Chair ronen good morning, everyone. The meeting will come to order. This is the september 14, 2020 meeting of the rules committee. I am chair hill roe then. With me is supervisor kathrin stefani and victor mar. Our clerk today is victor young. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements . Clerk yes. Due to the covid19 pandemic, to protect the supervisors staff, and public, city hall is closed to all members and staff, however, members of the committee will be participating in the meeting to the extent as if they were physically present. Cable channels 26, 78, and others and sfgovtv. Org website are streaming the event live. To listen in via telephone, call 4156550001 and enter the meeting code 1463791185. Press pound, and pound again. When the line picks up, you will be in listening mode only. When the item that you wish to comment on is up, presidency star, three to enter the queue to speak. Alternatively, you may email your comment to me, at victor. Young sf. G victor. Young sf. Gov. Chair ronen thank you. Mr. Clerk, can you please read item one . Clerk yes. Item one is an ordinance amending the administrative code to extent by five months the deadline for the streetlevel Drug Distribution task force to submit its initial report to the board of supervisors and mayor and to revise the content of a report and subsequent reports issued every three months. Chair ronen and i believe we have a representative from supervisor haneys office to state the amendments. Thank you, chair ronen. Our request is to allow the task force to catch up because they have not been meeting since the shelter in place. And the Second Amendment would be to change the name from drug usage to streetlevel Drug Distribution task force. And im asking the rules committee for amendments to that legislation. Chair ronen thank you so much. We will will see if theres any members of the public that would like to make Public Comment. Are there any members of the public that would like to make Public Comment . Clerk yes. One moment, please. My apologies. Looking for my note page. Yes. Members of the public who wish to provide Public Comment on this item should call 4156550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1463791185. Press pound, and pound again. If you havent already done so, press star, three to speak. Please wait until the system indicates you are unmuted before providing Public Comment. Mr. Qu, are there any members of the public wishing to provide Public Comment at this time . Operator madam chair, there are no callers on the line. Chair ronen okay. Public comment is closed. I would like to make a motion to adopt the amendments. Could have please have a roll call. Clerk on the motion to adopt the amendments [roll call] clerk the motions are adopted. Chair ronen are there any comments from my colleague . If not, ill make a motion to move the item forward with a positive recommendation. Clerk on the motion [roll call] clerk the motion passes. The matter is recommended as amended without objection. Chair ronen thank you. And mr. Clerk, can you please read item number 2. Clerk yes. Item number 2 is a resolution confirming the nomination of mr. Alfred sims as county Veterans Service officer. Chair ronen thank you. Supervisor stefani, do you have any comments . Supervisor stefani yes. Hi, mr. Sims. I see you on here. Colleagues, i am excited to have the nomination of mr. Alfred sims ad our county Veterans Service officer. By early may, the job listing was posted publicly and qualified applicants were invited to apply. After a thorough vetting process, mr. Sims was selected. I have met with mr. Sims, and i am incredibly impressed with his credentials for this position. He joins the San Francisco county Veterans Service office with over 20 Years Experience in management and Veterans Services. Based on his history of work and leadership, i know he will deliver the highest Quality Services for our veterans. Mr. Sims is an Army Combat Veteran who served in the second armored Army Regiment in afghanistan and desert storm. Most recently, mr. Sims worked at the department of Veterans Affairs as a transition patient advocate, helping veterans all across the west coast. Honoring those weve served isnt just about what we say, its about serving them as well as theyve served our nation. Filling this vacancy is an important step that we treat our veterans in San Francisco the way they deserve. I am so excited to hear more from mr. Sims, and i hope you will join me in supporting his na nomination today. Like i said, mr. Sims, when i saw your name, i was so excited for your experience, and everything that you have done. I am the daughter of a viet nam vet who volunteered for the army and who served one here over there and one year over here. I just cannot thank you enough, and im so excited youve been selected. Im excited to hear from you, and im excited for my colleagues to hear from you, so thank you for being here today. Thank you so much, supervisor stefani. Thank you so much, supervisor ronen and supervisor mar. Its a great pleasure for me to be here