Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 ELECTIONS COMMISSION
BUDGET AND OVERSIGHT
OF PUBLIC ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
City Hall, Room 421
City andCounty of San Francisco
Minutes of the Meeting Held
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(Approved: __________ )
1. Call to Order and Roll Call. Chairperson Matthews called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm. PRESENT: Commissioners Richard P. Matthews, Rosabella Safont, Gerard Gleason (arrived at 5:12 pm), Deputy City Attorney Mollie Lee and Director John Arntz.
2. Discussion and possible action to approve the Budget and Oversight of Public Elections Committee minutes for April 1, 2009. Commissioner Safont MOVED and Chairperson Matthews SECONDED approval of the minutes. The Roll Call Vote to approve the minutes was UNANIMOUS.
3. Director’s Report on preparations for the May 19, 2009 Statewide Special Election. Director Arntz reported that vote-by-mail ballots are now coming in, pollworkers are being recruited, voter guides have been mailed.
Chairperson Matthews asked if the Director had made any deviation from the Election Plan so far. Director Arntz responded that he was not aware of any at this point.
4. Director’s Report on the status of the Elections Department Draft Budget for FY 2009-2010. Director Arntz reported that he met with the Mayor’s Budget staff yesterday and was advised that there must be an additional $2.2M cut from the Department of Elections’ budget.
Chairperson Matthews asked the Director how he would meet this new challenge. Director Arntz responded that the number of cards in the ballots for November which is expected to be four, will be reduced by one and the number of cards for June which is expected to be five, will be reduced by one. He also expects to get cost reductions from the ballot vendor. Director Arntz said that the Mayor’s Office’s request is not his primary concern because he thinks he can accomplish the required reduction. However, he is concerned that the Budget Analyst will probably request an additional cut when the budget reaches his office. The Department will need to make those cuts or the Budget Analyst will decide what to cut.
Commissioner Safont asked if the increase in the state sales tax of 1.5 percent, and the increase in postage on May 11th by two cents have affected the DoE budget. Director Arntz replied that the postage increase could be a problem because we mail ballots and voter guides but so far he is not concerned about the tax increase.
Chairperson Matthews asked the Director if he anticipated a change in the Elections Code by the state legislature to implement consolidation of precincts for all elections. Director Arntz said that he hasn’t seen any movement in that direction for statewide elections.
Chairperson Matthews asked the Director what was his deadline for making the $2.2M cut in the budget. Director Arntz said that he would have the adjustment to the DoE budget by tomorrow. Chairperson Matthews asked the Director to notify the Commission informally, through President Phair, of the budget alteration. Director Arntz responded that he would.
At this point in the meeting, Commissioner Gleason arrived and was given a briefing of discussions so far.
Chairperson Matthews asked the Director about the monies owed to the Department by other City agencies for elections they held. Director Arntz replied that even if the agencies paid what they owed the Department of Elections for running their elections, the money would not come back to the Department. The monies would go into the General Fund.
Commissioner Gleason asked if the consolidation of precincts would be allowed for the next two elections. Director Arntz answered that consolidation would be allowable for the November election but not for the June 2010 election. Commissioner Gleason asked how much the department pays for postage on prepaid return absentee ballots. Director Arntz explained that to his knowledge, San Francisco is the only county in the nation that pays for vote-by-mail ballots, but the expense is reimbursed by the state.
5. Discussion regarding items for future agendas. It was discussed that since there will not be a full Commission meeting for May, the next meeting of the BOPEC would be the first time Commissioners would meet after the May 19th election. Chairperson Matthews proposed a BOPEC discussion at the June 3, 2009 meeting regarding entities for whom the DoE conducts elections but has not been reimbursed, a Director’s report on the draft budget, a report on the May 19 election which will include: the formatted IRIS report, provisional ballots report, and the DRE (Director Recording Electronic equipment) results.
ADJOURNMENT @ 5:19 PM