for public comment members of the public may attend in person

or may participate by phone or the webex platform as explained in our agenda item. before we begin, i wanted to share a few general updates. today is a very special meeting because this month marks the 30th anniversary of the ballot measure. proposition k that created the ethics commission. it was approved by the voters on november 2nd, 1993, and we also welcome our newest member on the commission, commissioner david thai. he was appointed by the district attorney on november seventh. unfortunately he's not able to join us today, but we look forward to seeing him at the next meeting. usually our meeting is on a friday, but because tomorrow is the official holiday and due to room availability, today's meeting will need to end by 1025. and

due to the time constraints we will have the table agenda item number three for five, seven and nine until the next meeting and we will take up agenda item six and eight. due to the time sensitive cities around these matters. and we would also limit public comments to two minutes. and i asked members of the public for your understanding adding and with that, let us go to the clerk to explain how today's remote public meeting, public comment will be handled. thank you, madam chair. public comment will be available on each item on this agenda. each member of the public will be allowed two minutes to speak. for those attending in person opportunities to speak during the public comment period will be made available here in room 408 city hall for those attending remotely public comment period can also be

provided via phone call by. calling 14156550001 access code. is 26632539286, followed by the hash mark and then press hash again to join as an attendee when your item of interest comes up, press asterisk three to raise your hand to be added to the public comment line. public comment is also available via the webex client application. use the webex link on the agenda to connect and press the raise hand button to be added to the public comment line for detailed instructions about how to interact with the telephone system or webex client. please refer to the public comment section of the agenda document for this meeting. public comment may also be submitted in writing and will be shared with the commission after this meeting is concluded and will be included as part of the official meeting file. written comments should be sent to ethics commission at sec.gov .org. members of the

public who attend commission meetings, including remote attendance, are also expected to behave responsibly and respectfully during public comment. please address your comments to the commission as a whole and not to individual members persons who engage in name calling, shouting interruptions or other distracting behavior may be excluded from participation in thank you. and now i call the meeting to order. please call the roll commissioners, please. verbally indicate your presence by saying aye after your name is called commissioner finley. hi commissioner flores feng. hi chair lee. i present and commissioner salahi is not present. both commissioner salahi and ty have excused absence s agenda item number two, which is general public comment. good morning,

commissioners. my name is mark salem and i voted yes on prop k 30 years ago. i'm also a founding member of friends of ethics, but i speak on my own behalf today. i'm calling for two pieces of legislation that deal with nonprofits lobbying and advocacy. one of them is to make it so that nonprofits who receive city funding cannot participate in any policy making bodies within the city to determine who gets the funding they compete for. the second is to ensure that these nonprofits can come into the community and do political advocacy and lobbying organizing to shout down members of the community to go ahead and pursue their own funding and financing. this has been one of the most critical nexuses of corruption for politics in our san francisco communities. as a mission resident, there was a proposed homeless cabin village for 1979 mission. we're working with our supervisor and the decision had been made to do it. she didn't. she was not forthcoming with us. and so we stood down for a meeting that was supposed to be the final talk to the community

about doing this. why would you go when the deal is already done? i went just to harass her because she lied to us. right. and there were basically 100, 150 people organized by city funded mission nonprofits that came to shout down the community city, saying that we were racist and classist for not wanting to have a homeless cabin village adjacent to the martial elementary school playground where kids of color are overrepresented in homelessness and immigrants have a school. this would never be tolerated in any other neighborhood anywhere in the city. yet when dolores street community services wanted to get the contract, the entire mission cartel came out and basically harassed san franciscans. we've also seen instances of extortion where these nonprofits have worked with supervisors to hold market rate developments hostage, to go ahead and secure funding for their affordable housing operations instead of legislating the affordability beforehand in an open and clear process. we need for the commission to step in to ensure that san franciscans are not shouted down by our own government paying operators with their own self interest and finance to go ahead and pervert the will of the people. thank

you very much. thank you, mrs. solomon and the other speakers in the room. otherwise, let's go to our queue. madam chair. we are checking to see if there are callers in the queue. madam chair. there are no further callers. okay. item number two is closed agenda item number six, which is update discussion and possible action regarding the march 2024 ethics commission ballot measure, focus on gifts, training and other city ethics laws. this was a continue item from the last meeting and our acting policy and legislative affairs manager, mr. michael canning, is here to give us a very, very brief update. and any actions that we

