>> supervisors for today december 13th, 2021, our last regularly scheduled meeting for the calendar year. i'm aaron peskin the chair of the committee. mr. young, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: the minutes will reflect committee members participate through video conference in this remote meeting to the same extent as physically present and access to city is essential and invites public comment in the following ways, available on each item of the agenda. the streaming channels and online have the public call in number on the screen.

each speaker is allowed two minutes to speak. you can call 415-655-0001. the meeting id is 2480 307 9124. then press pound and pound again. when connected, you will hear the meeting discussions but be muted and in listening mode only. when your item of interest comes up, press star 3 to be added to the queue. turn down your television and radio, you may submit public comment e-mail to the rules committee clerk. it will be forwarded to the supervisors and included as part

of the public file. or you can send physical letters to city hall. that completes initial comments. >> supervisor peskin: thank you mr. young. can you please read the first item. >> clerk: yes. item 1, a hearing to appoint a member to the police commission. members of the public who wish to provide public comment on the item call 415-655-0001. the meeting id is 2480 307 9124. then press pound and pound again. if you haven't done so, press star 3 to line up to speak. >> supervisor peskin: thank you. as you will recall, we heard this item last week, there were originally five applicants, one of the applicants withdrew prior to the hearing last week.

we heard from the four applicants, i want to thank all four for their willingness to serve. and i don't want to put words in the mouth of the committee, but i think we were particularly impressed by two of the applicants and continue the item for one week and it is scheduled as a committee report in the intervening week, i believe we have gotten some letters of support, particularly for jesus gabriel yanez but also for david rizk. i want to remind my colleagues on the committee and members of the public, there will be additional openings for expired terms on the police commission coming up early in the new year in just a few months. so that is an opportunity maybe to have our cake and eat it, too relative to the two qualified folks that the committee was particularly impressed by. with that, if there are any comments from committee members,

this is an opportunity to do that. if not, i will open it up for public comment and then we can make a motion and send it forward as a committee report. seeing no names on the roster, mr. clerk, can you open item number 1 up for public comment. >> clerk: yes, operations is checking to see if there are callers in the queue. if you have not done so, please dial star 3 to be added to the queue. for those on hold, wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted. it appears we have two listeners but no one in line for public comment. and i would like to note that ms. fimbres has withdrawn her application. >> supervisor peskin: okay then there were three. i want to thank all of the applicants for applying and as i

said, we had applicants for quite a long time and now for the seat held for many years by petra dejesus and we have at least one letter from one of our colleagues, supervisor ronen in support of mr. yanez and other letters of support. supervisor chan, i think you were prepared to go forward with one of the nominees. i will hand it over to you to make a motion. >> supervisor chan: thank you chair peskin. yes, i am -- with the one week continuance and seeing more support coming through and being mindful of possible future appointments in april of 2022 i would like to make the motion to appoint jesus gabriel yanez to

seat three on the police commission. >> supervisor peskin: all right. on that motion and to mr. rizk, we look forward to seeing you in the not too distant future because i think you would be an excellent addition to the police commission. on supervisor chan's motion to send mr. yanez forward with positive recommendation, mr. clerk, a roll call please. >> clerk: roll call. the motion passes without objection. >> supervisor peskin: next item please.

>> clerk: item 2, a hearing for unlimited power of inquiry in the pursuit of information on action of board appeal member darryl honda and request member honda to report. members of the public who wish to comment on this item, call 415-655-0001, the meeting id is 2480 307 9124. then press pound and pound again. if you haven't done so, please dial star 3 to line up to speak. >> supervisor peskin: thank you mr. young. colleagues, this hearing was initiated by board president walton who is joining us this morning, back in october i believe and co-sponsored by myself, supervisor chan, supervisors ronen and preston and introduced in the wake of allegations in the local media

in this era where we are all walking on eggshells relative to any number of unfortunate discoveries that have led to this hearing. i don't want to put words in the mouth of our board president who called for it. we'll turn it over to president walton. >> supervisor walton: thank you chair peskin and members of the committee. as supervisor peskin stated on october 19th of this year, i introduced a hearing at the board of supervisors to seek additional information regarding allegations that mr. honda participated in discussions and decisions at the board of appeals in which he may have had a financial conflict of interest. i did ask supervisor peskin to make sure we scheduled this hearing today at 10:00 a.m. and requested mr. honda's atendance. i do see commissioner honda is

here. i do want to state for the record, i have no personal knowledge about the substance of such allegations and i make no assumptions about their reliability. so the primary purpose of this hearing is to gather information about the allegations and allow mr. honda the opportunity to respond to them publicly. i did send mr. honda a letter on december 2nd of this year electronically and by mail requesting documents in advance of today's hearing. we did not receive any of the documents. again, i just want to be clear, today's hearing is to hear from mr. honda and get a public response to allegations previously stated. i'm not sure if he brought the items in today or sent them over today but i will pass it back over to chair peskin.

