our cases advocating for the 2015, '16 budget to increase each of the specialists currently funded from 32 hours to 40 or whatever full-time is in their respective agency and to ensure those other two districts that were not assigned somebody would also have access to a worker so that would be two different agencies. the project costs that we roughly calculated is $229,927. >>good morning commissioners, my name is karen garison. i'm here today to talk about case management and services here in san francisco. many agencies struggle with the ability to recruit and retain qualified case managers with limited contract dollars provided by dos and their own fund raising efforts.

agentcyies are competing against county funded positions that are paid at a much higher rate. along with the stringent hiring requirements it has become increasingly difficult to identify and employ qualified candidates. in order to provide a high standard of care for our san francisco's community of seniors and adults with disabilities contractors need increases in funding to be able to adequately fund these vital positions. 2015, '16 budget requests requests dos to allow agencies to pay a more equity salary level for caseworker positions. . the cost would be approximately $200,000. my next point is for [inaudible]. while the final decision is delayed until later this month, we want to make sure this issue stays among your priorities.

[inaudible]. group van and ada transportation are most vital to disability population and consumers shouldn't have to pay additional fees for this critically needed service. thank youm. >>and our final platform item is the cost of doing business. as not for profit providers we urge you to consider across the board cost of doing business for all non profits. this has been a long standing problem and weapon just want to continue to bring it to your attention. we'd love to see an established annual cost of doing business for all contractors. maybe consider doing a cost of doing business increase of 4% for the year 2015 2016. we will follow up with your and you staff with a meeting. we're also willing to organize nietz an opportunity for

community round table with the case membership and partners. we want to thank you in advance for your time and look forward to discussing these issues with you soon. this was a letter sent to ann hinton and commissioners also got a copy. our meeting for case is are there any questions? y >>if we can see how we get to those goals that funding sources be identified given the continuing limited resources the city maintains it has something is going to have to get less money if we are to get more

money so identifying funding strategies will help the department in getting the additional monies we need but i think this is an excellent start, a very good framework and very rational and clearly thought out. thank you very much. >>thank you. just so you know we plan on taking this up to the mayor and board of supervisors as well. we'll meet with all the supervisors on the same topic because as their population grows the need for services is growing and we'll have to put more money into the kitty to make these services available to all people in need in the community. >>any other questions or comments. >>this letter is directed to you and generally the second. are you going to respond to this letter? i just wonder. >>i meet with the cochairs of case on a monthly basis and i also meet with the membership at least once if not twice a year

so i've already had one meeting with folks who worked on this document prior to its coming to the commission and we'll obviously be meeting with them again. >>commissioner james. >>i just want to say is i looked at this and i thought about the increase for non profit. i think we'll have to think about other departments who might have non 3r069 profits in them. they will want increases too and this will affect the whole city budget. just keep that in mind. groups an other commissions, they have non profits too and that can affect the whole city budget if we start increasing so i just remember advocating as a

new commissioner out there with gary newson when he said i was supposed to be on his side. i want you to keep that in mind as we advocate for all these non profits. >>thank you commissioner. any comments or questions from the public? commissioner loo. >>you're requesting the budget request, 1,215,000 and each community is 50,000 and if i add up 37 service members it should come up with a million 800 something. >>it's a rough estimate. we got the providers together and they all had different amounts, but to make it simple

we tried to put an average in there and some of them were actually okay. it's the best you can do when you bring all 37 together and get the quantified number. >>thank you. >>any other questions or comments from the public? thank you very much. we were now at general public comment. there any general public comment? hearing none item number 8 old business. i'm sorry, i didn't see you. thank you. >>good morning and happen my new year commissioners.jessica lemon with senior and disability action. i always have announcements about up coming events i wanted to let everyone know about. the state budget was mentioned and we and a lot of other folks around the city and state are

working hard to make sure we prevent cuts but now that the state has more money coming in that that money goes back into human services. there's an action this friday which will coincide with the governor proposing his budget for the year so that action is going to be friday at 12:30 in front of the state building on the mcallister side. some of the programs we're looking at bringing more funding into back are in home services, medical, child care a lot of other similar services. the other thing is we are working hard to secure free muni for low and moderate income seniors and people with disabilities. people may have seen the recent news articles it's looking very positive. it looks likely to be approved by the mta on january 20.

we want to invite everyone to come out to that meeting. we'll do a rally on the steps of city hall on that day, tuesday, january 20 and the hearing will be at 1:00. again, we expect it to go well. it should be an exciting time for the community really to come out and to see this major change happen to benefit seniors and people with disabilities. thank you. >>thank you. any other public comment. item number 8, old business presentation, free muni for seniors and people with disabilities diana hammond, san francisco transportation agency. >>good morning, i'm happy to be here to be able to provide you with this presentation as a proposal that you just heard about that our board will be considering on january 20. i was reminded by the chairman of our board who just left tom nolan, that the item will be called at the beginning of the agenda so regardless of where it

