Were n all in favour say aye . Aye. I move not to discuss anything closed in closed session. Second. All those in favour. Aye. Aye. Madame secretary . The pledge of allegiance. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Please be advised that the ringing of the use of cell phones, pagers and similar soundproducing Electronic Devices are prohibited at this meeting. Please be advise that the chairman ordered the removal from the meeting room of any person responsible for the ringing of or use of a cell phone, pager and other soundproducing electronic device. Please be advised that the member of the public has up to three minutes to pertinent Public Comments on each agenda item unless there is a shorter period on any other item. Item eight on Public Comments not listed on the agenda. I dont have any cards. Is there any Public Comment on anything not listed on the agenda . Being none, Public Comment is closed. Ok. Item 9a, executive director report. Good afternoon, president adams. Vice president adams. Members of the port commission. Happy new year to you all. The item id like to update you on is the resilient by Design Competition. This is a non notforprofit led Rockefeller Foundation sponsored yearlong Collaborative Design challenge, bringing together residents, Public Officials and locals, national and International Experts to develop 10 innovative communitybased solutions that will strengthen the regions resiliency to sea level rise, severe storms, flood, etc. The teams there are 10 teams if 10 locations. Our location has been defined as islais creek. The port is very pleased that it was selected. The city really recommended between three Sites Mission creek, fisherermans wharf and islais creek, but that was our favourite so were very pleased that it was selected. We will learn january 11 who our design firm will be. When we do, it will be posted on our website. This will be a very collaborative process with local residents and Community Organisations. These design these conceptial designs will be innovative and will allow us to really think about ways in which we can adapt to sea level rise. So were really looking forward to this. We are a key stakeholder as the landlord of this area, of this location. And were working closely with the resill resiliency by Design Competition staff. The next item is on pier 70. Id like to let everyone know that the port has made the decision to reissue the r. F. P. For the shipyard at pier 70 and we have a target of coming to this commission for approval february 27 of the year. So, very soon. As you will recall, we issued an r. F. P. August 15. We received three proposals, but only one was responsive and that was vigor of portland, oregon. As we work to clarify the response with vigor, we saw that we would need to repackage the r. F. P. And put out, broaden the scope of the r. F. P. In order for a firm to for the facility to be economically viable. And given that we learned this, we wanted to put it out again to offer the other shipyard operators who did not come in with the responsive propose told think again and perhaps bid again. So that is the reason for that decision. We remain very, very committed to seeing the shipyard up and operational again. And hope that this new r. F. P. Will yield a very good, responsive bidder. As you all probably woke up to know, on january 4, we got an Early Morning earthquake out of berkeley. It was initially reported at 4. 7, but was downgraded to 4. 4. Though we knew right away, given the size on the Richter Scale that probably we did not suffer damage. We did deploy our staff, full did a full deployment in order to test how we inspect and respond to earthquakes. We know this is something that will be in future and we want to be prepared. So by 7 30, we had 10 teams out. Five in boat and five on land. Really the entire port staff participate from engineering and maintenance participated in the exercise. It was a really, really high tide that day. So formally we would havened whated to go under the piers to inspect but because of the high tide it was not safe so we did perimeter reviews. The thaied was at 2. 5 feet and by 11 00 a. M. It was at seven feet. So it was impossible to get under the pier. We did learn that perimeter inspections are excellent. We were able to get all of our results in by 1 30, which we felt was a very, very good result. We identified nine issues, none of which the earthquake caused, but were very, very good issues to know about and we also realised that we are getting good at deploying our staff. But prioritizing what work to do first is something we need to work on with protocol and im thankful to rob iwashda and tom carter of our executive team, our chief arbor engineer and Deputy Director of maintenance who ran the maintenance and diana better tram. It was very well done. There were 34 staff involved. And i just want to remind the public to please also practice your emergency response. There is lots of good, Cognitive Research that says if you dont practice something, you dont know how to do it when youre worried, people will dial 411 in a catastrophe instead of 911 because theyre used to dialing 411 so practice, practice, practice. I have the great privilege of aunderstand noing that our own