Transcripts For SFGTV SF Public Utilities Commission 20240712

Difficulties that the city is having and im hoping that wed be able to try this out and we can review this as we go along to see if this is not the appropriate hypothesis so follow. Thank you vex. Thank you very much. Any other questions . Id like to note that dr. Hammer who several times weve called out to noted in the chat she is listening to the call, but shes away from the office for a while. Im not sure if shes on vacation or leave, but extends her apologies for not being able to respond, but is listening. We wish her well with what is going on. We can move on to the next item. Other business. Im going to put myself into any comments or questions, commissioners . If there is no other business, we can entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. All right. I will do roll call. Commissioner bernal . Yes. Commissioner chow . Yes. Commissioner christian . Yes. Commissioner green . Yes. Commissioner chung . Yes. Commissioner guillermo . Yes. And i would like to congratulate commissioner christian for getting through her first meeting [laughter]. Thank you, all. Be safe, take care. Thank you, commissioners. Have a good evening, everyone. Francisco Public Utilities commission. At this time i would like to call to order the regular meeting of the San Francisco Public Utilities commission. Todays date is tuesday, july 14th, 2020. Roll call please. [roll call taken] commissioner paulson . Commissioner paulson . He was present, he has left his chair. So we do have a quorum present. Ok. We will move along now s. Commissioners, before you you have the minutes of june 23rd. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes . Excuse me, madam president. Prior to that may i please read the announcement . Of course. Thank you. Thank you. Due to covid19 Health Emergency recommended by the San Francisco department of Public Health and Governor Newsom and mayor breed have lifted r restrictions by teleconference. For those of you watching the livestream aware there is a brief time lapse between the live meeting and sfgovtv. Thank you to staff and the i. T. Staff for their assistance during this meeting. If you wish to make Public Comment on any item, 8882733658 and access code 3107452. Followed by pound again. When Public Comment is called, one then 0 to get add the to the speaker line. Hear an automated voice that will tell you when it is your turn to speak and your twominute time will begin. I will alert you when the time has expired. Instructions will be repeated. Im going to ask the commission and staff to mute microphones to minimize background noise if they have not already done so. Madam president , item 3, approval of the minutes of june 23, 2020. President moller caen thank you. Commissionerers, as i stated, before you you have the minutes of june 23rd. Additions or corrections to the minutes . Seeing none, madam secretary. Could you please call for Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to make Public Comment on item 3 approval of the minutes of june 23, 2020, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound followed by found again. Dial one then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator do we have any callers. Madam secretary, multiple callers in the queue. This is Public Comment on the minutes. If you want to call for general Public Comment, please wait to do so until we call that item so if you have comments on the minutes, please go ahead. Go ahead, caller. We do have three questions remaining. Caller, do you wish to comment on the minutes . You have one question remaining. Im sorry, im for general comment. Thank you, caller. Madam secretary, we have no more callers in the queue. Public comment, approval of the minutes of june 23, 2020, is closed. I move to accept the minutes. I would like to sorry. May i have a motion and a second. Made a motion to accept the minutes. Second. Thank you. Madam secretary, please take the roll call for the vote. [roll call vote taken] five ayes. Thank you. The motion carries. Next item, please. Next item, item 4, general Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to address the commission on items on, members of the public may address the commission on matters in the commissions jurisdiction and are not on todays agenda by dialing 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound followed by pound again. Dial one then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have speakers . Madam secretary, multiple callers on the line. I will queue the first caller. You have six questions remaining. Commissioners, my name is francisco decosta, and this is the San Francisco Public Utilities commission, public. The commissioners my question to you is am i to believe that retainers that have been given to some of the heads of the department, the staff, that this has come to you all as a shock, or is it something that you all knew and have kept hushhush. Its a shame. Its a shame that millions of taxpayers money, Community Benefit money has been wasted. And this attorney general, u. S. Attorney general federal, dave anderson, is on the ball. My other question to you, commissioners, is the grand jury subpoenaed the San Francisco Public Utilities commission and am i supposed to keep quiet about this, or at least Say Something about it to the public because you say you are the San Francisco Public Utilities commission. So, the allowing us Public Comment and thoughts about allowing us to comment on the other agenda is just a facade. And i hope those who stole the money, those sorry caller, your two minutes have expired. The next caller. Good afternoon. I would like to raise some issues with the floodwater grant program. Allocates up to 100,000 per house and the ground website allows easier access to ground funds. In seven years of the existence, 121 applications, only 19 got approved with an average cost of 5,000. That means only about 95,000 was spent out of the 14 million accumulated budget. The grant also states costs eligible for payment would grant funds limited to a project which reduces risk from harm from flooding. The project that reduces a Property Owners risk of harm from flooding. The very first example of such work on the ground site is roof drainage separation and storm water diversion. Improvement that separates roof drainage from the lateral or captures rainfall. To date, not a single drain work fot approved while houses built with roof drains in the middle of the house get flooded from within as internal pipes cannot absorb all the storm water. Low income applicants are expected to come up with thousands of dollars and pay contractors themselves, then wait for a refund that is not guaranteed. So in practice, way out of reach, especially for those who cant afford it. To summarize modifications needed are puc must abide by the rules and approve any project in budget that stops flooding, expensive or not, especially the ones cited as examples. Make payments to contractors as advance to buy materials and after the project completion. Approval process for applicants and contractors must drop demands that deter most contractors. Approval and payment problems. Repeal mandatory flood protection if the grant was denied. Add the issues to the Commission Agenda for further discussion. Thank you for hearing and paying attention to this matter. Thank you. Thank you, caller. You have five questions remaining. Can you hear me now . Go ahead, caller. Ok. Its david pillpel, greetings to the commissioners. Several quick comments. First of all, appreciate the staff of the puc who continues to work 24 7 to operate the water, power and sewer systems under continuing difficult circumstances. I always appreciate the employees of the puc as you know. Second, we received notice the other day about current accounts and payments. We have several hundred dollars outstanding and there is some information in the notice about not having shutoffs and payment plans and whatnot. Thats good, but it doesnt indicate if theres any estimate for when the office will open to make payments in person and im wondering either in response to Public Comment or maybe under the general managers report if you can provide some estimate of what people can pay in person at 525 golden gate again, if thats known at this time. Third, and previous caller alluded to it, theres been some information in the press in the last few days and weeks about potential issues at the puc with regard to a subpoena and other allegations. Some pretty serious charges, and im wondering if the commissioner, the general manager will take an opportunity to respond publicly to any of that. Im sure there is a response and im wondering if that can be given at some point, either, you know, at an appropriate time. And i will also have a comment later on the agenda when we get to item 11i on the consent calendar. Thank you, caller. Your two minutes have expired. Four questions remaining. Go ahead, caller. My name is jackie young, can you hear me . Sorry. Hello. We hear you. Jackie yang, and i wanted to ask and thank you on your agenda prioritize finishing the segment that would connect [inaudible] more people today out and enjoy the scenic beauty we have, and also made a safe crossing point. So its very important and its a life safety issue but so many people coming out right now, especially during the pandemic and so wonderful to access the roads already there. You have it in the agenda, so, thank you so much for considering, really appreciate thank you. You have three questions remaining. My name is bill martin, im a San Francisco resident, customer of the sfpuc. I have spoken before this commission as a representative of Sierra Club Bay chapter water committee. Today i am speaking as an informed concerned citizen. As noted in the resolution, agenda number item 14 from the june 23, 2020, sfpuc meeting, we are all concerned that any water added to the Tuolumne River by changes and flows make it out to golden gate. But consider the fish in the water. If you are going to protect the water, you need to protect the fish that use it. Consider this analogy. Children grow up, when they become adults they launch. They launch with help from their parents to be educated and healthy and a good start in life. You need to think of the migratory fish in the tuolumne as your children. If you get by where it meets the san joaquin, you are ignoring a part of the fishes life cycle. You may think you dont control what happens when they reach the san joaquin but thats not true. A lot that you can do. You can work at the state to ensure the fish have high quality migratory conditions, work to achieve them. In a worst case scenario, you could use the legal system. You could identify the entities which are harming your fish, and take them to court to make them quit harming your fish as they swim to and from the golden gate. In my written comments committed prior to the june 23rd meeting, i have proposed specific actions. Good environmental steward requires us to look beyond our immediate responsibilities. These fish are your children. Use your power to protect them. Thank you. Thank you, caller. You have two questions remaining. Thank you chairperson caen and members, pronouns are she and her, good to be back with you again today. I value very much the idea of public power and i ask you continue the conversations of building a municipal utility district. We have many templates, such as our good friends in the south and the Los Angeles Department of water and power. Electricity is it basic and i appreciate the work that you are doing on the generation 5 to help lower cost but the delivery side of the house needs to be addressed as well. I believe that now the urgency of renewable is greater than ever, and i do support the production of hydro electric power. However, that is variable because if we have dry years then you cant produce as much hydro power. So, its important to back that up with renewables because we know that the sun is going to shine the next day, maybe not to the same degree as the day before but the sun will come out and i like betting on sure things. I do appreciate the website is looking more informative, engage the public and build relationships and the selling the public power to show that Renewable Power can indeed be a valued proposition, always want to make sure we have a price point that is less than pg e needs, and make sure its super green and be reduced as well. I look forward to you Going Forward with this meeting, especially the items near the end about power allocation. Thank you. Thank you, caller. Next caller. You have one question remaining. Go ahead, caller. Caller, you have two minutes. Madam secretary, there are no more callers in the queue. Thank you. That concludes and closes Public Comment on item 4, general Public Comment. Madam secretary, the next item, please. Madam president , next order of business is item 5, communications. Commissioners, any comment on communications . Seeing none, madam secretary, could you please open it to Public Comments. Members of the public who wish to provide comment on item 5 communication, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound followed by pound again, dial 1 and 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. Thank you. Public comment on item number 5 is closed. Next item, please. Madam president , your next order of business is item number 6, report of the general manager. Mr. Kelly. Good afternoon, commissioners. I first wanted to talk about the update of the operations during the covid19 emergency. As you know, the governor has issued yesterday a pause and reopening and rescinded some businesses to close, statewide, barber shops, my brother had a barber shop in fresno, they opened up and now closed again and i suspect other things that will be impacted that are going to be asked to close, and so even working with the Mayors Office to work on what the reopening plan will look like as we start pausing the reopening and see what operations are opening that may close again. As you know, this is a statewide issue so we have been working with the Mayors Office and to make sure that we are in align and to make sure the same time the city is planning out the San Francisco longterm recovery. In short, looks like an estimate of 12 to 18 months Recovery Time frame. Puc employees will continue to play a major role in this effort. Since the start of the pandemic, signed 142 Disaster Service workers and expect to continue it in the months ahead. We also expect about two weeks time frame now we are looking at maybe 3 to 6month deployment for the workers, and so thats why, you know, where he know its important for the city but we have to recognize this may also impact our daytoday operations and so we ask all managers to kind of work with the the Mayors Office and the e. O. C. To make sure that we identify resources that ultimately impact our daytoday operations and we continue to staff up our department, routine response to covid19 and the Business Continuity claim. As we we are seeing positive results from our effort to equip our workforce and resources that are needed to continue their work, whether its off site or at home. As i have mentioned before, half of the employees continue to work from home, but we expect those employees to continue to work remotely until june 2021, so we are looking at a year from now people continue to work from home because of the rebound and since the last time we met, the team rolled out new guidance, resources and equipment to make it easier for Remote Workers to do their job at home. These employees now have the option to pick up new technology such as keyboard mouses and webcams. Also access to the onsite Office Chairs and foot pedals, so trying to make their home office as comfortable as their work office. Additional information around off site social distancing, safety protocol and location specific health and safety plans working off site. All this effort was informed by Employee Feedback which included surveys. We just completed our most recent survey and being able to share the results and share the results with you later in august. Later in this meeting, my team and i will share the revised twoyear budget proposal, and the incredible work done to maintain the goals of Financial Sustainability and resilience. For now i can tell you the budget in the black, enterprise and bureau with little to no impact with our employees and causes, we are currently operating with the interim budget between now and september. Final approvals are expected to come weeks and revised budget will then start in october. Overall, the puc is in a strong position to weather the economic challenges we are already experiencing and those that may deal with the dreaded global pandemic. Finally, we continue to support our customers during this difficult time. The latest numbers for the emergency Customer Assistance Program shows we received over 5,000 applications for residents in need launching in may. For this effort automatically extends the program for current enrollees and provides criteria for new enrollees experiencing Financial Difficulties due to the covid19. This week we plan to launch a similar Emergency Savings program for Small Businesses and nonprofit customers who need support. By continuing to work with our customers and employees, the partners and others, we will look to move forward from these tough times and stronger, better and more responsive agents, and i want to thank the commission for your support, and all you do for the puc and for San Francisco. Any questions on the covid19 report . Mr. Kelly, do we know when 525 will be open again . Well, we are not planning to bring back staff like i said until a year from now, and i heard one of the callers is about dropoffs inperson, so thats something that we will talk about and give more direction about, you know, having direct contact to exchange money. So, we will see if, you know, when we will make that available. Ok. So, you will report back on that. Yes. Madam secretary, could you please open the lines for Public Comments on item 6 a . Members of the public who wish to provide comment on 6 a update on sfpuc operations during the covid19 emergency dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound followed by found again. Dial 1 and then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there is one caller in the queue. Thank you. You have one question remaining. Can you hear me now . We can hear you, caller. You have two minutes. Ok. Its david pillpel calling in again. I very much wanted to hear the general managers report. Im only on the phone right now and i could not understand the word of what he said. If you can really work on the audio, i dont know if, what platform you are using or bridge line or how this is all working out. But i can hear the commissioners and the commission secretary, i could not hear the general manager at all, and i really wanted to hear what he had to say so i guess im going to have to watch this later on tv to hear his report. And Going Forward if you can really work on the acoustics on the phone line, that would be very helpful. Thanks. Thank you, caller. Thank you for bringing that to our attention. One more caller. You have one question remaining. Thank you, chairperson caen, she and her, and talk about this specific item. First of all, i did have trouble hearing our general manager and i really feel these covid briefings are important so i want to make sure its accurately transcribed that and the information disseminated. Moving on from that, obviously 525 golden gate is closed but i think it is important to have a little less Retail Network. Im looking at the website, obviously bill pay is a good thing. I certainly see that there is some retail options, it looks like they are very limited. I would advocate that we adopt a Retail Network much like what clipper has, going to the supermarkets and drug stores, allowing people to pay in their community. I really want to work on the contactless payment, and there are options available for People Without Bank accounts. That way we can reduce the persontoperson interactions in this crisis. Thank you. Thank you, caller. Madam secretary, there are no more callers in the queue. Thank you, Public Comment on item 6a is closed. Perhaps general manager, you could be a little closer to your speaker. Can you hear me now . General manager kelly. Can you hear me now . Please continue with your report. Can you hear me now . Not terribly well. Well get you a headset next time, you need to speak up at this point. Ok. So what ill do, i will provide my talking points so that they can be transcribed and given as part of the record. So the next item is to update you on the puc operations and Capital Budget and i just wanted to today provide you with an update on twoyear budget proposal. Under normal circumstances this budget would already be wrapped up and with the operating, you know, on, you know, start july 1st, so we would be the beginning of the twoyear budget. We held several Public Meetings on the budget and the start of 2020 and have already received commission approval. Then covid19 changed everything. Immediately we knew that the puc would see impacts on revenue, we needed to respond quickly to rebalance our current fiscal year budget, and return to the drawing board on the upcoming twoyear budget. So in response to the pandemic, we formed a Financial Resiliency team and im proud to say this team did an incredible job in a short amount of time with the guidance and support of the commission and i want to thank you commission for that, and the team members, the Financial Resilience team closed projected shortfall with the current fiscal year and rebalanced the budget. The team then quickly turned their attention to the upcoming twoyear budget proposal, and so commissioners, this twoyear budget you approved back in february focussed, and you remember the themes that we have identified with people, resiliency and becoming a utility of the future. These areas remain our top priority. People, we still believe its important to move temporary positions to permanent positions in our core function. However, in this revised budget, we reduced the initial amount of conversion requested we made this budget cycle, so we are not going to convert people as fast as we would like to but we planned to do it maybe over another extra year or so. So, for example, we moved 11 temporary staff to permanent positions and we are, you know, deferring several other positions for later on. We also looked at salary savings from vacancies, because we had to pause recruitment because during the pandemic we just could not hire while we were trying to make our existing staff safe. So, that period of time we actually salaries, accumulated some salaries savings, and thats about 10 million. Back then we are still adding more than 60 new jobs over the twoyear period. And a lot of them are projectbased. It may take longer to fill the vacancies and we will revisit our request for converting more temporary positions to permanent in the next budget cycle. And so we talk about resiliency in the budget and i just want to let you know a lot of diversification, stonewater management, dam safety and now the pandemic response, a major part of resilience planning investment and also wildfire mitigation. So, we built a budget to prepare us for the response, responding to the challenges while continuing to deliver reliable water, power and Water Services to the customers. Now we must be even smarter about how we achieve these goals. So we looked at the areas where due to the pandemic where lower demand and therefore we could anticipate cost savings. So for example given the pandemic and a lot of the businesses are not, you know, were shut down, we had a decline in demand and in wasteWater Services that actually led to the reduction of material and supply costs. An example of that is we achieved about a 30 million savings because we did not have to purchase the power and also the transmission and distribution costs due to that demand. So, kind of offset what we were telling, the cost of actually buying it and distributing it so the delta was not as big. At the same time, we looked at making cuts to our operating Capital Budget by adjusting the timing of projects, so a lot of the redevelopment projects we were hoping to do things prior to a lot of the construction but now we are phasing it so we can do it later so that we can help balance the budget without delaying the projects. And so we are doing that for Treasure Island and points, we are looking at those opportunities. As far as the other theme we had, utility of the future. We still are in an initiative to help us become a utility of the future now. That includes funding operations and staffing for new facilities as they come online, and infrastructure, diversity, equity and inclusion programs for future and current workforce. However with that being said, we cant do all of the budget cycle. So some of the things we are planning to do is some of the technology that we were hoping to put in place this budget cycle we are going to defer some of it for next budget cycle. And then lastly we are able to balance the budget. We tapped into the reserves for a modest amount. We are still leaving us financially strong for future uncertainty. Overall, puc is in a strong position to weather the economic challenges we are already experiencing and those that may come as we recover from this global pandemic. We dont anticipate impacts to the Central Services but forwardlooking projects are going to take us a little bit longer. This proposal, i just want to let you know, this proposal is still subject to the mayors review and the board of supervisors. In addition, the puc is taking part of the larger city and county of San Francisco organization and will be subject to personnel policies, decisions, Union Agreements that happen on the citywide level. But our ability to be financially resilient during these times is a direct result of basically on the way that we do business. Financial sustainability is one of the main in the puc Strategic Plan and our team does a significant amount of work to ensure we achieve this goal. I really want to thank, special thanks to the members of the Financial Resilience team, including charles grove, patricia yang, laura bush, christina cordero, anne, and ronoka, for their impressive work. I want to again thank the team, they have done an outstanding job and you know, we would like to turn it over to charles to go over it in a little more detail. Thanks. Appreciate that summary. Commissioners, as general manager kelly mentioned, a lot has happened since you approved the budget back in february. In your agenda packet you have been provided a detailed memo describing the budget effort over the past few months as well as some revisions to our Capital Projects, and so with that i will walk you through some very brief slides providing some of the information for you. Commissioners, high level overview of the budget timeline. As a reminder, all the way back in february, the Commission Approved the twoyear budget and it was proposed to the Mayors Office a few days later. However, within a week a state of emergency was declared in San Francisco and then shelterinplace order came our way in march. It was soon clear that significant changes to the budget would be needed as we saw commercial customer Sales Volumes drop across all of our enterprises. As general manager kelly noted, we had three months of budget rebalancing efforts with our Financial Resiliency team as described here from april through june. And commissioners, as a reminder, we briefed you twice during this time to report on progress for that. Following todays presentation the mayor will propose the citywide budget to the board at the end of this month. We will come to the board and talk about the sfpuc budget in mid august and then the budget will go into effect in october. Commissioners, let me walk you through the high level overview of the budget changes across the sfpuc. The first row shows the operations in maintenance budget and there youll see a 50 million reduction in fiscal 21. And then youll see additional 66 million reduction in the second year fiscal 22. Those total, 116 million over the two years. And this reflects about a 4 operating Budget Reduction. Youll see smaller cuts associated with the programmatic revenue Capital Budgets and total row in bold that shows across these three areas, 62 million in reductions in the first year, fiscal 21, and 80 million in the second year. These total 142 million as you can see over the two years, and again, about 4 of these budget areas. The 142 million, commissioners, reflects the agencywide revenue shortfall we were balancing around over the two years, and so remember this amount as ill come back to it in later slides in a minute, hang on to the 142, ill hang on to it. Below youll see that we have some Additional Capital reductions from debt projects, total 52 million. We didnt need debt funded project reductions to balance the budget but the water and wastewater teams felt they were important to make and include as a budget change so we can better tie our capital plan and budgeting with project timelines. We didnt want to appropriate any budget money and just have it just sit there, of course. So a few projects were pushed to the outer years of the capital plan. Then in the final role, youll see the Budget Reduction is 84 million in fiscal 21, and 110 million in the second year, fiscal 22. Add those two together, thats the 194, and again an overall 4 change. I do want to note the general fund is working through cuts that range from between 10 and 15 of the general Fund Operating budget, so while we have an important balancing exercise here, our challenge is smaller in comparison. The bar chart here reflects the sfpuc operating and Capital Budgets for the two years at about 1. 8 billion when you combine the operating and Capital Budgets together. A sense of the magnitude of the reductions we are talking about, shown those at the top in red. These red amounts total 142 million that i mentioned earlier in terms of the revenue shortfall we are rebalancing around. The pie chart is also representing the 142 million and that shows you how we rebalanced our budget. The largest piece of the pie chart reflects the 92 million in collective Budget Reductions that all of our enterprise and bureaus balanced around, ill share more details on that in a minute. In addition, we also had other help rebalancing, including 22 million in cuts from citywide salary and benefit cost reductions. Those are associated with delayed salary increases and other labor negotiations. And then another 27 million in other balancing items such as lower work orders and use of fund balance as general manager kelly mentioned. I will note the savings associated with the labor negotiations is tentative, as those discussions are ongoing. So here is that largest wedge of the pie chart, the 92 million that i mentioned. And its showing how the Budget Reductions have been spread across the various enterprises and the bureaus, of course, youll see the reductions vary depending on the enterprise, and that is the different impacts of reduced Sales Volumes. Operating row represents about 60 of our total rebalancing effort and the capital row, the capital row about 40 . So we felt this Budget Reduction strategy maintains agency Financial Sustainability as being one of our Strategic Plan goals by reserving for the future, a lot of unknowns still ahead we need to plan around. All of these changes keep our enterprises in the policy metric requirements. I have a question on operating costs. How can you cut that much . I have some detailed slides in a minute, but generally significant reduction in commercial Sales Volumes and as general manager kelly mentioned, an about portion of the balancing is due to lower transmission and distribution costs. So we pay pg e less money because the overall Sales Volumes are lower. But ill provide a little more on that in a moment. Thank you. Sure. The detailed slides, budget rebalancing involve cuts to the operating budget of 8 million as you can see in the first row here over the two years. Much of the savings is with improved project cost allocations to the Capital Projects. Also removing some of the new position requests and shifting work to existing staff. Also were some smaller cuts to the programmatic revenue cuts and Capital Budgets. This enterprise had the benefit of some increased sales volume projections from our wholesale water customers, partially offset the revenue short falls we were projecting. For wastewater, 2. 2 million in operation and maintenance budget each year, increased personnel savings, slower hiring as well as some materials and supplies cost savings due to lower Water Treatment volumes. The wastewater enterprise is recommending also a 20 million cut to their revenue funded capital as you can see there, 10 million each year. As well as pushing out some of their debt funded capital as mentioned earlier. These changes are not necessarily associated with budget balancing but more associated with trying to tie the budget with actual project work and delivery and timelines. And president caen, here is the hetchy water and power Budget Reductions. Youll see we have 0 and m, Budget Reduction 12. 9 million in the first year and 8. 8 million in the second year. And the enterprise is not projecting any direct customer impacts from these cuts. As i noted earlier, much of these cuts are due to cost reductions associated with lower transmission and distribution expense from the reduced electricity sales. In addition to that, though, the enterprise is increasing salary savings assumptions by holding additional positions vacant as well as relying on temporary positions. The power team wanted to point out some of the staff, some of the staff retention concerns associated with continuing to use temporary positions, so we will revisit those in the next budget cycle as financial conditions allow us to. Also a small amount of savings noted, and the enterprise closing out 16 million of existing Capital Budgets in order to meet their balancing targets. If you want to see the details of which projects are affected by the reductions, described in the memo we provided to you. Lastly, we have clean power, and the Budget Reductions for that program. This program has somewhat of an easier time rebalancing as lower power sales simply Means Less Energy purchases. So we have as you can see in the first row here, 12. 7 million in o and m Budget Reductions, reflecting the lower power purchase expenses. And then a small change to their capital plan associated with delayed project starts. And the last thing ill leave you with here, the position changes from what you saw in february. The original Commission Approved budget included 125 new positions over the two years. The rebalancing that ive just gone through with you cut 48 of those positions, new position requests in order to focus on our core services. That leaves 77 new position proposed over the two years, and as you can see here, most of those are on the project row, so those are supporting our capital plan. And that ends my formal presentation, and im more than happy to answer any questions that may have popped into your head as i went through this. Thank you. President moller caen commissioners, any questions. Through the chair, i have a question. Thank you, charles, and, for all your hard work on this. I know it has not been an easy time rebalancing and reworking these numbers. My question is, i mean, it seems today at least we dont seem seems no end in sight to the pandemic and business as usual. Im just wondering if you are anticipating another reforecasting of the budget. Revisit in six months or what are your thoughts . Thats a very good question. When we were planning for this budget retooling and the 142 million rebalancing i mentioned, we made some assumptions around what that meant. And so generally what we have forecasted is a recovery that is going to take us about three years to get back to where we were, lets just say even back in december, and even then we are not projecting we get back to exactly those levels, so we are being very conservative with our sales volume estimates, for all three enterprises, back to about 90 of where we were for the third year. Just a general sense of our planning effort. We did assume additional three months of sort of shelterinplace low Economic Activity in the current year again to be conservative and your question about revisiting this, our budget team will take a welldeserved break here shortly once we get the budget through the board and then well start working on fiscal 22 again. So we actually will be bringing and reopening the next year, the second year budget, fiscal 22, formally, not only with this commission, but also back to the board of supervisors, so we will begin those conversations internally, later this summer, and then more formally with you commissioners all. Thank you again for all your good work on this. Thanks. Commissioner paulson, did you have a question . Seeing none, thank you very much, charles. You are well come. Commissioner paulson your microphone is muted. Madam secretary, could you please open this conversation up to the public. On item 6b. Members of the public who wish to comment on 6b, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, and pound followed by found again. Dial 1 then 0 to be added to the speaker line. Madam secretary, i think commissioner paulson had a comment. Commissioner paulson i just got back on, i was muted. We are voting, right . Yes. No, we are opening Public Comment. Commissioner paulson what are you asking me . We thought you had a question. Commissioner paulson no, i dont. Ok. Thank you. Lets continue with Public Comment. