SN Sands Corp. v. City and County of San Francisco

SN Sands Corporation doing business as S&S Trucking (S&S) challenges the jurisdiction of the Board of Supervisors (the board) of the City and County of San Francisco (the city) to disapprove the entry of a contract by the city’s public utilities commission (PUC) that was conditionally awarded to S&S through a competitive bidding process. The board’s jurisdiction is governed by a provision of the city charter requiring the board to approve contracts with “anticipated expenditures” of $10 million or more. The parties disagree about the proper interpretation of this provision where, as here, the contract is not for a fixed dollar amount, and they dispute whether the anticipated expenses under the proposed contract with S&S meet the $10 million threshold. We agree with S&S and the trial court that the anticipated cost of a proposed contract must be based on probable expenditures for which there is evidentiary support, and that the board assumed jurisdiction in this case without any such support and contrary to the only evidence that was before it. Moreover, as the trial court also concluded, the additional evidence presented by the city also fails to show that the…