Search SFAA.org

feature

by Emily Landes

When Vivian Day was hired as the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection’s Manager of Permit Services by Director Isam Hasenin in August 2007, she had no way of knowing that just one year later she would be replacing Hasenin as the new head of the department. But when Hasenin abruptly left his post to take a job in the private sector, Day stepped up—first as acting director in August 2008, and then as director in February 2009.

Even 20 years of experience in the City of Alameda’s Permit Center could not have prepared Day for the tumultuous times to come in the housing and construction industries. But, in excerpts from an exclusive interview with SF Apartment Magazine Managing Editor Emily Landes, Day explains how she is making painful choices to get through the difficult times and create a leaner, more efficient department. Despite the stress, Day thinks she has the collaborative leadership skills to create some sorely needed goodwill among her staff, which she believes will translate to better service and educational opportunities for all those who do business with the department.

Q: How does your leadership style differ from Hasenin’s?

A: I like more of the teamwork aspect of management. I try to be fair to everyone and listen to everyone. I think on management styles we’re almost complete opposites, so it was kind of strange for me to get this job. But, I came here to train and help people, and that was the challenge I wanted in that stage of my life. I didn’t realize what a challenge I was getting myself into.
I think people are a little more relaxed around me than they were around him, even in these stressful times with staff reductions. I think we’re a lot friendlier to one another than when Isam was director. I think we have mutual respect for one another. Having come up through the ranks and worked on almost every counter in a building department, I know what people do. I came from a small building department where you had to do everything. It was a very small shop where you had to do the same things that you do here on a smaller scale, but you had to do them all yourself. You had to work on the budgets, the personnel, the permits and even programming the computer. I thought I was coming to a department where I could say, “Now I just have to do this little part.” But lo and behold, it’s the same thing, but on a much bigger scale.

Q: Has that experience in Alameda informed your management style?

A: Probably. I come from a large family so I’ve always had to be a mediator or a negotiator. I found it works better when you work with people rather than against them. If you have common goals for a department, and everyone works toward them, then it’s a much smoother running department. You can have three people or three-hundred people; and if they all know where they’re going at the end of the day it helps, but you have to tell them. You can’t just expect them to guess. I try to keep the staff informed, and in turn they inform me about what I need to know, which helps me. I don’t get blindsided by staff.

Q: With Hasenin staying only a little over a year, did you hear any concerns about your commitment when you came on board?

A: I told the Building Inspection Commission that I would stay here as long as they wanted me. You become a part of a department; it’s like a big family. There are 250 individuals here, but it’s a family so it’s hard to cut and run. I’m dedicated. I like trying to solve some of these problems right now. They’re a little more than I thought they would be, and we’re hoping we can get through them. Everyone is pulling together and that helps.

Q: How has the department been handling the challenging times?

A: It’s not the best time in the world for any building department. We’ve never seen anything quite like this before. Every department in the state is going through the same thing. I certainly didn’t expect it in August when I accepted the job. We’re trying to deal with it the best we can.

There have been staff reductions. We are down $6 million in revenue this year that I had to find one-time fixes for, and next year there won’t be one-time fixes. Based on the current revenue, next fiscal year it would be $7.2 million if I hadn’t made reductions. We’ve also cut all our nonstaff expenses to the bones. We’re giving up cars and parking spaces. Our plant services went away. You have to water them yourself, now.

Q: Have you had to modify any goals for the department because of the revenue drop off?

A: Certainly. Our business process reengineering took place in 2007 and out of that came about 200 recommendations—a lot of those depended on resources. Of course, in 2007 we had resources, so we started implementing; now we don’t have the resources, so we’re trying to do as much as we can and continue on. We’re trying to reorganize and consolidate and do everything we can to keep the department going and provide the services that we need to provide.

Q: What have you been able to move forward with?

A: We’re getting a better handle on the time frames for plan review and getting the permits in and getting them out with a quicker turnaround time. The problem is that now they can get their permits but they can’t fund the jobs, so we’re in a kind of catch-22 situation. We’re working toward having all the over-the-counter submittals on one floor, and all the processing on one floor. The remodel of the building will help with that. We’re looking at the end of summer or early fall for these changes.

When we complete something, when we get to check it off as done, that’s the best feeling. For example, we have the RFP out for the new computer system, which has taken about two years. By the time this prints, we should have our vendor and we’ll start implementing that.

