policy after kind of hearing feedback from the commission here that i wish to prohibit the use of contractors or grantees with a financial relationship from participating in any future hiring panel. that panelist will be required to confirm that they have no conflicts of interest. here i want to bring this back. there's no city wide policy on this. there's no prohibition that says you can't have a contractor or grantee sit on your panel. this gets to the perception issue and the public integrity and trust issue that we were discussing earlier. it's my recommendation that we just make it blanket policy and that's something i can do directly. >> v.p. stephenson: can you give me an example of a hiring panel that would have a contractor on it?

>> i believe that was noted in the report that for several interviews for positions within the department recology sat on the hiring panel for the hiring of the position. >> v.p. stephenson: you know what years those were? >> i don't know exactly what year that hiring was done. [ indiscernible ] >> it's the hiring manager that works with our hr analyst to develop a hiring panel. we abide by the hr's requirement for having a diverse panel and the skill sets that are required to be qualified for the position that's hired for. it is a recommendation to seek outside people to sit on your

hiring panel from other departments or outside organizations with expertise relative to the position they are hiring for. in this case, i think it was a perception thing of having someone that you're ultimately responsible for working with for regulating or developing policy for sitting on that hiring panel for the position that are actually going to be helping to implement or develop those policies. i think it's a much cleaner break to stop that for all contracts in general that there's a perceived conflict of interest when it comes to sitting on a panel. by having that interest, you maybe steered in wanting to hire a particular candidate that benefits you rather than the department. it eliminates any of that possibility. this goes to the commission's desire to be a leader here.

this is what we're going to do in terms of stepping up and going above and beyond. >> v.p. stephenson: clearly, yo- [ indiscernible ] thanks for that clarification. if i'm right, the next thing that we're going to talk about is the commission's role. i had a question that goes back to the one of the prior recommendations. again, addresses this funding issue with regard to the way that the department is funded. do we have -- do you have a number? with regard to the new rules around behested payments, what percent of our budgets will be

impacted? what percent of the department's budget or historical budget would have been impacted by that law and that regulation? >> we haven't done as far as that casting. we're happy to bring that back. >> v.p. stephenson: it's an interest of mine in terms of really looking at the challenge that the department faces with regard to how it's funded. making sure that these new moves which are absolutely essential for public trust, i want to make sure that we don't -- we should be tieing our hand. i want to make sure we can still access the funding needed. if that means that we get a

general fund dollars, great. i would like to know the size of the problem in terms of what these very necessary restrictions do to our ability that the important work that the department needs to do. >> we can definitely do that in terms of looking back to see how much money applied to support these programs. whatever we need in order to implement the climate action plan. my suggestion to the commission may be for us to come back and provide that comprehensive. look at how much money we need to implement the climate action plan. we're talking millions and millions of dollars rather than -- it may not hundreds of thousands. we'll be happy to work with staff on bringing that back you

in an upcoming meeting. >> v.p. stephenson: anybody else wanting to speak? >> no! [ laughter ] >> now get to recommendation one. we pulled recommendation one because this deal is kind of directly with the commission. recommendation one is the commission on the environment to ensure that s.f. environment establishes a strong ethical tone at the top modeling the importance of compliance with ethics laws. what we done is propose series of recommendations up for discussion for this commission in terms of getting feedback from the direction relike to head. understanding there's a lot more detail for you to take any

action. getting some feedback from now on what interest you what help facilitate the discussion. >> v.p. stephenson: commissioner wan has left the meeting. >> number one, the department is identifying opportunities to form the commission about future audits. there are audits that happen all the time on items that are relevant to the department environment. it's something that's a good practice to make sure that the commission is informed of any and all audits relative to the department. there are audits that happen outside within the department as part of our good governance check.

