SUNSHINE ORDINANCE TASK FORCE
MINUTES
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
4:00 p.m., City Hall, Room 408
Task Force Members
Seat 1 Joshua Koltun Seat 8 Robert Planthold
Seat 2 Bruce Brugmann Seat 9 Daniel Guillory
Seat 3 Vince Courtney Seat 10 Paul Hogan
Seat 4 Marie Harrison Seat 11 Marjorie Ann Williams
Seat 5 Vacant Ex-officio Vacant
Seat 6 Hilda Bernstein Ex-officio Hala Hijazi
Seat 7 Ted Kowalczuk
(All motions adopted unanimously except as noted. First name indicates initiator of motion; second name indicates seconder of motion.)
Call to Order
Roll Call: All members present (Hijazi absent)
1. Approval of Minutes of September 25, 2001. (Guillory/Kowalczuk) (Absent Brugmann, Courtney, Williams, Hijazi)
2. Public hearing, complaint of Jerry McDonald against Planning Department regarding posting of notices and public comment.
Member Planthold recused from this item.
Member Courtney entered the meeting at this time.
Member Brugmann entered the meeting at this time.
Member Williams entered the meeting at this time.
Complainant Jerry McDonald presented information to the Task Force.
Gerald Green, Director of Planning, presented information to the Task Force.
Public comment by:
Susan McDonald, in support of complainant, regarding not being able to give public comment at Planning Commission hearing.
Dave Monks, in support of complainant, regarding concern the McDonalds were mistreated on this issue,
Vicki Rosen, in support of complainant, regarding inaccuracy of notification.
Female speaker regarding irregularities of process.
Laurie Bell, co-owner of subject property, regarding support of project.
Female speaker regarding Planning Department processes and information to the public.
Ed Bell, owner of property, regarding support of project, stating posting was completed as required.
Joe Altman, architect for the Bells, in support of the project, stating notification was accurate
Order of Determination:
Motion adopted "by virtue of the conceded fact (by the Planning Department) that the revised plans were not sent to all of the neighbors within 150 feet surrounding the proposed project, there was a violation of Section 67.7-1 of the Sunshine Ordinance." (Koltun/Brugmann) (Planthold recused)
Motion adopted that "because the Planning Department violated the Sunshine Ordinance in this matter, the Task Force therefore urges a rehearing for discretionary review be held which would be in conformity with the Sunshine Ordinance." (Bernstein/Harrison) (Koltun and Hogan no) (Planthold recused)
5. Public hearing, Mission Girls Service Committee complaint against the YWCA for alleged violation of Section 12L of the Administrative Code.
Mission Girls Service Committee/YWCA representatives/Department representatives were in attendance at the meeting,
This item continued to the next meeting, November 27, 2001.
Public comment from Michele Stratton, Board Member of YWCA, requesting the record reflects she was in attendance.
11. Public comment: No public comment
3. Report from Chair.
Chair Bernstein reported on the following:
(a) Scott Trammell Moore complaint
Chair Bernstein stated "there is a letter attached to my report which I sent to the Ethics Commission-I sent them an excerpt of the meeting minutes that we had just to once again try to clarify what was happening."
Letter sent to the Ethics Commission requesting an excerpt of the minutes of 9/25/02 be included with the Scott Trammell Moore complaint file.
(b) Announcements
Eleventh member will be on board next meeting who will be representing the League of Women Voters.
(c) Attendance at meetings
Attended meeting of Complaint Committee this month. " I additionally met with a member of the Task Force, along with two Deputy City Attorneys regarding an ethics issue. It was a fact-finding meeting. I will not reveal what the issue is at this time because it is premature and would unfairly injure somebody so I will not do that."