Deputy Director of maintenance tom carter has won the mvac award with paul defreidas. This special event for the awardees will be march 21st at 5 30 p. M. In city hall rotunda. And they won this award for the warm water cove encampment resolution and the Navigation Centre at 25th street. So, as most people familiar with the port last year, we were going through quite an unsurge ens and we were seeing more and more people on port property and our commission wanted us to do something positive and respond with compassion and this group of folks got the work going. First we did clearing of the encampments and focused on Compassionate Services to people. Then we identified the Navigation Centre as city policy is the best of breed in providing care to the Homeless Population and we found a site at 25th street and we even got the local neighbourhood residents and the Community Organisations to support the Navigation Centre. It was a long process, but it was a very, very rewarding one. And the awardees spent many, many hours doing the hard work that is involved in encampment removals so were very proud that they were given very prestigious award. I would like to announce that were having a special meeting january 30. This will be at the the open session will be at 3 15 at pier one in the bayside conference rooms. Thank you very much. There any Public Comment on the executive directors report . Any Public Comment . Being none, Public Comment is closed. Commissioners report. Are we showing these slides . You want to start showing them now . Yes. Go ahead. Staff has prepared some photo images of our be loved mayor edwin lee. We know the port commissioners would like the say some words about our former mayor. Why dont we have the slide show first to kind of just is that you wanted to show the public, right . I was just goinging to go through them as you were talking. Oh, all right. Ok. Fine. I guess ill start, president adams. Thank you for giving me the privilege of going first. I have two parts to what with id like to say about mayor ed lee. First is the personal. Weve known my husband and i have known ed lee since 1989 when he joined the government and when my husband joined as deputy mayor with art agnos. And they also they also lived five minutes away from us so we were in the same neighbourhood and we frequently got together over the years and certainly when he was mayor for dinner. So, we have a very, very close, personal association. And along the way there were other intersections, its funny how life is. Theres always six degrees of separation. Ed lee is an alumna of Boden College and my son attended boden so they had that connection between them. And my soninlaw then went to high school with breanne fa, his daughter. So, we had that connection, too. So, this loss is very, very personal to us. Not just for the city, but personally. And he was such a humble man and i think we all remember his tremendous sense of humour and his corny jokes and none of us remember his corny jokes, we just know that everybody would start laughing because he would start laughing. He was enthusiastic about his own jokes. He was i have traveled with him and i guess talk a little bit about on the civic side of what you know of him and the public side as far as the mayor is concerned. I know when he asked me to join the port commission, which i accepted and as we can see over the years he was a tremendously vibrant supporter of our waterfront and all of our projects and i think all of that is known and documented with starting with all the things that he believed in first with the warriors and pier 70 and mission rock and all those projects which i dont need to and im sure the other commissioners here may talk about. But i think that i still remember, too, to make sure that as he transitioned to be mayor and at the time with monique moyer, we had several breakfast meetings and at the tomb i was president and he wanted to ensure a smooth transition. As i recall, he was probably more involved as a mayor with the port than some of the pred se sorts. Predecessors. He wanted to make sure that we were on the same agenda. And he also had people from a city hall standpoint and i think it was very important that he took the time and we used to have a few breakfast meets toing talk about what was going on at the port and that worked out well and i think the transition worked out well. The other part to me is related to one of my other activities in the city. Im on the board of the San Francisco opera. One of the things that ed lee was honourary chair of the chamber as a bridge between asia and china. A bridge between american and asian culture and he was a tireless champion. He traveled with me at least three times to asia to make sure that we were able to get it not only presented here in San Francisco as a world premiere, but also in hong kong and eventually last september in beijing. It was an absolute first to get this to china given the state of chinas very nationalistic to get a foreign import to talk to them about one of their great classic stories. But he went to beijing. He talked to the mayor of beijing. We talked to the minister of culture. The minister of cultural visited San Francisco. These are all absolutely revolutionary