to public comment. >> director pelham: thank you chair ambrose. commissioners, this is meant to reflect information as we know it at this point, a couple weeks before the fiscal year ends. there are a number of initiatives and work underway this year that are reflected here, though not likely to change over the next couple of weeks but we wanted to make sure when we have the final report for you and the public, it captures all the information we have through the fiscal year. the difference between the report last year, this really focuses on the past fiscal year that started july 1st. it does capture some of the changes right at the beginning of the pandemic, but we did make a conscious effort to be mindful and responsive to the questions raised last year in wanting to convey as much data as we have

for the work the commission is doing and has done over the past year. this morning, very interested to hear your feedback, suggestions, anything you might like us to take back and work with the chair to finalize for you. a document for the july meeting that can reflect the commission's adoption of an annual report for the past fiscal year. i would say one last night, looking back at the activity that went on during this year, i want to acknowledge the work of the staff on the ongoing drive we're making to continue to improve operations and impact of our program. it has been a particularly challenging year as it has been for everyone in government service. i was happy to see the hard work that went in by staff to try to get the information to you timely to make this report something that the commission feels strongly reflects the work and vision you all have for the past year that we have been

working together. with that, i'll turn it back to the chair and any questions or suggestions, we are open to that and will be taking notes. >> chair ambrose: i'm going to defer to everyone else after i say this. i will help take in comments and work on the edit, the one thing i thought with respect to the final section of the annual report, where the commission looks forward, i'm not entirely sure that we'll have an opportunity to fully flesh that out by the july meeting because we won't see sort of the next level draft. but as -- if you're not prepared to do so today, then certainly for the meeting in july, if you could all focus on

that and think about what sort of focus we want to set for the commission in the coming year. i do think there's more work we need to do in terms of reflecting on where we have been and it's important for the reasons you stated, too, if for no other reason just to understand why it has felt like people have been really striving this year. i do think it's important that we also set a focus for the future. with that, i'm going to turn to commissioner bush if you wanted to start with some comments on the draft report. >> commissioner bush: thank you

chair ambrose. a couple of things i think could be inserted into the annual report. one is director pelham's letter to the mayor, which i think was in the last 10 days or so, in which the outline action items with the time table which i thought was an important statement and one i would like to see circulated more completely to the commissioners as well as to the public. i would like to see that included in the annual report. as part of that is also to include commissioner pelham -- or director pelham's response to the board of supervisors on the board budget panelist

recommendations. in that, chair pelham innumerated the time table and action by us. i think we need to surface that clearly in the annual report. beyond that, we're talking about creating some sort of listings, i would like us to include information on how many lobbyists are registered with the ethics commission, how many permit expediters, how many major developers, how many consultants, and then in that, should include how many this year in each of the categories and how many clients they have.

i think that gives a sense of the scope of what we face as a challenge as an ethics commission. thank you. >> chair ambrose: all right. thank you. i'll go down the list then. commissioner chiu. >> commissioner chiu: thank you chair ambrose. i would agree with commissioner bush and i think that as i look at this, and i know this is just a draft format. as we present the numbers i think last year we had very clear charts. i think that would be a wonderful way in the beginning, just a year at a glance. these are all the -- to commissioner bush's point, these were the number of requests, the number of audits, the number of public funds dispersed through

the revised program and then in terms of organizing the rest of the report and the summary of the key highlights, i always like to think of what are the key themes that emerged from the year. on page 2, the focus was improve program impact and ensure service excellence. we take those three as the guiding organizing principles for the report, we can say here's what we did to improve programs, impacts and for that, i would say off the top of my head, the public financing campaign was tremendous. the results we had, we had the highest number of candidates turning to the public financing system ever historically. and we dispersed more money. i would love to highlight the

