Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20180121

The plan is for every saturday, plus once during the week. Commissioner loo thank you. President serina thank you. Any other comments or questions . From the public . Hearing none, call the question, all in favor . Any opposed . Thank you, the motion carries. Item f. Requesting authorization to enter into a new Grant Agreement with north and south of market Adult Day Health dba steppingstone for the were vision of Community Services Program Pilot during the time period beginning january 1, 2018 and ending june 30, 2020, in an amount of 413,924 plus a 10 contingency, of 41,392, for a total amount not to exceed 455,316. Tiffany . Ok, the steppingstone Grant Agreement is for new Community Service activity programming designed for the lgbtq seniors and adults with disabilities in an adult daycare setting, also known as adhc. This population is frail and at high risk for placement in a Skilled Nursing facility and as a result, this Grant Agreement is distinct and different from the other Community Service Program Pilots presented. Services provided at adhc contribute to the success of those intending to live independently at home. The Service Provided will augment the Services Provided in adhc setting and attract the lgbtq seniors and adult with disability population who have historically shied away from this type of support because of the lack of appropriate and qualified providers. To assure program is appropriate and staff is well trained, steppingstone will subcontract with open house to staff training and staff that is of interest to the lgbtq community. They will outreach to the open house community, including staff, Community Members and Senior Center participants with the idea building a working relationship, trust in the lgbt community. Steppingstone will serve at least 36 consumers and provide 1400 hours of service during this Grant Agreement. I request approval for the grant and if happy to answer questions. President serina thank you, this is a very worth while program, something ive been championing issues along the lines for the lgbt Senior Community for the tenure ive had on the commission and im happy they will be working with open house. Because they do have the expertise, they know how to reach members of the community, they know how to develop the right kind of programming and engender the kind of trust needed. I think this is very exciting and ill be monitoring this one closely. I look forward to hearing how well it does. Me, too. President serina any other comments or questions from the commission . Any comments or questions from the public . Hearing none, call the question, all in favor . Any opposed . Thank you. The motion carries. Item g. Requesting authorization to enter into a new Grant Agreement with selfhelp for the elderly for the provision of Community Services Program Pilot during the time period beginning january 1, 2018 and ending on june 30, 2020 in an amount of 334,299 plus a 10 contingency of 33,430 for a total of not to exceed 367,729. Once again, tiffany. Thank you. Selfhelp for the elderly new Community Service activity programming also includes increasing hours of operation that is targeted toward younger seniors and adults with disability who are not accessing services because theyre not able to attend during typical Community Service hours. Selfhelp plans to actively outreach to the meal consumers. Nearly three quarters of the champ meal consumers are not enrolled in Community Service programming and theyre at high risk for isolation, because they do not obtain their meal in a congregate setting. The selfhelp will take place at the jackie chan Senior Center located in the richmond district, 38 p. M. Monday through friday. In addition to the programming, selfhelp will offer two round trips a day between champ meal sites and the jackie chan Senior Center to ensure participation and alleviate transportation barriers. Selfhelp will serve an average of nearly 1500 consumers and provide 2700 hours of service annually. I request approval for the Grant Agreement and am happy to answer questions. President serina thank you. Any comments or questions . Commissioner wallenberg thank you, the program is a great program. It is my understanding there was need for new partners, do we know where were at in terms of, have those partnerships been filled . I checked in i dont think linda is here today but i did check in with her yesterday and my understanding, there is one starting next week, is that right . Yeah, were opening a third site. We have a second site on noriega, past 19 and the 20 and a third site is opening out in the exsellsier district, i think shortly, like the next week or so. President serina thank you. Any other comments or questions. Hearing none, any comments or questions from the public . Hearing none, call the question, all in favor . Any opposed . Thank you, the motion carries. Item h finally. Dont you feel as though youve in a production. Requesting authorization to enter into a new Grant Agreement with swords to plow shares for the provision of Community Services Program Pilot during the time period beginning january 1, 2018 and ending june 30, 2020 in an amount of 264,210, plus a 10 contingency of 26,421, for a totalment in not to exceed 290,631. Thank you, tiffany again. The last Grant Agreement i am presenting this morning is with swords to plowshares. The new Community Service program is aimed at seniors and adults with disabilities who are military veterans. This population of seniors and adults with disability do not typically access Community Service programming offered by other community partners. Swords