Minutes - June 2020 Board Meeting

City of San Francisco

Japan Center Garage Corporation

Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors

June 20, 2019

11:00 A.M.

Union Bank Community Room

22 Peace Plaza, San Francisco

MINUTES

PRESENT: Rodney Chin, Arcadi Kochak, Edward Ong, Emily Mitra, Green Chang, Hagen

Choi, John Noguchi, Jerry Ono, Kimberly Kolbe and Vas Kiniris

ABSENT: Jan Masaoka

ALSO PRESENT: Richard Hashimoto, Corporate Manager; Claudine Cheng, Corporate Counsel; Alan Wong and Francisco Lira, IMCO; Rob Malone, SFMTA; Steve Nakajo, Japantown Task Force and Grace Horikiri, Japantown Community Benefit District

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 11:05 a.m.

2. Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve the Minutes of the April 18, 2019, board of directors meeting was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono. The motion passed by unanimous vote of the directors.

Motion to approve the Annual Meeting was made by Director Ong and seconded by Director Green. The motion passed by unanimous vote of the directors.

3. Board President’s Report

Board President Chin reported that he met with IMCO representatives on May 10 to discuss the loss incident of $8,000 in the change fund that took place March 4, 2019. After two days, the misplaced amount was subsequently found. Normally, the parking operator is in charge of maintaining the corporation’s total change fund of $15,000. Following the incident, IMCO conducted an internal investigation and took action to make operational changes, including returning $8,000 of the $15,000 change fund thereby reducing the balance of the change fund to $7,000. The other adjustment is that IMCO will take sole responsibility of the change fund. Board President Chin expressed appreciation to IMCO for sharing the remediation report and invited IMCO representative Mr. Lira to make comments. Mr. Lira expressed that he would defer his comments. Mr. Hashimoto provided a brief history of the change fund and provided additional information about the incident. As soon as IMCO announced that it would conduct a change fund audit, Japan Center operational staff conducted an audit and discovered the change fund missing and reported it to JCGC administrative staff. This misplacement of funds took place during the transition of PARCS equipment and Mr. Hashimoto stated that such loss of funds has never happened in forty years that he has been with the garage. The missing $8,000 was eventually located in one of three storage rooms. Mr. Hashimoto indicated that since the funds were recovered, he believed the incident to be an administration oversight. Nonetheless, IMCO conducted an internal investigation resulting in loss prevention measures as part of the remediation plan. Mr. Hashimoto was disturbed that IMCO did not conduct regular audits per its own policy in spite of changes in management personnel who had access to the change fund and sought to put IMCO on notice with a letter.

A draft letter was sent to Corporate Counsel for review who opined that upon review of the parking operator’s agreement, IMCO did not breach any of the terms of the contract. In its place, a letter expressing the corporation’s dissatisfaction that IMCO did not follow its own policy of conducting routine audits was sent on May 21, 2019.

Board President Chin stated that the corporation’s directors do have a fiduciary obligation to oversee the management of the parking garages. Therefore, he proposed to establish an ad hoc task force to conduct fact-finding and make recommendation to procedures as needed. A motion in support of this proposal was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono. The motion was adopted unanimously by the board of directors.

With the above adopted motion, President Chin proceeded to appoint Director Ono as chair with Directors Ong and Kolchak on the committee.

Rob Malone of the SFMTA thanked President Chin and directors for taking the issue seriously. He stated that the incident was important and relevant because of what was going on today versus the year 2010 when he started his position. At that time, parking operations involved mostly cash transactions with reasonable regulatory framework.

Today, as a result of technological advancements, most payments are now made by credit cards or electronic payment option which most customers prefer. With the changes came a different set of liability issue and it would be sensible to take steps to remove any appearance of liability on the part of parking corporation and its employees.

Mr. Malone further commented that the parking operator is paid to be responsible for cash and accounting. Thus, the change in making the operator solely responsible for the change fund so that JCGC would no longer be liable for the operations of the garage’s change fund is a good decision.

