Transcripts For SFGTV SF Public Utilities Commission 20240713

Clerk, i would like to call to order todays meeting of the San Francisco Public Utilities commission. Todays date is april 14, 2020. Madam secretary, roll call, please. [roll call] clerk madam president , we have a quorum. Thank you. Before we begin today, i would like to make an announcement. Due to the covid19 Health Emergency and given the recommendations issued by the San Francisco department of Public Health and that Governor Newsom and mayor breed have lifted the restriction on teleconference. This meeting is being held with the members and staff participating today via teleconference. This will ensure the safety of the commission, sfpuc staff, and members of the public. While this Technology Allows us to hold this meeting via teleconference, there may be some gaps as staff is moving between speakers. Thank you for your understanding, and we ask for your patience. So to say, this is our maiden voyage. We ask the public to participate remotely by writing the commission or leaving a voice message. Going forward, we will continue to urge the public to write to the commission at commission thats a capital c at sfwater. Org. Again, thats commission sfwater. Org. By a leaving a message at 4155543165. Again, thats 4155543165 in advance of the meetings. If they havent already done so, im asking the members of the commission to mute themselves to minimize background noise. Commission members will have to remember to unmute themselves to speak. Lastly, on behalf of the commission, i want to thank you who have been working long hours to make this meeting possible starting with donna hood, our Commission Secretary, lee sales, and Javier Torres at the p. U. C. Department and the entire sfgovtv staff. Madam secretary, please continue. Clerk thank you, madam president. At this time, id like to make a statement regarding Public Comment. This meeting is being televised by sfgtv. For those of you watching the live steam, please be aware that there is a 20to30second lag between what you are watching and what is happening at sfgtv. If you wish to comment on an item, please call the phone line when the item is called. For members of the public who make Public Comment on agenda items, dial 8882733658. Again. Thats 8882733658, and access code 3107452. Absays code 3107452, and i believe thats also scrolling on the bottom of the sfgtv feed, and then followed by pound and then pound again to join the meeting as a participant. Then dial one and zero to be added to the speaker line. This is the Public Comment period. You will be queued up in the order your call was received. You will hear an auto mated voice when it is your turn to speak. When your mit is your turn, yo will be unmuted, and your speaking time will begin. Make sure you are in a quiet location, that you turnoff any t. V. S or radios, and if you are Live Streaming the meeting via sfgtv, mute your sound to eliminate any reverberation. I will repeat these instructions during Public Comment periods as i am aware that some members of the public may join the meeting late and may not have heard this information. Thank you very much. And madam president , your first order of business is item 3, approval of the minutes of march 10, 2020. Commissioners, before you, you have the minutes of march 10, 2020. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes . Hearing none, is there any comment by public on this . Mr. Moderator, please open Public Comment. If you wish to comment on this item, please dial 8882733658, access 3104752, and we will give allow for about 30, 45 seconds for the phone lines to be opened. Clerk okay. Do we have any callers, mr. Moderator . Caller madam secretary, there are three callers in the queue. Clerk okay. These are for the yes. Are these regarding the minutes . Go ahead and open Public Comment and if its not the Public Comments, i will have to ask the speakers to please dial in at the appropriate dial. Can you go ahead and add the first speaker . You have three questions remaining. Clerk hello, speaker. Are you calling regarding the minutes . Speaker . Speaker, go ahead. Mr. Moderator . There are two callers remaining in the queue. You have two questions remaining. Clerk hello, caller. If youre calling regarding the minutes, please start speaking. Caller no, im not calling about the minutes. Ill get on later. Thank you. Clerk okay. Thank you. You have one question remaining. Clerk hello, speaker, if youre calling about the minutes . Not call about the minutes, but you reversed a couple of numbers in the access code. It is 3107452. Clerk okay. Thank you. Madam president , there are no other speakers. Okay. The item is closed. Id like to move the item. Second. Madam secretary, could you please call a roll call vote. [roll call] clerk thank you. The item passes. Next item, please. Clerk next item is item number 4, general Public Comment. Members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commissions jurisdiction and are not on todays agenda. Again, members of the public who wish to provide general comment, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452. And before we open the phone lines, i did receive one email for Public Comment. Im going to start the timer and read that email right now. It is from mr. Dave warner. He says dear president caen and commissioners, thank you for your service and our commission for your willingness to provide services to the citizens of San Francisco and Holding Meeting including Public Comment. Youll recall that a potential winwin proposal was made by the Tuolomne River trust this year, still fully meeting the requirements of our designed drought