interest. so that -- when you hear my questions coming, it's out of a keen awareness of how the public views us as you know. there are efforts of the board to split off some of the things that the ethics commission does because of beliefs that ethics is not getting things done that it needs to get done and those actors concern me because i think that ethics should not be split off, but i understand the sentiment that says that people have more expectations than what ethics has been able to deliver. so when we talk about that, i'm

measuring that through an expectation that what it is that we can do and what we're not able to do. so that's part of what i think you've tried to do with an analysis of the recommendations from the controller, but i think it needs to be a more robust response to the public on those issues. so i'm saying that for my own perspective. >> thank you for that feedback, commissioner. i know the staff shows that interest and making sure we are as transparent as possible and that the progress is being made. it's an important opportunity to engage with the commission and the public so it's not a question about but how we're

doing it with everything we can with as much focus as possible. i very much appreciate and to be able to talk about the work that's going on. so we look forward to continue to make progress on these in a bigger and better way. i think we all share that goal. >> thank you. >> okay. if there's no other comments from the commissioners, let's go to public comment, moderator. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue if you've just joined this meeting, we are currently on the motion of discussion. the fiscal year 2022 first status and legislative analyst

v.l.a. performance report. if you have not already done so, press star three to be added to the queue. you will hear a bell go off when you have 30 seconds remaining. please stand by. madam chair, we have no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment is closed. since there's no action for this item, let's move to item eight. discussion and executive director's report. >> thank you, chair lee. once the chair, always the

chair. thank you, this is a brief report but important information i wanted to highlight for you. one as i mentioned earlier in the meeting, we are physically re-opening our offices on monday. it has been an unusual and a fascinating road to get to this point but we will have our doors on monday for public facing services. some of the processes we have will be familiar, some will be different. aligneded with the health and safety protocols. we've established a new and updated covid-19 prevention plan making it available to the public who visits our offices so that they make sense and are consistent with sometimes changing guidance. i think we are looking forward to seeing more of each other and i think we're looking forward to seeing you all in the new year as well as those

meetings can resume back in city hall. we will be posting information distributing it broadly to our stakeholders to highlight this update. separately, the other very important item that i'm happy to share is our hiring and staffing news. as i mentioned in the last item, we have now concluded the vacancy position for our auditor position i do have two staff members. as you remember for this month, when we first introduces caesar delgado. he was with the tax port for roughly 20 years and he has experienced as an auditor who is in the political reform audit program at the california tax board. so has a great wealth of absolutely spot-on experience for us and we're looking forward to having him now join

the audit team as well working with linda fong and rob hodge. he also had some experience working at a political law firm politically and has some exposure to both sides of that coin and we're just happy to welcome caesar today. just give a waive so people can say hello. so i just started this week. it's a much longer process than that. so welcome on behalf of all of us. i also wanted to make sure we introduce last month to you, our new members who joined last month. b.c. matthews is one of our senior investigative senior analysts. i think both b.c. and cory are online. b.c. has most recently served as a housing rights attorney in the bay area, but also in new york and with the manhattan legal services doing work in housing rights area.

so she also has been special investigator with the new york city's police department and is bringing all of that experience. and cory joined us in october and he is a court investigator and he did a lot of in-depth investigations there relating to guardianship, conservativeships and complex accounting, a various conservetorship. so somebody to investigative team and just very happy to be

welcoming all three of our new staff members. and look forward to introducing additional staff members as our hiring process over the next coming months. >> thank you. and welcome. we look forward to working with you. and that's commissioner choo. >> commissioner: thank you, julie. thank you, director, for that wonderful introduction and welcome caesar and b.c. and cory. you bring so much experience and impressive background and i'm thrilled that you are joining commission to help us do this really important work and delighted that you have experience and that you're

committed to this work and the amount of work that i can on imagine that it's taken for you to be able to open the doors to the public on the 15th so thank you for that and thank you for hanging in there throughout this long, surreal process. it's been hard for so thank you for that. and i'm so thrilled, maybe if i

could squeeze it in, i'd love to say hello to everyone. the last time we were in person was february 2020, so a little over a year and a half ago. it's great to be at this point of being in person again. >> [inaudible] >> one of the things that you can do is move staffers and train the commissioners on it. i want to echo the same things that commissioner choo and chair lee is saying as far as i

know no other city commission. that's an indication that when ethics was created, there was a recognition that the work of ethics needed to be able to be based entirely on the view of the ethics commission and not filtered by the political considerations of people who run for elections. there's another reason why commissioners serve for six

years and don't serve for longer periods of time. i'm sure you will see we have other commissions where people have served as commissioners for ten and 20 years and never stepped down from their appointments. so you have an opportunity to work on a commission that has very unique and powerful stories and very unique and powerful way of being established. that's not to say it can't be approved in both regards, so it just says that this is something that the voters see as important and your work as part of that so i'm delighted to understand the background

and work i've worked in the most challenging parts of government from housing so welcome. thank you. >> commissioner: i just want to welcome you all as well. the work you're doing is so important. anything that i can do as a commissioner to assist you in what you're doing and support the staff. please know that i'm here for it. and joining commissioner choo in welcoming folks back to the office. i'm sure for some people, it's a mixed blessing. and other people are like oh, my god, what are we doing?

