Transcripts For SFGTV SF Public Utilities Commission 20240713

We have a quorum. At this time i would like to make a brief announcement. Due to the covid19 Health Emergency and given the Public Health recommendations issued by the San Francisco department of Public Health and mayor brown have lifted the restrictions on teleconference. This meeting is being held virtually with all members and staff participating today via teleconference. This will ensure the safety of the commission, staff and members of the public. If you have not already done so, i am now going to ask all members of the commission and staff to mute themselves to minimize background noise. This meeting is being televised by sfu tv. For those of you watching live stream, please be aware that there is a 20 to 40second time lapse between the live meeting and what members of the public are viewing on sfu tv. We extend our thanks to sfu staff and sfu tv i. T. Staff for their assistance. If you wish to make Public Comment on an item, please call the phone line when the item is called. Dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and followed by pound and pound again to join the meeting as a participate. Dial one then zero to be added to the speaker line. Before i call the first item, madam president , i would like to make a note that item 17 is being removed from this agenda and will be rescheduled to a later date. And your first order of business, madam president , is item three, approval of the minutes of april 28, 2020. Excuse me, donna, this is francesca. I just wanted to say its item 16 that has been removed from the calendar, and not item 17. Thank you. Oh, my apologies. Thank you. Commissioners, before you you have the minutes of april 28, 2020. Are there any additions to this list . Second. May i have a second . Madam secretary, could you open this to Public Comments. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 3, approval of the minutes of april 28, 2020, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and followed by pound, pound. Then 1, then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Madam secretary, we do have one call in the queue. Thank you. You have one question remaining. Hi, speaker, go ahead. My name is francisco de costa, and you may be surprised that im still using my time for Public Comment. And the main reason being i follow all the project, and they are eight weeks into this pandemic and we have a major project that is a system Improvement Project, and we need to know, more or less, but i know that there are some difficulties, how are we progressing on the project, how are we progressing on the outreach, and why do we have dwayne jones and juliet [indiscernible] still in charge of the outreach and they havent been doing a good job . I know some of the managers, they are now considered essential workers, and we are seeing theres nothing happening at city hall and theres nothing happening at 525 [indiscernible] the Public Utilities commission. So again, we the public need to know how that project, the sewer system Improvement Project is moving forward. And we need to be notified about a hearing, or at least a general gist of the program on the backside. Thank you very much. Mr. De costa, before you hang up, that was Public Comment on item 3, approval of the minutes. And im assuming you wanted to make Public Comment on item 4, which is general Public Comments. Excuse me, what is happening . What is happening is on this tv, it said Public Comment no. 4. And what you are saying is the right things that you did not know what im observing, so now weve moved it to okay. Item no. 3, so i do not want to make the Public Comment again because everybody heard it. Okay. So thats [indiscernible]. Okay, thank you. We are doing our best. Mr. Moderator, do we have any other calls . There are no other calls in the queue, madam secretary. Okay. Given that Public Comment on item 3 is closed. Could you take a roll call vote. Commissioner caen . Aye. Vicepresident vietor . Aye. Commissioner moran . Aye. Commissioner maxwell . Aye. And commissioner paulson . Present. But do you vote aye on the minutes . Oh, aye, im sorry. Thank you. Its 50, madam president. President moller caen please read the next item. Item 4 is general Public Comment. Members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commissions jurisdiction and not on todays agenda. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 4 dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1, then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, please open the phone lines. Madam secretary, the lines are open. Thank you. Madam secretary, we do have callers in the queue and people can continue to queue up while callers are speaking. Thank you. We have our first caller. One question remaining. Hello, caller, go ahead to speak on general Public Comments. Yes, thank you. I sent you a latter yesterday. I hope letter yesterday. You hope you had a chance to look it over. It provides suggestions on how we might respond to a very good question the commissioner vietor asked two and a half months ago. It essentially was if the 40 unimpaired flow is implemented or voluntarily adopted, how will the sfpuc respond . Im very much looking forward to having that conversation. I hope this item will be agendaized soon and i hope you get some ideas from the letter i sent you. Thank you very much. Thank you, peter. Madam secretary, there are no more callers in the queue. Okay. Thank you. Public comment on item no. 4 is closed. President moller caen madam secretary, please read the next item. The next item is item five, communications. President moller caen commissioners, any comments on communications . I do have a question on 5 c , the Third Quarter budget status report. Certainly there werent any surprises in it, but i was a bit baffled by the fact that our power contracts could be reduced. I always felt that they were long term. So i would like a comment on that. Do we have shortterm power contracts . I would be happy to address that if the commission is comfortable with that. This is barbara hale, power enterprise assistant general manager. So i understand you to be asking specifically about the statement in the item president caen that says that clean power sf has been able to offset reductions in demand through reduced power purchase contracts, through reduced purchase of power. President moller caen yes. Yes, so our plane power sf supply portfolio is made up of a mix of contracts