firsts. The fact when the flags were held halfmast not only here in San Francisco but in washington, d. C. And other places, i think speaks to the respect that ed lee had across the country and internationally. I know that within four hours of his passing here, the news was flashed in china and all of a sudden my husband and i started getting Text Messages all over the place. My husband was in the hospital room with anita the night that he passed and was very, very sad. Unfortunately i was in minneapolis at the time. But it was something so unexpected, as you know, and i think we just it is very difficult. Im still trying to comprehend that loss and ed lee saw the dream of the red chamber and relates back to how he saw San Francisco. He saw it not just of his chinese heritage, but as San Franciscos cultural gift to the world and it is a gift that will have a legacy that goes on and not only hopefully in asia, but other parts of world. He used to champion those things. He saw San Francisco as the gateway to the world. I think through what he did in technology, in San Francisco, enhanced the citys International Reputation and we had such respect from other places in the world and, as you know, on the domestic front, im sure the people will talk about how he was the champion of housing in the city and the mayor that has achieved the most units of Affordable Housing than any other mayor in the city and that goal still hasnt been met. Hes only been 11,000. I just want to say that he was a quiet, unassuming man and i know there was a lot of criticism on issues in this city. As soon as he left us, i think we realised how great he really was and the legacy he left us is an amazing legacy for city of San Francisco. And for me personally, a tremendous loss. And my husband loved to have dinner with him and one of the things that they used to like to do, which if you knew ed lee, he loved to smoke a cigar. So, as my husband said at one of his. Ss, he lost a buddy to spoke a good cigar with after dinner. Thank you. Commissioner katz. I think many of us in this room go way back with mayor lee and it certainly came as a shock to me when i served on the board of supervisors. I used to call him my goto eds. Ed lee and ed harrington. That anything i wanted to do i went to one of the two of them because no matter what it was, even if it wasnt in their official area of duties, they thought it through and they understood the impact on the city and cared about making a difference. And i remember having many conversations with then director lee at both the Human Rights Commission and at the department of public works and then later when he was city administrator. About issues impacting the city that went far beyond his scope that he knew how the city is all intricately intertwineded and he cared so much about it. It certainly was a shock to all of us. I know at countless event and whenever i would see him, he would ask about some small detail about the port. When we were having dinners, at other functions, he always came over and asked something specific and wanted to know what was happening here and he paid a great deal of attention to the port and i think he cared very deeply about the city as a whole and also what was happening at the port and this is one area that he saw as a significant legacy of his in terms of whats been transpiring athrong waterfront. I also know he took it upon himself when we selected a new port director. He really took it upon himself to mentor elaine as a new Department Head and we certain have seen how well thats come out. I think we owe him a great, great deal of things for taking that extra time to go above and beyond and make sure everyone was successful throughout the city. Thats something he fell very strongly about, working with people, to give them the opportunity to be their best selves and to soar. We can all tell a lot of stories and i certainly have quite a few about something that i personally appreciate. He didnt have to do this, but he spearheaded erts with the u. S. Conference of mayors to support the lgbtq community. So much so that the Human Rights Campaign sent out a press release regarding hises paing and what hes meant to the community nationally and how he spearheaded those efforts to bring other mayors to fight for equality for all communities. And i think that speaks volumes of the kind of person he was. I know as many of us look back on his legacy, i think we will appreciate even more how he quietly got things done. It is often an ungovernorable city but he managed to push things along and it will all reflect well on a lot of the work that he did during his ten your. Tenure. And he will be missed. Again, i said the before, but our hearts go out to his wife anita and his two daughters, losing a partner and the father at such a young age is really hard. So, we thank them for lending him to us . For as long as we had him. Vice president brandon . Its still so hard to believe that he is gone. I think i first met mayor lee back when he was with the department of public works and i would see him at different events throughout the years. And then when the opportunity for him to become our caretaker mayor happened, i thought he was a perfect person because i thought that he wasnt