August 15, 2001

MINUTES

of the

Citizens Advisory Committee on Elections

Wednesday, August 15, 2001 at 5:30 p.m.

City Hall

Room 416

1. CALL TO ORDER

Kathy Grogan called the meeting to order at 5:45p.m.

Present: Christopher Bowman Absent: Joan Lewis

Anne Politeo Samson Wong

Ed Canapary

Larry Griffin

Susan Horsfall

Marcel Kapulica

Laura Brainin-Rodriguez

Bill Lee, Administrative Services

Tammy Haygood, Elections Department

Phil Paris, Elections Department

Coni Binaley, Elections Department

Lidia Pimentel, Elections Department

Joseph McGuire, Elections Department

Max Peltz, City Attorney

Members of the Public - Reginald Forrest

2. REVIEW, REVISION AND ACCEPTANCE OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES

Minutes were approved for the previous meetings on June 13, June 20, July 11 and July 18, 2001.

3. DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS REPORT

Director Tammy Haygood reported that the Department of Elections was in full swing and gearing up for the November election. Emphasis was taken on issues specifically targeted by the Grand Jury Report.

Current Department of Elections activities included:

· Signature verification for the MUD candidates and City Attorney candidates.

· Creating pamphlets for ballot arguments on MUD in English, Spanish and Chinese. Filing deadline is September 4^th @ noon; Selection of MUD argument to be done on September 4^th @ 3:00 PM. MUD being handled by Phil Paris.

· Sending out 3000 Poll Worker cards and in which many are expected to reply to sign up for work.

· Setting up of poll worker counter for walk-in recruitment and testing.

· Retaining Robin Boxler as the bilingual outreach staff lead. Additional Chinese speaking and Spanish speaking bilingual staff will start August 20^th.

· The preparation of the Voter Information Pamphlet being handled by Gerard Gleason.

· Polling locators (Precinct) working on accessible sites.

When asked about the status of Evonne Zamora, Haygood responded that Zamora decided not to interview. However, a Deputy Director was hired who previously worked for the Department.

PUBLIC COMMENT

"Supervisor Gall" Singing Telegram gave a satirical commendation to Kathy Grogan and Susan Horsfall and to the rest of the CACE.

Reginald Forrest would like to see the bilingual outreach staff diversify languages in addition to Chinese. Forrest inquired who the new deputy director was. He also felt the Afro-American community has not been reflected in the process of elected officials, elections and votes.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT by Bill Lee:

Still do not have a final report from Secretary of State although report is essentially completed. Do not know what the hold up. District Attorney’s office is still doing interviews and cannot release any information yet as they are still looking into the allegations.

OLD BUSINESS

Re: Item 4a: Status of Comp Time

Part of allegations include the issue of compensation payment. It is being investigated by the District Attorney’s office and by the attorney representing the Elections’ Department and its staff. Auditors from the Community College District are assisting.

Bowman asked about the 5 people who were to receive the comp time back in November and December. Lee reported that they have not received anything from the City because several of those people were part of the investigation.

Bill Lee distributed to the members on behalf of the Mayor, Certificates of Appreciation for their dedication to serving on the CACE.

Lee also distributed to the members Certificates of Honor on behalf of Supervisor Tony Hall and the rest of the Board of Supervisors. Upon receipt, Ed Canapary offered the following sentiment taken from the New Testament: St. Matthew Chap 23:17 "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones, and of all filthiness."

Re: Item 4b: Status report on the proposed ordinance to move deadline for paid arguments for the March 2002 election from 78 to 74 days before the election eliminating discounts, and increase fees. Per Phil Paris, there was no further discussion by the Board of Supervisors on this matter.

Re: Status of Charter Amendments Elections, Ethics, Outside Counsel (Prop E), Redistricting (Prop G) and Vacancies (Prop C). Chris Bowman reported the following: Board of Supervisors voted to have Elections, Ethics and Outside Counsel separated from Redistricting, a major victory. Prop E and Prop G passed by 10-1 vote, and separation passed 8-3. Vacancies passed 11-0.

Public Comment

None

Re: Item 4d: Status of CACE Ordinance

No further discussion.

Re: Item 4e: Status of Redistricting/Elections Task Force Ordinance and hearings for August 20^th & 21^st, and Board Meetings on August 20^th and 27^th.

Per Grogan, last meeting approved a letter to be delivered to Ammiano for the 8/20^th meeting. Bowman noted that Hall and his aide were instrumental in moving this forward.

Re: Item 4f: Review and discussion of Acting Director’s Annual Report.

Phil Paris reported that this was the final and complete annual report which included the CACE May report to Supervisor Teng. Only outstanding item was the "Diversity Advisory Committee".

Public Comment

None

Re: Item 4g: Discussion, Revision and Approval of CACE’s Annual Report.

Anne Politeo indicated that it was only in a very rough draft form. Tabled to the last meeting on August 29^th.

NEW BUSINESS:

None

Last meeting to be August 29, 2001.

Meeting adjoured 7:30 p.m.

Minutes prepared by Coni Binaley