us to be our better selves and you've done that with me. i really thank you for that. yes, i am retiring from the city of san francisco. i am not retiring from being a contributing member to society. my husband and i are started our own communications agency. i want to help other communities and municipalities implement environmental education programs. i actually have a woman from new york contact me and wants our help with a food waste initiative that they're doing in their community and working with the schools there. i'm actually excited to take what i've learned here in san francisco and spread it to other places around the country. it's an honor. i just want to say thank you. the work we do is so important. the work will continue. i'm going to be paying close attention and cheering from the sidelines. i am looking forward to having more of my life to myself.

i always like vacations because i get to have my life to myself. that's a nice thing. trying to find that balance to have more flexibility in my day-to-day life, i'm really grateful i get that opportunity to do that. i'm going to miss my time at the departmentment i'm going to miss my colleagues. i'm going to look forward to what is ahead. i'm take everything i've learned with me into my future. thank you so much for this honor today. >> thank you. [applause] >> i'd like to invite members of the public to come forward. >> good evening. i've had the opportunity to work with tamar for over 15 years now educating thousands and thousands of children as they come to the transfer station.

under your leadership and your direction, also tamar was on our advisory board for many years and helped us select the amazing artists we've worked with so i want to wish you the very best. i have such respect for you and your dedication to educating children about the importance of nature. also, you are optimistic outlook. i have all of these tamar words of wisdom rattling around in my head. your outlook on life is very refreshing and it's always fed my soul. so thank you and very best to you in your next adventure. [applause] >> just really quickly -- i want to say tamar, my time spent with you, i remember when i first

started. she said how do you like it so far? i said it's just the honeymoon phase. she said i'm guaranteeing you, two years of honeymoon. [laughter] and that's not that it wasn't hard work and that tamar didn't have a high standard but it was comfortable and relaxing coming to work with her and the team. she's the principal of the school team and she set a good tone. three quick lessons i learned from tamar and the first one is trust. she said that trust is a thing that, when you get it, it's hard to gain but when you have it, you have to be really careful with it. because when you break it or you lose it, then it's really hard to get back. when you've got someone's trust, you want to work to keep it. tamar was always a very trusting supervisor. i remember having conversations with her that i've never had with other supervisors.

it was a really comfortable feeling to keep your head in good work space. she said if i take it easy i can get it easy. related to parking. it's taken so much stress of my life. she has all types of wisdom. and just recently, i've been thinking a lot about guilt. tamar is a very carefree person in some extent. meaning that she cares a lot about what everybody thinks of her, her employees, her supervisors, the commission, the people in the world, the schools, the students, but she also brings in a swagger with her that's like, you know, i can only care so much before it's time to be me. i thought that was also beneficial to me growing and just accepting me for good and bad and having less guilt on what the world is thinking. shout out, congratulations, you really deserve this and i cherished my time with you. [applause]

>> hello, my name is mariam and i work with the school education team as a school education so he iassociate and i've worked with tamar the last couple of months, i would like to say thank you for teaching me to be strong while soft, comfort and apologetic -- unapologetic in the things i say and the way i say them. tamar was able to look at me and tell me in one sentence what she thought 245 that i embody as a person. it will always stay with me. thank you for your wisdom, your patience and i am really sad to see you go. >> i'm also on the school

education team and i only worked with tamar for a few months but she's been so supportive and positive. it was such a breath of fresh air for me. thank you for supporting me professionally and with my personal growth as well. >> hi, everyone, my name is anne'. i'm part of the school education team as a environmental education aid. tamar, i want to show my appreciation to you. you are always so authentic and intentional with our personal growth. i first met phoenix as a fifth grader, which inspired me to the work i'm doing today.

thank you for your impact not only on me but on the team and also every single student in san francisco. [applause] >> hello. my name is joe. i am the environmental education so he is saassociate on the tea. i've had the privilege and honor of working with tamar over the last two years. one of the biggest takeaways is to take incredible pride in the skills and impacts that i bring to the community as an environmental educator. i really want to thank tamar for her positive and powerful spirit she brings and always up lifting us to be proud of who we are. [applause]