model should this year turn out to be the first year of an eightyear drought. As gracious rerequesting by you, mr. Ritchie, through the general manager kelly, i wrote this letter and presented it at the february 25, 2020 meeting, however, it was ambiguous. The first significant paragraph mentioned that the sf puc was in a lawsuit but it did not prohibit sfpuc from releasing any of those flows. The secondsive paragraph mentions the need to get on the need to get other Water Districts the need to let any additional sfpuc pass through but makes no mention if we need to get their agreement. It seems like the water wat other Water Districts should have some wish to support sfpucs decision. The time frame for waiting to get additional water for the fish cannot be measured in decades. Because of its winwin nature, the program deserves better than ambiguous and inconcluesive statements from staff. Dave warner. That concludes his letter. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Caller madam secretary, there are three calls in the queue. Clerk okay. Caller correction, we now have four callers. Ill queue them up now. You have five questions remaining. Clerk go ahead, speaker. Ill start your time when you begin speaking. Thank you very much. This is peter dreickmeyer from the Tuolomne River trust. Its good to communicate with all of you again. I just want to remind you that next week is the 50th anniversary of earth day, quite a milestone, april 15, 1970. In response to that milestone of support, shortly therefore the clean water thereafter the clean water act and environmental species act. Weve seen a lot on this issue, but not on the tuolomne. In 1970, the New Don Pedro Dam was completed. Though only so much water could be captured before it had to spill in the tuolomne. In 1944, there were 144,000 salmon spanning in the river. But new don pedro holds 2 million acre feet, so were getting much worse flows, and the salmon population has crashed. This last year, we just had 2500 salmon spanning. So weve seen sfpuc do some very good things in the past. A little over ten years ago, there was a problem with steel head dying in the summer, and it convinced the Water District in modesto to join it in releasing water in the summer. So we know that cooperation can happen, and we know that the sfpuc can be a leader. I sent you that peter moyle has been a consultant for p. U. C. In the past, and the idea that we can improve fisheries without adding nonflow measures doesnt work. Its really time to face the fact that fish need water. So we have put forward or interim proposal. We very much appreciate commissioners viators request at the end of the meeting. We did hope that it would have come back by now. We understand we live in different times, so we need to be flexible, but we would like to see that come forward. I thank you for your time serving, and appreciate the comments. Clerk thank you, peter. Next speaker, please. You have five questions remaining. Clerk hello, speaker. When you start, i will start the timer. Hi. My name is jessie raider. I grew up in california, and i now live in San Francisco. I called to echo peters comments. I wont repeat them, because he stated them well, as well as the letter you read. I conserve water for the environment. Thats my main motivation, and im very conscientious about it, and i put a lot of energy into conserving water, as well as many in San Francisco. There have been surveys about that, that conserving water for the environment, knowing that that water is going to benefit the environment is one of the main motivators. The problem is its not happening. The water that we save is, you know, sitting up in a dam in a reservoir, evaporating away. Its not benefiting the fish, and knowing that makes our efforts feel futile. Its so frustrating, knowing that were saving water and its not going to where its needed. I want you to know it makes me less likely to do so, less likely to do so in the future, listen to the advice from our city and state to conserve water for a drought because i i want to know its going to the fish. Now that i know the operation of the river, i know the fish never see a goodyear. Even when we have a good year in california, the fish never see it. They need that, just like we need good years to recover. So i think the item for the sfpuc to release the water is a good one. Its upsetting to San Francisco because i know that residents have these values. The 40 is already a compromise. The scientists said whats needed is 60 . Id like to see San Francisco increasing its values, and i thank you very much for the opportunity to comment, and thats all i have to say. Thanks. You have five questions remaining. Hi, commissioners. My name is susan stansbury. I design water conserving gardens as a profession, and the main motivation of me ayse and my clients is to conserve water. Im calling on behalf of the Tuolomne River trust. As you know, demand is already low. Its already 192 million gallons a day, and clerk thank you, speaker. Your time is up. Im sorry, madam secretary, i believe this is a new speaker. Clerk okay. Im sorry. I got kicked off the meeting for a moment. Go ahead. Im sorry. Okay. So demand is very low, and the tuolomne would benefit from a higher inflow. So im asking for this because i am greatly disturbed by this tragic loss of habitat for the salmon and their reduced numbers. They feed many species and benefit the system, and i have put [inaudible] and i tie this to the magnificent orcas that are dying, and their babies are starving to death because there arent enough salmon to eat. We can have Healthy Rivers and healthy species that rely on the river habitat. As