>> okay, good morning, the meeting will come to order. this is the regular meeting of the governor audit and oversight committee, i'm supervisor london breed, the share of this committee to my right is the vice chair, katy tang, and to my left, president chiu is also on the committee, the electricker is miller and i would like to thank sfgov tv, and madam clerk, do we have any announcements? >> yes, be sure to silence your phones, and speakers cards to

be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk, items acted upon today will be on the august second, agenda, unless others stated could you calls the first item? >>resolution approving a contract for operating the sheriff's jail commissary and inmate trust fund accounting & management system, between keefe commissary network, llc., and the city and county of san francisco, acting by and through its sheriff's department for a three-year term beginning september 1, 2014, and ending august 31, 2017, and two one-year options to extend, exercisable by the sherriff's department with a guaranteed annual minimum income of $590,000. >> okay, sheriff, welcome. >> good morning, supervisors. madam chair. there was a prepared presentation, but i don't see the staff here that has copies so i want to be sure that we have it. here you go. excellent. i want to make sure that you have these in front of you. also f it helps, i would like

to... there is a story also in today's san francisco chronicle that highlights our ongoing reforms on the exorbadant cost that the families who are incarcerated have to pay and this contract before you is step two of an ongoing menu of reforms that my administration is pursuing before this committee. not that long ago, you all helped make history that we were the first county, sheriff's department, in the united states, to dramatically reduce phone rates, even though some attention has been placed on the federal level. what, i think, many do not know in the general public, in the

world of consumer activism is that those utility and retail industries that provide services to the prison and jail systems, throughout this country, are virtually unregulated and having an unregulated corporate industry being welcomed by federal state prison systems or county jail systems, makes for a haven, where the express goal of generating revenue or profit has been done so on the backs of poor people. and this has been the practice for decades throughout the united states. and yet, i think that there is not been enough of a nexus in looking at recidivism rates and the inability of families or loved ones of those who are incarcerated, very difficult time in coping during that

loved one's process, in incarceration and what that does to egsaserbate the rates and the poverty that they already live in, and in california, as it states in this article, 80 percent of families of incarcerated live at or below poverty level in the state of california. and that does not exclude san francisco. so, when we came into office, what i did and what we have been doing with it excellent work of my staff, is review all contracts that the san francisco sheriff's department is committed to and dissect where we can implement reforms. reforms so that it helps us in the larger goal of enhancing public safety by reducing recidivism and by also

fostering the groundwork of all of our good staff inside and the people themselves who try to better themself to prepare for the release and connecting recidivism levels on the outside. to me this gets to the return of how recidivism has continued to allude the most enlightened authorities in criminal justice and we are taking those pieces slice by slice and frying to do something about it. and so before you the contract, and it explains what it is and the term, and the commissary, a small 7-11 for people who are incarcerated. for us we are able to

reconstitute a contract by letting go to the former corporation that we contracted with and that was aramark by initiating with a new company that this department has not been in business with before. if you turned to the inmate benefit page, next one, the graph on the right, the blue and the red graph, i think shows a pretty stark contrast of what it takes for somebody in the old contract verses the new contract of what they would be paying when money is put on the books. so, for example, if somebody is putting on the books to buy those commissary goods, they would have to spend essentially $5.70 more for every $20. and so that those commissions

fees and charges that is the kind of revenue that the family and then, the inmates and themselves would have to be burdened with and shoulder. and by us revising the contracts we have been able to reduce the rates, by upwards to 40 percent, which we think benefits everybody. and the good news is, we are not losing money. so, with, i think, the smart work of my cfo and our staff and the sheriff's department, we were actually able to enhance and increase our bottom line of how much money comes to the department, while at the same time, dropping significantly the cost to the families and to the inmates themselves. so to fine it for any agency to make this with the corporations where profit is their bottom line. >> sheriff, was there any way that we could have dropped the cost to inmates even more and not take the significant increase that would come to the

department? >> no, because those based on entering the call, for the rfp, this was what the negotiable point was for us to proceed and at the point, or the price point dropped significantly. nobody else would have been able to handle it. aramark is considered a giant in serving food and commissary and the u.s. prison and county system and keefe is a major competitor and level it to our advantage. >> so the percentage of savings for inmates will be what, roughly with this? >> 40 to 50 percent,... >> compared to what they, paid >> previously. >> okay. >> that is correct. >> that is correct. and as i said, we actually are going to be able to take in a little bit more money because of the price point difference that keefe i think, is it has been innovative in being able