political. He just, you know, wanted to do the right thing and create a fair and level Playing Field for everyone. And then when the run ed run campaign started, i jumped on the bandwagon because i thought he was perfect. Although he said he wasnt going to run, i was happy that he did. Working with him over the last seven years has just been absolutely wonderful. He has been so engaged and so involved in our port activities. And just from the creation of the bond measure that will be ton ballot in november and from everything that weve needed, he has helped us with and he has just been there to guide us and as commissioner katz said, regarding our new director and taking her under his arm and making sure that she is successful, he has just been so wonderful to work with. And were all going to miss him very very much and we all had the opportunity to attend his Memorial Service at city hall which was done so elegantly. So wonderful. So lovingly. Which was just his character. All of what he recommends. So it is really hard to believe that he is gone and were definitely going to miss him. Thank you, commissioner. Executive director forbes. I think mayor lee was an exceptional human being. He was just such a good man. And that really did come through more after he passed away, what we lost. Because truly good people, they are not impossible to find in politics, but theyre not everywhere. And he was somebody who wanted other people to do well. And didnt take credit for things. And didnt blame other people for things. But really, truly just wanted us to do well and that was how he governed. And it was just such an exceptional gift to have him in that chair. And he was clearly the father of two daughters and a loving husband because he was a great mentor to me as a woman and i really think through all the times i would tell him thing and he would say, well, what do you think . S was your recommendation . Tell me what and he had complete confidence that i could figure it out and i think that boded extraordinarily well for a young not terribly young but a younger woman coming into this role that i had his confidence and that is not easy to find in such a big job. And he gave me incredible gifts and i will also treasure those gifts. Thank you. Last year was a year of reflection. I thought about the state of our country. I thought about the fires that happened. Sonoma, napa. And then the death of mayor lee. I think mohammad ali said it best service is others is the rent you pay for your room on earth. Ed lee did that. Ed lee, like myself, came out of washington state. Ed lee grew up in a Housing Project up in seattle, washington. Officially coming to San Francisco. Im tacoma, washington. He and his friend gary lott. I think eds life reflected the best of us. He transformed this city. If you watch and you look at this city, this city has changed so much. And it happened under the transformation of mayor lee. He was a visionary. He was a very, very savvy, humble, downtoearth human being. And when youre the mayor, the chips are always down. Always when you are a leader. There are never no victory laps. But mayor lee, he understood that. His dad was a cook. I think i got that right. Maureen . Mmhmm. His mother was a seamstress. Very, very working class. He would talk to anybody on the street. Clearly he nursed the soul of this city, how much he cared for the homeless issues here. And you talk about the powerer of modesty. That was ed lee. He was an unparalleled perfect servant. She was the perfect recipe for success and accolades. I read a article in the paper from suzy loftus, the former president of the police commission. Ed lee believed in the power of women. He appointed a lot of women to a lot of different positions. And when i heard Oprah Winfreys speech the other night at the golden globes, i thought about ed lee. She talked about the women but also talked about the men. Ed lee is one of those men. Ed lee understood, and were dealing with women, strong men dont hurt you. Weak men do. And he understood that. And he lived his life by that. Ed lee, he reached out to the labour movement, myself as a working class labour leader. He believed in the unions. He believed in the working class. And he threw himself in supporting this port. Other mayors, they didnt engage themselves. He embraced this port whole heartedly. What do you wanted . Whats going on . And he talked. I have to tell you something. He called me one time about you. And he said i dont really know mike that well. He said he is a good man. But i always he always had something good say about people, to uplift people and to build people. And i wanted to say to the staff at the port here. I know everyone was shaken when mayor lee died. As this commission was. But we have work to do. His spirit is still with us. Will always be with us. We have a busy year. We have to continue to have that visionary spirit, that compassion, that humbleness that mayor lee had. We have to get these projects done. This is what ed lee would want. And being at the Memorial Service, clearly to me from the dimness of eternity, his spirit was there that day from his daughter speaking to everyone who got up to speak about ed lee. Its funny. Some time in life when you want something so