may fall on that he will be calling it at the beginning to be able to hear from all the folks who are supportive of this program at the beginning of this meeting. at this point i want to turn the presentation over to emmet nelson who is our project coordinator. thank you. >>good morning, commissioners, i'm the program manager for free muni at sfmta. i'm here to present to you the free muni for seniors and people with disabilities. as we've heard today the sfmta board of directors is set to review this program to seniors

on january 20. this program will provide free muni to low and median seniors. is there will be a one time pass that will be loaded on to an existing clipper cards. that just means that once the free pass is loaded on to the clipper card it's a one time pass. the customers will not need to reload every month. it will be sitting on their card for use. one thing we want to stress is that this program, much like muni for youth program, is only for available for san francisco residents and the income levels are 100% of the bay area median income which are shown on the slide here for households of one through six and there's a slight increase as households get

bigger that we have back at the office. if approved we will begin accepting applications immediately at mta. we'll have the website ready to go that afternoon. if the program is approved with applications ready on the website. the free pass will be loaded on to the existing senior clipper cards. it's about five weeks to get the pass loaded on to applicant's cards. the processing timeline will vary depending upon the customer's status with the clipper card. it will take about three weeks for customers who have an existing clipper card four weeks for a senior who doesn't have a clipper card. the extra week for that is because we need to create a clipper card for those new applicants and seven weeks for customers with disabilities who don't have their clipper card. it's because there's a separate application for the rtc card

that i'll speak in and about a bit. for existing clipper card holders the process will be pretty streamlined. they can come mrooet an application online by mail or by calling 311 if they request assistance. 311 representative can help them fill out a paper form and send it to them. a card holder needs to have a card registered to them biy showing their proof of age to get the card. the pass will be created in three weeks and they'll get notification in the mail saying their pass is active and they can ride.

for current cash customers, for those who don't have a clipper card the customers can obtain an application online or in person. we're working with regional group to have applications available at different outlets where seniors are regular customers. there's also an option online where a customer can request multiple applications be mailed to their home if they don't have access to a printer. from there the customer will submit the application and a copy of proof of age via mail or dropping it off at the sfmta customer service center. we need to establish this is in fact a senior so we can give them the right card and pass. and then the new clipper card will be sent to that customer in the mail with a litter stating this is their free pass and how to use that pass on a daily basis. for the rtc card for the riders

with disabilities those with existing rtc cards the process will be similar to the senior cards. they will just complete an application online or by mail or through 311 and the rtc number is required listed on top of the rtc card. most people are familiar with this card. much like the senior card the pass will be loaded remotely and they'll receive notice via mail that the pass is now active. if the customer is new to the program and does not have an rtc card they lrp need to visit the mta discount id office which is just across the street from sfmta customer service center to apply for the rtc card. this can take between four and five weeks to get approved. once the customer is approved for their card they'll get an application at the office or get

one online and apply for the free program. there's a list of our outreach calendar. we met with the department of aging and adult services staff yesterday to receive feedback. we're here this morning to present to you our process and receive any feedback and for the next two weeks, including the mt action board of directors meeting, will be meeting with different groups to make sure we're doing the proper amount of outreach and if we're missing anything we fill in the holeses. besides additional outreach besides those meetings current sf registered rtc customers will be direct mail letting them know the program is approved. and the application will be on

the back of that letter. applications and fact sheets we made available at different communities and stakeholder groups. we'll have newspaper ads. the advertisements will be the banners inside the bus as well in the front of the bus behind the drivers and also the standard digital message distribution. hoping for any comments or questions. >>thank you very much. thorough presentation. couple of questions. how will the means testing be administered? how will the application confirm that the seniors meet the means test? >>so it's just -- the means is self reporting. >>self reporting. okay. secondly, have you had an opportunity to read the editorial in today's chronicle? >>i have not read it but i heard there's something in

there. >>one of the issues talks about the proposal that's already in place regarding youth fares and the sunday parking changes and according to the editorial all these programs combined will reduce muni's operating revenue by about $20 million a year at a time when ridership is at an all time high. it also refers to voter approved propositions a and b which authorized additional spending for muni but that spending is limited to capital improvements. the concern raised is ridership continues, but the operating budget will be reduced because of lost revenue and therefore there will be longer waiting times for buses, crowded buses and great inconveniences. how has that issue been addressed in developing this

proposal? >>i cannot speak to that directly. we're more on the process in the back end. it's something the board can address unless diana has anything to add to that. the board will have to address that. >>okay, thank you very much. commissioner ow. >>right now i am a senior. i put in an application. at the time i put in the application i indicate my age. mta recognize i'm a senior. do i have to do another application? >>yeah this is just due to the means based aspect of the program. any current clipper card holder needs to let us know what their income is and their address an we can communicate with them. >>do i need the rtc card? r

