other things like pedestrian
[1:44:05] lighting and bus stop lighting as well.
>> Great. And how much is that? How much
[1:44:09] did you ask for?
>> Uh
[1:44:12] I have it here.
That's probably around I'm trying to
[1:44:16] settle it up real quick. Around $18
million or so in new requests that we
[1:44:20] have there.
>> You know, that's really good to hear.
[1:44:24] Not. Well, the only reason why I bring
it up is because we paid that $21
[1:44:27] million for that one lawsuit where that
piece of a light pole fell on somebody
[1:44:31] » for one case.
>> Yes.
[1:44:33] » And that would have paid for this entire
budget ass that you have for the
[1:44:36] Olympics.
>> Just to put into context of what
[1:44:38] deferred maintenance does to our city
and our city budget. Uh do you have any
[1:44:42] other questions?
>> Anything else you want to say?
[1:44:46] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. Appreciate y'all.
[1:44:48] » Thank you.
>> Yeah. [laughter]
[1:44:51] » Last question. Sorry. Um will you all be
working with also with the staff bus
[1:44:55] stops for some of this uh assessment
>> engagement?
[1:45:01] » We we work very closely with street
service on that and Shirley and team and
[1:45:04] and uh yes and Keith as well. Yes.
>> Okay. Great. Just want to make sure that
[1:45:09] we all said that out loud for the future
for the assessment. Yes. Yeah. Thank
[1:45:12] you. Thank you. All right. Next we have
BCA.
[1:45:16] BCA. Thank you Miguel and team.
All right,
[1:45:24] we're almost done, team.
>> We're almost done.
[1:45:35] » Okay, thank you. Please take a moment to
introduce yourselves and yeah, take it
[1:45:39] away.
>> Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Council
[1:45:42] member, uh John Reamer, the inspector of
public works, director of the Bureau of
[1:45:46] Contract Administration. I'm joined with
our assistant director, Ro Mendoza, who
[1:45:51] will walk us through our presentation.
[1:45:56] » Good afternoon, Madame Chair, council
member Hut. Uh, as John mentioned,
[1:46:00] Rumble Mendoza, assistant director. So,
our current operating budget, and I
[1:46:05] refer to it as operating, not
necessarily adopted because there were
[1:46:08] have been some changes throughout the
course of the year. So, 361 positions is
[1:46:13] what we have in this current year
budget. um you know through the budget
[1:46:17] process our goal was to preserve homes
for staff that we had you know through
[1:46:22] the difficult process and so what we
wanted to do was you know we didn't want
[1:46:26] to take any chances so with your support
we offered up uh up to 37 positions to
[1:46:32] try to keep certain classifications so
that we could keep everyone in the
[1:46:35] bureau employed. And so um this year uh
with the approval of the convention
[1:46:42] center project, we did get an additional
eight positions. So that's why when I
[1:46:46] talk about our operating budget, we're
really working with 369 positions so far
[1:46:51] this year.
Uh I mentioned the convention center.
[1:46:55] So, our adopted budget for 2526
included three positions for the
[1:47:00] convention center. Um, as a sort of
starting point as the project got going
[1:47:05] and we knew better what we were dealing
with, uh, the council approved an
[1:47:10] additional eight positions uh, both
covering our inspection side, nine
[1:47:15] positions on the inspection side, and
then two positions on the compliance
[1:47:19] side. So, you know, our role uh in
inspection for capital projects in the
[1:47:25] city, you know, really the owner's
representative. You know, our inspection
[1:47:29] work on these projects is not such where
uh where we are called out for
[1:47:34] something, we check it out and then we
walk away, right? We are the owner's
[1:47:38] representative. We want to make sure
that the project is delivered for what
[1:47:42] you as a council and the mayor expect
from the project, what our residents
[1:47:46] expect from the investment in the
project. And so when it's the plans and
[1:47:52] specifications, making sure that things
are delivered according to what was
[1:47:57] designed. In addition to that uh the
compliance side making sure that the
[1:48:02] requirements of the project agreement
such as the local hiring component 30%
[1:48:07] local hiring uh 50% local apprentice and
10% transitional workers. Our compliance
[1:48:14] side is making sure that we work with
the contractor to meet those
[1:48:16] requirements. Then there's also the
business participation goals. So our
[1:48:21] role on these capital projects is
multiaceted. Um and as you see on the
[1:48:26] screen on the slide, verification of
work, approval of payments, things like
[1:48:30] that.
Um one thing I will say on a sort of
[1:48:35] current budget, you know, for these
positions, uh we are front funding the
[1:48:40] the cost of the position. So as the year
goes, we'll be reimbursed for those
[1:48:45] costs.
[1:48:48] So as uh on Monday I think our uh
director John was uh at ad hoc committee
[1:48:56] on Olympics uh talking about some of the
report backs and in particular best
[1:49:01] practices on uh business participation
for LA28 procurement.
[1:49:07] I will say that our current staff when
it comes to outreach for businesses and
[1:49:14] certification processing is six staff.