you probably know, our rivers and watersheds are in crisis, and you have the power to restore the rivers and leave a legacy of healthy habitats for us, and i urge you to do so. And i appreciate your time, and thank you for your service. Thank you. Caller madam secretary, well queue the next caller. You have five questions remaining. Thank you. My name is bill martin. Im a San Francisco resident and an sfpuc customer. Im also a member of the sierra club San Francisco water bay. As you may recall, december 2018, the state Water Resources control board ordered a flow recre recre regime requiring unimpaired flows. [inaudible] well over one year ago. During those many months, fish and wildlife, really, the entire ecosystem, could have benefited from higher flows. Instead of making any effort, the sfpuc continues to promulgate start times. Mr. Dreickmeyers models are good to consider. As mr. Warner said earlier today, this is a winwin, but the sfpuc has refused to evaluate mr. Warners work, let alone provide a response. Please consider his work. The environment awaits. Thank you. Caller thank you for your comments. I im going to queue up the next speaker, madam secretary. You have five questions remaining. Good afternoon. Thank you for your service and making this opportunity available. My name is norma wallace. I own a home in San Francisco, im a fourth generation San Francisco, and im also ohlone. I would echo the prior speakers comments regarding the proposal made regarding the Tuolomne River trust and peter dreickmeyer. I want the p. U. C. Staff to address commissioner viators specific request, and im a bit puzzled by the staffs reluctance to move forward. The fish have waited decades. My concern is for the fish. I want to read a brief quote. In june 1860, c. A. Kirkpatrick wrote, salmon fish are fast disappearing from our waters all that in which mining are carried onto any extent. He said in before that, they could literally be picked up as many as desired. We are so far from that situation. Not 200 years have gone by. Please allow the fish a little bit of water. Thank you. Caller thank you, caller, for your comments. Madam secretary, ill queue up the next caller. Clerk thank you. Caller you have four questions remaining. Good afternoon. My name is mary butterwick. Im a botanist, and ive lived in San Francisco for 40 years. Ive supported the Tuolomne River trust interim proposal. Under this proposal, the commission would volley release its 40 flow and do so for at least two years. If we experience a dry year, they could revert back to the base flows and the countys eightyear drought plan. Managing the tuolomne requires both flow and nonflow measures. Nonflow measures in the absence of sufficient flows will not work. The good news is that the flow measures recommended here are doable. In a hetch hetchy area, water decreased 40 between 2000 and 2016. The plan gives the p. U. C. More flexibility to increase level surface flows. Under a scenario where we experience three or more dry areas, the water system on the Tuolomne River would benefit from higher instream flows. Some benefits including providing spring flows high enough to get water onto flood plains, and maintaining downstream water temperatures low enough to support a cold water fishery. San francisco residents such as myself care deeply for the environment. We look to the commission to be responsible stewards for the river by increasing the flows in the Tuolomne River. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Clerk thank you, speaker. Mr. Moderator, do we have more speakers . Caller yes. There are three speakers in the queue. I will queue up the next caller. Clerk clerk thank you. You have three callers remaining. Clerk hi, speaker. Thank you for the opportunity to comment. I hope all of your friends and family are healthy and safe during this time. My name is john roads, rhodes, and id like to ask you to take a look at the Tuolomne River true. Im a former fisherman, angler, love rivers, and im concerned about the health of the tuolomne. The whole river concerns not only just flows for humans but for the fish and other animals, organisms, that are part of the river. You as stewards have a responsibility to basically play god on whether fish survive or not, and i hope you are more flexible and look at other situations where you find water for people and also to find water for fish. Again, being 68, ive seen other utilities, other entities, make possible coexisting with fish, and thank you for the opportunity to talk. Caller thank you, caller, for your comments. Madam secretary, i will queue up the next caller. There are two callers remaining. You have two callers remaining. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is libby higgs. I am a resident of modesto, california. I have spent many hours of my life enjoying the Tuolomne River. I fully support the Tuolomne River trust and appreciate their efforts to restore our river to its natural habitat. Ive also participated in some of the nine river cleanups, planted trees, and have enjoyed some of the wonderful activities that the trust has at some ti put on. Today, i respectfully request that the p. U. C. Adopt commissioner viators three requests made in february of this year. I believe that you have very little to lose, and that our precious river has much to gain. Thank you very much for your time. Good afternoon. Clerk thank you. Next speaker, mr. Moderator. Caller this is the last caller in the queue, madam clerk. You have one question remaini remaining. Thank you, speaker. Go ahead and start. Hello . Go ahead . Caller my name is francisco de costa, and i want to speak on three topics. The