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there is one caller in the queue. You have one question remaining. Can you hear me now . Go ahead, caller, you have two minutes. Okay. David pillpel again, sorry to repeat myself, it was difficult to follow that. I think that was charles presenting and if so, that part was good, and thank you, charles, once again i could not hear the general manager and i can tell you ive participated in other meetings during this emergency and this is the worst audio experience ive had. It is incredibly difficult to hear on the phone, and youve got to work on that. I mean, this is very Important Information and if the public cant hear it and understand it, then you are not getting meaningful Public Participation and this, you know, is not ok. From what i understand about the rebalancing efforts, i think that makes sense what they have done and continuing to update the projections, defer Capital Projects, and rebalance operating and positions. Again back to this meeting, you got to work on this audio and youve got to check out the experience from the user side. It is incredibly frustrating to be sitting here on the phone and really unable to follow and finally, if you can just ask each presenter, particularly on staff, to identify themselves when they first speak, and perhaps mention periodically who they are, that would help to follow the proceedings. Thanks. Thank you, caller. Madam secretary, we have no more callers in the queue. Thank you. That closes Public Comment on 6b and concludes the general managers report. Yes. The only thing i would say is that i will also provide my writings to make them available and then the last thing i would do, to give me a better mic and camera for my computer here because obviously there is some challenges with my microphone. So that concludes my report. Ok. Well have it fixed by the next meeting. Madam secretary, next item please. Next item, item 7, Southeast Area Major Projects status update, presented by steven robinson. Good afternoon president caen, commissioners, hopefully my audio is ok and we have some slides, please. Thank you. June 9th meeting we presented provided some updates on the three Major Projects in the Southeast Area, go to the next slide, please, brad. And then click animation. This is the same slide that we showed drawing attention to the Southeast Community center at 1550 evans. We have a brief update and few photos for each project and then well cover more at the end. First of all, here is the biosolids project. And showed you last month, the slide shows the same thing, forecasted budget project schedule after the cost reduction. [inaudible] first up there, redesign, design on construction still going on concurrently with this project. Redesign packages will be delivered in full 2020. Last month we described as for all the Foundation Excavation work the major milestone. I wanted to show a few photos, next slide, please. [inaudible] hollow auger and that is filled, the hole is filled as the auger is withdrawn and the cast piles can be installed quickly with minimal disturbance and noise and vibration, partially why they are selected. The laydown area for the effort and you can see the steel reinforcement for the next and the next slide [inaudible] you can see this is a pretty significant area, a big site. And likely this type of work will continue over 21 months, a total of 1600 to 1700 piles. So again, as we show the drone footage and the magnitude of the site and puts it in perspective for the size of work. For headworks, the next project, scope two for the pump station, major upgrades to the pump station and we have reached 95 construction completion which is great. Expecting to reach final in september of 2020. Something else to note is the successful pg e shutdown for ten days to allow work to occur safely, a big deal to get that and executed well. And for scope three, the main headworks building itself, the largest scope, efforts continue to reduce costs and there have been positive results from the test peer pier program, and solids will take some time [inaudible] for headworks, it will continue through the remainder of 2020. So to show some of those, on this clear site, demolished, mitigating dust is important. [inaudible] and the full construction day, but also to draw attention to what really remains of the old headworks structure in the background and this is the lift station still in operation and many are also referring to it as open heart surgery, the plant is still live, the flow is coming in, and the lift station pumps the flow up and by gravity through the rest of the treatment, its open heart surgery, a big deal. And about 600 piers on the site, and many go down to a depth of 150 feet, at least thats the maximum, up to three feet in diameter. And by july 14th, we have completed 16, 16, of 600 piers at a production rate of about two per day. And production rate is anticipated to improve 5 to 6 piers per day starting in august. Steel cages are fabricated off site and sometimes minor changes are needed. You can see the cages being prepared here. We go to the next slide. [inaudible] let me know if its not. And [inaudible] of the casing, while the drilling continues to the desired depths. After the drilling is complete, the casings are then installed [inaudible] all done to protect the opening from collapsing and the third step is drop the steel cage into the opening and then concrete is poured while simultaneously the same rate the concrete is being placed into the same rate. [inaudible] one more slide, please, brad. [inaudible] concrete pour progress. This is not covid19 p. P. E. , but electrical worker donned in a full arc flash suit and starting up some switch gear for his safety protection. An interesting project. The last project is the Southeast Community center 1550 evans. The same forecasted budget and schedule last month, no change. And from a project status perspective, 96 bid, very close, grading and excavation continues and the installation goes underground, utilities underway, and also construction of the foundation, so well see that. But the first i wanted to go to the next slide and just show how j. B. R. Led the first Diversity Inclusion on impact training at this site with the contractor with the team, and go to the next slide and show the construction meetings are conducted outside, similar to other projects to ensure crew safety and social distancing to give you a perspective what that looks like. Who conducted the trainings . J. B. R. , and contractor to the main contractor, james bryant internal meetings for their team. James bryant, a question. James bryant is . Is . Are you talking about, whats the organization . J. B. R. Is the firm name, a subcontractor to the team. Thank you. We showed the meeting and then the foundation, yep, just showing steel reinforcement, the project obviously different construction, the next slide. Showing the installation of the piles, and the structure, and to date, all 127 piles have been completed. And the next slide just shows some of the fill going in and then the next slide a little fun the surveyors are having keeping their social distancing, making sure they are the appropriate distance apart. One more slide, please, brad. Some of the Common Elements across the three projects, so wanted to cover these today and feedback which topic would be more to share about to go deeper in later meetings. And covid19, requirements especially in construction and collaborating with the wastewater enterprise as we Work Together in this congested facility. Site logistics and management, outreach, looking at the contractor staging and parking, for example, as well as the closure topic we are coming back to at the Commission Meeting, and at the next Commission Meeting. And environmental monitoring, compliance, meeting with the Citizens Advisory Committee around the topic of air quality and scheduled for updates in the coming weeks. There was an agenda today. Risk management, looking ahead to be proactive and programmatic level, resolution of issues and Decision Making and one last one for funding, the loans we are celebrating, the Commission Meeting on june 9th and recent media after that in june, u. S. Environmental Protection Agency announced 513 million Water Infrastructure finance and innovation act and also the refinance of our other loan, which ultimately saves hundreds of millions of dollars for the life of the loan for the Major Projects and a lot of work behind the scene [inaudible] and construction teams out there in the field, obviously a lot of work and progress being made and with that, ill stop there, and very happy, of course, to take any questions. Commissioners. Any questions for mr. Robinson . Yes, i have one. You mention right now two piles are being driven every day and you are going to go to 5 to 6, why. What happens that makes you double that . That was for the headworks project and they are in a test pile phase, so theyll the first ones, to make sure they are achieving what the piles are meant to do, and its really a production rate that happens once we get up and running, then they will move faster. Its a production and manufacturing because there are so many of them to go. Thank you. Got to get it right. Absolutely. Any other questions . Madam secretary, could you please open this up to Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to provide comment on item 7, Southeast Area Major Projects status update, dial 8882733658, access code 3107452, pound followed by found again. Dial 1 and 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. Public comment on item 7 is closed. Madam secretary, next item, please. The next item is item 8, sfpuc workforce Equity Analysis presented by justin hinderliter. Good afternoon, commissioners. Brad, do you have my power point . Great. Ok. We are just going to get started since we are with limited time. Good afternoon. Again, my name is justine hinderliter, pucs chief people officer, nice to be with you all again. Our agenda is that we are going to dive right into our key findings and opportunities based on the analysis we did. And then well go into more detail as to how we came up with these findings based on the analysis. The last item, the appendix, we are not going to go through them, you can look at them and refer to them, they are referred to throughout the presentation and Additional Information either breaking down our data further or providing more context. Next slide, please. All right. Key findings and opportunities. On the lefthand side where we are talking about the key finding. And i dont really need to read most of this to you, but we are looking at generally an underrepresentation of latinx employees and black employees. Some in specific areas of our workforce, both of them are underrepresented in our manager and professional roles, specifically. We also have an underrepresentation of responding to our Engagement Surveys, thats what the Engagement Survey line means. And then as far as discipline, we have, well go into all of this detail in a little bit but we have a higher average severity of discipline for latinx employees and a higher incidences or numbers of disciplinary or employment actions for black employees. Moving down to our female employees, in general i think this is not news to the commissioners. We have an underrepresentation in the general workforce and specifically in our Craft Service and technician roles. On the right side we are looking at where our opportunities are. So, things that we can start doing and building towards. First we can increase our recruitment for latinx, black and women organizations. We can increase our antibias and antiracist intervention, especially where the managers and supervisors are exercising judgment in our employee life cycle. So, points where that comes into play are obviously hiring whenever there is Performance Management or disciplinary actions, and a key part of Performance Management is during our probationary period when we are dealing with our Permanent Civil Service appointments. We can also do targeted leadership and professional Development Programs and support targeting very specifically the demographics we are interested in increasing or improving. The other things we can continue, efforts to improve our survey Response Rates within specifically water and Wastewater Enterprises are already underway and well get into those later, but those areas we have a lot of the craft and trades which tend to have a higher representation of latinx and black employees. We have also as you know implemented a competency framework to reduce bias, the areas where judgment has to come into play for the managers and supervisors along the employee cycle. So thats underway, it has been for several years. We are clicking at a good pace but still a ton of work to do there. We can also continue very specific workforce Development Programs. We have lots that we do in conjunction with the city as well as on our private side. So we have opportunities to increase there. We also desperately need to increase our people analytics capabilities because right now the information that im able to provide you today is actually as a result of a brandnew people Analytics Platform that we implemented just this year and we are able to look back three years of data, which is more than we have ever been able to look at. We are able to draw insights understand where some interventions may be useful, and we have never had that kind of capability before. I would say the places where we really want to focus on increasing this capability for people analytics is specifically within hiring. There is some dependency there, especially in our relationships at the citywide level, but thats a really great place to focus. And lastly, where we want to continue and we have already seen a lot of really positive improvement here, is increasing the power of the Employee Voice in general to our strategy and our Decision Making. And one point that i want to highlight where we have seen this to be really beneficial is in our Business Continuity plan group. We have folks from all levels of the organization spanning all functions within our enterprises and bureaus in our organization and we are also using the survey information that we have been using during our Covid Response to inform the programs that we are putting out, the communications that we are putting out, so its really been a great way to actively engage our workforce, understand their needs and respond accordingly. Next slide, please. Ok. So now we are going to get into our analysis, and forgive me, im going a little fast because we have only about eight minutes so i want to make sure we get through some items here. We are looking at our pucwide Workforce Data compared to the labor market availability data. So, a couple of things, a couple of things, we have seen over the last we have seen over the last three fiscal years basically a stable Ethnic Group Makeup in our workforce. The top bar that you are seeing up there is the puc Workforce Data, and thats specifically for fiscal year 1920, but thats fairly representative for the last three fiscal years and theres more detail in appendix a for the other two years. Now, if you are looking at the next bar, thats the labor market availability data. Now this includes employees, people who are either employed or seeking employment and it is coming specifically from the 2010 census data. Now, granted thats pretty steal data but thats what we have right now. We understand that the 2020 census data will be available in spring of next year, so 2021. So obviously we would like to continue this analysis when we have that more up to date data available. Some things to note for the data, from the 11 surrounding area counties, and also weighted. Its a weighted average where the City Employees actually live, and data that specifically compiles and analyzed by the central h. R. Department, d. H. R. , and a workforce utilization report, i believe its annual, the one we are looking at is from 2018, so maybe its biannual. Other things to note about the census data, we are really limited to the federal e. E. O. Standards for data terms. Thats why you are seeing terms like hispanic, seeing terms like American Indian alaskan, those are the terms the federal e. E. O. Data term use and therefore thats what the city is using as well. We have a slightly different breakdown in data because we have broken out filipino from asian, whereas the e. E. O. Standards do not do that kind of breakdown. Its a huge Demographic Data not parsed out at all. You will also see the term multiracial, in c. C. S. F. Data is fairly low, and one reason we think is that the city only recently started collecting multiracial data. So meaning before that, people were asked to choose one ethnicity and there was no multiracial option. That began in 2014. So regardless of