today. For me, its an overwhelming honor to get a chance to serve our veterans here in San Francisco. Im from a military family. My dad, my sister, two cousins, and now nephew are military. For us, its not a livelihood, its our life, so thank you for choosing me to represent our great veterans in San Francisco. A little bit about my history in Veterans Services. I worked for six years in a local Community Health care system and the Northern CaliforniaHealth Care System as a Housing Specialist. I was the first Housing Specialist in Northern California, and they hired me to reach out into the community to cultivate resources in the private sector to help our veterans with this ridiculous homelessness problem thats not just specific to San Francisco, its a problem throughout the bay area, and its so drastic, its so well known to all of the veteran community in our area. So to have an impact on that, its really been my lifes calling over the last six years. I was fortunate, after working with the Homeless Veterans in the hud vas program, to get picked up as the patient advocate for b. A. Norcal, and i covered bay area to yreka. I covered every assistance that you could think of. I spent a lot of time over the last six years cultivating connections with the local providers, and i definitely look forward to leveraging those connections to the benefit of our local veterans. Really quick, just wanted to tell you about an initiative that weve kicked off since ive been here. Im a lengthy significant ma process trained green sigma process trained greenbelt, so one of my first projects was to increase veteran service reps in the community, and also increase the availability of those services to the community. The way that we did that initially was i worked really close with i. T. To revamp our website and include a Virtual Office on our website, and its been an overwhelming response to our website. The veteran community is very particular, and some of things that theyre particular about is the interaction with people who really relate to some of the struggles. You know, a lot of the struggles fore veterans are pretty unique to the veteran community, so they really, really gravitate towards services and Service Providers that have an insight into those problems, and our staff here, were really working hard to ensure that the veteran Community Knows that our staff are that staff to leverage the Community Resources for arthth benefit. Another thing that i did besides the Virtual Office was Everyone Needs a Mission Statement and a strategy plan, so i developed a new Mission Statement for our team, and our mission is to be the best advocate for our military and Service Members, veterans dependent and survivors as they navigate civilian life and to ensure our veterans have access to the array of Services Available through federal, state, and local providers. We really want to endeavor to partner with nonprofit organizations, faith organizations, and other Community Leaders for the benefit of our leaders not just in the city and county of San Francisco, but any veteran who is fortunate to get that number who knows that that is the preferred Service Provider for all veterans, no matter where theyre at. That is our goal. And i want to say that the h. S. A. Team, you know, one of my concerns when i first got here was how long a totem pole the v. S. M. Was in the city hierarchy, but after working with shireen and kate, im absolutely confident that theyre committed to providing the v. S. L. Office the providing commitment ii plan. She allowed me to fast track my commitment process for two v. S. R. S. I was able to get temporary permission for two positions. Weve already shot those positions out. Were just waiting on them to pass the background check, so were really working hard not just to ensure that my department has the services they need to provide World Class Services to veterans, but that theyre not doing the work of more people and feeling overwhelmed, three people with 21,000 cases. Chair ronen supervisor stefani, did you have any questions . Supervisor stefani nope, im fully convinced. Chair ronen supervisor mar, did you have any questions . Supervisor mar yes. First of all, mr. Sims, thank you for all of your service to your country and veterans. When we had a chance to meet, i am from a military family, so these issues are very important to me in serving our families and veterans here in San Francisco. You obviously bring a breadth of experience supports veterans and health care needs, but what is your experience with veterans here in San Francisco . So i worked closely with veterans all throughout the bay area, including San Francisco. San francisco is a little unique, and a lot of it has to do with the resources. A lot of the veterans resources are not centered in San Francisco, so if a veteran does a search for v. S. O. Offices, one will be located in San Francisco, swords to plow shares, but there is no other local v. S. A. One of my goals is to connect veterans to providers in San Francisco so they dont have to access nonlocal provides, that