with varying durations, varying terms. Some are as long as 20 years, some three to five years, some as short as a month. We do not purchase power to meet 100 of our forecasted demand. So we purchase also in the shortterm market up to a day ahead to close that open position since were not procuring 100 . So it means one month and day ahead purchases that can be avoided when we project the decline in demand like were experiencing with covid, and the clean power sf savings are attributable to these avoided shortterm purchases. President moller caen well, thats very fortunate. Thank you for identifying that. I had no idea. Youre welcome. Thank you. President moller caen are there any other comments on communications . Madam secretary, could you please open to Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 5, communications, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by found again. Then dial 1, 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Madam secretary, the queue is currently empty. Thank you. Given that, Public Comment on item 5 is closed. President moller caen next item, please. Madam secretary next item is item 6, report of the general manager. Good afternoon, commissioners. This is harlan kelly, and its great to be here. I can see all five of you, and donna, which i think is a great improvement since our last conference. So i just want to give donna a lot of respect and our i. T. Team to make a change from one technology to another, and i think its working well so far. With that being said, i would like to just share with you today all the support that sfpuc is providing to its employees, to our customers and to the city and county of San Francisco as we continue to respond to this global pandemic. First, our workforce remains our top priority. Employees remain split across three main areas. The first one is we have remote employees, which is about half of our employees are working from home. We made some Major Investments in new technology and equipment to ensure everyone continued to get their job done from their homes. The second group is onsite employees. About half of our employees are continuing to work in physical locations, job sites each day. Each of these sites we have their own clean protocols because we want to make sure the areas are safe and clean. We also implemented social distancing practices and are providing personal protective equipment. In fact, we are getting such a large supply now that we can actually, you know, use and discard them and use more p. P. E. S and not try to save them and wear them for multiple days. So i think that is something that were so happy to have now. Also were getting more supplies more frequently working with the eoc, so thats great. Also in line with the Governor Newsom directive, were filling up our ability to perform Health Screening, including temperature scans at our work sites every day. And then the third area is that we have Disaster Service workers, and dozens of our employees are staff at the puc departmental operations center. We call it the doc. And also the citys Emergency Operations center, which we call the eoc, each week. Well over 100 of our team members have served in the eoc from the start of the City Response effort. As i mentioned, we started the mandatory Health Screening a few weeks ago to protect our employees who continue to report to the puc work sites and facilities. Each screening includes a Health Questionnaire and an inperson temperature check. Employees who show symptoms are not permitted onsite and are provided information on covid19 testing appointments. Mandatory screenings started at the southeast Treatment Plant, the citys distribution division. Since then weve added other areas, griffin yard and oceanside Treatment Plant included, to the list. As more locations come back online, including our 525 golden gate headquarters, we will begin Health Screenings in the coming weeks. Second, we have made sure our customers continue to have access to wider services. With the support of the from the mayor, we extended the suspension of water and power shutoffs due to late payments through july 11. We continue to postpone liens and collections and late fees, and we have provided rental arrangement deferment for tenants who are at our facilities. Recently we announced a new half Million Dollar Grant Program to support small and local businesses in the bayview neighborhoods that are being impacted by this pandemic. This is made possible for by our social impact partners, the mayors office, supervisor walton and the citys office of economic workforce development. And this week were launching an emergency Customer Assistance Program which will help residents residential customers maximize their discount opportunities. This effort includes an online form automatically extending the program for current enrol fees and new criteria for new enrollees who are experiencing financial difficulty due to this covid19. Residential customers who have been financially affected as a result of the covid19 or shelterinplace orders have a maximum Household Income under 200 of the San Francisco area Median Income are eligible to apply. Enrolling in this Customer Assistance Program will provide a 15 discount on your water bill, a 30 discount on your hetch hetchy power bill and a 30 discount on your waste water bill. This goes all the way to september 4, 2020. We also are doing our part, and we are helping the city to address folks who are living on the street. Last week we installed six Drinking Water fixtures in the tenderloin, which we call man folds, and they are attached to a fire hydrant to allow Drinking Water access. As of now, we are looking at other areas where we can expand this program. And then finally we are moving towards recovery from this pandemic. So one of the themes that we are doing is refocussing on hiring our critical positions across the puc, and this effort has start started. Were studying the budget. Were identifying savings from the current fiscal budget and we are building out a revised budget for this upcoming year. Were collaborating on a future way of working because, you know, based on this pandemic, we realize that peoples work habits can change, and weve been working with the city and National Groups like u. S. Water alliance and others to collaborate on efforts to bring our employees back to work in a safe and healthy way. Our employees are, you know, playing a lead role in the effort too. We are using our survey and technology