all the data limitations, we can look at our analysis is really under parity with labor market and you can see where we are with the comparable labor market and see that latinx employees are underrepresented in our agency. Next slide, please. Ok. So, im not going to spend too much time on this slide because its, theres a lot of information on it and well get to the insights based on the data on the next slide. Two things i want to point out, again, we are talking we are using terms including the job groups that are standard in the federal reporting. So when you see technician, Service Worker, professionals on the access there, thats where those terms come from. We have also taken the liberty to put in the top five puc classifications for each of these job groups. Well go over that a little bit, but more specifically laid out in appendix c to you get a flavor for the kind of jobs we are talking about and the occupational clusters. You can also see this type of data broken down by enterprise and bureau in appendix d. Ok. So, what i was just mentioning about the kinds of jobs that are examples of someones occupational clusters you can see here. So, Service Workers top five jobs, what that means there, is those five jobs listed are where we have the highest number of employees working in those types of jobs in the specific occupational cluster. So, the insights we have from the data are the black and latinx employees are overrepresented in our Service Worker and admin support roles on the lefthand side, and underrepresentation of black and latinx and the executive, Senior Management and professional series. We also have included the average salary midpoint for those kinds of jobs based on again occupational cluster. This is just a frame of reference, its obviously not going to apply to every single job, but it gives you a general sense of what we are talking about. Next slide, please. We are going to pivot now to gender representation versus the market availability and the same parameters as far as that labor market data applied here we spoke about earlier with ethnic. So, again, the agagender representation is stable the last three fiscal years. So 1920 is a good representation of the last three fiscal years. So, females as we have discussed before are underrepresented. And some initial hypothesis for that, likely due to the sfpuc makeup of occupational categories, which often tend to be maledominated and specifically are maledominated in our workforce. So our craft, trades, those types of jobs. If you would not mind going back quick. One thing to note, thank you, one thing to note the citys Data Collection process for gender data is based on binary sex reporting. So only talking about male and female. Ok. We can move on to the next, please. Again we have our gender breakdown by occupational groups, and we see that our females are underrepresented in our Craft Service and technicians and that is those specific categories make up almost half of our entire workforce. And we also see that they are overrepresented in our administrative support roles. We would expect gender equity in our professional and executive senior manager type positions. And we have the current difference between male and female in those roles is not specifically significant but there is always, of course, room to improve. And you can see more details on this analysis in appendix f, and that will show you the break down by enterprise and bureau. Ok. Thank you. Switching to engagement data. We are now looking at engagement by ethnicity and gender. So just alarm on my phone. So just to recap for the reason why we care about engagement, basically, is if we have an engaged workforce we have one that is more committed to that organization. We have one that feels more accepted and they are more trusting of their teams. They are more satisfied and perform better in their jobs, and in general, talking about having a better job experience. So, theres lots of reasons why we should care about engagement and this will be showing you kind of how engagement breaks down ethnic, through the ethnic groups and gender. So, we started our Engagement Program if you recall in 2018, and since then we have had three, actually now four Engagement Surveys. We have only had one huge robust full survey, and that was the original one. And since then, in 2019, we did whats called a pulse survey, a slightly shorter, slightly more manageable dataset that you are talking about, and then as you know, since shelterinplace and the covid19 pandemic we have now done two covid19specific mini surveys, so we have done a total of four but just finished the second covid191 so you dont see that data here. Only looking at the 2018 original full survey, the 2019 pulse survey and the first covid19 pulse survey. Generally when you are talking about Engagement Surveys, 70 favorability is a good target, thats best practice. And you can see, this is a really tight curve here, we found no major differences based on ethnicity or gender and engagement so far. And so across the ethnicity, across the genders, folks are rating the favorability of this organization, essentially the same. Next slide, please. Now where we do see some differences is within peoples actual responses to our survey, meaning are they actually taking it, right . So, our response right here is what we are looking at. We see clear differences not only across ethnicity, but also gender. Black, latinx, white and male employees have the lowest Response Rates and one hypothesis there is that we think its likely due to the overrepresentation in jobs in the field. So, our field employees, this is something that we have talked about in a multitude of ways, but how do we reach our field employees more effectively. We did with this last survey, the one that you actually dont see the data for here, but we had very specific targeted approach to increase and improve representation within the Response Rate for our field employees targeting folks in the field. We did, you know, some very specific outreach and we also boosted a little bit, which means that we went to the site to specifically encourage people to take the survey while the survey was open. And i. T. Was a great partner in this regard, communication was a great partner in this regard, as well as the facility where we piloted this. We went to c. D. D. To this effort. So i think preliminarily we saw an improvement in the Response Rate but i think we will see that when i report on the overall survey. And just one thing to point out, go back. One thing, one last thing to point out, where you will see a straight dotted line for multiracial and American Indian alaskan, that is because we did not have enough employees who actually took that survey within that demographic in order to see. So we need at least five employees within each demographic so that we can actually get the data to make some sort of analysis. So thats what those dotted lines mean. Ok. Next slide, please. Ok. We are moving on to disciplinary and employment actions by ethnicity. And what we are looking at here is the number of employees with some sort of action compared to the overall puc by ethnicity proportions. So for example, if we are looking we are looking at the expected number of cases, and i just use air quotes for those, not seeing me on video, but expected number of cases per ethnic group. So what we are seeing here and just to give you some context, too, this was a brandnew requirement that just began a couple of years ago from the city to start tracking data. So we dont have a lot of data to be begin with. The actions that we are talking about are anything that results from the progressive disciplinary process which starts from a written warning, which is a document that writes up very different violations ance goes into an employees official personnel file all the way up to dismissal and in between there, there are various different degrees of suspension when someone is suspended without pay. There is also nondisciplinary actions, just administrative or employment actions and we are talking about extensions to a probationary period or releases from a probationary period, and when an employee is put on an official Performance Improvement plan. And so what we are looking at here is that despite the small level of cases that we have, the data we have to look at, we are seeing an overrepresentation of black employees, so we see what we would expect from the overall head count of black employees in the puc, we would expect three employees to have been disciplined thus far for this time period and we are seeing six. We would expect 16 cases for the number of white employees and we are seeing 15, so a slight undertick there. But thats how you read this graph. I think we can go to the next slide. We are seeing pretty much what we would expect based on a gender analysis, so between male and female where we have the number of disciplinary actions or employment actions that we would expect given the demographics in our puc population. Ok. Next slide, please. And we are, this is the last slide. So, we are here looking at the average severity of disciplinary or employment actions by ethnicity and gender. And so this is a very informal preliminary analysis but so what we would like to do is obviously keep monitoring and do more analysis, but what we did, we lifted the various different actions you can see them on the y axis there, from probation extension so dismissal at the top. And what we did was we based it based on the most severe impact to the employee, so the scale is 19. The least severe impact to the employee would be a probationary extension and then moving up the most severe would be dismissal. So we average the Different Cases within each ethnicity and so for example, im making these numbers up, but if we had two employees, two white employees who received probationary extension, which would be our first level, and we had one white employee who had a dismissal at the level 9, the most severe, the average severity for white employees would be 4. 5. Thats how we developed the scale and this analysis. What we can see is that at least preliminarily we have a higher average of severity found for latinx and male employees, and we see an overrepresentation which we discussed at the last slide for our black employees. We do see their severity is low, though. So this may indicate supervisor racial bias as far as like initiating cases, but there are checks and balances within the formal process of progressive discipline that do balance all of that out. But theres absolutely opportunity for improvement here, what we are talking about primarily is manager and supervisor, managers and supervisors operating some judgment, right . And so for the most part, i think thats what i have. Im not sure if im at time, but i can answer any questions if there are any. Commissioners, any questions . I have a couple questions. This is commissioner paulson. I have a couple comments. I will go in the queue through the chair, sounded like somebody else wanted to get in first. No, please talk away. Commissioner paulson. Listen, thank you that is so damn thorough its unbelievable and appreciate the analysis. You can never make decisions unless you know whats going on and i really think that, you know, what i just saw as a new commissioner, what you had is very enlightening in terms of the details that you put in there. So i dont know if i have any questions, but i do have, you know, a couple pieces, you know, to talk about. Because i have a worker organizing and construction background and 40 of california is now latinx, and many unions are now, most of the workers, i would say in many ways, are not just caucasian but latino. Just an observation. Secondly, over the years there has never been 4 to 6 of workers that want to get into construction. So im talking about the Construction Side of things. Not talking about management right now. And theres, you know, whatever ways of recruiting or not recruiting or i mean, that is sort of a fact of just what has happened over the years. So, you know, im going to be more than willing as a commissioner to listen to the recommendations, not just the reports, justine, that you have, to figure out where we can make sure that we have in a town like San Francisco as much equity, you know, as we can move forward on, and some of the, you know, the real highlights of who is in and who isnt out, i mean, that just sticks out, you know, pretty far. But if our commission, and if the staff at the puc, you know, can work to make sure that the diversity of San Francisco is going to make sure that they are in the jobs that we have. That is extremely important to me. But there are, this isnt just like today or this isnt just like, you know, the fact that we are on the street because there is so much crap going on, this is this is an ongoing analysis and i just want to say thanks, you know, for putting this stuff together, for crying out loud. You know, so we have all this data here to think about what the next steps are. Because advocacy is different than data, and making this very, very simple observations as to whats going on. Thanks to what you did, but theres some realties of where we sit. Not just the puc, but all of it. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other comments . I have a comment. Hi, justine, thanks so much for all of this hard work, it is impressive. I would love to hear your thoughts on maybe some goal setting now that this data has been pulled together and thats going to be the real challenge. Seems like you spent time on the ethnic representation at the puc as it relates to the labor market. My first question is, is that kind of the Gold Standard or my hope would be our goals would be surpassing what the labor market currently dictates or stands at because i dont think the labor market is doing a good enough job at diversity and Ethnic Diversity in particular, gender, too. So, thats my first question is kind of that metric and the goalsetting piece, particularly for the ethnic representation and also the bigger question around like now that you have this kind of gold mine of research that youve been pulling together, the data youve been pulling together, how can we develop plans and goals and ambitious ones they are going to get the puc to where it would be ideally. Sure. So, i agree, i dont think the labor market data is the endall, beall. But why we chose to do that is because it is a benchmark with data available. And without that we would be shooting in the dark as to trying to understand our own workforce and Demographic Data. So its important to kind of start from somewhere. And i will say i would like to have more specific Demographic Data within our occupational clusters, but that is not available regionally and i dont even think based on our research so far that it is available nationally but we are still looking into that. My hope is that with the refresh of the census data that will be available next year, that well be able to run these analyses and more and get even more clarity on kind of how things line up. But as to your second point, i whole heartedly agree. Now is the time and it has been, to set audacious goals and we have been doing some work in this regard. The last year or so this was one of the first Major Projects that we undertook when i came into the role to develop an h. R. Strategic plan, and one of the goals is very specifically diversity, equity and inclusion across h. R. And specifically hiring, recruitment and retention, right . So i will say that those kinds of goals and those kinds of programs, its not an h. R. Issue specifically. But we have a very, its an agencywide issue. But we have a very strong and pivotal role in leading that effort and so we are, we have developed kind of, i dont want to get too technical right now, but we have a Strategic Plan, if you will, where we are looking to see how we can improve in various different lanes across the d. E. I. Spectrum, and some of that will require parnasing citywide partnerships and getting im sorry, im coming in. D. E. I. Diversity Equity Inclusion acronym. Thank you. Yes. And so yes, it will require a fair amount of partnership there. But already within our executive team, there has been a very Firm Commitment to understanding more of what we can do now, building, you know, immediate action as well as building our foundation for longterm improvement because really at the heart of what we are going for is, is complete cultural change within our organization, thats how we are going to be moving this. Great, thank you. And im glad to hear in the next piece of time and not too distant future some of your thinking on that, like what, you know, what does that really look like. Sort of the makeup, you know, if you will, of really what diverse and Inclusive Agency could really look like. Thank you. Thank you. Through the chair. I dont think this is rocket science, and there are many contractors and other people that could help with this and get a plan going. This is their jobs. We hire consultants for everything. We could hire consultants for this. Obviously you said its been stable, which i think is a poor choice of words, its been the same ethnic makeup for probably more than as we know three years, so there really needs to be Something Else and you have an awful lot to do, so i would suggest that we think about hiring other people, some consultants that could really take an indepth look. The issues facing the puc are facing everybody, so there needs to be, and part of the reason is because of racism. People arent comfortable coming in. They are not comfortable. So that, and the culture makes a big difference. So we have a lot of work to do and like i said, it is not rocket science, it just takes a commitment and you need other people to come in and do that like we have done consultants with everything else. Thank you for your work, i think you did a great job, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments, and we are on the same page. Theres a lot of work to be done, and theres more than enough work to go around, so well figure out the best way to supplement how we can get it done. Thank you so much. Madam secretary, could you please open this for Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to