front of us. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i currently serve as the recently elected secretary to the veterans affairs commission. i have been on the commission for almost two years now. i do not know if this committee recognizes that the veterans affairs commission is really currently under a renaissance. we have been operating in the past two years with new vigor, with new vision, and with a new focus on paying attention to the needs particularly of all the returning veterans coming back from deployments and coming back from our overseas commitments right now. so we have initiated under president varni this year a new group of goals. in particular, our biggest goal is to work in the high rate of unemployment among veterans, particularly younger veterans returning to the city. this report relates to homelessness as well because we have learned, for example, statistically that we are -- vietnam veterans, like myself, the spiral time between returning from vietnam and winding up on the streets, for those who became homeless, was approximately 10 years. it was approximately a 10-year decline. there have been recent statistics to show that that spiral time for recently returned veterans can be as little as seven months. seven months from return to deployment homeless on the street. so employment is a huge factor in preventing this further downward spiral. so we have initiated a program wherein we are contacting the major employers of this city to find out what their commitment and what their objectives might be in consideration of hiring returning veterans as a priority. we are starting to get some success in that area. i'm not prepared to announce it yet, but we are having success with that brand new program to invite these employers to hire our returning veterans. so there is the homeless issue. there is the employment issue, and several other initiatives that i have brought to the commission for consideration, which we will be working on as bowls there. they are portrayed in our brand of annual report, which we are just now submitting to the mayor and to the border supervisors, which reviews what we have started to work on in the past year. i have copies of these i could cast out to the commission for the record -- i mean, to the supervisors, for the record. in short, we are on a great new track. we are doing things that are relevant for veterans of today, and we are advising the city government on the best pass forward to help the veterans today. thank you for your consideration. supervisor kim: thank you, and thank you for your service as well. next, we have regaldo baldonado and then robert varni. >> good afternoon, honorable supervisors. i am a world war ii veteran. i think i am the oldest in the group. the last term i had with the veterans affairs commission, i have given my full capabilities, and being a professional electrical engineer in the philippines, and then 20 years here in america, joining the american legion for 20 years. the veterans affairs commission. veterans of foreign wars, 20 years. i have had a lot of experience on veterans. i need more time. i asked the board, i need another term to fill use to the government. thank you so much. >> -- supervisor kim: thank you so much for being here. thank you for your service on the commission. >> hello, supervisors. how are you? i live in san francisco. i went. cal poly for undergrad. i went to santa clara law school. i worked for a small workers' compensation firm and civil litigation firm. we feel a lot with, obviously, disability. the reason i applied for this was i want to put dissipate here and contribute. i feel i can contribute. second is i have a passion for veterans affairs. both my grandfathers were in the older wars. i have friends that have recently come back from iraq and afghanistan. they face problems that are not unique to them, but i think if -- i think have been present for veterans for some time. like the other applicants said, homelessness, disability, trouble finding work -- those are all things that greatly affect them. there are disability systems and back door programs that i am familiar with in dealing with clients in the situation. i have been an advocate for injured workers for some time. i am well aware of the problems that they could come back and face. i am also younger or relatively younger. i feel like a lot of the people who are coming back might be around my age. i am 29. most of the people who come back are between the ages of 22 and 35. at least the ones to come back from combat. i think i provide a different perspective to the commission. one that provides the perspective of veterans, but also from an outsider's point of view. that is it. >> just a quick question -- it says you are required to get a residency labor. then i yes, i did not know what that was, either. >> do you currently reside in the city of san francisco? >> yes. supervisor kim: do you have any clarification on that? >> i believe it was the -- let me get back to you. supervisor kim: thank you. any other questions, colleagues? >> i am going to ask this of one more applicant, but you are not a veteran yourself? >> no, i am not. >> the only other question i had that for was mr. caldera. >> i am a united states navy veteran. supervisor kim: thank you very much. at this time, i will open up for public comment. please line up. you will get two minutes. please identify yourself. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am a longtime member of the commission and past president. i wanted to convey to you that i support the five incumbents -- actually, there are five incumbents before you, if there are seven seats, but two of them must be filled by women. i support the five incumbents where you have heard them all speak. i wanted to point out that stephen noetzel was elected our secretary in january and robert varni was elected president. although i remember a decade ago, we had to go out and beat the bushes for candidates, i'm happy to say that now we have more applicants than we have seats, but i am supporting the five incumbents for the five open seats, and i strongly recommend -- we have had one major problem on the commission. the city administrative code says that we have to have three women veterans. we have always had a problem in that area. right now, we have two openings. the board has two openings for women veterans. the mayor has one opening. actually, the mayor has four openings right now, and you also have one opening here that has to be disabled. the mayor has a disable slot. my strong recommendation is that you do not appoint anyone to do the two women's lots, that you give us an opportunity -- we have a big campaign to get candidates for the women's slots. i hope that you will avoid the five -- a point the five incumbents