This change in procedure is also appropriate because of the city’s 2011 audit highlighting the cost benefit of not having the nonprofit corporation managing the garages. JCGC is the only parking corporation left under the MTA with the exception of Portsmouth Square Garage Corporation which operates under a contract with the city’s Recreation and Park Department.

Mr. Malone reminded the directors that JCGC is an important organization with directors donating their valuable time and energy in providing the additional layer of oversight that calls for stricter controls over the operator and for welfare of the garage.

Mr. Hashimoto thanked Mr. Malone for his comments and for making sure the corporation’s oversight of the garage meets the best interest of the city.

Board President Chin also remarked that it is important that the organization be responsible to the community.

4. Corporate Manager’s Report

A. At the last meeting, Mr. Hashimoto reported that during the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival there were 440 fewer vehicles compared to prior year. Due to Skidata reporting error, the actual decrease number of vehicles was 257 from prior year. Revenues were slightly higher by $727. The increase in revenue was reported from a rate adjustment since implementing Skidata.

During the second weekend, there was a decrease of 16 transient vehicles while revenues decreased $1,587.50. The higher decrease in ratio compared to the first weekend was attributed to parade day that took place on Easter Sunday.

For the two weekends, there was a total reduction of 273 vehicles and a decrease in revenues of $860 from prior year.

B. The garage recently installed an audible and visual warning device at each exit informing pedestrians of an approaching vehicle. However, the Post Street exit warning device is defective and the audible warning will not turn off. The garage has received numerous complaints from residents at 1600 Webster Street and was repaired last Tuesday. Although, the audible warning is at its minimum of three warnings and turned down to its lowest volume setting, it is still fairly loud. The operator will continue to monitor the warning system and will work with the residents to find an amicable solution. The visual and audible warning is required by the insurance carrier for the sight and hearing impaired.

C. On June 11, the Geary Street ticket dispenser was damaged when a driver backed up into it. Mr. Wong has been working on the repairs which should be completed next week.

D. On June 12, most of Japantown experienced power outage which included the garage. As a result, there was an estimated $707 loss in revenue due from 49 vehicles being let out without charge.

E. Corporate Manager learned about possible massive layoff from garages and that there were ongoing negotiations between the Teamsters Union and SFMTA. Mr. Hashimoto will keep the board informed.

F. The annual audit of the parking corporation will start on Monday, June 24th. Mr. Malone of SFMTA offered the following comments:

1) Regarding the garage-staffing situation, the Teamsters Union gave a retrospective on staffing over the years to a Board of Supervisors committee. There is no plan for significant adjustment at this time. Supervisor Safai has asked for a hearing with the goal of getting on the same page regarding long-term outlook for city staffing.

2) Regarding the warning devices in the garages, MTA’s position is that every garagehas an operator responsible for facility management. His position was that the MTA does not direct the operators and the corporation also should not. In no way should JCGC tells the operator to turn warning system down or off because of a complaint. The operator is responsible for operation and repair of the facility and JCGC should allow IMCO to make the decisions based on its liability coverage.

5. Corporate Counsel’s Report

Corporate Counsel deferred her comments to the items on the agenda.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Director Ong provided a overview of March 2019 monthly financial statement, as follows:

For the 11 months ending in March, under Profit and Loss, Transient Revenue is at 70.47%, Monthly Parking is at 91.62%, Non-taxable Monthlies at 130.61% and Taxable Misc. Parking Revenue at 59.64%. Gross Parking Income YTD is at 77.22%. Total Other Operating Income is at 120.57% of budget.

Total YTD income ending March is at 77.37% and decreased $38,931 for the month from last year which is associated with the Fillmore Annex Garage closure due to PARCS.

Expenses for the 11 months are at 95.95% of budget. There are various items exceeding budget allocations which are explained in the financial statement.

