Elections Commission
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SPECIAL MEETING
Elections Commission
Approved: March 21, 2007
Minutes of the Meeting at City Hall Room 034
February 20, 2007
1. CALL TO ORDER. President Jennifer Meek called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.
2. ROLL CALL. PRESENT: Commissioners Gerard Gleason, Arnold Townsend (arrived at 6:10 pm), Michael Mendelson, Tajel Shah, Richard P. Matthews, Jennifer Meek, Deputy City Attorney Jon Givner, and Director of Elections John Arntz. EXCUSED: Commissioner Victor Hwang.
3. OLD BUSINESS
- Discussion and possible action to cancel the regularly scheduled meeting of the Elections Commission for Wednesday, February 21, 2007. Commissioner Mendelson MOVED and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED the cancellation of the February 21, 2007 Elections Commission meeting. The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS to cancel the meeting.
- (b)Discussion and possible action regarding a retreat for the Commission. President Meek said that the Retreat would cover roles and responsibilities of the Commission, and an overview of the Department of Elections. She suggested a date in early April, and asked the Commission members to offer topics for Retreat discussion.
Commissioner Mendelson asked Director Arntz if a Retreat in April would conflict with his schedule. The Director said that it would not.
Commissioner Shah said that she hoped the Retreat would cover “substantive issues”. President Meek said some topics might be scheduled for public hearings. Commissioner Shah said there might be policy statements regarding open source or transparency issues about the voting equipment, and doing so in a non-structured format with the public at the Retreat might be a good idea. President Meek said that the Commission could use a special public hearing for those topics. Commissioner Shah suggested that DoE staff be notified about the Retreat and that they be asked if there are concerns they would like the Commission to consider. President Meek asked the Commission Secretary to take the responsibility of notifying DoE staff.
Commissioner Mendelson asked that the City Attorney enlighten the Commission regarding that office’s opinions regarding contracting, general oversight of the Department by the Commission, day-to-day operations, and significant legal issues regarding actual and implied powers of the Commission. Deputy City Attorney Givner said that in the preliminary discussions about having a Retreat, these topics were suggested. He asked the Commissioners to call or email him any legal questions they would like him to address at the Retreat.
President Meek asked if the Director he could have Division Managers give a brief description of the duties of their areas of responsibility.
Commissioner Mendelson suggested having the Retreat on two days because he said it was a lot of information.
Commissioner Shah said that she has reviewed the minutes from the 2005 Elections Commission Retreat. She said that the roles and responsibilities of the Commission had been thoroughly covered, but that the question concerning some of the Commission members might now be “interpretation” of these roles. Commissioner Shah said that using scenarios of possible concerns, might be helpful to show how Commissions handle them.
- (c)Discussion and possible action to approve the Department of Elections’ Supplemental Budget request for fiscal year 2006-07.
Commissioner Mendelson MOVED and Commissioner Shah SECONDED this item for discussion. Commissioner Matthews asked if the Commissions’ requests of items to be included in the Supplemental Budget request were added. President Meek said that she had checked and the items were included, and asked the Director how soon he expected to know if the Department had approval. Director Arntz reported that the Supplemental is now in the Controller’s Office and will be introduced in the Board. He said that within the next week or two the success of the request should be known.
The Roll Call Vote was: Shah – yes; Mendelson – no; Matthews – yes; Gleason – yes; Townsend – yes; Meek – yes. The MOTION CARRIED ( 5 to 1).
- (d)Discussion and possible action to approve the Department of Elections’ Proposed Budget for fiscal year 2007-08. Commissioner Mendelson MOVED and Commissioner Matthews SECONDED this item for discussion.
Commissioner Gleason asked the Director what is the anticipated ballot card count in the budget. Director Arntz replied that at present, the Department is using the four-card count as a place-holder for November.
Commissioner Shah asked the Director which past election year cycle had three elections? Director Arntz answered that it was the 2003-04 year. The Commissioner asked the Director if the current budget was based on the equipment contract that is awaiting approval. Director Arntz replied that it was not – it is based on the present equipment system. He said that if the new contract is approved, the $4M to pay out the contract would then be included in the budget.
Commissioner Gleason said that he would like to see the budget cover parking for the precinct inspectors during training, because they have to pick up 100-150 pounds of ballots. If there is no funding for this, Commission Gleason would like the funds allocated to the pollworkers pins ($10,500) go to parking.
The Roll Call Vote was UNANIMOUS.
4. Announcements. President Meek advised that the packets for all Elections Commission meetings are attached to the agenda that is posted on the Department’s website prior to each meeting. She reminded members that their Form 700s would be due soon, and Sunshine training will be scheduled in the next few weeks.
ADJOURNMENT at 6:20 pm.