MINUTES

Thursday, June 8, 2006

6:00 P.M.

1800 Oakdale Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94124

1. Commission President Bobbrie Brown called the Thursday, June 8, 2006 meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. in the Alex L. Pitcher Community Room at 1800 Oakdale Avenue.
   
   Commissioner Brown read the Sunshine Ordinance aloud.
    

Commissioners Present:  Brown, Fuentes, Jones, Parker, Person, and Sampson
Commissioners Excused: Kennedy

Staff Present: Staff Present: Toye Moses, Executive Director;
Annette Price, SECF Comm-Sect

Be it resolved that the minutes of the Southeast Community Facility Commission meeting of Wednesday, May 24, 2006 were approved as submitted.

2.0            PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Herb Dang announced that SFPUC will hold an Emergency Preparedness Day on June 24^th, 2006 from 10:00 to 3:00 at the Southeast Community Facility, 1800 Oakdale Ave.
 

3.0            COMMUNICATIONS:
Director Toye Moses reported correspondence to Mayor Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong are in progress and will be ready by the next commission meeting. 

President Brown asked that Mr. Lewis Harrison, Bureau of Environmental Regulation & Management (BERM) step forward to present on the San Francisco Dental Mercury Reduction Program.

4.0            PRESENTATIONS:
Mr. Lewis Harrison began by reviewing the Progress Report on the San Francisco Dental Mercury Reduction Program earlier distributed. He explained the program, established three years ago, regulates the discharge of mercury from dental offices in the City and County in an effort to reduce the mercury discharge into the sewer system and at treatment plants.

Mr. Harrison reported the SFPUC outreach program has been in existence since 1983 and is one of 1500 federally approved programs in the country. The mission of the program is to reduce pollutants at the source so that treatment plants can do a better job of treating sewage received. Mr. Harrison went on to review the results achieved by the program, implementation of equipment (amalgam separator), best management practices, and recycling procedure in filtering mercury.
He also noted the new permit issued to the Plan in 2002 now requires a lower limit of mercury discharge.


Mr. Lewis noted full compliance by San Francisco dentists in the instrumentation by the 2004 deadline. He explained prior to implementation of the equipment separators, dental offices accounted for 49.5% of the mercury that entered treatment plants.

Mr. Harrison concluded by highlighting the preliminary results gathered from the monitoring of sewers and wastewater treatment plants (33% reduction in 2005 at Oceanside and Southeast Treatment Plants) which he expects to decrease even further.

Commissioner Brown asked for clarification regarding the number of practicing dentists in San Francisco. Mr. Harrison stated statistic count indicates there are 1.8 dentists per permitted clinic practicing in the City.

Commissioner Parker asked whether there was resistance from the dental society in changing the program. Mr. Harrison said there was. He reiterated dentists who do amalgam work require an actual permit to access the sewer system in addition to the best management practices.

Dir. Moses, referring to the data source collected on dental buildings, asked for clarification on the incomplete study.  Mr. Harrison stated all results have not been submitted but should all be in by August. Mr. Harrison also recommended that interested parties visit the website at: http://pollutionprevention.sfwater.org/for information on other programs.

Dir. Moses asked whether sampling had been done at the Southeast and the Silver Avenue health clinics. Mr. Harrison stated although both clinics are permitted, there has been no sampling done in terms of a study.

Commissioner Brown asked what the next step would be after conducting the 5-year samplings. Mr. Harrison stated the study portion would cease, as there would be enough data to determine the affects of the particular program. However, the permitting program would continue over 15 years before it becomes an automatic practice where separators are routinely installed.

Commissioner Fuentes asked how is the amount of mercury in the bay monitored in terms of the food chain. Mr. Harrison stated those issues are monitored by the Dept. of Public Health. Mr. Samuel Murray interjected that he would be more than happy to bring someone from the PUC to address that subject, as that specific question is outside Mr. Harrison’s expertise.

Commissioner Sampson asked what would be the second largest source of mercury entering the sewer system. Mr. Harrison stated the second largest source comes from individuals with amalgam restorations, which is not a controllable source. Mr. Harrison noted the only industrial sources of mercury regulated are hospitals.

Commissioner Brown thanked Mr. Harrison for his presentation and asked that he send any new updates to the Commission.

5.0            Director’s Report:
Director Moses reported that the budget is doing well. Attempted cuts were made to the budget; however those cuts were fought and the budget restored. The Commission was encouraged to attend all Commission meetings, as any money that is not expended goes back into city coffers.
The exterior doors of the Facility required re-keying due to force an entry of a lock box and theft of the keys.

Dir. Moses reported PUC has given authorization to begin installation of a fence at the EPM facility in an effort to address the co-mingling issue of the students. Staff continues to await response from Deputy City Attorney Roddy regarding the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by EPM tenants.

Commissioner Parker asked what procedure is in place when selecting a tenant to lease facility space. Dir. Moses gave a brief overview of the process for facility rental, noting that the Commission has final authority on who the tenant will be.

MOTION: Moved by Parker, seconded by Jones to accept the Director’s Report. Motion passed unanimously to accept report as presented (6-0).

6.0            Introduction of New Business By Commissioners:
Commissioner Parker suggested that the issue of Commission health insurance benefits be revisited. Parker also suggested that the letter to Mayor Newsom regarding the health insurance benefits be drafted and signed by the Commission. President Brown explained that letters sent on behalf of the Commission are normally drafted and signed by staff since staff supports the Commission. Commissioner Parker also requested the issue of amending the Charter, also be revisited. Dir. Moses reminded that the President had set-up a sub-committee to meet with Attorney Roddy and come up with a strategy to address that issue. That meeting has not taken place yet.

Dir. Moses suggested that Mayor Newsom be invited to give a State of Economic Address at a town hall meeting at the facility.

7.0            Public Comment:
There was no public comment at this time.

8.0            Announcements:
Commissioner Fuentes announced that he is currently co-curating along with Daniel Cornell an exhibit at the De Young Museum, which will open July 22. Actor Cheech Marin will also exhibit his art collection there. Commissioner Fuentes further stated he will be doing a residency at the Kimball Gallery in August and invited everyone to attend.

9.0            Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________

Commission Secretary