There is one senior MA and five
[1:49:18] management analysts. In fact, two of
those six are actually paid for by the
[1:49:23] proprietaries to focus on their uh
projects and certifications.
[1:49:29] So really we're essentially working with
four staff right now and they are tasked
[1:49:33] with the following whether it's outreach
events. So far this year, they've
[1:49:37] participated in 21 events, including the
small business academy that we put on
[1:49:41] specifically to target for the Olympics.
>> We only have had 28 days this year.
[1:49:47] » They event 26.
>> Yeah.
[1:49:52] » Oh, that's No, great.
>> We do work hard, but I don't know if we
[1:49:55] could have made that. Um,
>> thank you.
[1:49:58] » Certification processing. So, you know,
we process a number of different
[1:50:01] certifications, whether it be MBE, WBE,
DB, you know, I could go on with the
[1:50:05] acronyms, but I know for the Olympics, a
big focus has been on local and small.
[1:50:10] Um, but just to give you a sense of our
workload in that regard, we currently
[1:50:14] have five 400 applications in the queue.
And that's between what I, as I
[1:50:19] mentioned, the four staff that do both
the certification processing and the
[1:50:24] outreach. So what we're faced with
normally is in order to do the outreach
[1:50:28] events like putting on the small
business academy it takes a lot of
[1:50:31] effort and so what happens is the people
that are processing the certifications
[1:50:36] that work takes pause while we run the
event or the whatever it might be so
[1:50:41] they're doing that we've also been
proact
[1:50:45] » so the 400 you have in the queue still
need to be processed and certified
[1:50:50] » correct
>> and that's only the local business
[1:50:52] applications.
>> Thank you. And what do those local
[1:50:55] applications lead to?
>> Um like what is the certification do you
[1:50:59] mean?
>> Yeah.
[1:51:00] » So those are the certifications for
either local business enterprise or
[1:51:03] local small business enterprise. And so
being certified in those either of those
[1:51:08] two categories is what gives them the
bid preference under the city's local
[1:51:12] business preference program. Whether it
be a 10% if you're in the city or a
[1:51:16] starting point of 6% if you're in the
county, not in the city.
[1:51:20] » Great. And what you're saying is that
this team of five handles the outreach
[1:51:24] events and the certification process but
that the certification process there's a
[1:51:29] 405 back application backlog.
>> Correct.
[1:51:32] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Um so they've also been focusing on any
[1:51:36] of the outreach that we've done on the
related to the 2028 games. Um and so
[1:51:42] this is an area that you know we've been
focused on. Uh looking ahead, part of
[1:51:47] that report back that's in the ad hoc
Olympics committee um was first the best
[1:51:52] practices and then we're also working on
an outreach plan that was requested in
[1:51:56] that um uh as this goes forward you know
obviously the more outreach we do and
[1:52:03] make them aware of these opportunities
that also means more certification
[1:52:08] applications coming through for these
staff. So is that does that um motion
[1:52:13] include staffing increase for
certification workflow processing?
[1:52:18] » So uh in our report back which we hope
to have out in the next couple days here
[1:52:23] um we do give several options for
different tiers of levels of outreach
[1:52:28] that you may want that we would we did
give options for staffing to accompany
[1:52:32] that.
>> Great. Did you put that in your budget
[1:52:34] letter as well? Uh we do have a request
for some staffing for outreach that
[1:52:38] would sort of address start to address
this
[1:52:41] » outreach and workload processing or just
outreach.
[1:52:45] » The idea is both. So with the six staff
we have now the the request in the
[1:52:50] budget is for three additional staff so
we could sort of split the work.
[1:52:54] » Uh so we'd have a senior MA over
outreach and a senior MA over uh
[1:52:59] certification processing. So they could
really focus on those two areas
[1:53:02] isolated.
>> Great. Thank you. And actually, one last
[1:53:06] thing on that. Um, would any of those
405, if they were to be processed sooner
[1:53:12] than later, benefit from the FIFA
>> World Cup?
[1:53:18] » Good question.
>> Um, you know, I don't I don't know if
[1:53:21] there's been specific discussions on
targets for the World Cup. Um, so I mean
[1:53:28] they could certainly use it to to share
something that we've affirmed they are a
[1:53:32] local business because that's what this
is about, right? So um but I don't know
[1:53:36] if you're aware madam chair FIFA they
have their own requirements with respect
[1:53:41] to identifying
um criteria they want for their
[1:53:45] businesses. But what we've asked for is
that criteria so that we can get our
[1:53:49] businesses ready and be able to
basically affirm that they are city of
[1:53:54] Los Angeles residents. So if FIFA is
willing to um invest in and give space
[1:53:59] for legitimate LA city businesses then
yes certification would definitely help
[1:54:04] them.
>> Great. Thank you.
[1:54:07] » So I wanted to turn a little bit to
inspection and I pulled out one specific
[1:54:11] area just kind of as an example. You
know when we take when every year when
[1:54:15] we do our budget um under John's
leadership and direction we always take
[1:54:19] a zerobased approach when it comes to
inspection. You know, our goal is to
[1:54:23] look at all the projects that we have
coming before us from all of our sister
[1:54:27] bureaus and other departments, whether
it be BOE, sanitation, and we look at
[1:54:32] their projected workload for projects.
