motivated by these principles. i want to thank the department heads who have employed them. they allow these people to flourish, to be an autonomous, and move forward in a way that benefits the people of san francisco. we think the best and brightest should be in city government. the people here tonight are proof that they are. finally, i want to mention a very meaningful thing for me to be here tonight on the night we are giving a lifetime of work to ed harrington. [applause] when i arrived in san francisco coming out of state employment some six years ago or so, ed was very generous in giving me advice. to say -- i will call.

why are we doing this? who can i ask this question of? if i think it may have political implications or just to bounce it off him, he always has great devicadvice. personal thanks to ed harrington, as well. i will turn it back over to r m our emcee. >> a big round of applause. [applause] >> all right. thank you also my pleasure to introduce president of our board of supervisors, supervisor david chu. >> good government. evening. it's my honor to welcome you to our local version of the academy awards for city government.

yes, please give it up. i think our awardees look absolutely stunning tonight. i want to welcome you all to city hall. thank you for joining us in celebrating good government, celebrating san francisco. opera iit is often said that as goes san francisco, goes california. as those california, so goes the rest of the country. i want to thank the awardees tonight and all of our civil servants when you are helping us how to figure out how to better manage our parks, r-texas, to figure out how we deliver our water. we are setting in example truly to the rest of the world. i want to thank spur. i know that the best ideas in city government do not come from the politicians. they come from all of you.

i want to thank spur for helping to convene not just the smartest people in san francisco, but the smartest people from around the world to help us figure out how to innovate. it is my honor to introduce the first award thee of this evenin. this is a very unique award. this is the lifetime achievement award. mfac has to select one individual out of 26,000 who best exemplifies what service is to our city. when i was first elected to office, i asked a lot of people, literally hundreds of people, who is the smartest person in government. with all due respect to the other smart people in this room, there was one name that came up over and over again. that was our awardee. whenever i have a question that was difficult to answer, i would ask my staff, who are we going

to call? the same name always came up. it was our awardee. i'm going to tell a story that has not yet been told publicly, but i'm going to share it today. in late 2010, when the board of supervisors, when we were casting around for someone to play the role upon interim mayor, and when ed lee was still telling us he did not want to serve, i invited this man to my kitchen table, as did a number of my colleagues, to convince him. tonight we honor the career of a man who has served our city for 28 years, who has left us a legacy of which he and the entire city can be proud of. tonight, we celebrate the lifetime achievement of ed harrington. [applause] >> you really have to believe.

i will give you my trust. i will give you this authority, but you need to take care of us. that's your job. that is the important challenge. >> 20 eight years is a long time working for any place. i loved working for the city. two things come to mind as biggest accomplishments. one is, just keeping the place running. it's a pretty big accomplishment. if i had to pick one big thing, it would be helping to create the department of aging and adult services. we recognize people who were elderly or having to go to four different offices in the city. we changed it into one department with no wrong door. if you need those kind of services, you can come here. the way city government should work. it was a great thing to happen. i like to solve puzzles. i like to take things that do not work and figure out how to make them work. when i got there, it was the

place you went to get a no- answer. if you are thinking about a place to go in san francisco, you have a place to move something forward. you go to the co ntroller's office. there are no more important things that government does been water, sewer, and power. coming here was a great choice. a got all excited again about government and doing work. i've always had the view that all work is honorable. it does not matter what level you are at. if you are getting something done, that's a good place to be. you're looking at folks who have really stepped up. they have taken risks. they have made differences in lives and the work of the city. you do not stop and thank people often enough. you did not just to the regular job. you did more than that.

you did it very well. that is so important for the business community. i was born and raised here. it is home. it ihas always felt a comfortable place to live. it's part of my life. [applause] >> i want to -- here we go. [applause] this is the second time in our entire history we have given this award. thank you, ed harrington. >> thank you very much. thank you, david, for the nice introduction, and to mfac and spur for the award. when someone wants to give you a lifetime achievement award -- are you [laughter] dead] it is a nice thing to think.

i want to congratulate the other awardees and also the other nominees. i was nominated for this award several years ago and never won it. it is kind of like the academy awards. i have been extraordinarily fortunate in city government to have two of the best jobs anyone could ever have, the controller and the head of utilities for the city and county of san francisco. the rally has been a labor of love. i have enjoyed the substance of the job, the topics we engage in, but much more than that, the people. you have such incredibly smart, creative, wonderful, talented people that work for the city and county of san francisco who are so committed to public service and so intent on making sure we serve the people who come here and visit and the people who live here.