bad, you never get it. He never wanted to be mayor. But you know what . He will go down in history as one of best mayors that this country and the city and county of San Francisco has ever seen. So i would say, as we move forward, lets have an upbeat spirit. Ed lee will always be walking with us as we move forward. But we have work to do. This is what he would want. Whether its four city, the giants, whatever were doing, he would want this port and the staff, the leadership of his to continue to lead. And well eventually get a new pay your and continue to move forward because San Francisco, were like no other city. We have a resilience and that is what were going to do. Just remember we all have a certain amount of time on this earth. We dont know how long. We need to make the most out of every moment in every second we have on this earth. And ed lee did that. One thing about this. If you have cancer or an illness when you die, you get to say good buoy to everybody. If you have a heart attack or aneurysm that suddenly, you dont say goodbye. And when i went to city hall both times to see the casket, i thought about this little man who was big in statue, big in heart who had a vision. And it was about San Francisco. So at this time, i would ask everyone to stand and were going to have a moment of silence for mayor edwin mao lee. President scott good afternoon, i call to order this meeting of the Health Service board for the city and county of San Francisco. I would like to ask you to please stand and join with me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ill ask our secretary to call roll. [roll call taken] we have a quorum. President scott thank you. Again, happy new year. And we look forward to undertaking the work of the board and the services that we are trying to provide to our members for the coming year, and with that, we will go to action item one. Approval with possible modifications of the minutes of the meetings set forth below, special closed session of december 14, 2017, special meeting of december 14, 2017. President scott are there any edits or additions or amends to the minutes as described . If not, im willing to entertain a motion for their approval. I move we approve. Moved, is there a second . Second. President scott properly moved and seconded we approve the minutes for the closed session december 14, 2017, and the special meeting of december 14, 2017. Any comments from the board . Is there any Public Comment . We do have Public Comment . Dennis krueger, retired firefighters and spouses. I want to make a statement that last month at the december meeting i made some inaccurate statements and i would like to apologize to the board for that. But that, i will be coming back again regarding hearing aids and cataract surgery during open rates and benefits. Thank you. President scott rates and benefits. Thank you very much for amending your statements regarding those comments that you made in the last meeting. And i would just make a footnote that this last Public Comment was also made to me right after the meeting, so thank you again, dennis. Appreciate it. Any other Public Comment . Hearing and seeing none, now ready to vote. All those in vote signify by saying aye. Opposed, carries unanimously. Well now go to item 2. Discussion item, general Public Comment on matters in the boards jurisdiction, not appearing on todays agenda. President scott is there any Public Comment on matters within our jurisdiction that do not appear on todays agenda . If there are such matters, i would ask those individuals to please approach the podium and when you do make your statement, please introduce yourself by giving us your name. Hello, commissioners, my name is gail bloom, im a retired member. I ask your secretary to pass forward a couple of items. They are kind of personal as you can see. The first one is an unpaid bill to suter hill by united for my daughter who is a dependent, and this apparently is a problem that extends beyond my daughters coverage. United is not paying bills to the extent possible because they are not recognizing suter as a preferred provider. And so they are treating them as out of network care and if youll notice, im getting past due bills and they are about to go to collection. And so i would like someone from united to go back and figure out why it is that they dont recognize suters health i. D. Numbers, and ive been told they have already resubmitted it a couple times and ive been told by suter that it is a problem insurance wise with united. So im just bringing that to your attention. President scott before you go, did you bring this issue to the h. H. S. Staff through Customer Service . I did, and they said that i could either write to them or bring it to your attention directly. President scott im going to ask acting executive director griggs to discuss this with you when we are in recess or before you leave so we can get to the bottom of it. Thank you. Im sure its just an administrative issue and certainly know its not personal. President scott thank you. One other item. This is also something that i find curious. And it came up because one of my prescriptions wasnt offered to me as part of my insurance. My prescription coverage. And so i was recommended by my doctor to look at something called good rx. Now, my prescription, which you can see in front of you, is a tier 3 drug for a variety of reasons it was not available. It should have been 45 for three months. But just using this website, which is like available to anybody in the world, you can see that the prices range from 11. 