favor? opposed? ayes have it. >> next item is the regular business calendar, agenda item eight, presentation and discussion of findings and updated information on the ongoing effort to develop a comprehensive community benefits plan that will facilitate real opportunities for city residents on sfpuc projects. >> good afternoon. i am actually pleased to invite the consultants up to give a report, but also, i would like to say that i am very excited about handing the soft as will as juliet comes on board -- handing this off as soon as juliet comes on board. with that, i wanted to bring of two people to bring an update, but i also wanted to give special thanks for helping facilitate the consultants in

doing their research to get to where they are today, so with that, could you guys come up? >> good afternoon, commissioners. i am with davis and associates communications. with me today is but neither reagan with meriwether and williams, and we are happy to bring our initial findings of the development of the community benefits project, but first, i wanted to thank and applaud the commission, a specially commissioned a julia ellis -- commissioner juliet ellis for your commitment developing a robust community benefits program. we would also like to thank everyone for their assistance in

the project. you have taken on this work with a view towards sustainability. we sought a wide breadth of programs that we researched and talked to so many people within the out -- within the agency and outside the agency. there is a breath of programs and much opportunity for staff and leadership to maximize what your doing to achieve greater community benefits. i will be taking you through the first part of our presentation, which is the outline of what we have done to date, provide an overview of our findings, and bonita will walk you through a first draft of our definition of community benefits, and lastly, our recommendation. because there's so much work around work force development, we concluded that work force development should primarily be directed by oewd and integrated into the overall benefits

program. she will address this later in our presentation. thus far, the project has been a huge undertaking, and we have spent many hours going over lots of documents, talking to folks in other cities, so now, i would like to direct you and walk you through what we have done to date. initially, we met with the commission, with the senior management and presented our project goals to you, the commission, in april. we conducted over 30 interviews, one-on-one, with people both internally and externally. we have held focus groups. we created a web site and an online survey, which you can find on sfpuc's website. we developed a mission to conduct a nationwide survey and contributed to the work force

strategy. we have also visited many of the facilities and toward the community benefits sites, and we have created an enormous, incredible inventory of community benefits programs. specifically, what we have done, as it relates to our research with the utilities we look that brought the nation, three of them being the top in the country, meaning the largest agencies in the country, we selected them based on geography, the size, and the location of those utilities as we did our research. we look at new york, chicago, los angeles, portland, san diego, santa clara, and east bay. we wanted to see where sfpuc was on the pendulum of community programs and how it stack up with other agencies across the country. in terms of utilities, the good

news is we are way ahead of the curve. you have some terrific programs. they cover many different areas. they can create sustainable relationships with the community and its customers, and we will talk about what we think should be the next steps. we also found that there is not a standard definition of community benefits. nobody has won. there is no set of guidelines anywhere throughout the country. even in australia. we look as far as australia to see what they are doing. they are very much in the leadership in this area of community benefits. all were subject to some kind of economic or political climate structural organization or legal restriction. most utilities offer the baseline of community benefits like education, sustainability,

tabling at community events. what we concluded was that out of all of those agencies was that there were three models -- there was a de-centralized model, which is one that is based primarily on a budget. whoever is in line first for community programs get that program. second, there was a case by case model, which was either based on pressure from the community. second, if you knew someone in the agency and are able to sell them your idea. thirdly, it was based on a particular -- excuse me -- it

was related to a capital improvement program. those were the three ways that a case by case model work. the centralized model is an overall community benefits program through a well-defined community actual program. under this model, the ordinance should have centralized leadership, which reports to the commission, board of directors, and has a quarterly reporting process, which reports on the overall progress of the program. project-specific, and projections for the future. the program sets the needs of the communities that they serve, while also converging the goals and interests of the municipality. so it was a centralized model, it would be someone like juliet leading up that charge and creating consistency with the programs. some examples are in los angeles, they have the million-

tree program, which is a program with the utilities giving away free residential shade trees to help conservation. it was a neighborhood council collaboration where they funded a collaboration of community groups throughout the city that were broken up into segments, and they assisted them with how to deal with government entities and how to request -- how to have government participation. in new york, they have a floating quality, which is a 20,000-square-foot sustainable design floating poll as part of a recreational investment. that is the new york utility system. that also have the historic park, a 10-story-deep project beneath the van cortlandt park in the bronx to address the construction of the bread and

loss of the use during its construction, a utility offered $243 million worth of improvements to dozens of parks throughout the bureau, hired and trained residence during construction, but dissipated in an apprenticeship program -- participated in an apprenticeship program, and provided education. they also have the way wall -- we've wall, which is based on a 1% fund -- wave wqallall, and ty use that money to beautify the exteriors. it forms the perimeter of the coney island water pollution prevention control plant, and it is funded through the city's mandate. you also in portland have the hydro park, which is the water facility that now serves as a

public open space, and they are usually in deficient communities where there is a deficiency of parks, and the agency works with the community to create hydro parks by installing binges, walking paths -- installing benches, walking paths, and that is to give you an example of some of the programs but some agencies are undertaking and underwriting through their community benefits program. we also have compiled a list of over 80 programs that sfpuc has going as we speak. there are 80 or more community benefits programs that are either managed, funded, or managed and funded by the sfpuc. they are a wide range of programs, and we have compiled a list in a binder here that we

will provide to you both electronically, on the website, and we will leave copies as well. a lot of them are organically developed. they are developed by people within the organization that felt the passion to do something more for the community. oftentimes, it is not sustainable because if that person leaves, there's no one to pick up the torch. we have also conducted stakeholder interviews and talked to almost every executive manager in the puc as well as senior staff, community groups. we talked to the southeast jobs coalition, save our sunol, se utilities commission, bay works, as well as the environmental justice subcommittee, and we still have more to go.