Member Brugmann stated "This has to do with the Scott Trammell Moore/Paul Hogan complaint from the Alice B. Toklas Club against me-because of the way it was handled and because of the way it was sent to the Ethics Commission in a way the Ethics Commission thought this was a complaint from the Task Force against one of its members, & so put it in writing, & put it in the record, sent letters back, I asked for a full explanation, and the only way I could get this was at a break during one of our previous meetings-the Chair was here, the two attorneys were here, the Task Force Administrator was here, and I got an agreement of some sort that there were be an explanation from Jackie Minor, the Deputy City Attorney, who contacted the Ethics task force, and an explanation of what happened because it is important to me in the middle of a campaign involving PG&E and the credibility of the people who have the audacity to question PG&E in San Francisco."
"Now number one, I had to ask for the statement and I got it; I asked for it and it was given to me October 3, 2001, but there is no name on it as to who drafted it; was not sent to the Task Force; was not put in a way that could be put into the public record as I requested-that is number one-so I would like this to be done."
"Number two, the way this item was put at the end, I thought this was another reference to me-the horrible sunshine problems that I was causing-ethics issue, two Deputy City Attorneys-second meeting-Deputy City Attorneys-Ethics Commission-attorney and the Task Force Administrator-I had to call
Donna Hall and ask if that was me-she said no; and I said who was it; she said you will have to talk to Hilda; well, I don’t want secret meetings reported in this fashion to the Sunshine Task Force in a way that not only further embroils me publicly here as an ethics problem and a sunshine problem for this group, and that then it is not me, and of course I only knew that through interrogation, it involves somebody else here on the Task Force holding secret meetings on an unethical basis, etc., etc., etc.,--just these three or four paragraphs are lots of problems; I am almost at my wits end as to how to clear this up so that it is clear what actually happened; I guess I have to put this in question form-why wasn’t this a signed document, why wasn’t it sent to the Task Force, why isn’t it a part of the record; what in the world is this secret meeting down here involving an ethics issue that looks like it affects me, the way that it is put here-I don’t like it."
Chair Bernstein stated "would you believe Bruce that you are not at the center of each and every event?" Member Brugmann stated "I wouldn’t know that from this-I don’t think that is a particularly relevant answer." Chair Bernstein stated "I think it is-I think it is-it was a fact-finding meeting-I have said I will not reveal anything-it is premature-there may end up being nothing to reveal-so I am not going to answer your question-if you think I have behaved improperly, I suggest you ask the Task Force to remove me from the position of Chair-I don’t want to keep dealing with this meeting after meeting-it is obstructing the reason why we are really here; I have repeated verbally and in writing what my thinking was, why it went over to the Ethics Commission-it doesn’t help because you don’t accept it."
Member Brugmann stated "let me ask some questions then, who was involved in the writing and the discussion on this October 3 chronology-that is number one-who was it-who was involved in it-that is the point, no one knows what I am referring to; Chair Bernstein stated "I was involved in writing it." Member Brugmann asked, "who else wrote it; who else was involved in the discussion; was Donna, was one of the Deputy City Attorneys?"
Chair Bernstein asked "is that important?" Member Brugmann stated "yes it is important-it is very important to me."
Administrator Donna Hall stated "I might be able to help on this-Bruce, as far as I know, was the only who asked for a chronology of the events of this particular complaint-he did ask for this-I went back through the minutes and compiled what I thought were the exact happenings of this complaint from the very beginning when it was submitted; Hilda looked it over, had something to do with it; Jackie Minor, who was involved from the very beginning, also looked it over; and we came to the conclusion that this looked like a very accurate chronology of this particular complaint; I did send to Ernie for his review; I think the reason it was not sent to the entire Task Force, I don’t think anyone else had asked for it; Member Courtney asked "if it was on letterhead-City Attorney letterhead." Administrator Donna Hall stated "Bruce had asked for it from me."
Member Brugmann stated "I had asked for it-the two attorneys were here, the Chair was here and Donna Hall was here and I asked for an explanation in writing from Jackie Minor and the group as to what happened." Chair Bernstein stated "you asked for a chronology." Member Brugmann stated "no I asked for an explanation." Chair Bernstein stated "I am sorry, I heard you ask for a chronology, I was standing right there, and you are entitled to a chronology, and it was put together as quickly as was possible."
Member Courtney stated "does this fall under any agenda item, does this fall under the Scott Trammel Moore complaint-(a) Report from Chair--Scott Trammell Moore complaint, and if so, why don’t I have it as part of my packet?"
