our department so we have uniformity across the department. we will also be issuing some guidelines in the stand by rome -- realm about duties which are primarily administrative in nature, which is already existing language. one of the things the audit showed is that departments are not defining consistently -- different departments are using different definitions of what is primarily administrative in nature. we will offer some guidance to departments. chairperson campos: right now, are there guidelines that govern lead pay or standby pay? >> no. the standby pay section -- assignments that are primarily in administrative in nature are not eligible for standby. when the department asks dhr for

advice, we say it is primarily clerical, people in budget supervision who do not have the technical skills to turn the water off or get the computer systems running. they should be excluded. but we do not have written guidelines on that issue. chairperson campos: right now, you rely on a department calling you and asking you on that? >> we are -- we rely on the controller's office and the mayor's budget office. budget analyst -- we are not and auditing agency. we do not rely -- we do not do audits of departments. we rely on departments to ask us for advice. we find out to the budget process, for example, that departments are out of work. we move forward with the auditors. chairperson campos: is there a reason we have not had guidelines? just wondering. >> i would not say there is a reason. we've had these provisions in

place for at least four years, back when this was controlled by the board. now, it is controlled in the collective bargaining process. literally, as we go into our new payroll system, we are being forced to configure it every single practice or contract. that is, frankly, allowing us the ability to see all of these in one place and react to them. chairperson campos: i am glad you are establishing those guidelines and training departments, so there is consistency in implementation. that will be helpful. >> i agree. chairperson campos: thank you. is there anyone from the information and technology department? any other department head who is here to speak on this item? please come forward. >> nancy holmes, director of

insurance and controls. not a department head. we had three recommendations. chairperson campos: speaking to the microphone. >> we had three recommendations applicable to the puc regarding stand by and call back pay. the majority of our standby pay relates to emergency responses for water quality and water service delivery. what our water and power group has committed to doing is they are looking at operational protocols to define the levels of service where such a response is needed. once they formalize those protocols, they would then define situations where standby pay is necessary. they did have a bit of a late start. this will take place within the next quarter or so. for our information technology services group, they disagreed with the recommendations. they felt that due to the high level of expertise needed for our networks, they would like to

retain high-level positions in those areas that may require standby pay. however, what they have done in the meantime if they have eliminated the help desk and looked at cross training functions where employees can do not work and how that functionality, in an effort to eliminate unnecessary standby pay in those areas. chairperson campos: ok. >> there is still a little more work to do. what i intend, when i get back there -- i will be working with the agent for water to get more information from the water treatment folks, seeing where they are. chairperson campos: with respect to lead pay, you agree with some of the findings? >> from what i understand, the group did agree. i did not have an update for that area. "we are doing -- our human resources group is looking at

active assignment play -- pay. there is a study in progress. we do not have preliminary people in there now. chairperson campos: one of the things the report points out is that puc staff agrees that, for instance, you assign more lead plumbers than you may be need. just something to follow up on. >> will do. thank you. chairperson campos: is there anyone else who is here? there you go. thank you for being here. >> my pleasure. good afternoon, the chair. from a realistic perspective -- john updike, director of real- estate. we have made good progress in dealing with standby for our stationary engineers. we have over 15 buildings in our portfolio. many require 24-7 monitoring, or

have activities tour de force 7, everything from 3112 active police stations. -- from 311 to active police stations. a robust training program brought our engineers to a level where we have comfort with those assets to have only to engineers, one for each campus, assigned for standby. within six to nine months, we should be able to go to one for the entire combination of two campuses. that is only made possible with collaboration of local 39, who have been supportive of our training efforts, and the benefit of present members. with regard to the management issue, we think the process is working fairly well. we have technical staff be the person who gets the immediate phone call of trouble and triage it through our engineering line

staff, as opposed to a manager. i think our costs are relatively low in comparison to what other departments are seeing. lastly, the report accurately notes we have identified our immediate services group. we will be making a change, working with the mayor's office of budget. we did not do a full year, but more a half year implementation. most of that was because of the board chambers project, which we knew would require a 24-7 presence through the summer break and before, to prepare for that pretty intensive audio and video upgrade that was associated with the disability improvements we made to the chambers. we are ready to effect that change as we turn the calendar year for media services. i hope that is helpful. amy brown hoped to be here, but had a conflict. she sends her regrets. hopefully, we can answer any other questions you may have. chairperson campos: thank you,

and thank you to ms. brown for her offer. questions? again, i want to thank the budget legislative analyst for their good work armas -- on this, bringing helpful information to the departments, and for responding to the recommendations. we look forward to a follow-up on this issue in a few months, just to see where we are. again, i want to thank you for being here. is there any member of the public who would like to speak on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. going back to the agenda, this is an informational item, simply a hearing. so if we can continue this item to the call of the chair, so we can follow up? motion to continue. i take that without objection. is there other business before the committee? >> there is no further business.