And then we compare that with what we
[1:54:36] currently have to decide if we need more
or less than what we currently have. So,
[1:54:42] we really respond to a workload, and I
don't mean this in a bad way, that's
[1:54:46] created by the other bureaus, right?
We're responding to something. And as I
[1:54:50] mentioned on the convention center, our
goal is to be the eyes and ears in the
[1:54:53] field. You know, this is not a situation
where uh you know, we could again walk
[1:54:58] away from the project. We need to be
there to verify work before we make $10
[1:55:04] million payment, a $5 million payment,
right? And it's because we want to make
[1:55:07] sure that the city residents get what
their uh tax dollars are going towards.
[1:55:12] And so here I share with you some of the
projects that are there for measure W.
[1:55:17] We have currently two staff. Um, and I
share this uh that we do have a a little
[1:55:22] bit of overspending in the measure W
because it's important, right? We did
[1:55:27] ask in this current year for uh five
positions originally. Uh we did get two,
[1:55:33] but this does show kind of what the
impact of that is because it's like I
[1:55:36] said, we we have to go to these
projects, right? And so we have to send
[1:55:40] people and it means two impacts. One is
measure W a special fund is not able to
[1:55:46] cover those because we only have a
certain aotment and then two in order
[1:55:50] for us to respond to these projects and
be there on site it means pulling from
[1:55:55] other general fund areas. So whether
it's permits and things like that. So
[1:56:00] not only is it impact to measure W um
but it's also an impact to our ability
[1:56:06] to respond in other areas. Can you tell
me like give me an example of like that
[1:56:11] delay or that impact?
>> So the the delay like I said uh we would
[1:56:16] probably pull people from other projects
or permits. So our ability to respond to
[1:56:20] say an a permit or maybe a permit for a
affordable housing development. We won't
[1:56:27] be able to get there as quickly when
they need us to affirm or recommend a
[1:56:32] TCO for example.
>> Got it. So it creates bottlenecks in
[1:56:35] other projects.
>> Right. And then this snapshot that you
[1:56:39] gave us, these are just measure W
projects in this region. These two
[1:56:44] current inspectors are just for this
region and these projects or these two
[1:56:48] inspection for the entire city of Los
Angeles and this is just a snippet of
[1:56:52] what they have to do.
>> Um when you say region, I would say that
[1:56:55] these are the act these are all the
active measure W funded projects and we
[1:57:00] do just have the two staff. Um, but in
terms of region, I think they are
[1:57:06] probably all kind of in that area.
Although I think that's just probably by
[1:57:09] coincidence as opposed to specifying a
region.
[1:57:13] » Got it. Because it looks very
regional.
[1:57:17] » Yes. So that's So tell me then again,
are these two inspection staff for all
[1:57:22] measure W projects and these are all the
measure W projects
[1:57:25] » currently? Yes.
>> Okay, understood.
[1:57:30] And then that overspend just keep all
isolated. Go ahead. Thank you.
[1:57:36] » Um I did want to just touch really
quickly on our core program staffing. Um
[1:57:41] I know there's a question about
attrition and hiring. So you know we
[1:57:44] always try to keep up with our
attrition. Uh so we did bring in new
[1:57:49] staff to sort of address that. Our
current vacancies really our our
[1:57:52] programs are broken down into two areas.
And I never want to forget admin too,
[1:57:57] but uh construction inspection and then
the compliance side. So on our
[1:58:01] inspection side, we do have a number of
vacancies. Um again, impact being how
[1:58:07] fast we respond to permits. Um our
ability to to be on the different
[1:58:12] projects, how much of the time we're on
those projects, and then on the
[1:58:16] compliance side, I I will say you could
see our vacancies on the compliance
[1:58:19] side. We've worked really hard um to
keep those down. and with your help uh
[1:58:25] in budget and finance committee and the
city council um and ultimately the
[1:58:29] mayor's budget, you know, we were able
to preserve a lot of our wage theft
[1:58:33] positions. That was a big deal. And
actually, even since the beginning of
[1:58:37] this fiscal year, we've made a lot of
progress on our cases. We started the
[1:58:40] year with 183 as a backlog. Throughout
the course of the year, we've gotten
[1:58:45] almost 50 complaints, but we've been
able to get our case down to 150. So,
[1:58:50] we're finally being able to keep a
little better pace with our um
[1:58:53] complaints. Um, one thing that's not
addressed in our current staffing is
[1:58:58] sort of pending uh motions before the
council, whether it's um expansion of
[1:59:04] enforcement to state labor code,
overtime, meal breaks, rest breaks, as
[1:59:08] well as the fair work week for fast food
if that materializes.
[1:59:14] » When that materializes,
>> there you go.
[1:59:17] Um, so that'll conclude our
presentation, but we're available for
[1:59:20] questions if you have any.
>> Thank you. Yes, I have three questions.
[1:59:24] Um, the presentation, Thank you so much.