the second is that the department is identifying opportunities to engage and inform the commission contracts and grants. this relates to whether or not the commission would like to consider having greater oversight over the issuance of contracts and grants. the scale and scope of this would depend on the commission interest, everything from the basic we could report as we discussed. or it can go to actual commission approval of all contracting grants or somewhere in between of contracts and grant over a certain amount. that's kind of the range of options that are available to this commission should they be interested. we would need to bring back information on what that scale might be or that appropriateness might be. what i would note, in order to

not too much impact the schedule our issuance of grants, grants sometime have a quick turn around. we want to be cognizant of that development. the next one is about identifying opportunities to engage. final one is hostal public forum to talk about all of these issues. we have information on what other departments do relative to contracting grants whenever we get to that conversation. >> president ahn: i would love

to see that slide held up by kyle actually. to me, the recommendation one is really a heart of the matter. we need to figure out a way to prevent the situation we found ourselves in a month ago from happening again. i think knowing what the standards are, i don't have a strong opinion as of now over what the contracting threshold should be. generally, i don't think it's also good for the commission to micromanage the department as well. there needs to be some oversight of contracts and grants and what that contract threshold is will be dependent upon looking at what other city departments and commissions doing and the overall scope and range of department and environment budget. kyle, do you want to walk us through the slide as well?

>> clerk: you can see the commission authorization requirement slide, currently the commission on the environment does not oversee budget contracts. in our comparison, we did consult eight other roughly comparable commissions in the city including the yard commission which does have the oversight over budget contracts and grants over $100,000. this is not required. they do have authority to approve outgoing grants in 12 months or less. the entertainment commission

does not have oversight over any of these items for the fire commission. they do approve budget contracts that are at least $25,000. human services commission approved budget contracts and outgoing grant over $29,000. they do not deal with m.o.u.s. the small business administration does not have authorization oversight over these items. the war memorial board of trustees finally does have the authority to approve budget contracts as well as m.o.u.s but does not generally deal with grants incoming or outgoing. >> president ahn: kyle, quick follow-up question.

how are these commissions selected and more to the point, was there reason why p.u.c. wasn't included on the table? >> we asked ourselves this question couple of weeks ago when we started thinking about preparation for this meeting. i think our first main ask was to look at commissions and departments that are kind of like size may have similar activities. we didn't take into the full breadth of commissions. one of the reasons we didn't look at the sfpuc commission they are so large and their contracts is so large. if i had pick out one thing on

the list, our commission is probably the most like our department and commission. that was our intent when we did this project. >> president ahn: that make sense. i think for clarification, do we have a slide that shows the size, maybe like the average size of the department of environment grant. >> sure, that's a follow-up item. >> president ahn: knowing that and measure accordingly -- i think this table is a lot of work. i really appreciate staff putting this together. i think this is good context to have. the reason why p.u.c. comes to mind its connections overall to energy, utilities in the city. it's not a clean overlap of course. it's relatable. that's why i bring it up too. that said, i think just knowing

how many grants are channeled now through the department and then how much the commission should be involved again like what is the contract threshold amount. overall, the question the commissioners should ask themselves how much more work are we willing to do. we don't want to approve every contract or assert authority over every contract. there's a balance to strike here in other words. >> commissioner wald: it seems to me that in addition to the specific question, we're talking about here, how involved should we be before these things come in.

we should have a better understanding than we have of where the funds that are supporting the department are coming from. in other words, even for let's say we do adopt a policy of reviewing certain contracts, i think it will be advisable for us to be informed at least about all the contracts and grants that the department enters into. i have never served on the operations committee but i have. i don't know what you all do. but i have. [ laughter ] i have noted that when we do the budget, we are not provided a list of the funding sources of the department.

we might have conflicts. >> v.p. stephenson: i think that's a good point. i think that in my experience in the operations committee, which i have not been part of the budget discussions for couple of years, generally speaking through progressmatic area, i do see the revenue sources for the major grants that are funding those program areas. i don't think that we ever saw a single comprehensive list of everything all in one line and one page. also think that whatever we adopt in terms -- i think it's a great idea to see all the incoming revenue sources in one

place.

