Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Special Govt Audits Committee 2024

Transcripts For SFGTV BOS Special Govt Audits Committee 20240712

Supervisor mar thank you to this committees clerk, john carroll, and id also like to thank sfgtv for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have anything else . Clerk yes. Committee members will attend this meeting through Video Conference and participate in the meeting through the same extent as if they were physically present. Public comment will be available for each item on this agenda. Cable channel 26 are streaming Public Comment number across the screen. Your opportunity to speak during the meeting will be by calling 4084189388, and enter 1 1 1469339147. Press pound, and pound again. When you are connected, your microphone will be muted, and you will be in listening mode only. To enter Public Comment, press star and three to be entered into the queue. Your written comments may be sent via u. S. Postal service to our room at city hall, 100 carlton s. Goodlett, room 244, San Francisco, california, 94102. I believe youre muted, mr. Chair. Supervisor haney thank you, mr. Clerk. Will you please call item 1. Clerk yes. Resolution urging the city administrator to immediate nominate an interim county Veterans Service officer to safeguard the Public Health of the veterans in the city and county of San Francisco during the existence of a local emergency due to the ongoing spread of the Novel Coronavirus covid19. Mr. Chair . Supervisor haney before we begin, i do want to welcome supervisor stefani whos joined us for this item, and also note that susie smith from the Human Services agency is here with us and able to answer any questions. Supervisor haney, the floor is yours. Supervisor haney thank you, chair mar and members of the committee. Colleagues, today for your consideration is a resolution that i introduced last month, urging the city administrator to immediately nominate an interim county Veterans Service officer to safeguard the Public Health of the veterans in the city and county of San Francisco with covid19. Since i introduced this resolution, the city administrator has nominated someone for consideration, and i really want to thank supervisor stefani for her very vocal and steadfast leadership on the Veterans Service officer. She first raised it at the board of supervisors and has been taking the lead on making sure this happened, and [inaudible] supervisor haney someone is not on mute. Can everyone put themselves on mute . Thank you. So [inaudible] supervisor haney this is a concern that was brought to me from the Veterans Affairs commission, their leadership, and they have been also raising the alarms about a lack of support for veterans not just during this crisis but before it. We brought together a roundtable of leaders in the Veterans Community, swords to plowshares and other community leaders, to discuss what needs to be done and critical urgency of bringing forward a veterans resolution. The effect of this virus on military veterans has been especially hard. They are, many times, but not always older, and many reside in shelters, nursing homes, and places that have been breeding grounds for the virus. Many are essential workers that continue to serve our city as sheriffs deputies, hospital workers, and others, there are 12,000 veterans in San Francisco, many of them who reside on the streets. Many are black and brown people who struggle to get the services that they need. Many veterans are unsheltered or homeless, and in some cases, theyve been moved to a new facility, making it difficult to provide access to care for them in this new environment. And the v. A. , which many of them do rely on, may not have the same access for them. San francisco veterans do not have a central advocate to represent them and to coordinate services. The position of the county Veterans Services officer has been left vacant for over a year, including during this crisis, and the city needs a dedicated liaison to coordinate with state and federal services, local organizations, and local services. Many require Wraparound Services as well as going beyond basic intake and referral services. I just want to close by thanking the Veterans Affairs commission. I think this is a resource for our city when it comes to our veterans and their services, and i think there should be greater partnerships with a Veterans Services officer, a cvso, and making sure that tisy is brought to us in the last number of weeks and months. Thank you, supervisor stefani, for your leadership and continuing to push on this. And i think because of your work, as well as the Veterans Affairs commission, were seeing some progress in the appointment of or nomination of a Veterans Services officer. We have a petition of miles tucker from the Veterans Affairs Commission Speaking on behalf of the commission to explain the issues that our veterans are facing, and he will also complain why the position of the cvso is so critical, and their position on sort of how this process has gone and what their prospective is on the nomination and what it entails, and im sure perhaps supervisor stefani has comments, as well. Again, i just want to thank you for bringing this to our attention and your vocal leadership to get this done. