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Meeting Information



Facilities_Committee

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 MINUTES OF MARCH 18, 2003  MEETING of the AD HOC COMMITTEE on Log Cabin Ranch Of the JUVENILE PROBATION COMMISSION

held at Youth Guidance Center room 328       375 Woodside Ave San Francisco, CA  94127

1.

(ACTION)  Roll Call

  The meeting was called to order at 9:24 am.  Comm. Chuck, Bonilla, Ricci were present at the gavel.  ACPO Tucker, M. Lui, D. Sanders, J. Berkowitz, L.B. Jackson, S. Arcelona, CPO Wiliams represented the Dept.  Henry Breen, Tony Baldwin, Jane Siegal Vicky Rega were also present.

 

2.

Public comment on any matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Juvenile Probation Commission

Comm. Chuck explained that this committee was charged with looking into other options that might be viable alternatives to closing LCRS, but he would not say that the Committee would not go out on a limb and make glorious statements about the outcome.   The Committee will report back to the Full Commission in April and make its recommendations then.  The Full Commission will decide what to do next.

 

3.

(DISCUSSION/ACTION)  Delineation of the responsibilities of the Ad Hoc Committee and Clarification of committee membership.

a.      Log Cabin Ranch proposal from Mr. Joe Berkowitz.

J. Berkowitz went through his proposal, which shows a way to attain the same savings but still keep LCRS open.  He went through the proposal line y line.

Comm. Ricci asked the Dept for a 3 yr accounting of the expenses of LCRS so they could see what the pattern of spending has been and where cuts might be made.

It was clarified that she wanted to see FY 01, 02 and 03.

There was a discussion about whether certain powers really wanted to keep LCRS open.  A question was asked: what happens to the recommendation from this committee. If the proposal from this committee is to keep LCRS, and it goes before the Full Commission and there is a vote in favor of it, what happens then? Is that a directive to the Dept to keep LCRS open?

b.      Presentation of a possible “scenario c” from the Juvenile Probation Department regarding how to continue the operation of Log Cabin Ranch.

The Chief said that there was no conspiracy.  The decision to cut LCR is completely financial.  There was the other option given, to keep LCRS open by contracting it out. He said that the advocates to keep LCRS open are talking about keeping it a County operations (under the Dept’s staff).  He said that he could not discuss Berkowitz’s proposal today because he had questions that needed answering.  He said he needed a meeting with Berkowitz to go over those questions.  He asked if there was a way of keeping LCRS open with the $1.1 - $1.2 million that would have had to go to serving the youth elsewhere, in lieu of LCRS placement.  He asked about 15 placements there for only 6 mos terms. There needs to be supportive services offered pro bono in order to keep the operations open.  He proposed that Chief Tucker, Mark Lui, D. Sanders, J. Berkowitz, and whoever else, sit down and go through this proposal to see if such an operation could be “backed into” the costs he stated. 

Comm. Ricci said that she would like to be part of that discussion. 

Comm Chuck asked her to represent the Commission.

Jack Jacqua asked about the bids for contracting out LCRS.  The Chief said that requests for qualifications would go out at the end of the month.   This will be a parallel process that will take place at the same time the exploration of plan “c” goes forward.  Whatever develops will develop and decisions on the best options available will be made when that is completed.

He said that if a workable solution could be reached by April 18, he believed that that proposal could be submitted in time to the Mayor’s office for consideration.  He said even with this, it is not a “slam dunk” that the Mayor’s office will accept it.

Comm. Ricci asked the Chief for clarification regarding: that he would be talking to the Mayor’s office (not audible on tape) and the committee would be applying pressure to (not audible on tape).

The Chief said he didn’t say that.  He said that people have to do what their conscience guides them to do.  He has to honor the City’s requirements and go through that process.  He said that whoever is planning to do political advocacy needs to be precise and accurate as to what they are advocating for. 

At the Commission meeting he will be asking for a statement to the Mayor’s Budget office and Controller’s office, to the effect that there is no more money to be cut, and the only “dispensation” the Dept could get would be if there was a discussion and decision at a level higher than the Commission, that somehow, some portion or a whole obligation of this Dept is reduced or deleted.  There has been no special dispensation like that so far.  He would solicit support from the Commission for having that dialog with the Mayor’s office.

ACPO Tucker said that she knew many people are energetic, and want to come to LCRS and see the good work being done.  But that needs to be cleared through the proper channels, which is the office of the Chief; to request to have all these visitors.  And these requests have to come from the Director of LCRS.  They want to maintain a consistency that they have worked so hard to maintain.  The comprehensive plan, all that work.  They don’t want it to be turned into a circus at this time because people want to save LCRS.  They don’t want to move away from that professionalism that they have there. So any actions they do, do it within that whole frame of reference, stay within the lines of authority.  That doesn’t mean they can’t do their crusade (or advocacy, or however they want to call it), but she wants to make sure LCRS is not compromised on any level because that would work against the Dept. in its fight to keep it open. 

Comm Chuck stated that if the Commissioners on this committee wanted to go to LCRS, they would have to inform the Chief so that two of them don’t end up there together, violating the Sunshine Ordinance.

The Chief added to G. Tucker’s comments.  He said that last week he got notice from two people that they were going to tour LCRS.  They hadn’t cleared this with the Director, nor gotten an approval from him. They thought they could just show up at the invitation of another person at the Ranch and take a tour.  The way to get to visit a county facility is through a request to the Director and approval from the Chief Probation Officer.

J. Berkowitz said he proposes to have his proposal accepted.

There’s still the potential in the next year to set up contracting out beds also.

c.      Status of potential sale/lease of Hidden Valley Ranch or parcels of underdeveloped land at Log Cabin Ranch.

The Chief said that the Mayor’s budget office would work with the Dept of Real Estate to expedite some way of getting the process started to put up portions of HVR and LCRS for sale/lease.  They also talked with a real estate attorney to see if they could connect with their colleagues in San Mateo county to assist in this. The property needs to be assessed. Once that is done, they will have a better idea of what the place is worth.

J. Berkowitz asked if there were any restrictions on the sale or purchase of that land.  The Chief said the City Attorney’s opinion is that there is no such restriction.

d.   Projected schedule of committee meetings, timeline for completion of work.

The next meetings are scheduled for April 3, 10, and possibly 18, if needed.  Start time: 9 am.

(public comments)

Jim Fithian wanted to keep the idea out there that we need the money to keep LCRS open, so that if anyone had the funds to bring to the table, they would know to come to us.  He also mentioned that Hidden Valley is still a good facility that he envisioned could be turned into a conference center for San Francisco.

Henry Breen echoed the opinion that the idea of Log Cabin Ranch had to be kept in the public’s mind otherwise it will be forgotten.

Vicky Rega said that with the encouragement of state legislators, LCRS could be turned into a solar energy farm which not only could produce all the energy needed to run it, but to sell power back to the utility company.

 

4.

(ACTION) Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 am.