The presentation shows a reduction in
[1:59:29] staffing in fiscal year 2526,
but does not specify the proposed
[1:59:33] staffing levels for fiscal year 2627.
Can you provide a breakdown, please?
[1:59:39] » Yeah. So generally and [clears throat] I
and I think in our proposed budget, so
[1:59:43] this current year is about 47 million is
our adopted budget.
[1:59:47] » What you're probably looking at is a
number of about $55 million for fiscal
[1:59:52] year 2627.
I always put a big asterisk on that
[1:59:55] number for a couple different reasons.
Um well, one I would say one of the one
[2:00:00] of the new requests we rescended, so
it's really about 54. But the big
[2:00:04] asterisk I put is, you know, there's
always a lot of obligatory changes that
[2:00:08] happen uh in the budget. So things like
colas and things like that. Um as well
[2:00:13] as when there's one-time reductions when
we submit our budget, those are sort of
[2:00:19] built back in if they're one-time and
not ongoing reductions. So that $8
[2:00:23] million increase looks a lot bigger than
it really is. What our proposal is is
[2:00:28] less than $2 million of actual new
money. um about 500,000 in general fund
[2:00:34] and about a million and a half in
special funded positions.
[2:00:38] » Okay.
And then um do you have any questions on
[2:00:43] that council?
>> Yeah, I do. Thank you. What what funding
[2:00:46] gaps pose the most significant
operational risk over the next two
[2:00:50] years?
>> Funding gaps. Um,
[2:00:56] I think in our permits, we've always
want to make sure that our permits are
[2:00:59] because those are general funded,
although they're reimbursed. We are
[2:01:02] working on a fee study to I guess kind
of like BOE, trying to get those fees up
[2:01:08] to date so we can make sure that we can
fund the staff that we have, but also
[2:01:12] respond in a manner that is acceptable
to everybody um when it comes to as
[2:01:17] particularly affordable housing
developments, right? We want to get
[2:01:20] there as quickly as they're ready for
us. What's the ETA on that?
[2:01:24] » Um, we are working with the consultant.
We we I don't have a specific timeline.
[2:01:29] Um, I'm hoping that by the time budget
committee rolls around, we'll have a
[2:01:34] better sense of
>> tell them 420.
[2:01:38] » Okay, [laughter]
that would be great because then that
[2:01:42] would give us time before May. Um,
>> that's okay. Thanks, Chairman. Are you
[2:01:47] requesting any additional funding or
resources in the upcoming budget to
[2:01:50] address the certification application
backlog?
[2:01:53] » Yeah, so that that would be the three
positions. Like I said, it would be to
[2:01:57] sort of split that work up.
>> Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you so
[2:02:02] much. Appreciate y'all.
>> Thank you.
[2:02:04] » Great.
And now, last but not least,
[2:02:09] we have the board of public works.
Correct, Ash? Thank you, Ashley.
[2:02:15] Thank you. Thank you.
[2:02:21] » [clears throat]
>> Last but not least,
[2:02:26] and real quick before we get started.
Um, I believe we have an Aquarius in the
[2:02:31] space. It's our president. It was his
birthday yesterday. So, happy birthday.
[2:02:36] » Thank you. Thank you for joining us.
>> Working through it. Appreciate you.
[2:02:41] » Thank you. I heard it was also your
birthday coming up. [laughter] I have
[2:02:45] another Aquarius. Yes. But it's coming
up.
[2:02:47] » All right. Happy early birthday
Aquarius.
[2:02:50] » Aquarius. Thank you. [clears throat]
>> Passing it to you.
[2:02:54] » All right. So, good afternoon, Madam
Chair and Councilwoman Hut. Uh, good to
[2:02:58] see you. My name is Steve Kang, and I
have the honor of serving as the
[2:03:01] president of the Board of Public Works.
And I'm joined today by my fellow
[2:03:05] commissioners, including, uh,
Commissioner Ernesto Cardis and, uh,
[2:03:09] Commissioner John Grant. And many of the
other commissioners are present online
[2:03:12] as well. I'm also here to present an
overview of our budget um alongside our
[2:03:17] budget director Dan. You want to
introduce yourself?
[2:03:20] » Dan Aveetan uh budget director of the
public works. Madame chair, honorable
[2:03:26] council member, nice to meet you.
>> TJ.
[2:03:29] » Hi, council members. Uh TJ Knight, Board
of Public Works.