>> commissioner hunter: i request few different level of review. if we do incur more general funding, i would want to make sure that we understand how much work to take on. to your point earlier on general funding, i think it is the mandate of this commission to now carry for aggressive ask to the board of supervisors and the mayor for general fund. i do not think we'll be in this situation if we got general funding from the city itself. i don't think friends of would need to exist.

prior director's and staff have taken up the gauntlet to move forward with the budget process. the commission does direct the department but we do serve the public. serving the public make sure that we abide by ethnics rules. we carry forward the mantle of environmentalism. to do that we need to get you funding. beside all that. generally speaking there were few points that brought up today that i personally would strongly recommend including the stopping of anyone with conflicts on hiring panels. i think there should be an outright prohibition on fee-based tours on this department. i would also request that if a new friends of board to be formed that takes place over a extended period of time. i know that the department has immediate needs.

this level of detail was refreshing from the department. the thought you and staff have put in these recommendations is great. being a program manager myself, you have about 90 days left. i'm curious how you feel about this timeline and i'll be curious to hear from other commissioners on any of the other points. >> the q3 timeline was put there because this is a top priority. in my mind, before we can really

restore the public's trust to allow us to begin to work on policies that we have to implement, we need to address these issues first and foremost. just begin to start to restore that public confidence which eroded based on stories before. i do want to complete the task and i will come back to the commission whether the operation can report back on where we are. our goal is to hit one of these by end of q2. does this mean this may not be complete by then? absolutely. we may still be having conversation about what level contracts do you want to have. we need to bring you back more information based on the feedback here. you can determine what that level is. q2, i want to get to as many of

these as i can. it is not just me working on this. there's a team from our chief of policy, our commission secretary our executive project, our deputy director and others that are committed getting the changes implemented as fast as possible. our goal is to get there. i really do want to get there. i think it's a goal. i don't think there are challenges that are so insurmountable that we can't achieve them within a timeline. >> v.p. stephenson: president ahn, where would you like to take this discussion next? >> president ahn: one thing i really want to focus on is that last recommendation for future

follow-up. just to confirm for the '24, we're still convening again as a full body? >> we're going to bring that up in the director's report and new business. right now that meetly is currently still calendar. we can assess. >> president ahn: if we could agendize this for future discussion. i think that will be helpful with the further follow-up around essentially the scope of the department's budget and being able to put our finger on how much we need to insert ourselves as a commission. >> that's great feedback. we can work on that and then also kind of the request around the information on the number of -- information that you will need in order to have that detailed conversation on contract and grants. typical size of the grants,

number of grants. we are fully complying with all rules and regulations as it relates to contracts and grants. what we're talking about here, which is a great conversation, the additional oversight that this commission wants to have on that front. >> v.p. stephenson: is there no more discussion, let's open up to public comment please. >> clerk: we will begin with public comment here in the room. once that person comment has concluded, we will proceed to remote public comment. any member in the room wish to

speak, please come forward and speak clearly in the mic. seeing none. we will proceed to remote public comment. members of the public who wish to make a public comment on this item, should press star 3 to be added to the queue for those on hold in the queue, please continue to wait until it is your turn to speak. >> caller: this is david pilpel. i have some fairly detailed comments on this item. i anticipate that i may need a little more than three minutes

probably three and a half to four minutes. i already communicated some thought on that matter to director tyrone jue. i believe he heard me. i support the acting director and the department's approach this issue and the recommendations presented in the matrix. i urge you to commit to at least one special follow-up meeting on this issue perhaps two or three months from now and to incorporate other follow-up reports as necessary. the mayor's executive directives that are referenced in the slides are not available to the public. i think it will be great if the mayor's office posted executive directives when they are issued and include those from past administrations. it is incredibly difficult for the public to get access to things like mayor's executive

directives. on rate-setting. to my knowledge there is no written guidance for environment department staff interacting with recology now or in it future during or outside the rate setting process. clearly, we need an ethical and productive working relationship with recology. there's a lot of history there. we should have the good aspects of that and avoid any problematic aspects there. i think the department could create written guidance about those interactions. i'm unsure if the commission needs to see written policies and procedures for staff to implement the recommendations here. perhaps, just assuring the commission that those written policies and procedures have been developed and disseminated it future would suffice. i understand there's fair amount of work to do in this area.

the department in my view should review its conflict of interest code regularly. it's required to do so any way but perhaps now is a great time to ensure appropriate staff are properly categorized. not everyone is appropriately category one form 700 filer. there's appropriate review of the c.o.i. code. i don't think it's a significant revenue source nor should it be. specific policies and procedures are needed relative to subcontractors. subgrantees and task orders who has to create review, approve what level in the department depending on tiers and all kinds of things.

other city commission, i appreciate the chart, other city commission has various threshold for approval of contracts and grants. the environment department and commission does not have those thresholds. i think this commission should accept those in the future. i think those thresholds should be proportional to the money and scope involved in that work. >> clerk: your three minutes has expired. thank you for your comment. seeing no additional callers. public comment on this item as closed. >> v.p. stephenson: thank you. next item.