may need to take today. thank you, chair lee. just a brief update that since the last meeting, staff solicited feedback from commissioners and made revisions to the draft and attachment one. based on that feedback. as with the previous version, the city attorney's office has also reviewed the attached version and confirmed it does not raise political activity concerns and as was recommended last month, staff recommends the commission vote to formally authorize the chair to submit a ballot argument, potentially a rebuttal argument to the department of elections on behalf of the commission. thank you. thank you. any questions? i see none. do i see? do i hear a motion. to no, i think we do the motion and then go public comment. yeah yeah. do i hear a motion. to authorize the chair to submit a i'll make

the motion to author myself. i'll second it. i'll just make a comment. the argument that we have here is not exactly what what i wanted doesn't have kind of the meat and specificity that i thought would have been helpful, but i appreciate that it's a collaborative process. we don't all get what we want. so i'm i won't hold this up any further, so i'll i wasn't sure your motion was about the draft argument or about the rebuttal argument or both items. both. both just to authorize the chair to be able to submit given the time. yeah that's i'll second that. that's fine. okay. let's go to public comment. chair lee. we have one public commenter calling in. good welcome. good morning, commissioners. thank you. good morning. this is debbie lehrman at the human services network. as the

commission will be considering regulations next month, i want to speak to the incompatible activities provisions that they applied in nonprofits. we appreciate that the commission agreed to defer to the board of supervisors to address the issue of compensation by a department contractor. a complete ban would affect lower level employees and frontline workers who have no decision making authority regarding the contracts, but who need two jobs to make ends meet. it would also be devastating to nonprofits who struggle to provide competitive wages for specialized medical staff like nurses and psychiatrists, many of whom work some part time hours in nonprofits. and we urge the commission to support a narrower provision from the board that protects lower wage, lower wage workers and allows specialists to share their skills and expertise in the service of vulnerable city residents. sadly we would have preferred to see the same

consideration given to city employees who serve on nonprofit boards of directors without compensation, which remains in the measure. the health and human service nonprofits need to attract board members with expertise. many city employees volunteer in that capacity with no conflict of interest. the provision also bars nonprofit board members from serving on many commissions, which robs the city of their expertise and unique perspective and reduces the pool of qualified candidates and provides an additional disincentive for civically engaged individuals to serve on nonprofit boards. this commission has already decided to let city employees volunteer for nonprofits and let the board review the policy around city employees receiving compensation often. but ironically maintains the ban for volunteer or uncompensated board members. such service should be allowed at least for lower level non decision making employees with

recusal on relevant votes as a safeguard against conflict of interest. this possible? we would like to have that issue addressed in the regulations treating such board members as volunteer hours, otherwise we understand your time has expired. thank you. madam chair. there are no further callers. okay thank you. um public comment is closed. let's take a vote on the motion. that would authorize the chair to submit the ballot argument and potential rebuttal argument to the department of elections on behalf of the commission on roll call, please. on the motion. as stated, commissioner finland, i. commissioner flores fang i. and can i also just make a quick comment? i'd also just like to thank, um, just the team for making this a collaborative process. i also i'm going to

vote in favor and i vote in favor because i know that we're going to make a couple more revisions to the url. for example. so i'm voting in favor of what it looks like now in hopes that it will continue to be more specific and helpful for the public. so i. chair i li i madam chair, with three votes in the affirmative, the motion is approved unanimously. okay i now call for agenda item number eight, which is a proposed closed session item. today's agenda includes a proposed closed session item under item eight for executive director recruitment. let us proceed to public comment. the public comment should focus on the agenda. item number eight on all matters pertaining to this,

including whether to meet in closed session. and madam chair, we have no public comment on agenda item eight. okay let um, let us proceed to a call to a vote on whether to meet in closed session under california government code. section 54957b1 and administrative code section 767. ten b to discuss the executive director recruit comment. do i hear a motion i move to meet in closed session? i'll second. roll call please. on the motion to enter closed session. commissioner finley. hi, mr. flores. fang. hi, chair. lee hi. with three votes in the affirmative, the motion is approved unanimously. thank you. we will now move into closed

