VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMISSION
City and County of San Francisco
Mailing Address: S.F. Veterans Affairs Commission, City Hall
1 Goodlett Place, Room 051, San Francisco, CA 94102

October 11, 2016 SFVAC Meeting Minutes

Call to Order: Having achieved quorum (see Roll Call), the June 2016 meeting of the SFVAC was called to order at 6:00pm, with President Mike Maffei presiding.

Roll Call: In attendance: Commissioners Barnickel, Dacumos, Flaherty, Guy, Jenkins, Kennedy, Maffei, Marshall, Miller, Weeby, and Wong.

Absent: Commissioners Dixon (unexcused), Joiner, and Noetzel (excused)

City Attorney Snodgrass was also in attendance.

Approval of Agenda: Motion made by Commissioner Dacumos, Seconded by Commissioner Kennedy. All present Commissioners approved the agenda.

Approval of Minutes: Motion made by Commissioner Guy, Seconded by Commissioner Marshall. All present Commissioners approve with one minor grammatical change.

Executive Reports

President Maffei updated the SFVAC email situation and is working with Nicole Elliott of the Mayor's office to push the request through. Vice President Kennedy had a straw poll of what thought of the state of housing in SF (see new business item on Housing). Secretary Guy noted that the minutes and agenda were posted in a timely manner. She also announced a planned move.

Agenda Items

Old Business:
Commissioner Barnickel updated the Commission on the status of privacy concerns at the SF County Veteran Service Office. Engineers will be assessing the situation and signs are currently placed around the office letting Veterans know that private areas are available.

The SFVAC social media presence will have our intern assisting and guidelines will be placed to make sure our postings stay relevant and on topic. Commissioner Miller will lead.

Bad Paper resolution: a letter was drafted by Commissioner Miller recommending that ill and disabled veterans with other than honorable discharges be eligible for healthcare. Copies of this letter available for review.

New Business:
Housing for homeless Veterans was lively discussion and the Commission will call on more housing experts to attend our meetings and help us understand their statistics and how the numbers are calculated and how Veterans are getting housed with HUD vouchers.

A resolution was drafted and approved for a resolution honoring Michael Blecker of Swords to Plowshares for his long-standing commitment to Veterans.

Veteran of the Quarter discussion was tabled to December for time.

A resolution was drafted on support of the Veterans Day Parade (November 13, 2016 in Fisherman's Wharf). The motion to accept the resolution was made by VP Kennedy and seconded by Commissioner Wong. All present commissioners approved the motion except Sec. Guy who abstained.

Due to the election falling on the next scheduled meeting on November 8th, there will be an attempt to move the meeting to the following week, November 15, if space allows in City Hall.

Veterans Related Legislation

Commissioner Wong reported on Prop 61 that threatens to raise prices of prescriptions for Veterans and their families.

The honors report was given and the meeting was adjourned at 7:10pm.