to furnish to us and so their profit is less, too. than the predecessor. and so, next on the department benefits, replace paper ordering system with phone ordering system. and we are at booking kiosks to reduce the time spent and handling the cash deputies and modernizing the system and we even had to have a deputy at a kiosk, taking money and cash in, which i don't, necessarily subscribe to, and it is being the most efficient or the fool proof way, and so that is why we are trying to provide many other options for families or in mates to be able to put money on the books, pay their web, phone, or leaving credit at the kiosk itself. and the financial impact as you can see is the current is $1,250,000 and the change, is

really neglectible, and our commission goes up and the commissions into the sheriff's department, and the general fund go up, and that is in return, we invest back in the welfare fund, and but what we are doing is significantly dropping the cost of all of the price points of goods and services providing by keefe and so that is the contract for you. and it is a win/win, to say the least. and again, i think that it is consistent with the other reforms that we are making to really ring in what has been a unfettered unregulated practice between corporation, private companies, and jail systems. more than happy to answer any questions. >> colleagues, any questions? >> okay. >> supervisor? >> yes, i thank you for this and just a quick question, it says that the contractor shall provide a minimum of 5 percent of the food offered for purchasing, and so, just

wondering you know, as we have been talking so much about healthy food options here in san francisco, whether there was a desire to increase that amount so that more of that is available. >> the desire is there, and i have to tell you. i am under whelmed by the options that are provided by these companies. when you look at the menu, it literally does resemble like a 7-eleven, it is not a whole foods. and so it, it has a lot of room to grow, in this capacity. and we have all been discussing that, that there is room for improvement in providing healthier options, but the companies themselves unless the price point goes the other direction, they just do not provide, i think, as many as healthy alternatives that we would like to see available and that is pressure in negotiation that we plan to work with, over this next term as a contract. and there is a lot of room for improvement there. >> okay, thank you.

>> thank you, again, sheriff. >> we are going to open this item up to public comment, are there any members of the public wishing to speak on this item? >> you will have ten minutes, i mean... ten minutes. >> two minutes. >> okay. >> county, sheriff. and the jail system, it is to make some people maybe the unfortunate ones, or the people who enter boman in order to leave the 1 million... (inaudible) in time. and then it is the ongoing improvement afterwards, you see? and so for the individual, it is benefit for them to end up in the system of jail system. and then, you get out of it. and better improvement. and what it is (inaudible) and it may be (inaudible) and all of the individual is required, yeah (inaudible). >> thank you. >> next speaker. >> hello, my name is sarah

carson and i work for one family a program at community works i do all of the parent and child visits inside of the jails and i want to talk a little bit about just maybe one of our families that we work with a highlights these fees. i work with grandmother who has two boys, one who is in a prison and one in jail. and she struggles every month to put some money on their books for commissary and talks about no matter how old her boys are she feels them to be her children and want to provide them something and she is also a relative care foster provider for her grandchildren. a 7-month-old and a 3-year-old. she struggles every month to pay for the bus to come and visit her children and to bring the grandchildren to visit their fathers at the jail. and she struggles for diapers, she struggles for daycare for them, and the idea that we would charge anything less than

just anything more than a small service fee feels really predatory and we want you to know about that and we are there to try to be sure that family cans care for each other and stay connected through the crisis of an incarceration, thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good morning. my name is alexander and i am an organizer with (inaudible) and me myself on previously incarcerated and my partner right now is serving a sentence in the federal prison. and just by being a partner of someone who is inside, i know first hand, how expensive it can be to take care of the loved one who is incarcerated. and the fees that are being put so that you can put money on someone's commissary books, are completely out of the question. when it comes to the fact that we are already struggling to try to make ends meet at home.

like i am a transitional aged youth and i struggle every day to try to make ends meet for myself and i know lots of people who have loved ones who are inside and we already have to pay a fee to put money on the phone. and so, to have to pay a fee to put money on someone's books, it is just, it is just a hardship and a half, and it is like too much sometimes. and i support the fee being reduced but i also support the fee being completely disregarded and removed as well. but, i just wanted to really express that it is a hardship for a lot of people who are in the system, especially because of the disproportionate amount of people of color in the system and how things are already so hard for us to survive every day. i just wanted to express that we would like the fee to be reduced and eventually removed.

