VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMISSION

City and County of San Francisco

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

San Francisco, CA 94102

 

 

APPROVED MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, August 13, 2019 – 1800

San Francisco City Hall, Room 416

 

VICTOR OLIVIERI, VICE PRESIDENT

WILLIAM BARNICKEL, CHRISTINE BORGOGNONI (EXCUSED), MATTHEW BRAUER, HANLEY CHAN, DAVID CHASTEEN (EXCUSED), GEORGE CHEWNING (DELAYED), DEBORAH DACUMOS, MARGO ELLIS (DELAYED), KIM FLAHERTY, GEORGE ISHIKATA, JEFF MARSHALL (EXCUSED), STEPHEN MARTIN-PINTO, IKRAM MANSOURI, CHRISTOPHER McDONALD, MYLES TUCKER, RAYMOND WONG

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Meeting called to order at 1800 by VP Olivieri.

 

ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

VICE PRESIDENT’S OPENING COMMENTS

            None.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

            Bilateral Reports

                        District 1 – Commissioner Chan provided an update regarding discussions about VAC funding.  VP Olivieri asked Commissioner Chan to provide us an update at the next meeting.

 

                        District 3 – VP Oliveri indicated he had nothing to report.

 

                        District 4 – Commissioner Barnickel provided an update regarding discussions about VAC funding for administrative support.  Commissioner Barnickel also indicated the VAC are mentioned his Supervisor’s newsletter as being able to assist vets in the district.

 

                        District 5 – Commissioner Dacumos indicated speaking to her Supervisor about veterans who’ve died on the streets, and something we need to pursue further.

 

                        District 7 – Commissioner Martin-Pinto McDonald reported meeting with his Supervisor on a number of topics, to include the VAC’s role, veteran hiring practices in the City, the Uniformed Soldiers and Sailors Emergency Relief Act, and funding for the VAC.

 

                        District 10 – Commissioner McDonald has been unsuccessful meeting with his supervisor.  VP Olivieri asked Commissioner McDonald to send him an e-mail to provide him circumstances and a reminder to coordinate a meeting.

 

            Officer’s Reports

                        Vice President – Asked all commissioners to meet with their supervisors before the next meeting as we move into the fall legislative session.  He noted the VAC will likely establish a Finance Committee and that Commissioner Marshall will probably Chair the committee.  VP Olivieri noted the swearing in ceremony for the commissioners that occurred, and that photos would be on Facebook and our website.  Finally, he pointed out we’ve never had a photo of the whole commission, so one will occur during our September meeting at 1800 on the Mayor’s Balcony.

 

                        Secretary – Reported business card requests satisfied.  Noted all commissioners should have their new VAC e-mail addresses; asked all commissioners to send him a message since he does not have a listing of these addresses.  Apologized for the delinquency with the agenda and minutes.

 

            Veterans Related Legislation – Commissioner Wong reported he sent information regarding S.B. 312 on Veterans Service Dog Assistance, which requires the CA DVA to establish a grant program to provide assistance to veterans for the cost of service dogs for vets.  The bill’s progress was at 50% prior to the summer recess.

 

 

APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES

Approval of the minutes will be an item of unfinished business for the next meeting.

 

 

AGENDA CHANGES

            VP Olivieri added a presentation from a member of State Treasurer Fiona Ma’s office.

 

REGULAR AGENDA

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

            VP Olivieri reviewed the Veterans Summit and the information provided during it.  He tasked the External Communications Committee to compile the information (with a first draft by the September meeting) for placement into our annual report.  He asked anyone who took notes to pass them along to the Secretary for forwarding to the committee.

 

            VP Olivieri reported the 9-11 Day of Remembrance resolution is on standby since the BoS was in recess.

 

            VP Olivieri noted the November Veterans Month resolution is ready for transfer to the Legislative Committee for comments and review.  Changes due by the next meeting, so the BoS can review and approve before November.

 

NEW BUSINESS

            Noah Starr, from State Treasurer Ma’s office, indicated a desire to partner with the VAC to conduct a veterans benefits seminar in November, focused on Bay Area veterans and their families.  A major need is to locate a venue for the seminar, and to conduct outreach to the veterans community.  VP Olivieri made a motion to get involved and support the Treasurer’s Office to put together a veterans benefits workshop in conjunction with partner agencies, other commissions, and the BoS.  Commissioner Chan seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.  VP Olivieri assigned the tasking to the Events Committee, with support from the Communications and Legislative Committees.  He asked Commissioner Chan to see if the Marine’s Memorial Club was available to support the event.

 

            Commissioner Tucker raised the issue of the City’s open data site and incorporating veterans data.  The website: DataSF.org is a useful site, but lacks information about veterans.  The Legislative Committee was tasked to assess if the VAC should make a recommendation regarding veteran data.  Commissioners Brauer, Ellis, and McDonald provided some alternate data sources; VP Olivieri suggested we see what we can accomplish internally within the next few months, then reassess where to go from there.

