game midstream is probably the worst way for us to come in. what we were proposing is that we will take on things and then we are at the table, at the planning phase and can no how those conduits are being designed, know that it meets all of our requirements. it can be properly maintained. >> what i'm hearing is that this commission would be relatively comfortable with us setting the standards. let's look and see if we can get the benefits of setting the standards and take a special look at the fillmore. let us look and see what we can

do and bring that back to you. moccasin compound-- president vietor: any public comments on this? >> proposed upgrade to the facilities at millbrae yard, sunol yard, and moccasin compound. >> we had a number of items related to fixing the different facilities we had. you asked us to come up with a more global view. item 12, before asking you to approve that, we wanted to get back with a larger discussion of what we are trying to do with those yards we maintain. mr. ritchie? >> steve ritchie, assistant

general manager for water. the millbrae yard upgrades are on the 10-year capital plan, funded by water rates. the moccasin compound is part of the hetch hetchy budget. it has a little bit of a different character. that is one that has caused some questions here. i am going to cover all three of these facilities. first, just looking at what we are talking about are fairly old facilities. millbrae yard was established in 1900. we have 200 employees there. sunol yard also dates prior to 1900. it accommodates 30 employees on the east bay side. the moccasin compound was established in the 1920's. you have about 200 employees. between these and the least

basin, this is the place where over half the water department works. the of the core of where our operation is outside of san francisco. we have a number of drivers for the upgrades we are talking about here. modernization of these facilities -- a lot of them are very old facilities. and consolidation of staff into the right places. we have looked at where we should move stuff around. safety and efficiency considerations are also a big piece of this, trying to make sure our folks are working in modern, say, efficient facilities. some of you have been to them. some of you have not. this is a photograph of millbrae yard, looking toward the yard. it is set well back from the street and is a fairly large complex there. this is an aerial view of it. there are existing facilities right there. there is administration -- an

administration building which is an unusual shape. in 1960 to design, i believe. we have empty spaces there and some large shop facilities in the existing facilities. our objective as part of the upgrade is office space consolidation. release about 16,000 feet. we want to consolidate those employees back into millbrae yard. modernization and consolidation. we would be devoting the entire administration building to laboratory facilities. we really have a need to modernize our laboratories and bring them up to date. we would be eliminated in the laboratory facility in the southeast water control plant and relocating that facility down here for a much more efficient and modern laboratory. at the same time, we would be modernizing the shops and providing for security

improvements. this is a quick shot of the administration building, the laboratory, from the ground level inside the yard. it is a little bit of a vintage building. they call this midcentury in real estate ads. this is one of the less attractive areas of the yards. this is the trailer facilities. note the blue tarp roof, which is what you do when they start to leak a lot. we have some older facilities there. this is the proposed site plan. one component would be building an anonymous building close to the street, fronting on the street as opposed to setback as are now. that would be where the staff would be working and the main administration buildings that currently exist would be devoted to a laboratory facilities. that would be a major change. there are a few other improvements.

you can take a look at this yard and it looks like a farm. that is basically what it has been for many years, over time. that was located in the snow valley. the large yellow-circled area is where the yard is. the small yellow circle toward the southern part of the photograph is where the sunol temple is that we have "worked into overtime. sunol yard upgrades are modernization and consolidation. to be moving some staff from millbrae to sunol. there would be modernization and security improvements, public amenities as well as for us. alameda watershed would be part of this.

this was originally a primary residence out in sunol. this represents sunol, which looks like a barn. a lot of things are stored outside. we would be moving to a lot more inside storage and removing older structures to put in modern facilities. this is a photo of the sunol temple, one of the major features of their in sunol. we had the 100th anniversary not long ago. this is looking down the temple access road, which runs straight down for about a mile, back to calaveras road. we are talking about here putting the watershed center off to the left side of this photo, which purchased -- pe

rches on top. this is a simple line drawing encasing all the guard in a modernized cents, providing for shop buildings along the lower line. to the right is the main administration building. there are warehouse facilities to the north of this. this is consolidating and paving this whole area. it is partly unpaved and full of potholes. it is dusty in summer and muddy in winter. this is a challenge in place to work. this is a shot of what we actually displayed at the sunol event in september of some visions for the alameda creek watershed center. we envision the three buildings that would be off to the left of the temple. there would include a classroom, meeting room, and interpretive