but be that as it may, i hope that as we all start to transition back to a more normal world that the staff is as productive as we need them to be and i too will try to run through there at some so welcome aboard and all the best to you. >> if i might add one more note. per the city's health and safety guidance, we are still establishing ourselves in a fairly small office. so what you'll see as a hybrid

model going forward. they'll be staffed on certain days of the week. so nonetheless, we are working with our tech folks to try and make it as visible as possible to everybody public and commissioners alike. we will look for opportunities to welcome you both on site as well as collecting the staff remotely as we can. so thank you for that. >> so does that mean that you will be able to welcome the public. >> yes. the public will be available to support the public. we'll have staff working sort of staggered days over the course of the week. we just simply don't have space anymore. so given the masking and the social distancing encouragement that the city's health guidelines still provide working within those constraints. but we will have multiple people on side and the doors

will be open to. >> if you can launch that on social media to let the public know, that would be terrific. >> we will. thank you. >> chairman: moderator, let's open it up for public comment, please. >> okay. this is a reminder to all participants if you did raise your hand to speak and you're done, can you make sure to clear your hand and lower your hand. thank you. madam chair, we are checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. we just joined this meeting on the motion of agenda item number eight. an update of various program attic and operational highlights of ethics commission staff activities since the commission's previous meeting. if you've not already done so,

please press star three to be added to the queue. you will have three minutes to provide your public comment, six minutes if you're online with an interpreter. please stand by. madam chair, there are no public comment callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment is closed. let's move on to item number nine, discussion and possible action on items for future meetings. [inaudible] >> i'm sorry. i just want to make sure that you have your ipad muted because you are echoing.

>> yes. >> chairman: commissioner bush and commissioner choo. unmute, please. >> commissioner: you know, you can teach an old dog new tricks but they're very slow to learn. um, i noticed that we are receiving some public comments by -- in advance or in writing and i'd like to recommend that when we receive those kinds of comments coming in to the commission and since they are public that at the next meeting take a look at responding to those issues. it's one of the ways we we are

listeners as well as talkers when it comes the two that i saw had to do with a suggested audit of some form 700s and of specific city officials and another one had to do with whistle blower. and i know we have put in the past that we plan on hearing an update on the whistle blower program. i would encourage when we look at that that it be at the next meeting in december and that we also consider how the law has been written to limit its effectiveness as opposed to ways it was written to expand its effectiveness. and i think that as having been one of the drafters of that

particular law which i did with commission president a few years ago we went through it line by line but you can't anticipate everything. so that's one issue. a second thing is i sent out a memo on public outreach and i'd like to put on the agenda a discussion of how we can do more to facilitate public outreach including work by the commission themselves by the staff and work we can do in partnership with other city agencies and particularly ones

that are themselves engaged in public outreach. i know elections is going to have its hands full in february and march and in addition to that, they have the whole question of redistricting and drawing new lines and and looking at the data that elections had a few months ago. it showed a concerning gap in the participation of voters according to where they live so that in some districts, the participation was down at 50% and others at 80% and a gap

that large to encourage greater anticipation in the government in elections. i would urge that we take a look at including in that outreach that facilitates that where and i would add to that that one other that we put into the budget a commission secretary which you are aware that something that the charter says that commissions shall

appoint commission secretary. it doesn't say it can. it says it shall. and i'm sure that anybody who knows that government language knows that that means do it. while we have been very short staffed in the path, we are staffing up and now we're going to see increased demand on this as a result of the mayor and the don't we include that in

the meeting minutes? it should if not i do believe we reflect these in the minutes for the meetings. we will forward this to the commission. i think we also make an effort to lengthen the agenda items online after the commission meeting so the public comment can be received as well. >> thank you, julie. so for my proposed topics for the december meeting would be an update from the policy team on the behested payment ordinance that changes. i believe it was last year and i believe we've approved changes to the behested payments ordinance and sent it over to the board of supervisors and for a variety of reasons, i think that it is installed and it's not an acted

upon to date. and i'd like to see and similar to what commission bush has raised about similar outreach, it's probably in process right now looking at a later start time for our commission meetings so that we can make it easier for members of the public to participate and not have it be during the middle of the work day perhaps like a 4:00 start to be independent of their own obligations.

i think it would be helpful to have that hook-up and the technical issues come up and just settle that for the remainder of the current.

>> there's no other comments. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. please stay on hold if the system indicates you have been unmuted. if you're just joining us, we are discussing agenda item number nine. if you have not already done so, please press star three to be added to the public comment queue. you will have three minutes to provide your public comment, six minutes if you're online with an interpreter. you will hear the tone when you have been unmuted. please stand by.

madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment here is closed for agenda item number nine. the next agenda item is additional opportunity for public comment on matters appearing or not appearing on the agenda. >> it looks like we have no hands raised.

>> i think you're on mute. >> oh, no. you're fine. yeah, looks like there's no hands raised. would you like to move forward with public comment on this agenda item. >> i asked for public comment. sorry about that. >> no worries. okay. >> chairman: no hands raised. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. if you are just joining this meeting, we are on agenda item number ten. additional opportunity for public comment on matters appearing or not appearing in the agenda pursuant to ethics commission by laws article vii section 2.

please stand by. >> chairman: okay. thank you, i just want to take this opportunity to thank you my colleagues and everybody for your patience in putting up with today's technical challenges in my neighborhood. let's call for agenda item number 11, adjournment. no action is required. i guess it's unanimous. >> we're good. >> chairman: approval. thank you everybody. happy thanksgiving and we'll see you in december. >> happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving. have a wonderful weekend.