to find out how employees feel about the way they are working right now and if, when and how they will feel comfortable coming back to the p. U. C. Work site over the next months. I hope to share the results from this survey and our plans to bring our employees back to work. And then as another effort that is going on that i thought you may be interested in is that you probably have read in the paper about a research that a lot of universities are teaming up with utility agencies, waste water, and they are looking at the waste from the communities to see if they have the covid19 virus, and thats something that is sort of new and is very preliminary. We have been in conversations, and we are working with sanford, and they have been collecting samples from us and other cities. They have been freezing them for now with the intent to use them in the Ongoing Research [indiscernible] involved in this work, and the concept is, you know, to really look at the levels of covid virus and can it be used to track levels of Community Infection and potentially be in conjunction with testing to provide early monitoring and detection of future outbreaks. And so thats something that were participating in. We plan to talk to some other firms and there are some other universities that are doing the research, and hopefully we can engage dph as a partner and so that as we start rolling out tracing and also more testing, this could be another tool to help us sort of flatten the curve in the communities. And so that is the end of my report. And if you have any questions, i can answer them. President moller caen commissioners, any discussion . I have a question for the chair, or just a comment. I really appreciate you bringing up this question of i dont even know what they are calling it, Community Testing and tracing by utilities. I do think its a really exciting and important opportunity for us to engage in, and i would like to be able to follow it and say, if you wouldnt mind continuing to keep us updated, i think that, you know, as Public Servants and as the utility of the future, i think it would be really exciting and, as i said, and important to be able to figure out if we can take a specific community in San Francisco and be able to do a much more immediate testing response to a chinatown, to a bayview, to a neighborhood to be able to see what the level of infection is. The delays right now with the regular testing are not adequate and we are not able to get the data that we need. At a minimum for our utility workers, and at best for citywide, to be able to have that kind of immediate response, immediate data i think would be would really be a game changer, so i would urge you to continue down that path and working with the researchers at stanford and really look at what it would look like to create a discrete project at the p. U. C. Great. President moller caen is there any implication about safety of our waste water workers because of this . So one of the things i you know, and i kind of alluded to, as you know, that we were deemed, you know, essential workers, First Responders and we had to make sure we continued to provide water, waste water and power service, and so it was somewhat challenging because we had to, you know, come up with criteria that will help protect our workers, and so we worked not only with our own staff, but we worked with the Construction Industry that tim is very familiar with, and we came up with some guidelines that we feel that working with the unions, the industry, trade associations, with some robust protocols. And i think, you know, because of that, we had experienced little i think two positives, but the two positives were folks who were not at work. They were coming back from vacation. So we are trying to, you know you know like i mentioned in my comments, i said that we value our staff and we want to make sure while that work, we make the environment as safe as possible. So were doing things like the mandatory Health Screening. No other department, no other place that i know of any utility is doing that. President moller caen well, now the mandate from the governor, is that for all utilities in the state . Yes. Yes, that was one of the criteria guidelines, essential workers and utilities act upon these guidelines, and one was make sure that we have temperature checks. And Health Screening. This is commissioner paulson. If youre finished, madam chair . President moller caen yes, i am, commissioner. Okay. We have so many commissions and so many layers of government in San Francisco, and as a p. U. C. Commissioner, im extremely proud of considering the bulk of work that is done in our three general categories to the amount of safety that is being attended to. Not just to the people on golden gate but, you know, throughout the multicounties that were responsible for the contracts on, and im just really proud. I know that the port and the airport and mpa and effective everybody else, everybody is struggling with a lot of stuff, but i just want to commend the staff for being so diligent on safety because there is nothing more important than safety, and that is part of the dialogue thats going on, not just locally and statewide, but nationally about, you know, what is more important. You know, Economic Health or safety, and the fact that safety has got to be number one on the list of what we should do as Public Servants in terms of being diligent, i am i guess just you know, this particular department has been incredibly diligent, and i just want to be on the record for that. And its always been, even before the virus, considering the amount of work that has to be done to maintain these important utilities. Thank you, madam chair. President moller caen well, nicely stated, commissioner paulson. And well deserved. Any other comment on the general managers report . Hearing none, madam secretary, please open it to Public Comment. Madam secretary 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 found again. Dial 1, then 0 to be added to the speaker line. President moller caen thats a nice touch. [jeopardy music]. I think there might be a copyright issue with that one. Or we might have [indiscernible]. [jeopardy music]. Madam secretary, we have one caller in the queue. Madam secretary thank you. You have one question remaining. Madam secretary hello, caller. Go ahead. Commissioners, i heard the general manager give his report, and one of your one or two of your comments in general about really what our essential