session for the viewing public and on the screen. notice dating. the commission is meeting. closed session will remain on the duration of our closed session on the audio and visuals will resume live once motion not to disclose. okay seconded. okay roll call, please . on the motion to not disclose. closed session deliberations will now call the roll. commissioner finley. hi commissioner. flores feng. hi, chair lee. hi chair lee with three votes in the affirmative, the motion is passed unanimously. okay let's go to agenda item number ten, which is

additional opportunities for general public comment. surely we may have a public comment on the past. okay. thanks welcome. caller your two minutes begins now. so commissioners. my name is francisco da costa. and you know that right now the city and county of san francisco is in

dire straits. more because of abject corruption. i and other decent citizens like larry bush, for example. we have tried our best to represent the decent citizen of san francisco. so and i'm asking you that with all the turbulence is the saturation of corruption that your commissioners. represent the decent, hardworking taxpayers of san francisco. thank you very much. thank you. any other

speakers. yes, charlie, there's two more. okay. caller your two minutes begins when you start speaking. shirley there are no more callers. okay? public comment is closed and now is agenda item number ten an no, sorry, 11 adjournment. but before we adjourn, i want to express es our sincere thanks to a member of our staff, mr. ronald contreras. as you know, he has assisted us with facilitating these commission meetings as as the on site moderator and clerk. october 27th was his last day with our office, and we wish him the very

best for his new role also within the city family. with that, we conclude the november 9th, 2023, meeting of the san francisco ethics commission. thank you all. thank you.

my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of san francisco. i perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. i have been here at this facility since i moved here in

november, and previous to that at the old facility. i was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldn't see people every day. i would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasn't been the case. this building is very nice. we have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. we have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in san francisco. we work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. that brings us closer together also. >> i am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in san francisco. as an investigator here i investigate all manners of death

that come through our jurisdiction. i go to the field interview police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. i maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. i am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. i work with the family to help them through the grieving process. >> i am ricky moore, a clerk at the san francisco medical examiner's office. i assist the pathology and toxicology and investigative team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral

establishment. >> i started at the old facility. the building was old, vintage. we had issues with plumbing and things like that. i had a tiny desk. i feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. >> i am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. we test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. i oversee all of the lab operations. the forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the human performance and the case in the city of san francisco. we collect evidence at the scene. a woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she

was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. that was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. it is nice to get the feedback. we do a lot of work and you don't hear the result. once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. you can bring justice to what happened. we are able to take what we due to the next level. many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries don't have the resources and don't have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. >> sometimes we go to court. whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. we do whatever we can to get our job done. >> when we think that a case has

a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. unexpected findings are fun. >> i have a prior background in law enforcement. i was a police officer for 8 years. i handled homicides and suicides. i had been around death investigation type scenes. as a police officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. i am intrigued with those types of calls. i wondered why someone died. i have an extremely supportive family. older children say, mom, how was your day. i can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day.

without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. >> being i am a native of san francisco and grew up in the community. i come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. there are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. if from is a child involved or things like that. i try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. when i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. what do you do? the autopsy? i deal with the enough and -- with the administrative and the families. >> most of the time work here is very enjoyable. >> after i started working with

dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. i thought there was somebody dead? my bed. i rolled over and poked the body. sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. this job does have lingering effects. in terms of why did you want to go into this? i loved science growing up but i didn't want to be a doctor and didn't want to be a pharmacist. the more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between applied science and criminal justice. if you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. >> being a woman we just need to go for it and don't let anyone

fail you, you can't be. >> with regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. let's face it, we aren't hollywood, we are real world. yes we collect evidence. we want to preserve that. we are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a hollywood television show. >> families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. somebody has to do my job. if i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisco.

please stand by for the san francisco transportation authority board meeting of november 14, 2023. >> good morning everyone. welcome to san francisco county transportation authority board. i'm rafael mandelman the chair, the vice chair is supervisor melgar. i want to thank tom from sfg tv and our clerk is elijah saunders. will you please call the roll? >> yes, sir. chan absent. commissioner dorsey, present. commissioner engardio, present. chair mandelman, present. vice chair melgar, absent. peskin, present. commissioner preston, present. commissioner ronan,