Meeting Minutes

December 2, 2022

Meeting called to order at 4:16 pm. Pledge of Allegiance.

Back to top

ROLL CALL

PRESENT: President Wechter, Vice President Carrion, Members Afuhaamango (remotely), Nguyen, Soo, Acting Secretary Leung
NOT PRESENT: Member Brookter (excused), Member Palmer

A quorum of the Board was present.

President Wechter stated that Line Item 3: Presentation by Brian Williams would be postponed to a later meeting.

Back to top

RESOLUTION UNDER CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 5493 (e)

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

Vote to adopt resolution:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Carrion, Nguyen, Soo, Wechter
NAY: None
Approved 5 - 0

Back to top

ADOPTION OF MINUTES

Motion to adopt the Meeting Minutes as amended from the November 2, 2022, meeting by Member Soo, seconded by President Wechter.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

Vote to adopt minutes as amended:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Carrion, Nguyen, Soo, Wechter
NAY: None
Approved 5 - 0

Back to top

PRESENTATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES (DHR)

Shawn Sherburne from the Department of Human Resources (DHR), appeared remotely for:
- further discussion and answer of questions on the recruitment of an Inspector General and the selection of a recruitment firm

Questions and comments by Member Soo, President Wechter, Vice-President Carrion, and Member Nguyen.
- questions regarding the Office of the Inspector General including the change from 8177 Attorney position to an 8181 Assistant Chief Attorney position.
Questions and comments by President Wechter, and Vice-President Carrion. Vice-President Carrion thanked Mr. Sherburne for attending to answer board questions.

PUBLIC COMMENT: None

Motion by President Wechter for DHR to contract with an outside recruitment firm to conduct recruitment for the inspector general.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
Barbara Attard, caller on the phone, involved in civilian oversight for over 40 years, states these two agenda items are important and urges the board to bring in a recruitment firm. Recruitment firms will bring in candidates beyond what advertising will bring in. Concerned that the attorney is making more than what the IG is budgeted for.

John Alden, caller on the phone, former applicant for these positions and has hired for these positions, stated he has met people who would not apply if there were no recruitment firm because they don’t think the board is serious. Recommends going with recruiter, because without it, there may be applicants who are poorly qualified. [On follow up, Mr. Alden stated he had no intention of applying for the IG position].

Earl, caller on the phone, San Francisco taxpayer and resident, asked why (does the board) want to spend thousands of dollars in tax money to have a private search instead of posting this through DHR. He asked how many meetings will happen before hiring an IG?

President Wechter reiterates his motion for DHR to contract with an outside recruitment firm to conduct recruitment for the inspector general, seconded by Member Afuhaamango.

Vote for DHR to contract with an outside recruitment firm:
AYES: Afuhaamango, Wechter
Nays: Carrion, Nguyen, Soo
Not approved 2-3

 

5 MINUTE RECESS

Back to top

PRESENTATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY (DPA)

Nicole Armstrong, Chief Operations Officer of the Department of Police Accountability, appeared and presented on the role of DPA, the processes for DPA to support and do the work of the SDOB, operational staffing, minimum budget requirements, the need for hiring of an 1823 for budgeting, and budget proposals. DPA’s goal is to ensure that the SDOB work is being done and to succeed 110%.

Questions from President Wechter, and comments from Member Soo, and Vice-President Carrion. Member Nguyen requests that the meeting return to the agenda item.

Marshall Khine, Assistant Chief Attorney from the Department of Police Accountability, appeared and gave a background on his experience. Mr. Khine stated it would take time to hire an IG and time to build the infrastructure. DPA continues the work that they took on without a work order or funding which taxed their resources. Complaints don’t stop because there is no IG and DPA continues the work. Budget season is coming up and we need to submit a proposal to ensure funds for SDOB
are protected. He spoke of building additional programming and creating community liaisons, creating and building a transition plan, 3304 government code statute of limitations, office space, case management system, and infrastructure can be built without making policy, allowing the IG to develop his own policy and protocol.

Due to time constraints, no public comment was taken on this line item. Questions by the board members and public comment on the presentation by the Department of Police Accountability are continued to the next regular meeting on January 6, 2023.

Back to top

GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT

Francisco De Costa, caller on the phone, has been listening very carefully to this meeting; the people agreed by putting this measure on the ballot that they have a say in the deliberations which in this meeting you have miserably failed. The chair needs to be very careful how he conducts himself. In San Francisco as you can see from the other commissioners who gave their input, they are very astute and stellar, so we have to go forward, but let me warn you, this divisiveness at every level must stop. You are very lucky the Department of Accountability has gone out of its way to help you.

Back to top

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Member Carrion makes a motion to continue the remaining agenda items to the next meeting and requests President Wechter obtain information from other oversight boards who did not use a national executive firm to find out what their processes were and if they had any issues as a result of that, prioritize the appointment of an IG, community outreach and input, social media policy, reports that are due including quarterly reports and March 1 report. Member Soo requested that a jail health issue be put on a future agenda item along with a timeline and benchmarks for the recruitment of an IG. Member Soo requests timely receipt of agenda items for review.

PUBLIC COMMENT: none

Back to top

ADJOURNMENT

Motion to adjourn by President Wechter.
No objections.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:03 pm.

 

Dan Leung
Legal Assistant,
Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board

 

 

Full video recording may be accessed at: https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/42565?view_id=223&redirect=true

 

Back to top