they can access the wide variety of Service Providers in the bay area. In major metropolitan areas, the Veterans Service providers usually Work Together swords to plow shares has assumed the top position as a provider in the bay area, and thats not a bad thing, but my offices goal is to leverage the different qualities of the Veterans Service organizations for the benefit of the veterans. So the swords to plow shares are good at Housing Resources for veterans and their families, and legal programs, so i would work closely with them on that, but i would try to work with other organizations for issues like registering veterans. Swords to plow shares has that authority, but they dont provide it because historically, theyve not been asked to do it. I would like to harness all the veterans organizations for the benefit of the veterans, and that may without causing any kind of stress when i do that. I try to be cordial when im dealing with everyone. And everyone, in dealing with me, they find that im veterancentric. In the past, i havent found much push back from the other Service Providers, but i could, in some strange world, imagine that if youve always done things one way in San Francisco, that you might be reluctant to think outside the box, so my goal is to bring some of that innovative thinking to the Veterans Service organizations in San Francisco and help them help the veterans. Supervisor mar thank you. Thank you, mr. Sims. So just a followup question. I think that sounds great. Youve already working with swords to plowshares, and youre starting to work with the Broader Network of Service Providers that support our veterans communities here in San Francisco. I guess my followup question is just how would you engage veterans, other stakeholders in the community . One of my big philosophies is to meet people where theyre at. In that vein, ive been working with the Veterans Commission to secure spaces for veterans over at the veterans building. Ive been working with the Veterans Outreach staff to secure spaces at the vet center to interview veterans at the vet center and also at the hospital, to secure space there to interview the veterans there and city centralize our services so the veterans dont have to come to us for services. Visuals matter to veterans. When a veterans come to a Veterans Service off, theres lots of veteran memorabilia. It changes that interaction with that veteran, and it increases the chances that theyre going to continue to interact with your v. S. R. A lot of our clients, the veterans, they can be migratory when it comes to receiving services. If you live in the bay area, and you come into my office, and my office is substandard, then youre never going to come back. Youre going to go to Solano County or contra costa county. My goal is to make sure that everyone in this area knows in a the Service Provider of choice is knows that the Service Provider of choice in this area is the local v. S. R. Supervisor mar thank you, supervisor ronen. I dont have any other questions. Chair ronen thank you. I know that i come from a military family, but i never thought about it because my dad served in israel. He was an air trooper. He jumped out of airplanes, but its so funny listening to my colleagues talk about it, and the fact that i dont think about myself that way, but yes, impart of a military family. Its really interesting. I want to thank you. I dont have any questions yet, and just wanted to open this up for Public Comment. Clerk yes. I can make a statement while mr. Qu is checking. Members of the public wishing to provide Public Comment should call 4156550001. The meeting i. D. Is 1463791185. Press pound, and pound again. Press star, three to enter the queue for Public Comment, and wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted before providing Public Comment. Mr. Qu, do we have callers in the queue . Operator yes, we do have callers in the queue. I will unmute the first caller. Good morning, supervisors. I am president of the Veterans Affairs commission. As you know, ill just state this for the record, the Veterans AffairsCommission Advises the mayor. We are 14 veterans from all walks of life, yet we have not had the opportunity to weighin on this veterans candidacy, qualifications. As you can see, this is a top position, the key Service Provider for the city and county of San Francisco, and not a Single Member of the Veterans Commission was consulted or placed on the hiring committee or brought in to consult. Instead, this persons been hired in an expedited manner, given a different job description, different working position, and different title. Hes been working in the community, subverting the commission, even meeting with Commission Members oneonone to get the support, and as president of the commission, i can tell you this is not right. This probably violates all sorts of very good laws. We were not made aware of this appointment coming to the Veterans Affairs today. We asked mr. Sims when he knew he was up for this committee meeting, he avoided the question. So what im doing today is not speaking o