first one is the sheriffs system improvement project. It started as a 6 billion project, and now, its going to be a 20 billion project. Recently, i received a very detailed report from the sanitary engineers, and the sanitary engineers are now made to work more, and they are totally stressed out. And i think the commissioners have to look into this. Again and again, the sanitary engineers have done a wonderful work. Theyve done the best they can, and we need to come to their assistance. Finally, id like to end this general Public Comment by giving you a general description about the rivers and the salmon. Theres nobody to speak for the salmon. We describe this situation in whatever way we want to, but its a shame that we cant put some extra water into the rivers to save our salmon, that we did not do it. So commissioners, im asking you, on behalf of the ohlone tribe and my various pleadings before, that do something to save the salmon and listen to the model that peter has provided you in detail. I mean the least you c i mean, the least you can do is take the water that people are not using and put it in the rivers and save the salmon. Thank you very much. Caller thank you, caller, for your comments. Madam secretary, if youre there, and you can hear me, we have no more callers in the queue. I think madam secretary is having some technical problems, so i will move ahead and call the next item, which is item 5, communications. Commissioners, any comments or questions regarding communications . Clerk okay. Would you like for me to call for Public Comment . There are no comments from the commissioners, is that correct . Clerk presently no comment from me. Donna, there were no commissioner comments. This is francesca, so i do not believe we need to call for Public Comment. All right. We dont have to call for Public Comment . If there is no Commission Discussion of the item. Oh, all right. Thank you. Donna, are you there . Caller commissioners, i believe donna has dropped off the call. Okay. I will continue on. I would like to say a few things in our meetings, and i want to start by thanking and taking this opportunity to thank our City Government representatives, our civic leaders, and our elected officials who have demonstrated such impressive displays of leadership, compassion, and direction during these incredibly difficult times. We have been so fortunate for the quick, decisive, impressionsiimpressive actions taken by mayor breed. Ah, yes, she was the first in the nation. Mary carroll from the department of emergency management, and every other leader who has played a role in helping to combat and contain this deadly virus. And, of course, the impressive role that our governor has taken. It has been very fortunate for all of the state of california, but, and most importantly, i want to thank general manager kelly and the rest of the executive team at the sfpuc. We have done a great job in taking steps to protect the health of our workers and employees while also ensuring that the essential functions of our agency are carried out each and every day. It has been a delicate and difficult balancing act, but our Leadership Team has responded to this pandemic in a professional, thoughtful manner, and i think that they are very much deserved of our great praise and accolades. So lets remember to give them resounding applause when we are back at city hall, room 400. Do we still not have a secretary . I am back. I apologize. Okay. For some reason, i keep getting kicked off from the system. Im going to dial in during the general managers presentation. So the next item is item 6, report of the general manager. Good afternoon, commissioners, and thank you for making it possible for us to hold this meeting today remotely. It would definitely be an understatement to say that things have changed significantly. [inaudible] over the past couple of weeks, the coronavirus outbreak has turned into a Global Pandemic impacting communities throughout the world and including San Francisco. An advantage is that our city leaders have taken bold and decisive steps to end this deadly virus. And here at the sfpuc, we are taking steps to ensure that our own employees are safe and healthy, and that we are continually delivering water, power, and Source Service to our customers. So the moment we established the emergency operating center, we call it the e. O. C. , the p. U. C. Did its part to support this vital and critical system which acted as the center of the San Francisco covid19 response. We immediately dispatched dozens of San Francisco p. U. C. Employees to join the e. O. C. Joint Information Center as well as its planning, operational, and lodge stick team and other essential functions. Our employees have been instrumental in helping the city manage and plan its response to the outbreak. More than 60 employees have already completed e. O. C. Assignments, and another 40 employees are currently serving. As you know, we bring decades of crisis project Management Experience that comes from our own experience handling large scale events like the rim fire and other disaster managements. In addition, we set up our own Operational Management center, we call it the o. M. C. , using it to dispatch essential services and employees while ensuring that our own frontline employees have the safe and healthy protection they need to continue their duties. At the same time, we quickly update our continuity of Operations Plan which provides guidance on how the p. U. C. Can continue doing business even during this disaster and disruptive event. Today, about half of our workforce is working remote, and about half still reports to the work site every