>> clerk: next item is the director's report. the speaker is tyrone jue. this item is for discussion. >> part of what i was going to bring up here was mentioned in general public comment that i did want to note that in the mas budget, the general fund ask was not included in that budget. however, i do want to note that we are still in ongoing dialogue with the mayor's office. they've also indicated they weren't focused on general fund asks at the moment. there's still time to potentially add that. we are still engaged in those conversations. i will bring up one of the reasons why we want to keep the meeting on the 24th is to have a special conversation in case we don't find that the funding is inserted and this commission

is aware. you can take whatever action >> v.p. stephenson: commissioner s, any discussion? any public comment? >> commissioner hunter: i realized this special meeting really about the current climate. generally for the next meeting on the 24th, we're about to hear about your plan as in turn director running the department beyond putting out the current fires that are in place. something to include in your director's report potentially. >> if i could possibly get a little bit more time on that. i honestly have been majority of my time has been focused on working with staff on this measure. that's been my priority as i outlined as well as we're just

entering the budget. i think i'll be in much better position probably in the june meeting. we'll be informed by the budget conversations we're having. i'll be in much better position to present that. if we do hold that meeting we can bring back that information that through requested and where the money is coming in from. we can have that discussion alongside with any news we have on the general fund ask. >> commissioner wald: in your opinion, is there anything that we as a commission can or should do at this point in the budget process? >> i believe at this point, we still are actively engaged in conversations with the mayor's

office who still have the ability to make adjustments. i think the 24th timing is actually the perfect time to revisit this because we'll have probably more information to share hopefully, we might -- if we don't, that's where we'll have the discussion on what other activity the commission can discuss. >> commissioner wald: thank you. >> v.p. stephenson: let's move to public comment. >> clerk: we will begin with public comment here in the room. once that person comment has concluded, we'll proceed to remote public comment. are there any members of the public who wish to speak? please come forward one by one and speak clearly in the mic. seeing none. we'll proceed to remote public

comment. hello, caller. >> caller: this is david pilpel. i thought it was rude cut me off. i spent lot of time preparing these comments. i will conclude my comments now on both items. department may also have agreements with other city departments and the commission might want to set a threshold for review and approval of the agreements with other city departments or other

publications. the department should maintain all records related to contracts and grants. regarding income account any changes could benefit the public and the rate payers. otherwise i would question to fund the department. i believe that at the board of supervisors land use and transportation committee meeting of november 1, 2021, the planning director rich hillis reported that plans city

planning has been dissolved. the fee setting provision can be found in charter section 2.109 and administrative code section 3.7. i can't envision a proper basis to discuss audits in closed session which would suggest i would strongly discourage any talk of that. finally, -- thank you for listening. >> thank you for your comments.

caller you're unmuted. your three minutes begins now. >> caller: hello. i wanted to express solidarity with you in your work. i'm glad to hear you are as a group, planning to enhance the clarity and transparency of the work so that you can handle greatly increase duties and the amount of money that you will have to be disposing in order to carry out the climate action plan. i really look forward to seeing

you and mr. jue in particular, move forward. thank you. >> clerk: we can close public comment on for this item. >> v.p. stephenson: next item. >> clerk: next item is item 8. new business future agenda items. speaker is charles sheehan. this item is for discussion. >> thank you. hello commissioners, i think we've talked a little bit about some potential future agenda items. both in the director's report. that may be the budget that we need to discuss on the 24th. that is an item that we may move forward with obviously.

