HIV Health Services Planning Council
Milton Marks Conference Center
The State Building
455 Golden Gate Ave. (Between Larkin & Polk St.)
Lower Level, San Diego Rooms B&C
March 28, 2005 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM
DRAFT MINUTES

I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order.

II. Roll Call
Roll call was called and quorum was met. See attached Attendance Sheet.

III. Review and Approval of Agenda
The Council reviewed the agenda. There were no objections to the agenda. Agenda approved by consensus.

IV. Review and Approval of Minutes- February 28, 2005
The minutes for the February 28, 2005 Planning Council Meeting were reviewed.
CM Durio requested a change to his comment in Section VII Conflict of Interest Policy.
No other changes noted. With that change, the minutes were approved by consensus.

V. General Announcements
-Announcement regarding Campaign to End AIDS and future Council discussion regarding endorsement of the campaign.

CM Allgaier made an announcement regarding limitation of public comment to one minute and pointed to the public microphone available for public to line up at for speaking. Also Steering Committee discussed productive meetings and getting through agendas to avoid getting backed up before August prioritization. CM Allgaier indicated that presentations would be cut off if they go over the allotted time. Co-chairs will be enforcing this new policy, but it is up to the people in the room to keep comments succinct and not repeat comments made by others. CM Allgaier reminded Council Members about the evaluation form regarding the timing of dinners.

CM Pugh made an announcement regarding RAMP, Recycled AIDS Medication Program.

CM Hume announced that he is the interim chair of Membership Committee during CM Hicks’ two-month absence. CM Hume announced that there are only two members on the committee and they need to have new candidates to council by end of April, and encouraged Council Members to consider joining the Membership Committee. CM Simmons, CM Miller, and CM Molnar agreed to sit in on Membership Committee on a temporary basis.

CM Spaeth thanked CM Hume for his help with site monitoring in Marin County, and solicited other Council Members to participate in the future.

CM Graham made an announcement regarding a meeting in San Rafael and will distribute a flyer.

CM Simmons announced that the Archdiocese of San Francisco donated more than $2million to people with AIDS.

CM Kanios reminded Council that the San Francisco Department of Public Health will look at potential cuts and expressed concerns regarding the impact that this may have on integrated services. CM Kanios announced that he would be attending the hearings that are scheduled for tomorrow and has a schedule to be distributed.

CM Blum announced Mary Jane Wood’s retirement party.

Jack Newby – made an announcement regarding Campaign to End AIDS and pointed Council Members to the related handouts available. (All handouts available at Council Support Offices).

VI. Public Comment
There were no public comments.

VII. HIV Health Services Quarterly Report
Michelle Long Dixon, HIV Health Services

HIV Health Services Quarterly Report will be presented to the Council.

Michelle Long Dixon informed Council Members of handouts available to be reviewed. (Copy available at Council Support Offices). Documents include: 4th Quarterly Report to the HIV Health Services Planning Council; Objective Review Summary Statement; Response to HRSA Strengths & Weaknesses Comments Related to the FY 2005 Ryan White Title I Application for the San Francisco EMA; FY 2005/2006 Ryan White CARE Title I Analysis; and a chart entitled “Total Award Amounts by EMA.” Michelle informed Council Members that Brenda Walker would be discussing the budget in the upcoming agenda item and asked if there were any questions.

Council Members discussed that many EMA reductions seemed to be in California, with an evidence of increases in Florida and Texas.

Public Comment on this item

Bill Hirsch from ALRP asked if there would be an announcement regarding the final award for San Francisco. Michelle clarified that it would be sometime next week.

There were no other public comments.

VIII. Local HIV/AIDS Funding Streams
Brenda Walker, Director Budget and Finance, AIDS Office
Laura Thomas (Planning Committee Co-chair), Randy Allgaier (Council Co-chair)
*Planning Committee Prioritization Topic

The group will give a presentation on the various local HIV/AIDS funding streams in San Francisco.

CM Allgaier discussed the importance of this issue, not just funding streams but coordination of services and programs.
CM Thomas distributed a handout entitled “Other Funding Streams for HIV Health Services in San Francisco” and a fact sheet on federal funding for HIV/AIDS (available on file at Council Support Offices). CM Thomas reviewed and discussed that this offers a broad context for the information. CM Thomas reviewed the other funding streams: Title II, Title III: Early Intervention; Title IV: Services for Women, Families, Children, and Youth; Special Projects of National Significance; AIDS Education & Training Center; Dental Reimbursement Program.

Beyond the CARE Act funding, CM Thomas discussed other funding streams:
Veterans Administration (VA); Housing & Urban Development (HUD) which includes Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA); Medi-Cal/Medicaid; Medicare; Private Health Insurance; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which includes numerous grantees, including the following: SF Dept. of Public Health; Walden House, Inc., Iris Center Womens Counseling/Recovery; Health Initiatives for Youth; Centerforce; San Francisco Sheriff’s Dept.; Friendship House Assn of American Indian; Mount St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth; City and County of San Francisco, and others.

Council discussed why these issues need to be looked at, the global issues that affect everything, then more specific issues that affect the AIDS Office.