 

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

            VP Olivieri noted we’ll update our committee assignments shortly, since the VAC now has no vacancies.  He outlined the committees and asked commissioners to consider what committees they would like to volunteer to serve on.

 

            Commissioner Ellis asked for assistance in retrieving notes from the summit, so they can complete their report from the summit.

 

            Legislative Committee – Beyond Veterans Month and the 9-11 Day of Service, are there any other issues the committee should work on?  Commissioner Chan suggested providing free access to City attractions.  VP Olivieri asked Commissioner Chan to get legislation in other cities that allow for this, so we can replicate their process.

 

            Rules Committee – VP Olivieri noted that President Chasteen wanted us to review our bylaws and update them to eliminate gender references as much as possible.

 

            Events Committee – VP Olivier asked Commissioner Chan to follow up with the other committee members on the Treasurer event as well as Fleet Week.

 

            Finance Committee – VP Olivieri asked Commissioner Chan to work with the other committee members to devise a budget to provide administrative support to the VAC.

 

            ERG Coalition – VP Olivieri indicated it would be good to have this committee involved in the Treasurer’s event, to have them present, and perhaps to have them sponsor room rentals costs or food.  VP Olivieri suggested they should be involved in our Fleet Week efforts as well.

 

            Mental Health – Nothing to report.

 

            Housing – Nothing to report.

 

            Commissioner Barnickel provided an update as the Liaison to the Veterans Services Office.  He noted Mr. John Gallagher is applying to the VSO position, and requested recommendations from any commissioners willing.  He also provided a rundown of select upcoming events.  VP Olivieri asked for dates and details for the upcoming events.

 

            Commissioner Dacumos indicated there will be a Veterans Mental Health Summit for Swords to Plowshares on 19 Sep in Room 210 of the Veterans War Memorial building.  VP Olivieri asked about RSVPs; Commissioner Dacumos indicated she would send information.

 

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

An opportunity for members of the public to directly address the Commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission, including items being considered today which have not been considered by a Commission committee and excluding items which have been considered by a Commission committee. Members of the public may address the Commission for up to three minutes. Each member of the public will be allotted the same number of minutes to speak, except that public speakers using translation assistance will be allowed to testify for twice the amount of the public testimony time limit. If simultaneous translation services are used, speakers will be governed by the public testimony time limit applied to speakers not requesting translation assistance. The President or the Commission may limit the total testimony to 30 minutes.

 

Members of the public who want a document placed on the overhead for display should clearly state such and subsequently remove the document when they want the screen to return to live coverage of the meeting.

 

            Jason Chittavong, Mentor Coordinator for the San Francisco Veteran’s Justice Court made a presentation.  He provided background and statistics regarding the Veteran’s Court, and asked for the VAC’s help in providing mentorship to individual veterans to help guide them to be good citizens.

 

            Mr. Gil Sanborn, the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) updated the VAC on some items, to include Army involvement in Fleet Week.  The Army will be well represented with local units in the Humanitarian Assistance Village.

 

 

HONORS REPORT AND MOMENT OF SILENCE

In memory of American service members in all wars and conflicts who made the ultimate sacrifice.  We also remember the passing of homeless veterans, veterans who died while awaiting approval of benefits, and suicides within the veteran and armed service communities.

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting adjourned at 1908.

 

 

This document is Official Business of the Veterans Affairs Commission, City and County of San Francisco.  It is part of the official Public Record of the City and County of San Francisco.

 

Public Access:

Public Records are covered under the State of California Brown Act, as well as the Sunshine Ordinance of the City and County of San Francisco. These acts ensure that deliberations of City Business are conducted “before the People,” and that City and County operations are open to the People’s review.

 

For information on your rights under the Sunshine Ordinance (Chapter 67 of the San Francisco Administrative Code), or to report a violation of the ordinance, please contact:  Mr. Chris Ruston, Administrator, Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, at (415) 554-7724.

 

Veterans Affairs Commission Meetings:

General meetings of the SFVAC are scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month, with the exception for the month of July, when there is no scheduled SF VAC meeting, and are held in Room 416 in City Hall.

 

Meeting confirmation, and specific announcement of general meetings are made via public posting of the Meeting Agenda as required by law, at least 72 hours prior to scheduled meetings. Agendas for SFVAC meetings (and archived meeting minutes) are available on the SFVAC Pages of the City of San Francisco website, and are also available for public view and inspection at the 5th Floor Government Information Center at the San Francisco Public Library, at 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.  The documents librarian telephone number is (415) 554-4472.

 

Disability Access:

City Hall of San Francisco is wheelchair accessible via all entrances.  There is wheelchair accessible public parking nearby, including the underground garage at the north side of City Hall.  The nearby BART/MUNI station (Civic Center) is wheelchair accessible as are nearby city bus lines and stops.  For more public transit information services, call (415) 923-6142 or dial 311.