it's a wonderful group to spend the last 28 years of my life with. i'd like to thank everybody in the room. i cannot quite do that. i do want to make sure i recognize one person 3 without him, i would not be here at all. my partner and my husband of 38 years, stan. [applause] if i could say one more thing about management. you have to have a vision to know where you want to go. you have to the goals to figure out if you are accomplishing something or not. without good management, that all tends to fall by the wayside. to paraphrase an old song, without good government, it is like sitting in a rocking chair. it keeps you moving, but you go nowhere. with that, i want to thank spur and mfac. it is so important to recognize

the people in the city that are so good and so creative and reward them and celebrate that good management. keep moving the city forward, folks. [applause]

>> but it is not going to get this award next year. [laughter] technical difficulties. be patient. enjoy that fabulous bar. i just love landscaping. i grew up in a landscaping business. i learned to appreciate the outdoors. coming to rec and park was a natural transition. i started in may of 1998. i came in as a gardener and worked with the turf crew. i manage approximately 7,000 acres and i supervise 75 to 85 people under my direct supervision. i am responsible for eight parks more or less.

every day that i stepped out, i feel so fortunate and very lucky to work for an organization with so many different properties. each one is its own gem. harding park is one of the gems of the city. opened in the 1930's. cypress trees and rolling hills. a very well designed golf course. we've had a very successful presidents cup. the amount of spectators that it drawls, everyone from around the world -- seeing the course on television and the quality of work -- it is very impressive to me that we can do that on the public level. i have an extremely dedicated crew that worked with me. there's not a moment that i'm not proud of everything i see out there and all the hard work. i am very honored to receive an

award. i feel very fortunate to have people that will go above and beyond. it is due to their hard work and their efforts that they put on ain on a day-to-day basis. [applause] >> hi, everybody. i'm the general manager of san francisco's recreation and park department. it's my incredible pleasure and honor to introduce you are mfac award winner, steve, ste castil. >> i would like to thank spur and mfac. thank you for this honor. being selected to receive such a prestigious award is such a great honor, but i think even greater considering all the top

candidates. when i graduated from uc-davis, i learned the theory of being a manager. i needed something to show the reality but i quickly learned the best way to acquire these skills was to watch and work with senior managers in the rec and park department. i've been fortunate to work with three outstanding managers. they were instrumental in my growth as a manager. i thank them. another ingredient needed to be a successful manager is to have a great team. my supervisory team -- may have been instrumental in the golf and turf operations by completing tasks to the highest standards possible of any group of people i've ever seen. i would also like to thank the gardening staff, the teamsters,

the operating engineers, everyone who makes my operation possible, even down to the local vendors and everyone that keeps my organization running. thank you. as you all know, san francisco has hosted premier events, the charles schwab cup, the recent nfc championship games. these events put san francisco on a national stage. every employee, supervisor stepped up and made both events extremely successful. it was transparent to the attendees and the television viewers that there was a third team out there. that was the recreation and parks department. it is extremely proud of my team. add to this one of the most beautiful park systems in the world. i am extremely lucky. lastly, i want to thank my parents and my wife, vivian, and my two daughters, jennifer and

some of the, for their love and support. thank you. [applause] >> steve castile. [applause] >> i started working for the public works department 15 years ago. we are like a family. it is a very close-knit group. i think, because of that, we get the best out of people. one of the problems we encountered in the city was we were not able to pay our vendors and contractors. people were entering data inconsistently. documents were always getting lost. payments were not going out.

the numbers do not add up. everything has to flow horizontal and vertical leap. we created several modules to make it easier for contractors to attach the documents in a standardized format. we do not have to go deeper anymore. i don't have a formal education in i.t., however, i have deployed some systems when i was working for the industry, and i brought in young, energetic staff to help. we implemented this. it took three months. people knew when they were going to get paid. i think we have a happy contractor community. >> these system improvements have really it increased service to our clients and reduced costs and really improved the bidding

environment for our contractors. it's remarkable what she has done. >> been a public service -- being a public servant is a good thing. i love my job. i would never exchange it for anything else in the world. [applause] [applause] >> i am from the department of public works. i have the honor of introducing jocelyn quintos. i will just a real quick, jocelyn works very hard. through her work, a lot of contracts and a lot of work that she does -- she has brought new systems that have saved a lot of tand time and allowed us to give

contracts and make payments very fast. please meet jocelyn. [applause] >> first of all, i just want to thank spur and mfac for giving me this honor. i've never really won an award. it does feel like you won the oscars. it's different when you are standing here. i do not even have a written speech. i will speak from the heart. today is a very important day for me and my family because this happens to be my father's death anniversary. i want to dedicate this to my father. my mom flew in tonight. my brother, who works for bart. [applause] i have my nephew, who is here