>> president lee: i do apologize for the additional challenge that i'm facing in my area. just in case i lose connection again, may i ask commissioner chiu, who is the senior member of this commission as well as a former chair to take over while i resolve the situation? >> commissioner chiu: yes. happy to do so, but hopefully the technology will cooperate. >> president lee: thank you, commissioner chiu. i think when we left, we were going to open up for public comment. >> clerk: okay. please stand by.

>> commissioner bush: excuse me. i think i have a few additional comments. >> president lee: oh, commissioner bush. if any interested parties want to dial in, please dial in now. commissioner bush? >> commissioner bush: thank you. i had three quick questions. you talked about airlines cannot offer upgrades to airport officials, but shouldn't that include any city official because it's not just airline officials who approve ultimately arrangements that the airport has? so i'm glad to see that we've

considered the entire universe of people. the second is i recommend an outreach to departments as soon as you can who have contractors. for example, the p.u.c., the d.p.w., rec park, because they're the ones who are going to have sort of institutionalized their arrangements, and they want to know whatever arrangements they've institutionalized may have to be revised because of this on going effort. so if you want more input, i would suggest that we reach out to those. and the third thing is that, it sort of rose with the whistleblower, but the whistleblower has aspects that are important to this. i think we should have a safe see something, say something rule that says that if you are aware of violations, like maybe

you're an administrative assistant who makes the reservations for an official who's going to stay at a $1,000 a night hotel, you might want to have that person tell the official, this falls outside the rule, and if they don't change it, then make that known to officials at ethics that this is an apparent violation that's now taking place. >> clerk: commissioner bush, just be aware that you're also off camera, you have your camera off. >> i'll go in reverse order, so to address your last point, i see this as one of the biggest, perhaps the biggest outcome that we can get from training, is exactly what you just said.

that if city officials, not just elected commissioners and department heads who currently have to do training, but anybody who's participating in government decision making, if all of those folks, which we're talking in the thousands instead of hundreds, are trained in ethics rules, it's much more likely to happen. if people know the rules and they've had contact with people in the ethics commission through personal outreach, they're much more likely to understand that a behavior is problematic, so to me, that's the huge first step we can take, get in touch with each of them about the rules, and we'll get something happening, folks will say something when they see something. in terms of individual departments, that point's well

taken, and i think we can do that. and to the point you made about the restricted source rule, we've addressed that issue in the draft coordinates. we added an additional rule that even if a contractor is not doing business with a department, if a -- i think it might be well, i'll tell you what the context is in a moment, but if the professional approved the contract, if a

contractor is doing business with the department, then approval is required, that the contractor would be a restricted source per them, as well, so that is something that is built into the rule in this proposed ordinance. >> commissioner bush: thank you. >> president lee: okay. let's go to public comment, please. >> i'm unmuted. sorry. i just unmuted myself. i do see commissioner chiu's

hand is raised up. do you -- >> commissioner chiu: i'm sorry. that's from before. >> ronald, before you go to public comment, i just wanted to clarify one thing for commissioner bush. it's not b-2. it's part b of the definition of restricted source. members of boards or commission, including the board of supervisors, a person doing business with any city department under a contract that requires approval is a restricted source. >> commissioner bush: but are they a restricted source for somebody on the planning commission? >> no, not if -- i guess we're talking about that airline carrier. that air line -- no, the way

the ordinance is drafted, they would not be a restricted source for them. >> commissioner bush: i'm not sure that that gets to the issue. it's going to be a problem in terms of how the public views it. if you look back at what happened with d.p.w. soliciting contributions, for a nonprofit, they didn't appear to be covered by any rules because he wasn't an appointed department head and he wasn't covered that way, and the fact that the money was going to a nonprofit

meant that he wasn't covered. so, for example, we have an exemption for providing information to a city, but in the past, we've seen that that could include creating an entire data system that was unique to a situation and giving it to one supervisor who then models it for making legislation. and i'm not sure what you have here would fall outside the exemption or within it. >> so go to the idea of d.p.w., when you're talking about mohamed nuru asking recology executives to make payments into a nonprofit that he controlled, that fact pattern would absolutely be covered both by this ordinance and the phase one ordinance about the

payment, so they would be forbidden from soliciting anyone who has an interest in something like that. this definitely would address that fact pattern. >> president lee: okay. mr. moderator, can we go to

public comment? >> clerk: madam chair, we are checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. for those who already joined us, please press star, three to enter the queue. for those of you who have just joined us, we are on agenda item 6, presentation and discussion of draft ordinance and regulation amendments to enact recommendations contained in report on gift laws part a: gifts to individuals, dates august 2, 2021, and report on gift laws part b: gifts to city departments, dated september 29, 2021. please stand by.

madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. >> president lee: okay. since this agenda item requires no action, and also, mr. ford, we look forward to your update next month. now it's agenda item number 7, discussion and possible action on fiscal year 22 first quarter status report on implementation of recommendations of the august 2020 budget and

legislative analyst's performance report of the ethics commission. >> thank you, chair lee. our budget and legislative analyst representative is unable to be here today, but we provided a summary of the audit that was issued in august 2020 for our office. the report provided to you, you'll see, has three components. the first, a very brief overview, a snapshot of where we are in terms of recommendations that are in the planning phase, making way and progress, and those that have been completed. the report then links to the actual table that we've shared quarter after quarter of each of the 16 recommendations and more detailed notes about the status of that work. and also then links to the 13