>> supervisor peskin: just a few minutes before the beginning of the committee meeting, we received from mr. honda's laura letter signed by mr. honda setting forth that he is in the process of procuring the documents and asking for a continuance. i will let mr. honda speak for himself. the floor is yours. >> good morning. again, i sent a document over

and i'm going to read from a prepared statement. i'm submitting this letter in connection with today's hearing before the board of supervisors rules committee regarding certain votes i took in 2015 and 2017 on matters before the board of appeals. i want to emphasize at the offset that i have been honored to serve on the board as an appointee of the mayor and the board of supervisors. i take the position very seriously and spend a significant amount of time every month reviewing documents and talking to city staff and attending hearings. i'm proud of the work i have done at the board of appeals. i want to emphasize i take compliance with all the ethics and transparency laws seriously. and pay attention to whether i need to recuse myself. and i have requested guidance from the city attorney from

numerous occasions and noted several times i have done work with the party's representative and recused himself from numerous matter from the years i have received income from the party within the prior 12 months. >> supervisor peskin: not to interrupt you, i think you mean myself, not himself. >> sorry, myself, correction, thank you chair peskin. since the mission local article appeared in october, i have started going through my records and reviewing videos from 2015 and 2017 meetings to determine if i should have recused myself on the matters. i believe i acted properly in all of the matters, to the best of my recollection, i have not received income from the parties in the prior 12 months. i look forward to closely reviewing this to make sure i complied with all legal

requirements. he sent a letter 10 days ago asking for certain documents. i have started looking for these and asked my brokerage firm to do the same. they are allowed to keep them for three years and generally keep them in storage after that. since these documents date back to 2013, i'm not able to provide them at this time. some of the documents may not even be able to be reproduced. i respect the committee's interest in getting to the bottom of the situation. i'm interested as you are in making sure that i understand the conflict of interest rules and that i have recused myself when legally required to do so. i also want to emphasize that i will of course cooperate with the rules committee inquiry, however i'm not in the position to answer any questions at this hearing regarding specific board of appeals matters or specific

financial transactions. because the committee is looking at whether i complied with city law, i could potentially face legal liability and enforcement matter brought by the ethics commission, city attorney or district attorney. in light of the potential liability, my attorney, who is actually here with me now has advised me i should not answer specific questions in a public meeting at this time. in sum, i'm requesting more time to compile the relevant documents and review the facts and law with my attorney so that i be in a better position to answer the questions about the 2015 and 2017 votes. i expect to be able to provide committee with all relevant information about the votes after the holidays by friday january 7th, 2022. i respectfully request that the committee reschedule for a date

in late january which would give the committee full opportunity to review the information and therefore have more productive discussions in a future hearing. i look forward to assisting the committee in understanding all of the relevant facts in the board of appeals matter and appreciate your cooperation in giving me more time to comply with your request. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you mr. honda. let me start before we hear from president walton by saying a few things. one, in the spirit that president walton said outset of the hearing, i come to this with no bias of any kind whatsoever. i think our job is to conduct a thorough investigation of the facts wherever that leads. and as the chair of the rules committee, i'm committed to doing that without bias and

impartially. i do want to note, however, that i have a long, good personal relationship with you mr. honda and that your daughter was an intern in this office for many years who i enjoyed working with and one of my star interns and i want to disclose that mr. sutton has served as a lawyer for at least one of my campaigns. so i have a long and good history with your counsel in this matter. i wanted to put that on the record. and say that i think there are two things that this committee needs to look at. one is the facts as they relate to the obligation to recuse when there's a financial conflict of interest. the other is the obligation to disclose when there may be a

financial conflict of interest. i think those are the two areas that are important for this committee to look into. i will also note that i had an actual telephone conversation with mr. sutton yesterday and in that conversation noted that president walton introduced this hearing request back in october on october 19th and wanted the item scheduled at the rules committee shortly thereafter, but accommodated actually mr. honda's schedule and so far was going to be i believe in france for some period of time and hence president walton ask that it be today. in my conversation yesterday with mr. sutton, he indicated that those documents could be produced by the end of this calendar year which would be