>> good evening, everyone. my name is josie. i'm the environmental education corbyn eight ocoordinator. i want to say thank you to tamar for touching the hearts and change the minds of our youngest residents and not only that, but all of the employees, all of her staff on her team. i want to thank tamar for the legacy she's created. she's a great, strong female leader who is fierce and i really have appreciated that. i started the department in 2010. i have worked my way up in every position to where i am now. a lot of that came from the mentorship of tamar. also, i want to thank tamar for being supervisor and a boss who really values equity and someone that you can really share what it's like to be the first with her. she has lots of advice on how to help you become who you can be,

the best version of yourself. i've always valued that. i'd also like to thank tamar for just everyday, when you walk in, feel like i have the best job ever and the best boss ever. it will be very hard to not have her in the office and to look across and to say tamar, what she with do about this or tamar, this is happening. it's an adjustment. i'm very happy for tamar as well. i just want to say thank you to her for everything and from the community as well. [applause] >> so much love here. good evening. my name is stephanie. i'm the outreach and education zero waste manager. i've had the pleasure of working with tamar for 14 years.

my department partners very, very closely with division that tamar has been able to execute. i am just so grateful for you. your leadership -- i echo many of what the other people have said before. as a woman, strong, fierce, determined, unapologetic, and you just make it happen. and certainly, you know, i aspire to be as great as you are. i just want to say, one of the things i really appreciate about you is not only how you developed this wonderful program, that is being 'e emulad all over the place, you celebrate successes all over the world and taken time to do that. you've been very thoughtful about who are we going to celebrate and celebrating those schools could have been successful. the other thing is really making

sure that the children that these newest citizens in san francisco, understand the reason why it's important is because what they do matters. you make them feel -- i've seen it. the people you hire all are able to effectively translate that what they do matters. what they're doing is protecting nature. it's beautiful. thank you. >> thank you. >> you are going to be missed. [applause] >> hi, i'm rachel. for almost 10 years, we were platonically work married. the school education program manager and i was the program coordinator and together we raised many, many programs staff. we went through moving, marriages, births, deaths, aging and all the mundane stuff

together. we even found out that we had a celebrity brand moniker. it was remar. like brangelina. we joked truthfully that we were getting conspicuously uncoupled. that's really what it felt like. like many couple, we also had a first time we met story. it involved me waiting for my job interview reading a book. that's actually tamar's story. i've never told mine. so this is a good moment to share it with you. i first met tamar when i was interviewing for the school education program din eight or position. i came from environmental education where fleece and non conformity proliferate. from the start, tamar mystified me. she did. she was what i expected.

i wondered who is this polished and poised woman who had professional excellence. and how and why did she find herself in a job teaching kids about nature? and what makes her tick? what is her story. she really have a dog that looks like a sloth like you told me in the interview. that was easy to find out. she does. all these questions burn in my mind. of course, i couldn't ask them directly. i would have seemed really weird. in my final interview, i asked about her work background. do you remember that? [laughter] she graciously told me about her time at rainforest action network and her degree in art and so fourth. a week later i was offered the job and i had the pleasure of getting to know tamar and answering those questions for myself. what i found overtime, she possesses the qualities i expected just in pointed and

authentic disguise. what i mean is that in the right situation, she can be silly, have you seen her see a cute dog on the street? so you know what i mean. she only engages in conformity as a vehicle for meaningful success. she's been known to wear fleece on occasion but always with a neat ponytail. she owns her way through every project she takes on through seriously, conviction, and absolute professionalism with an unwavering eye for create beauty. under all those trapings, her heart beeps purpose. the way i think of it, tamar, your heart drives you, your gut guides you and your brain advises you. it's easiest to see her brilliant mind i think. most of us know she has a golden touch turning ideas into perfect experiences whether a project is big, like honoring past mayor

lee with a song or small like always acknowledging her staff with these beautiful new years cards. and of course she has the eloquent gift of gab. she can think and talk anything and people want to hear it. for those of us who have had the pleasure to spend significant time together, she readily shares intuitive sights. just a few minutes of conversation with yield knowledge. she's a deeply spiritual person with her feet planted on the ground. and we on this earth, as you all know are luckily for that. this is how i would explain her heart. your heart seeks beauty and grace. it speaks acknowledgment, respect, self-determination. it's generous, hard-working and compassionate. all those years ago on my interview, while you explained your career gentleman tec tra ja magnificent heart. >> thank you.