summaries or documents referenced in the chart here. so i'm happy to answer any questions that you have for us. the point of the report is that we want to make sure that we are being accountable to the progress that we're making and that we continue to improve our operations as recommended by the b.l.a. it's a short summary, and i hope that what you would be able to take away from this is we're making progress, and we only have one recommendation that remains in the planning phase in contrast to the last report that we provided to you. so i'm happy to answer any questions, and we look forward to, again, having a fuller report as we go through what are the recommendations to the whistleblower report that we report annually, so we'll

provide that information the next report that we provide to you. we're happy to answering any questions and happy to update you on the progress in the coming months. >> president lee: okay. director pelham, can you refresh my memory specifically on the 6% plan status items, and also the 38% in progress items? >> of course. the one item that remains in the planning stage is to establish a formal training for our audits program, our audits division. that is something that we've prioritized as part of this fiscal year's work plan, but as

you see from other documents on the agenda that we'll get to in a bit, we've just been able to fill our audit position. so with that vacancy filled, the team is complete, and we'll be looking forward to having a more formalized training program developed and it speaks to sort of audit functionality and audit program work more richly. that's the one that's in the planning stage. the other work that i think that you asked about that are in progress, and approving procedures for the lobbyist audit program, that has been pushed back to december 30 as

our target date because of the hiring process that we've been in process office wide. also, the audit manual, that's something that's in process. continuing to work with the team on that is something that's very much been a focus of the audit team so far. and then, continuing to work on our enhanced case tracking and performance management. you may recall that we have received funding for this fiscal year for the development of the case management system, so we have been working our enforcement team along with our electronic disclosure and data analysis teams to actually meet with support staff from outside of the office who are enabling us to build a system, so we have been having conversations and identifying the components and then lastly, formalizing and documenting a training program for the investigators. as you also know, we have --

i'm happy to introduce you shortly to our two new investigators. we have two new positions that we'll be filling and we've also had transition with the leadership of the division, so those items have affected our symline, but we we want to make sure that the training that we provide -- have affected our timeline, but we want to make sure that the training that we provide is as robust as possible. does that answer your question? >> president lee: yes. i see commissioner chiu and then commissioner bush. >> commissioner chiu: thank you, chair lee. director pelham, i believe that

the b.l.a. audit report has recommendations around staffing, the finding that the ethics commission was understaffed. do you know offhand how our current staffing compares to what their recommendations were? >> yes. our staffing compares to the recommendations. an audit manager position has been filled, and we hired the new staff to assist with the form 700 program, positions that were identified in the audit budget. in addition to that, as you know, this year, we have eight new positions that we're filling, and so that's the ethics at work team in terms of posting job descriptions, and

two additional enforcement staff, and one program performance analyst to work directly with our deputy director and me on making sure that we have our fullest reporting and our most transparent reporting regularly to you all and to the public. so there are a number of positions being filled, but that's what we're focused on with the b.l.a. report. >> commissioner chiu: okay. that's good to know because i know that we've had on going turnovers, so i know there'll be vacancies, and we have the additional positions approved in this year's budget. i just want to make sure that those additional positions that were vacant will get us to what they recommended, and it does. >> yes. >> commissioner chiu: thank you for this report and for the staff continued progress on the basic blocking tackling going

from one plan to a course of plans in a few months. really tremendous work on the part of you and the whole team, so thank you for putting that effort in and continuing to make this a priority. >> thank you. >> president lee: commissioner bush? >> commissioner bush: thank you. i'm unmuted, right? >> president lee: yes. >> commissioner chiu: you need to turn on your camera, commissioner. >> commissioner bush: oh, actually, my face. it's good to know the position that you're filing, the title, but the others, we don't know exactly what the duties will be. can you provide some additional information on that?

>> yeah, i'd be happy to give you the short version next month and be happy to give you a more thorough version next month. the positions that we're currently hiring for is our director of enforcement and two senior operators, and we also have a temporary administrative services clerk that will be helping with our front facing public facing services in our office in the coming months on a temporary basis, but the positions that i was talking about in answer to commissioner chiu's question, we need to be in front of city staff, working with them to understand what

the goals that we're trying to achieve. so we'll be prioritizing because it'll be a three year program, and we can't do all departments all at once, but we want to make sure that we're providing information regularly that will help people understand how to navigate ethics in practical settings and the pressures that we all face as public servants in city governments. so we will be developing case studies, we will be developing smaller trainings, and happy to flush that out a bit more in a briefing that's useful to the commission. separately, we have a program performance and reporting analyst, that one of the things that the b.l.a. report discussed was that we had tried year offer year in our budget request to provide some context

in the work that we're doing, the progress that we're making, and the impediments and the barriers and problems that we're facing in this work, so that's what the operations assistant will be doing to help me and the deputy director, so it's easy to see where we've started on a process or a project and where we've gone on the way to make progress and impact through that work, so that's a position that is also in development. we haven't posted it yet, but that was a new position that we were authorized for this year's funding, and those were all priorities in the fiscal year hiring plan. >> commissioner bush: thank you. a couple of questions come to

mind. you'll have to do the ethics department work in three-year increments. you can't do all the work. will you be starting with the departments that are most visible as failing to meet the requirements of disclosure and conflict of interest? like, for example, d.p.w. and p.u.c.? >> i don't have an answer on that for you, commissioner bush. the program is still in the developmental stage. i am reaching out to the department heads and will be reaching out to the department heads about what is most prevalent, and we will have a conversation with them, so again, happy to have a fuller response for you next month if that would be acceptable to the commission. >> commissioner bush: i would like to suggest, in addition to