there's been some talk about other future agenda items in the previous conversation. i have taken note of that as well. coming up at the potential meeting on the 24th and after the 24th and subsequent meetings, we wanted to bring to you a complete presentation on our ev program as well as an update on community engagement as it pertains to our climate action plan. i will pause to see if anyone has questions. >> v.p. stephenson: any questions? i have one. i know it slows us down a little. opening the ability for people to participate remotely in meetings i think it's been that positive in terms of being able to get more people access to these meetings. i don't know if that is a decision that's going to be made at the city level in terms how

we conduct these meetings. i would to love to talk about that in the future. >> we can do that. there's couple of rules and protocols around how we do these hybrid virtual meetings. they both involve local laws and rules as well as california laws and rules. we can do a quick bit of research on that and come back to you with detailed explanation. that's certainly an order. >> clerk: we will begin with public comment in the room. once with public comment has concluded we'll proceed to

remote public comment. members of the public who wish to make public comment on this item please press star 3 to be added to the queue. seeing no callers. we can close public comment for this item. >> v.p. stephenson: next item please. >> clerk: the next item is adjournment. the meeting is adjourned. the time is 8:33 p.m. thank you for joining us.

>> in the bay area as a whole, thinking about environmental sustainability. we have been a leader in the

country across industries in terms of what you can do and we have a learn approach. that is what allows us to be successful. >> what's wonderful is you have so many people who come here and they are what i call policy innovators and whether it's banning plastic bags, recycling, composting, all the different things that we can do to improve the environment. we really champion. we are at recycle central, a large recycle fail on san francisco pier 96. every day the neighborhood trucks that pick up recycling from the blue bins bring 50 # o tons of bottles, cans and paper here to this facility and unload it. and inside recology, san

francisco's recycling company, they sort that into aluminum cans, glass cans, and different type of plastic. san francisco is making efforts to send less materials to the landfill and give more materials for recycling. other cities are observing this and are envious of san francisco's robust recycling program. it is good for the environment. but there is a lot of low quality plastics and junk plastics and candy wrappers and is difficult to recycle that. it is low quality material. in most cities that goes to landfill. >> looking at the plastics industry, the oil industry is the main producer of blastics. and as we have been trying to phase out fossil fuels and the transfer stream, this is the fossil fuels and that plastic isn't recycled and goes into the

waste stream and the landfill and unfortunately in the ocean. with the stairry step there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. >> we can recycle again and again and again. but plastic, maybe you can recycle it once, maybe. and that, even that process it downgrades into a lower quality material. >> it is cheaper for the oil industry to create new plastics and so they have been producing more and more plastics so with our ab793, we have a bill that really has a goal of getting our beverage bottles to be made of more recycled content so by the time 2030 rolls around t recycle content in a coke bottle, pepsi bottle, water bottle, will be up to 50% which is higher thatten the percentage in the european union and the highest percentage in the world. and that way you can actually feel confident that what you're

drinking will actually become recycled. now, our recommendation is don't use to plastic bottle to begin w but if you do, they are committing to 50% recycled content. >> the test thing we can do is vote with our consumer dollars when we're shopping. if you can die something with no packaging and find loose fruits and vegetables, that is the best. find in packaging and glass, metal and pap rer all easily recycled. we don't want plastic. we want less plastic. awe what you we do locally is we have the program to think disposable and work one on one to provide technical assistance to swap out the disposable food service to reusables and we have funding available to support businesses to do that so that is

a way to get them off there. and i believe now is the time we will see a lot of the solutions come on the market and come on the scene. >> and is really logistics company and what we offer to restaurants is reasonable containers that they can order just like they would so we came from about a pain point that a lot of customers feel which wills a lot of waste with takeout and deliver, even transitioning from styrofoam to plastic, it is still wasteful. and to dream about reusing this one to be re-implemented and cost delivery and food takeout. we didn't have throwaway culture always. most people used to get delivered to people's homes and then the empty milk containers were put back out when fresh milk came. customers are so excited that we have this available in our

restaurant and came back and asked and were so excited about it and rolled it out as customers gain awareness understanding what it is and how it works and how they can integrate it into their life. >> and they have always done it and usually that is a way of being sustainable and long-term change to what makes good financial sense especially as there are shipping issues and material issues and we see that will potentially be a way that we can save money as well. and so i think making that case to other restaurateurs will really help people adopt this.