[2:03:34] » Thank you very much. So, um if you want
to move to the next slide. So, um I'll
[2:03:39] begin with a snapshot of our current uh
adopted budget. The board's annual
[2:03:44] budget totals currently is about $27.4
million. That's one correction is um um
[2:03:50] authorized position is 114. As of today,
15 positions are vacant, but many of
[2:03:55] those are currently being um interviewed
and um accepting job offers at the
[2:04:00] moment. So, um I we wanted to really
uplift three of our main priorities that
[2:04:05] speak to our future budget priorities as
well. Uh number one is graffiti
[2:04:10] abatement services. Number two is our
clean LA workforce development program
[2:04:14] and number three is our homelessness
program. So let's move on and I'll get
[2:04:19] into uh much of the details here. So as
both of you know clean LA is a 12-month
[2:04:25] uh workforce development program where
it was designed several years ago to
[2:04:30] provide Angelinos a pathway to full-time
employment uh and many of them have met
[2:04:35] m metriculated here to the city of Los
Angeles. So, uh, in both of your
[2:04:39] districts, whether it's Pico Union or
Korea Town or South LA, whether it's
[2:04:43] KYCC or Chrysalis, uh, provide these
services where we have young Angelenos,
[2:04:49] uh, they enroll in a 12-month program
and then after they graduate, many have
[2:04:54] gone on to full-time positions with our
sanitation bureau as well as, uh, Bureau
[2:05:00] of Street Services. So, currently there
are four contractors that are citywide
[2:05:04] and um that budget currently is about
$1.3 million, but I did want to uh bring
[2:05:10] to your attention that several years ago
it started at 6 million um as um 2324
[2:05:18] and has now dwindled to about 1.3
unfortunately given given the budgetary
[2:05:23] conditions of the city.
[2:05:27] » I want to uh do a comparison real quick.
So you said four contractors citywide
[2:05:32] for 1.3 million
>> in council district one.
[2:05:37] Jose, correct me if I'm wrong. It's like
we pay a little bit over a million for
[2:05:40] about six clean teams just to service
council district one. Um and so it's a
[2:05:46] little shocking to hear that 1.3 for the
whole city or 4 million.
[2:05:49] » Yeah, it was uh 6 million just about uh
two three years ago. So really yes, it
[2:05:54] started six and then it's been dwindling
since then. You can definitely feel it
[2:05:59] on the streets, I'll tell you that.
>> And um next um I wanted to provide an
[2:06:04] overview of our G graffiti abatement
services. Currently, our budget is about
[2:06:08] $12.4 million allocated to graffiti
abatement under the Office of Community
[2:06:14] Beautifification. So, uh thanks to both
of your help, uh I think our graffiti
[2:06:19] abatement and OCB incurred very minimal
cuts, uh compared to the rest of the
[2:06:23] city. Um however, um the 12.4 4 million
for graffiti did not account for
[2:06:29] inflation, operational costs that have
went up and also wages adjustments which
[2:06:34] are happening every year. So we went
from a crew a citywide crew of 95 to 75.
[2:06:41] That's a 20 crew reduction uh citywide
and that has had some uh major impacts
[2:06:47] in terms of the speed and the graffiti
abatement. Um but despite these
[2:06:51] challenges, I think uh graffiti
abatement under OCB has provided one of
[2:06:56] the most robust performance because 25%
of our graffiti services are completed
[2:07:02] within 24 hours and the majority of
these services are completed within 48
[2:07:08] to 72 hours and the more complex cases
are completed within five days. Not five
[2:07:14] business days, but five calendar days.
However, to put that into comparison, if
[2:07:18] we had when we had 95 crews, most the
vast majority were completed within 48
[2:07:24] hours.
>> Yeah, that's what we heard in our last
[2:07:27] public works meeting. May
>> Yes, please. I I just um
[2:07:32] want to thank the council member uh my
my chair because during budget which we
[2:07:37] both sit on budget we uh together really
fought to maintain as many positions in
[2:07:44] the graffiti space because we know
that's public safety. We know that's
[2:07:49] messaging and we we want to keep the
messages at a low. So, I'm I'm really
[2:07:55] happy to hear that, you know, you're
still able to deliver even though you
[2:08:00] have a lessened amount. They tried to
reduce it even more, right? And we
[2:08:04] really did uh fight many other uh
members didn't get the messaging part,
[2:08:10] but you do and we appreciate it.
>> Thank you. Thank you, chairwoman. At um
[2:08:15] at the 95 cruise, what was the cost of
that?
[2:08:17] » That was about um 95 costs. It was about
$14 million.
[2:08:24] » 14 million. Okay.
>> So, we have seen in the last two years
[2:08:28] or so about um $1.7 uh million dollars
of uh reduction um in terms of our
[2:08:36] graffiti abatement services.
>> Great. Thank you.
[2:08:40] » And then uh moving on to our third core
bucket, our HH, that's our homeless
[2:08:45] housing assistance program. So, this
one's going to be different, but I
[2:08:49] wanted to present this to both of you uh
to really help us kind of figure out map
[2:08:53] out our future is that these programs um
are not funded by our general fund. Uh
[2:08:59] but these are uh state grants. So, we
have our mobile pit stop program which
[2:09:04] is at uh $4.8 million. So, 16 public
restrooms are currently operated
[2:09:10] citywide and one is currently operating
at MacArthur Park. Yeah.
[2:09:14] » And with 21 full-time employees. Number
two is our mobile shower program. Um
[2:09:19] that's about $1.5 million and 11 uh
locations throughout the city and one is
[2:09:26] currently in council district 10 at West
Adams Church of Christ. Um and then
[2:09:32] number three is we have a special skid
clean team that's about $1.6 million, 28
[2:09:37] full-time employees. So altogether we
have about 104 uh full-time employees
[2:09:43] that are dedicated to these three
buckets of services uplifting our
[2:09:47] unhoused neighbors and these are fully
grant funded by our state. However, we
[2:09:52] have a time clock. We have just enough
funds to sustain the current level for
[2:09:57] one more fiscal year. So we do have to
figure out um with all of your support
[2:10:02] how we can sustain this program beyond
next fiscal year.
