remain seated. item d, approval of minutes. discussion and possible action to adopt the minutes from may 18, 2011, september 21, 2011, november 16, 2011, and january 18, 2012. commissioner lee: i know we had a big stack before us. do we want to do them individually? if not, we can do it all at once. >> i make a motion we approve. >> second. >> something to add. it is missing a header for general public comment. we have the commons, but so the motion could be amended to request that change that we add

that heading, general public comment. commissioner lee: ok, so you want to do that at the end? >> you can do at the now. the motion just needs to be amended. commissioner lee: why don't we postpone that? ok. >> we are just saying that the motion to approve the minutes, that there is an error in the draft you have. >> mr. president, i cannot vote on this item. i was not here. >> even though you were not here, you can and should bode on the minutes. commissioner lee: why don't we just postpone approval of the minutes until the end of this meeting? >> ok, we will come back to this item. item e, continued appeals order of abatement, case 6752 -- 1/7

43-- 1743 12th avenue. action requested by palin -- to reverse the order of abatement. no, on november 16, 2011, aab devoted to continue the case for 90 days to allow parties additional time to consider the matter. testimony, deliberation, and possible action to of hold, modify, or reverse the order of abatement commissioner lee:. to refresh everyone's memory, on november, we -- commissioner lee: to refresh everyone's memory, we did not hear the case. i believe the appellant came forward and asked us to continue this matter for three months, and we granted that. at this point, i would like to ask the appellant -- do you want to hear this now?

>> yes, you're sorry the attorney for the appellant, and i'm here to ask for a further continuance for three months, the reason being that the parties are in negotiations. in fact, we have gone to an arbitration, and the decision of the arbitrator will be forthcoming very soon. this will resolve the underlying issues relating to the abatement. commissioner lee: how much time? >> we have gone through the arbitration, finished the arbitration. the arbitrator has solicited statements from the party's. it is anticipated -- we are hoping this will be resolved earlier than three months, but we are asking for three months because, as you know, things an arbitration do not go as fast as we anticipate some times.

>> is this binding arbitration? >> yes, it is. it flows from a settlement the parties had reached over year ago. that broke down, and the parties went to an arbitration before the mediator, and it was a three-day arbitration with testimony and all that, so, yes, it is binding. commissioner lee: ok, any other questions? if not, i would like to ask the department -- do you have a position on the request for another three months? >> if the affected neighbor is agreeable to that, then the department would be ok with it also. commissioner lee: ok, thank you. can we take public comment? do we need a motion first?

>> i am the attorney for the adjacent lower lying neighbor at 1737 12th ave. we had a binding arbitration. there will be two sets of briefs. we are submitting opening briefs next week, and then we will have a closing brief responding to each other's opening brief, and it is before the arbitrator, and i think it would be economical and useful if the board would continue it for three months. i think three months is probably the outside, but we have been here before, and there are four sets of counsel and insurance companies, so we would join in

for our public comment in the request of the continuance. commissioner lee: any other public comment? commissioners? ok, there is a motion on the floor to grant the continuance -- another continuance for three months. >> is there a second? >> second commissioner lee:. further discussion -- second. commissioner lee: further discussion? >> if there is no further discussion, we will take a roll- call vote to continue the item for three months. commissioner lee: commissioner clinch: yes -- commissioner lee: yes. commissioner clinch: yes. commissioner mar: yes. commissioner murphy: yes.

>> the motion carried unanimously. commissioner lee: you have another three months. >> thank you very much to all. and the next, the approval of the minutes. commissioner lee: ok, we are back to the minutes. >> commissioners, if you would like additional time to review these sets of minutes, you could continue this item to a future meeting, but if you want to vote on them now, you can do so. commissioner murphy: i think it is the to commissionerme melgard. i have read them. i made the motion. commissioner lee: there is a motion to accept all the meeting minutes with the header. is there a second? >> the motion is by commissioner murphy to approve all four sets of minutes with the request of

adding the change of header. is there a second? >> second. >> any public comment on this motion? seeing none, i will take a roll call vote. commissioner lee: yes. commissioner clinch: yes. commissioner hechanova: yes. commissioner mar: yes. commissioner murphy: yes. commission unbacer melgard: yes. >> the motion is approved unanimously. next is general public comment. is there any general public, in the audience? seeing none, item g adjournment. is there a motion to adjourn? >> motion to adjourn. >> second.

