office, i have been trying to solicit ideas of how we can do better. >> thank-you. >> mr. al curry? and we'll close with the -- >> [inaudible] >> sure. sure. ma'am? can you -- >> good afternoon, my name is al curry, al curry trucking. mr. kelly, you -- yes, ma'am. mr. kelly, you sort of hit on it a few minutes ago.

my question to all the different agencies up here, i want to thank all of you for coming. i have been in the trucking business for about 35 or 40 years. i have been right here in this area. one problem is the payment and you are just beginning to hit on that. years ago, when it was set up, we were being paid a 30-45 days after we submitted the invoice. there is a rule in the payment of saying that we would get unpaid as small businesses whether the contractor got paid or not. my question to you, why hasn't that been forced for all of the different agencies? i have worked for the department of public works, the puc, i haven't been paid for july on

crystal springs. i just got paid for june and up on the hunters point project. that is happening all the way around. i have a line of credit, but the line of credit only goes so far. so what are you guys going to do to make sure that we as a small businesses can take in order to stay in business? you guys are creating opportunities for us to get these jobs, but we can't stay in business if we can't pay. we can't afford to carry big businesses. so what are we going to do to try to increase payments to us on time? >> i think one of the challenges that we looked at, some of these companies don't submit monthly invoices.

the package two or three and when asked, where is my money, they say the city has its. they call me and i am looking, web corps for example. you worked on 525 with me. one of the things that we are working on, we are moving to online invoices, and one of the things that we are doing is that we will turn it on next month. if they list you as a sub, we will notify the they have been listed and how much. if you have the issue with how much you are enlisted for, you need to talk to them. the second thing is that once they are paid, we actually deposit into their bank accounts, we notify them that

they have been paid so that you can go and collect. everyone is calling because they blame us. that is the system we are putting in place. the contractors don't like this, but we are trying to be transparent. as far as you mentioned, 10 days, i think the theme that we are trying to make sure that happens is that they pay the subs within three days, and that is what we are trying to make happen. >> i am glad to hear what the puc is doing. we need to follow their lead with automated notifications. what we have noticed is that

they are not billing us on time. and when we pressure them to submit their invoices, they will say that they are carrying 27 or 30 subcontractors and we're waiting for two of them to submit their paperwork. that is a big problem. when we get wind of it, we addressed it. they don't like to do it because it creates a lot of additional of the minister of work. when we learn about it, we pressure them. we make about 90% of all the payments within less than 15 days. we have a high record of extraditing that. but we can talk to them afterwards and figure out how we can implement some of their practices. >> we are very much aware of the

issue. one of the things that takes time on the applications is the review process. please get submitted by contractors on the fifth of the month and there can be another five days, 10 days of review. we have changed our policy and asked for a draft to be submitted no later than the twenty fifth of that mother, meaning they you know what work you have done up until that point and we will let you project the rest of the month so that we can start the review process. the way all the approvals and everything are in place. we are very much aware of this problem. there are things that we can do to brake the -- break the rigidity of this. it is a slow turnaround to get everyone comfortable with that, but we are working on it. >> housing authority? do you have a prompt payment

policy? >> our contracts are paid, they are established with each contractor. we pay within 30 days. if that is something that sounds like it is of interest to local businesses, i can take it back. at this point, we pay within 30 days. >> on the central subway project, we are committed to complete transparency and will post to the day that invoices were submitted had when they were paid so that all of the subcontractors have access to that information and to know when invoices are submitted. they know to go to the prime contractor. additionally, they will know

when it has been paid. finally, we have access to compliance officers that handle the proper payment issue so that if it is not being paid, they can contact the compliance officer for assistance and they will investigate it. %zgv>> we have one more. >> i believe suppliers fall under the same requirements as subcontractors do. i wonder if you have any mechanisms in place for suppliers to go through -- it

falls under the definition of a subcontractor. >> some of the things that we have done, you have miles of diameter pipe. we typically pay when it is installed. they deliver it in the warehouse and have to wait until the contractor installs it before we pay. of a sudden, there is no material. one of the things we have looked at is for suppliers, and we will pay a portion of the money. what?