asking department heads and city officials, that you take into account what we have seen from the u.s. attorney and the city attorney and from the public, the problems of conflict of interest in san francisco. i think that a part of what our job is is to build public trust, and if we sort of lay those issues to the side in order to meet a different kind of scheme for pursuing the training, that we will pay a price in terms of public trust on that, so that's the first point that i want to raise for your consideration as this moves forward. secondly, i wonder to what

extend the investigators or auditors -- i'm not sure how to refer to between them -- take a look at filings for form 700? do you guys do an actual check on what's been filed or are you just checking off that they have been filed? [please stand by]

just to be clear, it was proposed to us as a priority 14 or 15 months ago and we're not ready to move on any of that, yet? >> it was proposed in one of the public integrity reports. i don't have the dates. it was probably likely 14 months ago now. and it was something that now that we have an audit staff, it was a priority for us in this fiscal year, yes. >> all right. i think it's important for the public to understand that we

didn't ask because we were short-staffed. i think that otherwise, the public is going to look at this as we didn't act because we were playing favorites with people at city government. but there's a system of that anyway and i think we need to disabuse the public of that to the extent that the record does allow us that. so that's a point that i'd like to elevate in our consideration of this as we move forward. you said that you still put off looking at lobbyists audits and investigations. what is your timetable for that? >> december of this year. as the chart indicates, we've had to push that back by three months because the audit manager was tasked with helping with the hiring process for the audit division as well as the

investigative division. >> so that's next month, you're talking about. >> yes. that's next month. >> and so what is the fiscal year priority for us this year as well. >> so the process will be by december 30th, but when will you actually start implementing that process? >> we are expecting to implement it in january 2022 with a goal of completion by june 30th, 2022. >> during that period of time, we'll see two elections, a february election and a june election in which lobbyists will be laying a role one way or the other. are you going to fit that into your timetable as you're looking at it? i mean, because you can go through all kinds of lobbyists, lobbyists who spend very little. lobbyists who don't spend a great deal.

lobbyists who don't report that they're being paid anything at all even though they're making contacts. what will you be looking for with all that? >> we're looking to complete the lobbying audit program by june 30th along with the audits we have to complete along with the establishment of the form of the filing review process and so our audit manager and three members of our audit team will be working closely to try and accomplish all those goals. all of those will be juggled in addition to prepping the public financing administration and review process that the audit team also handles around february through june when candidates start indicating that they're interested in public financing for the november election and the board of supervisors races. so there's a number of agenda items that the priority for the audit division to attempt to make progress on this year and we're going to be focused on trying to do that. as you know, we'll have these

reports to make sure we can be transparent about any progress that's being impeded for any reason and hopefully we'll have fewer impediments, but we've got a full team. >> there's no question that all of us are aware of the heavy load that's been placed on the ethics staff at least because of the scrutiny of how city hall is operating or not operating in the public interest. so that -- when you hear my questions coming, it's out of a keen awareness of how the public views us as you know. there are efforts of the board to split off some of the things that the ethics commission does because of beliefs that ethics is not getting things done that it needs to get done and those

actors concern me because i think that ethics should not be split off, but i understand the sentiment that says that people have more expectations than what ethics has been able to deliver. so when we talk about that, i'm measuring that through an expectation that what it is that we can do and what we're not able to do. so that's part of what i think you've tried to do with an analysis of the recommendations from the controller, but i think it needs to be a more robust response to the public

on those issues. so i'm saying that for my own perspective. >> thank you for that feedback, commissioner. i know the staff shows that interest and making sure we are as transparent as possible and that the progress is being made. it's an important opportunity to engage with the commission and the public so it's not a question about but how we're doing it with everything we can with as much focus as possible. i very much appreciate and to be able to talk about the work that's going on. so we look forward to continue to make progress on these in a bigger and better way. i think we all share that goal. >> thank you. >> okay. if there's no other comments from the commissioners, let's

go to public comment, moderator. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue if you've just joined this meeting, we are currently on the motion of discussion. the fiscal year 2022 first status and legislative analyst v.l.a. performance report. if you have not already done so, press star three to be added to the queue. you will hear a bell go off when you have 30 seconds remaining. please stand by.

madam chair, we have no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment is closed. since there's no action for this item, let's move to item eight. discussion and executive director's report. >> thank you, chair lee. once the chair, always the chair. thank you, this is a brief report but important information i wanted to highlight for you. one as i mentioned earlier in the meeting, we are physically re-opening our offices on monday. it has been an unusual and a fascinating road to get to this point but we will have our doors on monday for public facing services. some of the processes we have will be familiar, some will be

different. aligneded with the health and safety protocols. we've established a new and updated covid-19 prevention plan making it available to the public who visits our offices so that they make sense and are consistent with sometimes changing guidance. i think we are looking forward to seeing more of each other and i think we're looking forward to seeing you all in the new year as well as those meetings can resume back in city hall. we will be posting information distributing it broadly to our stakeholders to highlight this update. separately, the other very important item that i'm happy to share is our hiring and staffing news. as i mentioned in the last item, we have now concluded the vacancy position for our

auditor position i do have two staff members. as you remember for this month, when we first introduces caesar delgado. he was with the tax port for roughly 20 years and he has experienced as an auditor who is in the political reform audit program at the california tax board. so has a great wealth of absolutely spot-on experience for us and we're looking forward to having him now join the audit team as well working with linda fong and rob hodge. he also had some experience working at a political law firm politically and has some exposure to both sides of that coin and we're just happy to welcome caesar today. just give a waive so people can say hello. so i just started this week. it's a much longer process than

that. so welcome on behalf of all of us. i also wanted to make sure we introduce last month to you, our new members who joined last month. b.c. matthews is one of our senior investigative senior analysts. i think both b.c. and cory are online. b.c. has most recently served as a housing rights attorney in the bay area, but also in new york and with the manhattan legal services doing work in housing rights area. so she also has been special investigator with the new york city's police department and is bringing all of that experience. and cory joined us in october and he is a court investigator and he did a lot of in-depth investigations there relating to guardianship,

conservativeships and complex accounting, a various conservetorship. so somebody to investigative team and just very happy to be welcoming all three of our new staff members. and look forward to introducing additional staff members as our hiring process over the next coming months. >> thank you. and welcome.