>> all in favor? >> aye. commissioner lee: we will adjourn and reconvene at 9:30 for the building inspection commission. >> good morning. today is wednesday, february 15, 2012. this is the regular meeting of the building inspection commission. i'd like to ask everyone to please turn off all electronic devices. the first item on the agenda is roll call. commissioner hechanova: here. commissioner mar: here. commissioner clinch: here. commissioner lee: here. commissioner murphy: here.

commissioner melgar: here. >> commissioner walker is excused. we have a quorum. next item on the agenda is president's announcements. commissioner hechanova: good morning. those in chambers, welcome to the february meeting. we would like to also start out by giving some thank you -- tahnk -- thank-yous to staff. [reading names] where there has been the category of expressed appreciation from the public that you have served, to say thank you very much for the

service you have rendered them in a most professional way and expeditious manner. also, from steve, the complimentary letter from bruce murphy, thanking senior plumbing inspector alex corn. for that, thank you very much for maintaining the high level of service and along with that, the continued service you will provide the city and building department. >> if anyone has their cell phone on them, if you could turn it off, not on vibrate because it will still make feedback. >> could have been made. [laughter] -- commissioner hechanova: could have been me. [laughter] also, i want to welcome marlin melgar -- commissioner melgar: myrna.

commissioner hechanova: myrna. the group of commissioners view will be serving during your tour -- term will be well appreciated not only by this city but also by the staff. the category of serving this great city is also a great honor, so thank you very much. commissioner melgar: thank you. i'm glad to be here. commissioner hechanova: i would also like to express not only my thanks, but also from the other commissioners, and adding the thank you to chris romero who has provided his valuable time and along with that his expertise in some of the issues that have come before the bic. thank you very much. looking forward to seeing you

here in the city and also having coffee or some other beverage of choice in the near term. would also like to express that a couple of items -- there are some hong kong building officials that are here in the city that have undertaken to know more about how the best service for electrical and mechanical systems that the city has provided -- our fair city, with the help of that, they will be arranging sometime in march a briefing for how we do it our way and how they would like to do it our way also. last but not least, i would also

like to express my thanks for the opportunity to have served the commission, as i will be stepping aside to undertake the category of the next step be on the commission. for years of service here has been wonderful and the opportunity has also been as great. i would like to also say that the achievements of the commission during my participation here has been from the permit tracking system and the cash program that is so instrumental in making our city more seismically safe, if not also performance and response and the recovery category, and

the crowning point here is also the award to san francisco for the green building policy that was awarded last fall in south africa that we passed almost two years ago. from that green building policy, san francisco was awarded by the world green building counsel at a meeting in south africa as the best green building city in its policy in the world. i would also like to extend a tremendous thank you to the fellow commissioners and city administration, dbi staff, who have helped make these achievements achievable, and also to get into the category of not resting on our laurels, but to continue forward to carry the mantle that pass on -- that i

pass on the baton to the commissioners and staff, that this is a great city, and that one of my objectives was to also help make this great city even better, but not rest on our laurels and continue to make this great city of san francisco even better. aside from that, are there other opinions or comments the other commissioners would like to do during my present statement here? commissioner murphy: i would like to make a few comments. i have had a wonderful six years on this commission. parting can be such a sweet sorrow. two years as president, and long before i was appointed as a dbi commissioner, my business took

me to the building department very often, and i always felt like i too was very comfortable. it was like being around family, and i knew everybody. notwithstanding, i had many ups and downs and many ros -- rows. becoming a commissioner was exciting, and i was delighted to serve. so many dbi they that easy for me. i want to pay special tribute to ed sweeney, who has always stepped up when asked to. -- so many in dbi made that

easy for me. joe duffy, tom huey, niel free -- neil freeman. they've contributed so much to making changes that make it easy or easier for the stakeholders to do business. when i started, i had this notion that i would get things done quickly. little did i know that what i considered a six-month project would take six years and had been in the pipeline for, i believe -- one public speaker used to come in here early on when i was first commissioner,

and he would say, "we started this conversation when i was 63. i am now 73." if you do that math, we are talking about 16, 17 years. now, i know for sure that the wheels turn slowly, but when they do, they grind. the commission secretaries' managed to buck that trend, and i would like to thank ann, now retired, and sony up for their tireless work and keeping the officially connected -- and sonya for their tireless work and keeping me connected. frank was here when i got here. he was just a wonderful commissioner, wonderful friend, and also reuben.