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor haney, and also, also, supervisor stefani for your leadership on this position. Supervisor stefani, do you have any remarks . Supervisor stefani yes, thank you, chair mar. As ive mentioned several times, i am the daughter of a viet nam vet, a granddaughter of a world war ii veterans, and this is an issue that ive been working on quite sometime [inaudible] supervisor stefani so perhaps that can be part of this resolution. You know, i dont know where the miscommunication might have happened with regard to the Veterans Affairs commission because i was working with them, as well, on this position, so i think the need for a resolution is really moot at this point because of the work that we did prior to the introduction of your resolution, which i do appreciate. As i mentioned tuesday at roll call, this is a position that, because we called attention to it in a formal letter of inquiry, i worked with this city administrator, naomi kelley, and several others, to make sure that it was posted right away. Theyve already hired somebody who started june 29 is my understanding, the la understanding. The last process to make sure this thing goes through is a resolution to the board of supervisors, which will be heard on tuesday, so i think it will go through next week. I understand the urgency which i explain in your resolution, but again, like i said, i think it is moot at this point. In regards to Veterans Services, i think its something that needs to be done, and we need to continue to work on that. This is a process, and obviously, the hiring of this process is a process that we cannot interfere with us. I just want to, again, thank you for your attention to this very critical issue, all of the statistics that you mentioned about the veterans that suffered through this pandemic are all the more relevant and absolutely heartbreaking to me. I think we need to do much more for veterans and everything that touches on Veterans Issues. I have 108 units of Veterans Issues in the presidio. Ive worked with swords to plowshares, and we are working to improve that area, as well. Again, thank you for your attention. I think part of the resolution for calling for an interim director is moot at this point, but i think working on Wraparound Services for veterans for everything that theyve done for us and continue to do is important. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor stefani. Supervisor haney, did you have anything in response to supervisor stefanis comments or report . Supervisor haney no. Im looking forward to working with you on these larger services to veterans, and so definitely with that, you know, i think that the pieces of the equation that relates to the Veterans Services officer, i think it still remains relevant, but were moving this forward because of no small part of your leadership. The veterans and leaders who have brought this to us have not told me that they believe its moot. So i would defer to them, and i know we have someone here, as well, who may want to share some remarks on it. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor haney. Maybe we what is your interest on having miles tucker from the Veterans Affairs commission be before we get to Public Comment . Yeah. So mr. Tucker, would you be willing to share your remarks right now . Yes, chair mar, i would. Supervisor mar okay. Thank you. First of all, thank you, chair mar, supervisor haney, supervisor stefani, and supervisor peskin. My name is miles tucker, and impart of the Veterans Commission. I know our chair would have liked to address the board, but he was unavailable today, and he sends his regrets. The Veterans Affairs commission has a concern due to the handling of the Veterans Community services officer. The position had been vacant since may 1, 2019, and while the agency had named an interim supervisor, we did not appoint an interim cvso. Given the understanding of the Veterans Commission that this person was not a veteran, then this would possibly have run in contrast to the state statute stating that the cvso must be a veteran. In addition, in order to receive funding, the cvso must be filled. Were grateful for the services of supervisor stefani and haney to expedite this hiring. However, that process did not start until may of this past year. While were very, very grateful in working with the city administrator to allow this hiring during the covid pandemic, 12 months out a leader for our veterans coordinating services is, in our view, unacceptable and unavoidable, and we believe this was due to just lack of oversight. And on a similar note, while we do understand, as supervisor stefani, again, helped to expedite the hiring of a cvso, the commission did not really know who this person is, and we understand in the draft going up to the board now, there is no supporting resume listing this persons qualification, which is contrary to the last nomination of a cvso. Its the lack of transparency that sort of fits into this narrative over this position. As supervisor haney has mentioned, the commission has brought up this concern and proposed a possible ordinance that would work in coordination with cvso to involve the cvs excuse me. The v. A. C. Would work to help facilitate oversight of the cvso position through to the planning process similar to how the commission has a role in hiring the director. This falls in line with that intent, we believe. The v. A. C. Is composed of a group of veterans from different backgrounds, different Armed Services experiences. Wed like to be a part of this solution, and we thank supervisor haney for his proposal. Now to pivot to covid19, covid19 has had San Franciscos 27,000plus veterans especially hard, including our 600 veterans who are currently experiencing homelessness. We are unaware of spread due to a lack of access to care. We understand theres over 100 h. U. D. Bash vouchers. Part of the