we look forward to working with you. and that's commissioner choo. >> commissioner: thank you, julie. thank you, director, for that wonderful introduction and welcome caesar and b.c. and cory. you bring so much experience and impressive background and i'm thrilled that you are joining commission to help us do this really important work and delighted that you have experience and that you're committed to this work and the amount of work that i can on imagine that it's taken for you to be able to open the doors to

the public on the 15th so thank you for that and thank you for hanging in there throughout this long, surreal process. it's been hard for so thank you for that. and i'm so thrilled, maybe if i could squeeze it in, i'd love to say hello to everyone. the last time we were in person was february 2020, so a little over a year and a half ago. it's great to be at this point of being in person again.

>> [inaudible] >> one of the things that you can do is move staffers and train the commissioners on it. i want to echo the same things that commissioner choo and chair lee is saying as far as i know no other city commission.

that's an indication that when ethics was created, there was a recognition that the work of ethics needed to be able to be based entirely on the view of the ethics commission and not filtered by the political considerations of people who run for elections. there's another reason why commissioners serve for six years and don't serve for longer periods of time. i'm sure you will see we have other commissions where people have served as commissioners for ten and 20 years and never stepped down from their appointments. so you have an opportunity to work on a commission that has very unique and powerful

stories and very unique and powerful way of being established. that's not to say it can't be approved in both regards, so it just says that this is something that the voters see as important and your work as part of that so i'm delighted to understand the background and work i've worked in the most challenging parts of government from housing so welcome. thank you.

>> commissioner: i just want to welcome you all as well. the work you're doing is so important. anything that i can do as a commissioner to assist you in what you're doing and support the staff. please know that i'm here for it. and joining commissioner choo in welcoming folks back to the office. i'm sure for some people, it's a mixed blessing. and other people are like oh, my god, what are we doing? but be that as it may, i hope that as we all start to transition back to a more normal world that the staff is as productive as we need them to be and i too will try to run through there at some so

welcome aboard and all the best to you. >> if i might add one more note. per the city's health and safety guidance, we are still establishing ourselves in a fairly small office. so what you'll see as a hybrid model going forward. they'll be staffed on certain days of the week. so nonetheless, we are working with our tech folks to try and make it as visible as possible to everybody public and commissioners alike. we will look for opportunities to welcome you both on site as well as collecting the staff remotely as we can. so thank you for that. >> so does that mean that you

will be able to welcome the public. >> yes. the public will be available to support the public. we'll have staff working sort of staggered days over the course of the week. we just simply don't have space anymore. so given the masking and the social distancing encouragement that the city's health guidelines still provide working within those constraints. but we will have multiple people on side and the doors will be open to. >> if you can launch that on social media to let the public know, that would be terrific. >> we will. thank you. >> chairman: moderator, let's open it up for public comment, please. >> okay. this is a reminder to all participants if you did raise

your hand to speak and you're done, can you make sure to clear your hand and lower your hand. thank you. madam chair, we are checking to see if there are any callers in the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. we just joined this meeting on the motion of agenda item number eight. an update of various program attic and operational highlights of ethics commission staff activities since the commission's previous meeting. if you've not already done so, please press star three to be added to the queue. you will have three minutes to provide your public comment, six minutes if you're online with an interpreter. please stand by.

madam chair, there are no public comment callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment is closed. let's move on to item number nine, discussion and possible action on items for future meetings. [inaudible] >> i'm sorry. i just want to make sure that you have your ipad muted because you are echoing. >> yes. >> chairman: commissioner bush and commissioner choo. unmute, please. >> commissioner: you know, you can teach an old dog new tricks but they're very slow to learn. um, i noticed that we are receiving some public comments

by -- in advance or in writing and i'd like to recommend that when we receive those kinds of comments coming in to the commission and since they are public that at the next meeting take a look at responding to those issues. it's one of the ways we we are listeners as well as talkers when it comes the two that i saw had to do with a suggested audit of some form 700s and of specific city officials and another one had to do with whistle blower.

and i know we have put in the past that we plan on hearing an update on the whistle blower program. i would encourage when we look at that that it be at the next meeting in december and that we also consider how the law has been written to limit its effectiveness as opposed to ways it was written to expand its effectiveness. and i think that as having been one of the drafters of that particular law which i did with commission president a few years ago we went through it line by line but you can't anticipate everything.

