seat number 2. and i agree with you with the other three. so, would you like to make a motion for -- >> sure. so, just make a motion formally for annemarie fortier for seat 1. that is a reappointment. dr. shari o'neill for seat 7 also a reappointment. davi lang for seat 2 and nanci haines for seat 2. >> okay -- >> i'm sorry, i apologize, davi lane for seat 3 and nanci haines for seat 2. >> seeing no objection the motion passes. [gavel] >> congratulations. and for those that were not appointed, please try again. there's always seats opening up. okay, thank you very much. madam clerk, item number 3? >> item number 3 is a hearing to consider appointing two members, terms ending april 27, 2015, and nine members, terms ending april 27, 2016, to the sunshine ordinance.

there are 11 vacant seats and 13 applicants. >> okay, 11 seats and 13 applicants. so, let me call the applicants in the order of the agenda. mark rumold. >> hello, thank you all for having me today and considering my application.

they say brevity is the soul of wit, so, i'll try to keep this short. my name is mark rumold. i'm a [speaker not understood] frontier foundation. my work -- well, if you are unfamiliar with dss, we are san francisco-based nonprofit. we do work to ensure that our civil liberties and our rights and privacy and free speech are protected in the digital age. i, as part of that, the work that i do involves a significant amount of freedom of information act litigation. i litigate cases at the federal level and i'm involved in cases at the state level concerning access to public records. so, as part of that work, i'm very familiar with the -- i'm very familiar with the process of requesting and receiving documents.

i'm also familiar with the obstacles that, that requesters can face and that the agencies can face in responding to requesters. so, i'm hopeful to apply my experience on the task force to help make san francisco an open and more efficient government. >> okay. supervisor tang? >> so, i will try my best to somehow ask this of every applicant as well today. some things i'm really looking for are what are some of the things you'd like to zim proved about our sunshine ordinance task force currently. if you are appointed. ~ see improved. the second question is we've all had experiences with some of the members of the sunshine ordinance task force and i think it's important all of us respect the rules of the charter. i know that some folks talk about some changes they make to the bylaws as well. i want to hear also your

thoughts around that, the rules and regulations governing the sunshine ordinance task force. any potential changes you want to see there or as is, anyway, if you could just share your thoughts [speaker not understood]. >> sure. so, i will have to admit to not having an in-depth knowledge of the sunshine ordinance at this point. what i think my candidacy bring is a strong foundation in principles, in the freedom -- federal freedom of information act and in state rules, the cpra. so, i have an open mind about, about ways to improve the sunshine ordinance and those rules and regulations. it is something that i'm hopeful to learn about and hopefully with greater experience will be avenues for making the sunshine ordinance

work better for everyone [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i also, before the next applicant comes up, is ms. grant here? i'm sorry, i should have given you an opportunity to come up earlier, if you'd like to share a brief presentation. >> sure. i had just kind of prepared a couple of remarks about my time serving as chair of the sunshine task force and thank you for having me. and i just kind of like to give you an overview because we haven't had an opportunity to give you an annual report yet. and pretty much what i wanted to do was kind of take you through my two-year term. so, when we started this term, it was predominantly comprised of new members with two hold overs. we missed at the beginning of the term four meetings because we were not in compliance, we did not have a member of the

disabled member as indicated by the ordinance. so, we weren't able to meet for four months. we're supposed to have 11 members. we operated with 9 due to the resignation of one member and one seat that never got filled. we did try to talk to various members of the board of supervisors to try to see if we could fill though seats, but we were not able to suck seat in that. and i think that's really important to kind of indicate the seriousness of this sunshine task force. with that, i may -- because we came in four months later. with that we made a conscious decision for this term to really be about the complaints that had gotten backlogged to make the hearing of the complaint a priority of this term. to get some of the numbers, this over my term there were a total of 190 complaints that were heard. the 52 complaints that are still pending, from 2012 there were 59, 9 of those are still pending. 2013 there were 91 and there are 23 that are still pending.

2014, 40s as of today and they're still pending about 30 of those. ~ the majority of those complaints come from a small core of people. for instance, we have one person that has filed 35 complaints, one that filed 28 and one that filed 24. so, that gives you kind of some indication of the core group of people that do that. the administrator victor has been very successful in mediating, which i think is really important, the mediation factor. before we get to the full task force and trying to be efficient and things of that sort, in 2012 59 complaints filed, 15 were mediated. in 2013 of the 91 filed, 17 were mediated. in 2014 of the 47 files so far, 7 have been mediated. so, he he does a really good job trying to stop and mediate with the public before it gets to us. as far as complaints, you know,

we have these subcommittees. so, what we've tried to do is refer them to the full task force to either be compliance amendments committee, education outreach and training or ethics. we try to kind of give the opportunities for a second chance at mediation by referring it to one of our subcommittees. the compliance amendments or education outreach and training. compliance and amendments is simple. you know, is there some information that was actually requested or documentation that was not received, i would refer it to compliance amendment because i'm like, can you comply with this and then we can have a black and white answer. education outreach and training, we refer things that we felt that agencies -- we found that they don't -- some of them don't understand the process, and don't have anything in place. we try to refer them to education outreach and training so that they could have a process learn and we could kind of set something up for them to kind of move forward.

