talk about what they have done, what they are doing, and their vision for the future. it is important that we assess where we are and what we have done as we move forward. i noticed ed harrington here, the director. this is one of my favorite apartments. when we turn on the tap, the water comes out. it runs our muni, it does a lot. i've been they have been responsive to the needs of the community -- i think they have been responsive to the needs of the community. people, especially waste water, they are so enthusiastic about what we do. i am proud about utilities and public utilities.

we are ahead of the curve in some many different ways. i want to thank all of the rest of you. i know them all by heart, thank you for all that you do. >> we also want to thank you for your leadership. so much of what we are dealing has been -- of what we are doing is spearheaded at the board. we bring good, clean water to san francisco. we take away not only sewage but storm water. we have carbon-free hydropower. some things are not so positive. we have construction impact that includes things like noise, holder, things that are not welcome -- odor, things that are

not welcome in the neighborhood. we are hopeful to have a net positive impact on the communities that we interact with. we are looking at a more focused effort to make sure that we are doing that well. we have of a lot of programs and it is a little scattershot. part of it is to add stocks from other people. as a supervisor maxwell estates, we have leaders in the department already. the general manager of the infrastructure, the general manager for waste water, and the improvement program. in a couple of weeks, she will start. we have a general manager for external affairs that will be the focus of this. we have also engaged two firms

to inventory what we are currently doing, to go out and see what others are doing. and finally, to come back and recommend policies that we can make sure we are doing as well. that is not just construction, it is how we are doing business all of the time. the initial status report, i will be asking them to do an abbreviated version of that. we are also partnering with the mayor's office of economic work force. we will be focusing on the community benefit that relates to work force development and jobs. it is such a critical part of it. i just wanted to bring them up to give you a few thoughts.

thank you. >> good afternoon, members of the board. we have been working collaborative the -- how collaboratively with the workforce and we've contributed our thoughts to the presentation and the overall work force effort. i wanted to acknowledge supervisor maxwell, we are now in our eleventh cycle. we ran over 500 -- placed over 500 individuals and out of the academy's -- out of our academies. the supervisors or our guest speakers. i think our shop will play an integral role in waste water

treatment especially on the construction side. and hopefully, as we move forward, we can figure out a stronger partnership. i believe strongly that the bigger hit is not so much construction, but the other jobs that come out of puc that are far better paying jobs, and a better career mobility. we hope to be working with the team and the consultants. we move forward on the inside game as well as the construction. with that, i am sure you will find more information. thank you. >> hello, good afternoon.

i wanted to thank the committee for the interest on the community benefits program. we are really excited that you are here to learn more about the community benefits program. i was serving as commissioner of the public utilities commission the last couple of years. we worked with staff as well as my colleagues on the commission. it was a landmark moment that we were finally able to get this policy past. shortly thereafter, the question came into play about how we utilize this policy. it will provide us with a framework to be able to do just that. we can put that policy in division -- and vision into

practice. and we hope to live up to being a good neighbor not just in san francisco, but all the way down santa clara county. we brought in two consultants to work with us. they presented to the public utilities commission on to no. 14. i wanted to share with you some of the main takeaways. the puc has been doing a lot of work that has fallen under the rubric of community benefits for a long time. supporting arts through the art commission, looking at internship opportunities for young people. the take home from the consultants is that it has not

been as intentional as they like it to be. the second thing i would like to share with you that i took home with me from september is that the community benefits program will ensure that we, as an agency, have an approach how we communicate with community members and people from the utilities commission. there is a real participation with stakeholders as we think about the impact in different places. the last thing is obvious, the timing for the program could not be better in the context of the improvement program. opportunities to pilot this program is huge. i know that my former colleagues are going to be looking for these as we think about the

implementation of the community benefits program. supervisor maxwell: people at home don't know what sip and everything is. it is important to say what it is so that they have an idea that -- sewer improvement program. it really helps to put that out there. >> d.c. were system improvement program that will be coming -- d.c. were system -- the sewer system improvement program that will be coming will be an extremely important opportunity that we will be able to do. i will turn it over to our consultants that have put together an abbreviated version of the presentation with public

