>> i see here that it says expenditures shall be consistent with the practices and policies. there's nothing specific. it's very general. >> well, if for example, the new mayor wanted to establish a few position, they would need to adhere to the regular classification process and the pay structure that exists within the city, the same fringe benefits and so forth. if it was a contract it would have to be let in according to the city's rule and so forth. >> just really quickly. i feel very uncomfortable with this especially if this is something that we've not done in practice. i would want more justification as to a transition fund for our new mayor particularly since we haven't done this before why in the past -- why historically we feel that the cost is justified. i think a lot of us would love additional support. i know the board of supervisors ourselves constantly need additional support. so i'm kind of wondering where

this is coming from. i would love to hear more on that >> madam chair and members of the board of supervisory, this is one of the reason why we suggested to be a policy. in fact, we discussed it after this morning's well, before the first session at 1:45. and we are going to put in as an alternative policy recommendation that those funds will reserved because your point is well taken, which is our point. and that is the board of supervisors in aproving this $300,000 as is would not have the details like they have on any other appropriation of how it's going be expended. so where as mr. wagoner and the controller had stated that there would be an expenditure plan submitted to the controller, our policy recommendation would be that the expenditure plan would be submitted to the board of supervisors so they will have the final say as to how those funds are expended. >> if i may, i think the other

point that's kind of worth emphasizing, i definitely understand the point that you're raising. i think by its nature there is a little bit of ambiguity associated with exactly how this funding would be used because we don't know who the mayor's going to be, we don't know what their vision and immediate policy priorities are going to be. i think that the purpose of this -- and there really is -- especially from the current administration's perspective no immediate benefit in doing this -- the purpose and we could have balanced the budget easier by not balancing these funds but the purpose is after having seen a couple of transitions and having heard stories in the past about what some of the transitions have been like in the past, there have been some rocky ones where a mayor came in without the resources to fully staff through the end of

the year. and had a gap between a point at which the mayor took off fers office and a point in which they can get the staff up and running and resulted in a periods of time where the city was not fully functioning and where the mayor's office didn't have the ability to really hit the ground running and begin managing the city from day one and so we feel like there's a responsibility from all of us in the city -- in the city family to try to provide some resources to prevent that situation from happening. and i think it's a fair question about what that expenditure plan of this -- these funds are going to be, but i think there's some ambiguity factored into the nature of the transition. i think this is a very responsible kind of a good government thing to do to ensure that we have somebody coming in to the mayor's office

who's going be able to have the resources they need and the flexibility that they need to both manage the city and begin working on the policy initiatives that they had promised as they've been elected to that office. >> thank you. and thank you supervisor kim and supervisor -- oh, i'm sorry and greg wagoner. so given the fact that we've got agreement from the budget office and our budget analyst, colleagues can we take the recommendation without objection? >> madam chair, one item that mr. wagoner did not mention was the $4610 closeout of the incumbrances. i believe he agrees with that but he didn't mention it. >> the $4,000, that would be fine. >> so we've got agreement both on the recommended cuts as well as closing out those projects. we'll take both of those sets of recommendations without

objection. and then with regard to the transition plan, that's snag we can pick up the following week. and if i can ask you perhaps to follow utch with supervisor kim on that -- >> i would be happy to and with anybody else to talk that through. >> supervisor wiener? >> i would love to follow-up on supervisor kim's comments and i agree with what you said and when i read that in preparing for today, i thought that was my assumption and i think that -- it's very important for a new mayor to be able to hit the ground running and not have to take significant period of time if they want to try something different or -- or focus in a different way. so i don't know that it should have to come tom the board of supervisors for reallocating and uncomfortable with the controller and seeing that a full and prompt disclosure of

what the expenses are. we're going o have a brand-new mayor and we need to have that mayor hit the ground running. >> thank you, supervisor. i would echo your comments. i this it's property to have that comment but if that's the will of this committee that we would allow the next mayor to have the flexibility to spend it. we still have an open item for next week. if i can is you mr. wagoner to follow-up on che members to follow up on that particular plan. thank you. next department, ethics commission.

>> good afternoon, madam chair, supervisors, i appreciate the opportunity to be here. i just gave you a handout. it's kind of an update on the status of the election campaign fund. to this point this year we've been going on the asurpgs that there would be eight qualified candidates. in all likelihood that number is going to be nine. so we have some updated figures for you on that particular issue.