ethics, we try to kind of make that a last resort. after that, and they did not refer -- they did not comply, then we send it to ethics. just to give you an idea, in 2012 we sent one item to the board of supervisors, three to ethics, 8 to compliance and amendments and 6 items to education outreach and training. 2013, one to the board of supervisors, two to ethics, 5 to compliance amendment, and 6 to education outreach and training. when we talk about like the short-term issues, let me talk quickly about the short term issues and long-term issues i think will improve in the future. the volume, the sheer volume of the complaints that are filed and the backlog, it becomes, you know, a tremendous burden and we're trying to figure out how to best deal with these actual complaints that every member of the public has a right to five we have already added one additional meeting per month to try to kind of deal with some of the backlog and, you know, it's still as we're doing that, then more

keep coming in. so, it's a constant, you know, process of trying to like work -- figure out how to do that, manage that number. we've talked about the changes to the bylaws because the bylaws, they're still very outdated in this age of technology and all these things that we probably could do to streamline and make the process more efficient for the public so it's not this long drawn out type of project for them to try to get heard and it takes a long time and we're not meeting deadlines and things like that because we've gotten so behind. so, we've really tried to address those issues. as far as long-term, i think that a lot of members of the public come to us and looking to us to solve problems that are not within our jurisdiction. there are people that really know what the limitations of the sunshine task force is. but there are a lot that don't. so they come here and they feel like they set themselves up to be disappointed or angry because we can't do anything

for their case because it doesn't fall within our jurisdiction. so, this is the idea of -- i don't know how we can do this, but between city hall agencies, oftentimes don't really know what they're supposed to do or haven't been caught up on it as well as the members of the public understanding why this issue is so important, the issue of transparency and open government, why it really can succeed and it should really be, you know, a forefront of importance for everybody. i think it's really important. the agencies and the commissions do need to be taught proper procedures on how to handle sunshine requests, the materials we have are out date and had don't deal with the current types of issues that come up now ask as well as the technological advances. [speaker not understood]. it was a tremendous for myself high learning curve and it took a long time to really get to understand how the process work

and what our responsibilities were and where we lie in that process. we talked about the change to the bylaws in the process. i think we've had a lot of issues with ethics. i think the more communication with ethics to determine the needs in order to go forward with complaints from us. it's discouraging to get something that we worked and it's gone for the main task force and goes to subcommittee, then we refer it to ethics and they send it right back to us. it becomes a circular conversation. it becomes a circular kind of like this wheel that gets no results. so, everyone, the member of the public leaves discouraged and then we are discouraged as well. so, i think something has to be done there. i think one thing that is also really helpful, the sunshine task force can be streamlined before it come to the task force. things of jurisdiction, of that sort, if we could figure out a way to work these out before, they wouldn't get to the full

task force, [speaker not understood]. it would ensure members of the public are still being heard but in a smarter way. this in turn will try to change the reputation and perception of the sunshine task force. [speaker not understood] to the members of the public. i think the rules committee for us, because we concentrated on eot and our other subcommittees, we he didn't have an active rules committee which handled a lot of the bylaws and things like that. i think in this next term we kind of started starting things back up to get to the bigger issues and the rules committee should definitely be a part of the sunshine task force again as a subcommittee -- [speaker not understood]. and i guess i think that's pretty much it. in conclusion, i just think we need to take a hard look at the sunshine task force, what its purpose was and what it is now in open government and give it the tools necessary to make this a viable commission in which we can serve the public's

interest and create an environment where we can work together with city official and agencies can be respectful and efficient with each other. people are always like, is the sunshine task force still viable, it's still important? it's incredibly important in that it is the place where the public feels they have a voice. and it should be heard and they should be able to, you know, get their materials or the information that they are requesting. i think that's pretty much it. i just want to thank you all for your service and i'm ready to answer any questions if you have any. >> supervisor tang. >> sure, thank you. again. the sunshine task force is really important, goes hand in hand with what we try to do in government, being able to do it in a transparent way. i am happy to hear some of the things that you are considering in terms of improvement for the future. one of the things that you did mention was that you have instituted additional meetings, is that correct? >> yes. >> previously you were meeting about once a month. >> once a month. okay. now just twice a month?

