San Francisco Rules Committee Meeting - February 26, 2024
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San Francisco Rules Committee Meeting - February 26, 2024
The Rules Committee met on Monday, February 26, 2024, at 18:00 UTC (10:00 AM PST) to consider three items: appointments to the Market and Octavia Community Advisory Committee, appointments to the Veterans Affairs Commission, and an ordinance amending the Administrative Code regarding oversight of nonprofit organizations contracting with the city. The committee was chaired by Supervisor Hillary Ronen, with Vice Chair Shamann Walton and Supervisor Ahsha Safai (absent for the first two items). Supervisor Dean Preston joined for item one.
Public Comments & Testimony
Market and Octavia CAC Appointments: No public comments were made.
Veterans Affairs Commission Appointments: Twelve members of the public spoke in support of various candidates. Bill Barnacle (retired military, current commissioner) supported Jenny Perez, Jason Chittavong, and others, noting that the commission had passed three major pieces of legislation in the last three years after 40 years of inactivity. Other speakers supported James Boatman, Prince Jordan, Hanley Chan, and Daria Kutovaya, citing their work with veterans on housing, mental health, and community integration.
Ordinance on Nonprofit Monitoring: Debbie Lerman from the San Francisco Human Services Network spoke in support of the legislation and its amendments, emphasizing the need for accountability measures that also include adequate funding for overhead and salaries, and elimination of duplicative burdens.
Discussion Items
1. Appointments to Market and Octavia Community Advisory Committee (6 seats): Supervisor Preston introduced the item, noting the large number of applicants and the importance of the CAC in guiding development, transportation, and affordable housing commitments in the Hayes Valley area. The committee heard from eight applicants: Jesus Gien, Leah Culver (withdrew for seat 2), David Robinson, Michael Rooney, Natalie Burdick, Madeline Howie (absent), Nicholas Parker, Autumn Adam (absent), Sasha Ortega, and Andrew Signer. Supervisor Preston recommended six candidates for their progressive values and community engagement: Jesus Gien (seat 1), Natalie Burdick (seat 2), Madeline Howie (seat 3), Nicholas Parker (seat 4), Sasha Ortega (seat 5), and Andrew Signer (seat 6). The committee voted to approve.
2. Appointments to Veterans Affairs Commission (8 seats): Eleven applicants were considered, with two withdrawals (Douglas Bollard and William Barnacle). The committee heard from Jenny Perez, Daria Kutovaya, Deborah Dacumos (represented by commission secretary Mary Murphy), Jason Chittavong (represented by Mary Murphy), Tom Manchin, Hanley Chan, James Boatman, Megan Joy Maria O'Leary, Mitchell Ryan Weller, Prince Kelly Jordan, and Christopher Mark Scott. Supervisor Walton made a motion to appoint the following: Jenny Perez (seat 1), Deborah Dacumos (seat 2), John Risenweber (seat 3), Jason Chittavong (seat 4), Hanley Chan (seat 5), Prince Kelly Jordan (seat 6), James Boatman (seat 7), and Daria Kutovaya (seat 8). The motion passed.
3. Ordinance (File 230973) - Administrative Code - Monitoring of Nonprofits: Dominic O'Donovan, Chief of Staff for Supervisor Catherine Stefani, presented amendments to the ordinance. The amendments were developed after input from a coalition of small nonprofits (Asian and Pacific Islander Council, Black Wall Street, Latino Task Force, Mega Black, SALT, and SF Latino Parity and Equity Coalition). Key amendments included: requiring the controller to issue guidance on engaging contractors in performance standard development (page 3, lines 24-25); requiring the controller to engage with city departments and contractors in developing corrective action policies (page 4, lines 13-14); delaying the new auditing requirement to March 31, 2026 (page 5, lines 17-18); adding a public rulemaking process for new policies (subsection F, page 5, line 23); and requiring the controller to engage with historically underserved communities (page 6, lines 3-8). The compliance date was pushed to November 2024. Supervisor Safai and Walton expressed support for the equitable approach. Chair Ronen added herself as a co-sponsor.
Key Outcomes
- Market and Octavia CAC Appointments: Motion to appoint the six recommended candidates passed unanimously (2-0, with Supervisor Safai absent).
- Veterans Affairs Commission Appointments: Motion to appoint the eight recommended candidates passed unanimously (2-0, with Supervisor Safai absent).
- Ordinance on Nonprofit Monitoring: Motion to accept the amendments and send the amended ordinance to the full Board with a positive recommendation passed unanimously (3-0). The ordinance is expected to appear on the March 5, 2024 Board of Supervisors agenda.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The meeting will come to order. This is the February 26th, 2024 rules committee meeting. I'm Supervisor Hillary Ronin, Chair of the Committee. I'm joined by committee vice chair Shaman Walton, and uh hope to be joined soon by committee member Supervisor Safai. Welcome, Supervisor Dean Preston, who's joining us for item one. Our clerk is Victor Young, and I would like to thank Jim Smith and James Kawana from SFGov TV for staffing this meeting. Mr. Clerk, do you have any announcements? Yes, public comment will be taken on each item on this agenda. When your item of interest comes up and 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 myself, the rules committee clerk at VICTOR dot Y O U N G at sfgov.org. If you 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 written comments via US mail to our office in City Hall when Dr. Carlton be good at the place. Room 244, San Francisco, California 94102. Please be sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices. Documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. Items acted upon today are expected to appear on the Board of Supervisors' agenda on March 5th 2024, unless otherwise stated. Thank you so much. And can you please read item number one? Yes, item number one is a hearing to consider appointing six members, terms ending December 16th, 2024, to the Market and Octavia Community Advisory Committee. Thank you so much. And uh I just want to um make an announcement that today for each of the applicants, you'll have about two minutes to um present your qualifications and interests in the seat. Uh but before we call the applicants for it, I wanted to give Supervisor Preston an opportunity to make some opening remarks. Thank you, Chair Ren, and thank you for agendizing this. And I think I will uh reserve comments till after we hear from the various applicants. I do just want to note we've had uh a large number of applicants and very much appreciate all the interest in folks uh in the community serving on this uh advisory committee. Wonderful. Thank thank you so much. Sorry about that. Then we can't wait to hear from you all. So I'm going to call you up in the order that you're listed on the agenda. And so we'll hear first from Jesus Gien, who is applying for seat one. Good morning. Good morning, supervisors. Uh, this is a little bit. Oh, my apologies before we start. Uh, I just like to note if you could possibly all the speakers try to keep your comments down to two minutes, it would be appreciated. You'll hear a soft chime and a louder chime, but please it's just a timer. Um, please finish up your comments when you hear those chimes. Thank you. Sure. Um, my name is Kasuzi Yen. Uh, thank you for having me here. I'm an activist and advocate that I've been here in San Francisco for since 1990. Um, I think I'm one of the most important things for me is representing. I have seen you around guys in different events, and I like to think that I represent the Latinos, Latinx community, the immigrants, the people living with disabilities, uh, you know, HIV long-term survivors, LGBTQ. I think I have a bunch of things that hopefully I can listen to my communities and really try to represent in the areas of housing.
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