VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMISSION

City and County of San Francisco

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

San Francisco, CA 94102

 

 

APPROVED MEETING MINUTES

Tuesday, May 14, 2019 – 1800

San Francisco City Hall, Room 416

 

 DAVID CHASTEEN, PRESIDENT

WILLIAM BARNICKEL, CHRISTINE BORGOGNONI, MATTHEW BRAUER, HANLEY CHAN, GEORGE CHEWNING, DEBORAH DACUMOS, MARGO ELLIS, KIM FLAHERTY, GEORGE ISHIKATA, JEFF MARSHALL, STEPHEN MARTIN-PINTO, CHRISTOPHER McDONALD (EXCUSED), VICTOR OLIVIERI, RAYMOND WONG

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

 

Meeting called to order at 1800 by President Chasteen.

 

ROLL CALL AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

 

COMMUNICATIONS

Reports on Communications with Members of the Board of Supervisors – Commissioner Barnickel reported that he, along with Commissioners Ishikata and Wong, met with Supervisor Mar concerning the VAC.

 

Officer’s Reports

President – Had no new information to report.

 

Vice President – Had no new information to report.

 

                        Secretary – Indicated updates provided to commissioners during distribution of internal mailing.  Two pieces of correspondence disseminated to individual commissioners, two pieces of e-mail correspondence directed to President.

 

            Veterans Related Legislation – Commissioner Wong reported on H.R. 299 – Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 that addresses benefits.  The bill is pending vote by the full House.

 

 

APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES

Motion to approve the April 9, 2019, Commission Meeting Minutes by VP Olivieri; seconded by Commissioner Wong.  Approved by acclimation.

 

 

AGENDA CHANGES

Commissioner Dacumos reported Mr. McKnight was unable to attend the May meeting; requested deferral of his presentation until June.President Chasteen concurs.

 

REGULAR AGENDA

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

            VP Olivieri discussed the Veterans Summit; reiterated the goal is to understand the status of vets in SF so they can be better served, and to provide advice to BoS and Mayor; and requested commissioner input on what individuals and organizations the VAC should invite to the Summit to present.  After discussion, VP Olivieri moved to confirm eight offices to present at the Summit.  Commissioner Borgognoni seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.  After additional discussion, Commissioner Barnickel moved to confirm five additional offices; Commissioner Borgognoni seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.  VP Olivieri indicated the EC will send invitations accordingly.

 

            President Chasteen indicated he would defer discussion of the letter of support for HR 444 until the completion of committee assignments.

 

NEW BUSINESS

            President Chasteen thanked VP Olivieri for his work to date on establishing committees.  He outlined his vision for everyone to serve on at least two committees.  He noted he would take individual commissioner preference into account, but the needs of the commission and the skills of each commissioner would be key factors.  He reiterated the President has the discretion to assign commissioners to committees.  Each committee should internally determine who will lead the committee; if there is disagreement, the President will decide.

 

            After polling commissioners as to their preferences, President Chasteen indicated the following as tentative assignments, and asked for input from individual commissioners.

 

Standing Committees
External Communications	Commissioners Chewning and Ellis
Events	Commissioners Barnickel, Chasteen, and Marshall
Legislative	Commissioners Olivieri and Wong
Recognition	Commissioners Barnickel and Marshall
Rules	Commissioners Brauer and Chasteen
Temporary Committees
ERG Coalition	Commissioners Chewning and Marshall
Housing	Commissioners Ellis, Flaherty, and McDonald
Mental Health and Health Access	Commissioners Brauer, Dacumos, and Ellis

 

            Commissioner Wong raised the issue of the Buddy Poppy distribution permit waiver request.  President Chasteen made a motion to draft a letter of support from the VAC to waive the fee.  Commissioner Brauer seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.  President Chasteen tasked the Legislative Committee with preparing the draft.

 

            President Chasteen further tasked the Legislative Committee to draft a letter of support for HR 444.

 

            VP Olivieri discussed the Presidio of San Francisco Memorial Day Remembrance; President Chasteen asked VP Oliveri to serve as the lead VAC representative to the event.  Commissioner Wong noted there is also a remembrance at the Korean War Memorial immediately following the event at the Presidio Cemetery.

 

            VP Olivieri discussed Bilateral Assignments – the association of a VAC commissioner with a specific member of the Board of Supervisors.  After discussion, commissioners concurred to the following assignments:

 

District	Supervisor	Commissioners
1	Sandra Lee Fewer	Chan
2	Catherine Stefani	Ellis
3	Aaron Peskin	Olivieri
4	Gordon Mar	Barnickel, Ishikata, and Wong
5	Vallie Brown	Chewning and Dacumos
6	Matt Haney	Brauer
7	Norman Yee	Martin-Pinto
8	Rafael Mandelman	Marshall
9	Hillary Ronen	Chasteen
10	Shamann Walton	Flaherty
11	Ahsha Safai	Borgognoni

 

            VP Olivieri indicated commissioners should engage their Supervisor monthly.  They should introduce themselves and highlight if they live or work in the Supervisor’s district.  Everyone will report on their contact starting next month.  President Chasteen noted there are many lobbyists for special interests and our VAC job is to lobby for the right thing, for good policy, and to aggressively advise the BoS and Mayor what those things are.  He noted if we can’t meet with our Supervisor, we should meet with their staffers; once they learn what the VAC is trying to do they’ll want to talk to us. He concluded by asking us to ensure our Supervisor is aware of the Veterans Summit.

 

            Based on Commissioner McDonald’s absence, President Chasteen deferred discussion on his topic to the following meeting.

 

            Commissioner Chan indicated Captain Engler from the SFPD was not yet present, and asked if we could defer his presentation to the following meeting.  President Chasteen concurred.

 

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

            None

 

 

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.

 

            Commissioner Flaherty reported she visited the VA Medical Center and that Commissioner McDonald is doing well; she passed along the best wishes of the VAC.

 

 

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 1850.

 

 

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.