sure you take care of the things that do not talk back to you. i always wondered what she meant. now i know because i have a green thumb. something that always happen -- happen along my travels as i discovered a rare plant in my backyard. this rare plant is unknown. it went through dna tests and everything. i got to thinking, what programs are there in the city to check this plant? wildlife service's people are not involved. i found out it was the urban forestry council. this tree is now landmarked. i went ahead and try to look at some projects i could work on as a community member. this is a grass-roots effort.

i started working on this project at the playground with the rec and parks department. i am continuing this project with reinstating the historical botanical environment that used to be there. i am trying to make it a more beautiful place. it was full of weeds and still is. every second saturday i am out there sweating and digging in the dirt to get this place revitalize. i enjoy working on the council because it is important that when certain trees are planted in the city, they also have some of the cultural differences that is important for one group of people but not others could be t tree, but is not thought of.

i appreciate your consideration. thank you very much. >> thank you for being here. terry milne and then sandy sherwin. >> good afternoon, supervisors. i am here to apply for reselection on the urban forestry council. i am not a landscape architect. i am a member of the committee. i do not have the professional qualifications. i do have the community qualifications. i have several years of tenure on the council. during my time on the council, we it agitated for the landmark tree ordinance. since then, we have more than 13

trees in the city that had been landmarked. i personally assisted with some of those nominations for those landmarks. we also work on constructing an urban forest land, which was authorized for the supervisors and now has been turned over to the planning department to be added to the city's general plan. the council supported sidewalk pocket parks and the better street programs. we have participated in san francisco arbor day is which is less than two weeks from now. i believe i bring some action and institutional knowledge to the urban forest council. we have aspirations for expanding and maintaining the urban forest. thank you. >> thank you so much for being here. sandy sherwin.

>> i have a resume here. good afternoon, supervisors. my name is sandy sherwin. i live on the edge of the excellus your district. both of these organizations have supported by candidacy without a public record of doing so. i have a master's degree in environmental economics. i am completing an additional certificate at the university of california at davis. after moving to san francisco 16 years ago, i quickly began being involved at the botanical garden at golden gate park and other land stewardship activities. i additionally work on a variety

of urban and rural habitat restoration projects. i am a member of many environmental organizations from urban planning to hands-on nonprofits. that contributes to my diversity, but pragmatic thoughts on land stewardship. i am experienced on design and storm water runoff management. a greening project of mine on an abandoned property won a community beautification award. i believe we have opportunities to enhance children's tourney decks -- experiences. we can reduce the heat. i worked to encourage replanting is and inform others about the importance of proper ongoing tree maintenance.

the urban forestry council is deeply concerned about this issue. we have increased public awareness as to the importance of street trees. i would love to be part of making this happen. because of this practical work experience, i have been grounded, realistic approach to planning. i have a very high level of enthusiasm for enhancing the san francisco urban forest. it would be wonderful to work with the forestry council and the organizations within city government. we must move our city hire in the national rankings for coverage. increasing our urban trees gate advances our carbon goals. the district was ranked second as far as un used plant

locations. i am working hard to change this. i believe we can do more to connect the dots with issues of the environmental justice, urban health, watershed protection, all over our city to protect our forests. i have taken personal initiative to attend a sub committee and full council meetings on my own volition. i would be very happy to have the opportunity to serve on this commission. i would like to thank you in advance for considering my qualifications. thank you. >> to our clerk, when we talk about members of an organization, are we talking about employees of an organization or participating through dues?

>> you will have to ask the city attorney. >> [inaudible] commissioner kim: miss adams, i know this is not a charter permission -- commission. do you have a response to the question? do you have to be an employee of a nonprofit to qualify as a member? >> currently, the way it's it's right now, we have one applicant for seat 2.

we have two applicants for seats 4 and 5. we have four applicants for seats 6 and 7. the question is it if we might be able to fit under some of the applicants of membership in a nonprofit group. if you are a member of friends of urban forest, which is a nonprofit group. >> for any other candidates for seats 6 and 7, is anybody else a member of a non-profit organization? commissioner kim: i will open up

for public comment. it is there any comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is now closed. i was hoping to ask some questions. i would add at least suggest, because we have one applicant on chairing the committee. >> i nominate to move maria forward for seat 2. commissioner kim: without objection. >> i thank everyone for coming. we are blessed to have a lot of candidates. i feel strong for rose for seat s 6 or 7. she is very active in my district and i would like to move for 4.

i would like to move rose forwar d for seat 6. commissioner kim: without objection. this is my first time meeting all of the committee members. i would like to thank those that's out on the committee thus far. thank you so much for your service on this issue. i'd love to see trees in our city. it is an important part of what makes san francisco a beautiful place to be a part of is the attention to our environment and landscaping. i would like to see mr. flanagan as a member of a nonprofit organization. personally, i would love to see representation from districts that have not always been represented well in this area. i appreciate isandy sherwin --

th -- tat -- i appreciate that sandy sherwin has applied. i do know that district well. it is important that we do this on neighborhoods that have not had the same attention that the rest of the city has. >> could we put dan in seat 4 , sandy in seat 5. i would make a motion to put andrew in seat 7. commissioner kim: i think we can do that. we have a motion to aflanagan for seat 4, sherwin for seat 5

and sullivan for seat 7. we have no objections. i'd like to thank all of the applicants that were here. mr. milne, thank you for all of your service to the committee. it is great to see this dedication to the city of san francisco. these are the hard decisions that our committee has to make. it is good to have some fresh new voices. thank you so much for your application and your time and service. we will move forward without objection. thank you. madam clerk will you call item 5? >> considering appointing one member for the chairman of the