day. Even prior to the city issuing a shelter in place health directive, we began encouraging employees to telecommute, to practice social distancing and selfisolation. We quickly put resources in place to support telecommuting, helping our staff with laptops, expanding our operations and the reach of our i. T. Department. We sent out an agencywide email providing them resources and assistance from our public resource team. We took a hard look at our [inaudible] currently, only Capital Projects that have been deemed essential by the city and repair and replacement projects determined necessary by the p. U. C. Was sent over to the city administrator, and the city administrator worked out, identified those projects to the Public Health officer, and they deemed these projects essential, so those are the projects that are moving forward. At those sites and all other facilities, we remain diligently committed to approach the safety in implementing strict social distancing practices to ensure that our workers have the necessary personal protective equipment that they need. They all follow the guidelines of state and local agencies. Last week, we standardize how we enhance the disinfecting procedures occurring at all p. U. C. Facilities and buildings that are still occupied by staff in order to ensure that all the high tech areas are covered. This information is being compiled into a checklist for each facility and will be managed by each facility staff and also staff at p. U. C. This week, we began Health Screening for everyone coming into the p. U. C. Facility for work assignments. These screenings will be volunteer at first but eventually will be required for staff to be able to work onsite. We know our friends and neighbors are struggling through this uncertain times. Thats why were suspending shutoffs due to lack of payment at this time and were aware of the Financial Impact this crisis will have on our budget and the city budget. In partnership with the city administrator, we are reviewing our plans and were doing scenariobased planning to see how this will impact our budget. We also have paused hiring efforts and created a review process to determine which critical processes should move forward through the fiscal year and also the calendar year. Finally, i want to thank you for your support, guidance, and patience as we continue to respond to this pandemic and tackle the daytoday work. You know, we havent forgotten about the issues that were important to you and have set up meetings on topics that youre concerned about. As you know, our main focus is on the covidrelated topic, so well hopefully get back where we can address a lot of the issues that are important to you that are not covid related. And also, i am incredibly proud of our work team and how we responded to this pandemic so that we can provide this essential service to all of our customers. I think the city is doing an outstanding job, and that is the end of my comments. Thank you, general manager. Commissioners, any comments on this report or questions . This is commissioner viator. I just want to express my appreciation for the general manager and the staff on behalf of the commission. This is not an easy time. Weve been getting briefs that the staff have had to take on during this pandemic, during this crisis, and it really has stretched a lot of the staff pretty thin, and thats on top of all the other activities of keeping our services running, which was not insignificant in the first place. So i just wanted to express that and show my appreciation for all of the hard work that you, general manager, and your staff have been engaged in to keep the city healthy and safe and continue providing essential services to San Francisco. Any other questions or discussions from commissioners . Yeah, this is commissioner falzon. I also want to build on what commissioner viator just said. I want to thank general manager kelly for all his extra attention, governance, and response that was used at the p. U. C. In order to make sure that people were taking care of their jobs and taking care of the system in such a way that needed to be done, and i really think the p. U. C. Has really set the example for a lot of different departments in San Francisco that have construction building, not getting into details. And then secondly, also in the private sector, we have all of these, you know, sewer and water projects that are continuing to move forward that are essential to the infrastructure of not just San Francisco but the entire bay area. And the fact that he put together a team of contractors, staffers, and labor leaders to actually discuss what is a safe job going to be and how can we move this further so that we can work on infrastructure in a seamless way, so both taking care of and being mindful of workers that are directly employed by the city and the p. U. C. As well as the contracted out work that is being done to continue the buildout of the infrastructure. I think its been commendable, and obviously, were continuing to monitor all that stuff and making sure that people are safe and the work gets done as we move forward, so thank you. Are there any other commissioners that would like to speak . Hearing none, madam secretary, could you open Public Comment . Clerk yes. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 6, report of the general manager, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound, followed by pound again. Dial one, and then zero to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls at this time . Caller madam secretary, we have one caller in the queue. Clerk okay. Go ahead, caller. You have one question remaining. Clerk hello, caller. Go ahead and comment for item number 6. Okay. I want to talk about being an Incident Commander, and hello . Clerk yes, go ahead. Caller hello . Okay. I want to talk about being an Incident Commander here in San Francisco, and i was listening to the general manager talking about a completely different type of system that maybe the sfpuc is suited to. But commissioners, we have some very serious issues at our Navigation Centers. We have hot spots that we have to attend to. You have to understand the nature of this pandemic, and over 300,000 people being asymptomatic, and so earlier, when i spoke about our sanitary engineers and im telling you all that theyre overworked, and theyre traumatizing them, and they need to support them, i see you praising the sfpuc workers who really are trained as we are addressing the pandemic. So let me state again, it is critical that we have a really strong Incident Commander, that we divide the city in quadrants so we have other captains or Incident Commanders to establish a single i. C. P. For any incident, to establish consolidated incident auditors and strategies, with guidance updating them every operational period. We learned this in the military, but for some people, they dont get it, you know, because ive been writing about this for a long time. Now, this Navigation Center already is spreading the virus. Now, what are we really doing when it comes to our operation, sfpuc . Im telling you all, our sanitary engineers are overworked. Do you have any empathy and compassion for them . I dont like to Say Something and shame you all, but i am ashamed. Do not praise yourself. The public has to praise you. Do not praise yourself. Do the right thing. Have a strong Incident Commander who can really unify this city to do the right thing. Thank you very much. Clerk thank you, mr. De costa. Next speaker, please, mr. Moderator. Caller madam secretary, there are no more callers in the queue. Clerk okay. Public comment on item 7 is closed. Madam secretary, could you read the next item . Clerk yes. Item 7 is new commission business. Commissioners, any new Business Today . Hearing none, because there is none, we will not call for Public Comments. Madam secretary, the next item, please. Clerk the next item is item 8, consent calendar. All matters listed hereunder are a consent calendar by the San Francisco Public Utilities commission, and will be acted on by a single vote of the commission. There will be no action or discussion on any item unless the public or a commissioner requests, in which case, it will be handled as a separate item. Commissioners, is there any item that you wish to remove from the consent calendar today . Madam secretary, could you open this to open Public Comment . Clerk yes, madam president. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on the consent calendar, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, then pound, and pound again. Then press one, then zero, to be added to the queue. Your time will begin when you begin speaking. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Caller madam secretary, there is no Public Comment. Clerk okay. Seeing none, then Public Comment on item 8 is closed. Commissioners, may i have a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar . There is commissioner moran. Ill move the item. Ill second. Is that commissioner paulsen . Correct. Madam secretary, could you take a roll call vote . [roll call] clerk you have five ayes. So the motion carries. Next item, please. Clerk item 9, approve amendment number 2 to Agreement Number cs1053, increasing the agreement amount by 150,000, for a total nottoexceed agreement amount of 508,000, and with a time extension of three years, for a total agreement duration of seven years, eight months, and i believe employee ritchie will provide introduction. Very good. Mr. Ritchie, are you there . Caller dial starsix to unmute your phone. Are we trying to reach mr. Ritchie . Clerk he was originally on the meeting. Okay. Commissioners, do you have any comments on this item . Do you feel prepared to vote on this item . Madam chair, this is commissioner moran. Im comfortable proceeding, and ill move the item. Commissioner maxwell, and ill second it. Okay. Shall we open this to Public Comment, madam secretary . Clerk yet. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, then press pound, and pound again. Then press one and then zero to be added to the queue. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Caller madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue. Clerk okay. Thank you. Seeing none, Public Comment is closed on item 9. So we have a motion and a second, so madam secretary, could you please take a roll call vote. [roll call] clerk there are five ayes. Thank you. And the item passes. Madam secretary, the next item, please. Clerk item 10, approve the plans and specifications and award contract number 33694, in the amount of 967,980, and with a duration of 90 consecutive calendar days to, the responsible bidder submitting the lowest responsive bid, marinship development interest, l. L. C. , to modify the existing sewer diversion juncti diversion. And this will be presented by kathy how. Good afternoon, commissioners. Were hoping to avoid an emergency because this part of the Collection System is in dire need of repairs. There were three bidders. The first two bidders were deemed nonresponsive because they did not meet the c. M. D. Goal. The third bidder does meet the c. M. D. Goals, and their bid is still within the engineers estimate. And this project also was committed to the city administrator and the d. P. H. Health officer for approval to proceed with