Veterans' Affairs Commission - January 12, 2021 - Minutes

Meeting Date: 
January 12, 2021 - 6:00pm
Location: 
San Francisco, CA

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, California 94102-4689
REGULAR MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, January 12, 2020 – 6:00 pm

Hosted Remotely via MS Teams
https://tinyurl.com/y6b22rpf

VICTOR OLIVIERI, PRESIDENT
IKRAM MANSORI, VICE PRESIDENT
STEPHEN MARTIN-PINTO, SECRETARY
WILLIAM BARNICKEL, MATTHEW BRAUER, DOUGLAS BULLARD, HANLEY CHAN,
DEBORAH DACUMOS, GEORGE ISHIKATA, JEFF MARSHALL, CHRISTOPHER MCDONALD, COURTNEY MILLER, MYLES TUCKER, RAYMOND WONG

CALL TO ORDER

ROLL CALL
Victor Olivieri – present
Ikram Mansori – present
Stephen Martin-Pinto – present
William Barnickel – present
Matthew Brauer – excused absence
Douglas Bullard – present
Hanley Chan – present
Deborah Dacumos – present
George Ishikata – present
Jeff Marshall – present
Christopher McDonald – present
Myles Tucker – present
Raymond Wong – present

Committee Re-alignment

  •  Legislative Committee
    • Myles Tucker, Committee Chair
    • Courtney Miller
    • Raymond Wong  
  • Communication Committee
    •  Douglas Bullard, Committee Chair
  • Events Committee
    • William Barnickel, Committee Chair
    • Deborah Dacumos
    • Hanley Chan
  • Rules Committee
    • George Ishikata, Committee Chair
    • Christopher McDonald
    • Myles Tucker
  • Finance Committee
    • Jeff Marshall, Committee Chair
    • Stephen Martin-Pinto

Committee oversight

  • Vice President
    • Finance
    • Legislative
    • Events
  • Secretary
    • Communications
    • Rules

Supervisor Re-alignment

  • District 1 (Connie Chan) – George Ishikata
  • District 2 (Catherine Stefani) – Courtney Miller
  • District 3 (Aaron Peskin) – Christopher McDonald
  • District 4 (Gordon Mar) – Raymond Wong
  • District 5 (Dean Preston) – Deborah Dacumos
  • District 6 (Matt Haney) – Ikram Mansori
  • District 7 (Myrna Melgar) – Stephen Martin-Pinto, Hanley Chan
  • District 8 (Rafael Mandelman) – Jeff Marshall
  • District 9 (Hillary Ronen) – Hanley Chan, Jeff Marshall
  • District 10 (Shamann Walton) – Myles Tucker
  • District 11 (Ahsha Safai) – Douglas Bullard

Legislative Committee

  • Governor’s proposed budget directs 67 million dollars to veteran’s services through County Veterans Service Offices in California

Communications Committee

  • Nothing Significant to report

Rules Committee

  • Proposed by-law changes to give more flexibility to represent commission to President and Vice President
  • Proposed change to administrative code – modify commission purpose to include “be a resource for veterans and their families”.

Finance Committee

  • Nothing significant to report

Ad Hoc Committee

  • Expansion of Below Market Rate program to include military veterans
    • Working with District 4, 5, and 7 supervisors
  • Disabled Veterans Bill have support from Disabled American Veterans (DAV)

Approval of December Minutes

  • Edit made to change George Ishikata marked as "present"
  • Motion made by Cmr. Barnickel to approve
  • Second motion made by Cmr. Ishikata
  • Motion passes with modification

Agenda Changes

  • Add in new amendment to bylaws to increase ability of President and Vice President to represent Veteran’s Affairs commission.
  • Rules committee has for action
  • Motion made by Cmr. Ishikata
  • Second motion made by Cmr. Bullard

Veteran’s Preferences in Below Market Rate (BMR)

  • Policy change expected by June
  • Motion made to defer discussion to February Meeting by Cmr. Ishikata
  • Seconded by Cmr. Martin-Pinto

New Business

  • Defer guest from Representative Jackie Speier’s office indefinitely
  • Motion made by Cmr Ishikata
  • Seconded by Cmr Tucker

County Veteran Service Office

  • Report from Alfred Sims
    • CVSO falls under Department of Disability and Aging Services
    • Virtual Office has served 100 cases per month
    • 40 new claims
    • 52 claims filed
    • 5 on staff

Veteran Center at 505 Polk Street

  • 2 new temporary hires for 6 total

Yearly Retreat Planning

  • Motion to have retreat in late February
  • Cmr. Olivieri made motion
  • Seconded by Cmr. Ishikata

Social Media Accounts

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Parler
  • The commission will request an admin.vac@sfgov.org account for social media accounts or some similar email account
  • Should the commission create a Parler account?
  • Vote deferred to February
  • Motion made by Cmr. Victor Olivieri
  • Seconded by Cmr. Bullard

Good Welfare

  • State Controller Betty Yee’s father, a veteran, and Ding Yook received WW2 medal.

Public Comment

  • Nicholas Rusanoff thanked commission for assisting him with special housing situation

Honors Report
Meeting Adjourned at 1941 hr