According to the city charter, the fire commission should consist of five members, and the mayor has the power to replace any of them.
Compare that to San Francisco's Police Commission, which has seven members -- four nominated by the mayor and three by the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors can confirm or reject members of the police oversight body and can remove members they have nominated.
In 2003, voters passed Proposition H, which gave supervisors the power to nominate members of the police commission. Its supporters, including the local chapter of the ACLU, said at the time that the measure was needed to force the commission to do a better job of disciplining bad officers. The police officers' union opposed the measure.
But the firefighters' union wants the change.
"We have some sort of inverse pyramid where the chief runs the fire department," said Tom O'Connor, president of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798. "The fire commission gives a rubber stamp and says good job and bad job, or essentially good job and good job. They don't ever really criticize."
The agency needs to do a better job of planning for the future and should provide firefighters with better equipment, Breed said, adding that the commission and Chief Hayes-White have to be held accountable if those changes don't happen.
Breed has repeatedly called for the chief to be replaced but has no power in the matter.
"I don't know what the mayor's going to do," Breed said. "I don't know what the commission's going to do about the chief, but unfortunately, she's still there."
O'Connor said concentrating authority in the mayor changes commissioners' priorities.
"It would seem like they're afraid to go against City Hall or the mayor's office because they could lose their commission seat," he said, "instead of actually being afraid of not delivering service to the public."
Mayor Ed Lee, though, emphasizes that his administration is prioritizing the department and points out the supervisors haven't opposed his past commission appointments.
"San Francisco is growing and the demands of the Fire Department are growing as well, and that's why Mayor Lee is making record investments in the department," mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey wrote in an emailed statement. "We have a detailed hiring plan to meet the demands of a growing city and we are funding academy classes, new recruitment, upgrading technology, increasing fire prevention and inspection personnel, purchasing new equipment and upgrading the Fire Department's fleet."
"The Mayor is proud of his fire commission appointments, including his most recent re-appointments that were supported by the Board," Falvey said.
Commission President Francee Covington declined to say whether she would support a proposal that would change commission appointments, but she described the group as powerful at City Hall.
"I think that we do have a lot of influence," Covington said. "We know people."
Covington said commissioners consistently push for more Fire Department funds.
"Part of my responsibility is to advocate for the department and the department's needs," she said.
Currently, the commission is missing a member. Andrea Evans' term ended in January, and the mayor has yet to appoint her replacement.