i don't have a formal presentation. the budget analyst has no recommendations for the commission this year, a position with which we concur. and i'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> can you speak a little bit about what we're anticipating for next year and just walk us through you're expenses. one thing that i'm particular in knowing about is what's the current balance in your election campaign fund, what your drawdowns have been where you're expecting to be next year. >> we expect spending with nine candidates a total of $8.1 million. but that's based on a few assumptions. the first is that each of the nine candidates will raise the maximum amount necessary which would mean an allocation of $900,000 to each of them. so far this year, we've expended about $1.7 million. there's money going out every

day so that number will rise before the fiscal year. >> how much was expended this current year? >> as of friday just under 1.7 million. >> what's the anticipation? >> the seapings is that we could -- anticipation is that we could go as high as 3.1 this year. >> how much do you have in the fund? >> the amount that we have right now is that -- is three -- i do have that number right in front of me. no. shoot. sorry. >> oh, wait. it's 7.4, it looks like. >> that's what we started out at the -- yes. and then if you subtract the

total uses, the fiss cal year and balance -- fiscal year that we expect to be 3.3 million dollars. >> given the information you provide we started the year with $3.6. the budget included adding an additional $2 million. there was a repayment appropriation worth about half a million dollars and there was a supplement to appropriation -- >> right. >> so that brought us to 7.4. so far there has been $1.7 million of that 7.4? >> well, yes. there's also an additional nearly million that was spent on last year's supervisor's race. so the total would be 2.7. >> yep. so 2.7 million drawn down a combination of the mayor's race

and the board's race? >> right. >> ok. and then the budget for the upcoming year anticipates a deposit of how much? >> a total of -- approximately $6 million. just a little over $6 million. the exact future is $6,9 -- $6,091332. >> so we expect the total to be $14.3 million for the campaign fund but we have drawn down

about $2.7 million, you said? >> right. >> and then in terms of how much we expect to spend over time you said about $8.1 million asumping nine fully viable candidates all drawing down the maximum? >> right. >> supervisor wiener? >> do you -- i know you were here a few months ago with the 6-5 vote and i know at the time, there were -- you had projections about where we would be at the end of the fiscal year and then on ward. do you have any way of knowing as of now basically in the fiscal year whether we have spent more or less on the mayor's race than you

projected. >> to date, we have spent less than projected but even though there's a very small window left in the fiscal year, there's money going out almost every day. we've come closer to that projection than before. but our overall projection for the race has increased. what we've had trouble -- the difficulty was in the balancing act, we have a total figure that agrees with what we think we're going to spend. how much of it do we put into this fiscal year vs. how much for next fiscal year? >> your projection for the whole race, you understand i'm assuming being conservative -- are you assuming that every candidate will max out? >> yes, that's what the 8.1 figure is based on. >> as of now, how much under projection are we at? i know that it will accelerate

as we approach june 30th. but how far under -- >> about a million and a half. >> do you have any sense at all about whether -- how far under we'll be as of june 30th? >> i still think that the 8.1 million figure is credible. before we were using 7.2 when we had figuratively one less candidate. there's a wild card factor in here that doesn't show up in any of these calculations. the presumption that all five are all -- excuse me -- all nine candidates will max out is certainly plausible. they may do that. they may not. we don't flow for a fact and it's going be hard to figure out. but of the nine that we believe will qualify i think they all

have the capability. and expenditures may change these numbers dramatically because of expenditure ceilings. so it could be a lot more. so the more third-party expenditures, they could be substantial. we could go through more than we anticipate. >> right. and i guess we won't know until july 31st or august 1st whenever the disclosure date is. we'll have a sense of how much each of the fundraising is. i'll assume you'll know a lot more then. >> a great deal more. but even from the amendment that we've been distributing now, there are some candidates that are raising money. others are finding the resources but the financial report as you mentioned will

give us a bigger picture. >> could you report back at least to give us more of a sense for whether you think we're going to see candidates maxing out by the end? >> of course. and in the public finance law itself, i'm required at the end of august i'm required to also issue an analysis. >> thank you. >> thank you, supervisor wiener. what would be helpful also for us to understand -- i know we've had a dialogue about how much we expect the drawdowns to be for the mayor's race but the other thing that's funded with the fund is the board's race and so in the next fiscal year we're expecting about half a year before the 2012 june election for the board. i think if you can provide to the committee members just your expectation of spendsing for the board race as well -- >> $900,000. $9 00,000. included in this chart that i

just gave you. >> ok. that's the -- that's the anticipated -- >> right. >> oh, ok. ok. even with fewer open seats we still expect $900,000 in spending? >> yes. >> do you think you can provide that information to us in the copping weeks? >> yeah. i'm sorry what -- >> just the breakdown for the assumption for the $900,000. >> yes. ok. >> and for the budget analyst report this item unfortunately there is been some miscommunication. last year there was not a requirement for this department to be reported on. so for some misunderstanding that hasn't occurred this year. what i've asked the brudget is to take a look at the department etion budget to provide us with any recommendation between now and next week on the department budget. so if i could ask you to work with our budget analyst on providing that information to make sure that any recommendations are timely and then for us just to make sure

we get the information on the $900,000 and what is expected to be drawndown. ok. thank you. then we'll go down to our final department, the department of elections. >> good afternoon. our budget is increasing this year due to there being one more election this next fiscal year than the current fiscal year. there's a decrease from reimbursement from elections, city college, so we won't be receiving that for the upcoming fiscal year. as far as big ticket items the next five years, the voting system contract with our current vendor will need to be extended. i'll be coming to the board to seek an i approval -- for the current voting contract. i may actually seek to have it extended a bit since the last time it took almost three years