Member Koltun stated "no, it is not part of the Chair Report-may I make a brief comment-with all due respect Bruce, as far as I can tell, and perhaps I am missing something, although I don’t want necessarily to call upon a full explanation of what I am missing, as far as I can tell, you misinterpreted something that happened that I think-there may be also other things involved-but there is one point I think you have misinterpreted, which is we all were here when the Chair made a motion, didn’t make a motion, the Chair& & based on the apparent lack of a quorum, which she has explained, sent the Scott Trammell Moore complaint to the Ethics Commission; the Ethics Commission then wrote her a letter back which mistakenly used words that indicated that they may have used it as a complaint by the Commission as opposed as a complaint by Mr. Moore; there was a mistake; you brought that up at a meeting and it was generally acknowledged all around that insofar as the Ethics Commission had interpreted this as a complaint by the Commission about you, it was clearly mistaken, and I don’t think there is a single member of this Commission who believes that the Commission has made a complaint about you, including the Chair; and to a large extent I believe you are misinterpreting."
Member Koltun stated "I understand your concern that your name not be sullied, but I really don’t believe that the sullying that you are saying was going on is going on; Mr. Moore has made a complaint that may have what ever origins you have indicated you believe it has; but I don’t believe the Commission has taken any action one way or the other, or that Ms. Bernstein has taken any action; I believe a lot of this comes from simply a mistake by the Ethics Commission as to what had gone on, which if there is something we could do with the Commission to clarify, but I don’t think there is any disagreement here about this."
Chair Bernstein stated "I did send a letter, as I recall, to the Commission, correcting that error and made it very clear that it was neither I nor the Task Force that made this complaint-I have said that now over and over again-I have put it in writing, and that is it. Now Dan asked to make a motion that unfortunately does not appear on the agenda as an action item-doesn’t appear at all. I would ask Dan to tell us what the motion will be, that it will be on the November agenda, and that we will be able to vote on it, and I would ask that this be the end."
Member Guillory stated, "All I asked and am renewing my request that I had made for this meeting, and I will make it for the next meeting, is just that we add an action item that would be a motion that says the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force has not filed any complaints against Bruce Brugmann."
Member Courtney stated "I would like to amend to say or any of its members-that is the real issue here." Member Guillory stated "if that is an issue we will expand it-I want Bruce’s name explicitly because that is what brought this up-nor any other members on the Task Force-I would ask that this be an action item for the next meeting."
Member Williams stated "Madam Chair, don’t get excited, we all understand, but when I saw the action too, maybe I was misreading it, I said maybe it was against me, so I mean, you know, whether the verbiage or something, & maybe I was out of line or something."
Chair Bernstein stated "let’s not be paranoid."
Member Planthold stated "look folks, am reading the draft text, and it says ’I met with a member,’ so if Bruce knows if he met with Hilda and if she didn’t meet with him, it clearly can’t be him, and Marjorie says ’huh," so it is like read the text, and you know if it ain’t you then relax."
Member Williams stated "it could be another member." Chair Bernstein stated "you didn’t meet with me on this, and Bruce didn’t meet with me on this, it must have been some body else."
Member Brugmann stated "no, it could have been a reference to the little ad hoc meeting we had that day, that is the point-now I want this document submitted to everybody, the chronology-my point was that I wanted it on the public record and so everybody should get this and it should be redone to show who was the authors, who this was from."
Deputy City Attorney Llorente stated "that could be part of the motion that is going to be heard at the next meeting."
4. Administrator’s Report
Administrator Donna Hall submitted her monthly report.
6. Report from Complaint Committee
Committee Chair Hogan reported.
