>> good morning. welcome back to the recess meeting. i am carmen chu, joined by supervisors avalos, kim, wiener, and cohen. our clerk is mr. young.

we have come back from recess on the budget deliberations. we have called obhboth items. as a reminder, we combined the enterprise department budgets. and the aso. a couple of actions to take. right before, i want to say that i want to thank people for the work they've done for the budget analyst. mr. victor young and cheryl adams. i want to say thank you for supporting us in this process. the controller's office. i appreciate the work you do. i don't think we could do it

without you. kate, congratulations on your first budget. thank you for making the budget what it is. a place that we can come to an agreement. for having conversations with us. to katie tang -- she is a wonderful person, smart as a whip. really helps to get this smooth as possible. it is her who made this a good process. supervisor wiener: i want to

congratulate the chair for another great year. this process is always difficult and challenging. you did a great job as always. commissioner chu: coleaguesllea, we need a cut on the budget for the adult probation department, $4,000 -- and $2015 in 2013, and this reduces temporary salaries and the purchase of two vehicles. do we have the motion? >> so moved. >> we have a recieved from the mayor's budget office, a set of technical adjustments.

we just need to accept that. we have the administrative positions. to amend the aso for the temporary positions and labor mou's. do we have that motion? we do that without objection. do we have a motion to amend this -- to approve or send forward the annual appropriation as ammended to the full board on the 10th. and authorizing for technical adjustments as necessary? >> so moved.

>> okay. we do that without objection. supervisor kim: i want to say a few words. i want to thank the budget committee members. president chiu is here and he played a role -- and i want to acknowledge that a lot of people came to a position of compromise and i am happy to see we are putting forward with a budget that will put a lolt -- of things people hoped to see. a 2% in august and restoring cuts we have seen the last five or six years. so many people were involve with this process.

i want to thank my office, april and -- i want to in particular acknowledge [unintelligible] who spent the day on an excel spreadsheet. thanks to the community partners for doing advocacy today. and paring down the list. our most vulnerable populations -- >supervisor avalos: i want to express my thanks to [unintelligible] , supervisor kim's legislative age. -- aid.

we would not have had this together the way we did. without his great help. thank you for your work. and my legislative aid, who has been very helpful for me. sorting out the decisions of the budget. thank you for your great work with our priorities for district 11. we did a lot of work with them on these solutions. i want to thank carmen chu for her work and patience. thank you. >> colleagues, we have taken all the actions. mr. young, do we have actions before us? >> that completes the agenda. supervisor chiu: i want to add

my thanks. a long couple of months. thanks to the community. thanks to all the members of the budget committee. putting this together was not easy. we felt we got some things. we didn't get everything we wanted but this is a sign of a good compromise. i appreciate this unanimous budget. we will move on. >> we have no other items. >> i want to confirm the vote item one and two. it is recommended as ammended. >> unanimously, yes. given that -- we are adjourned.

[applause]

>> we came to seven straight about 10 years ago. -- 7th street about 10 years ago. the environment is huge. it is stronger than willpower. surrounding yourself with artists, being in a culture where artists are driving, and where a huge amount of them is a healthy environment.

>> you are making it safer. push, push. that is better. when i start thinking, i see it actually -- sometimes, i do not see it, but when i do, it is usually from the inside out. it is like watching something being spawned. you go in, and you begin to work, excavate, play with the dancers, and then things began to emerge. you may have a plan that this is what i want to create. here are the ideas i want to play with, but then, you go into the room, and there maybe some fertile ideas that are becoming manifest that are more interesting than the idea you had initially set out to plan. so there has to be this openness for spontaneity. also, a sense that regardless of

the deadline, that you have tons of time so the you can keep your creativity alive and not cut it off and just go into old habits. it is a lot like listening. really listening to watch what is going to emerge. i like this thing where you put your foot on his back. let's keep it. were your mind is is how you build your life. if you put it in steel or in failure, it works. that works. it is a commitment. for most artists, it is a vacation and a life that they have committed themselves to. there is this notion that artists continue to do their work because of some kind of the external financial support. if that was taken away, artists

would still do their art. it is not like there is a prerequisite for these things to happen or i will not do it. how could that be? it is the relationship that you have committed to. it is the vocation. no matter how difficult it gets, you are going to need to produce your art. whether it is a large scale or very small scale. the need to create is going to happen, and you are going to have to fulfill it because that is your life.