provide comment on item l, p 8, puc commission workfe he can with it at this analysis, 8882733658, and 3107452, 1 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are multiple callers in the queue. You have two questions remaining. Go ahead, caller. Good afternoon, commissioners. Can you hear me . My name is cheryl taylor. Can i get confirmation . We can hear you, cheryl. Thank you. My name is cheryl taylor, an African American woman who has been working staff at sfpuc for nine and a half years as an analyst, although ive been tapped over these years to play roles as interim manager, interim director, inside and outside the puc including now. I would like you to know im speaking at considerable professional risk by saying i encourage commissioners to dig much deeper into this data to verify what is being presented and perhaps look at it from a different angle. Speak to you from my personal experience and what i have seen, black staff have been ready and able to take promotions but have been blunted by questions of the recruitment and hiring processes. We are used as window dressing to bump up diversity stats in hiring panels and candidate pools where the outcome may be predetermined. I want to say that recruitment is critical but retention is also critical, so i would like to echo a lot of the findings in the h. R. Report, but i want to encourage commissioners to dig deeper, look at the data yourself and see qualitative data, perhaps by talking to staff or using consultants as commissioner maxwell has indicated. Thank you very much. Thank you, caller. You have one question remaining. So, commissioners, this is what i have to say. Ive been listening to the presentation, and zeroing in on the labor market is, thats one of the elements. And in the San Francisco Public Utilities commission we have to analyze your Needs Assessment and find out why some very prominent, hard working employees have left. Sinclair, why have they left. Mark harris, why has he left. And i can give you 50 or 60 names. Prior to this woman who is now in charge, there was another woman who tried her best and she was fired. Why is this . Are we doing Needs Assessment right at the top, with the general manager, assistant general manager who has added a title as chief strategist. Can we find out because of this person how many people have left. Dont try to hoodwink us in broad daylight. Theres subpoenas that had been given that reveal a lot, even to h. R. You can bring some new person but it takes some time for the person to understand what really has been happening with the 2,000 plus folks. Thank you, caller, your two minutes has expired. Next caller, you have two minutes. Yes, i was calling because of the diversity and i support diversity but i was wondering how can we have diversity when we have racist running the c. B. C. Yard, thank you. Thank you, caller, for your comments. Madam secretary, there are no other callers in the queue. Thank you, Public Comment on item 8 is closed. Commissioner. Any further discussion . On this item . Hearing none, the next item, please. The next item, is number 9, water supply quarterly report, general manager steve ritchie. Steve ritchie, assistant general manager for water. If i can have the slides, please, brad. This is alternative water supply planning, Third Quarterly Report update. Have the next slide, please. We prepared a detailed report at the commissions june 23rd meeting. And this is a summary of that. The new format we did for that report was in response to a request to provide more detailed information on planning strategy and resources, and ongoing planning activities and summaries of project status. Its different than the water c. I. P. Reports in that the projects are all in the early planning stages so do not have very, very precise schedules and no large contract expenditures. And new sources of supply ill talk about later, including complex institutional partnerships with collaboration with other agencies. Next slide. So planning to meet the water supply needs we have presented this information in different fashions. This is a summary table of the need we have to fill. The largest single number there, meet the 40 unimpaired flow requirement for the Tuolumne River, backfill as much as 93 million gallons per day. Total of 98. 5 million a day 98. 5 million gallons per day of known needs, plus the potential needs for the future of making sure san jose and santa clara customers and various demands of water agencies. Total could be as much as 114 million gallons a day. We have limited new supply options. This is a pie chart showing the different supply options that we are currently under studying, transfers, recycled water, purified water, drinking recycled water, desalination, increased storage, reservoir, and innovations. So if we actually did have to meet the 98. 5 million gallon per day number, we currently have 25 million gallons per day of supply that is not currently identified. We can rectify that in the future if you would like me to put down what we would do in the next six months if all of a sudden we were faced with that requirement where we immediately would start. We can add that as a potential there. But might not be a popular option, i will say that, if you have to get something thats sure and readily deliverable soon. Move to the next slide. We have challenges in the programs. We have alternative water sources where the technical feasibility of the sources is challenging. And integrating the Regional Water system is challenging, and we have to look at the costs and benefits of that. Many of these will have multiagency partnerships. The other parties will have different priorities from us. So well need to work hard at the decision drivers on those and we need to think about those where we have local control and deem much more superior options. And overall, regulatory uncertainty. Still no regulations for direct reuse or purified use, wont be effect until 2023. We have two fourmillion dollars Services Contracts with two firms to help make sure to mobilize resources to investigate all of the issues that we have before us that need to be developed. Next slide. And so the Program Highlights and this is a quick onceover of where we are in some of the projects and first the water expansion project and weve been working at defining project alternatives and partner roles and so the costs for parties can be articulated because the partners would need to be the city of California Water service. Were looking at this as a part of this project and were conducting an analysis of institutional alternatives to get this all carried out because the project actually would deliver recycled water to the colma area primary to cemeteries and get them off of ground water available for our use and on the purified water projects, were evaluating the feasibility of bringing in new supplies to the indoor system and we have to figure out operational cob constraint and understand the regulatory landscape and weve been developing fact sheets to share information on what could be a controversial sources supply, the one we need to investigate. And on the reservoir expansion, we have actually been working through a Feasibility Study with technical consultants to look at four possible raises of calavaris dam to expand the reservoir and were looking at how much water we can get there in a wet year, because the idea for this would be to build cast that would not bcapacity but woo transport water from the hechechi system and potentially fill it with that kind of water. Were identifying feasible conveyance and its a reservoir in the District Service area and primarily used to take area out of the delta Water District but it can be used, we believe, in the future, to move water out into the aqua duct. This is a southbay aquaduct customer and they could use water and the Santa Clara Valley Water District could and we could move water around our customers there. The south bay infrastructure is a little bit in question, so were looking at, is that really possible . Meantime, the project is moving forward rapidly on a state mandated schedule so that the grant funds can be applied to that and we may have to make some decisions in the nottoo doesnt future to decide if we want to be a part of this project or not. And then lastly, again, this would be the desalting supply from the western end of the delta and would be potentially a Good Opportunity to supply to fill and expand. But understanding the water rights around that and how it would technically work in a legal sense is proving challenging. So all of these are very complex projects that were trying to work through the details to come up with a recommendation that will come forward in a timely fashion to meet the schedule that i would like to show in the next slide. And at the june 23rd meeting, the Commission Adopted a resolution and one of the key parts of that was to say that we will commit to having a project ready for Environmental Review by july 2023 and so this is an overall schedule on how to achieve that. First by developing sop planned guidance, what the key outcomes we want to have there and then, apply that to the alternative supply options that weve been going through the feasibility work on and hopefully, by the beginning of january 2022, we have a good idea on that so we can move forward with recommended portfolios and get the 10 design which is what one needs to get to to begin Environmental Review. Of course, well have ongoing outreach and education during this entire period. And one of the things we are working on is working to develop a technically sound educational tool that compares summaries of available Water Supplies and demands and the trim water supply systems at the county line will be included. Current water demands and future projections will be included and by presenting accurate settings, we expect this tool needed for your water policy decisions and weve been working on this tool in conjunction with commissioner moran, who has many ideas on how to technically present the information. And i would be happy to answer my questions on where we are at this point in time. According to that chart, were in the early stages of developing the key objectives of the overall water supply plan, correct . Yes. And so, is that going to be kind of an itterative process . As we develop information, well look for feedback on those questions. Ok, great, because i am interested in the higher related goals and objectives and i appreciate the commissioners leadership. I was tracking when he was acting for a methodology on the water budget or whatever we were calling it and im hoping that, again, at the higher level will come back to us to really understand exactly what were talking about. This leads to the last question around the resolution, which im sorry i had to jump off the call at the last meeting. I understand the path, which i was glad to hear, has that been sent to the state . What is the process to get feedback from that . Because it feels like a critical piece of our water supplying efforts to understand what kind of how big of a nut that will be for us to swallow, if you will. Yes, the resolution has been transmitted to the two secretaries and there are ongoing meetings with them and roughly everyotherweek basis to try to work through some of the issues that need to be taken care of to move along there and, again, the state is in an awkward position of the fact that they are involved in the two major pieces of litigation relative to first, the biological opinion and second to their intake permit and it takes the conversations a little awkward at times, but were hopeful we will get to a constructive outcome in the not too distant future. Great, so if you could keep us posted as you give the water supply updates because im assuming that were proceeding as if were under a 40 requirement, if you will and thats what the outcomes for the water supply plan are going to, at least today, include. Yeah, thats why we have a larger number in there. We need to be ready to go down either path and thats why we need the conversation on the voluntary agreement forward to see if we can get to a good place there. Great, thank you. Put thank you for your leadership on this. I really appreciate it. And through the chair, for the past, i guess its been a month, working with staff to try to come up with a format and process to portray this information in a budget kind of format and i think weve made Real Progress and i think well be able to present something at the next meeting. This is the fifer first look at. The whole purpose of this, and i think what will happen is that its a way of communicating a lot of the detail that steve talked about in a way that i think is easy to understand and will also kind of pose a bunch of obvious questions. When you see the supply and demand numbers laid out over, you know, several decades, there are some obvious questions that occur to you and i think that will result in some questions that weve put to staff saying, what if x . What would that look like . And i think that it also allows just thinking in time because when you look at 93 mgd shortfall, if you had to cure that this afternoon, you would be in deep trouble. If you have 30 years to work on it, then its a different picture. I think it will help with those things, alzheimer as well, andy we can bring that to you in the next meeting. Any other comments, questions for mr. Ritchie . Thank you so much. , mr. Ritchie. Madam secretary, could you please open this up to Public Comment . Members of the public who wish to provide comment on water supply quarterly report, dial 888 2736358, 31052 and followed by pound and then dial 110 to be added to the speaker line. Are there any callers . Madam secretary, there are no callers. Thank you, Public Comment on item 9 is closed. Next item, please. The next order of business is number 10, new Commission Business. Commissioners. Madam chair, there are a couple of items that i would like to circle back on raised by the public this time and last and to hear an update at the next meeting, if possible. The first, we heard again about this bike situation at kanyata road and several members request that in june. Im hoping for an update and if we could better understand what the concern and issue is there. On the bike access and then the second is, the flood grants program. I think its time for an update on how thats been going and if we could hear that possibly at the next meeting, that could be great and the speaker said there was only 19 of the grants that were issued and i dont know if thats because of covid or what the delay has been but an update would be great, as well, and i want to express an apology for the Ongoing Technical difficulties. I also find it unacceptable that the public is unable to hear certain Staff Members speak and request that our secretary and it team to correct that. Nobody is to blame but the times were living in, but i feel badly there are people who are unable to follow along. Thank you. Good point. Yes, commissioner. Yes. I think weve all heard everything thats on there and i didnt hear many people. I think somebody in particular, you know, said they couldnt hear well enough, but yes, i think everything that the commissioner said should be fixed and e enhanced, but i dont think thats anything worth thinking its a crisis. Madam president. Yes. I want to make a note that 5c under communications, there was an update on the Crystal Springs original update which did respond to previous Public Comment on the kanyata bike trail and sawyer bike trail under c and i believe scheduled for the last meeting in august will be an item on the flood grant program. Great. Thank you very much. So that correspondence item is the same one we were hearing on the bike issue at the last meeting, correct . Correct. Great, thank you. Appreciate that. Youre welcome. Through the chair, i have something i would like to ask for. I would like the next steps in regards to the underrepresented employees latin x and the africanamericans and women, what our plan is and next steps and our plans and then again on the disciplinary issues. I think thats something thats definitely a red flag because you can just say disciplinary, but when youre going through it, its huge and it makes a difference, it reverbates the route wherever you are. I will give them maybe the last meeting in august to have some next steps and plans however they need to do it, but i dont want to let this drop and its something thats extremely important and could even save us money in the long run, who knows. We have a lot of employees. We heard from an employee that called and that concerns me and it should concern all of us and i would like to hear more about that. Very good. The last meeting in august. Any other comments . Commissioners, can you hear me . Yes. Sophie, maybe we can address that as a part of the resolution, item 12. I dont know, what do you mean . Because as a part of the resolution, we talk about a plan of how were addressing systemic racism in the department so, anyway, maybe we look at 12 and maybe you can see if what your requests is on item 12 on this calendar today. Ob, but ok, but i want to ket there and if i it does it does,y its ok. I want something ok, so i will listen and thank you for that. Yes. This is commissioner paulson and if i can, through the chair. Yes. I agree with commissioner maxwell. Lets keep this on the forefront and i think that because of the report that we had today, theres a tremendous amount of data that the staff has put together for us to look at. And i think we should be able to deal with that data to make the decisions. I think all over the city and all over every place, people are really trying to deal with the equity and times that have never been done before and i will probably pass a resolution today, but a resolution is a resolution. Actually getting something that is embedded in hr or whatever else is something that, i think, i feel as a commissioner is important for us to discuss. So thank you commissioner maxwell and i will support that in terms of where were going. And i think this is really important, thank you. Thank you. Le well stated well stated. Any other comments, commissioners . Madam secretary, could you please open