from the time we started the r.f.p. process until the contract was approved. i'll be bringing that forward to the board. but also the leas for the department's warehouse will be expiring at 2014 as well. we would like to have that extended. that's also a secure location for the voting system that we have now than if we were to go to a different system in the fleer future. as far as our five-year plan, we were looking to continue automating and digitizing as much of our process as we can. the reason is that -- there's less workload because you handle materials less but also what's more important in elections it allows for us to get realtime information on election material as we go through the process. we'll continue that through the next five years. one item that's described in

the budget report is the scanning and sorting machine to the vote by mail ballots. that's one thing that's reduced the verification process in the vote by signatures and about -- also be able to capture that information and report more quickly. i can take any questions from the board members. >> thank you. just two questions with regard to the leas at the port, is there any impact on the america 's cup? >> no, it's north. since we're in the southern side, there won't be any impact. >> and then with regard to the purchase i think the budget analyst has really highlighted the automated ballot machine, anything special there? any kind of new things that we're anticipating in the next

five years? >> we also want to -- it sounds simple but it makes a big impact. the next thing you want to get is an automated mail extractor. so instead of having people bull the ballots, you actually have an equipment that can open the envelopes and bull them from the envelopes and we can process them more quickly. one thing with san francisco, we have multi-card ballots. one of the expenses we have for the june primary election is we expect probably six cards and that just takes a long time to process that. and one of the bottom is to pull them from the envelopes. so we automate that. also the provisional ballot process, we're going to change the envelope size to we can use this equipment for the next fiscal year's budget so we can scan those envelopes and start handing those envelopes as we review them. we can actually -- we digitize

it, we do a comparison and we can more quickly balance the budget. instead of waiting for the provisions to be processed. >> and just on the areapportion natment process this is that comes for a while. your budget includes $220,000 to complete that work. that work has to be done by april 2012 which is coming up quickly. could you speak about that fund? >> one of the primary things is to get a consultant because the department doesn't actually do the redistricting that the task force does. but the task force members have never done redistricting that i'm aware of. i don't know who the board will choose and who the mayor will choose. so it's important to get that work and that will be $95,000. there is also some money

built-in for outreach for the task force and also just to get the materials. and that also there's a halftime position in there that we are working with the clerk of the board's office for someone to staff the task force meetings. that was one of the challenges that the task force has and the department of elections is that there was no one assigned with the task force. another portion of the $20,000 is to actually appoint them to the task force. >> you are in agreement including budget closeouts? >> i am. >> thank you. mr. rose? >> madam chair, members of committee, our recommended reductions, they're detailed on page 129 total 1 32,628 dollars. that's 100% general fund

reductions still allow an increase of about $5.5 million or 56% in the department's budget. and we also recommend closing out your general fund unexpended incumbrances which would allow $375,000. so they result in $156,206 savings to the general fund. >> thank you, mr. rose. supervisor wiener? >> thank you. first i want to -- and i meant this as an inquiry as well just to compliment your staff. during elections candidates are some of the most difficult people in the world to deal with and your staff amazingly are patient and helpful. i just wanted to note that. i have a question about something that we -- something that we talked about. but i don't know if it actually happened and that is any kind

of movement towards electronic voting sig nag chur collection, things like that. i know there was an op-ed in "the chronicle" about that. i'm wondering because obviously that has significant cost implications and security implications as well. i'm just wondering if you envision any movement towards that in the for seeable future? >> i'll do the voting system first. we're finding out is that i think there will always be a paper ballot but the system will digitize the information, scanning both sides of the ballot are somehow capture the information that's on the ballot, but not having to handle the actual card. that helps and also for people are involved in the campaign and the candidates and even for the public's interest. you can capture information and

>> it more quickly. i don't think internet voting is going to happen any time soon. i think that would be a great idea if it's secure. i know that for soldiers overseas, there's a form of exchange of ballot information and receiving the voted ballots from the service members, but that's in a very limited sense and there's a -- so it's not much of a change as far as the regular process is concerned right now. with the digital signatures, i think that's going to happen fairly quickly. but the challenge there is that everything's based on 100 years of process. it's not just the offices in california that want to handle the paper, but there are laws that's based on those hard copy petitions as well. so receiving something, a digital signature or receiving an additional petition, it's not that we wouldn't know what

it is. we would handle it in a way that's consistent with current laws. it's the law that has to catch up with the idea especially with digitizing the petitions for election material. >> thank you, supervisor winer. >> this department is in agreement with the budget analyst, can we take the budget analyst recommendation and the project closeout without objection? >> great. thank you very much. >> ok. i think that we've exhausted all the departments today. so colleagues we're finishing before 5:00 which is great. if we can, items number one through three -- sorry one and two, can we continue this -- these two items until wednesday? we'll do that without objection. for items numbers three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and 10, can we continue these items

to the 24th for public comment? we could do that without objection. great. and then item number nine, which has to do with the human services agency, can we continue this item until the 23rd which is when the department budget will be up? we'll do that without objection. that's great. all right. mr. clerk, do we have any other items before us? >> second piece to the agenda. >> thank you very much. we are adjourned.

>> hello. welcome to "culturewire." we are here today with bay area artist jody chanel, and we are we are here today with bay area artist jody chanel, and we are