reuben was my vice-president for a couple of years, and i enjoyed working with him. kevin. enjoyed working with him. also warren mar. i have a lot of great memories. i remember when president who was president -- he was on the commission for two or three years, and when he left -- i remember him saying to me, "i have been on this commission for four years, and you know what? i feel like i have not achieved a god-damned thing." i could not relate to that kind of statement. i think we have made some remarkable achievements. commissioner walker deserves a

special mention because we were at loggerheads so often. however, as you all know, i prefer to look them in the eye. if i had anything to say -- she is not here today, so i will leave that alone. the sweetness in parting is the extra time i will have to be with my wife, my daughter and my new chocolate lab. there are no shortcuts to any place worth going. you make a difference. i want to thank you all so much. commissioner hechanova: thank you, commissioner murphy. commissioner lee commissioner lee: -- commissioner lee. commissioner lee: i want to

comment on something commissioner murphy just said. please do not feel things have not been accomplished. we have accomplished a lot since you joined us. in and out probably the longest continuing survey member. commissioner walker may have more time based on her prior service, but when i got here, i was working with commissioner rivera -- romero. i want to thank him for his service in this commission. at that time, when i joined -- we will just say there were issues with the department, with the commission. we saw what it should be like. we knew what good government should be. we are good government people. we like to keep things transparent, open, have proper debate without intimidation, without any negativity, that

sort of thing. we started it, and it really got going when you, commissioner murphy, got on board. we now have the department working properly. we have things like incompatible activities for our employees to follow. we have rules that our commission should follow. what is compatible with us, what we should not be doing and so on and so forth. things are a lot better since six years ago. we are trying to move things forward now. we are trying to implement a permit tracking system. i know they do think -- they do seem like they are taking a long time, but we are trying to move forward to a better situation.

i want to thank you, everybody, for doing a good job. commissioner mar: i was before commissioner melgar the newest commissioner in this body. i wanted to just bank commissioner murphy -- sank commissioner murphy and -- thank commissioner murphy and hechanova for briefing me on what it would be like to sit on this commission. it is important for everyone to understand we are a citizen commission. some of us come from different places. some of us were landlords. some of us were in the professions, whether

architecture, engineering, and construction, and we bring some of those experiences with us, but it is different when you are up here. it is not your projectit is not. it is other people's projects. what commissioner lee said is a very important. we want to keep things open. i want to think three commissioners. romero, murphy, and hechanova. i think we have moved forward, because we have kept political debate open and honest. while we have not always agree, i really appreciate, especially commissioner murphy and hechanova, who brought me in and told me, like commissioner murphy said, tell us face-to- face in disagreements. sometimes we argue things out, sometimes in public.

but that is part of the process. that is part of the process of good government, which commissioner lee talked about. sometimes things are slow to get done in san francisco, but we are a very big city. we are a very crowded city. you know, people like to get involved. this is part of the process. i want to thank the commissioners who have served with us for that work. and hopefully we will continue to improve on things as we move ahead. commissioner hechanova: commissioner clinch. commissioner clinch: i would like to add my two sons, thank you to commissioner murphy, hechanova, and commissioner romero. in the words that you guys have said today, you did not allude to the time commitments involved and the work you have done. it has been enormous, and we

shall not go on without recognizing that it has taken a lot of work and time, and that should be appreciated. commissioner hechanova: thank you. commissioner murphy: in case anybody got the wrong message, yes, we achieved an awful lot in the last six years. i mean, i am personally very proud of the over-the-counter permit service, which i remember way back when i sat down with ed and jeremy, i want to say thanks to jeremy. we talked about how we could get that moving and get it on a different check -- track. tom stepped up, and he was relentless in getting that to work. we're probably going to talk a little bit of that -- about that in the budget. i also want to say to my to pam back there. her and i had disagreements over budget matters and stuff. nothing personal.

i also want to say thanks to john over here, who was always there if we ever had a legal question. i appreciate that also. thank you. >> as the new kid on the block, i am sorry that you are stepping off. i was looking forward to serving with you, but i have great hopes for the future. i come to this board as a longtime tenant and housing rights advocate. i have worked as a nonprofit developer. i am also homeowner and a landlord here in san francisco. i have been a longtime city employee and have worked in that program that have been jointly administered by dbi and the mayor's office of housing and i will try my best to keep that a civil discussion going on and things that we may not be agreeing on the always be respectful, and keep in mind

what is in the best interest of the people of san francisco. so thank you very much for being so gracious. an thank you to sonya for making the transition into the commission so seamless. thank you very much. commissioner hechanova: as a working body, as the complement's continue to really have this category of momentum, the wheels that are rolling forward, there is significantly more work to be done, and the category is not that we are missing, but the people that are now in the position to keep the wheels rolling. this also set the bar a little bit more higher where we have achieved and that category of how to achieve those is the transparency of making sure that the safety and welfare