so that's one issue. a second thing is i sent out a memo on public outreach and i'd like to put on the agenda a discussion of how we can do more to facilitate public outreach including work by the commission themselves by the staff and work we can do in partnership with other city agencies and particularly ones that are themselves engaged in public outreach. i know elections is going to have its hands full in february and march and in addition to that, they have the whole question of redistricting and drawing new lines and and

looking at the data that elections had a few months ago. it showed a concerning gap in the participation of voters according to where they live so that in some districts, the participation was down at 50% and others at 80% and a gap that large to encourage greater anticipation in the government in elections. i would urge that we take a look at including in that

outreach that facilitates that where and i would add to that that one other that we put into the budget a commission secretary which you are aware that something that the charter says that commissions shall appoint commission secretary. it doesn't say it can. it says it shall. and i'm sure that anybody who knows that government language knows that that means do it. while we have been very short staffed in the path, we are staffing up and now we're going to see increased demand on this as a result of the mayor and

the don't we include that in the meeting minutes? it should if not i do believe we reflect these in the minutes for the meetings. we will forward this to the commission. i think we also make an effort to lengthen the agenda items online after the commission meeting so the public comment can be received as well. >> thank you, julie.

so for my proposed topics for the december meeting would be an update from the policy team on the behested payment ordinance that changes. i believe it was last year and i believe we've approved changes to the behested payments ordinance and sent it over to the board of supervisors and for a variety of reasons, i think that it is installed and it's not an acted upon to date. and i'd like to see and similar to what commission bush has raised about similar outreach, it's probably in process right

now looking at a later start time for our commission meetings so that we can make it easier for members of the public to participate and not have it be during the middle of the work day perhaps like a 4:00 start to be independent of their own obligations.

i think it would be helpful to have that hook-up and the technical issues come up and just settle that for the remainder of the current. >> there's no other comments. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. please stay on hold if the system indicates you have been unmuted. if you're just joining us, we are discussing agenda item

number nine. if you have not already done so, please press star three to be added to the public comment queue. you will have three minutes to provide your public comment, six minutes if you're online with an interpreter. you will hear the tone when you have been unmuted. please stand by. madam chair, there are no callers in the queue. >> chairman: okay. public comment here is closed for agenda item number nine. the next agenda item is additional opportunity for public comment on matters appearing or not appearing on the agenda.

>> it looks like we have no hands raised. >> i think you're on mute. >> oh, no. you're fine. yeah, looks like there's no hands raised. would you like to move forward with public comment on this agenda item. >> i asked for public comment. sorry about that. >> no worries. okay. >> chairman: no hands raised. >> madam chair, we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. for those on hold, please

continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. if you are just joining this meeting, we are on agenda item number ten. additional opportunity for public comment on matters appearing or not appearing in the agenda pursuant to ethics commission by laws article vii section 2. please stand by. >> chairman: okay. thank you, i just want to take this opportunity to thank you my colleagues and everybody for your patience in putting up with today's technical challenges in my neighborhood.

let's call for agenda item number 11, adjournment. no action is required. i guess it's unanimous. >> we're good. >> chairman: approval. thank you everybody. happy thanksgiving and we'll see you in december. >> happy thanksgiving. >> happy thanksgiving. have a wonderful weekend.

>> flyshaker pool was a public pool located on sloat boulevard near great highway. it operated from 1925 to 1971 and was one of the largest pools in the world. after decades of use, less people visited. the pool deteriorated and was demolished in 2000. built by herbert flyshaker, pumps from the pacific ocean that were filtered and heated filled the pool. aside from the recreational activities, many schools held swim meets there.

the delia flyshaker memorial building was on the west side of the pool. it had locker rooms with a sun room and mini hospital. in 1995, a storm damaged one of the pipes that flowed to the ocean. maintenance was not met, and the pool had to close. in 1999, the pool was filled with sand and gravel. in 2000, the space became a spot for the san francisco zoo. these are some memories that many families remember swimming at flyshaker pool. shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of san francisco by supporting local services within

neighborhood. we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. where will you shop and dine in the 49? san francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. each corridor has its own personality. our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. >> you are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping small businesses grow. >> it is more environmentally friendly. >> shopping local is very important. i have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. by shopping here and supporting us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the

flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. it is really good for everybody. >> shopping locally is crucial. without that support, small business can't survive, and if we lose small business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. >> it is important to dine and shop locally. it allows us to maintain traditions. it makes the neighborhood. >> i think san francisco should shop local as much as they can. the retail marketplace is changes. we are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and

help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. >> the fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. there are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. at the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. >> shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the business owners to thrive in the community. we see more small businesses going away. we need to shop locally to keep the small business alive in san francisco. >> shop and dine in the 49 is a

cool initiative. you can see the banners in the streets around town. it is great. anything that can showcase and legitimize small businesses is a wonderful thing.

>> i'm rebecca and i'm a violinist and violin teacher. i was born here in san francisco to a family of cellists, professional cellists, so i grew up surrounded by a bunch of musical rehearsals an lessons. all types of activities happened in my house. i began playing piano when i was 4. i really enjoyed musical activities in general. so when i was 10, i began studying violin in san francisco. and from there, i

pretty much never stopped and went on to study in college as well. that's the only thing i've ever known is to have music playing all the time, whether it is someone actually playing next to you or someone listening to a recording. i think that i actually originally wanted to play flute and we didn't have a flute. it's always been a way of life. i didn't know that it could be any other way. >> could you give me an e over here. great. when you teach and you're seeing a student who has a problem, you have to think on your feet to solve that problem. and that same kind of of thinking that you do to fix it applies to your own practice as well. so if i'm teaching a student and they are having a hard time getting a certain note, they can't find the right note. and i have to think of a digestible way to explain it to