thank you. >> thank you. >> next speaker? >> good morning. >> good morning, john murphy and i am a private detective in san francisco. i am appointed often to assist defendants, defendant whose have chosen for whatever reason to represent themselves. this phone card business has been going on for years. i have dealt with nick (inaudible) who does a good job, and talk about a thankless job, but this phone card thing, for years they gave an actual card to a defendant, in custody, and that often times ended up in trading or sales of that card, so if this new system is like the federal system and an on-line and so you have a number of a pfn and you go and you are allowed to charge against your account, defendants will not sell their numbers because they will lose everything. and so, if this happens, and if

you do keefe it is such a great thing, next to a good lawyer, the phone is the most important thing to anybody in custody it is their only way to communicate it is so fundamental and so important for a defendant either on a motion or a vote where he has already violated his probation or presumed innocent in new case, everyone has a cell phone, and what we do is talk on the phone. it is so difficult to park around the hall and go up to four interview rooms, that a quick phone call helps me tremendously. and i want to support him in the efforts to make this change as well as other changes and nick, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next speaker, please? >> good morning. my name is lewis and i am a former inmate, at the county jail, and so i have seen this

issue first hand. and one of the things that i would like to address is the larger picture of community safety. i mean, all of you probably have more knowledge as to why the crime rate tends to be higher in areas that are socioeconomically disenfranchised or lower and so these familis that 80 percent of the inmates their families are at that what we call the considered poor, and it creates a situation by which individuals just out of the love and compassion for the loved one that are being incarcerated into possibly go and seek other meetings in order to supply the necessary, you know, income to be able to just give someone level of receive for those individuals who are incarcerated, the food

in the prisons to say the least is not the greatest and i understand that jail is not supposed to be a place, that is not supposed to be club med. but commissary is one of the avenues that allows individuals that are incarcerated an option. and so to me it is like the larger picture of how the larger picture of how these prices and the expenses that it then puts on individuals that really are at the bottom of the totum pole to begin with, have been... even more and it creates an environment that perpetuate a negative cycle. >> thank you. >> next speaker please? >> good morning, my name is gary dowel and i am with the access advocate and we are a training program that actually helps the youth and young

adults matriculate back into the community from other disparities that they have in the community. we want to eliminate and we think that it is a travesty that you would put a fee on the only real connection that the prisoners have to the community, which is their phone. their families, and their associates that they will be able to stay in communication with, would, that is their own means of communication. so we support, the sheriff in all of these effort and we hope that you will alleviate that charge. >> thank you. >> next speaker please? >> good morning, supervisors. i run the prison legal service visiting the jails and i am going to speak on behalf of the prisers and their families right now, i think that you heard that most of the people in our jails don't have the means to get out and post bail at this time if they did they would not be there.

and the families that don't have the means, are required to put sometimes, as high as 25 percent or more of what they wanted to put on their books, just to give them, you know, as a personal story, i have a story of a friend serving time to the federal prison and he was shipped from county jail to county jail, and he call me and ask me to put in money, every time that i put in $100, it cost us $15 to $20 and every time that he would leave, there was money left it would cost $10 to get the money back and plus the time. and the cost, it really is just a cost issue, for these families that can't afford it. and a lot of times the bread winner is in jail, too, and the other thing that i know, supervisor breed asked about why there are fees at all. and you know, my understanding just like when we go to the atm, if we don't go to ours it

costs $2.50 to $5, and i believe part of what is driving this is the banks themself and we don't have control over that, but whatever we can do, i think that we should do. thank you. >> thank you. are there any other members of the public who would like to make the public comment at this time? >> yeah. >> i am here for another matter, my name is ken johnson and not too long ago, a loved one of mine was incarcerated, and it blew me away that you know, to put money on the phone, and that can cost, and i wondered why? because in my younger days when i was in and out of jail when i was younger, we could use the phone for free. and they had a pay phone in the jail. and so i don't know, how this came about, but you know, if you have the change, you should because it would really help a lot of people. >> thank you. >> are there any dr. jackson?

