San Francisco Government Audit and Oversight Committee Hearing – February 3, 2022
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San Francisco Government Audit and Oversight Committee Hearing – February 3, 2022
This regular meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, chaired by Supervisor Dean Preston and joined by Supervisor Raphael Mandelman and Vice Chair Connie Chan (who arrived later), convened remotely on February 3, 2022 at 6:15 PM. The committee heard two items: an update on a Civil Grand Jury report about recycling outreach, and a review of hiring practices at the Department of Public Works (DPW). Key outcomes included adoption of responses to grand jury recommendations and a continued discussion of DPW's vacancy crisis.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 2 (Recycling Report): No public comments were received.
- Item 1 (DPW Hiring): Four callers offered public comment:
- Sean Smith, a 9916 corridor worker, asked about advancement opportunities from the corridor program to permanent laborer positions, noting he took a significant pay cut during the pandemic.
- A caller criticized the meeting as ineffective and called for revamping the civil service system, citing a historical example of rapid hiring under Mayor Brown.
- Another caller questioned the timing of hiring a Deputy Director of Operations (salary ~$200,000) so close to the Prop B split, and the authority of the acting director to make that decision.
- David Pilpel suggested a broader citywide hearing on hiring challenges and noted that project-funded positions inflate vacancy rates.
Discussion Items
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Item 2: Hearing on the 2019–2020 Civil Grand Jury Report – A Recycling Reality Check
- The committee heard from Edward Wright (Supervisor Mar’s office) and Kara Gurney (Department of the Environment). They reported that three Civil Grand Jury recommendations (R1, R2, R3) had been implemented by July 1, 2021:
- R1: New web pages on sfrecycles.org and Recology’s site, in English, Spanish, and Chinese, showing where blue bin materials go (e.g., pie charts).
- R2: Recology updated its mobile app to display similar information.
- R3: New web pages and multilingual outreach (virtual and in‑person) that emphasize what does not belong in the blue bin (e.g., garden hoses, plastic bags, batteries) to reduce contamination.
- Supervisor Preston read the proposed responses into the record and moved to prepare a motion confirming implementation. The motion passed 2‑0 (Preston and Mandelman aye; Chan absent). A second motion to recommend that motion to the full Board of Supervisors also passed 2‑0.
- The committee heard from Edward Wright (Supervisor Mar’s office) and Kara Gurney (Department of the Environment). They reported that three Civil Grand Jury recommendations (R1, R2, R3) had been implemented by July 1, 2021:
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Item 1: Hearing on Hiring Practices of Public Works – Operations Division
- Sponsored by Supervisor Ahsha Safai, the hearing focused on DPW’s high vacancy rate, hiring delays, and the impact on street cleaning, graffiti abatement, and other services.
- Presentations from:
- Carla Short (Interim DPW Director) – noted that DPW has one of the city’s highest vacancy rates, partly by design for project‑funded positions, but acknowledged the strain on current staff.
- Bruce Robertson (DPW Deputy Director) – reported that as of early 2022, the operations bureau had a 33.8% vacancy rate (257 vacant positions), with 45% of those being project‑funded. The overall department vacancy rate had recently dropped to just under 30% (29.8%), down from 35% in December 2021. About 19 permanent laborers were hired in January 2022, and recruitment was underway for 40 corridor workers (9916s).
- Chanda Ikeda (City Administrator HR) – explained that COVID‑19 caused hiring freezes, delays in in‑person exams (e.g., the laborer practical test), and a shift in the labor market. She noted that establishing a permanent civil service eligible list for general laborers took about nine months, with an additional three months to hire from that list, totaling about a year. Exempt hires (e.g., 9916s) can move within 90 days.
- Teresa Foglio‑Ramirez (Business Agent, Laborers Local 261) – provided historical context on the failed DPW apprenticeship program, blamed management’s lack of accountability, and offered to work with the city on a dispatch agreement (similar to private‑sector hiring hall models) to supply skilled, trained workers while respecting civil service rules.
