existing contract ends at the end of the calendar year and honors public review and allows public review because the contract is shortened and allows the board to revisit it at the time of renewal and rather than wait 15 years the board can look at it in nine years. the other change to the contract was seeking about the whole ceqa issue and the environmental issue and the discussion that came up from people that had concerns over the 40-mile difference and what we put into the contract we capped the number of trucks that recology could send to landfill at 50 per day. the reason we did that was the assumptions in ceqa made a 50 truck assumption but that wasn't set in stone so by doing that we're ensuring that the environmental impacts remain below the threshold and making a statement about the commitment to zero waste that no matter if

the population increases, no matter what we will not send more trucks on the road than that number so the two changes to the contract were the term and the trucks. those were the two things that were changed so next steps. the department has the authority to sign such an agreement, and once it is signed that triggers an action that then allows another appeal of ceqa which may come before you. we expect when you come back in september, and then if you're comfortable with that analysis and then we will have this contract in place by january, and all of the benefits that are part of that contract will be felt by the people of san francisco, so in closing i want to say again as i did in the opening that the contract process has been done with the utmost integrity with the weight of the law and the rules every step of the way front and

center. it is protective of the environment. it is very much a strong contract to move us towards zero waste and the most cost effective one we can offer ratepayers at this time and again i have another colleagues here if you would like more detail so thank you very much again for forking us the opportunity to have this discussion yet again. >> okay. colleagues any further comments or questions? okay. could you just real quick i think -- we have been getting a lot of questions and from different people inquiry about 10 years versus -- >> 15 years versus nine years. >> right. could you talk about that more? >> the original contract had an amount and 5 million tons no how long it took and our calculation said it would take 15 years given the rate of disposal and a 15 year contract. shortening

the contract does two things. it allows the department to sign and get the contract moving so we can make the deadline of end of the year and ensure rate stability because we're not hanging out there with not a full contract, and it allows the board to come back and weigh in sooner, so in a 15 year term it's gone. the last one was since 1987 so this way we get before you again after eight years to take a look how are we doing? are we meeting our goals? are we protective of the environment? and any changes we want to make to the term of the contract so that was the thinking. >> okay. colleagues questions right now? okay. why don't we go to public comment and then we can go to follow up questions. i have a few speaker cards here if people are filling out other

ones. [calling speaker names] mr. lazarus was on 16. we have two speaker cards. anyone else wishing to comment please line up against the side of the wall and everyone has two minutes and we can move from here. >> i am kevin carol and director of the [inaudible] hotel san francisco and work in an industry that welcomes people to san francisco and employs 24,000 people the majority that live and work in san francisco. i am in support of recology for the contract. they have been a long-term partner of our industry and hotels. we work with them daily and part of the sustainability committee and a committee of hotels that work together to share best practices in partnership with the department of the environment and recology and many organizations in the space. that committee is one of the

most active committee and recology and their employees are active participants as well. they have hosted us to share best practices and educate our members and their employees on best practices for achieving their zero waste goals. their employees as i mentioned continue to work with us and our teams as well. recology is fully committed collaborative and they partner with the hotels virtually everyday to reach our goals and i just wanted to remind you that we fully support their fulfillment of this agreement that is before you today and i appreciate your time as well. thank you. >> thank you. before the next speaker comes actually i want to recognize we have the president of the environment commission here. you're welcome to come up and say a few words if you like. >> thank you chair farrell. is it morning still? i am speaking as president of the

san francisco commission on the environment and thank you for the opportunity to speak and i wanted to speak in support of the department of the environment, our staff. we had a hearing about this conversation at our last meeting and asked a series of questions and comfortable with the fare and bidding process that resulted in the bids that came in and one being double than the other. what we liked about the contract that's before you and that we support is the ability to lock in a long-term rate that is low, and free us up to do what we want to do which is get to zero waste because that's the solution. we hope this is the last landfill contract we have to sign because getting to zero means nothing, no more hauling waste,ing in except putting it back in the stream and going to the green and the blue and this contract will give us the ability to do that and we fully support the department.