workers are doing. What you commissioners are not aware of is that regularly the mayor and basically the department of health and chief of police give reports to the public, and not once has this socalled press conferences do we get a report of the sfpuc, the other essential workers who represent the other departments. So we are [indiscernible] county of San Francisco. We have [indiscernible] we have the sfpuc, the upw, we have other departments, and each of these departments have essential workers, and what we need to do, commissioners, is have a spokesperson or a report that can be read as to the contribution of our essential workers. And i want the general manager to note this, much like what one of the commissioners said about [indiscernible]. Its very difficult to get testing. You have to meet little requirements, even if you belong to an hmo. Those are the things that the sfpuc can contribute because we do have some millions, maybe not billions, that we can apply to the general welfare of the [ buzzer ] thank you very much. Madam secretary thank you, mr. Da costa. Anybody else in the speaker queue . Madam secretary, the queue is currently empty. Madam secretary thank you. Were closing Public Comment on item 6, report of the general manager. President moller caen next item, please. Madam secretary item 7 is new commission business. President moller caen commissioners, any new Business Today . Seeing none, the next item, please. Madam secretary the next item just one moment is item 8, the consent calendar. All matters president moller caen item 9, i believe. Madam secretary were on the consent calendar. Its item 8. Thats incorrect, madam president. It should say item 8, consent calendar. Thats my mistake. Item 8 is the consent calendar. All matters listed here under are considered to be retained by the commission and will be acted upon by a single vote of the commission. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the commission or the public so requests, in which event the matter will be removed from calendar and considered as a separate item. I make a motion to approve. Second. President moller caen i would like to ask if theres any item you would like removed from the calendar. Seeing none, madam secretary, could you call the roll of the vote. Madam secretary would you want to open for Public Comment, madam president . President moller caen im sorry, yes, could you do that, please. Madam secretary yes. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 8, consent calendar, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1, then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any speakers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 8 is closed. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please call for the vote . Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary there were five ayes. President moller caen before we move on, i just have to say how thrilled i am on the fact that were finally going to have the security fence around moccasin. This has been a project of mine for many years, and, well, im just very excited that its now going to happen. So thank you, commissioners, for passing that. The next item, please. Madam secretary the next item is no. 9, approve the [indiscernible] 192a and b and authorize the general manager to execute these amendments increasing each amendment duration by nine months for a total duration of nine years and eight months per agreement with no change to agreement amounts, and agm howe will introduce this item. Good afternoon, commissioners. This is kathy howe, assistant general manager for infrastructure. This item is asking for approval to extend the professional Service Contract with two of our technical experts providing review for the project for an additional nine months. Although the construction is complete, we would like the experts to be available in case any issues arise during refill, and so thats why were asking for the extension to their contracts for duration. I can answer any questions you have. President moller caen commissioners, any questions . I move approval. Second. President moller caen what happens if paliveas doesnt fill by whatever date it was, march of next year . Does it just continue on . We continually may come back to ask for another time extension, but it could be that we dont need them beyond this winter season. President moller caen i see. Okay. Madam secretary, could you call for open Public Comment . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 9 dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Madam secretary mr. Moderate orr, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 9 is closed. President moller caen madam secretary, can you please call the role roll call on the votes . [roll call]. Madam secretary we have five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary item 10, approve amendment 2 to number cs310 and authorize the general manager to execute the amendment extending the duration by four years to nine years and increasing the contract amount by 900,000 for a total agreement amount of 1. 9 million, and this will be introduced by our Customer Services manager. Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is marge viscara, director of Customer Services bureau. Through this contract about 35 of our bills are delivered to our customers electronically, and over 50 of our payments are received over the web and over the automated phone systems. We seek for your approval to extend our existing contract with our contractor, kubra, for another four years, and increase the contract amount by 900,000. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. President moller caen commissioners . Any question . Discussion . Madam secretary, could you open it up to Public Comments . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 10 dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . The queue is currently empty, no callers. Madam secretary Public Comment on item 10 is closed. President moller caen could i have a motion on this item . Ill move the item. Second. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please call the roll . Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary there are five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary item 11, approve amendment no. 3 to Agreement Number cs382a and authorize the general manager to increase the amendment increasing the duration by nine months for a total duration of six years and 11 months, nine days, with no change to the agreement amount. This will be introduced by agm howe. Good afternoon again, commissioners. This item is similar to item nine, and were seeking approval to extend the professional Service Contract with one of our Technical Advisory Panel members for the project. Also just for duration and not for dollar amounts. So i can answer any questions. President moller caen commissioners . May i have a second . Second. President moller caen madame secretary, could you call for Public Comment . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 11, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 11 is now closed. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please call the roll. Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary we have five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary item 12, approve the selection of bureau north america, the sole respondent to the request of proposals and authorize a general manager to negotiate and execute a professional Services Agreement for an amount not to exceed 3 million and with a duration of five years. And this will be introduced by agm howe. Good afternoon, commissioners. Once again, kathy howe. This item before you is to seek approval to award a contract to bureau viratas that provides witnessing of testing and Inspection Services for the Engineering Design team as part of staff augmentation during the construction phase of construction projects. Witnessing of testing and inspection is usually necessary for all of our larger mechanical equipment and significant Electrical Equipment at the factory site. And these factory sites are usually within the united states, but in the past its also been out of the country where Bureau Veritas already has engineers or other staff. And i can answer any questions you may have. President moller caen commissioners . Any questions . Comments . May i have a motion . Ill move that. [indiscernible]. President moller caen thank you. I would like to call for Public Comment now. Madam secretary . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 12 dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 12 is closed. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please do the roll call vote . Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary we have five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary item 13, approval of Green Infrastructure grant to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church for a total grant amount up to 1. 577 million and authorize general manager to execute the Grant Agreement for a duration of 20 years and disburse up to 303,750 in grant funds to holy trinity at this time solely for planning and design activities. This will be introduced by agm norby. Agm norby . Agm norby, i dont think were hearing your audio. Agm, do you have a headset plugged into your computer . This is commissioner paulson. I dont know if this is, madam chair, presumptive. I think weve looked at some of this before, and even though want to hear greg norby, i would, if its appropriate, make a motion while we move forward and wait to see if he comes in for some extra updates. I make a motion that we approve this item. Ill second the motion. President moller caen is there any discussion on this motion . Madam secretary, please open it up to the Public Comment. Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 13, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 13 is closed. Madam president , would you like for me to call roll vote on item 13 . President moller caen yes, please. Madam secretary thank you. President caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary i see we have five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary item 14, authorize the disbursement of 358,075 in remaining grant funds under the Green Infrastructure grant awarded to the San Francisco Unified School District on october 8, 2019, by Commission Resolution 190194 to construct storm Water Management features at a middle school in San Francisco. And if we have agm norby back, he will introduce this. Do i have audio now . Madam secretary yes. Okay. Thank you. Apologies for that earlier. I am calling in my cellphone this time. Yes, same Grant Program, commissioners, and in this case this is one that is further along. You had previously approved the grant and disbursed funds for the planning and design phase. This has been completed by the grant recipient, the San Francisco Unified School District, and in this case they are ready to move forward with the construction phase, and that is the funding that will be you would be releasing with this action thats before you. And with that, ill stop and be happy to answer any questions. President moller caen commissioners, any questions . Discussion . May i have a motion, please . I move the item. Ill second it. Second. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please call for Public Comment . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 14, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 14 is closed. President moller caen would you please call the roll call vote. Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Yes. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary we have five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. Next item, please. Madam secretary next item is item 15, approve the water supply assessment for the proposed San Francisco gateway project. And this will be introduced by agm ritchie. Good afternoon, commissioners. Steve ritchie, assistant general manager for water. This is a new assessment for your consideration. It is for the San Francisco gateway project and it consists of two buildings in the bayview area. This water plant assessment follows the same pattern as the other water supply assessments that you have approved. We recommend that you approve it for [indiscernible] to the Planning Department as necessary legal information for their consideration of the analysis for the San Francisco gateway project, and i would be happy to answer any questions. President moller caen commissioners . Any questions . Discussion . Yeah, i have a couple of questions and a comment on this one. Can you just talk a little bit more about the [indiscernible] whats the percentage of reportability . Do you know . I do not know that. So thats one question that i have. And then the comment, i had expressed some discomfort a while ago about continuing to approve any water supply assessment proposals that come before