as a result of this, our findings show that the public is very excited about the fact that puc has made a tremendous effort to reach out to communities. particularly in sunol. the folks there were so delighted to have someone there just to listen to them and help address some of the issues that have been plaguing that community for a while related to puc projects and properties managed and run by puc. what we did find was that the community wants more. they would like to have a stronger community partnership, and they would like puc to be more part of their community. we have developed a community benefits website, and it is to increase public input. it is an opportunity for people to learn about what we're doing

as well as to provide input back to us through the online survey, and you can find that again on the sfpuc website. we have a banner there that will take you directly to the information about the community benefits program. with that, i would like to turn it over to bonita to talk about our definition of community benefits. >> good afternoon. i'm very excited to be here, and i would like to add my congratulations to the general manager, t juliet ellis, a friend of mine, and someone we hold in high esteem. i think it was a brilliant decision to uphold this position

or expand its response ability to really consolidate your action, and we want to thank the commission for the commitment to developing community benefits. you have a wide range of programs, and we will be touching upon them as we go through the definition. we were not able to find a universal definition of community benefits, not surprisingly. however, based on all the research we conducted, and we put the definition here at this part of the program, because it was informed by the many discussions we have as stakeholder outreach, the research we did, including independent research beyond what other utilities are doing, to come up with a definition, and we believe our definition complies with state and local requirements. we had some really great conversations about proposition 218, and about the administrative code, so we created a definition that we think is they're tight and that

also reflects the values of the public utilities commission -- that we think is air tight and that also reflects the values of the public utilities commission. that is balancing the goals of equity, environmental sustainability, and economic strength, and we believe the puc is very good at looking at the economic issues and has done an amazing job at looking at the environmental. we being the equity 1 is an area where there's a lot of room for improvement. we're talking about the stability. we're talking about given the bradth of the area that sfpuc covers, how community services are delivered. our recommendation includes 10 categories that have consistently come up. the definition reflects our agreement with commonly accepted

principles that community benefits must be measurable and have appropriate nexus to sfpuc services and activities. our draft definition, and we have provided you, the commission, with the draft definition that appears on the website. this presentation short of truncates it a little bit. we have also made some copies of the draft definition available for the community. as i said, it is also on the website. we are seeking the feedback of the community on this definition, as well as stakeholder feedback, which we hope to gather through the website and through the survey that is online where anyone in the community can look at the definition, look at what we put on the website, and give us input into what we are proposing. the draft definition reads -- " community benefits are those community impacts resulting from operation of its water,

wastewater, and community services, and this is on page 13 of your hand out on the powerpoint. "the sfpuc seeks to be a good neighbor and promote stability by trouble bottom line, which balances economic, environmental, and social equity goals." what you do not have in your powerpoint hand out, but which does appear in the draft definition and on the website is what one might call a value statement. the sfpuc creates measurable outcomes and devote sufficient resources to achieve the following 10 community benefit outcomes -- the first one is stakeholder and community involvement, and we put this first for a reason -- we believe that having your stakeholders involved in the design, development, the implementation, the monitoring, and the evaluation of your programs is critical, and you have some excellent examples in terms of

the community advisory committee, the dead just a task force, and eight range of other communities stakeholder involvement vehicles throughout your area. the second area is workforce development. we look at both internal and external. we know there is a great deal of interest being paid to what we might call the extra oil issues around local hiring, a round mandatory local hiring, and around a citywide project labor agreement, and we have been closely tracking the activities of the facilitated discussion that has been called for or at least is helping to informed decisions at the supervisor level. we know that the supervisors are very interested in coordinated work force development, and we believe it is important for puc to work closely with the office of work force development. we have seen in many areas that that is happening, and we are very encouraged by many

discussions recently and actions that we think will result in greater hiring of residents and opening up opportunities for those stakeholders in the community who are dying to get involved. internally, we were delighted to learn about bay work. we think this is an excellent sample of both how puc can look at session planning, identify key knowledge skills that are necessary for people to do the work and deliver the and deliver sfpuc seeks to deliver, and we think there are opportunities to open it up so that not only people are pleased with their work, but that those opportunities that will emerge from so many of the advance, and experience who may be retiring soon, that those positions can then be filled by folks in the lower ranks and also members of the community who seek to work with puc.