>>the rtc card is for the riders with disabilities potential expansions for the two different groups. >>the senior clipper card. >>you indicate that i also can register or put in my application for this. will it be multilanguages? >>yeah we'll be translating the application into seven or eight languages. >>you indicated it may start as early as march 1. p >>that is the plan. >>thank you. >>what constitutes proof of age? >>we have birth certificate, passports. for the youth we also use a registered id with the school but standard proof of age has generally be driver's license, birth certificate, passport. >>i'm not sure this is a question you'll be able to

answer, but i'll ask anyway. why is proof of age mandatory for this program, but not verification of income. >>proof of age eliminates the small amount of fraud of someone who's not a youth or senior applying for the program. i'm not sure why the income aspect hasn't been addressed. >>i guess if the purpose of this presentation is to get feedback, my personal feedback is that income should be verified and i'm uncomfortable with a program that is based entirely on the honor system given the point of revenue reduction. i think it's a potential point of abuse and i'm in the hospital particularly pleased with that. >>thank you. >>commissioner james. >>i am very concerned because muni formed a committee about a year-and-a-half ago to look at the problems of muni and i

served on that committee and this is not one of the recommendations of that committee. now, what 2kid you decide to do? throw it out? we were talking about plaque cards to coop people from abused that system and there's more problems with muni in terms of taking people to different places, picking them up on time. i've had so many complaints about muni and the transportation system and now they're not going to pay the 2.25. i think there's a whole problem with muni and to pull this out i think it's not looking at the whole problem with muni in the city. that's why i'm concerned about

this one recommendation and not looking at the wholesome and how it affects the seniors. >>thank you. commissioner sims. >>one other question. will the muni police's scanning tools identify the status when a card is scanned at a muni stop? >>yes. aside from the visual verification, the tfis the muni police can scan the card to see there is indeed a free pass loaded on it so that's a way to check for misuse. if it appears it's not the senior using that card then that card is then confiscated and a ticket is issued. >>thank you. any comments? >>confiscated and taken?

>>yeah. >>commissioner loo. >>two questions, you need proof of age passport. what about income. >>the proof of income is self reporting. there's no need for a tax return. >>that was my point. >>there is no proof of income commissioner. it is all on the honor system. >>what happened to those people who have some money to be rolled on the card do they get refund? >>the preloaded money could be used for bart rides or if they're out of san francisco county that there's no refunds for any cash value on those cards. >>thank you. >>thank you. any comments or questions from the public? thank you very much. >>there is a public comment. >> >>oh, i didn't see you. please, come up. thank you. >>i had one question and that -- we talked about proof of age, proof of issues that

commissioner sims brought up. what about proof of residence say to get my card my neighborhood parking permit i have to show that i'm actually a resident and you said earlier this is only for residents of san francisco, where's the proof of residency? >>the proof of residency comes into play with the piece of mail being sent to the customer. the mail is returned as cannot be delivered then that card is invalid because that person reported a false address. >>thank you. any -- jessica. p >>well, first i should apologize for jumping the gun on bringing up free muni and thank you to the sfmta folks for the presentation. i have not seen the editorial.

i have not seen it either. as far as the expense of free muni people may remember free muni for youths we had a hard time getting the mta to fund it and there ended up being a private do nation made so there hasn't been city money going into that so that doesn't make any sense for them to claim that that is affecting revenue. and people for disabilities is estimated to cost 4 to 6 million which is a very small drop in the bucket. sunday parking is a larger issue, but i think for people to claim that allowing poor people in our city to be able to get around is causing problems isn't at all true. we at senior and disability action and a lot of other folk

who is have been working on free muni feel very strongly that self reporting is the best way to go. the big reason is we see in countless city and state programs that verification is often very difficult for people especially when talking about poor people people dealing with age and disability people who may not speak english. there are a lot of examples where if you look at voter registration, for example, any time you require various forms of identification and documentation the numbers drop and so considering this program doesn't cost a lot in the first place we want to make sure people use it, we want to make sure people who are homeless people who don't have good documentation, people who for whatever reason are not able to verify their income easily are still able to get around to get to doctor's appointments, the grocery store, to participate in the community so that's the idea and that's why it's so important to not require proof of income. the last thing was i'm really

glad ms. hail came up because she was a strong proponent for people with seniors and people with abilities. i think the last time i saw her was at an mta meeting speaking about why this program was so important. thank you for bringing her into the room and part of why it's so exciting for this program to happen is to honor vera. >>thank you very much for the presentation. item number 9, new business. a, requesting authorization to modify the grant to provide enhancements to the program during the period of october 1 2014 to june 30 2015 in the additional amount of $148,000 for revised total grant amount

not to exceed $416,416. the presentation will be by mike zogg. >>good morning commissioners. i'm a program analyst with dos. i'm here today seeking additional funding for the ombudsman program. the ombudsman program is currently operated by the fell ton institute, formerly known as family service agency.

the funding we're looking at today, $148,000 will be going to this fiscal year. the greatest need is for increased staffing so the majority of this money will be going towards that. with this new money we'll see a slight increase in current staff and the hiring of five new part-time sub contractors. as a result of this increased staffing the ombudsman will be better able to respond and strengthen other aspects of the program. does commission have any questions today? >>just a motion for discussion. do we have a motion? >>so moved. >>seconded. >>any questions or comments? commissioner sims. >>a couple of questions. one, kind of a small knit, but the budget summary page, there's a typo. it's the indirect costline