c. V. S. Role is to active seek out veterans to use these vouchers, and again, to have this position vacant during the last 12 months and during the pandemic, to the commission, is very unacceptable. The cvso, with covid19, this has made an already democratic system more challenging to navigate. Id just like to reiterate this commission doesnt believe this situation would have been in place if the leadership position lierg had been carried out. The v. A. C. Is requesting that this committee recommend to the board of supervisors to pass the current resolution to nominate a cvso, to name a permanent hire, and to grant oversight of this position to the Veterans Commission and certain rules, and to have any nominee for the cvso, to include the current nominee, if changes to oversight are not in place, to be subject to a rules Committee Hearing if not brought to a hearing before the full board of supervisors. Id like to thank you for your time today. Supervisor mar thank you. Supervisor haney . Supervisor haney yes. Mr. Tucker, as ive said, im committed to working with you to make sure we really strengthen the Critical Role of the Veterans Commission. What i wanted to ask you as it related to the potential interim or to the interim cvso, was the Veterans Affairs commission consulted in any way . Did you all know that there was obviously, there was an application that went out, and a process. Were you all involved at all in the selection of the individual who was nominated . Supervisor haney, no. We saw his name in the draft resolution and saw no supporting documents or this persons resume. While we think this person is a fully qualified, outstanding person, there was simply no way for us to qualify or verify this person is. Supervisor haney and i heard they had started their job, it sounded like, from supervisor stefani, on monday. Have you or any of your fellow commissioners heard from them since theyve been in their role . Through the chair, supervisor haney, no, we have not. Supervisor haney okay. I realize this isnt a hearing on the nomination of the interim cvso, but i think that seems to me to be unusual and problematic and underscores the need for this commission to be much more involved in these sort of decisions in the future. And obviously, the necessity of this resolution. I hope the person whos put forward is fantastic and does his job incredibly well. I also hope that they are closely in touch with our veteran leaders and most importantly our Veterans Affairs commission. Supervisor stefani . Supervisor stefani thank you, chair mar. Let me be very clear. The Vice President of the Veterans Affairs commission contacted me about this way back in april, and i immediately started to work on this. I went through the process to inquire with our city administrator, to inquire with our Human Resources agency, and get this process going. I was a Department Head for two years with the county clerk, and i understand the process. I think we would benefit from hearing from susie smith about how the hiring process actually occurs, and whether the Veterans Commission had any oversight. As i mentioned before, as supervisors, we cannot interfere with the hiring process. We know that there is a hiring process that is very well set out. It was posted on may 11, and that was a post that was open to the public. The Veterans Commission was very well aware. They could have had people that they know to apply for it, and im just very confused as to where the breakdown in communication was in terms of me putting forth a process that was brought to me and concerns brought to me by the commission president. And then, it seems, at some point, that same concern was communicated to supervisor haney while the process was already underway. Now whether or not the Veterans Affairs commission wanted to weighin, and of course, their opinions and their expertise is very valued, and we will have a hearing at the rules committee on the resolution ive introduced on this person who has been selected through our hiring process. So i would like to have miss smith weighin on that, and perhaps the deputy City Attorney ann pearson, to weighin on what was or was not followed in that position. So id like to, miss smith, explain the process. Well, i appreciate the reference to your experience in terms of Civil Service hiring. Sometimes it can take longer than we all would hope. So this, the position, people were encouraged to apply through may 25. We had it was an open process, so any candidate that the Veterans Commission was interested in putting forth, we would hope that they would encourage that. In terms of the commissions part in the hiring process, as a Civil Servant position, im not sure they could fully be involved, although we could look at having them on a panel in the future in terms of moving forward. I feel that would make a lot of sense, but they could put forward candidates that they felt were qualified, and wed provide the resume of the candidate who had been selected. In terms of the work thats been happening during the vacancy, i just want the supervisors to know that the work has been ongoing. Weve had a manager. We couldnt put that manager forward as the veterans county services officer. Shes not a veterans herself, but she has had years of experience working with Veterans Services, so the part about advocacy and getting veterans to their services and connection to the larger safety net, its been there. We couldnt put her name forward because she wasnt a veteran, but the work hasnt stopped because we didnt have a Veterans Commun

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