to plow share has Extensive Knowledge working with military veterans and their expertise will enable them to create Community Service programming that will be meaningful and impactful to the veteran population. Their new program will take place at their drop in center, where military veterans Access Health and social services. Their new Community Service program will consist of educational and social activities, Group Gatherings and a casual lounge area where vets can converse and engage with one another as well as staff. Swords to plow share will serve at least 150 consumers and provide 1,000 hours of service annually. I request approval for the Grant Agreement and am happy to answer any questions. Thank you, any comments or questions from the commission . Just one. Will the outreach include in the cases where the veterans are not getting any services from the veterans administration, helping them negotiate that, so they can receive any federal benefit they may be eligible for . You mean in terms of the programming . I think swords to plowshares works, they do that at their dropin center, thats part of the services that the dropin center, that includes case management, inhouse referrals, emergency housing, assistance with medical, all those sorts of president serina i was thinking in terms of the target population, i know many veterans on the streets dont get services from the federal government to which they may be entitled. Thats one of the key services that swords to plow shares provide and michael might want to address that. The executive director is here. Thank you. Yes, since we started back in the day, mid 70s, weve always recognized the need for veterans with honorable discharges there are five kinds of discharges, honorable, general, undesirable, administrative, like a plea bargain and two other punitive, one is called bad conduct and d dishonorable. Its the middle that is a source of a lot of it denies as United States said, your eligibility for health care, any kind of care from the v. A. It serves as a barrier to getting a job, et cetera, et cetera, its a lifetime stigma. So weve always addressed that and we would focus on that as we have with the outreach in the homeless encampments and where housing is geared to those not eligible for some of the v. A. Programs, its a separate subsidy. But thats been a big sort of unmet need. We would continue that. President serina thank you very much. Any other comments or questions. Any comments or questions from the public . Hearing none, call the question all in favor . Any opposed . Thank you, the motion carries. Thank you very much, tiffany. I think she deserves a round of applause. [applause] any general Public Comment . None. Any announcement . I have an announcement. Thats our very own tom nolan, who is the special project manager overseeing the lgbtq senior task force recommendations, but also was a long time member of the commission, is being honored on thursday by mta, theyre going to unveil a plaque in his honor at the castro station, 4 00 on thursday, mezzanine level. Hopefully, people will be there to support him then. President serina thank you. Anything else . I just would like to invite the commission, the staff and the Broader Community to an office warming, our new office is located at 1663 mission street, suite 525, to locate that, its across the street from the department of aging and adult services. Were Planning Office warming for the 25th of january from 47 at that site. This kind of marks the transition for us. Were celebrating the 10th anniversary this year and were trying to lay the groundwork for the next decade, so were very excited about the new space and we hope youll come see it. I wanted to mention as board member for the seniors disability action, who had graciously shared space with us, theyre also planning a party on the 19th, at their office, which is getting spiffed up, since we left. Theyve been able to clean it up and make it more available to everybody. So their party is on the 19th for 46. So please come on down. President serina thank you very much. Any other comments from the public . Hearing none, with great regret i ask for a motion to adjourn . May i just following up on director mcspadden request, and appropriate request, i look around this room and i see so many people who had relationships with mayor lee. And we are in a season of grief right now. And were trying to navigate ourselves through the grief. He was a very special man, a gentleman. And a friend to many here. And he will be greatly, greatly missed. I had the very distinct pleasure of being one of his First Commission appointments to the Human Rights Commission and i was his last to this commission. Ive always thanked him for his trust. Had the great privilege of working with him in my capacity with the interfaith council. He entrusted us with a donation to navigate the first center and we worked with him on immigration and sanctuary to our friends who wanted to come to chrissy field and the citys response to that. And i dont think ive met a Public Servant who has so selflessly, and so tirelessly served his community as mayor lee. I am very confident that history is going to be kind to his legacy and i think those of us who were privileged to serve under his administration ought to be very grateful for the privilege. And with that, mr. President , i would ask if we might close with a moment of silence. President serina thank you, of course. [moment of silence being observed for mayor lee] president serina thank you very much. Meeting is now adjourned. The office of controllers Whistle Blower Program is how City Employees and recipient sound the alarm an fraud address wait in City Government charitable complaints results in investigation that improves the efficiency of City Government that. You can below the what if anything, by assess though the club Program Website arrest call 4147 or 311 and stating you wishing to file and complaint point Controllers Office the Charitable Program also accepts complaints by email or 0 folk you can file a complaint or provide Contact Information seen by whistle blower investigates some examples of issues to be recorded to the Whistle Blower Program face of misuse of City Government money equipment supplies or materials exposure activities by city clez deficiencies the quality and delivery of City Government Services Waste and inefficient government practices when you submit a complaint to the charitable online complaint form youll receive a unique tracking number that inturgz to detector or determine in investigators need Additional Information by law the City Employee that provide information to the Whistle Blower Program are protected and an employer may not retaliate against an employee that is a whistle blower any employee that retaliates against another that employee is subjected up to including submittal employees that retaliate will personal be liable please visit the sf ethics. Org and information on reporting retaliation that when fraud is loudly to continue it jeopardizes the level of service that City Government can provide in you hear or see any dishelicopter behavior boy an employee please report it to say Whistle Blower Program more information and the whistle blower protections please seek www. Benedict. Were back in session and well now go to item nine which is discussion of the enforcement report and discussion on various Program Highlights and various activity since the last monthly meeting. Thank you, chair. We had a productive month. Received nine new complaints. We opened 11 new investigations, and we dismissed 23 complaints which put a significant dent in our outstanding preliminary review matters. The details for which i can oh, no, i have it in here. 58 complaints only remain in preliminary review. So when we started this process, when we were down all investigators, we had almost 190 unreviewed complaints, and were down to 58, so im proud of my staff. Theyre doing a great job. And thanks to everyone in the review chain that has to get through all that information. Its a heavy lift. I also wanted to highlight that youll recall the Sunshine Ordinance Task force received a complaint that this commission violated the sunshine ordinance regarding taking of vote of doing yeah, taking a vote of something that wasnt on the agenda, and the task force decided that you did not violate the law. The sunshine Ordinance Committee has decided to repope that complaint even though it was decided in december with the final issuance of that order, and we have declined to participate in that process. So i sent them a letter at that we had fully complied with our obligations and provided all the facts and arguments that were available to us regarding the incident previously in the first hearing, and i asked them for a citation to hearing that allows them to reopen the adjudicated matter, and i have not heard back. The additional statistics regarding the open complaints are on page two. We now have 63 open investigations, and that caseload is growing as we get through the remaining 58 complaints, well have more and more investigations, but were also working towards stipulated resolutions in several of them, and youll have some findings of no probable cause and findings of probable cause coming before you over the next couple of months, as well. And you can see the matters that are with the bureau of delinquent revenuer, and people are keeping up on their papymet plans, so with that, ill answer any questions. Commissioners . Any Public Comment on that . Im bob planthold. As a veteran of the Sunshine Ordinance Task force, i want to comment on that. Some weeks after the hearing where the decision was you didnt violate, i contacted the administrator for that body to s say whats the basis and whats the timeline for any appeal and reconsideration. You folks havent mentioned that in here. There was a timeline, a relatively short timeline after the decision is made for reconsideration. I believe that timeline is long passed, so even if there was grounds for somehow taking the d. A. s decision into account, they missed the deadline, and that hasnt been stated in here. Maybe its been stated in the letter. It just bothered me that suddenly the task force seems to be saying well, somebody else differed with us, so well go along with them. And thats why the procedural issue of the timeline, it can be as important and im m t mystified why the Task Force Said somebody elses decision made after is a different analysis . Because my understanding, they can only reconsider a different understanding of the fact, not a different analysis. Who knows whos going to go to the media and paint the picture their way, unless you can go to them and quickly say, its not new facts and they missed the deadline. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Planthold. I have to say that my one experience with the task force they continue to underwhelm me by what they do. Yes, sir. My name is douglas whepp, and i would like to thank the commission and its staff. I think theyre doing a wonderful job especially compared to the old regime. Im making a prediction that this is going to turn out to be another metoo movement. When the public is convinced that there is enough momentum that their complaints will be seriously considered and correct correctly handled, theres plenty of people sitting right now, watching the tv, waiting to be convinced, and all of a sudden, those complaints will come one, two, three, because most of them know who the obstructionists are. Some of them will be exposed, and ultimately, the Ethics Commission up in the sky is going to be issuing more penalties. And maybe, if were really lucky, if were really lucky, therell be some death sentences handing out to some deserving people. As an opponent of capital punishment, i dont like you to keep saying that. Any further Public Comment . All right. Well move, then, to agenda item ten, discussion of executive directors report. Thank you, chair keane. My report provides some information on some significant operational developments. I wont go into a lot of the details, but kyle kundurts report mentioned that with the new year, we have new tools to help people comply with some of the new requirements that took effect january 1. We have now information online, new tools for lobbyists to register online to comply with prop t that was passed november of 2016, and some other refinements for the lobbying program. I do want to note that we are getting a lot of good feedback from our engagement and Compliance Team from filers who are working through the system as we identify any hiccups or bugs, we are working with our i. T. Staff quickly to try and resolve those things. So we do appreciate the candid feedback that were getting from people, as well as the filing comments. Thats something that Steven Massey and other team members in his office put a lot of time in. Obviously folks that have to file with these mechanisms are also going to be giving great feedback. Also as you know the election called for the mayoral race called for june 2018, weve done a significant and unplanned ramping up of our activities. We did have a first session for candidates focused on the 2018 june mayoral race, an information session that we had about 20 attendees and were updating information and supplemental guides to help that process. We will be doing that more as we move into the eligibility and we have started that with our staff, as well, and we will he arepo report on that as we go forward. I do have a significant note that is unusual and not a frequent occurrence for us, but as i also report in my report, this week actually, last week, on january 11th, we were papers were filed in superior court by one of the mayoral candidates, Angela Alioto for mayor, and Angela Alioto for mayor 2018 committee, seeking to enjoin Public Financing for the mark leno for mayor 2018 committee. Those papers were filed in an initial hearing held last friday in superior Court Department 302. We were represented as a named party by the City Attorneys office, and this morning, after a subsequent hearing and subsequent papers filed this week, the judge issued a tentative order denying injunctive relief. And ill leave the details for the City Attorney to provide you with, but i just want to convey our appreciation and thanks to andrew shan in particular for really getting some terrific papers in and being she soliticious very soliticious of us ill turn it over to andrew. Ill be very brief. I just wanted to clarify, even though the document is titled a tentative order, the judge did adopt it as the final order from the bench as this mornings hearing. I also want to thank on behalf of my office, i want to thank the staff of the Ethics Commission for being so readily available. As you can imagine in a tro context, you do need to collect information very quickly, provide information very quickly to the court, and so they were always very helpful and responsive and quick to answer amy question so thanks o them. Commissioner . What was the issue . The sole cause or complaint in the petitioners complaint was mark lenos campaign was violating the Campaign Ordinance by not defining what constitutes a matching donation for the purposes of the financing program. Congratulations, andrew, and thank you for that. We had hoped to have an initial presentation about the budget today for this agenda. The budgets will be due to the Mayors Office february 21st, i believe, and that does follow our next submissiocommission mo we will have a full packet of information before that was submitted to our office. We are keeping an eye of all cuts, but we will come forward with items that we know that we need to continue the work that has been started through legislation as well as operational changes at the commission over the last several years. Finally, i do want to introduce you tyler field who is our newest new guy. A mantle no longer worn by the policy staff. Tyler joined this office this week as our new Information Systems business analyst. Hes working with jared flores are and Steven Massey to continue to develop or filing systems for operational need and access to electronically filed disclosure information [ inaudible ] i think weve got a good weve got a good team that were putting together here. Hes also got experience related to coding and other campaign related data, so its a terrific fit. Were really delighted hes joining us, and i wanted to introduce him to you today. Very impressive. Good to have you, tyler. Lastly, we are continuing to work with the department of Human Resources on our remaining hires. We have two positions that have been through actually, three that have completed or virtually completed the oral interview phase, so we have three other positions that are going to be posted, but we are continuing to work with the department of Human Resources closely to make sure we can be as aggressive as possible to get the remaining seats filled