Q: How will the new computer system help people?

A: It will put all our information into one major database, and we’re combining with the Planning Department’s database, so we’ll eliminate some duplication between our departments. As we improve the software, we’ll bring in other departments. The Department of Public Works and the Assessor’s Office are waiting to come on right now. We’re hoping it’ll take one to two years to fully implement because we have to actually merge the databases and make sure that we’re all formatted the same way. We have people working on some of these things ahead of time, so it’ll be easier to make the changes faster.

The customer is really going to be able to save time because they’ll be able to do more online permits and property research. We’ll figure out a way to do 3R reports online—if we can.

Q: What’s the status of the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety?

A: We’re developing the actual mitigation procedures for the soft stories that we’ve identified. We’re going to put forth a voluntary program first. We’re trying to find some incentives for people to do the work, and that’s mainly what’s holding us up right now. It’s hard to give somebody a voluntary program and then not give them any reason to do it. We want to make sure we get a consensus from all the players in the field.

Q: What would you like to tell apartment owners who may be anxious about retrofitting their buildings?

A: We’re trying to find ways to help you do it because if you do it now people won’t be displaced if something does happen. We want people to be able to shelter in place rather than going to a tent city. People are more comfortable around their own belongings.

You also lessen the impact on the infrastructure if your building doesn’t collapse because you don’t break the utility lines. You might have a little crack, but you won’t have that major problem with the utilities, so we’ll be able to get them up and running faster. We’re only going to have so many resources in a major event; and even if we get mutual aid, there’s no way we can have enough police and fire personnel to cover the whole city. So, the more the rental housing community can help us in keeping the rental housing safe, it would just make the city that much safer for everyone and get people back to work sooner. The more people you have in their own homes, the better it is for the city. It’ll be a quicker recovery.

Q: How confident are you that this would be a voluntary program?

A: The mayor is very adamant about making it a voluntary program to start with and then seeing how far we can go with it. It would take a good two years to get a mandatory program into effect and that would mean cataloguing every building and notifying everybody. We’re hoping to do it sooner, but I don’t know if we can right now.

The sooner we can get the voluntary program incentives on the table the better. We’re looking at low-interest loans without a lot of paperwork because funding is going to be an issue. We know that. If we can provide a funding source with little trouble for the applicant, that’s what the city would like to do. We know it’s not going to be cheap, but we believe we can help, even in this budget crisis. Plus, for every dollar you spend in retrofitting, that’s ten dollars you won’t need to spend in reconstruction or lost rents. It can also help you with your insurance premiums.

Q: Why are housing inspection service fees going up?

A: The whole department was under recovering 25% to 30%, and actually the housing division was an even bigger percentage than that, due to the fact that the apartment inspection fees hadn’t been going up with the cost of living. We got behind somehow—I think about 16 years. It will probably be reflected for the property tax bill due
in November.

Q: What new services will the department be offering to increase customer satisfaction?

A: The best thing we can do is have more educational programs. We’ve got some really good teachers here; we’ve got people who are specialists in lead abatement, housing code, building code, disabled access, energy, water conservation—just about any kind of specialist you could want. But, trying to get them all in one room is a little bit hard, so we’d probably focus on certain issues and do quarterly mini summits with sign-ups in advance for maybe 75 to 100 people. We’ll probably start that this summer. We’ve got volunteers who want to do it. They’re all really proud of what they do here, and I think that speaks a lot to the department. A lot of them have been here a very long time, and they’re committed to the department—they are the department. They’ll work hard no matter what and that’s the commitment we need to get out there.
We’re also going to have a small business help counter on the first floor—the “what if” counter. That was one of the big business process reengineering recommendations. We have the technical staff who can answer those questions; we just have to get them all together. That’ll make the customer feel needed and wanted and appreciated, and right now we need customers. You need to come in and feel like you’re being helped.

We’re not here to stop your job. We’re here to issue your permits and make sure that your second floor doesn’t fall into your first floor. That’s the message that we need to get out: we’re here to help, not to hinder. It’s not to our advantage not to issue a permit. We can’t design your building, but we can help you get your permits issued. I want quality, fairness and consistency, and that’s what we need to get out there to the public.

---

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the SF Apartment Magazine. Emily Landes is the managing editor of SF Apartment Magazine. Copyright © 2009 by Black Point Press. All rights reserved.