[applause] >> i know i said something earlier, i have to say oh my gosh, wow. this is one of the best experiences in my lifetime to be here today. i want to thank you for this honor and for all lost and appreciation that has been shown to me. i will take this with me forever. thank you so much. [applause] thank you, you will be missed. we're going to have a photo with kathleen as and tamar. >> two different photos. >> yes.

[applause]

>> next item. >> clerk: the next item is 7 presentation on the progress receipt of the department of school education program. the sponsor is debra feld and the speaker is tamar hurwitz. >> thank you. >> so we don't, in our environmental service awards, allow presentations. there's lots of public comment and accolades. we thought, since we have tamar here, it would be great for her to do a retrospective of the

school ed program has it's on the cusp of being school ed 2.40 as we bring in her replacement. we're thrilled that tamar agreed to give us a presentation of stepping back and looking at her thoughts over the last 16 years as to what she learned, where she sees us going and what she most appreciates. with that, tamar. >> so, this is actually one of the most difficult presentations for me to put together in my entire career. 16 years, looking back is a big task. i actually decided not to do a 16-year retrospective because we would be here tomorrow if i did. week by week, month by month. i decided to encapsulate the things i learned. >> clerk: can we have the

monitor, please, sfgovtv. >> i wanted to learn -- >> thank you. testing, 1, 2. does that work? ok. good. the first lesson that i learned is that team work is essential. i know that earlier i was honored for the work that i've done at the department and i'm absolutely honored by that. that work should never have happened without team work. specifically, the team work of the school education coordinators that have been my co creators, partners, friends, and it started with becky wyke in 2003 when i joined. she was here until 2007 until it was time for her to get married and go off to denver. and then, rachel pommerands

joined the team and ramar was born. that was from 2007 to 2016. again an incredible person to work with. so much of what we did was done during those years. also, after rachel left, i've had the great delight to work with josee dominguez-chan who is the current coordinator. wrapping up my career here with her by my side is powerful for me and very meaningful. i just want to say these three women are smart, powerful, and none of the work that i got to do the past 16 years could have been done without them. i just want to acknowledge them and their role during that will time. so thank you. i also want to acknowledge the physical education aids and associates. many here this year from this year and last year and acknowledge the work they do. they are in the schools doing the outreach at lunchtime.

they are looking in the compost bins after school and doing waste assessments. they are the heart and soul of this program. even though we have a lot of turnover every year, that's actually part of what makes it great. we have constant new people coming in and getting skills, helping out, going into the world and taking what they've learned from the department into their future. so i want to acknowledge the school ed team that is here today and thank you for your work and your partnerships. really, i'm going to miss all of you. so much of what i will miss are the people that i work with everyday. partnership isn't just on the school ed team. it's in the department as a whole. i mentioned debbie's leadership earlier and how important it is to the work we do i also want to mention our community partners like the unified school district. we work very closely with them to promote our programs like zero waste in the schools. we also work with the san francisco public utilities commission, they funded up to give water presentations and to create water curriculum and that

partnership is very deep and satisfying. also, san francisco public works. we've partnered with them for our litter outreach and assemblies and the sf giant sweep. and it's not just city agencies that we partner with. we also partner with recology. that has been a really effective partnership as well. we all have the same goals. [ please stand by ]

>> i don't think those words and things motivate kids, either. so what we did was we changed it around. what about if we bring animals into the conversation? what about if we bring nature into the conversation and make the case that we all need nature to survive, that everything we use comes from originally something found in nature, and so our world is linked to the natural world, and so our actions can help

protect the natural world. it's a very powerful frame that captures the heart of children, and so our theme was let's protect nature. the third one was let's have fun, especially when we're in the schools and working with children. never under estimate the importance of having fun. to that end, we created phoebe the phoenix. a lot of recycling animates objects, like, a bottle or a can. i don't care about a bottle or a can, but i care about a phoenix. a phoenix is in our seal, and

she's been the heart and soul of our plan, specifically with plan outreach. she shows up at all our assemblies, she's on all our materials. and even community-based social marketing techniques. this is a student actually making a public commitment that she will continue to compost by signing this poster. and you can see that it's a fun activity. when we put these activities into the school, the kids clamor, let me sign, let me sign. but what they're doing is they're saying, i will continue to compost and this is my public commitment to do that. another fun thing we've been doing is our field trip program gets kids out of the classroom, into the gardens, over the transfer stations, and those are fun trips that are also educational.

