San Francisco has identified over 115 commissions functioning with minimal oversight
The report from the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury highlights a significant issue with the city’s system of 115 commissions, criticizing it for contributing to excessive bureaucracy and red tape. Revealed on Thursday, this 87-page document reflects the ongoing public dissatisfaction regarding the city’s handling of crucial issues like homelessness, housing affordability, corruption, and governmental wastefulness. It shockingly notes the absence of a centralized list of commissions or a monitoring body to evaluate their effectiveness, suggesting a pervasive lack of transparency and structural organization. This systemic opacity and disorganization, the report suggests, have eroded trust in the effectiveness of these commissions. Due to overlaps in responsibilities, the grand jury recommends the elimination of 15 commissions, including those overseeing food security, sanitation, and housing. Additionally, the report highlights operational inefficiencies, such as 15% of commission roles remaining unfilled and a significant number of canceled meetings in 2023. This situation undermines the commissions’ operational effectiveness, hampering their ability to address the city’s challenging issues effectively.
San Francisco has created 115 commissions that have contributed to mounds of red tape and bloated bureaucracy over the years, according to a San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report released on Thursday.
The 87-page report comes at a time when voters in San Francisco have expressed frustration with how the city is handling homelessness, housing affordability, corruption, and government waste.
Additionally, no one at City Hall could provide a complete list of commissions, nor was anyone tracking their performance.
“We discovered there is no centralized list of commissions, and there is no department or agency that is responsible for overseeing their effectiveness,” according to the report. “This lack of a single, authoritative list of commissions was the first of the jury’s several discoveries and indicated to us that the entire commission system suffers from a lack of transparency and structure. We believe this lack of clarity and structure has contributed to a declining level of confidence in the commission system.”
Grand jury members recommended that 15 city commissions be axed, including ones that oversee food security, sanitation, and housing, saying they are repeats and that other boards do the same work.
The process of getting rid of a commission varies depending on how it was set up. Some require voter approval, while others can be more easily dismantled.
The report also points out that 15% of commission positions across the board are empty and that a fifth of all commission meetings in 2023 were canceled.
“These open seats often prevent commissions from having quorums — that is, a required minimum number of attendees — which leads to canceled or rescheduled meetings, delaying such vital business as approving contracts,” the report noted.
San Francisco, the fourth most populous city in California, has 808,437 residents and 115 commissions. Los Angeles, a city of more than 4 million residents, has only 48 commissions. San Diego, which has 1.4 million residents, has 49 commissions. San Jose, with a population of around 1 million residents, has 27.
“Because San Francisco is both a city and a county, we compared our commissions to city and county commissions relevant to peer cities and made adjustments when necessary,” the report stated. “After accounting for this and adjusting for population, we determined that San Francisco has approximately twice as many commissions as its peers in California.”
The commissions also clog up the system and pose a financial burden. Members receive stipends and healthcare benefits.
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The city is also on the hook for the resources it takes to prepare for commission meetings or respond to commissioner requests.
“It’s sort of an interlocking system that contributes to a lot of the red tape and bureaucracy in the city,” said Niall Murphy, a member of the jury.
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