San Francisco Government Audit and Oversight Committee Regular Meeting - March 20, 2025
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San Francisco Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee Regular Meeting - March 20, 2025
The Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors met on March 20, 2025, chaired by Supervisor Jackie Fielder, with Vice Chair Cheryl Sauter and Supervisor Cheryl (member). The committee considered three behested payment waiver resolutions and a consent calendar of ten settlement items. All items were approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 2 (India Basin Waterfront Park): Kurt Grimes (Senior Program Manager, A. Philip Randolph Institute) expressed support, stating the project invests in local nonprofits and businesses. Micah Pinkston (Executive Director, From the Heart) spoke in support, noting the park's importance to the Bayview/Hunters Point community. Chica Mezzi (Program Manager, A. Philip Randolph Institute) also voiced full support, highlighting community involvement from planning to implementation.
- No public comment was made on Items 1, 3, or 4-13.
Discussion Items
Item 1 (250195) – Temporary Shelter and Homeless Services Behested Payment Waiver
- Director Shireen McSpaden (Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, HSH) presented a resolution to authorize 10 HSH leadership staff to solicit donations from private entities for shelter and homeless services. The waiver renews a previous six-month waiver (expiring April 17, 2025) and narrows the scope from all HSH staff to 10 leadership positions.
- Key statistics: 2024 point-in-time count showed approximately 8,300 people experiencing homelessness (52% unsheltered); as of February 2025, HSH had 3,613 temporary shelter/crisis intervention slots with a 93% occupancy rate. The city's strategic plan calls for 1,075 new shelter beds to reduce unsheltered homelessness by 50% in five years.
- Director McSpaden noted past partnerships with Tipping Point, Schwab, and Crankstart, and ongoing conversations with Tipping Point on case management training.
- Chair Fielder expressed caution about potential influence of interested parties, emphasizing that philanthropy should complement public policy, not determine it. She introduced an amendment requiring the department to report to the Board of Supervisors 60 days after the waiver expires.
- The amendment was adopted unanimously, and the item was forwarded to the full board with a positive recommendation (3-0).
Item 2 (250129) – India Basin Waterfront Park Behested Payment Waiver
- Lisa Branson (Director of Partnerships, Recreation and Park Department) presented a resolution to grant a six-month waiver for the mayor's office, recreation and park commissioners, and staff to solicit donations for the India Basin Waterfront Park Public-Private Partnership.
- The project is a five-way partnership with Trust for Public Land, San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco Parks Alliance, and A. Philip Randolph Institute. It aims to build a park in the underserved Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood, which has poor health, education, and income outcomes. The park is guided by an Equitable Development Plan (EDP) focusing on arts, youth, workforce, and other community benefits.
- Funding: $125 million public, $75 million private; 97% of private funds secured, with $2.4 million remaining. The partners aim to exceed the $75 million target to cover contingencies and expand EDP programs.
- Chair Fielder questioned the list of donors solicited under the previous waiver. Ms. Branson stated that all donors are posted on the India Basin website in compliance with the Sunshine Ordinance.
- Chair Fielder introduced an amendment limiting the waiver to a specific list of Recreation and Park Department staff and requiring reporting 60 days after expiration. The amendment was adopted unanimously, and the item was forwarded to the full board (3-0).
Item 3 (240934) – Memorandum of Understanding with InnovateUS
- Jeremy Pollock (Legislative and Technology Analyst, Department of Technology) presented a resolution authorizing a no-cost MOU with InnovateUS (part of Northeastern University) to provide AI training for city employees. The city provides anonymized feedback and aggregated completion data in exchange.
- Background: The city currently has no AI training in its learning catalog. A ChatGPT pilot had over 2,000 participants, and a live training drew 700 attendees. The AI working group selected InnovateUS because its training is public-sector-focused, technology-agnostic, and covers risks (privacy, bias, hallucinations). Three initial courses are planned: AI 101, AI for program leads, and fast field scanning.
- Supervisor Cheryl asked about the specific data shared: only aggregated completion numbers and voluntary anonymous survey responses are shared, with no personal information. She also requested that the training be proactively offered to the 2,000 ChatGPT pilot participants. Chair Fielder noted the absence of environmental impact training as a concern.
- No public comment. The item was forwarded to the full board with a positive recommendation (3-0).