Number of Transient Vehicles decreased -3,872 for month and -27,907 for the year.

Monthly Vehicles reports a decrease of -9 but is +40 for the eleven months ending March 2019.

7. PARCS Update

Alan Wong reported that IMCO is still working with Skidata on revenue from the machines but that there is no problem receiving payment from credit card charges. Certain foreign-originated credit cards that take too long for payment are no longer accepted.

Board President Chin asked if there was any customer push back from the payment machines and Alan responded that the customers were especially happy with being able to use Apple or Google pay. Also, lots of customers were using the phone app to make payments.

Mr. Malone commented that it was actually quicker to use Apple and Google pay. Board President Chin also asked if there were issues with validated tickets. Alan replied that the machine might not recognize the ticket if that was validated more than once by mistake. In those cases, the customer would have to seek the attendant’s assistance.

Board President then asked the board if there was an objection to proceed to discussion of Agenda Item 9 and then returned to item 8. There was no objection.

8. Community Updates

A. Japantown Task Force, Inc. (JTF) – Mr. Steve Nakajo
(1) The JTF will be appearing in front of the Recreation and Park Commission to go over the parks bond issue, confirming if Japantown will be included in the $255M parks bond in November 2020, and will receive $25 million towards the renovation of the Peace Plaza. Cost estimates has determined that the improvements would take $22-25 million dollars. All the projects under the parks bond and their cost allocationswould be identified at the meeting.
(2) The JTF has applied and received funding to conduct 2020 census outreach project. There was a concern in the community about the digital divide affecting seniors and their ability to complete the form online. Another big issue was about the citizenship question.
(3)JTF has applied and received funding of $240,000 for the cultural heritage district program that was proposed by Supervisor Ronen. There are six cultural districts in the City and Japantown is one of the districts. The broad goals of the district include preservation, addressing landlord / tenant issues, economic and workforce development.
(4)JTF is in negotiation with the mall owner for a visitor’s center kiosk inside the West Mall adjacent to Café Hana
(5) For the city’s legacy business registration, there were twelve businesses in Japantown registered. JTF would continue to seek out business entities that qualify for the registration. The legacy business program is for any business with 30 or more years in operation. Upon registration of those businesses they may be eligible to receive funding assistance towards rising rents and protection from being evicted.
(6) Mr. Nakajo understands that the malls may be reducing security services and expressed his concerns especially when there has been an increase in crime and homeless in the neighborhood. Currently, the security service for the mall was part of a cooperative between the malls and the garage. As of June 30, instead of having services 24/7, there would be a reduction to eight hour days for the garage.

Mr. Lira from IMCO commented that the garage operator would continue to monitor the garage with ambassadors and security on incidents through its command center located at Saint Mary’s Square Garage which is staffed from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The command center is function of the new PARCS which is a central system that monitors most of the MTA garages that includes video surveillance and reporting.

At this time, Corporate Manager introduced and recognized JCGC staff Debbie Deng. Ms. Deng has worked at the garage for 19-1/2 years because her position was terminated by the SFMTA. The new PARCS no longer requires an internal auditor since all parking ticket transactions are now being properly recorded under PARCS. In addition, each merchant now has its own validation account that does not require sharing with another merchant account which was one of Ms. Deng’s duties to separate those merchants that “doubled-up” on one validation account.

The board expressed their sincere gratitude to Ms. Deng for her dedication and hard work over the past 19+ years.

B. Japantown Community Benefit District (JCBD) – Ms. Grace Horikiri
(1) Ms. Horikiri distributed copies of the JCBD’s newsletter to the board of directors and thanked the board for the support of funding the Big Belly trash receptacle project. The garage’s logo will be visibly displayed on the Big Belly cans that are scheduled to be installed soon.
(2) The JCBD camera program had 104 cameras installed covering 80% of the project area. The project would be moving into phase 4 that includes Union Bank. JCBD hopes to complete the project by August and was considering expansion into other area in Japantown. There were 6 retrieval requests from SFPD in June, one involving a fatal accident. A SFPD SafeCity Camera Program Training is scheduled or next week which she plans to attend.
(3) Ms. Horikiri also thanked the garage for space to store Recology sorting bins that services the JCBD boundaries.