item 10 up to Public Comment. Members of the public who wish to provide comment on item 10, new Commission Business dial 888 2735658, 310512 and pound and pound again and dial 1 and 0 to be added to the speaker line. Mr. Moderator, do we have any callers . Madam secretary, there are multiple callers in the queue. Operator you have three questions remaining. Go ahead caller. Speaker thank you, president and commissioner. Im from the 350 bay area. I just wanted to say, its not one caller who is having a hard time with the sound. Its one caller who actually took it upon himself to use his Public Comment time to let you guys know that you are having technical problems. So i want to appreciate commissioner v vitore mentionig the audio situation. This is public business. What commissioner paulson may not realize, we do not have the benefit to listening to the same online forum sound system that youre using because that is actually delayed from realtime. So in order to comment on any particular item, we have to instead tune into a phone line which actually sounds like you guys are on speaker phone and then were on speaker phone and two phones talking. So it is really, really bad and so i just want to use my Public Comment time to say its not one person and even if it was just one person, thats actually one person too many because this is a public agency. And i would suggest that other agencies that we follow actually use zoom such that whether theyre using ms teams or zoom doesnt matter because their whole system is one zoom host and then, the participants are put in participant mode so that youre in realtime with the people and the business and you dont have to tune in in two different places and if you want to raise your hand on any particular item, you raise your hand on zoom and youre called by the clerk. It is ions better than this and since were four months into this, i would recommend that we look at some of the solutions that other agencies are using that work better and dont have these issues. Thank you, caller, your two minutes has expired. Speaker this is eric brooks with the Grass Roots Organization in our city and coordinating the statewide cleaning coalition through Energy Choice spy wanted t. It is difficult when youre waiting to make a comment on the phone to hear several of the speakers we havent been able to hear. Ive been listening to presentations on the tv line and since thats delayed, its hard to involve yourself with the callin process. So i want to make sure that folks know that, yes, this is a problem and zoom is a solution and there are city departments that use that in a way that provides better security than just a regular zoom setup and i guess you would have to ask the department of technology about how exactly to do that, but i, too, would recommend that. Thank you. Speaker this is david phipel and i wanted to thank you for addressing my concern and the other callers for joining in. In. Mayor breed today we have 4935 confirmed crisis of covid19 and 52 people have lost their lives. I will provide an update i tested negative for a second time after be exposed to someone with covid19. This does not mean that i am immune or can let my guard down moving forward. I will continue to keep my distance from others, wear my mask and frequently wash my hands just like everyone else should be doing. As you know, San Francisco has recently seen a sharp increase in cases in hospitalization as a result of the virus, and we had to pause scheduled reopening. On april 11, we had 94 people hospitalized. By midjune we were down to 26 people. We are back up to 80 people in the hospital. Today we want to provide an update on how we are moving forward as a city. As always, we will continue to be guided by the science in our data and Decision Making because we know how fast this pandemic can get out of control. As dr. Colfax outlined we have a small window of time to get our cases under control before we could see the large outbreaks that we are seeing around this country. We are continuing to pause our reopening indefinitely until our Public Health indicators improve and none of them are in the red. As of today, San Francisco is on the states watch list due to our rising hospitalizations, meaning we need to follow the state restrictions even though we were given a variance not too long ago to move forward more quickly with our reopening. We followed almost all restrictions. The main change is that indoor mall and non essential offers must now also close. If the state adds more restrictions we will follow them. If conditions in our city dont improve, we can also choose to close additional businesses and activities as well. We have flattened this curve once, and we must do it again. What i am afraid of is the complacency. People are tired of the virus. The virus is not tired of us. What we know from our Contact Tracing is that a large part of the new virus spread is coming from people having gatherings with others outside of their household. One of our Disaster Service workers, a person working on our disaster response, was recently infected due to one of those gatherings. She lives with a roommate and the roommate decided to go camping with 15 friends. They figured camping was a safe socially distance activity, they would wear masks and be fine. They didnt expect anyone in the group to have covid. After a few days, as is human nature, they got comfortable, started sharing meals and food and sitting closer during dinner and stopped wearing masks. One person in the group started to show symptom. They figured it was just a cold. When the roommate got home she started showing signs of a cough. She scheduled the test. The Service Worker had to quarantine taking her away from her important role. The roommate tested positive. The Disaster Service worker tested negative. The point is that gatherings remain dangerous. You need to give a lot of thought if they are worth it and how to do it safely. Can you wear a mask . Can you be socially distance . Can you wash your hands often . If you cant, you are not only risking your health and health of others but further pushing back the date when our city can open because we are not reopening until we get this under control. We need to redouble efforts to limit gatherings and wear masks outside of your household. The other major area of spread is among people going to work. Latino residents in particular in the eastern and southeastern neighborhoods are struggling. We are continuing to focus further expanding access to testing in these communities and conducting targeted outreach. We opened a new site to add to the expansion of testing sites in tenderloin, mission and sunnydale and bayview. The steep cant conduct all of the testing by ourselves. We need private care providers to step up. That is why we will be issuing a health order requiring private Healthcare Providers to increase testing by providing same day testing for patients with symptoms and close contact of people confirmed to have covid19. Additionally, private hospitals must provide testing to a symptomatic workers in jobs with risk of exposure. The delays in testing cannot continue. They must step up to do their part. The main message is that we need everyone to do their part. We have to get this virus under control right now. We dont be have months. We barely have weeks. Every decision you make affects everyone around you. If you choose not to wear a mask when you go out, you are delaying reopening further. If you are going to a barbecue and acting irresponsibly you are preventing children from being able to return to school, forcing parents to stay home from work or miss shifts at the job because you are not taking basic steps. Most importantly, you are endangering peoples lives. We want to move with reopening. We know we are going to be living with covid19 for the next 12 to 18 months. What we all do matters. How we all respond responsibly makes a difference. We have proven that time and time again in the past. We cant do that right now. We are all able to do our part. If we are going to get to where we are able to open and let people get back to work because they are financially struggling, allow kids to go to school and engage and interact with one another to learn and grow. We will see our elderly parents and grandparents in the nursing homes. How to get back to things that make life more meaningful has everything to do with everybody being part of the solution. Please know that we are not out of the woods. Know that we are seeing a spike. Know that you, only you can make the difference. Please wear your mask. Wash your hands. Socially distance and do everything to be part of the solution. That will make a difference to the city. I will turn this over to dr. Grant colfax for a update from the department of Public Health. Good morning. I am dr. Grant colfax, director of health. Thank you, mayor breed. In the past weeks, San Francisco has been experiencing a surge in cases and hospitalizations that have forced us to pause reopening plans. Increase our testing and Contract Tracing and care for many more covid19 positive patients. Unfortunately this is happening all across california. As of today, we join more than 30 counties statewide including most bay area counties on the states watch list based on the rising hospitalization numbers. I want to emphasize that the people in the hospital in San Francisco today as we speak are not only the elderly and the most frail. In fact, at San Francisco General Hospital the average age of the person hospitalized since july 1st with covid19 has been 41 years. Young people, middle age people, older people. We are all at risk for this disease. We are all at risk for serious consequences. With our designation of being on the states watch list, we are required to close malls and non essential offices again starting this monday, july 20th. We will continue to pause our reopening indefinitely. San francisco, we can do better than this. We know we can do better. We have proven that already. The virus is moving quickly. We must accelerate response. It took 38 days, more than a month to go from 2000 to 3,000 cases in our city. Now it has taken 13 days, less than two week goes to go from 4,000 cases to nearly 5,000. There are several key steps that we can take and that we must take until the Health Indicators improve and our information shows that the virus is subsiding and slowing in San Francisco. We dont have a lot of time today so i will keep my remarks short. I would like to highlight a few key points about the current situation. We know the pandemic affects some communities more than others. We must continue to focus on equity in our planning and response. In San Francisco the lat inx community makes up 50 of cases even though they represent only 15 of the citys population. Another Group Workers who must leave homes to take risk are more at risk of getting infected and are getting sick in greater numbers. The neighborhoods on the eastern and Southeast Side of the city continue to have higher rates of cases. The surge is making all of these disparities worse. We are working with Community Leaders and Community Members to improve outreach and communication. That work includes targeting Testing Services where they are needed most. In the past two weeks we have expanded low barrier testing in the mission, bayview, tenderloin, potrero hill and sunnydale neighborhoods. Testing has been a reoccurring issue since the beginning of the pandemic. We have come a long way. At first there were no tests at all. Then there were extreme short ages of supplies. After that we had to let people know how and where they could get tested. Today we are acceding our testing goal of providing 1800 tests each day in the city. Now providing an average of 2599 tests per day. As demand grows, access to appointments is getting harder and test results are taking longer. While testing challenges are a National Issue as a result of lack of federal leadership, we need to improve the situation where some san franciscans are waiting a week or more for an appointment and sometimes as long as that for results. More than 95 of san franciscans have some form of healthcare coverage. Private providers need to do their share in our testing effort. The citys public test sites are current bely conducting an average of 60 of all of the tests that are being done in the city. Therefore, on monday we are issuing a health order requiring private providers to test their patients with symptoms, those in close contacts of known cases, and a symptomatic workers at higher risk of exposure. This testing must be done on the day requested. This will help and will free up the capacity of San Franciscos public Testing Program with the goal of allowing residents who are uninsured or members of impacted communities to get tested from a more timely manner. We need to realize that while testing is a key tool and will continue to be a key tool in our response, we are not going to be able to test ourselves out of this pandemic. Iin fact, the more the virus is around the harder it will be for us to keep up. We will fall behind. That is why prevention is so key. Today a covid positive person in San Francisco is expected to infect more than one additional person causing the disease to spread. A positive test means that prevention did not work. This is important. A negative test is not a passport to do what you want. Dont get complacent and take risks because you tested negative. Gatherings are opportunities for the virus to spread and must be avoided. If san franciscans stop gathering, wear face mask at all times and socially distance, we will be able to get the situation under control. It is that simple. We know how to slow the spread of the virus. We know how to do it. We just must do it. We must do it quickly. The key next step if everyone something to do to flatten the curve. This includes residents, businesses, Healthcare System and the city. First, we will continue to pause reopening until the Health Indicators and other data show that the virus has subsided in San Francisco. Second, we will abide by the states restrictions as a watch list county, and i emphasize this we reserve the option to go further than the state in closing additional businesses and activities while continuing to pause reopening if our local and regional conditions call for it. Third, to reenforce the mayors comment. San franciscans need to change their behavior. Do not gather. Cover your face. We know many of our new cases can be traced back to social gatherings of families and friends. Think about that. The Birthday Party or barbecue can spread the virus and get many people sick. Remember half of the people with the virus dont show symptoms. You cannot tell by looking at somebody or asking somebody how they feel if they have covid19. A symptomatic spread is a key part of the surge we are seeing. These gatherings can and could delay the first day of school or the chance to go back to work and worse than the inequities we are seeing in this pandemic. Do your part, please do your part. Our individual actions have a big impact on the entire community. Fourth, we will continue to focus on equity and the communities that are most affected by the pandemic. We are working with Community Leaders to expand testing, outreach and partnership. We are conducting extensive multi media campaigns to reach people in their own neighborhoods and languages. 5. We will continue to expand Testing Capacity and access. The health order coming out monday be will guarantee providers do their share while the city continues to expand testing in the neighborhoods most impacted. We will, we must continue to follow the data, science and facts. Together we have the power to flatten the curve once again. We can emerge from this pandemic with strength and pride in our communities and our collective effort. The work we have done together has saved lives and improved health and will put our city back together. The time is short. It is up to us to take action now and i thank you, San Francisco, for doing just that. Thank you. We will now begin the q a portion of the press conference. We have the first set of questions for dr. Colfax only. From mission local. Before going to work and latino residents are struggling. Why only 300 tests at the hub. Why were people turned away yesterday for lack of tests . I was at the hub yesterday. It was remarkable to see the work done there. We have been partnering with the Latino Task Force since the early days of the epidemic to expand testing. We need to expand testing, particularly in the mission and lat inx community. We are continuing to build that capacity. As i said we are requiring providers to provide same day testing to workers and people symptomatic. We also have other testing sites in the Mission Neighborhood including the zuckerberg General Hospital and continuing to work the Mission Neighborhood Health Center offering popup testing and ensuring people understand when and where to get tested and expanding the Contact Tracing. Half of our cases are among latin x residents and half of temperaturofthe exact tracing i. People understand if they test positive and they qualify, they can access the right to Recovery Program to have the support and resources necessary to keep themselves and their families were safe thank you, doctor. Next set of questions janney harwith associated press. Most School District start with year with distance learning. Governor will issue the orders soon regarding schools. Under which conditions do you feel comfortable allowing in person classes . Would all county wide indicators have to be at certain level and the safety conditions vary by age or class size . What do you tell pris private schools. The city issued guidance with regard to schools. We are going to need to see indicators improve before School Openings would be allowed. The complexity of the question is addressed by the School Guidance we issued. We want to ensure that schools do make the decision to reopen that they are following best evidence in terms of reducing transmission to people most vulnerable for the virus and that children or families and school staff are as safe as possible. It is a very complex issues and rapidly evolving issue. We will follow data, science and