>> good morning, jackson and i didn't come to speak on this, but i am really amazed of what i am hearing here today. because, most people don't realize, but when our young people or husbands or what have you go to jail, and we are serving time as well. and those, that go, are the ones that when we try to help our young people, you know, put things on the books, i didn't know that they were taking my money like that. and because, it used to be free. and you have young people that are in the jail and they know, and the other people and you know, in the community, contact us and i have had so many people to contact me, but they were not paying then, why is there, it is something wrong with this picture. and it needs to be investigated. because, i don't understand why people are making money off of those of us that incarcerated and living in the conditions that we are life ng and has already been stated. it already happened to those

that poor, you know, and the minority communities black and brown and so why don't you all look and investigate this. why is the banks making money, whoever is making the money it is a shame, it is a crying shame that this is going on and you all need to stop it, thank you. >> thank you. >> jackson, and i come to speak on this, but, i think that i am glad to have the opportunity, my name is (inaudible) and, i would want to say first of all, i can tribute out to the sheriff, and the department, and i am very happy and pleased and i am sure that most of our people are happy that ross is the boss, i mean that he is the sheriff. and that is the boss. and i am very much appreciative, that he comes from our district as you may know, supervisors and he has done a wonderful job in the eight years, back in the years we had the most, highest crime rate, homicide, rate, and to have a man like that that knows

exactly, sincerety of the community and in the sheriff department is an outstanding thing, but one thing that i want to say is you know i am very much ashamed of this administration, i am ashamed at ed lee, he was with me and we worked together with the hrc and it is no mystery, and all that you got to do is check your history. a lot of conspiracy and that is why i am here today. and i walked through the down stairs, and the first thing that they say is that i feel that the... (inaudible) the building and am i really that important now? i guess that i have been around for 25 years. and i sheded some tears and i am here to tell you all, excuse me, and i hear the people from the peanut gallery back there and the other thing is you all better... this building right here is a public building. and therefore, if you don't want to be on the cameras, don't come here, because they have cameras all the way around

there. and i am not having it. and my main lace, you all. and i am on this case. >> thank you, mr. washington. >> you forgot your phone. >> are there any other members of the public that would like to speak on this item at this time? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. >> colleagues, i just want to make a few comments, thank you, mayor for not only addressing this issue, of the commissary but also addressing the issue around reducing the phone rates, and i would like to see those in the jails and be free. and completely, and hopefully we can continue to move in the positive direction and reduce these cost but this is in the right direction and these are some major reforms that need to be done. and we appreciate your leadership on this. so with that, colleagues, is there a motion to send this to

the full board of the committee report, with positive recommendation? >> yes. i just want to say that it is a no-brainer for us to be cutting the cost permits for the families and bringing the money to the family and so i want to make a motion to move forward with the recommendation to the board. >> thank you. >> without objection, and this item proved to the full board as the committee report as a positive recommendation. >> thank you. >> madam clerk, could you call the next item? >>mayorresolution retroactively authorizing the department of emergency management, on behalf of the city and county san francisco, as the fiscal agent for the bay area urban areas security initiative (uasi), to accept and expend an increase to fy2013 uasi grant funds in the amount of $1,012,873 for a total of $23,632,173 from the u.s. department of homeland security through the california office of emergency services for the period september 1, 2013, through may 31, 2015. >> okay. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you very much. and supervisors, i am with the

department of emergency management, and so the item before you is an expense for 1 million dollars from the u.s. department of homeland security the money is from the urban area, funds planning and training and exercises for emergency management agency and fire departments, and police departments and sheriff departments and other public agencies around the region and san francisco, is the chair of the regional organization, that distributes this money. and in the bay area, and the city is also the fiscal agent and that is why it is in front of you, and dhs, the department of homeland security awarded this grant, to the bay area. and about a year ago, as a 22 million dollar grant and back in may, the department funded additional one million dollars and that is 967,000, is going to go to the northern california, regional intelligence center and it is for cyber security equipment, and maintenance agreements. and then the additional 45,000 is going to go to the california office of emergency services, and to coordinate the cyber security around the state

on these actually and the no fiscal impact on this grant for our budget, and it creates no new position and no matching grants are required or matching funds are required from the city and i am happy to answer any questions that you may have. >> okay. >> colleagues, are there any questions at this time? >> okay, thank you. >> we will open this item up to public comment. and are there any other members of the public that would like to speak, please come forward you will have two minutes. >> traditional criminal law (inaudible) allowance for the constitution (inaudible). and no gambling, and no smoking, (inaudible) >> thank you. >> are there any other members

of the public who would like to make public comment at this time? >> please come forward. >> i just have a question for the speaker on item two, what is her definition of cyber security? because cyber security is like a general term, it could be like the fire law and f.b.i. spying on average u.s. citizens and so it would be interesting to find out exactly what the initiatives are that are being implemented in our area and how they are being implemented in our area. >> thank you. >> and so the public comment is usually, a time to comment, and you can maybe, get her card and take that or get the information from her directly, at a different time are there any other members of the public? seeing, none public comment is closed. >> colleagues? >> i am happy to move this forward to the recnd