construction. Commissioners, any questions or further discussion . Id like to move the item. Commissioner moran, second. Fine. I would like to call for Public Comment. Madam secretary . Clerk members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 10, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, followed by pound, and pound again. Dial one, then zero to be added to the speaker line. Caller a reminder to all callers on the Public Comment line, dial one, then zero to be added to the queue. Clerk mr. Moderator, do we have any speakers . Caller madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Clerk thank you. As such, Public Comment on item number 10 is closed. Commissioners, we have already moved and seconded item number 10. Madam secretary, could you please take a roll call vote. [roll call] clerk there are five ayes. Therefore, the motion carries. Madam secretary, the last item, please. Clerk item 11, public hearing and possible action to approve the march 2020 proposed revised Water System Improvement Program, which would extend the completion dates of five wsip projects and the Overall Program completion of wsip from december 2021 to may 2023 and direct staff to send a notice of charge report to the state Water Resources control board and the alfred e. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission in compliance with water code section 73500. And kathy how will present this. Good afternoon, commissioners. Im not sure if slides were presented for your review. Caller the slides are on. The slides are on . Caller yes. Let us know when you want us to advance the slides. Okay. Thank you very much. I want to say thank you very much. I my name is katie miller, and im the acting director of the water program, and i would like to thank brad and lee and especially the Commission Secretary donna, and sftv. Gov for allowing this technology to help move our business forward. As you are aware, im going to give you a short presentation for the march 2020 proposed revised wsip. And as youre aware, the wsip, the Water System Improvement Program is a 4. 8 billion program to upgrate sfpuc water facilities. It includes 87 projects within seven counties, from tuolomne to San Francisco. At this time, the wsip is 98 complete and only 7 projects are ongoing. The wsips ongoing schedule and budget were last revised in march 2018, and the changes were adopted by the commission in april 2018. As you are aware, California Water code requires a public hearing for your consideration for certain types of wsip projects. In early 2020, San Francisco City Management reviewed the wsip projects and determined that five projects are scheduled for completion beyond the project completion date. On march 13, the sfpuc posted on our website a notice of public hearing. This notice includes the proposal to revise the project completion date for five wsip projects and explains the justification for each project. This revision would extend the wsip date to may 5, 2023. No changes to project budgets or scopes are proposed at this time. The commission met with rbawsca on march 6, 2020 and april 8, 2020, and this letter is included in your packet. The five wsip projects that are proposed to have revised completion dates are listed here. Most of these projects require minor schedule extensions to allow for final completion of closeout items. Some of these are seasonal or dependent on a larger seasonal shutdown. The Alameda Creek recapture project, which is the second one in this table, requires a schedule extension of 18 months. This project is in the final stage of environmental approval. The Planning Commission is scheduled to consider approval and certification of this project next week, on april 3, 2020. Then, this project will be presented for your approval at the next meeting, on april 28, 2020. All permits should be obtained by august 2020. The design documents are being updated with operational parameters and updated code requirements, but that all will be completed by july 2020. The advertisement is forecasted for august 2020, with n. T. P. In january 2021, and general construction forecasted to be completed in november 2022. All the changes forecasted in this change were forecasted and proposed prior to covid19, and any additional changes from this have not been considered at this time but may be considered at a later date. Completing wsip projects is a very high priority for the sfpuc, so we hope to keep these projects on track as much as possible regardless of any covid19 impacts. In march 2018, the revised wsip im sorry. Next slide, please. Regional groundwater storage and recovery. The march 2018 revised wsip included changes to scope schedule and budget for the regional groundwater storage and Recovery Project. In the past six months, since bringing some of the wells into testing phase, several issues have emerged that will require additional improvements for treatment, reliability, and Sustainable Operations and maintenance. These needs are currently being analyzed. In meeting with bawsca, they expressed concerns that the wsip projects need to meet their wsip concerns. In our two meetings in march and april of this year, we shared project information fully with bawsca, and together, we agreed to not make any changes to wsip project scope at this time. As we further develop any needed changes or improvements from the groundwater storage and Recovery Projects, we will share this information with bawsca, and we will work on achievements of projects and objectives. Until further decisions are made for the groundwater program, the regional groundwater storage and Recovery Project may intend beyond their original 2018 budget