facility. this should be something people could use for educational purposes, for making purposes for us, for other public agencies, and for folks in the local area, learning about our facilities and using them as community access. we are working on trying to define those interested needs out there in the area. lastly, the moccasin compound. this is a view over moccasin reservoir. the dominant feature there is the old power house, the brick- colored building to the center right of the photograph. to the left is the current administration building. to the far left is the old power -- is the new powerhouse. these are vintage facilities. the old power house was built in the 30's. the new power house was built in the '60s. this is a quick over head of the

existing moccasin facilities. this was the original company town there. there are lots of buildings spread over this area. the ones that are labeled are part of the operation. there are many smaller buildings that are not labeled. those are cottages that in some cases are rented out to employees and in some cases are empty. the ec and number of powerhouse facilities, a number of shops on the lower part, surveyors, artie -- rt, engineers, and other things in this area. our objectives are office space consolidation. the we are looking at reuse of the old power house. this is an issue we talked about in the budget. this has been sitting there for a long time. there have been desires to do something or not with it. i will show you the status right now of it. it is time to come to grips with that. modernization of our shop and

security improvements. right now, it is fairly easy to get into moccasin. we need to get better control. we have to eliminate health and safety issues in the compound. there is an exterior shot of the old powerhouse. you can see a little bit that some of the beautiful glass window there is broken from rocks. it is a mature building. you can see the paint flaking off. there are issues with mold and other problems we have to deal with with this building. this is a shot of the old power house when it was a powerhouse. that basic image is one where there is lots of light that comes in from these large windows on either end of the building and along the upper stories. this is a very open, like space. in talking with the bureau of architecture, there is great opportunity to do something very constructive with the space internally. that very old, thick wall --

they do not build them like they used to. this one has some energy and vintages we might want, going forward. >> is its seismically sound? >> one of the things that needs to be done with the old powerhouse is structural upgrades, because it is in a position now where it could collapse, if we just let it sit there. i would not put an exact date on it. if there is a seismic event or just sheer old age, like some of us get that way over time. this is what it is currently used for, which is storage of large pieces of equipment that are used in the moccasin effort. that is something we need to provide for. it is a function. but that huge space is underutilized. we just have to come to grips with the cost of doing this. right now, our administration

facilities are spread throughout the compound. the idea of consolidating them in here, where we have built structural supports around the edge of the building, it might be like the ferry building. it is a good possibility. we have a number of modular buildings there, some of which are 30 years old. they have issues where they are in the middle of starting to have some structural problems. the idea of consolidation is very attractive here. we have some different things we can do. here it shows red text and black text. the first option is building a new administration building. the existing at fenestration building is like a slightly converted old hotel. the offices there are very small. it is kind of a rabbit warren. one option is to build a new administration building with a

worker support facilities. the other option is to do something in the old power house, where it would consolidate administration functions and workers support facility to make sure that function is consolidated in a constructive way. we are looking at the costs. now, it costs more money to convert the old power house. one of the things i have requested of the engineers is an energy use comparison over a 50 year life. if you use an older building like that, i think chances are good that we would have lower energy costs. nobody has done that analysis yet. that is information we are looking for right now. in total, we are looking at some significant dollars here for facilities, but i think that are well worth it. we are talking about a place where half the water enterprise works. these are people who are out there making the system work.

they need to make sure we are providing an efficient, safe places to work. there are schedules laid out there. we currently meet on a biweekly basis to make sure these are staying on track. even as it is, we are talking two to three years out on an optimistic schedule before we can start construction. we are in the midst of environmental review for millbrae yard and engineering for all three facilities. we have a contract for environmental review for moccasin. completion of construction would be five to six years out. one of the things are looking at is opportunities to save some of these through cash flow, staff accommodation, and a work point of view to come up with the best schedule for all this. we believe these are really important projects to move forward with. i will be happy to answer any

questions regarding them. vice president moran: i spent a fair amount of time looking at this and i think you have certainly laid out the case for why these facilities need some attention. i know moccasin in particular is one that we have always regarded as historic and quaint. but the fact is that the staff requirements there have outstripped the facilities that are there. that said, the thing that gives me some concern is at the same time we are asking prepares for a whole lot of money to take

care of the system as a whole, spending a lot of money on administrative facilities has the wrong field to it. i think both of those are facts, and one does not contravene the other. where that leads me is that i would be -- you have some discussion here about the phasing. you mentioned there are pluses and minuses for stretching it project out. i would like to see an implementation plan that does in fact stretch things out. you may want to bring back more than one implementation plan so we can take a look at that. there are some facilities that -- the pictures we saw during the budget presentation make it very clear that there are some things we just plain not need to deal with and sooner is better than later. there are other facilities that are in pretty good shape. that are not sufficient for

growth. they can probably be used better in a different way. but those are things that are lower on the priority list. i would like to see the program -- and implementation plan that stretches that out over some time so the annual contribution is not a huge, and we can get the parties -- let the priorities work themselves out as we go forward. >> we would be happy to do obviously whenever you would like. the think part of it is that we have started discussions about these facilities so often and they have always been pushed to the back. we can phase in the construction. in many cases, the financing would be phased in so there would not be a hit in a year for these. they would be paid off over 30 or 40-year bond lives. whether it happened in 2016 or