and hold over the women slots to a future date when we can get a bunch of candidates. thank you. supervisor kim: thank you. >> good of the new, supervisors. i am the board secretary of the san francisco veterans equity center. we work with filipino world war ii to veterans who are trying to divide themselves to receive veterans' benefits. i'm sure you have read about this in the paper. it has been a longstanding tradition south of market, particularly in the filipino community. i just want to speak on mr. regaldo baldonado. he has been a leader amongst his peers. as you know, our veterans are dying, and he still carries the light. he lives in the mission, and he regularly goes about his routine to make sure the veterans and the hotels are strike, are informed, particularly with the legislation that is coming up. i just want to strongly support that view does appoint mr. baldanado. previously, i used to work at the san francisco sheriff's department, and we had a veterans department. i can tell you that mental health is a big issue, as you well know. dr. jones always had a veterans mentor ship program where he would bring in veterans to talk to or inmates and ex-offenders. we always had a hard time finding falls to come in to those meetings. i appreciate everyone's fine service, and then you. -- thank you. >> good afternoon. i actually am a female veteran. i am here to recommend mr. ramirez in his application to the board. one of the reasons i think he would be very good is because after working for the va for -- i'm not going to say, but quite some time, there is a big hole in the people that are able to relate to some of the people that are coming back, and some of the veterans that have been around for quite some time. i think that's eduardo ramirez can fill that, and i think he brings resources and networking and a certain philosophy to the board that may not always be transparent at the medical center, but could definitely work well within the community and definitely within the community of san francisco on the commission, so he is my recommendation. supervisor kim: thank you so much. i hope you consider applying for one of our women's seeds. >> i actually have. thank you. >> my name is john gallagher, and i work for the city and county of san francisco. in the veteran's claim representative. we see on average 400 to 500 veterans per month. we are just down the street, and we do out reached three days a week at the va hospital -- we do outreach three days a week. we are also at the downtown va clinic, so we are a small group of three employees imbedded into the community. no matter where i go in the community, i keep hearing eddie's name. it is either from us sending veterans to him, or vice versa where he is entrusting with veterans sending them to our office. he is a huge asset in terms of with the commission is headed. one of the skills he has said he did not mention as he was up here is that he used to work for the federal government and used to actually help veterans to write federal reserve's. one of the goals is to help unemployed veterans become employed better is. -- help veterans to write federal resumes. he takes hours out of his weekends to help veterans write better resumes. he is one of the only veterans i have seen continually interacting with veterans to wear something good comes from every single time they interact with them, so i think he would be a huge asset, and he is exactly what we need because he is someone who sees veterans every single day all day rather than in incremental spots, and i think that is what you need, people employed in the field where veterans are coming to actually be on the commission. that will make a huge difference in what the commission can do for veterans in the future. supervisor kim: thank you. >> have a good day. >> i'm here to echo the comments made by commissioner levin, namely that the committee consider our strong recommendation to move forward denominations of the five incumbent commissioners that sit in the seats. i know that that presents a problem because it is very evident that there are at least six very qualified candidates, and we also have seen mr. ramirez come to the commission meetings and talk about his background and his energy and his interest in serving. i should just like to point out that the mayoral appointments seem to have less competition than it once before this committee, and i feel pretty confident that the mayor's people are strongly considering mr. ramirez's application on that end of the house as well, but that has nothing to do with here. i really do support all five of the sitting commissioners right now. that is mr. wilkerson, john caldera, myself, mr. noetzel, and mr. varni, who was not able to come. it shows strong leadership moving the commission into relevance and doing some good work in the future. i recommend moving forward those five appointments. thank you. supervisor kim: next public comment, please. >> good afternoon. i am a retired senior officer with the u.s. air force in the current president of the air force sergeants association for the state of california. i represent approximately 10,000 members in 19 chapters across california. the reason i'm here is i'm here to recommend that mr. eddie ramirez be supported in his endeavors for this position. mr. ramirez has been a strong advocate for veterans, and he is a key member of supporting our air force sergeants associations in veterans affairs. recently, over the last eight months, he traveled to san antonio and atlanta, georgia, for our annual convention where he advocated for veterans affairs with the secretary of the air force and the chief master sgt of the air force, and he was received warmly. i endorse mr. ramirez on behalf of the 10,000 members of the air force sergeants association for the state of california. supervisor kim: thank you very much. colleagues, again, we have seven seats, but we do not have any applicants for seeds 5 and 12, so we are considering nine applicants for five seats. >> before we have a broader discussion, in terms of policy for veterans who are deployed right now, i'm curious how we think we are going to deal with that on a go forward basis. i understand that they want to serve, and i think we need to respect that, but their ability to be here before us and also serve i wonder about. i just wonder if we have any ideas about how we deal with that just as a process going forward here. >> my thought for those who are currently deployed is that those seats that are not in front of us that we created [inaudible] are the appropriate spots for those folks. supervisor kim: and the receipts are not open to us right now currently. -- and those seats are not open to us. also, do you have clarification on robin martin? >> that residency waiver