9. Committee Reports
A. Community and Marketing Funds Committee
Committee Chair Kolchak discussed the Corporate Counsel’s suggestion of the need to establish policy to transfer funds between the two accounts. A motion to establish policy transfer funds between the community and marketing funds accounts as needed was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Ono.

Mr. Malone recommended that the board should establish a procedure and criteria for the transfer and properly documented the amount.

Ms. Cheng added that since motion was made and seconded, the motion can be amended to include the criteria for moving the funds. Based on that recommendation, the board of directors voted unanimously to adopt the motion. Director Kolchak then informed the board about his need to take a step back in his role due to the demand of his new job. Consequently, Director Ong would take over the committee chair’s position.

Director Ong continued the Committee’s report as follows:
There is currently $20,000 in the marketing fund and $30,000 in the community fund.
Since the last board of directors meeting, there were 7 sponsorship requests and the board took action as follows:
(1) Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC) requested donation of $3,000 from the marketing fund for the 9th annual Aloha Run on September 22nd. Historically, JCGC has given $1,000 to the organization and was the committee’s recommendation.

A motion to make the $1,000 donation was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Mitra. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

(2) Genryu Arts requested donation of $5,000 from the community fund to support Japan Day scheduled for June 30 and JCGC has given the same amount in the past.

A motion to make the $5,000 contribution was made by President Chin and seconded by Director Noguchi. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

(3) SF Hep B Free requested a donation of $3,000 from the marketing fund for its annual gala on October 18, and JCGC has given the same amount last year.

A motion to approve the request was made by President Chin and seconded by Director Ong. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion. Director Kolchak abstained from the vote.

(4) Korean American Community Center has requested a donation of $4,000 from the marketing fund for the Korea Day Culture Festival scheduled on August 17. In observance from past funding, the committee recommended a contribution of $1,500.

A motion to approve the committee’s recommendation was made by Director Ono and seconded by Director Kolchak. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

(5) Kimochi Inc. requested a contribution of $5,000 from the community fund for Issho Ni event scheduled for October 19. The committee recommended a donation of $3,000.

A motion to approve the committee’s recommendation was made by Director Ong and seconded by Director Kolchak. The board of directors voted in favor of the motion with Director Noguchi abstaining from the vote.

(6) Buddhist Church of San Francisco requested a contribution of $1,000 from the community fund for annual bazaar event scheduled July 27 and 28. The committee recommended approval of the request.

A motion to approve was made by Director Kolchak and seconded by Director Ong. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

(7) Konko Church of San Francisco requested a contribution of $100 from the community fund for summer bazaar event scheduled for July 8 and 9. The committee recommended approval of the request.

A motion to approve the funding was made by President Chin and seconded by Director Ono. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

To summarize, a total of $9,100 was contributed out of the community fund and $5,500 out of the marketing fund.

(8) A last minute request was received from Filipino American Arts & Exposition for $3,000 for the Pistahan Parade and Festival in August and the request missed the application deadline for the committee meeting. The organizer had originally submitted a written request in March but it was not submitted online pursuant to the new application procedure.

Since the event is in August and before the next board meeting, Corporate Counsel suggested that in the interest time, the board could approve the funding subject to the approval of the committee.

A motion to give tentative approval of $3,000 from the marketing fund subject to the committee’s discussion was made by Director Ong and seconded by Director Kolchak. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

This would increase the marketing fund distribution to $8,500.

B. Contract Review Committee

Mr. Hashimoto provided update on the CPMC parking contract. Subsequent to an MTA review and approval, the draft agreement was submitted to Rigo Hurtado, CPMC Transportation Services Manager. Mr. Hurtado stated that since there has been changes made to their administration, agreements now involves a lengthy review process and should have a response soon.