tonight. i want him to see me so he can follow my footsteps sunday to give back to the community. with me here are my managers and supervisors. i also have my longtime friend, jamie, who has been here. i see my former boss here. i have been nominated so many times. it really feels like you won an oscar. lastly, i wanted to thank my husband, who has been not just a husband to me, but he has been my chauffeur -- [laughter] mike coy cook, personal photographer, and no. 1 critic. i know i forgot so many people

tonight. you know who you are. if i can give more to the city, i will. thank you. [applause] >> they have extra photographers that travel with them. let's hear it one more time for jocelyn and her family. thank you very much. [applause] >> i graduated from the university of california berkeley with a degree in civil engineering. i started with the department of public works in 1984. in 2003, i was asked to come to san francisco public utilities commission to take the meat on the program. i'm responsible for all the large capital projects for

water, waste water, and power. it's about $12 billion of capital projects. we have a lot of projects. our water system improvement program, 80 products that span seven counties. we have a staff of about 400 city employees and about 500 consultants. puc is really embracing technology. we wanted to make sure we really had a system that would elevate all issues so we could address them in a timely manner. as you know, time is money. we have a construction management information system. it is a great tool to help us address construction and make it successful, as it is today. cmis is one of the first major tools we put in place. the next one is the san francisco online invoicing, where we are now working with the contractor and consultant to have them submit their invoices

online. we are also working on electronic bidding systems. another way we can reduce the paperwork and all the other issues tied with the procurements. i live in san francisco. i am a rate-payer. i really care about the way we spend our money. systems like this that will allow transparency, clarity, accountability, and efficiency -- i think systems like this need to be applied to all parts of the city. we really strive to lead and embraced technology so we can be ahead of the game. [applause] >> we are spending $15 million per week just on our water system.

that does not happen without incredibly good management, personnel management and i.t. systems to make it work. harlan kelly is responsible for all of that. [applause] >> good afternoon. first, i would like to thank spur and mfac for this prestigious award. also, ed harrington for nominating me. also, a special thanks to my family. mason, kelly, tray, my wife, naomi, my sister joy, and my mother-in-law. they have been supporting me for a long time. behind this individual all board, there's a team of people that are responsible for making things happen. just for a moment, i want the puc to raise their hand and give a shout.

we have a lot of folks who really committed in making the systems wwork. again, we have billions of dollars that we are entrusted with delivering in a timely way, which needs to be within budget. systems like this will really elevate and make it really transparent that we are delivering these programs in a very conscious and deliberate way so we can save the ratepayers' money. with that, i just want to thank you guys for this award. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> if you are a consultant or

you work for a company that does work for the puc, raise your hand. that's about half the room. thank you, harlan kelly. >> it does not matter just where you're going to go. it matters how you're going to get there. our team came together in 2008 and we started looking at procuring something to navigate us away from paper-based to on- line filing. >> we collect the majority of the city's revenue. all of those payments were made by piper until we undertook this project. we asked the team -- how do we modernize how we do our work and provide better customer service of the same time? that made for a lot of work in our office. >> the team is an interesting combination of talents and personalities. we have a lot of people who stepped up and became real leaders for the project.

>> i've been working for the city for almost 20 years now. i've seen data entry, a paper form scanning, to online filing. we made it easier for the taxpayer to file. we were able to save a lot of money. >> the amount of support in this organization around change and each other is really incredible. you have senior managers who were just so open to the learning process. it makes the process so much easier. it is such a pleasure to go through. >> we have seen a reduction in paper that has been dramatic. we have converted nearly 100% of all of our paper filings to online filings. this work is critical to the city and county of san francisco. they delivered. they made it work. they succeeded tremendously. it has benefited the city and

taxpayers. >> everything we do tgoes to scale. it speaks volumes to what we have to do every day. >> i live in san francisco. i walk down our streets. i take our buses. i make use of the resources here. knowing that the work that i do contributes to everything around me is very fulfilling. [applause] [applause] >> hi, everyone. in the city treasurer in san francisco. it's my honor to introduce to you the team that brought the treasured tax collector's office to the 21st century. the municipal tax automation team, darrell ascano, tajel shah, and rebecca villareal- mayer, come on up. [applause] >> i've been anointed to speak for us.

jose has asked me to use my outside voice. we are so lucky. very rarely in your life to you get a blank canvas with leadership to tell you to find problems and solve them. i want to thank our leadership for doing that and giving us not only the opportunity to make change, but also to really make mistakes. i think that's a rare thing, to be able to make mistakes in this environment and continue to proceed and be successful. i mean it when we say -- what we end up doing is so different. we work to scale every day. we invite the people that we serve every day. thank you to the nominees. to our leadership, thank you. thank you to all the winners and to all the people we get to work with and serve. thanks. [applause]