facts to ensure when schools open they are doing so in the most safe way possible. From crown 4. The city is giving mixed messages. In noey the tables and chairs are return causing people to it is next to each other. How many sites have had tables and chairs returned . Doesnt this send the wrong message. Outdoor activity is much safer than indoor activity. The science has shown that being outdoors is much safer and people need to get outside for mental and physical health. We cantell. We have flattened this curve once, and we must do it again. What i am afraid of is the complacency. People are tired of the virus. The virus is not tired of us. What we know from our Contact Tracing is that a large part of the new virus spread is coming from people having gatherings with others outside of their household. One of our Disaster Service workers, a person working on our disaster response, was recently infected due to one of those gatherings. She lives with a roommate and the roommate decided to go camping with 15 friends. They figured camping was a safe socially distance activity, they would wear masks and be fine. They didnt expect anyone in the group to have covid. After a few days, as is human nature, they got comfortable, started sharing meals and food and sitting closer during dinner and stopped wearing masks. One person in the group started to show symptom. They figured it was just a cold. When the roommate got home she started showing signs of a cough. She scheduled the test. The Service Worker had to quarantine taking her away from her important role. The roommate tested positive. The Disaster Service worker tested negative. The point is that gatherings remain dangerous. You need to give a lot of thought if they are worth it and how to do it safely. Can you wear a mask . Can you be socially distance . Can you wash your hands often . If you cant, you are not only risking your health and health of others but further pushing back the date when our city can open because we are not reopening until we get this under control. We need to redouble efforts to limit gatherings and wear masks outside of your household. The other major area of spread is among people going to work. Latino residents in particular in the eastern and southeastern neighborhoods are struggling. We are continuing to focus further expanding access to testing in these communities and conducting targeted outreach. We opened a new site to add to the expansion of testing sites in tenderloin, mission and sunnydale and bayview. The steep cant conduct all of the testing by ourselves. We need private care providers to step up. That is why we will be issuing a health order requiring private Healthcare Providers to increase testing by providing same day testing for patients with symptoms and close contact of people confirmed to have covid19. Additionally, private hospitals must provide testing to a symptomatic workers in jobs with risk of exposure. The delays in testing cannot continue. They must step up to do their part. The main message is that we need everyone to do their part. We have to get this virus under control right now. We dont be have months. We barely have weeks. Every decision you make affects everyone around you. If you choose not to wear a mask when you go out, you are delaying reopening further. If you are going to a barbecue and acting irresponsibly you are preventing children from being able to return to school, forcing parents to stay home from work or miss shifts at the job because you are not taking basic steps. Most importantly, you are endangering peoples lives. We want to move with reopening. We know we are going to be living with covid19 for the next 12 to 18 months. What we all do matters. How we all respond responsibly makes a difference. We have proven that time and time again in the past. We cant do that right now. We are all able to do our part. If we are going to get to where we are able to open and let people get back to work because they are financially struggling, allow kids to go to school and engage and interact with one another to learn and grow. We will see our elderly parents and grandparents in the nursing homes. How to get back to things that make life more meaningful has everything to do with everybody being part of the solution. Please know that we are not out of the woods. Know that we are seeing a spike. Know that you, only you can make the difference. Please wear your mask. Wash your hands. Socially distance and do everything to be part of the solution. That will make a difference to the city. I will turn this over to dr. Grant colfax for a update from the department of Public Health. Good morning. I am dr. Grant colfax, director of health. Thank you, mayor breed. In the past weeks, San Francisco has been experiencing a surge in cases and hospitalizations that have forced us to pause reopening plans. Increase our testing and Contract Tracing and care for many more covid19 positive patients. Unfortunately this is happening all across california. As of today, we join more than 30 counties statewide including most bay area counties on the states watch list based on the rising hospitalization numbers. I want to emphasize that the people in the hospital in San Francisco today as we speak are not only the elderly and the most frail. In fact, at San Francisco General Hospital the average age of the person hospitalized since july 1st with covid19 has been 41 years. Young people, middle age people, older people. We are all at risk for this disease. We are all at risk for serious consequences. With our designation of being on the states watch list, we are required to close malls and non essential offices again starting this monday, july 20th. We will continue to pause our reopening indefinitely. San francisco, we can do better than this. We know we can do better. We have proven that already. The virus is moving quickly. We must accelerate response. It took 38 days, more than a month to go from 2000 to 3,000 cases in our city. Now it has taken 13 days, less than two week goes to go from 4,000 cases to nearly 5,000. There are several key steps that we can take and that we must take until the Health Indicators improve and our information shows that the virus is subsiding and slowing in San Francisco. We dont have a lot of time today so i will keep my remarks short. I would like to highlight a few key points about the current situation. We know the pandemic affects some communities more than others. We must continue to focus on equity in our planning and response. In San Francisco the lat inx community makes up 50 of cases even though they represent only 15 of the citys population. Another Group Workers who must leave homes to take risk are more at risk of getting infected and are getting sick in greater numbers. The neighborhoods on the eastern and Southeast Side of the city continue to have higher rates of cases. The surge is making all of these disparities worse. We are working with Community Leaders and Community Members to improve outreach and communication. That work includes targeting Testing Services where they are needed most. In the past two weeks we have expanded low barrier testing in the mission, bayview, tenderloin, potrero hill and sunnydale neighborhoods. Testing has been a reoccurring issue since the beginning of the pandemic. We have come a long way. At first there were no tests at all. Then there were extreme short ages of supplies. After that we had to let people know how and where they could get tested. Today we are acceding our testing goal of providing 1800 tests each day in the city. Now providing an average of 2599 tests per day. As demand grows, access to appointments is getting harder and test results are taking longer. While testing challenges are a National Issue as a result of lack of federal leadership, we need to improve the situation where some san franciscans are waiting a week or more for an appointment and sometimes as long as that for results. More than 95 of san franciscans have some form of healthcare coverage. Private providers need to do their share in our testing effort. The citys public test sites are current bely conducting an average of 60 of all of the tests that are being done in the city. Therefore, on monday we are issuing a health order requiring private providers to test their patients with symptoms, those in close contacts of known cases, and a symptomatic workers at higher risk of exposure. This testing must be done on the day requested. This will help and will free up the capacity of San Franciscos public Testing Program with the goal of allowing residents who are uninsured or members of impacted communities to get tested from a more timely manner. We need to realize that while testing is a key tool and will continue to be a key tool in our response, we are not going to be able to test ourselves out of this pandemic. Iin fact, the more the virus is around the harder it will be for us to keep up. We will fall behind. That is why prevention is so key. Today a covid positive person in San Francisco is expected to infect more than one additional person causing the disease to spread. A positive test means that prevention did not work. This is important. A negative test is not a passport to do what you want. Dont get complacent and take risks because you tested negative. Gatherings are opportunities for the virus to spread and must be avoided. If san franciscans stop gathering, wear face mask at all times and socially distance, we will be able to get the situation under control. It is that simple. We know how to slow the spread of the virus. We know how to do it. We just must do it. We must do it quickly. The key next step if everyone something to do to flatten the curve. This includes residents, businesses, Healthcare System and the city. First, we will continue to pause reopening until the Health Indicators and other data show that the virus has subsided in San Francisco. Second, we will abide by the states restrictions as a watch list county, and i emphasize this we reserve the option to go further than the state in closing additional businesses and activities while continuing to pause reopening if our local and regional conditions call for it. Third, to reenforce the mayors comment. San franciscans need to change their behavior. Do not gather. Cover your face. We know many of our new cases can be traced back to social gatherings of families and friends. Think about that. The Birthday Party or barbecue can spread the virus and get many people sick. Remember half of the people with the virus dont show symptoms. You cannot tell by looking at somebody or asking somebody how they feel if they have covid19. A symptomatic spread is a key part of the surge we are seeing. These gatherings can and could delay the first day of school or the chance to go back to work and worse than the inequities we are seeing in this pandemic. Do your part, please do your part. Our individual actions have a big impact on the entire community. Fourth, we will continue to focus on equity and the communities that are most affected by the pandemic. We are working with Community Leaders to expand testing, outreach and partnership. We are conducting extensive multi media campaigns to reach people in their own neighborhoods and languages. 5. We will continue to expand Testing Capacity and access. The health order coming out monday be will guarantee providers do their share while the city continues to expand testing in the neighborhoods most impacted. We will, we must continue to follow the data, science and facts. Together we have the together we have the power to flatten the curve once again. N we can emerge from this pandemic with strength and pride in our communities and o our collective efforts. The work we have done together has saved lives and improved health and will put our city back together, but the time is short. It is up to us to take action now and i thank you, San Francisco, for doing just that. We have the first set of questions for dr. Colfax only. Just a moment please. Mission local. People are going to workk and latino residents are struggling. Why only 300 tests at the hub. Why were people turned away yesterday for lack of tests . So i l was at the hub yesterday. It was remarkable to see the work done there. Urofthe exact t. People understand if they test positive and they qualify, they can access the right to Recovery Program to have the support and resources necessary to keep themselves and their families were safe thank you, doctor. Next set of questions janney harwith associated press. Wieaitt School District start most School Districts start with distance learning. The governor will issue the order soon. Which conditions do you feel comfortable for in person instruction. Would all i indicators have to e at a s certain level and would t vary by age or class size . What are you telling private schools . The city issued best evidence guidance. Going to need to see indicators improve before School Openings would be allowed. The complexity of your question isue addressed by the school die guidanceo we issued. We want to ensure if schools make the decision to reopen they are following evidence in terms of reducing transmission to people most vulnerable for the virus and children or families and school staff are tested as safe as possible. It is a very complex issue, rapidly evolving issue. We willl follow the data, sciene and facts to ensure that if and when schools open they are doing so in the most safe way possible. Thank you. From danker man with crown 4. The city is giving mixed messages. In the valley the tables and chairs that are gone away for social distancing are returned. How many other city sites have had tables and chairs returns . Doesnt this send the wrong message . It isen clear that Outdoor Activity is much safer than indoor activity. The science has shown that being outdoors is safer. People need to get outside for mental and physical health. We cantlt stay necessarily inse for long periods of time. When we are outside, we need to follow the guidelines. Thee people need to stay at leat six feet apart and it is very clear our health order makes it clear people need facial coverings. Including a mask when they are approaching within 30 feet of each other. The message is very clear. I think the mayor was clear today and i am clear. If you are outside within 30 feet wear the facial covering tog keep the community were safe thank you. Lastly. From mel lanly from abc 7. Can youou clarify the change to San Francisco around testing as of the health order monday. Had private providers not been testing people previously . Will they have the tests and supplies to do so now . Private providers have been doing testing. I would emphasize that across the city of all of the tests done 60 have been tests that have been supported by the Health Department or other city departments. That investment is huge. Providers have been doing testing. What this healthh order will require allll providers to offer testing to people who are symptomatic, who have been in close contact with a known covid19 positive or who are workers at high risk for the virus. That will be required to be same day offering of the test. The healthh systems with the ability to get the supplies and to doi the testing and if that s not the case, this order will require they get them. Thank you, doctor. Thank you, madam mayor and director coal fax for joining us today. This concludes todays press conference. Shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local Services Within neighborhood. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. Where will you shop and dine in the 49 . San francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. Each corridor has its own personality. Our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. You are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping Small Businesses grow. It is more environmentally friendly. Shopping local is very important. I have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. By shopping here and supporting us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. It is really good for everybody. Shopping locally is crucial. Without that support, Small Business cant survive, and if we lose Small Business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. It is important to dine and shop locally. It allows us to maintain traditions. It makes the neighborhood. I think San Francisco should shop local as much as they can. The retail marketplace is changes. We are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. The fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. There are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. At the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. Shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the Business Owners to thrive in the community. We see more Small Businesses going away. We need to shop locally to keep the Small Business alive in San Francisco. Shop and dine in the 49 is a cool initiative. You can see the banners in the streets around town. It is great. Anything that can showcase and legitimize Small Businesses is a wonderful thing. Hi. Ul thing. Im chris manners, and youre watching coping with covid19. Today, in a very special 13th episode, im going to the emergency room. The beach parking lots reopened recently here, so i decided to have my first surf session since the shelter in place order, and as i was getting out, i had a little accident right there. Heres my story. As soon as i hurt myself, i went straight back to my car and took a photo so i could see what id done. Be warned, the picture is a little graphic. Next, i took out my first aid kit and applied a temporary dressing before i drove home. This first aid kit comes from the red cross, and a similar kit is available on their website for around 22. I quickly determined i needed some stitches, so i called the emergency room to see how busy they are. If you have a wound that requires stitches, you can call to see how busy they are, but dont wait too long. After eight hours, they wont see you. I was a little nervous about going to the e. R. During this pandemic, but my fears were completely unfounded. Service was fast, efficient, and the staff whether all helpful and cheer were all helpful and cheerful. After using hand