so maybe we can talk about -- how you know, we can try to be creative. >> the other entity then you could possibly talk to would be the purchasing department for the o.c.a. the are responsible for the procurement of commodities. >> [inaudible] >> we can talk about it as far as participation. >> we have been talking a lot about the trade packages. for every contract, we list of all of those so that the subcontractors and suppliers

know who to submit bids into to approach for other opportunities because a dozen and -- we published the list of the contact information so that you can call them. all of them require temporary toilets for field staff and they have hired that service. they should be looking at all of the projects. >> you hear that the trade packages are going to keep coming. we're working in different models of delivery and we have a contact of information whether it is a design builder. you will have it before this -- before construction even starts. i know that there has been a general service trade packages

that include the type of work the you do end the taking bids on those types of things. you guys talk about contract compliance hasn't payments and stuff. who watches you guys? i am a woman own business. i have done all of these certifications and there is an ongoing contract for the city had a contractor was given that and charges what he wants. i had tried the opportunity. i have a small business, i can't afford a lawyer. i have been trying to do business and i have been denied. tell me, where do i go from here so that i can have the opportunities that everyone else has? anybody. the port authority?

the housing authority? >> we will have one last person. >> i am going to be very quick. i would like to say that the majority of us here are contractors, consultants and we offer professional services or whatever it may be. we are accustomed to getting paid at the very end of the 30 days. not to be disrespectful, but it would be really great if we can get all of our checks on time. you get paid, i am assuming, every two weeks. imagine how it would be to get paid every 60 days and you're trying to run a small business.

that is the first thing i want to say. just to be mindful of that, i wanted to follow up -- we have come to these meetings and events and we talk about what we want and what we don't have. i don't know if you heard, he basically said that he would want to talk or some of the other departments here will talk to small business owners. we are in recessions of the way that we used to run businesses are not the way we are running businesses today. i am a little afraid to get some contracts because i am hearing that their payout is 90 days or so. of the contract that we do have, it is every 15. following up with mr. kelly, i really want to make sure that some of these other contractors that are larger than my business is today, that they can sit down

and talk about other ways of how we can actually get more business and make sure we are getting paid on time. and any other concerns that these small business owners have right here, not just in this community, but overall. we have a tendency to forget. as some mentioned, lines of credit can only go so far. >> one final speaker, mr. robinson. >> i just wanted to address the panel, and particularly the young lady that works for the mayor's office of economic workforce, this is not good faith. this is title six. pertaining to -- talking about

the jobs, to be in the improvement of that. the perfect example is the mta. they promised that they would build three parking garages. we have one. they did parallel parking, but not the three parking garages. the city of san francisco is in violation when it comes to federal dollars. if you don't know the law, you can't address the law. i this want to make people aware that we don't have to beg for these jobs. we have an entitlement. >> perhaps you and i can have an offline conversation. >> this is not an attack, we have the killing in september 24

as of 1956 with matthew johnson by san francisco police officer and 45 years later, on the same thing. we are still looking for opportunities. it sounds good, but it is not being implemented. who is holding this panel accountable to the law? someone has told the panel accountable. if i am going down the street 65 miles an hour, i am in violation of the law. the city, county, san francisco is in violation of the law of title 6. >> thank you for all the great questions. for closing, which have our commissioner. >> i want to thank his supervisor cohen for posting

this. this is actually the beginning of a dialogue between the community and the departments in your supervisors. i want to thank the panelists of the department for coming. and giving the information that they did. i would like to thank you for coming and also for welcoming us to your community. we basically -- our goal in this district is very important to us right now. all of us see the high unemployment over 30%. we see the opportunity for development in here. it probably has the largest opportunity for development in the entire city. what we're doing, we do the certification, we like to basically find the small

businesses, identify them, certify that. we are also responsible, one person questioned who is looking after if i have a complaint about a contract, where do i go? you come to us. we will look into it for you. we will also work with the department's, and on the ordinance, the few things we talked about, i will be talking about profit payments for years. just like when you mail a package, you can go on line with the tracking system, that is the ultimate goal.

the ultimate goal is to get there. it is basically your lifeline, there will get the payment as soon as possible. we have worked about alternative dispute resolution so that you don't have to pay an attorney. harlan kelly has been instrumental for bringing several people to the table and making sure that it has actually put together in a fashion that works for you guys.

the departments are working very hard to break the contract as much as possible so that the small business, the micro business can participate and obtain these contracts. our biggest goal is to the make sure that businesses are certified and the ultimate goal is to see will graduate from the program. that means that we have succeeded if you have exceeded the threshold. thank you for coming, and let us know if we have any concerns with the human rights commission at let's look at this town hall meeting as the beginning of this dialogue so we can have more in the future. >> please have some refreshments, for all of those the have nots. how you are very important to

us, and to thank my colleagues for taking out of their busy schedules to come and talk with you about the opportunities. please come up -- to talk with them.