them. ee, d, d, e. >> yes. then, when i go on to do my own practice for a performance, those words are echoing back in my head. okay. why am i missing this? i just told somebody that they needed to do this. maybe i should try the same thing. i feel a lot of pressure when i'm teaching young kids. you might think that there is less pressure if they are going on to study music or in college that it is more relaxing. i actually find that the opposite is true. if i know i'm sending a high school student to some great music program, they're going to get so much more instruction. what i have told them is only the beginning. if i am teaching a student who i know is going to completely change gears when they go to college and they never will pick

up a violin again there is so much that i need to tell them. in plain violin, it is so difficult. there is so much more information to give. every day i think, oh, my gosh. i haven't gotten to this technique or we haven't studies they meese and they have so much more to do. we only have 45 minutes a week. i have taught a few students in some capacity who has gone on to study music. that feels anaysing. >> it is incredible to watch how they grow. somebody can make amazing project from you know, age 15 to 17 if they put their mind to it. >> i think i have 18 students now. these more than i've had in the past. i'm hoping to build up more of a studio. there will be a pee ono, lots of bookshelves and lots of great

music. the students will come to my house and take their lessons there. my schedule changes a lot on a day-to-day basis and that kind of keeps it exciting. think that music is just my favorite thing that there is, whether it's listening to it or playing it or teaching it. all that really matters to me is that i'm surrounded by the sounds, so i'm going top keep doing what i'm doing to keep my life in that direction. valencia has been a constantly

evolving roadway. the first bike lanes were striped in 1999, and today is the major north and south bike route from the mission neighborhood extending from market to mission street. >> it is difficult to navigate lindsay on a daily basis, and more specifically, during the morning and evening commute hours. >> from 2012 to 2016, there were 260 collisions on valencia and 46 of those were between vehicles and bikes. the mayor shows great leadership and she knew of the long history of collisions and the real necessity for safety improvements on the streets, so she actually directed m.t.a. to put a pilot of protected bike lanes from market to 15th on valencia street within four months time. [♪♪♪] >> valencia is one of the most used north south bike routes in

san francisco. it has over 2100 cyclists on an average weekday. we promote bicycles for everyday transportation of the coalition. valencia is our mission -- fits our mission perfectly. our members fall 20 years ago to get the first bike lane stripes. whether you are going there for restaurants, nightlife, you know , people are commuting up and down every single day. >> i have been biking down the valencia street corridor for about a decade. during that time, i have seen the emergence of ridesharing companies. >> we have people on bikes, we have people on bike share, scooters, we have people delivering food and we have uber taking folks to concerts at night. one of the main goals of the project was to improve the overall safety of the corridor, will also looking for opportunities to upgrade the bikeway. >> the most common collision that happens on valencia is

actually due to double parking in the bike lane, specifically during, which is where a driver opens the door unexpectedly. >> we kept all the passengers -- the passenger levels out, which is the white crib that we see, we double the amount of commercial curbs that you see out here. >> most people aren't actually perking on valencia, they just need to get dropped off or pick something up. >> half of the commercial loading zones are actually after 6:00 p.m., so could be used for five-minute loading later into the evening to provide more opportunities or passenger and commercial loading. >> the five minute loading zone may help in this situation, but they are not along the corridor where we need them to be. >> one of the most unique aspects of the valencia pilot is on the block between 14th street. >> we worked with a pretty big mix of people on valencia. >> on this lot, there are a few schools.

all these different groups had concerns about the safety of students crossing the protected bikeway whether they are being dropped off or picked up in the morning or afternoon. to address those concerns, we installed concrete loading islands with railings -- railings that channel -- channeled a designated crossing plane. >> we had a lot of conversations around how do you load and unload kids in the mornings and the afternoons? >> i do like the visibility of some of the design, the safety aspects of the boarding pilot for the school. >> we have painted continental crosswalks, as well as a yield piece which indicates a cyclist to give the right-of-way so they can cross the roadway. this is probably one of the most unique features. >> during the planning phase, the m.t.a. came out with three alternatives for the long term project. one is parking protected, which we see with the pilot, they also

imagined a valencia street where we have two bike lanes next to one another against one side of the street. a two-way bikeway. the third option is a center running two-way bikeway, c. would have the two bike lanes running down the center with protection on either side. >> earlier, there weren't any enter lane designs in san francisco, but i think it will be a great opportunity for san francisco to take the lead on that do so the innovative and different, something that doesn't exist already. >> with all three concepts for valencia's long-term improvement , there's a number of trade-offs ranging from parking, or what needs to be done at the intersection for signal infrastructure. when he think about extending this pilot or this still -- this design, there's a lot of different design challenges, as well as challenges when it comes to doing outreach and making sure that you are reaching out to everyone in the community. >> the pilot is great. it is a no-brainer.

it is also a teaser for us. once a pilot ends, we have thrown back into the chaos of valencia street. >> what we're trying to do is incremental improvement along the corridor door. the pilot project is one of our first major improvements. we will do an initial valuation in the spring just to get a glimpse of what is happening out here on the roadway, and to make any adjustments to the pilot as needed. this fall, we will do a more robust evaluation. by spring of 2020, we will have recommendations about long-term improvements. >> i appreciate the pilot and how quickly it went in and was built, especially with the community workshops associated with it, i really appreciated that opportunity to give input. >> we want to see valencia become a really welcoming and comfortable neighborhood street for everyone, all ages and abilities. there's a lot of benefits to protected bike lanes on valencia , it is not just for cyclists. we will see way more people biking, more people walking, we are just going to create a

really friendly neighborhood street. [♪♪♪]