>> thank you. next speaker please come up. >> good morning mr. farrell and committee members. my name is john lynn smith and outside counsel to waste management. honesty i don't know where to begin. there are a lot of statements made that are contrary to the rfp issued but a couple of points i want to make. one is i sent the committee and the full board of supervisors a letter this monday outlining the process that has been conducted since 2008 with the rfq leading up to the proposal to enter into a contract today with recology. i want to make sure that is part of your record. i hope you have it and if you don't i have a copy and can give it to you. i wanted to bring to your attention a couple of things about the deal. when the rfp was issued it was a 10 year deal

or 5 million tons of disposal, whichever comes first. it wasn't a 5 million-ton deal. it was going to be from 2015 to 2016 or 2025 or 2026 or 5 million tons and whichever came first. when the resolution was presented to the board of supervisors on june 1, 2015, this year, the resolution was seeking approval for a 10 year contract, not a nine year contract. the effort to make it nine years not for transparency or the ability to come back to talk about this again. it's basically so anybody can avoid a referendum, make it an administrative act and not a legislative act. the other point it's not 40 miles difference. it's 2,000 miles difference. 50 trucks times 40. that is what triggers the need

for an eir and why the sierra club is fully advocating a full eir is done and by not going to the board for the approval you pushed off the appeal for another couple of months and recology and the department that are engaged in the process can get the contract up and running. >> sir, thank you. your time is up sir. >> [inaudible] (off mic). >> okay. thank you. next speaker please. >> supervisor tang, supervisor farrell and supervisor mar thank you for having me today. i work for the gate gate golden gate

association and (paused) because restaurants produce a large amounts of food waste we have a strong commitment to posting and having affordable ratings makes it possible for all restaurants to do it. we love the fact that farms and wineries use the waste and food comes full circle on the table of the member restaurants. recology has been supportive of the restaurant industry and had a representative for troubleshooting and our needs. this is a strong one to allow restaurants to implement green practices without breaking the bank and different from members in oakland dealing with waste management and we support recology. >> thank you very much. next speaker please and if anyone

else wishes to speak please line up and two minutes each. >> good morning. i am paul pender gas and here to speak on the san francisco small business network and 14 business organizations here in san francisco and chair the golden gate policy for san francisco and i am here to speak on recology and they have been active partners with small business and not just attending events and actually responsive to the needs and the phone calls and emails that small business interact with recology on a daily basis. they are a shining example how a business can be responsive to the small business community. we only need to look at oakland to see how small business can't work with certain companies and we are in support of recology and the contract moving forward. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker

please. >> good morning. david pillpel speaking as an individual and i have been involved with these issues in the city and area including the rate setting process through the department of public works and the residential refuse collection and rate board and i am familiar with the 1932 ordinance and all the things related to that. i have expressed some concerns about the proposed agreement and a little bit about the process to both department of the environment staff and recology. they have been both responsive and addressed a number of my concerns. however i think at this point and i am sorry i missed the presentation earlier i think the department of the environment should provide a copy of the agreement to the board if that hasn't been done and allow the public some time -- not a long period of time, but maybe a few days to comment on the latest version of the proposed agreement before

signing and entering into it so if there are other concerns particularly about going to the nine and six scheme with the 50 truck limit et cetera that they can be reviewed before any decision to approve the agreement by the department of the environment. any other concerns that i might have i am happy to put in writing again to department of the environment. doe and copy the board. i understand there will be some kind of hearing on tuesday but then not considering the substance of the appeal at this time. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. any other members of the public wish to comment on this item? okay. seeing none. public comment is now closed. [gavel] colleagues this is simply a hearing item at the moment. we can make a motion to file this item. however if there are questions or comments at this time we can entertain them.

okay. supervisor mar. >> just quickly i think i want to say the two elephants in the room are two powerful entities, recology definitely very influential clearly in this hearing today and the proposal that the panel as approved and this board unanimously over time and also a texas based large corporation that has at times "bullied and intimidated oakland city council members and others and ballot measures and lawsuits, so i know this hearing is useful to hear the updates but my hope is we focus on the environmental benefits as joshua mentioned and ms. raphael proposed and i am hoping that the two elephants in the room don't pull us away from the zero waste goals and the greenhouse