us until weve made sort of progress on this question around water supply and meeting the demands, both of our urban users and wholesale contractors, as well as enough water for the fish. And i just would you know, you know that. Ive expressed that publicly several times. And here we are again approving a water supply assessment recommendation for the Planning Commission. You know, i know that this is [indiscernible] i know theres need. I dont know that much about the nature of this project, which would make me more inclined to move it forward if it were indeed serving lowerincome or Affordable Housing. But im wondering if you can respond to my question and concerns that we are again approving a water supply assessment when we have not figured out that there the water available [indiscernible]. So this is harlan. I just wanted to let you i mean, my understanding, your role is to determine if theres adequate water supply. Its not about affordability and all that other you know, all the things that you mentioned. So maybe, you know, we can have teska talk about the role of the commissioners, to determine if we have adequate Water Supplies, and we work with the city attorneys to put the language in there to talk about the options and alternatives, and i think we talked about it before, that we didnt want to get into a position where the Planning Department role is to determine that and come here and then we also determine that. I thought we had that robust conversation, and i just wanted to just kind of throw that out there so that if we need to have that conversation again we can do that now. Well, yeah. If we want to back up to that question of adequacy of water supply, im fine to hear the response to that, but im not convinced we do have adequate water supply because it feels like were making a choice between urban use and development and water for the fish, which i do believe is in our burden. So what weve done is weve worked with the city attorney, weve worked with the planning, weve worked with the commissions to come up with three options. One is that if we have a voluntary agreement, if 40 goes through [indiscernible] we have identified that, were getting the planning, those options depending on what the outcome is, and that is, you know, our responsibility. So that i can from our staff perspective, given the three options that Planning Department had communicated to us that they would need. I dont know if francesca, if you want to speak to that or not. Im happy to answer any questions if anyone has them. This is commissioner paulson. Our executive director had a question for you, harlan. Im sorry, what is the question, harlan . Well, maybe you can amplify, you know, what is the role of you know, that we discuss of our commissioners, whats our responsibility or the commissioners responsibility, you know, what the responsibility is as it relates to determine the water supply and how we work with, you know, the Planning Commission, the Planning Commissions attorneys. We work with our attorneys to, you know, characterize the three options that are three likely outcomes, and that is sort of what we presented in all of the water supply, and we talked about, you know, our role is not if a project has adequate housing or lowincome housing. That is not the role of the p. U. C. Commission. It is just to determine what the the water supply outlook, and so thats my i just want to make sure that if that is correct, you know, or if its not, i just want to make sure that were all on the same page. So can you speak to that, francesca . Sure. I mean, right, as youre all aware, your role is to in adopting these water supply assessments is to make a finding as to whether the water agency has sufficient water to serve this project as well as other needs in your Customer Base over a certain projected amount of time and under different conditions. The Planning Commission then takes whatever you say in your water supply assessment, and that informs the Environmental Review process, which is obviously separate and which you do not play a role in. And so given the uncertainty that has been created around the bay delta plan amendment and the pending litigation over the course of the last year, the water supply assessments even consider three different scenarios and lay out what the water supply availability would be under each of those three scenarios and then what are potential alternative Water Supplies the p. U. C. Would look to if it does not have enough water to serve the project. Thats been what weve been doing for the last year, as you know. President moller caen i have a question. Did the Planning Commission come to us about this project and would there be enough water . Yes, the Planning Commission im sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say this is governed by state law, and its any and all Development Projects of a certain size trigger a legal requirement that you must do a water supply assessment. So whenever a project meets that statutory threshold, planning sends it over to p. U. C. And says please do a water supply assessment, so thats why youre having to do that for this project. Also i just wanted to maybe, whats the word, bring up what we talked about. You remember, commissioners, that you were concerned about the Planning Department not understanding our water situation. I think, sophie, thats when you just started. We actually went to the Planning Department and we gave a presentation, so i understand that weve been very responsive to all the things that youve asked us to do because we wanted to let them know what our water supply, so they could understand what was going on. We did what you asked us to do. We provided that information to them, and i just wanted to bring that up, to refresh your memory. I might have one thing. At the next Commission Meeting we are providing our next quarterly update on our water supply planning efforts, which are progressing as the commission has appropriated money for that purpose. We have three staff on board who are working on nothing but those projects right now. President moller caen just to clarify, our current state of affairs right now is that we are basically under a state order that were going to have to release 40 of our water for flow, and were suing because of that, correct . Thats correct. Correct. And we have not yet come up with the question that i did ask several meetings ago around if indeed we do not prevail in the lawsuit and we are going to have to give up 40 