22 to 36. And it seems to me curious that an Insurance Coverage that we are paying a lot for doesnt compete very well against some random website and so ive been using this for some time, but i thought i would bring that to your attention. President scott thank you. Director griggs, do you have any comment on this second item . On the second item, i will take that back to the office and do some research, operations manager. And i understand that a lot of medical professionals have been doing research on their own coverage, and they are shocked that their own insurance isnt as effective with pharmaceuticals as organizations like good rx. And i advise everybody to look at their look at their pharmaceuticals. Because it is really significant, particularly for people who are in donut holes. President scott thank you for those comments. Any questions for the board on the comments, none. All right. Please introduce yourself. Good afternoon, my name is richard bronman, retired city worker and kaiser member for i cant remember how many years. But last couple of weeks ive had some really bad experiences at kaiser. I think maybe when we renew the contracts that we ask for feedback and somehow kaiser has to be responsible. I had the occasion to be in the emergency room saturday night. They were very overcrowded. I dont know why they didnt have more staff there. But i ran into one of the meanest nurses ive ever had the encounter to. She was just really nasty. She didnt even have a name tag on, so i couldnt report her. But the other is the pharmacy. I get all my pharmacy by mail and i went to renew it and it said one, i had to go into the pharmacy, and i was very curious because its a generic medicine and why. So, i called up, i must have spent almost an hour on the telephone because the operator did not know, she had to talk to the pharmacy, did not keep the pharmacist online, then she had to connect me again, i had to wait another time. This all could have been handled by email if the pharmacy would have emailed me or emailed my doctor that the dosage is changing but ill get the same amount. Instead of me waiting, you know, spending an hour on the phone. Even if i went to the pharmacy i couldnt have picked up the medicine because the doctor would have had to approve it. So, i think, you know, when rates and benefits come up, that somehow kaiser needs to be held accountable. Maybe if we withhold the payment for a couple of months, you know, theyll get the message. And let the other nursing staff, you know, has been really great there, the doctors are really great, i cant, you know, complain about the other service. But you know, i think we should expect the best service and i know we are all not perfect, but at least we can strive to make things better when we find things that are not that need improvement. So, i wanted to bring it to your attention and to hopefully the kaiser rep in the audience today. Thank you very much. President scott thank for your comment. Any other Public Comment on matters that do not appear on todays agenda . Hearing and seeing none, now go to discussion item 3. Item 3, president s report, president scott. President scott my discussion item will be a report that the board just voted on at the end of the last closed session to disclose the action that we had taken during the course of that closed meeting, and the prior efforts by this board to find a new executive director. Before i begin that, i want to give some thank you, and i would like to have pamela levin, our chief Financial Officer to come to the podium while i address her for a moment. Pamela, i know that i speak on behalf of the board without consulting with them, but im going to say some things to you that i think are in the spirit of commendation for the hard work and efforts that you provided during the course of this transition. It isnt publicly maybe known that this past year the city and county of San Francisco went through a whole massive change in the financial and budgeting system. New chart of accounts, all kinds of stuff that was supposed to be maybe done a year or two back or a year or two hence, but all came crashing down on your shoulders this past summer, and you gave great leadership to not only the work and the effect, the implementation of that system and this department, but also provided good guidance to collaboration with other departments within the city and county of San Francisco, while maintaining your month in and month out reporting to this board on the assets of the trust and its activities, along with all the other contracting activities and so forth. And i wanted to say publicly to you today, thank you for continuing to show the type of professionalism and dedication to the system in your role as chief Financial Officer during this time of transition. So, thank you very much. Thank you. I could not have it without having such a great staff. Thank you very much. Thank you to you