scheduled and dates. The letter from bawsca dated april 8, 2020 expressed bawscas concerns for the Regional Storage project and the wsip moving forward. It includes recommendations. We are currently reviewing this letter, and we will respond to bawsca in writing and share a response with you. Last slide, please. At this time, we would like to request that the commission respectfully consider adopting the march 2020 proposed revised wsip to extend completion dates for five wsip projects and extend the completion dates from december 20, 2021 to may 5, 2023. We also ask the commission direct staff to send a notice of change report to the state in compliance with the California Water code requirement. And with this, i would like to thank you all very much for the opportunity to propose these Program Changes to you during this critical time, keeping the wsip on track as much as we can as safely as possible, even during this unprecedented public Health Emergency moves the sfpuc closer to meeting our level of Service Goals and keeping our Capital Projects on track, and i would be happy to answer any questions. Commissioners, any questions . Comments . Hearing none, madam secretary, could you open it for Public Comments . Clerk yes, madam president. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment, dial 8882733658, and access code 3107452, and pound, followed by pound again. Dial one, and then zero to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Caller madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue. Clerk okay. Madam president , we have no speakers, so Public Comment on this item is closed. Thank you. Commissioners, i need a motion and a second. So moved. This is commissioner paulsen. Thank you. May i have a second . Commissioner moran. Second. Madam secretary, could you please do a roll call vote. [roll call] clerk and we have five ayes. Thank you. Commissioners, any further Business Today . Hearing none, this meeting is adjourned at 2 47. [gavel] roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. The light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born. Working with kids in the ocean that arent familiar with this space is really special because youre dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. When i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. Well get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who dont like the beach. Its too cold out, and its those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. Over the last few years, i think weve had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. Surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. Weve start off with about two to four sessions in the pool before actually going out and surfing. Swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all not being anxious. So when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p. E. Credits. Just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. But now that weve been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids thats consistent, and the word has spread, that its super fun, that you learn about the ocean. Starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. We usually go to linda mar, and then occasionally ocean beach. We once did a special trip. We were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. We get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. Once we go to the beach, i dont want to go home. I cant change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. Our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. I dont really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didnt think id like, like, ended up being my best friends. Its a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close camaraderie, but everybodys doing it for themselves. Its great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. It can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. I feel significantly, like, calmer. It definitely helps if im, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, im going to be okay. It gives them resiliency skills and helps them build selfconfidence. And with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. I went to bring amy family o the beach and tell them what i did. I saw kids open up in the ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. For some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a Mentorship Program like this, its they want to surf, and then later, theyll find out that theyve, like, made this community connection. I think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. For kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. We go on 150 surf outings a year. Thats yearround programming. Weve seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has translated to growth in other facets of their lives. I just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that theyre engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how theyre doing, like, in general. What i like best is they really care about me, like, im not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. Were creating surfers, and were changing the face of surfing. The feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. Its definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but its definitely fun. It leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kids going to go out and do. I think its really magical almost. At least it was for me. It was really exciting when i caught my first wave. I felt like i was, like it was, like, magical, really. When they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. I was on top of the world. Its amazing