chairperson campos: thank you. meeting adjourned, and happy holidays. >> i came out to san francisco about seven years ago. i was trained as a carpenter. i got sick of the cold weather and the hot weather. i wanted to pursue art. i thought i really be here for about three years. here i am, 7 years later. ♪

i have problems sleepwalking at night. i wanted to create a show about sleep. a mostly due painting kind of story telling. these are isolated subject matters, smaller studies for the larger paintings. i fell in love with it and wanted to create more of them. it is all charcoal on mylar. it is plastic. i was experimenting and discovered the charcoal moves smoothly. it is like painting, building up layers of charcoal. it is very unforgiving. you have to be very precise with the mark-making. a mark dents the paper and leaves the material embedded.

you have to go slowly. the drawings are really fragile. one wipe and they are gone completely. it is kind of like they're locked inside. all of the animals i am showing are dead. i wanted them to be taking -- taken as though they are sleeping, eternal sleep. i like to exaggerate the features of the animals. it gives it more of a surreal element. it is a release subtle element. -- it is a really is subtle elements. the range of reactions people get is that normally they get what i am trying to achieve, the sense of calmness, it's really

gentle state of mind -- a really gentle state of mind, i guess. ♪

commissioner moran: good afternoon. i would like to call the december meeting of the public utilities commission to order. mr. secretary, could you call the roll? >> [roll call] i might note that commissioner courtney's arrival is delayed, but he is expected, and commissioner caen is excused from this afternoon's meeting. commissioner moran: thank you, and apologies to folks, we needed to meet early, but then we found out that we ran into difficulties getting us all at the getting us all here at the same time. i appreciate your patience and willingness of the commission to come in earlier than we normally

do. we have before us the members -- the minutes of november 29 -- >> i believe it is november 8. commissioner moran: says here november 9. >> there was a typo on the earlier draft. it is the minutes of november 8. commissioner moran: ok, then on the minutes from the meeting of november 8. could i have a motion? thank you, without objection, that is passed. public comment. this is the time for, by any member of the public on items not before the commission today. do we have any public comment? seeing none -- and, michael, you have no slips? >> no speaker cards for this item. commissioner moran: moving on, first of all, a word on the

agenda. i think we will end up having to skip around a little bit. let me just say what my intent is. on the regular agenda, the public hearing on hetch hetchy -- first of all, it was noticed for 1:30, so we cannot proceed before then. also, later in the agenda, we have a workshop on the budget for next year and a suggested rate policy. it would make sense to have that discussion first. my intent would be to move that took after that. in order to accommodate that, i will call the budget workshop item no later than 3:00, to make sure that we are all here for that discussion. we also have two items from mr. chang, and i would give him a

choice. i do not want to have to have him necessarily stick around to the end of the meeting. depending on what he would like to do on that, we could consider both items 10 and then item 13 at the beginning of the regular calendar. so we are kind of shuffling as we go, but i think that should probably get the job done. other commission business? actually, we have -- let's see, now. is michael hennessey here? >> he is en route. commissioner moran: do we have any other other commission business. we do not. let's pass that item and then come back to that. >> we do have one speaker card request. commissioner moran: i'm sorry.

i missed the communications. we have a letter summary advanced calendar. one thing i would like to point out on that -- first of all, i think it is helpful to have staff reports done that way. we have questions, we can raise them, but we do not need to. i would like to point out that for the second item, the annual water supply development report -- that shows that we continue to provide and sell a lot less water than we had planned on. those numbers are through the end of june of this year, so they are six months out of date, roughly, and my understanding of the current numbers is that they showed a current -- a continuation of that trend. the good news is that we seem to be doing well on conservation, but the bad news is that financial plans are a little bit out of whack as a result of that. there is a conclusion in part because of that reduced water

demand that there is no need to issue a five-year notice that we do not have enough water to supply them. so i wanted to point that out as a significant finding, even though it takes no action on our part. commissioners, any questions or comments about communication? i understand we do have a comment from the public. >> good afternoon. i had a comment on the watershed environmental improvement program. is this the appropriate time? i wanted to thank puc staff. i think they are doing a really good job. exciting things are happening in the upper tuolome with the

river ecosystem program. we are really looking forward to the new flow regime. i wanted to thank tim ramirez. you have a great staff working on that. i also wanted to thank the pc for your involvement in the acquisition. which is very exciting. we just got word that the recent appraisal was accepted and confirmed, so we can now go to the wildlife conservation board for the remainder of the funds. it is looking promising. the process has been more stretched out, and there were obstacles we were not expecting, but great things are happening. many thanks to the commission. commissioner moran: all right, any other public comments on the communications? >> we have no other speaker cards. >> the consent calendar -- can

we take that up? commissioner moran: not yet. >> so it is not consented? commissioner moran: we have not gotten there yet. we just did public comments. i kind of jumped the gun on other commission business, so we went back and did other communications. now that the sheriff is with us, we can proceed into other commission business. >> good afternoon, commissioners. as all of us know, i think, mike has been share since 1980, and he will be leaving us. he is being lauded throughout the city for all kinds of wonderful things he has worked on, but one of the key things we have partnered with him on as the guardian project for the storage program. we wanted to thank him for his work there and tell you a little bit about the program and introduce the sheriff. and i believe the head of the garden project is here.