Brenda Walker provided more detail with specific funding of the AIDS Office, and the DPH budget as a whole. Ms. Walker provided an overview of the handouts (available on file at Council Support Offices) which list the state and federal grants received by the AIDS Office. Ms. Walker discussed the General Fund Base Budget of DPH which received significant cuts. Ms. Walker provided a handout to all present and reviewed. (Copy on file at Council Support Offices). Ms. Walker discussed the contingency budget which is looked at in the event of unexpected revenue losses, when the mayor switches to a contingency budget. Ms. Walker directed Council Members and those present to the exact figures that would be of interest to the Planning Council. Ms. Walker announced the budget hearing tomorrow, and encouraged people to attend at 101 Grove, Room 300 at 3:00 p.m. and continued on April 7 if not completed tomorrow. Ms. Walker informed Council Members and the public that all budgets and documents are available for viewing on the AIDS Office website. She emphasized the importance of the proposed reductions and how services will be affected.
A question was asked of Ms. Walker if specific providers had been identified for peer advocacy and treatment advocacy.
Ms. Walker made special note that the details of this information cannot be divulged at this time, and that the contractors identified cannot be released at this time. The hearing tomorrow, March 29, will present that information. April 7 has been scheduled as the continuation date if everything is not discussed at the March 29 hearing.
CM Blum asked about state money set aside for mental health. Ms. Walker indicated that it doesn’t come to the AIDS Office but through Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Again, Ms. Walker encouraged people to attend the hearings, as there are many agencies that are up for cuts that are not necessarily AIDS-specific, but may have to rely on CARE funds to cover their programs.
Council discussed.
Jack Newby reminded presenters to provide electronic copies of documents and informed Council Members that Council Support is creating an electronic file to store all documents presented at meetings.
Ms. Walker indicated that she requires special permission to provide the information that she presented at tonight’s meeting, especially since the information is not available to others until tomorrow, and some of the information changes on a daily basis.
CM Allgaier thanked Ms. Walker for returning and giving her presentation after being bumped at last month’s Council meeting.
CM Pugh asked regarding the mental health budget item cut and how that affects housing for the severely mentally ill.
CM Kanios discussed how the changes in the budget will affect substance abuse services, mental health services, and supportive housing services.
CM Allgaier reiterated the domino effect of the budget cuts and encouraged Council Members to attend tomorrow’s hearings.

Public Comment on this item
There were no public comments on this item.

IX. Dinner Break

X. Epidemiology & Surveillance Presentation
Maree Kay Parisi, HIV/AIDS Statistics & Epidemiology Section, SFDPH
*Planning Committee Prioritization Topic

Ms. Parisi will present the current epidemiology and surveillance statistics for San Francisco. The Council will discuss the presentation and ask questions.

Maree Kay Parisi presented epidemiology and surveillance information with a PowerPoint presentation. Handout of presentation provided to all present and on file at Council Support Offices.

Council Members directed numerous questions to Maree Kay Parisi regarding concerns about the data presented. Main concerns seemed to be around the statistics regarding late testers, and the higher incidence of HIV and morbidity among African Americans. Also discussed were issues around homeless statistics and cofactors that cause death may or not be HIV-related. Several case managers offered personal stories regarding testing and diagnosis.
CM Booker reiterated the fear and stigma prevalent among the African American community and the importance of increasing efforts regarding prevention programs outside the box.
CM Allgaier indicated that this brings up a host of issues that need to be looked at in services and prevention.
CM Simmons expressed shock at the statistics regarding newly diagnosed cases, that prevention activities in San Francisco have been a failure and that nobody seems to want to address it, and believes DPH and Prevention need to look at this.
CM Thomas agreed this was an issue, but compared to figures of new infections in the past, this number has decreased significantly. She agreed that it could be better, but it is certainly much better than it was.
CM Pearce spoke on behalf of Prevention, and described San Francisco as a model on prevention, especially Prevention With Positives. Compared to other communities, the figures in San Francisco are much lower. CM Pearce suggested that care and prevention need to work collaboratively to address this issue.
CM Allgaier suggested people remember that cutting-edge programs are funded by the City rather than federally, and again recommended people attend the hearings tomorrow.
Council thanked Maree Kay and she agreed to give updated and other requested information to Council Support to make available to Council Members as needed.

Public Comment on this item
There were no public comments on this item.


XI. Housing Workgroup Update
Jack Newby and Margot Antonetty

Review of Scope of Work and other activities with the Housing Workgroup.

Jack Newby provided a review of the Scope of Work and other activities with the Housing WorkGroup and indicated that the first meeting is April 7. Jack reminded those on the workgroup to be aware that a meeting with the consultant will be scheduled.
CM Antonetty offered background with regard to HRSA’s policy with regard to length of stay in transitional housing. San Francisco does not define this length of stay and HRSA has offered San Francisco technical assistance in working through this issue. CM Antonetty encouraged anyone interested in joining the workgroup to contact Leah at Council Support.
CM Allgaier indicated that the two major issues are: length of stay in transitional housing and exit strategy.

Council Members discussed.

No public comment on this item.

XII. Membership- VOTE
Membership Committee

The Committee also would like to recommend one Council Member for term renewal:
• Anita Booker

CM Rodriguez informed Council that Membership Committee recommends CM Booker for term renewal.

By voice vote. All in favor. None opposed. Ms. Booker approved for term renewal.

Public Comment.

Gary Harrell asked why names were not submitted from the interviews conducted at the last Membership Committee meeting, and added that some populations were not represented on the Council, specifically Native Americans.

CM Allgaier informed Mr. Harrell that Council Members do address questions posed by the public during Council Meetings and suggested that he meet with members of the Membership Committee to clarify his concerns.

XIII. New Business/ Next Agenda

CM Allgaier discussed the potential of a joint meeting with Health Services and Prevention.

CM Booker made an announcement regarding the great turnout for the Community Forum that took place last week, and offered kudos to CM McMurray and CM Durio, as well as Council Support.

Council reminded to turn in conflict of interest forms and meeting evaluations.

XIV. Adjourned The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 pm.

Meeting minutes are considered to be in DRAFT form until reviewed and approved by Council attendees.

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