[2:10:07] What was the total
>> um
[2:10:11] » the grant dollars?
>> Yeah, total for all the programs is 7.9
[2:10:16] million.
>> 7.9. Yes. And we're looking for it to
[2:10:20] sunset it fiscal. Our fiscal or
>> one more one more year. So 27.
[2:10:25] » Yes. Correct.
>> Okay.
[2:10:32] So, those are the the three main buckets
that we wanted to uplift. And um and
[2:10:38] council member Hut and when you asked
the the questions of what would be the
[2:10:42] most um uh impactful um kind of
budgetary cuts, I think given the volume
[2:10:48] of uh graffiti and cleanliness uh
services that we're receiving, we we are
[2:10:54] concerned about potential cuts to our
graffiti abatement services. So, we are
[2:11:00] working uh we're in collaboration with
the mayor's team and and making sure
[2:11:04] that you know we either sustain uh our
current level of funding or potentially
[2:11:09] increase.
>> Well, what did you request? What's in
[2:11:12] your budget letter?
>> Well, um you know,
[2:11:14] » those are public already. So,
>> correct. Correct. And and I I do
[2:11:18] understand. So, we're currently um we're
hoping to go back to where we were
[2:11:22] before uh about 23 24.
>> So, what level is that?
[2:11:28] We're currently um in deliberation with
the mayor's team and u I'm happy to
[2:11:32] follow up once the number has been
confirmed.
[2:11:35] » We don't have the number for fiscal year
2023 and 2024.
[2:11:39] » That is uh 14 million.
>> Okay. And that's just for graffiti.
[2:11:44] Okay. Great.
>> Thank you. I have more questions.
[2:11:46] Chairman, I mean councilman, I'll pass
it to you. Thank you. Um
[2:11:55] at our last meeting, uh OCB stated
during the 2526 fiscal year budget, the
[2:12:01] graffiti removal contractor servicing
the highest need service request areas
[2:12:05] were reduced and other area contractors
remain the same. How does the 2026 2027
[2:12:12] budget letter move to fund graffiti
removal programs based on SR demand and
[2:12:18] highest need areas/contractors
proportionately?
[2:12:22] » So the board has really taken uh the
equity umbrella um into our equation and
[2:12:27] we really re um uh reorganizing our
operations as we speak. I know uh Paul
[2:12:33] Rash is here, our director is uh present
and he is well understanding and then
[2:12:38] what you mentioned about clean streets
as well. It is a collaborative between
[2:12:42] Bureau of Street Services and Sanitation
and our OCB crews where we're really
[2:12:48] trying to be creative about deployment
into not only major corridors, but the
[2:12:53] communities with the most needs and
making sure that um not the loudest
[2:12:57] voices of our city get the best
services, but really looking at our data
[2:13:01] metrics and and doing that. And although
uh we we are having um uh we did put
[2:13:06] forward a number, I believe that number
has been shifted. So um I you know I I
[2:13:12] would love to give you a number but it's
very preliminary and I uh I do not feel
[2:13:16] comfortable sharing that at this time.
>> Great. And then I think what I just
[2:13:21] wanted to uplift as you all further
deliberate this is
[2:13:25] the the reductions in the teams happened
from my understanding in the areas with
[2:13:30] the highest need. Right. So, I had
areas, I think Councilwoman Hut had also
[2:13:35] areas where we had two teams and other
areas perhaps that didn't have as much
[2:13:39] graffiti. Um, they had one team, but we
saw a reduction. Instead of seeing like
[2:13:45] a reduction in consolidation, for
example, in the west side, they're not
[2:13:49] getting tagged up like Pico Union and
MacArthur Park. Perhaps the west side
[2:13:52] doesn't need two teams. Maybe they need
one. And I'm and and I bring this up
[2:13:56] because as yes, it can't just be the
loudest voices, but also how do we be
[2:14:01] more strategic and um if we don't need
to have as much response in one area,
[2:14:08] then let's reconfigure how we are
distributing these teams because looking
[2:14:11] at the data and seeing the number of
requests even just coming in for council
[2:14:14] district 10, like you should have many
more teams and I think so just want to
[2:14:19] put it out there that um equity and the
distribution of service is something
[2:14:22] we've been pushing for and I think DOT T
has done a phenomenal job in
[2:14:26] implementing it in some ways
particularly around our schools that
[2:14:29] need the speed humps and the lowering
the speed limits. So that's just a great
[2:14:33] example of the implementation of equity
but I think with these particular teams
[2:14:37] yes we need to fully fund them which is
a above the whatever the 14 million is
[2:14:41] and also the distribution and
configuration definitely needs to change
[2:14:46] so that it makes more of an impact
>> and I I have a a question. So, how does
[2:14:50] that work? If they This is not a high
need area. What are what are this team
[2:14:55] doing today?
