February 24, 2004

Seat 1

Nicole Dogwill

Seat 8

Garrett Jenkins

Seat 2

Bruce Brugmann

Seat 9

David Parker

Seat 3

Richard Knee

Seat 10

Alexandra Nickliss

Seat 4

Pawan Mehra

Seat 11

Marjorie Ann Williams

Seat 5

Heather Sterner

Ex-officio

Vacant

Seat 6

Doug Comstock

Ex-officio

Donna Hall

Seat 7

Sue Cauthen

1.

Approval of minutes of January 27, 2004.

Approved. (Nickliss/Sterner) (Absent: Comstock, Parker, Mehra, Cauthen)

2.

Resolution of commendation to Joshua Koltun.

Chair Jenkins presented Resolution of Commendation to former member Koltun.

4.

Report from Compliance & Amendments Committee meeting of February 11, 2004.

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Members Comstock and Cauthen entered the meeting at this time.

Chair Knee reported on the Committee meeting of February 11 and the public hearing meeting of February 21, 2004.

Public comment from David Pilpel stating he had submitted a number of suggestions.

Public comment from Peter Warfield stating he agreed the proposed amendments should be available in paper form.

5.

Report from Complaint Committee meeting of February 10, 2004.

Chair Comstock reported on the Complaint Committee meeting of February 20, 2004.

A.

Jurisdiction of complaint of John Kelly against the Department of Building Inspection alleging (a) that his requests were not responded to in a timely manner; and (b) that when the Department responded, the Department did not fully comply with the records request.

Motion adopted approving jurisdiction of the complaint of John Kelly. (Cauthen/Brugmann) (Absent: Parker, Mehra)

B,

Jurisdiction of complaint of Oliver Luby & Kevin DeLiban against the Ethics Commission alleging deleting of email and attachments that were sent to the Ethics Commission, thereby violating the Sunshine Ordinance.

Motion adopted approving jurisdiction of the complaint of Oliver Luby and Kevin DeLiban. (Nickliss/Knee) (Absent: Parker, Mehra)

Complainants stated they were concerned there might be a concern of the Task Force that Member Cauthen entered the Complaint Committee meeting after Complainants and Respondents had spoken.

3.

Report from the City Administrator on progress of Index of Records.

Jill Lerner presented report from the City Administrator’s Office on the semi-annual progress of the Sunshine Ordinance requirement for an Index of Records, stating most departments had complied.

Public comment from Peter Warfield regarding the value of this project; it would be helpful to know what is available and how to get access to the records.

6.

Public hearing, continued from 1-27-04, complaint of Steve Cockrell against the Park, Recreation & Open Space Advisory Committee (PROSAC) for alleged failure to provide records in response to a public record request.

This item continued to March 23, 2004

7.

Public hearing, continued from 1-27-04, complaint of Kevin Williams against the San Francisco Human Rights Commission for alleged overcharging for the production of public records; and whether the cost set by the Human Rights Commission for producing the public records is reasonable, and if not how much the cost should be.

Gary Shweid, Investigator with the City Attorney’s Office addressed the Task Force regarding generally what is involved in obtaining data from computers and the amount of time required.

Complainant Kevin Williams stated he was concerned with the $134 per hour that was computed to cost him to have the information he requested retrieved.

Motion adopted urging the Human Rights Commission and the City Attorney’s Office to produce the method and invoice or document used in this case and to do so in a convenient, effective, economical and timely basis. (Brugmann/Nickliss) (Absent: Parker, Mehra)

8.

Public hearing, complaint of John Kelly against the Department of Building Inspection alleging (a) that his requests were not responded to in a timely manner; (b) that when the Department responded, the Department did not fully comply with the records request and (c) the Department did not provide a written statement in regard to certain specific records.

Complainant John Kelly addressed the Task Force in support of his complaint.

Jim Hutchinson, Department of Building Inspection, addressed the Task Force stating the Department had gone past the timeline in delivering documents; documents were available to Mr. Kelly at this meeting.

Order of Determination adopted stating the Department of Building Inspection is in violation of Section 67.21 and 67.21 (c) of the Sunshine Ordinance in that the records were not supplied in a timely manner and the Complainant was not supplied a written statement as to the existence of documents. (Comstock/Nickliss) (Absent: Parker, Mehra)

The Department of Building Inspection was encouraged to develop an index of records.

11.

Public comment for items not listed on the agenda. No public comment.

9.

Public hearing, complaint of Oliver Luby & Kevin DeLiban against the Ethics Commission alleging deleting of email and attachments that were sent to the Ethics Commission, thereby violating the Sunshine Ordinance.

Member Knee acknowledged disclosure that his wife is treasurer of an organization that led a campaign for a couple of years; that organization was selected, randomly, by the Ethics Commission; the issue involved Mr. James Sutton. Member Knee stated he is ready to approach this item without prejudice.

The Task Force acknowledged no problem with Member Knee approaching this item.

Kevin DeLiban and Oliver Luby addressed the Task Force in support of their complaint.

Ginny Vida and Mabel Ng, Ethics Commission, addressed the Task Force in opposition to the complaint.

Public comment from David Pilpel stating he believes the issue could have legal significance; might want to urge the Ethics Commission to open an investigation; urge Task Force to find a violation on this issue.

Public comment from Mark Soloman urging the Task Force to assure there are not special rules, stating the Commission runs the Department and the Department runs the Commission.

Public comment from Charles Marsteller stating the document appeared to fall within the jurisdiction of the Commission.

Order of Determination adopted as follows: (Comstock/Brugmann) (Absent: Parker, Mehra)

1. The SOTF finds that the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director of the Ethics Commission violated Sections 67.29-1 and 67.29-7 (a) of the Sunshine Ordinance by deleting the e-mail attached document from the Commission’s computer file.

10.

Administrator’s Report for February. Report submitted.

12.

Future agenda items. None.

The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

Submitted by Donna L. Hall, Administrator