impacts of that program. and then what do we do to heighten awareness of the laws. if we organize it in that way, it becomes -- there's a lot of tremendous work done this year, but if we organize it along those themes, there's a line for all of it and how it is all connected and i wanted to call out the fact that commission staff has been working remotely from their kitchen tables and living rooms and bedrooms for the past year plus and will continue to do so for another, you know, three or four months and i just want to call out that that is -- the fact that we have increased the number of people we have served and supported candidates in an election season is really important for us to recognize

and celebrate in this report. so i can -- i can follow up off line with director pelham, with some thoughts on how things can be organized and worded for maximum impact. thank you. >> chair ambrose: thank you for that. and i would agree. i know in the last year, i think it was, commissioner chiu helped us with that sort of whatever, year at a glance highlighting some of the important information in a much more readily available and readable form. and i know in this one there's a

really long bullet list of various accomplishments and i will note, the first one you mentioned, i was appointed chair and commissioner bell joined the commission, which is hardly the priority item we want to grab people with. i think a reordering of that as you were saying along those lines with more subheadings so if you're looking for a certain area you might be interested in, you can more readily -- it will pop out at you better. nevertheless, the effort was to just gather all manner of information and get it on a page so we can start with it. and then i did see -- i thought i saw commissioner lee's hand up. now it's not. i don't know if that is intentional. i hope you really are at the beach with a palm tree behind you and it's not a phony

back-drop. >> i wish we could all be at the beach. that's a good one though. >> my mind and body is. >> chair ambrose: no further comments. commissioner bell, please. >> commissioner bell: thank you. this is my first time reading one of these. i don't have last year's as a point of reference. i thought it was extremely comprehensive, but as we were reading it -- as i was reading it, i was wondering who the audience was and i was begging for pie charts and graphics to show some of that. i think the comments by my colleagues are right on point and it just seems like those

percentage numbers that we are such a graphically oriented population these days, that some of that stuff was just calling out for some kind of graphics to demonstrate what it was. i join my colleagues and what they suggested but i do want to say, it is very comprehensive. if you read it, you really got a sense of what happened during the year. job well done but i think if we could show some pictures, i think it would be helpful. >> chair ambrose: absolutely. all right, thank you for that. and with that -- >> i'm sorry i wanted to add one thing. an additional thought if i may. to the point that we are -- you made earlier about how do we

communicate the work we have done in the past and how does that connect with the work we'll be doing in the future, i think the hanging over the city and over the commission is this ongoing corruption investigation. i think it would be beneficial for us to consider that as part of the back drop and how do we communicate about it. i know we'll get to it later, the terrific news of the funding for the ethics network. how do we show in the past year we have laid the foundation for the work that's going to be coming with ethics to address a culture of compliance here in the city. i think there's an opportunity for us to frame the work we have done in a way that shows that we are -- we're on this. and we have done a lot. look at our comprehensive scope of initiatives we have undertaken in the past year and ongoing support we have provided to the city and then we're going

to build on that in the coming year with the ethics at work initiative so we can -- instead of having just a discrete set of accomplishments in the past year, we can show how we're pursuing the specific objectives and goals and it is connected with what we'll be doing in the future. and benefit more transparent and accountable government. >> chair ambrose: great, thank you. that's exactly what i was trying to get at with the thought that we might not exactly be in a position in july to finalize the forward-looking statement. the board, three chairs that were the mayor's recommending we get the funding we need to start

that effort on building ethics at work. but it won't be in the bank yet by july 9th because the board won't have acted on the budget -- i don't think. maybe they will. >> director pelham: i think that's unlikely. >> chair ambrose: that's the direction i think we need to go in. if we're going to recognize sort of the unsung heroics of this year, of getting the positions -- getting the requisitions and advertisement and filling the position, if anyone who has tried to get something like that done in the city, you can't imagine what an achievement it is. i'm sure she's -- the other directors and department heads are probably in awe that she was able to get that much support for staff and now we're going to