gas issues and the truck 20 more miles per trip and we shouldn't gloss over that as well but i am appreciative of this and it's been many years from supervisors before i got on this board and i think these are big issues but let's focus on the environmental impacts and our very aggressive climate action goals for our city. thank you. >> okay. thank you supervisor mar. okay. with that i know we will continue to be working on this item and throughout this and beyond so with that colleagues i would like to entertain a motion to file item 15. >> all right. i make a motion to file the hearing. >> okay. motion by supervisor tang. we can take that without objection. madam clerk can you call item 16 please. >> item 16 hearing on the control or's report and for office of economic and workforce development and office of small business, the controller, the

planning department, office of building inspection and other city departments involved with the permitting process for . businesses to report. >> thank you. this is sponsored by supervisor tang. so supervisor take it away. >> thank you very much colleagues for entertaining this hearing today in response to a report by the controller's office and took a deep look how the city's permitting process works especially as it rer tains to restaurants so the purpose is identify ways that we can make sure city's permitting process even more efficient for those looking to start or expand restaurants here in san francisco and hopefully from the lessons that we learn from the collaborative efforts, through the reports and other efforts by city departments that we can apply these lessons to other industries and for us -- at least for me it's about writing a better experience for our customers by the people looking

to start or expand a business here in san francisco, and i know there have been efforts in the past to tackle this issue and what is different this time around is that i feel that we have approached this in a more comprehensive manner. for one we have a new online small business portal in san francisco and credit the team for bringing that up online and the controller's office report and is one of the most comprehensive to date and we made investments in the office of economic and workforce development and i have seen first hand how that customized and personalized support that office has been providing to people has changed over the years. even several years ago when i was looking as a legislative aid and i was the main person trying to facilitate the relationship between the departments so now to have oewd

to do that with the merchants is beneficial but of course there is more work to be done. i know there are some small businesses here today and many we encountered in our work that shared horror stories or impediments they experienced while trying to make the way through the permitting process so we want to identify where the kinks are and in the future we can make this a better process, but before we begin i want to highlight some of the positive things that i think have happened in the past so as i mentioned earlier the small business portal. we have completed phase one and the next step through this hearing we're going to gather some information that we can hope to move into phase two to bring for example permits that you can fill out online and payments submit online as well. we have in the last budget process thanks to the committee and the mayor's

office and funding new client service manager hosted through the office of economic and workforce development and that person would be assigned to facilitate the permitting process across the departments for those looking to expand businesses in san francisco so in the coming years really just looking forward to working with the city departments as we try to move towards a true one stop shop as we co-locate various departments in the site inhabited by the goodwill on van ness and i wanted to layout the process today and i will call up todd from the office of economic and workforce development. secondly i would like to bring up jane to talk about the business portal and ryan hunter from the controller's office to present their report and the office of small business and we have representatives available to answer questions and the

planning department, dbi, department of public health and the tax and treasurer's office and the fire department so with that said let's begin with you. >> thank you so much supervisor tang. i appreciate the leadership on this issue and calling this hearing today. from day one the mayor has been this a priority and between the invested neighborhoods program, loans, targeted customized assistance for small businesses we have lead the effort with the city with great support from the committee and i want to thank you from that but we heard from small businesses from each of you and from the small business commission that the process needed to be improved and that's why in 2014 again through with partnership within oewd and office of technology and office of small business we launched a comprehensive business portal as you mentioned supervisor tang and brought that information into one place and most

importantly shared that information from the perspective of a business. what it's like for a business to interface with government opposed to how government is structured. as you mentioned jane will be up in a moment to share an update on that but sharing how a process works isn't the same as making a process better and that's where the second half of the initiative is focused and i want to acknowledge the office for the report on business streamlining and ryan hunter will be up here in a moment to do a briefing out of that report. but i think most importantly what comes next? what are those recommendations are going to be implemented to make a real impact for the small businesses and thanks to the mayor a budget as well as the support of this committee. we're going to be launching a small business accelerating team with a client services manager as you mentioned supervisor tang and regina will be up to talk about the implementation of that initiative as well as a couple

of others focused on making these recommendations real. one final point before i hand it over to jane. this initiative is interagency and requires strong collaboration and i haven't seen such collaboration as with this effort and i want to thank and acknowledge the range of departments here today and department of technology and ben the controller, treasurer cisneros, john from planning and dbi and barbara and her team and chief hayes white from the fire department. it's a team effort. we know the work isn't done and looking forward to present this to the committee today and next steps and questions and with they will bring up jane. >> thank you very much. >> good morning supervisors. thank you so much for having us present to you today. i am