sweat free it advisory group. commissioner kim: is she here today? we do have your application and interest to sit on this task force. >> good afternoon. my name is eleanor morton. i am an accountant in the city of san francisco. i have represented employees, low-wage workers, and labor unions at a loss for more i am a law partner. -- law lot firm, where i am a law partner. as a passionate san francisco resident who is very concerned

about the city and how it spends its dollars, i think i can bring both expertise and commitment to make sure this is done in a way that is consistent with avoiding and eliminating the use of sweatshops. >> thank you. any questions, supervisors? is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> we make the motion to move eleanor forward. commissioner kim: that was the seat i agree to put you in. thank you so much for your application and your willingness to serve on the committee. thank you for your service. madame clerk, will you call

item 6? >> this has to deal with public notices. commissioner kim: the deputy clerk is here to speak on this piece o. >> is different to be on this side of the test -- side of the desk. you know that the ordinance define the home page. it was determined that we needed a little bit more clarification on the words severing. the ordinance before you defines the word summary. this legislation could realize a cost savings of over $50,000 per year. after discussing the previous

ordinance, this would not preclude those up by federal and state law and include land-use matters such as an eminent domain, etc. the board would appreciate your support in the passage of this. >> any questions? this is a clarifying question i have asked a couple of times. i know that part of the background to this is that things have changed and many people ask this information on our meetings and agendas and minutes. is there any projected cost savings with this legislation? >> upwards of $50,000 per year. commissioner kim: any other questions? this is being heard for the amendments to the ordinance.

is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> i will make a motion to move this forward with recommendations. commissioner kim: without objection. this item moves forward with recommendations. at this time, we will recess this portion of the meeting so we can adjourn to close session with the city attorney's office. is there any public comment on the items listed on the agenda? seeing none, public comment is closed. and we will now go into closed session. a motion?

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supervisor chu: good morning, welcome to the regular meeting of the budget committee. sfgtv, mr. young, do we have any announcements today? >> if you wish to turn in public comment, please provide a copy to the clerk. items heard today will appear on the board of supervisors agenda on march 1, 2011, unless otherwise stated. supervisor chu: please call item no. 1. >> item #one. resolution approving an emergency public work contract under san francisco administrative code section 6.60 to replace the sewer on polk street from bush street to pine street with a contract amount not to exceed $422,339. supervisor chu: that this item

was heard at the last budget committee. the reason it was continued with, the dollar value was slightly lower. previously stated that 420,000 and 07 $1. -- $420,071. it was continued for one week to allow for the actual public notice of the value. i will be prepared to take a notice to take it out. there is no presentation, but we can open it to public comment. are there any members of the public that wish to speak on item number one? seeing no one, public comment is close. i have a motion to send this forward with recommendations and without objection. thank you. item number two, please. >> item #2, resolution authorizing tax collector to

sell at public auction certain parcels of tax-defaulted real property. >> i believe we have -- supervisor chu: i believe that we have francis from the treasurer text apartment. >> good morning. my name is francis [unintelligible] of the office of the treasurer tax collector. here to request your approval for a resolution to allow the tax collector to build 117 properties that have been taxed the faulted for five or more years. they are subject to the tax collectors power to sell. the public option would take place over the internet from april 23 through april 26, 2011.

supervisor chu: is that the extent of your presentation? >> do you have any questions? supervisor chu: thank you. let's go to the budget analysts report. >> as we pointed out on page 5 of our report, these 117 properties sold at the minimum bid would fine the city realizing $1,100,000. the general fund would accrue $781,928. really, this is the annual sale, as you know, attacks the faulted property where persons of delinquent taxes -- there is nothing unusual except that, for the first time, you are being asked to authorize the treasury

tax collector to sell timeshare properties at or below the minimum bid if they do not get the minimum bid without requesting an additional public auction sale. i believe that that is reasonable. that there are problems with these time shares each year. we set it as a policy matter only because it is the first time you would be given the authorization to sell below the minimum bid. supervisor chu: i believe that we have a question. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you to the tax collector treasurer's office. curious, what would be a market guest at the real property value of these properties? >> referring to the timeshare units? for the real property is? supervisor mirkarimi: real property, then timeshare.

>> real property, there is no problem selling at the minimum bid amount. with the exception of the timeshare units. we believe that we might have difficulty selling all the time shares on a list. the reason for that is that in the last auction we had 13 offered for sale and only one was sold at a minimum bid amount. we did not receive bids for the other 12. leading us to believe that the minimum bid amount may be equal to the fair market value. supervisor mirkarimi: ok. i am looking at the -- give me an example of the minimum bid for a time share.

>> the minimum bid, for example, if you look at item 37, it is $1,630 on the left column. supervisor mirkarimi: that is nothing. if these are going out at a minimum bid. >> the fair market value of the time share, some of them have very low fair market value. depending on the size of the unit and the location of the building. we anticipate only a small portion of the time share in one building we have had problems selling. supervisor mirkarimi: which building is that? knob hill inn on 1000 pine

street. the rest of them are located in the heart of downtown and are easier to sell. supervisor mirkarimi: is it likely that these minimum bids will yield considerably higher amounts? >> the minimum bid is about the fair market value. the problem is that the owners do not want to buy these because of the high cost of maintenance. supervisor mirkarimi: the caretaker maintenance? >> yes. to occupy it for just one week each year. supervisor mirkarimi: how ishe