>> twice a month a a subcommittee. every member is on a subcommittee. >> and, so, with the addition of one meeting each month, how has the length of time of these meetings changed? >> from my understanding from before, i understood that the sunshine task force was oftentimes here till 11:00 to midnight. now we usually are -- i try to be more efficient because everyone is volunteering and it's a lot. we try to be out by 9 o'clock, 9:30, and then we have the second meeting and we only hear cases. we don't do that much business. we do public comment and just straight complaints, just like hear complaint, complaint, complaint. so, we might allow five. five complaints, we usually can be out by 9:00. so, that gives you -- each complaint does take a little bit of time. so, on a full task force regular meeting, we still hear about five and that, in addition with the minutes and other business of the task force and the subcommittee report, you know, we go till 9:00 or 10 o'clock. >> you know, the reason i ask

and why i think it's also really important in terms of meeting efficiency, in term of the people who do have to appear before these meetings and before the task force, you know, i've heard it a many and experienced where we've had to be there late at night and then you lose quorum and folks cannot have the proper venue to go and appear and then we have to do this all over again. and, so, i think that for me really just looking for ways to make the meetings more efficient so that it's there as a process, also to the people who are trying to respond and actually -- not trying to hide anything, but trying to be there and do their due diligence, not for any request that has been made. >> that is absolutely what we try to do with this term. i heard about it, it would be late and we would lose a quorum. we rarely had that happen during this term because we were able to -- we were like, there is no need to put 10 cases on the agenda when we're not going to get to that and then you have all these people

here and i don't think that's fair for either the respondent or the complainant. i really do think that will -- that will change a lot by trying to be more efficient and streamline that process and make it much more -- boom, boom, boom. >> well, we were look forward to those changes. we will be keeping an eye on that. thank you. >> thank you. >> so, ms. grant, are you not continuing? >> no, i resigned -- >> [speaker not understood]. i think just from your presentation, i can see that's going to sorely miss you. >> well, thank you. thank you so much. >> thank you for your presentation. >> thank you. >> and through the chair, if i may, i want to thank you for your service. it's a difficult task. thank you. >> thank you. >> okay. continuing on, ali.

>> good afternoon, supervisors. good afternoon, supervisors. thanks for this opportunity to speak. i'll keep this brief like my colleague. i'm an independent journalist. [speaker not understood]. i make extensive use of open record laws, local, state, federal, including the san francisco sunshine ordinance. i use that in pieces i've published in san francisco weekly, center for investigative reporting, kqed and the importance of -- i cannot overstate the importance of the the laws in the work that journalists do and in the, you know, in the magazine for government accountability and in serving on this committee i would hope to ensure that the city of san francisco continues its tradition of transparency and make sure that the sunshine ordinance can evolve and the committee can continue to address the issues of open government and transparency in

an age when technology is playing an increase and important role in government and how an institution does business [speaker not understood]. >> okay. supervisor tang? >> just any other specifics that you would hope to address? you know, i think, really, i'm realizing that one of my main questions for all the applicants who are not being reappointed is that, you know, how familiar with you with the sunshine ordinance, the task force itself, with the role of the body is? >> i'm quite familiar with the ordinance itself. just enthuse the course of my work, the underlying appeal at the sunshine task force, appeals, the way the body works as a mechanism to ensure that the law is functioning properly and the concerns about record requests are properly addressed. and in term of my interest in this body, i mean, i think it's critical that the law is

updated and really kept abreast of the changes in government. i think one of the biggest changes that we've seen recently is the use of -- is the use of nongovernmental e-mail addresses for doing official business. and that's something that is currently -- will be on the ballot this year in proposition 42 and that addresses everything on a state level. on a local level it's important that communities like the sunshine ordinance keep that in mind and look at those issues as they continue to evolve. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next person is josh wolf. >> good afternoon, supervisors. thanks for taking the time to meet with me and my fellow applicants. i moved to san francisco in 2002 and i've been a working journalist since 2003-2004.