[applause] >> i will take the opportunity to talk sense i have the microphone. frankly, it is made who wants to thank the public utilities commission and ed and his predecessor for the relationships we have developed over the past decade or more -- it is in me -- it is me who wants to thank the public utilities commission. the garden project has been incredible. catherine started a project back in the very early 1980's and planted trees for the department of public works for a time, but as landscaping and horticulture and abatement of trash and refuse and firebreaks became a big issue with the public

utilities commission, a partnership was created between the public utilities commission and the garden project under the sponsorship of the sheriff's department and the public utilities commission, and they have done tremendous work. when they go up to hetch hetchy, all the people there are very impressed with the hard work that these young people do and the product that they produce. the same is true or around various public utility properties in san francisco and the jail, so they help us with firebreaks and do a lot of restoration work. it has been a tremendous partnership, and it is a tremendous job opportunity for the young people who are part of the paris stewards program -- part of the first -- part of the earth stewards program. we started a high school in our county jail approximately six

years ago. it is fully accredited. people can get their high school degree or their ged. for the past two summers, we have done a high school class at the oakdale campus. we would like to see that expand so that people, particularly that -- from that community, but elsewhere can take advantage of a free high- school education. it has been a really great opportunity. we have approximately 600 students in our charter high- school currently in and out of the jails. we work with a great number of community groups. one does not have to be in jail

or have been in jail to qualify. it is a great opportunity, and it is free. i know it has been a big success during the summer. we would like to, if it is something the commission wants to do, see it expand to a year- round program on that campus. i know the principle of our school, the director, is here -- the principal of our school. steve has done a tremendous job. all of this is with the support of the san francisco school board, by the way. >> thank you. i want to thank the commission. i want to thank you, mr. harrington, and all of you. i want to thank you because you help us continue to work in

michael's name to do good for the city. for 32 years, i have done that, and i feel it is a real honor to do it. i tell you and i certainly have told michael throughout the years, whether or not we talk to citizens about what we are doing and we are, when they say that we are with the sheriff's department working with the public utilities commission, i have never ever gotten a bad response from any of the citizens. what they usually say is, "michael hennessey is a good guy." and with the puc is doing is obviously a good thing. i appreciate what you're doing. michael gave me a job april 15, 1980. with that job, i feel i have been able to help others get what i have gotten -- a way to work, a place to work, and a place to be proud to be able to be working. i would like please, it's the -- if the earth stewards would

please stand up, because i speak for them. [applause] i speak for them and i will speak quickly to say that we are proud to do the work that you pay us to do, and we will continue as long as you will have us. sheriff hennessey, i hope as you leave us, that you will remember that you have not left us at all, that you leave us with something we will keep and continue to grow with. [applause] them of mr. sheriff, i just want to thank you for your incredible tenure -- >> mr. sheriff, i just want to thank you for your incredible tenure as sheriff of this county. you are a legend in law enforcement in this nation. i just want to say thank you.

>> thank you. appreciate it. [applause] >> i would also like to extend depreciation period you have made an incredible mark on what it means to be shared -- i would also like to extend that appreciation. you have made an incredible mark on what it means to the sheriff's -- to be sheriff. i know you do not want presentations and stuff like that, but we cannot help ourselves. [laughter] we have a water meter cover. [applause]

>> very good. >> official photographer. >> official photographer. [laughter] >> and city attorney. >> if we could hear from one more speaker -- carol was a person who really ran this program. >> commissioners, thank you for allowing me to speak. since 2004, i have had the honor and privilege of assisting the program. i think managing it is a little bit of an overstatement. for those of you who have had an opportunity to work with the executive director sneed, pretty much, she tells you what to do and you do your best to execute. having worked with the sheriff and the director, we counted

over 350 earth stewards, apprentices, and in turns. we have grown quite a bit. we run a robust summer program now that involves the police department. in years past, the housing authority. they have literally calmed the watershed from places unknown to most city residents right here within our borders, all the way up to the mountains and spent last week of their avoiding animals and all kinds of hazards and clearing 4.5 miles along the power lines. [applause] they are great producers, and i think they have that the gold standard here of providing tremendous benefits and service to the ratepayers. >>