[2006alum]

That article (which is now over two weeks old) seems to suggest that county health officers, not the Mayor, get the final say on any SiP orders. That may be true as a practical matter, but I don't think it's true as a legal matter. As a matter of political first impressions, it would seem odd that the final say over an order to SiP would come from an unelected bureaucrat who is not directly accountable to the citizens whose activities would be curtailed. As a matter of law, according to this job description for the position for the Director of the SF Department of Public Health, the director "serves at the pleasure of the Mayor and the Health Commission." The current director is Dr. Grant Colfax, and I've seen him appear at the city press conferences where I've seen London Breed speak, and he tends to address the more technical and medical questions. I have not at all gotten the sense that she's tried to sideline him.

More broadly, I guess I'm a bit confused about why it's inappropriate to look to the mayor as having the final call on these sorts of things. Yes, she may have rubber stamped what the six/seven county health commissioners collectively decided, but at the end of the day, she has the power to override her county health director, and it's obvious that she, not he, will bear the brunt of public accountability for that decision. Moreover, it's comical to think that the Santa Clara County Health Commissioner would have a final say over what happens in the County of San Francisco, and vice versa.

[2006alum]

That article (which is now over two weeks old) seems to suggest that county health officers, not the Mayor, get the final say on any SiP orders. That may be true as a practical matter, but I don't think it's true as a legal matter. As a matter of political first impressions, it would seem odd that the final say over an order to SiP would come from an unelected bureaucrat who is not directly accountable to the citizens whose activities would be curtailed. As a matter of law, according to this job description for the position for the Director of the SF Department of Public Health, the director "serves at the pleasure of the Mayor and the Health Commission." The current director is Dr. Grant Colfax, and I've seen him appear at the city press conferences where I've seen London Breed speak, and he tends to address the more technical and medical questions. I have not at all gotten the sense that she's tried to sideline him.

More broadly, I guess I'm a bit confused about why it's inappropriate to look to the mayor as having the final call on these sorts of things. Yes, she may have rubber stamped what the six/seven county health commissioners collectively decided, but at the end of the day, she has the power to override her county health director, and it's obvious that she, not he, will bear the brunt of public accountability for that decision. Moreover, it's comical to think that the Santa Clara County Health Commissioner would have a final say over what happens in the County of San Francisco, and vice versa.