fun is in my mind a key for successful educational and environmental programs. lesson four, be supportive. what the mayor wants, the mayor gets. and this especially became true in 2006. mayor newsom wanted an antilitter campaign in schools, and because t and that campaign ended up with us. to be honest, i was not excited about that. i did not know what to say about it. my background is rain forests and really exotic subject matter. it's like, what do you say? don't litter. but what the mayor wants, the mayor gets. so i worked with my colleagues at public works and started to

learn about what litter really is all about, and it's very interesting. we were able to create a very interesting assembly that we still have today, talking about the impact is has on wildlife in our area, and the impact is has on our pets. it became an interesting outreach, interesting assembly. mayor newsom stopped at our first assembly we gave at betsy carmichael elementary. he was sitting in the back and came up at the end. in his answers, he was repeating some of the things he'd learned in the assembly, but i w which i was glad to see. certainly a great moment there. and also, mayor newsom was a fan of our composting efforts in school. when we had our 100th food to flowers school, he showed up. that was at leonard flynn

elementary, and he was helping the students talk about what goes where in which bin. the late mayor lee loved working with children, and in 2015, for the mayor's birthday, that was debbie's first birthday, he requested the kids get involved. so we all sat around the table, wondering how we were going to get the kids involved. so we decided to hold a tree planting, and let the kids show up for the tree planting. and it was a great time, and the mayor had a good time. the next year, we did sort of that reprize theme. we had an earth day breakfast at city hall. and we put the kids in the 05100 t-shirts, and we taught them a song. and they sung a song to honor the work that mayor lee did, and mayor newsom. it turned out he loved that

song so much, that when his birthday came around, his staff played him, instead of happy birthday, that song. lesson five, reputation is powerful. a good reputation leads the way. i kind of say our reputation is all we have. san francisco as we know has a powerful reputation. so does the department of the environment, and because san francisco was the first city to put the green bins in the san francisco, so did the school education team. so we got lots of phone calls from different municipalities across this nation, more than 20, contacting us over the years and wanting to know how we did it, trying to pilot their own composting program or zero waste program. so we gave them the best information we had, our best practices, our materials. we even shared the food to

flowers name and said they could use it. cambridge, massachusetts uses the food to flowers name. they couldn't use phoebe the mascot. we had to draw the line somewhere, but the food to flowers program took off. we also helped not just cities but also other countries around the world, as well. and we were delighted one day when we got a -- reached out from mcmillan mcgrau hilw hill a readers supplement. they featured our program, and that was a nice thing to see. lesson number six is to give appreciation. recognition is a wonderful thing. i certainly feel that today, and it's something that we try

and give in the work we do in the community. specifically, when we have poster contests, it's not that just there's a winner, we have awards ceremonies that we put on so we can honor the students and the teachers and the school, and it's a nice thing to do. also, every year, we have our annual school awards ceremony. if you haven't been, i urge you to attend. it's an uplifting, beautiful event at city hall that isn't just a great thing for the students and the schools that are invited to attend and be honored, but it's also a powerful event for school education team because it reminds us why we do the work we do. what does it mean to honor the schools that have done an excellent job with zero waste, and it's such an uplifting event. we've also been awarded ourselves on the school education team, the zero waste achievement award from the california waste and recovery

association, and also one, recently, the govern i don't recognize environmental and economic leadership award, and that was a real honor. lesson seven, the last lesson, is the future matters, and our actions shape the future. mayor breed has called for all city departments to offer paid internships to high school youth, and this opportunity is a wonderful opportunity, and i know that the school ed team after i leave is going to be taking steps to help make this happen at our department. to that end, the future -- again, i'm heading out. we all know that, but the schoolwork will continue. there's a lot of space and opportunity to expand or work into the middle schools and high schools. we've definitely done that, but there's a lot more work to be done. it's a more challenging age group to work with, it's a more challenging school environment to work with, so there's a lot

of work that can be done, and i'm excited about the potential to deepen our connection in the middle schools and high schools, and also widen our community connections. we do work with the community, but there's always room to do more and leverage the work that we do in ways that really create a strong community connection. so i'm looking forward to that happening after i leave and -- in whatever way it'll -- form it'll take, i don't know, but there's the potential for that. and you know, the school education program was built to last. it's super solid, it's in place. and i, again, am very excited to see what will happen in school education 2.0 after i leave. i won't be going far. i don't know where i'll be, actually, but i'm always a phone call away and e-mail away, and at any point, if anybody ever needs to call me for any reason, i'm always going to be available for that because i always love the work we do, and i'm always going to

be a part of the city family even if i'm in some far-flung place in the world. i'm not leaving my heart in san francisco, i'm taking it with me. so thank you. it's been a great 16 years, and i just really again thank you for this moment. [applause] >> commissioners, questions or comments on the presentation? commissioner wan? >> commissioner wan: just want to commend your presentation. i see your presentation in two schools. it's been fantastic. it's really something, and perhaps the best of our programming, i would say, at the department.