(a) Report from meeting of 10/11/01
(b) Complaint of David Parker; Order of Determination
Order of Determination approved as recommended by the Complaint Committee as follows, by the following vote: (Guillory/Planthold)
Ayes: Koltun, Brugmann, Courtney, Harrison, Bernstein, Kowalczuk, Guillory, Hogan, Williams, Planthold
Noes: None
Based on the information provided the Complaint Committee from the complainant David Parker, and from Jeannie Hwang-Brae of the Delinquency Prevention Commission, the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force finds:
1. The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force does have jurisdiction over this complaint based on the allegations of non-compliance of the posting of agendas on the web 72 hours before a meeting; of the posting of agendas at the Public Library 72 hours before a meeting; access to public records; and the holding of a closed session.
2. The Complaint Committee and the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force find the allegations of David Parker against the Delinquency Prevention Commission to be true.
3. The Complaint Committee and the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force find that the violations raised by the complainant have recently been corrected by the Delinquency Prevention Commission, and the Delinquency Prevention Commission is now in compliance with the Sunshine Ordinance.
4. The Complaint Committee and the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force acknowledge that it is beneficial for persons to appear before the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force if they are having difficulty working with agencies or groups; and for agencies to appear before the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force regarding alleged violations of the Sunshine Ordinance.
5. The Complaint Committee commends the complainant and the City representative of the Delinquency Prevention Commission for their prompt resolution of the allegations in this complaint.
(c) Complaint of Bob Planthold; set for public hearing
Linda Avery addressed the Task Force stating she was in attendance representing the Planning Commission.
7. Public hearing, complaint of Bob Planthold against the Planning Commission regarding the alleged failure to conduct proper voting on agenda items and the alleged seriatim meetings by members during a public meeting.
Motion adopted continuing this hearing to December 18, 2001. (Hogan/Guillory)
Ayes: Koltun, Brugmann, Courtney, Harrison, Bernstein, Kowalczuk, Guillory, Hogan, Williams.
Noes: None
Recused: Planthold
Member Harrison left the meeting at this time.
8. Report from Public Education & Information Committee
Committee Chair Guillory reported.
(a) Report from meeting of 9/6/01
(b) Recommendation to create a volunteer community liaison position to assist the Public Education and Information Committee with its work
Motion adopted creating a volunteer community liaison position to assist in the Public Education and Information Committee with its work. (Courtney/Hogan) (Harrison absent)
Ayes: Koltun, Brugmann, Courtney, Bernstein, Kowalczuk, Planthold, Guillory, Hogan, Williams.
Noes: None
Absent: Harrison
(c) Recommendation for Interim three-month appointment of Sue Cauthen to the position of Volunteer Community Liaison
Motion adopted appointing Sue Cauthen to the position of Volunteer Community Liaison for an interim term of three months. (Courtney/Hogan)
Ayes: Koltun, Brugmann, Courtney, Bernstein, Kowalczuk, Planthold, Guillory, Hogan, Williams.
Noes: None
Absent: Harrison
(d) Report from meeting of 10/16/02
Member Guillory left the meeting at this time.
9. Report from Rules Committee
Chair Bob Planthold reported on meeting of 9/19/01 outlining recommendations of a) recommending that the Chair be authorized to pursue questions to establish the relevance of new material submitted at meeting-time; b) recommending that if the Chair determines that the material is relevant, the Chair will ask if both parties are agreeable to waive the 45-day time limit for responding to a complainant regarding their complaint; and c) recommending to the Task Force that materials could be excluded from consideration and an Order of Determination issued with the stipulation that if the Task Force issued an Order of Determination adverse to the complainant, the complainant could file a new complaint alleging the same violations with the new supporting materials.
After discussion among the Task Force members, consensus was to leave these recommendations to the discretion of the Chair.
10. Task Force meeting times
Member Koltun expressed concern about the ability of arriving at the Task Force meetings by 4:00 p.m.; and the ability of community persons to arrive at 4:00 p.m. Consensus among the Task Force Members to leave the time at 4:00 p.m. for the present time.
The meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Donna L. Hall, Administrator
* The 10/23/01 Sunshine Ordinance Task Force meeting has been recorded and is on file in the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force Office.
**The quotations included in the minutes are an attempt to as closely as possible take down exactly what was audio recorded-however, the audio tape is the official minutes of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.
Last updated: 8/18/2009 1:57:05 PM