sanitizer, i went through security, checked in. My name was called, and they took my temperature and Blood Pressure while asking a few basic questions about myself and my injury. Next, i was taken to a private space, and a nurse came in and thoroughly cleaned my wounds. Then, a doctor came in, numbed my neck, and quickly put in seven stitches. I was released and back home in about an hour. The reason i made this video is there are reports that e. R. S are seeing less patients than usual. Dont risk your health. My visit was very reassuring. They have all the appropriate covid19 protocols in place, great professionals, and theyre there to help. If you need to go to the e. R. , dont hesitate to get the help you need. In fact, since i started this video, ive been back again to get the stitches removed with the same level of care. Well, thats it for this episode. If you need urgent care, go to the emergency room no matter what your financial situation is, and call 911 if you need paramedics or cant get there by yourself. The doctors and nurses will get you there and get you the what were trying to approach is bringing more diversity to our food. Its not just the old european style food. We are seeing a lot of influences, and all of this is because of our students. All we ask is make it flavorful. [ ] we are the first twoyear Culinary Hospitality School in the united states. The first year was 1936, and it was started by two graduates from cornell. Im a graduate of this program, and very proud of that. So students can expect to learn under the three degrees. Culinary Arts Management degree, Food Service Management degree, and Hotel Management degree. Were not a cooking school. Even though were not teaching you how to cook, were teaching you how to manage, how to supervise employees, how to manage a hotel, and plus youre getting an associate of science degree. My name is vince, and im a faculty member of the hospitality arts and Culinary School here in San Francisco. This is my 11th year. The policemrogram is very, ver in what this industry demands. Cooking, health, safety, and sanitation issues are included in it. Its quite a complete program to prepare them for whats happening out in the real world. The first time i heard about this program, i was working in a restaurant, and the sous chef had graduated from this program. He was very young to be a sous chef, and i want to be like him, basically, in the future. This program, its awesome. Its another world when youre here. Its another world. You get to be who you are, a person get to be who they are. You get to explore different things, and then, you get to explore and they encourage you to bring your background to the kitchen, too. Ive been in the program for about a year. Twoyear program, and im about halfway through. Before, i was studying behavioral genetics and dance. I had few injuries, and i couldnt pursue the things that i needed to to dance, so i pursued my other passion, cooking. When i stopped dance, i was deprived of my creative outlet, and cooking has been that for me, specifically pastry. The good thing is we have students everywhere from places like the ritz to we have kids from every area. Facebook and google. Kids from everywhere. They are all over the bay area, and theyre thriving. My name is jeff, and im a coowner of nopa restaurant, nopalito restaurant in San Francisco. I attended city college of San Francisco, the culinary arts program, where it was called hotel and restaurant back then in the early 90s. Nopalito on broderick street, its based on no specific region in mexico. All our masa is hand made. We cook our own corn in house. Everything is pretty much hand made on a daily basis, so day and night, were making hand made tortillas, carnitas, salsas. A lot of love put into this. [ ] used to be very easy to define casual dining, fine dining, quick service. Now, its shades of gray, and were trying to define that experience through that spectrum of service. Fine dining calls into white table cloths. The cafeteria is Large Production kitchen, understanding vast production kitchens, the googles and the facebooks of the world that have those kitypes of kitchens. And the ideas that change every year, again, its the notion and the venue. One of the things i love about vince is one of our outlets is a concept restaurant, and he changes the concept every year to show students how to do a startup restaurant. Its been a pizzeria, a taco bar. Its been a mediterranean bar, its been a noodle bar. People choose ccsf over other hospitality programs because the industry recognizes that we instill the work ethic. We, again, serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other culinary hospitality programs may open two days a week for breakfast service. Were open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. The menus always interesting. They change it every semester, maybe more. Theres always a good variety of foods. The preparation is always beautiful. The students are really sincere, and they work so hard here, and theyre so proud of their work. Ive had people coming in to town, and i, like, bring them here for a special treat, so its more, like, not so much every day, but as often as i can for a special treat. When i have my interns in their final semester of the program go out in the industry, 80 to 90 of the students get hired in the industry, well above the industry average in the culinary program. We do have internals continually coming into our restaurants from city college of San Francisco, and most of the time that people doing internships with us realize this is what they want to do for a living. We hired many interns into employees from our restaurants. My partner is also a graduate of city college. So my goal is actually to travel and try to do some pastry in maybe italy or france, along those lines. I actually have developed a few connections through this program in italy, which i am excited to support. Im thinking about going to go work on a cruise ship for about two, three year so i can save some money and then hopefully venture out on my own. Yeah, i want to go back to china. I want to bring something that i learned here, the french cooking, the western system, back to china. So we want them to have a full toolkit. Were trying to make them ready i see the red box. Good morning and welcome to the county Transportation Authority meemeeting. Could you please call the role. role call . We have a quorum. Can we have our next item, please. May i make an announcement about Public Comment . Yes. Public comment will be available for each item on this agenda via telephone by calling 888 2045987 and enter access code 2858465 as seen on the screen and follow the system prompts. Once you join, you can listen to the meeting as a participant. Dial 10 to be added to the queue to speak. Each caller will be allowed two minutes to speak. When your two minutes are up, we will move on to the next caller. Calls will be taken in the order which they are received. Best practises are to speak slowly, clearly and turn down the volume of any televisions or radios around you. Please allow for audio visual delays and a 30second lag time during the course of the meeting. Thank you. Next item, please. Item 2, Citizens Advisory Committee report and this is an information item. Mr. Larson, good morning. Good morning, chai. Im chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee. At our june 24th meeting, we adopted the support to pr provoe sales tax force. They commented on the scaling of fonts used in the signs, the similarities between the number 8 and letter b, for example. In the new street sign designs that are part of this request and the fact certain lines were used did not really exist. Staff said they were included to illustrate the look and style of the designs but would consider the confusion they might cause being widely shared. In addition in response to a question about sign location and reprioritizing if a route slated for new signage was under construction, cac members were to do active routes with part of the sites election process for signs. They will adopt the next study final report. In particular, addressing the current mline termance on san jose avenue at the railyard. The desire for a more integrated vision was also in Public Comment. However, the bulk of the cac meeting was taken up from Jeffrey Tumlin and dan howard from sfmta and theyre stillberryinstillbringing an ase plan. They asked about the continuation of certain Capital Projects and while it was not so bad of pic particular interest,e reality that it will not store the service that they had to cut and operators shortages by com pending retirements. Director tumlin reassured us that the priority would be most dependent on transit and it would mean resources would be denser is less affluent areas and relatively low ridership bus lines, such as the neighborhood lines in the center and western neighborhoods would be the last, if ever, to return. But that discounts would help to ease the challenge for the residents and help keep the residents out of their cars. Director tumlin was encouraged to reach out to cac members as another way distribute messages to the districts about transit and updates and gather feedback and return to a future cac meeting and that completes my report. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Larson. Are there any questions for mr. Larson andmen and the cac ad seeing none, is there any Public Comment on the cac report . Chair, no Public Comment. Public comment is closed. Madam clerk, can you please read the Consent Agenda. Items 34, item this was approved at june 24 Board Meeting and considered for final approval and the remaining item is considered routine and staff are not planning to present on these items but prepared to speak if called and if the member objects, think of the items may be removed and considered separately. Ok, is there any Public Comment on item number 3, the approval of the june 23r june 23rd minutes . There is no Public Comment. Public comment is closed and is there a motion to move the Consent Agenda . Moved, mandelman. Is there a second . Second, preston. Motion made by commissioner mandleman and seconded b by preston. Role call, please. role call . Consent agenda is approved. Next item, please. 5, federal legislation update. This is an information item due to staffs watch recommendation which requires no action. Ok. Is it miss crab or mr. Watts . Hi, miss crabs asked me to present first and introduce her when i finished my presentation. So mr. Chair and commissioners, thank you for having me and mark watts, your representative in sacramento. Sacramento has been through very interesting schedule changes which ill touch on briefly and try to illuminate how i think that might affect the ability for general legislation to move forward in the coming weeks. But before i do that, a longawaited series of actions related to the state Transportation Commission were undertaken. There were two appointments made by the governor and mr. Rocko davis, in Northern California, Business Manager and general manager for the Northern California laborers. And in addition, leanne eager are both now the commission. Theres a full slate of active members. There was one displacement in the appointment process and that was the chair, mr. Va mr. Van kaninemboard. So beyond that, theres been some significant changes to the legislative calendar and it offers some challenges Going Forward. June 26th had been the last day for bills to pass out of their house of origin and that was met and then july 2nd, the summer recess commenced and the idea was to bring the two houses, calendars into snyc when they would return from a short recess due to some onset of cases of covid19, amongst members of the legislature and the need to do a deep cleaning of the capitol, theyve delayed the return from july 13th, yesterday, until july 27th. The other intervening deadlines that are active are ones that could be changed or modified by the legislature, just not the august 31st. And so i do expect given the fact they return on july 27t july 27th and they have a policy Committee Deadline to pass any bills of august 7th, that they may want to loosen that up and maybe give themselves another week. They havent described that as an action they intend to take, just my experience in this building, trying to cram one whole legislative sessions worth of bills from each house in their opposite houses for hearings and it will be difficult. And so, i expect to hear coming up shortly that there will be some changes. Theres also the very matteroffact complicated matter of conducting the hearings in this environment. They have intended to shut down phone access hearings and it looks like they may have to retain some version of that, as well as some very modified personal presentations made available to the public at large and advocates. With that, i would bring my presentation to a close. Its been a quiet month, but with these backdrop activities, you have stay on top of it daytoday. If there are no questions, i would like to present amber crab with the updates she intends to provide on the watch bill as b288. Miss crabs. Hello, good morning, chair and commissioners. Amber crab with the Transportation Authority and so, we are recommending a watch position today on senator weiners senator bill 288 and this would provide a statutory exemption for the California Environmental quality act or sequa view for transportation projects, including rapid transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects, publically accessible zero emission fueling stations and conversion of highway lanes to each of the express lanes. And there are requirements attached to it, such that projects need to be in an urban environment and they have to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and they cannot expand capacity for private vehicles. But those sponsored by spur and the Bay Area Council and they frame this as a way to implement projects that can help local jurisdictions, get the necessary infrastructure in place as people return to work, so they have sustainable options and are not just driving alone. And so sfmta is recommending a support division to the Mayors Office and they think, in particular, it would help to advance in a timely fashion the busonly lanes, as well as enhance bicycle facilities, because these projects without the statutory exemption can be held up for years sometimes in litigation. We do understand that there are amendments pending to the bill that would address some of the concerns weve heard that have been raised with the author. In particular, amendments to strengthen the Public Engagement process. And so we are recommending a watch position until we see the amended language and see how stakeholders, such as environmental and social justice organizations respond to the amendments. If there are concerns are addressed. As mark noted, especially with the extendedded recess, only the highest priority bills will be moving forward. If this doesnt make it through the legislature this session, senator weiner has indicate that hell pursue similar legislation next session. And so as a reminder, this is a watch position, not an action and i provide staff with direction to closely public bill, engage with the author and report back to at a future meeting, potentially with a recommendation to take an action. And so just quickly an update on whats going on at the federal level, as executive director chang reported in her last executive directors report. On june 22nd, House Democratic leadership released hr2, which is also known as the moving forward ability. And we did want to report that did pass out of the house on july 1st with a vote along partylines. Its a 1. 5 trillion infrastructure package with one billion is things for schools and safe water and clean energy, but really the cornerstone is the 500 billion reauthorization at the current federal transportation bill which expires on septembe september 30th. It represents an almost 50 increase above current spending levels and really focusing in on urban transportation and transit, as well as creating a new Climate Change program. And on top of that, it does include, in the first year, some flexible relief funds for local and state governments to respond to the covid crisis. However, it was a partisan effort so weve heard its pretty much dead on arrival at the senate. However, the senate did release its own proposal last year, at least for the surface transportation portion and we had heard that things were changing everyday and we had heard nothing would move forward and now were hearing that the Senate Leadership may be open to considering some stimulus package this year still, but given the challenges of that legislative schedule before the recess for the november election, we are placing our bets on a bill that just continues the current federal transportation package. And so, with that, just wanted to note we are actively advocating at the senate level and during reconciliation on the reauthorization package, but then, also, most importantly, looking for other covid relief package for transit to get the essential funding we need to keep Transit Services running. And so with that, im happy to answer any questions. Thank you, commissioner yee. I wanted to express my support to senator weiners bill, to watch. Theres a tendency to tip aaway a lot of the validity to express their concern and sometimes i believe some of it is warranted and i support it, but i also am on the side of being cautious of not wiping out everything that exists for people to, basically, articulate and express their concerns about any projects. And so, thank you very much. Thank you, commissioner yee. Are there any other questions or comments for miss crab or mr. Watts . Commissioner preston . Yes, i just wanted to add a piece of federal legislation that has been announced into the various bills that youre tracking, and hopefully it is on your radar and would love at the next meeting to have some update. Iona presley is introducing the freedomtomove act, which is it would incentivize fair, free transit, as well as having provisions to approve safety and quality of transportation and address equity gaps. I think its an interesting piece of legislation,er