>> one restaurant we converted 2,000 packages and the impact and impact they have in the community with one switch. and we have been really encouraged to see more and more restaurants cooperate this. we are big fans of what re-ecology does in terms of adopting new systems and understanding why the current system is broken. when people come to the facility, they are shocked by how much waste they see and the volume of the operations and how much technology we have dedicated to sort correctly and we led 25 tours and for students

to reach about 1100 students. and they wanted to make change and this is sorting in the waste stream they do every single day and they can take ownership of and make a difference with. >> an i feel very, very fortunate that i get to represent san francisco in the legislature and allows me to push the envelope and it is because of the people the city attracts and is because of the eco system of policy thinking that goes on in san francisco that we are constantly seeing san francisco leading the way. >> kids know there's a lot of environmental issues that they are facing. and that they will be impacted by the impact of climate change. they will have the opportunity to be in charge and make change and make the decisions in the future.

>> we are re-inventing the way the planet does garbage founded in the environmental ethic and hunger to send less to landfills. this is so many wonderful things happening in san francisco. i feel very fortunate and very humble to live here and to be part of this wonderful place.

>> look at that beautiful jellyfish. the way to speak to students and motivate them to take action, to save the planet, they do, they care and my job is to speak to them in a way that they can understand that touches their heart and makes them feel powerful with simple actions to take every day. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ >> i was born and raised in the desert of palm springs, california. my dad was the rabbi in the community there. what i got from watching my father on stage talking to the community was learning how to be in the public.

and learning how to do public speaking and i remember the first time i got up to give my first school assembly, i felt my dad over my shoulder saying pause for drama, deliver your words. when i was a kid, i wanted to be a teacher. and then when i got into high school, i decided i wanted to get into advertising and do graphic art and taglines and stuff like that. by the time i was in college, i decided i wanted to be a decorator. but as i did more work, i realized working my way up meant a lot of physical labor. i only had so much energy to work with for the rest of my life and i could use that energy towards making a lot of money, helping someone else make a lot of money or doing something meaningful. i found the nonprofit working to save the rainforest was looking

for volunteers. i went, volunteered and my life changed. suddenly everything i was doing had meaning. stuffing envelopes had meaning, faxing out requests had meaning. i eventually moved up to san francisco to work out of the office here, given a lot of assembly through los angeles county and then came up here and doing assemblies to kids about rainforest. one of my jobs was to teach about recycle, teaching students to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, i'm teaching them they have the power, and that motivates them. it was satisfying for me to work with for the department of environment to create a message that gets to the heart of the issue. the san francisco department of environment is the only agency that has a full time educational

team, we go into the schools to help teach children how to protect nature and the environment. we realized we needed animal mascot to spark excitement with the students. the city during the gold rush days, the phoenix became part of the city feel and i love the symbolism of the phoenix, about transformation and the message that the theme of the phoenix provides, we all have the power to transform our world for the better. we have to provide teachers with curriculum online, our curriculum is in two different languages and whether it's lesson plans or student fact sheets, teachers can use them and we've had great feedback. we have helped public and private schools in san francisco increase their waste use and students are working hard to

sort waste at the end of the lunch and understand the power of reusing, reducing, recycling and composting. >> great job. >> i've been with the department for 15 years and an environmental educator for more than 23 years and i'm grateful for the work that i get to do, especially on behalf of the city and county of san francisco. i try to use my voice as intentionally as possible to support, i think of my grandmother who had a positive attitude and looked at things positively. try to do that as well in my work and with my words to be an uplifting force for myself and others. think of entering the job force as a treasure hunt. you can only go to your next clue and more will be revealed.

follow your instincts, listen to your gut, follow your heart, do what makes you happy and pragmatic and see where it takes you and get to the next place. trust if you want to do good in this world, thattttttttttttttttt

(♪♪) [applause] >> thank you, lion dancers. [applause] you know it's a special occasion in san francisco anytime that you see the lion dancers here. and we are certainly celebrating a special occasion today. so it's so wonderful to see everybody. the weather is wonderful. the pre-program with all of the