utilities commission. supervisor maxwell: are they going to go over the recommendations? i would ask somebody what your feeling about those recommendations and what you're going to do about them? >> we will be able to provide all of those. >> good afternoon, supervisors. with me today is my colleague, we are the consultants that were brought on to help develop the community benefits policy. i want to applaud supervisor maxwell, when he introduced the first resolution for containing

community benefits. at the time, and general manager ed harrington, his commitment to the community benefits program. and the help -- and i thank them for their assistance. i would like to walk you through what we have done to date, providing an overview of our outreach, the introduction of community benefits, and our next steps. the project has been a huge undertaking. it has been many hours of research, talking to both internal and external audiences.

our progress to date, we have facilitated over 30 community meetings and stakeholder of reach interviews. we developed a website, created an inventory of benefits programs, developed a definition for community benefits. i will provide a little bit more information about what we have done. under outreach, we have talked to the stakeholders. strategically, as it relates to programs, that is what we are conducting. we have interviewed consecutive -- executive managers. the in the peninsula, the task force, we have covered ground to make sure that we have included

everybody in our review. the subcommittee, various others. we also developed a community benefits website that provides all of the information that we are providing to you today as well as the power point presentation and definitions. and an online survey that provides people the opportunity to give their feedback. we want to reach out to the broadest group possible. we also looked at the states across the country that are most similar -to san francisco when t comes to community benefits. chicago, new york, portland, los angeles, san diego, and silicon

valley. none of those utilities have a comprehensive program. san francisco can really be on the leading edge. supervisor maxwell: are most of those -- those aremunicipal -- are municipally owned? they are. -- >> they are. we talked to the community relations department to find out what they are doing. they are mostly related to infrastructure projects and related to shared agreement between construction projects and the community as opposed to a more sustainable at a long- term program. most projects are decentralized.

they are scattered all over the place. we also developed an inventory of the current community benefits program that we are undertaking. we have identified 80 programs. it is remarkable. puc has been working out there, just not in a coordinated way. the education and ecology center at fort baker, projects for youth, funding that goes to the arts, and environmental justice policy that was adopted in 2009. there are quite a few very engaging programs that are under

way. with that, i would like to turn it over to my colleague to tell you about our definition and our next steps to recommendation. >> is a pleasure to be here. i would like to add my congratulations to your efforts for pushing for community benefits and acknowledging the important work puc -- that the puc has done. i want to give you a little background on community benefits. we waited until we completed the stakeholder involvement before we came up with a definition of community benefits. there is no universal definition of community benefits. we came up with one that incorporates the thinking of

around the triple bottom line and sustainability. equity, environmental sustainability, and economic strength. you will see from the various programs that you have there on the inventory, 29 of them involve environmental programs or environmental justice. they have done a really great job in terms of assessing the economic viability of the project. we believe the equity peace deserves a little bit more attention at this point. that is what we are focused on in terms of community benefits. this is an area, looking at the mission, community benefits has always been a part of it. it needs to be more intentional. professional service providers and the community needs to look at community benefits.

it really depends on who the community is. the community is very broad, expands several counties and is regional. there are issues of gender, equity, and ethnic diversity. we have crafted a general definition that includes the requirement that outcomes be measurable and measurements be included. you have in front of you a draft definition, and you have a screen shot of the website we have developed for the community so that they can understand a sfpuc is intending to do. -- what sfpuc is intending to do.

and conceptualize and community benefits. we are happy at the end of this to take your questions and fold it into the final definition. at this point, the draft definition states that community benefits are the positive impacts resulting from development and operation of the waste water and power services. they need to be a good neighbor by all of those impacted by the services, and balance thesfpuc's economic, environmental, and social goals. they devote sufficient resources to achieve the following in outcomes. i will come back and talk about those little bit. you are looking at some of the programs we have identified in the assessment we have done.