>> is there any public comment? i know we're going to miss you terribly, but we'll know where to find you -- i know we're going to miss you, and after the presentation, i'm going to go, oh, my god, we are going to really miss her. >> it's real. >> it's real, yeah. you made it very real. and director raphael? >> yeah. i just want to say one thing that tamar ended with that i think is really true. she said the program is built to last. it's solid. it's a great foundation. the people who are in this room that will be here next week when you aren't know exactly what they need to do. they know how to do it. they do it with confidence, and what a gift that is that you have created something that is going on in your absence, in your memory, with your inspiration and is very solid and will -- there's no -- i'm

not worried that the school ed program is going to disappear when tamar goes onto her next chapter. you've done such a wonderful job of training people and inspiring others. so this is a program built to last, and i can't wait to see what happens next. >> good luck in your next adventure. next item. [applause] >> the next item is item eight, review and vote on whether to approve the department of the environment's fiscal year 2019-20 and 20-21 budget. the sponsor is debra fell, director. the explanatory document is the draft department of the environment fiscal year 2019-2020 and 20-21 budget. this item is for action. >> director raphael? >> yeah, i'll just set a context, but then,

commissioner -- actually -- commissioner, good. i pass. >> so as we do every year, the operations committee took a look at the budget in a much deeper aw deeper way last week at our meeting? joe is going to walk us through the top line of the budget today? and i -- just know that we at the operations committee got to know sort of point by point, area by area how the budget looks both from a revenue and from an expenses perspective? and if you guys have any questions, joe is here to answer them, and we are also happy to answer any of the discussion around the conversation we had last week, as well. joe, thanks. >> good evening, commissioners. my name is joe sane, and i'm the fiscal planner of the department. and this year, i'll be doing a quick presentation of the 2019

and 2020 draft budget. a couple of quick things. this is a draft budget, and as such, we expect there will a be a lot of changes between now and the time we submit the budget to the mayor's office on february 22. the second thing is we're not going to be reviewing the fiscal year 20-21 budget in this presentation. while we're mandated to submit a two-year budget, it's impossible to know what our grant situation will look like that far out at this point in time, so we don't feel like we can give you an accurate assessment of the fiscal year 20-21 at this time. so the city's currently projecting $107 million deficit for fiscal year 2020 and additional $103 million

different set for 2021. as a result, the mayor is ordering all departments to cut expenditures by 2% for 2020 and 2% for 2021. the mayor's office is also requiring all general fund departments to submit a contingency reduction plan of an additional 1% in each fiscal year that will be implemented if the city's fiscal position warrants it. while the department of the environment doesn't receive any general fund support, we do face some impact as nongeneral fund departments are expected to absorb any increases in our budgets, in our costs for the fiscal year, without requesting any additional funds via work orders with other city departments. lastly, the mayor has mandated that there be no new positions added to the departmental budget submissions. that won't affect our

departments at all because we don't anticipate adding any positions in the next fiscal year. for fiscal 2019-2020, our total operating budget currently stands at approximately $27.2 million. this operating budget includes both funds being requested through the annual appropriation ordnance or a.a.o. process, as well as funds that have been previously approved that will be utilized in the next fiscal year. this is the midyear approval requests called system expend processes. for awareness, these previously approved funds will not be part of the annual submission to the mayor's office and will not be reflected in our final a.a.o. budget presentation to this committee in july.