and your team. [applause] president Scott Mitchell does not have to stand, hes up here with us, but our chief operating officer and acting executive director, mitchell griggs. I know that sometimes during a period of transition, mitchell, its very easy to kind of lean back and sort of let things be as they are. And again, i know that on behalf of the board, that that did not happen during this transition period. You not only maintained all the operational stuff you had to do, we also made some new benefit offerings under your leadership and guidance. We experimented with open enrollment electronically, which we hope we can expand. We completed some of the aspect of our claims Management System to utilize in a slightly different way and a number of other innovations that were directly attributable to your leadership and your staffs work during this time. And so on behalf of the board, i want to commend you publicly. I have said this to you privately many times, for your hard work and effort and my hope is we can in a more tangible way provide some recognition for you as we go forward. So, thank you again for all youve done during this period. Mitchell. [applause] now, also maybe not as impacted by the transition, but lani scott has kept it operational day in and day out, and you have our commendation and recognition for all your hard work during this period of time. I know that sometimes i may not have been as clear in my requests of you but youve always been very patient and i appreciate that, and thank you for all that you do on behalf of the system. You are welcome, thank you. And to the broader h. H. S. Staff, if you are listening, or you might be seeing a replay of this, your teamwork and professionalism absolutely has caused us to be in a very good place. We recognize that it has been somewhat disconcerting not having an executive leader, but at the same time, by working as you have very collaboratively with mitchell and with pamela and the other Management Team members, we have been able to serve our members well during this past year without gaps in operations or Customer Service and you are absolutely to be commended on the hard work you have done throughout open enrollment and day in and day out, and working with our members. And on behalf of the board, we thank you for doing what you have done and what we know you will continue to do on behalf of our members, and thats to the whole staff. So, thank you. So, this search process began as you know last, late april or early, really, effectively, early may. And we have been working at trying to find a replacement for the immediate past executive director. We retained a search firm to work with us. Assigned executive was heather renchler. She is not able to be here today due to a family members personal circumstance and is back in ohio. But i told her that if she were here, i was going to say thank you on behalf of the board for the professionalism, thoroughness and diligence that she and her firm brought to the search. I dont think we would have been able to get through this process as easily as we did, even though it might have been frustrating at certain moments. But as easily as we did without her Firm Leadership and guidance and that of her firm. So, i wanted to thank her publicly for what she did to assist us in coming to this point. We have had we had a stage of input and consultation with active employees, with retirees, retiree organizations, members of the commission, individually, visiting with heather regarding what would be the appropriate profile for the next executive director for the Health Service system. What needed to be emphasized, what needed to be highlighted, what would be some essential criteria, preferred criteria, and so forth. The commissioners on this board worked and participated actively in every stage of the process during this search. We had to have special meetings, closed meetings in some cases. They were full in their attendance and participation in doing this work. We did go through an interview process, there were 53 applications, we narrowed it down. Personal interviews, screening interviews, first stage interviews with the finalists and then final interviews, and these commissioners participated actively in all of those meetings. I want to thank them for discretion, hard work, the fact we did at times may have a little disagreement on process or procedure but we got through it, and i appreciated their cooperation and support. So, we have found not only the person, we have made an offer, the offer has been accepted and my task and duty, warm duty, to present that person to you today. The name is abby ant. Abby, would you please come forward . She knows some people. Thats a good thing. Yes. Claire is wondering why i was here. Abby is going to be joining the system on february 12th, officially as the executive director. She currently is serving at the st. Francis hospital in a role of Vice President of mission and Advocacy CommunityHealth Services. She is a 17 shes been with them nearly 18 years. Prior to that she had a role and responsibility with the city and county of San Francisco in the health department. And spent some nearly ten years there. Abby is a seasoned, experienced health professional. Shes published, i was overwhelmed by the variety of articles that both she has authored and interviews that shes participated in on a wide range of health care and Health Service issues that i think represent the kind of strategic view and knowledge of this field that the system needs going forward. Shes also been an active member on a wide ranging number of boards, cofounding some communitybased initiatives to help deliver services to the homeless and the needy in our city. And she has done a number of other activities on a voluntary basis and one of her questions has been privately and trying to sort out how she will continue to do some of that work, with not incurring a city of San Francisco conflict of interest. I said to her privately, i appreciated her patience with our process, but i think its more than its a consensus of this board we have found the right person for this next stage of leadership and service to our members in the Health Services system. So abby, we welcome you, we look forward to working with you, and i would ask if you have any comments that you would like to provide, and i understand you have members of your family here today as well. Yes, thank you, thank you very much, president scott and the commissioners. It was a long process and im very happy to be here today. I have offered my resignation at the hospital this morning in order to be free and clear here today, and big transition but i did meet claire out in the waiting area and we were discussing sort of the third career, which it feels like to me, and its really an exciting opportunity at this stage for me to be welcomed back into the city having met with the controller this morning, its nice to be back in familiar territory and know i at least understand the first few chapter, having worked with the city in the past. Thats helpful to be here. I want to acknowledge my husband larry and son robby who are here. Please stand. Very supportive of a mom who likes to work a lot, so i will continue to do that, but im really looking forward to working with you and working for this very valuable benefits for all the City Employees and retirees and working with all the stakeholders and i know there are many, to work with and get to know and understand and its very nice to hear the high praises that you have sung for the staff of the agency, that really is a comfort to hear that kind of recognition for the work thats been well done and well managed over the year, and certainly make my transition that much easier. So, very much appreciate it, thank you. President scott thank you very much. Ill ask if the commissioners have any comments they want to make. I have two comments, one to thank you, president scott, during the leadership during this process. You thank everyone else but yourself. I would like to extend my thanks in particular and i have not talked to other members of the board, but your leadership. Its a tough and long process. Ive been incredibly impressed. I want to thank you for that. And also say that not listed i guess in your background is, our days at st. Lukes. And i want to assure the members from my own remote experience that abby is tough, and she comes across as very nice. But your interests will be represented quite well with every party. There will be no exception. She does not give anyone an easy path out when the discussions are tough. And i want to reassure everyone in that record as well. President scott thank you. Any other comments . Im one of those people who have known you for many, many years, and a privilege to work with you on a committee at the department of public health. Welcome you to the department, and also the city family. Great place to be, great place to work and we are lucky to have you. And i also want to thank you for giving me one of the brightest moments of my new year so far. Thank you. President scott thank you very much, abby. Well be in touch, as you know. Thank you again. That is the president s report. Is there any Public Comment . I would just like to say thank you, too, for the heavy lifting that you did through this whole time, and i also want to thank mitchell for all the great Customer Service hes done, ive heard so many good things from the members. So, thank you for filling in and doing all this. President scott all right. Any other Public Comment or board comment . Happy new year, commissioners. Abby well hold your application in abeyance. I just want to thank you, commissioner scott, and all of you for participating in this process, and thank you to also the staff that you commended really are very deserving as is the entire staff of Health Service. I think they have always been exceptional, and they continue to be exceptional in every way. And that we welcome abby back. It was really an interesting surprise to see her in the hallway going and what are you doing here . And so now we know. And we are looking forward to a very good year in 2018 and to some more outstanding performances from everybody, but thank you all. I know its been a grueling process because ive been through it in the past, at least a couple times. And we cant thank you enough for all of your hard work and also to all the staff, mitchell, pamela is just incredible and the rest of the staff back in the office. We v