February 28, 2006

Seat 1

Erica Craven (Vice Chair)

Seat 8

Bruce Wolfe

Seat 2

Richard Knee

Seat 9

Vacant

Seat 3

Sue Cauthen

Seat 10

Nick Mueller

Seat 4

Vacant

Seat 11

Marjorie Ann Williams

Seat 5

Heather Sterner

Seat 6

Doug Comstock (Chair)

Ex-officio

Gloria Young

Seat 7

David Pilpel

Ex-officio

Vacant

1.

Approval of minutes of January 24, 2006. (action item) (5 minutes)

Speakers: Peter Warfield, Kimo Crossman: expressed concern re: minutes omitting comment by the public.

Motion to approve minutes of January 24, 2006. ( Sterner / Williams )

Ayes: Craven, Sterner, Comstock, Pilpel, Mueller, Williams, Wolfe

Excused: Knee

Absent: Cauthen

2.

Discussion regarding recognition of service for David Parker for his community service as a member of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.

(discussion and possible action) (10 minutes) (no attachment)

Speakers: None

Chair Comstock, by consensus of the Task Force, asked the Administrator to obtain a special recognition template from the Board of Supervisors and to use it to draft a special recognition for former member David Parker, for review by the Task Force, in honor of his service.

3.

Report from Complaint Committee meeting of January 10, 2006.

Member Wolfe made the report.

Speakers: None

05042

Recommendation to accept jurisdiction of complaint filed by Steve Lynch against the San Francisco Fire Department for alleged violation of Sections 67.21, 67.25, 67.26 and 67.27 of the Sunshine Ordinance for denial of public records access and untimely response.

Speakers: John Darmanin: in support of jurisdiction.

Motion to accept jurisdiction. ( Wolfe / Mueller )

Ayes: Craven, Knee, Sterner, Comstock, Pilpel, Mueller, Williams, Wolfe

Absent: Cauthen

4.

05042

Public Hearing, complaint filed by Steve Lynch against the San Francisco Fire Department for alleged violation of Sections 67.21, 67.25, 67.26 and 67.27 of the Sunshine Ordinance for denial of public records access and untimely response.

Speakers: Steve Lynch, Complainant; John Darmanin in support of Complainant; Lorrie Kalos, Assistant Deputy Chief, San Francisco Fire Department

Motion finding a technical violation of the Sunshine Ordinance against the San Francisco Fire Department for failure to respond in a timely manner in response to the Complainants August 13, 2004 Sunshine request and December 13, 2005 Immediate Disclosure Request. The Task Force understands that the Department has undertaken a review of its procedures regarding their response to Sunshine Ordinance request and commends them for implementing new guidelines that will be submitted to the Task Force for its review and comment. ( Craven / Knee )

Ayes: Craven, Knee, Sterner, Comstock, Pilpel, Mueller, Wolfe

Absent: Cauthen, Williams

By consensus of the Task Force the San Francisco Fire Department will submit its new guidelines to the Education, Outreach and Training Committee.

5.

Discussion regarding whether the public can have direct access to Task Force Members personal e-mail addresses, and whether current policy by the Administrator of receiving and filing general public e-mails for Task Force review should be continued.

Speakers: Kimo Crossman, James Chaffee, Peter Warfield, and John Darmanin: supports public access to Task Force members e-mail addresses.

Continued to the next Task Force meeting, without objection.

Chair Comstock by consensus of the Task Force asked the Administrator to

1. Continue the current practice until the next meeting.
2. To provide an index identifying all communications received.
3. To investigate the feasibility of the City providing each Task Force member with an e-mail account.

6.

Report from Compliance & Amendments Committee: meeting of February 13, 2006.

Member Knee made the report.

Speaker: None

7.

Report from Education, Outreach and Training Committee: meeting of February 9, 2006.

Member Pilpel made the report.

Speakers: None

8.

Administrator’s Report.

The Administrator made the report.

Speaker: None

9.

Public comment for items not listed on the agenda. Public comment to be held at 5:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible.

Speakers:

• James Chaffee: expressed concern with the Task Force respecting its rules regarding complainants being treated fairly; and expressed the need to enforce the Sunshine Ordinance among City Departments.

• Kimo Crossman: expressed confusion regarding what is conflict of interest; and encouraged the Task Force to commemorate Sunshine week which is March 13-18.

• Peter Warfield: expressed the need for the Task Force to develop a procedure to create a communication file, which list every communication that it receives; expressed opposition to the restriction on public comment, which limits comments to items not on the agenda; and discussed the Task Forces lack of guidance on the type of contact Task Force members can have with the public.

Chair Comstock without objection asked the Administrator to invite a representative of the Ethics Commission to the next Task Force meeting to discuss Conflict of Interest.

Full text of comments are available on audio tape.

10.

Announcements, questions, and future agenda items from the Task Force.

Member Pilpel informed the Task Force of:

• Hearings in Marin County concerning the release of names and salaries of Marin County Payroll data. (Marinij.com)
• His meeting with the Community College District re: making District and Board information public on their web site.
• Acknowledged the prior service to the Task Force by Deputy City Attorney Amy Akeman whose last day is today.
• His appointment to the Cities Wastewater Sub-Committee of the PUC-CAC, which deals with the sewer system.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 7:23 p.m.