>> What are they doing?
[2:14:57] » So, I want to invite our director Rash
to help answer.
[2:15:02] » Not trying to hot seat you. I'm just
trying to see if you redirect them if
[2:15:06] they don't have
>> Paul Ro with Office of Community
[2:15:09] Beautifification. And um I apologize if
there was some misunderstanding last
[2:15:14] time. So, uh, yes, cuts did happen in
some of the higher impacted areas more
[2:15:22] than than some of the other areas, but
but all all areas of the city have are
[2:15:28] suffering fewer graffiti abatement
crews. Uh the reason that the the higher
[2:15:34] impacted areas probably suffered a a
larger cut overall is because we put
[2:15:43] more resources into those areas to begin
with. So just as an example, in council
[2:15:50] district one, we had eight graffiti
abatement crews. That number has been
[2:15:56] reduced to six.
six or seven right now um in all of
[2:16:03] council districts five and 11 combined.
So that area which does have less
[2:16:10] graffiti although still certainly
graffiti there are only four crews
[2:16:14] working. So it's for those two districts
combined. The whole west side really
[2:16:19] right now has four graffiti abatement
crews. So everywhere took a cut.
[2:16:26] Unfortunately, because we have more
resources in council district 9, council
[2:16:32] district 14, council district 1, council
district 10, there there was had to be a
[2:16:37] larger proportional cut. So
>> and and I hear you and and that's
[2:16:42] exactly what I digested and what I'm
trying to say is that of course we have
[2:16:48] more because we need more,
>> right? And that should be the baseline.
[2:16:53] And what should be reconsidered is if
that if the west side does need four
[2:16:58] teams, maybe they can survive better
with two teams. [laughter] And obviously
[2:17:01] there's going to be push back,
>> but like
[2:17:04] » or maybe flexibility for the
>> you know, it's going to get hot and when
[2:17:09] when it gets hot, people are more
creative. And so then do we move the
[2:17:14] teams from a you know less useful space
to spaces that are more artsy?
[2:17:20] » Yes. Right.
>> Like how can we
[2:17:23] » Yeah. I mean even on the west end part
part of the problem in the west side is
[2:17:27] although it may be more le less graffiti
say per square mile or so. It's a huge
[2:17:33] geographic area and the contractors have
to spend a lot more time driving around
[2:17:38] just just to get to uh the request or
where the graffiti is.
[2:17:42] » And and so I guess one is well
definitely I I'm going to be throwing
[2:17:47] down as hard as I can to get the full
funding for graffiti removal and also
[2:17:52] I'm going to be throwing down to make
sure that the distribution is a little
[2:17:55] more equitable and um in the
implementation of it um as we move
[2:18:00] forward. So
>> Right. Understood. And just one one more
[2:18:04] quick point, we do have sort of non
geographic boundary crews as well. We
[2:18:09] call them strike force crews that we
throw into the hotter areas and those do
[2:18:14] go in much more frequently into those
high impact areas than than other parts
[2:18:20] of the city that maybe don't experience
as much graffiti.
[2:18:24] » Great. Thank you so much.
>> Is that in addition to these to the
[2:18:28] » Yes, that's a supplemental layer. So we
I I mean the budget is is the overall
[2:18:33] bud that budget does include the strike
force crews as well, but they're they're
[2:18:37] not assigned say to a specific council
district or geographic area. We have
[2:18:42] four crews and so every week we assign
them to different sort of hotspot areas
[2:18:48] around the city and those do go quite
more frequently into the higher impact
[2:18:54] areas. And so that right now we're at
about 12 million. Fully funding is 14
[2:19:00] million. Is that gap just those four
teams or how many teams is that gap?
[2:19:04] » No, that that gap that 2 million will
will get us back to the level of service
[2:19:08] that we were roughly previously last
fiscal year would add about 20 more
[2:19:15] graffiti abatement teams um on a
city-wide basis. 20 teams a team a a
[2:19:23] team being well the four are in place
now.
[2:19:26] » Okay.
>> So that that additional funding would
[2:19:29] allow us to restore those 20 positions
that were cut this fiscal year.
[2:19:34] » Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. Um at at our
last meeting, OCB discussed a challenge
[2:19:40] uh between 311 and graffiti removal
contractors to receive all service
[2:19:44] requests and to record proactive service
requests. Has this been resolved or
[2:19:50] what's the corrective action plan here?
>> It has not been resolved at this point.
[2:19:53] The 311
system for the OCB contractors is very
[2:19:58] cumbersome, very time consuming. Uh we
did just last week get somewhat of a fix
[2:20:05] for the proactive work in that um our
contractors still can't enter it
[2:20:10] directly into the system but uh a
database has been created an Excel
[2:20:15] spreadsheet that they will enter that in
then they email that spreadsheet to ITA
[2:20:20] and then ITA will be able to upload it
into the the mya 311 system. So that
[2:20:26] will eventually allow us to capture the
proactive work for stats. But in general
[2:20:32] for for them getting the a request and
downloading it and getting it to the
[2:20:37] their crews to go out and do the work is
a lot more time consuming than the
[2:20:43] previous system was.