the project labor agreement that is part of the wsip program, has delivered excellent results, and we know there are steps taken to really strengthen the job training and opportunity program. with -- we know that they're working with a range of local work force development organizations. we know there is a small business task force. there are lots of ways the community is involved and the community benefits are delivered, and we look forward to both helping to strengthen that and move it along. we also saw it within the work force development arena, a number of internship programs. we think there are some opportunities to really streamline what is happening, reduce any redundant efforts, and again, create opportunities for young people to know and understand what sfpuc is doing and see that as a possible

career that might help them in their studies to do better and see that there is some in point and some success that they could have in their young lives as they prepare for their careers in the environmental justice of reappeared obviously, puc has gone far beyond what any other agency has done, by adopting not just environmental and sustainability policy, but an environmental justice policy, and we see there are a lot of opportunities for that policy to be implemented. we discovered, and i have to really take my hat off -- i do not have one on, but i have to say i was blown away by the staff and the amount of work that has gone into developing a sustainability matrix, identifying baseline sustainability criteria, and really providing criteria for how you measure sustainability, what the successes might be, and again, i'm very excited about

the prospect of real attention being paid to this project being consolidated. in the area work force development, your adherence to the local enterprise policy, the ways throughout the region your stakeholders have talked about utilizing local workers and local businesses and local resources to support the puc -- it was very inspiring. in the arts and culture are arena, there are many opportunities to celebrate local artists, to celebrate and used part as a way of educating the community not only about art, but about how the puc works in its role in the community. we did not see health as a criteria for component of other community benefit programs, but we see what puc is doing as a way of having opportunities to

improve health in the community, not just with the mitigation of orders and traffic congestion and other things that result from development, but by the maintenance of open space and parks and recreation areas so that people can develop healthy recreation lifestyles and see puc as a partner in developing positive outcomes. in the area of education, i will not go into detail, but there are so many ways to augment what is happening in the public school district and teach young people about the ways that water, power, and wastewater services are delivered that will enhance their understanding of physics, knowledge, math, so we are hopeful that education will be a very important part of the community benefits policy that we propose you develop. land use -- we have to give proper to gary and his group. they are doing an amazing job of documenting the land use that is made available to the community

in a variety of ways -- with that, and i know you as a commission had received reports about all of the areas and how land use is used to benefit the community. we do think there are some ways where guidelines and criteria can be developed so people who are not now taking advantage of those lands can have an idea about where they need to go as opposed to using the squeaky wheel concept. they really would have an understanding. we think the attorney's office could be very helpful in helping to give information about what those guidelines might be. diversity and inclusion is an area we think is critical in terms of diverse members of the community participating in planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, and there are ways that bought puc's resources -- there are ways that puc's resources can be made

available. this was brought up in groups of people who may have language difficulty understanding english, so we think this is an area where there is lots of room for opportunity. finally, financial and in-kind contributions. that means not just money, but the staff time that is devoted to boards and commissions and task forces that shows the community that sfpuc really cares, so i'm going to move into some of our initial recommendations. first is that the community should adopt the statement and develop an agency-wide community development program. we think the concept should be integrated into the core mission of puc and that it needs to come from the top down. we think you, as a commission, and the general manager harrington, harlan kelly, and all of the staff that we talk to are very committed to community

benefits. we think with coordination at the level you are now proposing, that you will go leaps and bounds ahead and be the real trend setter, and really the benchmark for what community benefits really means in the context of a public utility. we think the community should develop long-term plans to sustain public involvement, beyond the development and implementation of the wsip and thessip. while folks are engaged now, we would love to see a way for that community involvement to continue. third, we think the community benefit program should be coordinated and sustainable across all enterprises, and we talked about creating a shared vision not just to run community benefits, but a shared vision where all three enterprises are working together in a unified manner. four, due to the importance of community benefits, we believe the puc should provide

coordination and management had a senior staff level. i will leave that alone. we have made great progress in that arena. 5, to develop clear guidelines for recruitment, participation, abolition, and evaluation of stakeholder participation. we have seen, through many of the stakeholder processes, that there is a lack of clarity on how they stay engaged, how they get information, and how decisions are made. we have put all of the back from materials we have been working with together in a very large binder. not sure where it is, but we are also going to blow all that information on the web site because we want all the community and stakeholders and commission to have access to the wonderful material we have been looking at, and you have the website there, sfpuc- communitybenefits the board --

sfpuc-communitybenefits.org. we want to finalize the definition of community benefits. again, we would love your input. you will find on that definition of community benefits that we have handed out to you contact information for myself, so that if you have questions or concerns or ideas, we would love to hear them, and we put that same invitation out to anyone who is with me, and members of the community. we will produce a final written report with recommendations for a proposed community benefits program by december 1, and the proposal will include both proposed implementation structure as well as metrics for developing and measuring benefits and success in the community benefits program. with that, i will end and invited me questions.

again, thank you for your commitment and attention. commissioner crowley: colleagues? >> i have a couple of comments. thank you so much. it is really exciting work you are taking on, and we really appreciate all your hard work. i guess i want to speak on the environment perspective. i think there is so much potential in there as well. i know you are looking for some feedback on the definition, and i think you are pretty right on. i might add a couple of words. i also think there is an opportunity not just to preserve and expand what we have, but to identify new projects, new programs, that we can then use to see if they work. like the living machine, for example, and how that affects the community. whether it is job