The Fire Department has more functioning facilities than almost any other City Department. The Department oversees and ensures the operating condition of 44 fire stations, 3 transitional use fire stations, 2 functioning pump stations, 3 large high pressure water reservoir facilities and 7 other properties. In recent years, the Department"s budget has provided resources that allow for only the most basic repair service and limited minor improvements. The large number of essential facilities and the limited facility repair budget ($440,000 FY 2001-2002) allows for about $7,450 in repairs for each facility annually, causing an on-going process of escalating deferred maintenance.

The Department is in the process of completing the use of bond funds for the Department-wide seismic retrofit of its facilities. Capital improvement bonds prohibit the use of funds for ongoing facilities maintenance. Only a substantial increase in annual appropriation for the maintenance of Department facilities will prevent the growing problem of deferred maintenance and increasing need for expensive emergency repairs that lead to supplemental requests for general funds.

It should be made clear that the Department has never executed facilities maintenance in a "disjointed and non-prioritized¹" fashion. Bond money for seismic retrofit was spent to the best of the Department"s ability (only a limited number of Fire Stations can be closed at any given time). Due to our limited financial resources, the Department has always been forced to prioritize facility repairs and modifications. The Department appreciates the recommendations of the auditor in our ongoing effort to maintain the functionality of our facilities, and to ensure the health and safety of our employees.

· Recommendation of Auditor"s report

1.10.1 Develop a formal policy and set of procedures to provide a rolling Comprehensive (five-year) Capital Improvement Plan, that includes a section detailing the major facilities maintenance activities scheduled for the next fiscal year.

· Assessment of Department

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the audit.

The Department concurs that there is a need for a five year (5) Capital Improvement Plan. This plan would allow the Department to project budgets and prioritize routine projects. The development of a formal capital improvement plan has been in process for many months, but has been hindered by four major factors:

1. Last minute amendments to the FY 2001-02 budget

While the Department has made every effort to incorporate the budget projections for Support Services into a Five-year plan, budget limitations and fiscal uncertainty have made projection past the next fiscal year nearly impossible.

2. Missing functionality in the E911 Project AIS software package

The original design of the Department"s E911 Project AIS software component called for applications that would allow for tracking and projection of facilities maintenance activities and funds. The Tiburon record management system (RMS) application, originally slated for this use, proved to be unusable by the Department. While it appears that another set of software may be used to provide this function, further development and customization will need to be undertaken by Departments staff in conjunction with the Department of Telecommunications and Information Service (DTIS) applications group.

3. Completion of recent seismic retrofitting of Fire Stations

The Department is in the process of completing the seismic retrofitting of its Fire Stations. The end of this decade-long project will finally allow the Department to look forward to its next cycle of facility repair and construction.

4. Uncertainty about the prospect of future bond measures

The uncertainty of future bond issues for Fire Department facilities has left some question as to what long-term projects the Department should place in its upcoming budgets.

· Department Action plan and timeline

The Department anticipates that the Comprehensive Facilities Maintenance Plan will be complete and ready for use in budget submittals for FY 2002-2003.

The Department has begun dialogues and discussion with the Mayor"s Office of Finance and the Director of the Department of Real Estate. An informal task force has been created to evaluate existing equities in the Department and research creative funding sources for capital building and improvement projects. Already, the task force has identified airspace rights and shared use facilities as possible options for the Department. It has also become clear that any major capital project will first require a complete assessment of all real property held by the Department in an effort to prioritize for current and best use.

· Recommendation of Auditor"s report

1.10.2 Review the City"s procurement procedures with the Purchasers Office to determine the possibility of modifying the limitations on vendor selection by departments.

· Assessment of Department

The Department concurs with the recommendation of the audit.

As part of an ongoing dialogue with the Purchaser"s Office we are discussing the mechanisms by which we can raise limits for use of private contractors. We also hope to come to agreement on a process for streamlining and fast-tracking critical facilities repairs and requests for information.

In addition the Department has the following goals:

1. Developing critical in-house expertise and resources within the Department in the development of service contracts, outsourcing and Human Rights Commission (HRC) approval

2. Entered into service contracts with HRC approved vendors in an effort to maximize fiscal efficiencies

3. Explore the use of non-profit and alternate city labor pools (i.e City Swap)

· Department Action plan and timeline

The Department"s efforts in this area are ongoing. The Department anticipates the development of formal polices by July 2002.

¹ Management Audit Of The San Francisco Fire Department, 2001 pg. 1.10-3