in the next number of months. So again, im happy to answer any questions that you have for me. One comment i would make in connection with your comments on the Mayors Office having to do with the new budget. Since we have a new mayor, i think it would be good to remind the mayor and the mayors budget people what we emphasized with mayor lee, that we have the power, and we would think very strongly of doing it, of putting on the ballot taking away the Mayors Authority to set our budget if they were to cut us in regard to our needs because all of those years when mr. St. Crois was here and never asked for anything, and everything went down and went down. Were finally getting up to speed and were seeing people like tyler and the rest of you. Its working right well. We would not welcome any kind of cuts, nor would any kind of cuts be in any way deserved given the history of the commission and the fact that were finally in a position to get the commission running as it should. So i i hope that in either a diplomatic or as undiplomatic a fashion as you can that you bring it to the mayors people when you petition for the budget that we want to keep. Commissioners . Well, i would appreciate it if you would sort off enlighte the other commissioners and the public that were setting up a telephone system thank you for that question and my oversight. We have a meeting set with january 24th next week with the administrative and Technology People in this building. It is the case that there is apparently only one meeting room that allows for a telephonic input by people remotely, and that is a meeting that happens at the same time this one does, so there is not currently technology that we can use in this room to simply sort of patch in Public Comment by phone. We are meeting with weve started understanding the issues. Were meeting with the Technology Folks to identify what would it take to enable that to happen, whether its through new technology that they can need, or whether its something we can do through the voip Computer Technology to get folks in on Conference Calls or something of that sort. So were going to identify what it would take to accomplish the goals that the commission mentioned in establishing the meeting days that we have, and that our plan will be based on that to fully make a request through our budget as necessary to try and make that happen. Thank you. Any Public Comment . Hi. Charlie marceller for the record. Im wondering if we could maybe switch rooms with the other people . Nope . And i also noted you have two auditor positions coming up since oral interview have been completed. And i imagine they might be hired in the first half of this next calendar year, which is probably because we are obviously going to have some draw on the Public Financing. So for the emphasis of concurrent and proceactive aud and enforcement, i think it would be good to go full blast as we can on the auditors, so we dont lose those resources within house. And it would be a good Training Opportunity i think as well. And im wondering if theres any moneys that are given to the department or involved with the special election process. Is there any discussion about the special election and the department of ethics receiving additional funds . I would like to say i wish, but not that im aware, no. Now one clarification is there is a provision in the law for a Public Financing program that does require when there is a vacancy in the mayor call an and election call that an additional 8 perresident be accounted for in our Election Campaign fund. And so we communicated and confirmed with the Controllers Office that that level of funding does exist in the current funds balance, so for example if all mayoral candidates, the six who have qualified to be on the ballot and have indicated that they want to be Public Financing participants, if each one of them wanted to receive the full financing of 975,000 for their campaigns, the fund would be able to withstand that draw, but come november s election, there may need to be additional put in based on the language thats in the charter, but based on our ad stiff cost, based on the election call, there is not a provision that does that for us particularly. I would imagine that doe gets special consideration because they may have to setup poling stations and pay workers. And also, how many candidates have filed for Public Financing so far . Do you know . Well, there are in terms of what we mean by filing, there were eight candidates in the mayoral race that were qualified for the ballot. Six of those eight filed statements of interest to participate in the Public Financing program, and i believe out of the board of supervisors race for june of 2018, there were three candidates that qualified and two i believe expressed an interest in participating. I may be off on the board of supervisors race, but six of the eight in the mayors race have filed to participate. As we came to the meeting today, there have been no requests by any mayoral candidate to actually be certified or to receive public funds yes. Oh, so certification is still yet to come for those six, so that number may not be the full six. Theyre keeping their options open at this stage . No. To be clear, the candidates when they filed their nominating papers to be on the ballot, they were required to also submit a statement whether they intended to participate in the program. So six of the eight candidates filed statements. Each of them indicated they wanted to participate in the program. The next step would be the candidates requesting certification to be eligible to receive public funds from our office. And then, the next step after