have more. but the points you were making commissioner chiu, that's what i want everyone to think about how we're going to frame that forward looking statement and i'm sure when it comes back in july, that the graphs and charts that director pelham, they'll finalize as part of the numbers, hopefully in the draft we see. with that, i'm going to ask the moderator to call for public comment. >> clerk: okay. i want to double check. i see hands raised for commissioner chiu and commissioner bell. do you have other comments? >> commissioner bell: yes, i appreciate commissioner chiu's sense in that. i think chair ambrose can restate my motions any time for me. i was joining in what i think is in her remarks, in addition i

should say to being a recitation of what happened, this report i think director pelham could be an opportunity to brand. to actually say -- i don't need to repeat what commissioner chew chai said but it prompted in me not just a thinking of we did this and that. here's why we're here and here's what we're intending to do and here is what we have done and will continue to do. >> chair ambrose: we need to

roll up our sleeves and get it on paper. i have been in so many settings where there's a lot of great ideas but when you're the person sitting there, you're like did i capture all of that. help me out when we get back here in july or in between, feel free to contact me if you have some precise way of communicating. with that, i know we have a big agenda today. please call for public comment. >> clerk: we are checking to see if there are callers on the queue. we are on the motion of agenda item 8. please press star 3 to be added to the public comment queue.

you will have three minutes to provide public comment. you'll hear a bell go off when you have 30 seconds remaining. please stand by. welcome caller. your three minutes begin now. >> good morning commissioners and director pelham. my name is dr. kerr, a whistleblower. i am calling to address my appreciation to the staff who compiled the section on whistleblower protection in the annual report. this is the first time that sf has disclosed a number and explained the outcomes of the

complaints. we now have some idea why none of the cases resolved this year were substantiated. the finding that 55% of city officers have failed to complete the required training in whistleblower protection. this degree of transparency helps to dispell the reputation for years. hopefully it increases beyond zero. it should be closer to 23%. that the international standard recorded by 3,000 organizations

surveyed in the benchmark report. thank you very much. >> chair ambrose: thank you for your comment. i concur that that information was important and it is going to be one of our priorities to focus and review our whistleblower process. thank you for your comments. are there further comments in the queue?

>> director pelham: as you know from the document we provided in connection with the item, the mayor -- you'll recall we submitted the budget request to the mayor's office in late february as required by city departments over the past several months, we have been able to answer questions and provide additional detail to the mayor's budget office in discussing the commission's demonstrated priorities the way we are achieving our work and plans going forward and

demonstrated need for the work. with that, the mayor's office in releasing the mayor's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year identified and recommended the full package of our recommendations for the coming fiscal year, very well come news of course. the budget that we proposed as reflected in the mayor's recommended budget that was issued on june 1st would propose fiscal year operating budget of $6.5 million, roughly 23% increase in the current operating budget, it would have a staffing level that would be increased by 8. importantly, the reason those resources would exist is to fund new outreach and support for the city's work force, all city departments on our new ethics at work initiative designed to build in a framework and support

on a practical basis to help folks navigate ethical issues that apply. it would be a program funded for what the city calls a limited three year term process, that means we would be hiring on exempt basis before the end of this three year limited term project, evaluating the program to see what we think the needs are at that time and converting the positions if the need is still there or changed to different positions to continue those into a civil service per nate basis. this is extremely good news to hire the positions as we have in the past year through temporary, exempt process.

the work we know is essential to provide the kind of support in a different way at a different level with a different focus is i think a first for the city and very important role that we'll be able to play with the support. we are looking forward to talking with the board of supervisors about the project as well starting next week in the budget hearings. separately, we have also seen in the mayor's proposal, a recommendation to embrace additional requests. this would include three new investigative positions and funding to help us develop a case management system, if you have two investigators historically, it may not be that necessary when you have the volume of cases and significant of cases and number of investigators we have. this becomes critical to manage the work effectively. that is something that would be included here as well. and also importantly, we just finished talking about the annual report, but both were