the areas include the stakeholder and community involvement, workforce development, internal and external, environmental justice, economic development, arts and culture, health, education, land use, and financial contributions. we look at that to include volunteerism. stakeholder and community involvement is extremely critical. we put it at number one. when we talk about community benefits, it is critical that the community, and that involves all of the stakeholders, they are involved in the oversight review and modification of community benefits programs. they need to be informed, they need to understand what is being

proposed. they want to understand what their role is in terms of input. we have got this from a lot of stakeholder conversations that we have had. people don't want to be seen as a token. they want to be seen as an interval -- integral part of the programs. there are very good examples in the inventory of community involvement activities. that includes the task force, work that has been done not too long ago. supervisor maxwell: why would that be considered a community benefit? that benefits sfpuc, because in those people are involved in making sure they are educating themselves, how does that benefit the community?

>> you are right, it doesn't s effectfpuc -- it does benefeit sfpuc > thieeir input is valued. go ahead. supervisor maxwell: when i think of community benefits -- i think it's the same thing to a certain extent. how many things are we putting into community benefits? why don't you go on? >> i think you're right. there's clearly benefit for sfpuc. but what we saw when we did interviews, community members

felt slighted if they were not included. to have their input elevated to a point where their perspective is considered a valuable, we talk about community involvement and the colder involvement becoming real. there are ways that the community feels, they can give better input to the ultimate outcome. if they are involved in the design and oversight, it benefits them because it reflects their concern and their needs, their desires. what we found is that community involvement might mean something different than it does on the peninsula or in the south east. it is important to create some consistency around what stakeholder involvement must

include. it is important to take into account differences in community needs from community to community. it is pretty challenging, and because there is such a diversity of community that is involved with the service territory. certainly. >> i don't want to step on your presentation, but we know that these things are taxpayer dollars. taxpayers are looking for some sort of visual benefit. they know they are getting clean water, but they are also looking for more than that today. we know that whether you are a public agency or a private company, the people that you serve are expecting much more from their providers, not just in terms of the utility that they provide, but in terms of

the will and the investment and sustainability. and into the community itself, they want to be able to see that. supervisor maxwell: some of the things you have mentioned are things that people just expect these days. we have integrated a lot of those things, so i am thinking of it as community benefits. it could include this, but i was just thinking of it in a more narrowed view. >> it is important for the thinking of the commission. should it be something that only benefits the community and doesn't benefit sfpuc? supervisor maxwell: everything will benefit the san francisco public utilities commission.

if you benefit the community, you benefit the organization. it is not either or. >> there are other areas of involvement. and again, we will have some recommendations specific to this, because we think it is one of the core values in terms of community benefit the community be involved in the design and evaluation of what is ultimately supposed to benefit them. all of us, not them. us. this is both internal and an external. i want to just take a minute to talk about that. when people think about work force development, they think of it in terms of the external, ensuring people in the community get jobs.

i think we heard from representatives how important it is to have the work force development for needed between puc and the rest. we are tracking what is happening at the supervisor level. undoubtedly, it will impact the puc. there is work for a development that can influence what happens externally. -- or work force development that can influence what happens externally. there is a multi agency, multi- region commission to ensure that those that are doing the work and that are ensuring that there is waste water and electric power services, they are able to

do their work well. it is helping people to do their work productively and effectively, but also in terms of succession planning, it identifies where there might be opportunities to both allow the internal puc to move up, and actual jobs at puc. we think this is a great example of coordination that involves community colleges and best practices to emerge to ensure that the work force opportunities are really aligned with what the utilities need. the training provided is in alignment with what the utilities need. that is a really great example of what we call sector development in other places. the training is in line with the ultimate needs of the entity.

the environmental justice and sustainability -- there are many other issues around work force development. there are a lot of internship programs and work related to be sustainable agriculture and other efforts. as we look through the inventory, many of the items that we identified as community benefits straddle a number of areas. it might impact on environmental justice and sustainability that might also touch upon economic development. it is important that they are not silo'd so we can maximize the benefits. in environmental justice and sustainability, there are so many initiatives. these programs are the result of the great deal of initiative the great deal of initiative that has bee