going to talk to you about where we were at the state of small businesses. the approach we took to building the san francisco small business portal and share the outcomes from the last eight months and where we're going next and feels like yesterday i was here in front of the budget and finance sub-committee to ask for the funding for the business portal and here we are eight months later so if we could go to the slide please. i like to call this the worse slide ever. the reason is this a representation of what the small businesses have to go through. not only do they have to visit geographically dispersed departments and dig through websites and oftentimes if they find the information they're looking for and it's boroughed a lot of municipal code we don't understand so the intent was to build a single place to get the information and also get rid of

some of the arrows in the process itself. our goal is create the first stop for everything business in san francisco, inn integrated scalable business solution that scales from the inception of a business owner's idea through the entire life cycle. what we did was sort of take an unprecedented approach. for the first time every government website is not just municipal code, maybe clip art and a couple of photos. we conducted user research. our users are internal users and the permitting staff as well as the business owners so we conducted workshops and brought together nine departments and 20 permitting staff as well as the small business owners who were from the inception of the idea and a business was on the way out and we wanted to capture their experience as well. we looked at hundreds of analogous

experiences in the private and public sector. from this research we put together a customer journey map so i have a bigger version if you want to see it up close but it's showing you that both during the consideration and the preparation phase and maintain and go it's more of a linear process but the orange section in the middle -- this is what i call the infin infinity loop of death and they're dealing with the government and they're reaching out to find information on permits, trying to stay compliant on ada requirements and they get cent around to three departments and only to come back to the first one. >> >> that's the infinity loop of death you called it? >> actually just made that up on the spot so don't call it so the infinity loop is what we're trying to solve and this is a common goal with all of the departments that are here. this is what we're trying to make

better. we came up with some design principles and i won't read through everything but they could be applied throughout the entire city to websites and digital services that we deliver. one is treat our constituents as customers and increasing the content and increasing the trust in what we deliver so we went into building the business portal. this is a collaboration with 18 different city departments. again as todd mentioned an unprecedented the effort and pulled information on 400 permits and licenses. we wrote every piece of content in the business portal and made sure that the language was simple easy to understand and translatable in spanish, chinese and seven other languages and designed to be responsive so users can access it from the phone, desk top and tablet and at the same time we engage with

the business owners and staff to ensure accuracy and [inaudible] prelaunch. we did user testing and it showed that the people described the site as professional, easy, accessible, engaging, beautifully designed and comprehensive. not the usual words that people use to describe government websites. we conducted stress testing. made sure that the site could with stand 200,000 simultaneous hits at once to avoid any healthcare.gov debacles and the soft launch took place in 2014. the full launch happened and we put together a promotional video and postcards and links and seeing referral traffic from the tax collector's office and sent

out emails and staff and a lot of the non-profits that support the businesses and reached out through social media and muni bus ads and i will show you an example. am seeing these postcards in your office and in the city and now the outcomes. this is what i am excited to share with you. we're seeing 10 times as many users as a daily basis compared to the previous city online permitting site so right now seeing 117 users a day compared to 10 users in the past. responses in the give back feature along with social media mentions have highlighted the portal for this and it's a pleasure to explore, make it easier to do business in san francisco and even in the words of one business owner they're saying we're doing them a

solid. city, state federal officials -- even the white house have reached out to learn about the san francisco portal and we share this online and now we're able to use analytics and feedback to inform our decision making as we move forward in expanding and building out further features on the portal. the numbers -- so these are the numbers that we gathered since launch. we are seeing 14,055,000 -- 14,000 views a month and many come from the phones and hopefully that will drive more content through the phone making it easier to see on a mobile surface. tablet users are 3%. 39% come from san francisco with 8% from the surrounding bay area. i am excited to share that in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year so january

through march of 2015 there were 311 reps were able to resolve many cases just using the business portal and in the age break down and supervisor mar you talk about the digital divide quite a bit and it was surprising to me and conventional wisdom that the portal is geared towards a younger audience but the majority are over 35 years old and 61% of total users and that speaks to how we designed a portal that supports and helps every demographic. awards. recently we were mentioned in a article for fast company and by the governor's office and kennedy from recognized it as a bright innovation and we were a