of our water, how are we going to both meet the needs of the fish [indiscernible] requirement as well as be able to approve these water supply assessments on an ongoing basis . We have not really answered that question yet, right . But we still continue to approve these projects. Thats why the water supply planning process is proceeding, to be able to identify and acquire whatever necessary water, if its only a little bit or if its a lot of water, thats the effort. Thats our obligation, is to meet all these needs, both in our service area as well as making up for our environmental obligations. But rather than releasing water down the river, sorry to belabour the point, but i just want to really understand this, rather than the option of releasing more water since we have so few fish left, we are deciding in a vote like this to recommend that we approve the water supply assessment for Development Project . Because thats a choice. I wouldnt characterize that. I think youre twisting what, you know, the issue is. The issue is that, you know, we have a flow schedule, and that is what were living to and were working on trying to talk about whats going on. Meanwhile, Planning Department is moving forward with housing, and so they want us to make an assessment if we have adequate water. Its not to make a choice. Were just saying do we have adequate water, and were saying theres three scenarios and were letting them know the three scenarios. And so were not making choices. Were letting them know that there are three choices, and what were doing is were going out, and we recognize that if, you know, we dont prevail in the lawsuit, we have to come up with 40 , were going to, you know, do all the efforts to try and close that gap with a water supply project. So were not, you know, saying that were, you know, if we didnt do this development we will give to the fish or i dont think its a direct connection that youre articulating. Madam chair, if i might. As weve considered this before, it is seemingly a its not an unusual spot to be in because you have this big item, the 40 flow requirement, thats so big and so destabilizing to our planning. What has helped me on this is the question of materiality, that the amount of water that were talking about for this project is really pretty small, and given our current levels of demand, we will be able to meet this demand and also meet the fish flows that are part of the river voluntary agreement that weve been working on. So in that sense, if we can manage the fish flows according to the towalame river voluntary agreement, there is no conflict between this project and fishery flows. If it turns out we have to do the 40 flows, that is so destabilizing to our water supply that the solution will have to be huge, and this will be a tiny, insignificant part of that solution. So again, it doesnt really present a conflict between these flows and any fishery flow. I think the situation we hope for is that we are able to conclude a voluntary agreement that has fishery flows that are adequate to meet our responsibility to the fish and will also be within the supply that we currently have, and thats i think what were hoping for. If it turns out that doesnt work, then were going to have to do Major Projects and well you know, this will not change. If we had to do a big project, this will not change the design of that project one little bit. Madam chair, if this is commissioner paulson. If commissioner moran is done, id like to make a couple comments, if i may. President moller caen certainly. Yeah, so theres a lot of moving parts right here, and as the youngest commissioner well, i dont even know if im the youngest commissioner, but as the commissioner that has not been around quite as long the times, i do think that theres not a fate decome plit about the various agreements. There have been tremendous amount of negotiations and discussions and lawsuits and collaboration with many different agencies and what have you. So you know, where we, you know, end up is not afait accompli anywhere else. So despite connecting one to the other, thats probably true also. The second thing is ive been asked to be, and i will say this on my own, i have been asked to be a Planning Commissioner for the last 20 years. I refused it. I didnt want to be a Planning Commissioner. Theres a heck of a lot of work to it, and im wearing a Public Utilities hat on right now and im trying to figure out the best ways that are moving in, and i have no desire whatsoever to weigh in on the issues, you know, as a commissioner of Affordable Housing and what have you because i dont want to be an activist person on the Planning Commission as a Public Utilities commissioner. So im going to absolutely not take that position myself. I think we have a lot of policy that we have to continue to talk about, and we will continue to do that. And so im going to move, you know, to move this thing forward because i dont believe that it is our role to Start Talking about the [indiscernible] as its been done by the professionals. Commissioner maxwell here, if i may. I think its important to have the conversations every time, and so thank you very much, francesca, for bringing it to the forefront. I think its an important issue. People are talking about the fish and concerned about it, and i think its important that we weigh in every time where we can to let people know what were doing, where we are and that we are concerned and we are thinking about them. So i think its important every time. Thank you. President moller caen at this time i would like to call for more discussion. Is there more discussion on this item . Im going to say something. Just one quick comment, if i could, to commissioner maxwell, you know, my colleague. It is important that we have these discussions, and not having them is worse. Democracy is about having the discussions, so theres no desire on my part to not have discussions about everything. I dont want that ever to be placed on there, but knowing, you know, where we end up on this stuff is based on more than just discussions. Its on analysis, so thank you. President moller caen thats a good point. We should always have discussion. At this time id like to call for a motion. I move that we move the assessment forward. Ill second that. President moller caen and may i have a second . I can second that. President moller caen madam secretary, could you call for Public Comment . Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 15, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Madam secretary mr. Moderator, do we have any calls . Yes, we do, madam secretary. I will queue up the first caller. Madam secretary thank you. Im encouraging the future to hear Public Comment before making a motion because theres a chance that it might change your thinking. I want to say i appreciate commissioners questions and concerns, and in looking through this, what struck me is its much shorter than they have been in the past. Its only six pages, and they used to be about 40 pages, so it seems like less information is available, and im concerned about poor communication between sfpuc and the Planning Department and the commission. There was a presentation from staff to the Planning Department last year, but theres never really been any policy discussion between the two commissions. I would encourage a workshop. Some of the things that were not in the staff report were proposed project description, and so theres a lump sum of development in a mixed use project, that theres no breakdown of jobs in housing, and that would be of concern to the Planning Commission because we have a terrible job housing balance and it causes a housing crisis and transportation problems. Its also an issue for you, because there are a lot more jobs than housing, eventually were going to have to catch up, and thats going to be, you know, a lot more water. So theres cumulative impacts that arent considered. Other items that were not in the staff report, additional Water Supplies findings and communications from the Planning Department. So i also want to remind you that you have a responsibility from fish and game code 5937 that you need to protect fish in good health below dam, and the only time that these issues ever come up is every 50 years when theres relicensing or every five years in the baydelta plan. But those are ongoing. And the voluntary agreement all that right now, possibly even dead, we need to switch gears and not just wait for that decision to be made. So this is tied back to the letter i sent you yesterday. The design is very challenging. Commissioner moran pointed out that there are complications from the bay delta plan, but i would say there are even bigger complications from the design drought. I believe it has never been formally been adopted. If i am wrong, i would love to see documentation, but i think theres a Good Opportunity to revisit it, and right now its incredibly conservative, 50 rationing is based on a demand of 265, which is actually the sales cap, real demand projections are much, much lower. Its the eight and a half year design drive gave you suggestions about modifying that, and assume no new supply will come online. So we dont want to invest in a lot of water that we dont need. I think its really time to have that conversation that commissioner vietor queued up, and you might consider sending this [buzzer] madam secretary thank you, peter. Mr. Moderator, do we have any other callers . Madam secretary, there are no more callers in the queue. Madam secretary thank you. That closes Public Comment on item 15. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please do the roll call vote. Madam secretary president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . No. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . No. Madam secretary and commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary you have three ayes and two noes. President moller caen the motion carries. Madam secretary, i would like you to call both items 17 and 18 together. Item 16 has been taken off the agenda. There should be no discussion on these settlement items. Madam secretary item 17 is settlement of unlitigated claim State Farm Insurance company in the amount of 34,495. 14. Item 18, settlement of lawsuit Sandra Hernandez et al. In the amount of 214,000. President moller caen may i have a motion . Moved to oppose. Second. Im sorry, we need separate motions for each item, so that first motion will be for item 17. President moller caen okay. I move 18. Oh, one at a time. Never mind. President moller caen do we take Public Comment one at a time . Madam secretary we will do Public Comment combined for both. We just need a motion on item 18. May i president moller caen may i have a motion on item 18 . Move to approve item 18. Second. I would like to make a comment. Can i make a comment on 18, which is the Sandra Hernandez settlement, correct . [indiscernible]. Yes. Madam secretary can you please answer . Yes, so i would just like to extend sympathies to the family because, you know, in reading through the settlement, i just it sounded like quite an experience that the family had, and just wanted to extend sympathies to them as part of this settlement. President moller caen that was very kind of you. Madam secretary, please open to Public Comment. Madam secretary members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 17 and 18, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452 and pound followed by pound again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line to be a. Madam secretary mr. Moderator, do we have any callers for these items . Madam secretary, there are no callers in the queue at this time. Madam secretary thank you. Public comment on item 17 and 18 is closed. President moller caen madam secretary, could you please take a roll call on item 17. Madam secretary on item 17, president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary and commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary there are five ayes. President moller caen the motion carries. And then again a roll call of item 18. Madam secretary on item 18, president caen . President moller caen aye. Madam secretary vicepresident vietor . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner moran . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner maxwell . Aye. Madam secretary commissioner paulson . Aye. Madam secretary there are five ayes. President moller caen motion carried. That now concludes the business for today. This meeting is adjourned. At 3 05. Meeting of may 14, 2020 to order. I am the board chair. The Board Meeting is conducted with the act and recent executive orders by the governor to facilitate teleconferencing to reduce the risk of covid19 transmission at public meetings. Ordinarily, the act sets strict rules for teleconferencing. The governors executive order has suspended those rules. Members may observe the meeting and they may offer Public Comment by calling the