so on the right, you'll see we're showing a $166,901 shortfall. we do believe we can close this gap between now and february 21, and we expect to submit a balanced budget to the mayor. the pie chart on the left illustrates the department's revenue makeup. as you can see, our revenue makeup for next fiscal year is 44% impound, 46% grants, and 10% other city departments. we also do have a small amount of revenue from fees that are related to the safe medicine disposal program. around here is the grant revenue actually makes up a larger percentage of the operating budget than the solid waste impound revenue. that's an anomaly, for reasons i'll discuss in the next slide here. so this slide shows the year-over-year changes in the budget from one year to the

next fiscal year. 22.3 million to 27.1 million. this is almost entirely due to an increase in our bay run grant as well as a new grant from the california air resources board. the carb grant is to facilitate the procurement of 30 battery electric and hybrid trucks. the vast majority of the funds are for project implementation and professional services and not any operational use. so while it looks like there's a big increase in funds to the department, almost all of these will be passed through to a third party. i just want to stress that it's

highly unusual to have such a significant increase in grants in any given fiscal year, and i also want to again, you know -- if you understand the majority of these go towards project costs and not any operational cost of the department. i expect future years to be more reflective of historical norms. so you'll see also on here that, on the revenue side, there's a small increase to the fees budget which reflects an anticipated increase for the safe drug disposal stewardship ordinance. these fees are directed at the pharmaceutical industry and thus not subject to limit the mayor's directive to fee

increases. this reflects some new funding from the airport commission for projects related to electrical vehicle initiatives. on the expenditure side, we see a year over year increase. there's a 3% increase in personnel costs which reflected the anticipated wage and benefits increases for the next fiscal year. we of course see a very large increase in the nonpersonnel services and materials and supplies categories which reflect the outflow of the grant funds that we were discussing earlier. the grants category's also increasing, but it's reflective of a cost center change in the carbon funds. so previously, the carbon fund had been budgeted in the materials and supplies category, while the actual expenditures had been disbursed via grants to nonprofits, so this simply corrects that discrepancy and it does not

represent any increase to the operational spending in that category. so here, we see a list of the work orders with other city departments and our programming partnerships. as you can see -- excuse me, as you can see, we work closely with many other city departments. these work orders are a vital part of our department's funding, and we greatly value our interdepartmental relationships. our staff work hard to maintain positive relationships with and provide exceptional services to other city departments, and i'd like to recognize their role in making these work orders come to fruition because they make my job much, much easier. so these are the key dates for the fiscal 19-2020 budget process. you'll see that the next big deadline is our submission of a balanced budget to the mayor's office on february 21. in may, we'll return to the

operations committee to update commissioners on the balanced budget that was ultimately submitted to the mayor's office on that date. may will also mark the beginning of the board of supervisors budget hearings. hearings are held in may and june, with the department of the environment historically being heard in the may group. the fiscal 19-2020 budget will be adopted on july 31st, and by august 27, we along with every other city department will send a letter to the mayor's office certifying that the budget that was adopted is adequate and no supplemental general funding will be required. that letter marks the end of the budget process. so this is where we stand as of today. overall, we have a stable budget with two areas, energy and biodiversity still in the process of identifying funding

opportunities. as we discussed in detail with members of the operations committee, we are focusing on these areas, and we will continue to focus on them in the current weeks, and we are confident in our ability to close the current revenue gap in time to submit a proposed budget to the mayor's office on february 21. so that concludes my remarks and i'm happy to take any questions that you might have. >> thank you. questions, commissioners? commissioner wald? >> i can't find the part where i -- oh, i have a question. >> hmm? >> it doesn't have to do with the budget per se but it has to do with the politics of the budget and the perception -- well, actually, the reality of

proposing a budget increase at a time when other departments are going to be, you know, leading. >> sure. and this goes back to the difference between the draft budget and the annual appropriation budget. this reflects all of the department's anticipated operational spending in the next fiscal year. so it includes budgets that will not be reflective in the mayor's annual appropriation ordinance submission. for example, the two main increases here, the two grants, the carb grant and the bay rent grant will be added to our budget via the accept and expense ordinance. the annual appropriation ordinance will be very much more in line with our year over

year annual appropriation ordinance request of previous years. >> okay. thank you for that answer because i actually did not, until this minute -- really understand how this was going to work. i thought when you took those out, it was going to look worse, but you are telling me it's going to look much better. >> it's going to -- it's going to look very similar to historical a.a.o. submissions of previous years. >> good. thanks. >> any other questions? commissioner stephenson? >> i don't have a question. i just want to say thank you for all the work you do on this. i don't know how you magic it every year because we are such a strange department in the city. those grants come in midyear or midcalendar year or in three months. when the impound account is always such a stable thick and

everything else is in motion, i think it's amazing that we can get through this process every year. i think it's important to remember we don't always get general fund money. just keep that in the backs of your mind, i just want to remind us all to think about that, and just in terms of the gap of the 160,000 or whatever, we close this every single year we see this, and every single year, we end up magicing it again somehow. when we actually saw this at the committee, we didn't vote to bring it forward to this committee, for no other fault than my own. my vote would be we push it forward to the committee. i will push for that after we finish conversation. >> commissioner sullivan? >> yeah. when do our space needs and our lease begin to affect the department's budget?

