You already know my position on the matter, I don’t think we need one and instead could rely on a stakeholder board and a part-time consultant. But for the sake of the argument let’s say I agree with the Mayor that we need this position (I agree we need SOMETHING better than what we currently have). Don’t you think it is a little odd that we have finance running the health department and the IT department, we have decided to ‘job out’ out internal audit, and the police force has had major turnover since Thum has taken over (this is a good thing, because I think he is cleaning some of the cobwebs out). You also have to remember his Cultural Officer that he needed, she was never replaced after leaving. I think the council’s position of wait and see is a good one, and once we get the SFPD fully staffed with competent officers and directors in key departments then we can talk about finger painting.
THE CITY NEEDS A FULL-TIME OPEN MEETINGS COMPLIANCE OFFICER
So it happened again this week, their was a meeting that posted the incorrect agenda so an item got pushed to next month’s meeting (this happened at the Active Transportation Board meeting). Councilor Neitzert informed the board he wanted to be on the agenda to talk about E2’s but they didn’t bother reposting the agenda within the 24 hour window. While they did the right thing by postponing the item, they did the wrong thing by not posting it when they were told about it.
It is time the city had a full-time open meetings compliance officer that makes sure all agendas are posted on time and correctly. If we are depending on department heads to do this right, it is obviously not working.