>> this is a continuation of the special meeting of the san francisco ethics commission, in the matter of the conduct charges against sheriff mercury me. we begin by taking the role. of commission members being present, we will begin. we have a lot to cover today. i think we should jump right into it.

please come to the podium. i understand ms. lopez has submitted a declaration, that the sheriff has submitted it. is she willing to come to san francisco to testify? when can she be available? >> when the commission needs her to be available. there is the matter of how she is going to get here. >> what is the matter of how she is going to get here? >> it costs money. i am not trying to be flip. who is going to play -- going to pay the airplane ticket? >> you would like the city to pay? >> i would. >> what do the costs in tailbacks -- entail? is this a round trip? >> do i address you as your

honor? >> commissioner is fine. >> if there could be advanced notice, the airplane ticket would be cheaper. with two weeks' advance notice, a regular coach ticket round trip from caracas, you are looking at roughly $1,500. it is an approximate figure. my request would be that if she were to come and testify, a tuesday evening or thursday evening, she would fly in wednesday. she would testify that day and then return home after her testimony. >> the total of the cost is the air fare from here and back? >> i think so. >> can i hear from mr. keith or ms. kaiser on this? does the mayor have a position on the costs of bringing ms. lopez to san francisco? >> she is a defense witness.

normally, we would expect a defense witness to pay for it. we would consider their request. i will take it to the mayor. this is the first i have heard of it. i am happy to take it to the mayor. >> i am sorry. i have a couple more questions. if there is not an agreement for ms. lopez to appear live, is she willing to appear by video testimony? >> it is interesting. i have thought about it. i do not think skype would work. my preference is that she would come here to testify. i have never seen the president of skype testimony. i have a difficult time in my experience. it drops. sometimes it wks. sometimes it does not. ms. lopez was also listed by

the mayor's office as a witness. >> the sheriff has submitted a declaration in support of the defense. she is here to be cross- examined by the mayor. any witness who does not appear for testimony, the declaration is going to receive little to no weight. given the status of her declaration, her testimony, whether live or by skype, is likely something that would give the declaration she submitted more weight, because she will have been subjected to cross- examination. >> i believe my client is credible, telling the truth. that is why i am saying i want her to get to be here.

>> are you saying you will not make her available by skype? >> i am saying i want to use all my efforts to get her personally here, so you can view her. you can see how credible she is. you can watch her demeanor as she testifies. i am saying my wish, commissioner, is that we get her here, but i figure out some way that she can be present. in a fallback position, perhaps -- i am reluctant to say yes, that she is willing to skype. it seems to me maybe that would almost forfeit the effort to try to get her to be here. my preference is, and ms. lopez 's preference, is that she appeared before you to give testimony. my plan does not have resources.

-- my client does not have resources. her husband does not have a job. i know this is an unusual situation. that is why i am asking -- >> she is outside of the subpoena power of this body. >> i know. >> i am not aware of any authority the commission has to compel the mayor or any other city agency to pay for this trip. if they do not do it voluntarily, our options are video or no live testimony. >> i appreciate that, commissioners. i am saying to you that i hope that the mayor's office will pay approximately $1,500, so she can be brought here for them to cross-examine her, and you can see her testimony. if the amounts that are unwilling to do it, i will try to figure out some other way.

maybe i will have a raffle. maybe i will have a collection. if that does not work, the fallback position would be skype. what i am trying to get across is that i am trying to have it be that ms. lopez gets to appear before you. >> i appreciate that. i agree that her being live would be preferable. it would allow us to evaluate the testimony better than skype. i have done skype examinations. it is better than nothing. you have to work out the details in advance. >> maybe i can speak with the mayor's representatives, and at the break we can figure something out. i think that is what they would want as well. >> thank you. before we let you go, and there may be some other questions -- are you telling me that she could be available on july 18 or

19, either live or by skype? >> yes, commissioner. >> any other questions while we have heard? if you would not mind sticking around a few minutes? >> absolutely. mr. kopp, this is a witness from home you submitted a declaration on the sheriff's behalf. i do not know exactly how this would work, to share in the cost of the ticket to bring ms. lopez here. >> not at the present moment. if the mayor were to reinstate his pay, pending the outcome of these proceedings, would be able

to get that done. there is the willingness. there is just not the resources. >> i understand. any questions for mr., regarding this issue? -- for mr. kopp, regarding this issue? mr. keith, when you think you will have an answer on this issue? >> i can talk to the mayor tomorrow. i may not have an answer by tomorrow, but certainly, some time shortly after, i could have an answer. >> much appreciated. thank you, sir. we also should deal with the declaration that ms. lopez

submitted, and whether or not the mayor has objections to that declaration. i am not going to require that you make them orally, or that we address them now, given that she would not be testifying until the middle of july. do you have objections to her declaration? >> we do, commissioner, in terms of when we could have them put together, i expect the second week of july. i will not have much time next week to do it. there is one basic objection that i wanted to call the attention of counsel, which is t of the declaration is not valid, because it does not state it is worn under penalty of perjury, which is required for any declaration executed outside the state of california, to make it a