is incorrect. supervisor kim: thank you. >> a few comments. first of all, thank you to all the applicants for being here. i guess i have two in particular. first, mr. martin, i would love to see you on a commission if you are interested, and if you like to be in touch with my office, and happy to talk with you about that. i think i would find it tough now given the number of veterans before as to appointed to the veterans affairs commission. thanks for making it easy. please give us a call, and we look forward to working with you on that. second, mr. varni -- i appreciate the fact that he is incumbent, but not being here today, i find it tough to evaluate him. and in particular, if there are mayoral appointments coming up, i would be happy to suggest and to the mayor, but without hearing him in front of us today, i would find it tough to support him. in particular with the strong backgrounds of obviously, the other applicants here. on a personal note, my father retired out of the u.s. air force. he is an active duty in vietnam, and i grew up not as a brat running around -- my dad was in the reserves by the time i was born -- but i grew up going to the presidio and using it as a military facility. i appreciate immensely what you have done for our country, and we certainly want to support veterans on this commission. those are my thoughts. with that being said, i think it becomes just a slotting matter. unless there are any other comments, i would make a motion to put mr. reverses' into seek one, mr. caldera in to see four, mr. noetzel in eight and mr. baldaado into 11 and continue the rest to the call of the chair. >> i think that is excellent, and mr. varni, who are now well, he is someone with a citywide constituency, frankly more appropriate for the mayor to a point, and i would not want to let mr. ramirez become a mayoral appointee. i want him to be a board appointee. i'm very impressed novel -- very impressed with your presentation today, and i know that the mayor probably will appoint mr. varni before we even ratify the is. i am not too worried about any disruption at the commission, and i think mr. ramirez would be a great addition. supervisor kim: thank you. in addition, i also wanted to support mr. ramirez after hearing your presentation today. it is also great to get more members that are from san francisco. i am not one of them on this committee, but i sit next to two supervisors were born and raised here, and being a former board of education commissioner, i appreciate mission high school representing, and also that you have a son who is serving as well. i want to thank incumbents that came today, both for your service in our country and your service on the veterans affairs commission and your willingness to continue your service. i have not had the pleasure of meeting mr. varni, but i trust my colleague, supervisor elsbernd, that he is a great person, and i support my colleagues in asking the mayor to appoint him as well. i believe we have a motion asking to move forward those five candidates for the seeds, and supervisor farrell has made a positive recommendation to the full board. without objection. -- five candidates for the seats. thank you. >> madam clerk, will you please call item 8? >> item 8, a hearing to consider appointing six members, terms ending november 23, 2013, to the shelter monitoring committee. supervisor kim: thank you. members of the public to take your conversation outside so we can continue our meeting, that would be appreciated. we also have many members applying for the shelter monitoring committee today. could members of the public please take your discussions outside? thank you. i'm sorry, we are not getting started yet. for clarification, we have six seats and 10 applicants for those seats. i believe linda pettye, reginald of shock, and elizabeth ancker have been appointed to other seats and therefore are not eligible -- reginald upshaw. we have 10 applicants and 6 seats. is that correct? >> yes, and i would like to point out will daley is also pointed for seat 5, even though it is not listed on the agenda. supervisor kim: did he applied for seat 5? >> actually, i am not eligible [inaudible] supervisor kim: ok. you can let us know that when you come forward. were there any other applicants that had more eligibility? i heard that maxine calls it is not eligible for 5 and 6. is that correct? >> i have not heard that one. >> i'm going to -- supervisor kim: i'm going to call you on the order you are listed in the agenda. i know several of you have already spoken to the committee already. if you spoke to us at the last rules committee, i asked you either to limit your comments for, you know, we are ok if you do not present again because we have heard you. first of -- oh, i'm sorry. yes, let's hear from staff first then. good at -- >> good afternoon, supervisors. we are the staff for the shelter monitoring committee. several people had written letters of recommendation for some of your applicants and had to leave, so there are copies of those. one of those is a letter regarding maxine's pauson's status and the difference seat she is eligible for. in addition, i am giving to the clerk a memo that outlines the responsibilities of committee members. i just want to spend some time highlighting some important things that you can consider when you are listening to people apply for the positions. in the last three quarters, the committee has failed to meet the minimum required size, so a crucial part of the committee is conducting site inspections at the city shelters and drop in residences. it portion of committee members have failed to do that work, so it needs to be really clear to people who are interested that this position requires at minimum 10 hours, and some of the more active committee members will tell you it is actually more like 20 or 30 hours a month of worked. it is really important that committee members can be respectful to staff at sites, even when there is a disagreement, and that they carry that respect to the clients. it is important that any person interested in serving on committee has a clear understanding of what the committee's legislative function it is and works within those parameters. the biggest problem that we come across, i say, is the same as the site visits, and mark will speak a little bit to death. for the last two years, we have had inconsistent spanish- speaking committee members, so that put a burden on committee staff, but it also denied language access to people who utilize the shelter system. >> so, we are lacking language capacity with the latino community. basically, we have not had somebody assigned that can speak both languages. that affects us in a way because we do have shelters that are only spanish-speaking, and by not having a committee member