>> Understood. And also
[2:20:50] um we're going to have a meeting about
this very soon. So if you can have check
[2:20:55] in with your crews and ask and I'm sure
you are but like what are the
[2:20:59] suggestions to facilitate this
>> because you just spent all this money on
[2:21:03] this app like and if it is not
functioning for them
[2:21:07] » it's 2026 we can't go back to Excel we
have to make this app
[2:21:11] » accessible to your teams or just the
process it might be that these crews are
[2:21:16] not able to do that and maybe it's that
they are connected with the dispatcher
[2:21:21] and that the I I don't know I just want
uplifted that we
[2:21:25] » we we can come up with a bullet point of
of lists from all our contractors
[2:21:30] that'll probably be three pages longer.
>> I I'll get it to Jose in the back and
[2:21:34] he'll get it to you guys.
>> People closest to the problems are the
[2:21:36] ones closest to the solution. So,
>> welcome.
[2:21:39] » Absolutely.
>> And so, when you come with the solution,
[2:21:43] are there any barriers that right now
are keeping us from operationalizing the
[2:21:47] solution that you've already discovered?
Yeah, I mean the system itself is not
[2:21:52] designed for a lot of the solutions that
our contractors would like to see put in
[2:21:57] place
>> and we'll be hearing about that at a
[2:22:01] special meeting.
>> So just be ready please with all that
[2:22:03] info
>> and there is sort of like a wish list
[2:22:05] from all of our contractors.
>> Wonderful.
[2:22:08] » Yeah. So,
>> but I mean is it a a solution based like
[2:22:12] I wish I could have but the have is not
a real thing or
[2:22:16] » a lot of it is based on the former app
what they were able to do and they're
[2:22:20] not able to do in its current app as
well.
[2:22:22] » Got it. Got it.
>> Thank you.
[2:22:24] » Thank you.
>> Um
[2:22:27] how much revenue did we bring in this
fiscal year from the gas franchise
[2:22:31] agreements and how much revenue are we
projected to bring in the next fiscal
[2:22:35] year? So I I will let um have Dan
answer. Um but I believe the last update
[2:22:41] I received it's about from the oil and
petroleum it's about 30 million.
[2:22:47] This fiscal year uh it's uh around 20
million but the biggest portion is
[2:22:52] coming the second half of the year. Last
fiscal year I can on uh I cannot recall
[2:23:00] exactly but it should be around 55
million.
[2:23:04] Uh and uh the next fiscal year is going
to be approximately the same uh plus uh
[2:23:11] million.
>> Great. Thank you so much, Councilwoman.
[2:23:15] Any other questions?
[2:23:19] » None.
>> Great. Thank you so much. Um and my last
[2:23:23] question is, do you have any outreach or
community engagement efforts to promote
[2:23:27] 311 uh in funding requests? uh not
specifically in the funding requests um
[2:23:33] but the board does recognize our budget
limitations. So we've been very creative
[2:23:37] about our outreach and I do rec want to
recognize our vice president Jenny
[2:23:41] Chavez here as well. Um so as both of
you know we make a concerted effort to
[2:23:48] do a town hall every other month. So we
we do make a big promotion of our 311
[2:23:53] and also all five commissioners are
visiting actively visiting trying to
[2:23:57] visit all 99 neighborhood councils. So
whenever we go we team with whether it's
[2:24:01] sanitation, street services, uh bring
swag,formational
[2:24:06] language accessibility. So we've been
doing um all we can in terms of that
[2:24:11] creative space um as well as uh we are
looking at a new campaign for our 311
[2:24:17] week as well as our public works week.
So we are coming up with some creative
[2:24:21] ideas with our current resource levels
to promote the app.
[2:24:25] » Great. Thank you. Yeah, like the stop
program. anything we can do there. Um,
[2:24:30] and I I'm really looking forward to 311
week. And also, I want us I wanted to
[2:24:37] like I want it to mean what we say,
right? And right now there's a bit of a
[2:24:42] deficit in that in the app and in its
usage and its accessibility. And so if
[2:24:47] we're going to say it with our whole
chest, we need to make sure that ITA and
[2:24:51] everyone comes together to make the
necessary changes and adaptations to
[2:24:55] make it more accessible. No, absolutely.
>> So that our word means something here.
[2:25:00] But I appreciate y'all. Thank you so
much.
[2:25:02] » Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Uh colleagues, no more
[2:25:04] questions, comments, concerns, thoughts.
>> No, but I think our public works.
[2:25:10] » Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you public
works uh and uh president for being here
[2:25:14] with us today. Uh Mr. Espinosa, is there
any action we need to take on this item?
[2:25:20] » No. No action is required.
>> Is there any is there anything else
[2:25:23] before this committee?
>> No, Madam Chair. The desk is clear.
[2:25:26] » Great. This committee meeting is now
adjourned at 5:00 p.m. We did it.
[2:25:31] » Woohoo. Thanks, everybody.