Items 4-13 – Settlements
- The committee considered six ordinances and four resolutions authorizing settlements of lawsuits and unlitigated claims. The items were:
- 250109: Coinbase, Inc. – $1,600,000
- 250117: Lester Hogan – $50,000
- 250118: Hanover Insurance Company – $265,909
- 250123: Idemitsu Americas Holdings Corporation – $318,002.04
- 250158: Ada M. Guzman – $45,000
- 250159: Veronica Fulton – $40,000
- 250160: International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 – $1,022,500
- 250161: CSAA Insurance Exchange – city to receive $37,929.81
- 250179: Michael E. Johnson, et al. – city to receive $100,000
- 250180: The Nederlander Company LLC (dba Broadway San Francisco) – $55,000
- No public comment. The committee forwarded all settlements to the full board with a positive recommendation (3-0). Item 10 (250159) was noted to be referred to the full board as a committee report for consideration on March 25, 2025.
Key Outcomes
- Item 1: Approved as amended (3-0). Reporting required 60 days after waiver expiration.
- Item 2: Approved as amended (3-0). Reporting required 60 days after waiver expiration.
- Item 3: Approved (3-0). Forwarded to full board.
- Items 4-13: All settlements approved (3-0). Forwarded to full board.
- The meeting adjourned without discussion of the closed session litigation items.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to the March 20th regular meeting of the Government Audit and Oversight Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I am Supervisor Jackie Fielder, Chair of the Committee, joined by Supervisor Sauter and Supervisor Cheryl Sauter being our vice chair. Committee clerk is Monique Creighton. Our thanks to Sue Enos of SFGov TV. Sorry. James Kawana of SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Madam Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, uh, public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up in public comment is called, please line up to speak on your right. Alternatively, you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways. Email them to the government audit and oversight committee clerk at M O N I U E dot C R A Y T O N at Sf G O V dot org. If you can submit public comment via email, it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file. You may also send your written comments via U.S. Postal Service to our office in City Hall. Number one, Dr. Carlton Be Good Place, Room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. If you have documents you would like to be included as part of the file, please submit them to me before the end of the meeting. Please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices to prevent any interruptions to today's proceedings. Finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors Agenda of April 8th, 2020 2025 unless otherwise stated. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Please call item number one. Yes, item number one is a resolution authorizing the Department of Homelessness and Support of Housing to solicit donations from various private entities and organizations to support the expansion of temporary shelter and other homeless services to support people experiencing homelessness, notwithstanding the behested payment ordinance. This item will be referred to the board to the full board as a committee report for consideration on March 25th, 2025. Thank you. And I understand Director McSpaden of HSH will be presenting this item. Director McSpaden, please go ahead. Yes, thank you. Good morning, honorable members of the government audit and oversight committee. I'm Shereen McSpaden, Executive Director of the Department of Homelessness and Support of Housing. I'm here today with the fourth behested payment waiver request for HSH that will continue to support our engagement with the philanthropic and private sectors to support shelter and homelessness services. I want to acknowledge and thank President Mandelman for his co-sponsorship on this legislation. Oh, sorry. Are we good? Okay. Um the resolution would authorize leadership staff in the Department of Homelessness and Support of Housing to solicit donations from various private entities and organizations to support the expansion of temporary shelter and other homelessness services. Our current behested payment waiver was approved by the board on October 22nd, 2024 through resolution 517-24 and will expire on April 17th of this year. Changes from past behested payment waiver legislation. Um we narrowed the scope from all HSH staff to 10 leadership staff, HSH's executive director, two chief deputy directors, four deputy directors, and three program directors. These are staff that will need to be in the room to support conversations with private and philanthropic partners to support our key initiatives. And it pertains only to HSH as the mayor's office has their own waiver under ordinance number um 010-25. So in the past, the department has established successful and innovative public-private partnerships to meet critical needs of people experiencing homelessness. Just to give an example, we've worked with Tipping Point, Schwab, and Crankstart to do some of these things. And the Mayor's Fund for the Homeless is a category eight fund established to receive donations for homeless services with existing reporting to homeless oversight commission and annual reporting to the board of supervisors. And then just I obviously don't need to spend a lot of time on the shelter crisis. I think everybody understands the need on our streets. However, to provide some context for the public on why this waiver is critical for HSH to address the homelessness crisis. According to the 2024 point in time count, there were about eight 8,300 people experiencing homelessness, 52% of whom were unsheltered. As of February 2025, the department had 3,613 temporary shelter or crisis intervention slots with a 93% occupancy rate.
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