- Mauli Tugbenyo and Anna Biaspa (DHR) – acknowledged the problem and noted they are exploring continuous testing and other strategies used successfully for nurse hiring.
- Supervisor Safai, joined by Vice Chair Chan and Supervisor Mandelman, expressed shock that the vacancy rate had been around 30% even before COVID‑19 (data from 2017). They stressed that a fire or police department would not be allowed to operate with such staffing shortages.
- Supervisor Safai announced he would form a working group mirroring the nurse‑hiring task force, including DPW, DHR, the City Administrator, and labor unions, to explore expedited hiring, a dispatch agreement, and other reforms. He requested the item be continued to the call of the chair.
Key Outcomes
- Item 2: The committee voted unanimously (2‑0) to prepare a motion confirming that all three Civil Grand Jury recommendations have been implemented, and to recommend that motion to the full Board of Supervisors.
- Item 1: The committee voted 2‑0 (Chan and Preston aye; Mandelman absent) to continue the hearing to the call of the chair, with a commitment to reconvene in three to four months to review progress. Supervisor Safai will lead a working group to reduce hiring time and fill vacancies, focusing on the operations division.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to the February 3rd, 2022 regular meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I am Supervisor Dean Preston, Chair of this committee, joined by Supervisor Raphael Mandelman and Vice Chair Connie Chan will be joining us later in the meeting. The committee clerk is John Carroll, and we want to extend our thanks to Maria Pena and Kalina Mendoza from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do we have any announcements? Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some announcements. The minutes will reflect the committee members are participating in this remote meeting through video conference to the same extent as though they were physically present in the board's committee room. The board recognizes that public access to city services is essential and invites your public participation in the following ways. First, public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. Cable channel 26, 78 or 99, as well as SFGov TV are all streaming the public comment call and number across the screen at this time. Each speaker will be allowed up to two minutes to speak. Your opportunity to speak during any of the public comment periods today will be available to you via phone by dialing 415-65501. The meeting ID for today's meeting is 24805750296. After you've entered the meeting ID, press the pound symbol twice to be connected to the meeting. Your phone line will be muted, but you'll be able to listen in on the discussion. When your item of interest comes up on the agenda dial star, followed by three to be added to the speaker line for that agenda item. Best practices are to call from a quiet location to speak clearly and slowly and to turn down your television, your radio, your streaming device, whatever you may be using to access today's proceedings. Alternatively, I invite you to submit your public comment in writing. You can do so by emailing your comments to me. I'm the government audit oversight committee clerk, and my email address is J-O-H-N, period. C-A-R-R-O-L-L at SFGOV.org. Or you can send your public comment through US Post to our office in City Hall, which is the clerk's office, room 244, and City Hall's address is one Dr. Carlton B. Goodlick Place, San Francisco, California, 94102. Of course, all of this contact information is printed on the front page of any of our committee agenda, so you can consult them there if I'm going over it too quickly. And Mr. Chair, I will repeat the access instructions before we go to any future public comment agenda items. Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' Agenda February 15th, 2022, unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And we are going to uh at the request of the sponsor of item one. We're going to hear that one after item two. So, Mr. Clerk, if you could please uh call item two out of order. Uh thank you. Agenda item number two is a hearing on the 2019 to 2020 civil grand jury report entitled A Recycling Reality Check. What actually happens to things we put in our blue recycling bins. Members of the public who wish to provide public comment on this hearing should call the public comment call a number. That number is 415-655-0001. Enter the meeting ID of 24805750296. Press the pound symbol twice to connect to the meeting and press star, followed by the number three. If you wish to be entered into the queue to speak, you will hear a system prompt that informs you that your hand has been raised. You should wait then until you receive a prompt that informs you that you've been unmuted, and that will begin your opportunity to provide your comments, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And uh we will first be hearing from uh Supervisor Marr's office. I believe we have uh Edward Wright, uh legislative aide for supervisor Maher, uh, here to present on this item.
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