>> so our lease is up for renewal in march 2020 -- i'm sorry, no -- yeah, 2020. and we are in the process of working with real estate now to identify a path forward in our negotiations with our current lessor, as well as looking at other properties as the fiscal case may warrant. >> so if there was an increase at that time, would it affect this budget year? >> no. this current budget year, the increase -- the probable increase to the rent for that -- for the period between march and june 30 has been factored in to the figures that you see here. >> okay. thank you. >> any other comments or questions, commissioner ms. if not, we'll move on d--

commissioners? if not, we'll move onto public comment on the budget. seeing no public comment, we'll have a motion to approve the budget. >> so moved. >> moved by commissioner stephenson. do i have a second? >> second. >> second by commissioner wan. any discussion? okay. so we have a motion that's been made by commissioner stephenson, seconded by commissioner wan. all in favor, signal by saying aye. [voting] >> any opposed? any absentia? motion carries. and the next item? >> the next item is item nine, vote to whether to review the annual 2019 report. the speaker is choorlz sheehan, chief public policy officer. this item is for discussion and action. >> and i think commissioner

wald will introduce the item. >> yes, thank you. with this budget as in past years, the draft report on the accomplishments and activities of the commission on the environment came before the committee and had a robust discussion. and i believe we did vote, didn't we? we did vote to recommend to the full commission that we approve this document. charles, are you going to say that this is -- this report is mandated by law? >> yes, i can -- >> well, i can say it. i always find it very interesting that this report is mandated by law. we had -- we and every other

commission in the city and county of san francisco is required to report on their activities on an annual basis, and this is our response to that report. >> thank you, commissioner. charles sheehan, chief policy and public affairs officer for the department of the environment. i'm going to walk you through the annual report here briefly. it's less of a presentation and more of a conversation, so feel free to interject if you see something that you like and want to call out. as commissioner wald noted, it's necessary that we do this by law, but i think it's a good way of building on the foundation that we built in 2018 -- or the commission built in 2018 because there were many milestones. i do want to call out a few people for thanks.

the first, and if we could actually have the cover page or the slide from sfgtv, i want to thank the artists that provided us this for our cover page. she's a social justice activist, a labor activist, and he's also a commissioner on the department of the environment, so thank you to commissioner ahn for his artwork. and i want to thank the author, our commission secretary, anthony valdez, for authoring this annual report, putting it together, being the project manager, and of course, working with mark nicholas, our graph designer from asia's outreach team. thank you, everyone, for that. the first page is our mission statement. no real, real surprises there. the second page is the letter from our commission president, commissioner bermejo.

if you read through the letter, you'll see kind of the list of highlights and milestones and a guide to the subsequent pages as we go through the notable events from 2018. some of our most notable events was filling out our roster of commissioners with the appointment of mike sullivan and the appointment of commissioner eddie ahn who added to the decades of experience that we have on the commission on the environment. commissioner ahn brought that nook between social justice and labor to our commission, and commissioner sullivan has deep knowledge of our city's trees, and so that definitely expanded the deep knowledge base that we already had here at the department of the environment. and we needed that deep knowledge base because of events like the global climate action summit, and the commissioners definitely helped

extend the reach of the department, of our city's elected officials, of the city's capacity to host visiting nations, visiting cities, del gats from all around the world who are convening in san francisco to talk about the environment, and to learn from us on what we did here on climate action, and the commissioners represented us at events, at talks, at workshops on kind of 0, 80, 100 groups, the paradigm that governs or climate action, and it definitely made sure that we were a gracious environment, but more so, an informed host on the environment. and the commissioner definitely helped the department, the city, and the mayor's global climate action summit here a success. but beyond that, there were other highlights, as well. i know that seems to be the main highlight, but there were a number of special meetings and events that