i, like ali, use sunshine -- use public records requests frequently in my work. my work appeared in the san francisco bay guardian. i'm a reporter for the public press and i'm also the editor-at-large for journalism that matters. it reports on issues in journalism innovation. i think that the -- in addition to that experience, i was the campaign coordinator for the ballot measure in berkeley to put forward a sunshine ordinance over there. that campaign was unfortunately unsuccessful and we weren't able to pass, but -- that sunshine ordinance, but it gave me an opportunity to get a closer look at san francisco's sunshine ordinance, the proposed ordinance in berkeley both in terms of its improvements over the existing san francisco ordinance as well as some of its flaws and draw backs and i also have the recommendation for this position from terry frank who helped write the san francisco ordinance as well as the berkeley one. >> okay. supervisor tang. >> do you have any other specific goals for what you'd like to achieve if you are

appointed on the task force? and have you ever attended meetings? how familiar are you with the task force role itself in what i'm hearing from all the candidates is that you're all very familiar with and very passionate about open government, open transparency, but i think there is a real difference between what the role of the task force is and how efficiently you're able to hand of some of these requests. so, if you can speak to that instead. >> yeah, i have attended a couple of task force meetings. i haven't had a chance to attend too many due to a busy schedule and whatnot. and i do have a working knowledge of how the task force works and its responsibility and the reason why the sunshine ordinance itself was put into law in order to help enforce the existing state public records act as well as the brown act. in terms of the sunshine task force itself, i realize that it goes a little bit beyond the scope of the task force, but i would like to see the city government act in a more

proactive way whenever possible to continue the sort of idea that sf data put forward in making data tests publicly available to make as many documents already available for people to reach out for it in order to decrease the number of overhead, engaging public records requests [speaker not understood] already available online that can save some time in both city resources as well as the people searching for the information and whatever role the task force can play in supporting that sort of an evolution i think would be great. i also found it very interesting how ms. grant was speaking to the positive impacts that have been in terms of mediating before disputes went to the task force itself and i think continuing that and perhaps working with the people that have frequently sought out help through the task force and identifying whether the sort of consistent problems that they've encountered can be almost mediated before they

become a conflict to make sure that thing just continue to move smoother on the whole. >> thank you. next person, pixie chopra, chopra. am i saying the right -- pixie, p-i-x-i-e. not here. allyson washburn. okay. >> my name is allyson washburn. good afternoon, supervisors tang and yee. before i speak, i'd like to introduce karen clap ton who is a past president of the league of women voters. >> excuse me. it's your time to speak and she can speak later in public testimony. >> actually, i'm representing the league and we under the

ordinance nominate a candidate for this particular seat for -- >> [speaker not understood]. go ahead. >> i'm [speaker not understood] clap ton, chief administrative law judge for the california public utilities commission. today i am speaking only in my capacity as a board member of the league of women voters and past president. as supervisor tang knows, because she's heard my remarks before at the spur awards when i received the award because of my commitment and the league of women voters' commitment to transparency, good government, and sunshine in both san francisco government and california state government. we are very committed as the league to making sure that all aspects of the ordinance are

fully enforced. it's incumbent on the board of supervisors to make sure that the task force is fully staffed at all times. as ms. grant earlier mentioned and when she described the failure of the board of supervisors to timely appoint a disabled member as required by ordinance. we have nominated allyson washburn, who is a former board member of the league of women voters of san francisco, and has served on the task force for at least two terms, three terms now. she is the best candidate for this positions as a representative of the league of women voters.

the league of women voters has a seat on the task force because we are a nonpartisan organization that promotes democracy in government. we also study issues before taking any positions on them and we do not ever endorse candidates for public office. as a result, there have been polls about voter approval that unlike most politicians, including the members of the board of supervisors, we usually get around 75% voter approval ratings. it is extremely important for us to make sure that we entrust such an important task to an

individual who is trustworthy, who is nonpartisan and committed to the principles of nonpartisanship and who is devoted to making sure that our government is transparent. now, san francisco has come a long way in the last decade, especially in the last five years in terms of what's available on the website so that it's not a mysterious process to get information on the workings of government. it's also a boon to have the meeting televised. there is more work to be done as witnessed by the complaints that ms. grant just described. so, without further ado, we are happy to nominate allyson washburn as the candidate from the league of women voters for

seat 5. thank you. >> and i'd like to talk briefly about myself personally and then also about my tenure on the task force. i moved to san francisco with my young son and daughter 30 years ago almost exactly, and within a year's time, i joined the league of women voters because i wanted to become active in my city that was going to be my hometown. and early on i became a member of the board of directors. i was president for two terms in the mid '90s. i've also served on the boards of the ywca of san francisco and marin. i was president of that board. most recently i served on the board of the elder women's league and served as president of that board as well. sick years ago i was appointed to the sunshine ordinance task

force. ~ six i was very interested in serving because i had been a part, as a member of the league of women voters, in supporting the ordinance. and i also have a long-standing interest in open government and in good government all together. i have never worked in partisan san francisco politics. my interest has really been in good governments. i have an excellent attendance record on the task force when we were accustomed to having meetings till 11, 12 at night, i was there to the bitter end. i support a lot of what former chair grant instituted and i think we should continue some