Annemarie Conroy argued today that she is qualified to head the Office of Emergency Services. But late this afternoon, she received a formal letter of inquiry from the Board of Supervisors demanding answers to many of the questions first raised by the I-Team.

Annemarie Conroy held a news conference at San Francisco's City Hall today to answer calls from two members of the Board of Supervisors that she resign. Chris Daly and Gerardo Sandoval took that action after the I-Team detailed Conroy's lack of experience handling emergencies before she took the top disaster post a year ago.

Annemarie Conroy, San Francisco OES director: "I am not planning to make any changes in my employment with the city and county of San Francisco. We have done an absolutely outstanding job at the Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security."

But late this afternoon, she received a formal letter of inquiry from the Board of Supervisors. It takes on added significance when you consider who's behind it.

Michela Alioto-Pier was appointed by Gavin Newsom to fill his seat on the Board of Supervisors after he became mayor. Now, she's demanding answers from the woman Newsom chose to head the Office of Emergency Services.

Michela Alioto-Pier, San Francisco supervisor: "You raised some very interesting questions and it was my feeling that they should be answered."

What especially has the supervisor's attention is the news we broke last week, that Conroy is attending the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey for a master's in Homeland Security. She'll have to go to Monterey for two weeks of classes, several times over the next year-and-a-half, and she'll be away from the city for a total of two months.

Alioto-Pier wants to know: How often Conroy will be out of the city and county? Who's in charge in her absence? Why did she fail to inform the disaster council? It's a group of the city's department heads and emergency officials that plan for disasters. Alioto-Pier is a member.

Michela Alioto-Pier: "As the district representative for a community that was really hit in Loma Prieta. It is my responsibility to make sure if something like that happens again that we know what we're doing."

Sheriff Michael Hennessey, San Francisco: "Well, the last time we had the earthquake, our OES director was in Salt Lake City, so we managed to get through that."

Mike Hennessey has been sheriff in San Francisco for 25 years, and he's also a member of the disaster council. He says he cares more about Conroy's performance in her first year than her past resume.

Sheriff Michael Hennessey: "I think she's done a very good job in seeing that people are conducting very practical exercises, training exercises."

Gavin Newsom is still in Ireland on city business, but before he left, he spoke with ABC's Primetime about Conroy's credentials for OES.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco (from Primetime interview): "It's a grant writing office, it's an office that helps coordinate, and allows people, like myself, I'm in the restaurant business - I hire a chef, I hire a maître d', I'm not a good maître d', I'm a terrible chef, but allows that expertise to be plugged in. She knows how to manage."

Both Annemarie Conroy and the mayor's office have made it clear they are not pleased with our critical look at the Office of Emergency Services. So, for today's news conference, they called all the other stations in town, but not us. That's why we had no pictures of Conroy's appearance, just the audio from KGO Radio.

We'll keep digging into OES. If you have a tip, e-mail us or call me directly at 1-888-40-i-team.

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