almost a month after president walton requested those. i think that would be preferable to hear this not at the end of january, but earlier in january which i know president walton would like to do. with that, i'll hand it over to president walton. >> supervisor walton: thank you supervisor peskin. i agree with you on the timeline. i do have a question through the chair and after reading the letter and hearing from mr. honda, i just want to at least know whether or not these documents are compiled or not, are you going to be able to answer questions at the next hearing when we do have the exact hearing date. >> yes, i will, president walton. >> supervisor walton: thank you. supervisor peskin, i'm okay with the timeline that you and the committee present for us to move

forward. >> supervisor peskin: all right. so, are there any members of the committee who have any comments or questions? if not, why don't we open it up for public comment. >> clerk: if you haven't done so, star 3 to be added to the queue. for those on hold, please continue to wait until the system indicates you have been unmuted and you can start your comment. i believe we have four people listening and one person in line to speak at this time. >> supervisor peskin: first speaker, please. >> good morning supervisors, i'm scott sanchez, a former employee of the planning department and speaking as a member of the

public. from 2007 until last month, i had the privilege of being the planning representative at the board of appeals. i worked with almost 20 different board members and three different executive directors and i developed respect for the work of the board of appeals and have been impressed by the integrity of all board members, including commissioner honda and all board staff. in my experience, i have seen commissioner honda prioritize honesty and fairness at the board. and doing the right thing means a lot to him. these characteristics and his skills and knowledge make him an asset to the board of appeals and city. i just wanted to share those thoughts with the board. i appreciate the ability to speak on the matter and strongly support the continued work of the board of supervisors to

provide oversight and accountability over all city functions. thank you and have a good day. >> supervisor peskin: thank you mr. sanchez and for your service to the city and county of san francisco. i for one am very sorry that you are no longer working at the planning department but i am delighted you are staying involved. are there any other members of the public who would like to comment on this item? >> clerk: that completes our public comment list. >> i would like to comment. sorry, i would like to comment and i did submit -- >> supervisor peskin: go ahead. >> hi, how are you by the way? i am an attorney in san francisco, i have been dealing with darryl honda for i believe

it is nine years now, both personally and professionally. i have gone up against the board of appeals several times. i have always found him to be extremely professional, extremely unbias and i feel that this and what supervisor walton is doing is horrific. i am appalled that the board of supervisors would feel it necessary to bring this up when there's so much else going on in the city that would be better served with your time. and i think that mr. honda has served the city very well and this should not be continued any further and should be let go. with that, i yield the mic. >> supervisor peskin: any other members of the public who would

like to testify on this item? >> clerk: there are no other persons on the public comment line at this time. >> supervisor peskin: public comment is closed. president walton as we sort out the timing on production of documents and given that the board is in recess until the 4th, i would like to have this hearing on the 10th but that gives me plenty of time to schedule it. why don't we continue, if there's no objection, president walton, the matter to the call of the chair, our desire is to hear it on the 10th. is that acceptable? >> supervisor walton: yes, sir, thank you chair peskin. >> supervisor chan: thank you chair peskin. i want to respond to the caller's comments specifically about the matter, why this is before us.

let me be very clear. i think that given the state of the city and looking at the condition of our streets around public safety, around so many issues that our city faces is exactly that we want to make sure that we stop the pay to play culture in san francisco and in our city hall. it is our responsibility as elected and appointed body to make sure we hold ourselves at a higher standard to conduct city business. this is not about just commissioner honda, this is just all across the board, why we're making sure that everyone, ourselves as elected officials as well as those that we appoint to make decisions on commissions, task force, it is critical. i certainly hope, you know, in january when we start -- when we have the hearing and we have

the record, that mr. honda can speak to his record and demonstrate whether there was or was not any conflict of interest. i think the public deserves to know. i would think mr. honda would want the public to know as well. i just wanted to say that i am in support of president walton's request for hearing on this matter and i think that we not only need to continue the hearing but also to make sure that if there were other incidents, we too should make sure we bring life to it and contain the effort without corruption in city government. thank you. >> supervisor peskin: thank you supervisor chan. i concur with your words as to the larger issues and as it relates to that particular member of the public's comment.

and with that, on the motion to continue this item to be called of the chair, a roll call please. >> clerk: (roll call) the motion passes without objection. >> supervisor peskin: we are adjourned for the rest of 2021. mr. honda we'll see you early in 2022. >> thank you to all the board members and i'll have the information for you.

>> president honda will be the presiding officer tonight. also the president and city attorney who will provide us any needed legal advice at this evening. i the board's executive director. we will be joined by representatives from the city department that will be presenting before the board this evening.