2019, the real cost would be through 2014. we can get back with phasing, but it is not going to change the rate in any given year by anything like the total amounts here, because you would be stretching it out over the full bond life. vice president moran: and i am not suggesting we fundamentally put off this issue again. it has been put off a very long time and we need to do with it. getting started on it is a good thing to do. i think that may turn out the resource over sometime would make some sense. i would like to take a look at what that would look like. >> any other? president vietor: other comments? vice president moran: is this an action item? >> it is not. the next item, item 12, is an action item. vice president moran: the

environmental work for the other two is already funded? >> that was approved and funded last year, about april 2010. at the time, we had moccasin up, but there was only one bidder and it was not a satisfactory bid, so we send that out again. vice president moran: we haven't called that item yet, but i have no problem proceeding with that. that actually is a place where we can look at some alternatives and deal with some of the phasing issues. president vietor: if there is no public comment on item 11 -- i am sorry. please come forward. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i have a public comment regarding the communications and re-branding proposal. is now inappropriate time or do away to the end? president vietor: i hate to make you wait longer than you have, so go ahead.

>> my name is joseph christie. i am a san francisco resident. i wanted to address some of the concerns commissioner thorez -- torres was raising. you did raise some valid concerns regarding economics. we are in a tough time. it would be wrong to spend a lot of resources and wisely. but with that said, as a ratepayer, when i hear sfpuc i do not know what that means. i think it is important for ratepayers to know what they are paying for. for me to hear water, power, and sewer associated with that, it makes it much more clear. with regard to costs, it appears the costs of already been spent. it also appears that, based on the presentation, the design was

received during an interview process. so maybe it was free or at very low cost. maybe not. regardless, the point is that the costs have been spent with regards to design. if new cards are going to be issued, they are going to have to be issued regardless. if it is the case that business cards are very expensive to print because of this gold logo, maybe a redesign will actually save money if business cards can be printed in house. let's see, what else. in conclusion, i am right pair and it is great to know what i am paying for. i think the brand does that successfully by incorporating water, power, and sewer. i think that redesigning it further will cost more money. i think that postponing it misses out on an opportunity to

help communicate the sfpuc brand. sfpuc does a lot of wonderful things and people do not know for the most part what it is. thank you. vice president moran: just to be clear, i do not think this gentleman works for us. [laughter] we welcome comments. >> the comment on the item you were actually on. this is very difficult for me to speak to. i am concerned about the cost and the money. but many of the facilities have not changed since i worked for the department 20 years ago, and it is time. commissioner moran is right. what i would ask, given the

sensitivity about spending money, is that you keep commissioner torres. provide a simple explanation to the public so they can understand why this is necessary now. the employees need efficient, safe places to work. safety is a concern, just like the seismic condition was a concern. that is easy to get behind. we have been to budget cuts. everyone has been to budget cuts. i was not here for your budget hearings. it is hard to justify in these times. to the extent we can make this simple for people to understand, that would be very appreciated. president vietor: i think with this communication strategy project that if we can come up with a series of explanations that are easily accessible and simple for the public to understand on the special financial pieces, but also the effect it might have on the rate payer or the user, it would be

helpful. and guess that is a challenge for the communications team. anything else on number 11? >> item 12, a discussion of possible action to approve the selection of esa+orionjv, awarding been -- awarding the hetch hetchy-funded facilities upgrade to complete an environmental impact report for the moccasin facilities. president vietor: any comments? questions? all those in favor? opposed? thank you. next item. >> the next item is hour closed session. if you would allow me to call for any public comment on any

closed session item. we have no speaker cards. there does not seem to be any public speakers. the next item is motion on whether to assert attorney- client privilege regarding matters listed below as conference with legal counsel. may we have a motion? president vietor: all those in favor? i will -- >> i will read the items. 15 -- threat to public services or facilities. 16, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation parian 17, conference of legal counsel, existing litigation, da ren kuang et al.

if you could now move into a closed session. president vietor: