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Board rejects two mayoral nominations, confirms small appointment; mayor withdraws police commission nominee
Summary
On Dec. 17 the Board of Supervisors continued then voted to reject two mayoral nominees by operation of law, approved a short-term appointment to the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board, and the mayor withdrew a separate police commission nomination before the meeting.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Dec. 17 dealt a final outcome to multiple mayoral nominations and recorded a separate short-term appointment to an oversight board.
Before the meeting the clerk announced that the mayor had withdrawn her nomination of James Byrne to the Police Commission; the clerk said the withdrawal removed item 24 from the agenda. Shortly after, the board took up two other mayoral nominations that had been forwarded from committee: Johanna Gutman for the Board of Appeals and Sarah Barrs for the Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors.
A motion to continue consideration of the nominations to the January meeting was introduced but failed after debate. The Rules Committee had previously considered the items and recommended rejection on the grounds that last-minute four-year appointments to high-profile quasi-judicial and agency boards should be left to the incoming mayor.
After further discussion the board voted separately on the two nominations. On the first roll call the motion to continue items 22 and 23 until January failed on a 4-5 vote (Dorsey, Engardio, Mandelman, Melgar in favor; Peskin, Preston, Ronan, Safaíe, Walton opposed). The subsequent final roll call rejecting the two mayoral nominees produced 5 ayes and 4 nos; the clerk announced the motion failed and "the nominees are rejected by operation of law." The record shows some supervisors argued the board should give the new mayor a clean slate on high-profile appointments.
Separately, the board approved a motion to appoint Estella Ortiz to the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board for a term ending March 1, 2025 (item 21). The appointment was taken with the same-house same-call procedure and approved by the full board.
The mayor's pre-meeting withdrawal of James Byrne's nomination to the Police Commission (item 24) was announced by the clerk and removed the item from the docket; no board vote was required. Advocacy and committee discussion around the other mayoral nominees focused on committee recommendations, the timing of four-year appointments made at the end of an administration, and deference to a newly incoming mayor.
Provenance: the mayor's withdrawal was announced by the clerk near the start of the meeting and the committee/board votes rejecting the two nominations were recorded later in the session; the clerk noted item 24 was no longer before the board after the withdrawal.
