Executive_Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 MEETING of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Monday, December 22, 2008
3:00 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
Minutes
Commission President P.J. Johnston called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.
- Roll Call
Commissioners Present
P.J. Johnston
Cass Calder Smith
Sherri Young
John Calloway
Commissioners Absent
Maya Draisin
Jeannene Przyblyski
Staff Present
Director of Cultural Affairs Luis R. Cancel
Deputy Director Nancy Gonchar
Commission Secretary Sharon Page Ritchie
- Director’s Report
Mr. Cancel distributed a copy of a memo from the Mayor’s Budget Office calling for a 12.5% cut and an additional 12.5% contingency cut across the board in General Fund expenditures in the 2009-2010 budget. He predicted that this is only the beginning of the cuts, with a projected $575 million deficit in the City’s budget. He explained that only $1.2 billion of the City’s budget is discretionary spending from the General Fund. In other words, the deficit equals about half of all discretionary spending. The directive from the Mayor’s office is not to take cuts from grants, but to identify staff reductions. The Arts Commission’s budget proposal is due to the Mayor by February 20; Mr. Cancel understands that this timeline would allow the Mayor to give the required sixty days’ notice so that layoffs could go into effect at the end of May.
Mr. Cancel reported that he has reviewed the funding for various staff positions with Deputy Director Nancy Gonchar and Chief Accountant Kan Htun. He presented this review to the Committee, noting that 8.8 full-time-equivalent (“FTE”) positions are currently funded by the General Fund. (Other positions are funded by revenue from the Summer in the City Concerts with the San Francisco Symphony; by the Hotel Tax Fund; by work order from the Department of Children, Youth and Families, the Library and other City departments; by Street Artists fees; by Civic Design fees; and by grants for specific programs and special revenues.)
In addition, he has reviewed with Department of Human Resources (“DHR”) staff the various Civil Service status and union contract rules affecting each position. He explained that City employees laid off from one department may “bump” more junior people in the same classification in another agency, and he anticipates that this will likely happen very widely. He expects that Arts Commission staff are relatively unlikely to be “bumped” because of special conditions associated with Arts Commission positions, which staff at other agencies are unlikely to meet.
Mr. Cancel reviewed the organization chart showing each position by DHR classification code. He suggested the possible creation of a specialized unit focused on contracting, working with the powerful new database design project. This would streamline the whole process, from application through panel selection, payment and final report. After months of objections from Local 21, the database design project has been approved and should be implemented in the coming fiscal year.
Mr. Cancel explained that he did not have a formal reorganization plan as yet, but was still gathering information in preparation for presentation of that plan at the Executive Committee’s January 26 meeting. He planned to meet with the staff affected by reorganization before then.
President Johnston said that he hoped there would be further guidance from the Mayor’s office, and that he has expressed very strongly to the Mayor’s office how across-the-board cuts affect small departments like the Arts Commission disproportionately. President Johnston reported that the Mayor convened a meeting of the presidents of all City commissions; about forty were in attendance. The Mayor explained to them in painstaking detail how bad the budget situation was and that department heads had been directed to cut 25% from their General Fund expenditures.
Commissioner Smith arrived at 3:25 p.m.
President Johnston said that not only would there be no salary increases as negotiated by the unions, but there would likely be decreases, and he expected layoffs as well, noting that a 25% cut doesn’t equal the City’s budget deficit. Ms. Gonchar agreed that even concessions by the unions won’t solve the whole problem.
President Johnston emphasized that the Mayor’s office was definitely seeking cuts in payroll, not in grants, and wanted to minimize further service cuts. He expected some departments to be consolidated, and discussed the restrictions created by mandated set-asides, including spending on children’s services, libraries, transportation and public safety. Ms. Gonchar added that some 90% of the discretionary budget is for staff.
Mr. Cancel noted which programs were mandated by the Charter or by legislation, and which initiated by the Commission, and President Johnston noted that although some programs are not mandated, they are generally not the ones where cuts would help reach the budget target.
Turning to another subject, Mr. Cancel announced that on January 12, 2009, the San Francisco Foundation will bring renowned arts economist Jeremy Nowak, formerly of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, to San Francisco. Mr. Cancel heard him speak at the Grantmakers for the Arts conference in Atlanta, and thought he gave a very clear picture of the effect of the economic downturn on the arts. Mr. Cancel and Arts Commission staff initiated a partnership with the San Francisco Foundation and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to expand Mr. Nowak’s talk into a larger forum for the local arts community to discuss the impact of the economy on the arts in San Francisco. Mr. Cancel has been working with other City staff and members of the arts community to develop a common strategy to help further educate the new Supervisors and other officials on the importance of the arts to the economy.
President Johnston acknowledged the many Arts Commission staff members in the audience and called for public comment; there was a general chorus of dismay at the budget situation.
Community Arts and Education Program Associate Robynn Takayama explained that she is the shop steward for Local 1021. She noted that many newer staff members have not gone through layoffs, so a meeting was planned for January 6 to explain “bumping” and other procedures and options. She thought that many Arts Commission staff were willing to make concessions to save jobs, although that might not necessarily be the case in the rest of the union. President Johnston thanked her and asked that she come to the full Commission meeting and make that announcement. He agreed that he had heard similar thoughts, but thought that the union leadership might not take that position.
In response to a question about other participants in the January 12 event; Mr. Cancel explained that he had contacted Brad Erickson at Theatre Bay Area, Deborah Cullinan at Intersection for the Arts, John Killacky at the San Francisco Foundation, Karen Ames at the San Francisco Opera, and Ken Foster at Yerba Buena.
Gallery Director Meg Shiffler corrected some information on the organization chart discussed earlier, explaining that the Gallery’s museum preparator is a temporary as-needed position, not full-time.
- Deputy Director’s Report
Ms. Gonchar reported that she had participated in the recent meeting of Grantmakers in the Arts for Northern California. She also reported that the Civic Design Committee was doing well under the leadership of Commissioner Smith, and that they had begun to discuss requiring a design concept, and a budget per square foot, as part of the documentation for projects being reviewed at Phase 1.
- Public Comment
There was no further public comment.
- Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:45 p.m.
spr 1/30/09