Corporate Counsel recommended that a message be sent to CPMC regarding the board’s urgency for a status report on the agreement at its next meeting in August.

Hopefully this would help move the execution of the agreement along.

C. Nomination Committee

Committee Chair Jerry Ono presented the slate of officers for board vote that was tabled from last annual meeting.

President Chin shall continue to serve as Board President and Director Ong to serve as Vice President and continue as Treasurer. Unfortunately, no director has indicated any interest to serve as the Secretary and will be addressed later.

Corporate Counsel stated by corporate law, each board of director should have three officers, President, Secretary and Treasurer. The Secretary’s position should be filled as soon as is possible. She added that while a director can serve a secretary and treasurer at the same time, the president cannot occupy two positions.

A motion to approve the Nomination Committee’s recommendation of officers was made by Director Noguchi and seconded by Director Green. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

10. Garage Operations and Security Report

Alan Wong distributed a copy of the report to the board of directors and discussed the highlights of the report.

During April and May, there were 3 reported break-ins and increased homeless incidents.

Due to mandated reduction in the operating budget, Marina Security service is now reduced to 8 hours a day.

The schedule is Monday to Friday from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.

In addition to the reduction in security, janitorial service has also been reduced from five days to three days. The ambassadors will pick up the two days.

In response to the reduction in security, Director Ono asked what would happen if an incident took place when the security guard is not on duty. Mr. Wong responded that telephone calls made to report an incident could be forwarded to the ambassador who carries a cell phone and will also ask the command center staff to review the security camera footage if deemed necessary.

Director Ono asked about the anticipated janitorial staff cut back and who would be responsible for cleaning the stairwells. Mr. Wong replied that if anyone notices an area that requires maintenance, a call can be made to the garage office or the ambassador.

Mr. Malone added that the since the installation of the new PARCS equipment, the cashiers are now considered ambassadors. They no longer sit inside of an enclosed booth and instead are outside of the booth assisting and interacting with customers. This also allows the ambassador to walk through garage and take notice of anything out of the ordinary that may require their attention.

President Chin asked how the public would find out who to call if assistance was needed.

Mr. Wong replied that the garage’s phone number was posted on the wall in several locations inside the garage which is transferred to a cell phone they carry for after-hours.

Mr. Lira added that even if an attendant is not present, there are intercom call buttons at each paystation.

President Chin asked that a breakdown of the different incidents between main garage and the Fillmore Annex be included in the next report. Mr. Wong added that if any director need to call the command center after-hours, the telephone number is (415) 956-8003.

11. Closed Session

There was no item that required closed session

12. General Public Comment on items not on Agenda.

There was no public comment.

13. Additional Business and Announcements.

Mr. Malone stated that the SFMTA is committed to fund half of the cost to replace the expansion joint waterproofing on the Peace Plaza. The estimated total cost of the project is $325,000 of which MTA will pay $162,500. The funds would not come from the capital set-aside and will come from the MTA operating budget.

The project is scheduled in the next three months.

Corporate Manager indicated that the following events would take place in the coming months:

  • Juneteenth was this past weekend. No issues

  • Soy and Tofu Festival – Saturday, June 29th from 11 to 5

  • Japan Day – Sunday, June 30th from 12:00 to 4:30

  • Floating Lantern Festival – Saturday, July 13 at Sokoji Temple

  • Anime Festival – Saturday, July 20th from 12 to 5

  • Nihonmachi Street Fair – Sat. & Sun., Aug. 3rd & 4th from 11 to 6

  • Origami Palooza – Sunday, August 25th from 11 to 4

  • Director Kiniris announced the Fillmore Jazz Festival – July 6 and 7 from 11 to 5

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Director Ono and seconded by Director Kiniris. The board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

The board of directors meeting was adjourned at 12:46 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Claudine Cheng

Richard Hashimoto

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