so having the lights come on with clean energy is important to us as well. we heard about cleanpowersf and learned they had commercial rates and signed up for that. it was super easy to sign up. our bookkeeper signed up online, it was like 15 minutes. nothing has changed, except now we have cleaner energy. it's an easy way to align your environmental proclivities and goals around climate change and it's so easy that it's hard to not want to do it, and it doesn't really add anything to the bill.

>> good afternoon. i would like to call to order the regular meeting of the san francisco public utilities commission. today's date is tuesday, april 9, 2019. roll call, please? [roll call] >> chairwoman: it's not working. [roll call] >> chairwoman: okay, the first item is the minutes of march 26th, are there any additions or corrections?

is will any public comment on the minutes of march 26th? all those in favor? >> yea. >> yea. >> chairwoman: all those opposed? okay. our secretary is on the phone because we're dysfunctional. >> i'm trying to get the microphones working. >> chairwoman: does that mean that the public microphone doesn't work? oh, you can't hear me, either? nothing is working? okay. we'll just speak up. okay. thank you. so the next item is public comment on items that are not on today's agenda. mr. decosta. >> commissioners, in the

southeast sector, we are interested -- "we," meaning the public at large -- are interested in the status. so we spoke about it the last time, we are have very little trans transparency on the digestives in the last one and a half years. when i was here the last time, one of the commissioners expressed her feelings about the lack of transparency, and how things are done without informing the public at large. now, some of us advocates have been coming here for 35 years.

when we come over here and we address the issues, it is not so much for ourselves, but for the people we represent. the projects linked to the sewer system improvement project should benefit the community, especially community benefits. and why? because that segment of the population was adversely impacted by the stench, by methane gos gas, by lack of concern for our infants, our children, our youth, our young adults, our elders, those were compromised health, and those physically and mentally challenged. so when community benefits are given to some sellouts -- i repeat, sellouts -- then it harms our infants, it harms

those who need help most. and you commissioners know a little about it but you don't do much. in recent weeks in the press and in other places, we have seen corruption linked to the san francisco public utilities commission. it may not be linked directly to the commissioners, but linked to the staff. we have one staff member that has set a precedence where as soon as she became -- got a position with s.f., she transferred $200,000 for "green for all," and she had to pay a fine, but she is still on your staff. when advocates come here, we speak truth to power, and we do not want any

remuneration. thank you very much. >> chairwoman: so, mr. decosta, i do want to mention that, as you know, i'm very aware of the digestors, and i'm overseeing that very closely. mr. kelly and i are going to go down for a walk-through of everything, and it is going to be much more transparent. there is going to be a monthly verbal report on what is going on in that area. so there are changes being made. it's one of my pet projects, as you well know. and i appreciate your comments. but, as you know, we do not have to respond to anything that is said in public comment. but i want you to know that there are -- there is a different way of handling what is going on

with digestors. i have another speaker card here, ann clark. >> good afternoon. i'm ann clark. and i'm a fan of s.f. p.u.c. first of all, i want to give a big thank you to michael carlin and the excellent water from the wilderness program we had at the commonwealth club. we had a wonderful panel and audience, and so much thanks to michael. and i hope you've seen water in the wilderness documentary, i hope all of you have seen it. it is a tremendous documentary. today i really am going to talk fast. i want to make some comments about the balboa reservoir discussion. as you know, there is only one road in and out of the lower reservoir. and the fire department has signs, fire lanes, no parking, and from the lower balboa reservoir. on the same area, there is

another sign, "fire department access only." and that points to the only access road to the reservoir as well as the back entrance to riordan high school. the one road is necessary for safety. city college and real estate developers plan to tear down parts that are connected to neighborhood areas and neighborhood shops and parking, and imagine what happens to these residents and homes next to the reservoir. according to the web page, there are 70,000 students attending eight city college campuses. this raises important legal status for housing and long-range planning. equal opportunities and a.d.a. are legally manttory. mandatory. imagine four students in one dorm room for who knows how many years? the balboa reservoir is what it is. it has approximately 3,000 parking spaces that are

already desperately needed for san francisco students, faculty, and residents. accessible parking is essential for teaching and learning. accessible parking is a gateway to classes, students, faculty teaching and support, as well as our residential and commercial areas, neighborhoods and neighbors. we need your help to continue good and accessible city college education for san francisco and residents and homeowners. remember, we pay our water bills. and the balboa reservoir is important to all of us because we have a need for the parking area because, as you all know, we have a lot of people who are coming from areas outside of san francisco, and are spending all day on our roads and blocking parking and blocking even getting my own car up buena street

because there are cars parked on each side, and a car came towards me and wouldn't move and there were six cars behind me. so we really do have a problem in terms of what we're doing with in terms of parking. thank you very much. >> chairwoman: thank you. are there any other speakers for item four? general comments? seeing none, next item, please. [inaudible] >> chairwoman: commissioners? >> i have one item. this is a request for the general manager. the department is -- as i understand it, is working on a report to the board of supervisors about the possibility of us acquiring pg&e's distribution system. i would like either as part of that report or as a separate report to this

commission, an analysis of how large municipal utilities in california are governed, and what the governing structure is. it does strike me if we do take that work on, it's a significant expansion of our business, and it may mean that we need to think about how we do business at the commission level. so if you can add that to the analysis, i would appreciate it. >> actually, that's part of what we're looking at as well, included in the scope. >> thank you. >> chairwoman: any other comments on item five. the next item, please. >> item six is other commission business, recognition of commissioner iquan to the

san francisco public utilities commission. >> chairwoman: well, as you all know by now, the mayor has asked commissioner quan to serve on the treasure island development board, where i'm sure he'll be a great leader. but, ike, on behalf of the commission and the staff, i would like to thank you for your service during your tenure. commissioner quan has many accomplishments on the commission, and i just want to mention a few of them. number one, he foresaw the approval of a critical four-year rate package, which helped fund the competition of the water system improvement program while also providing funding for the sewer system improvement program.

he provided direction and oversight in securing the renewable energy and staff resources needed to complete city-wide enrollment of clean power san francisco. and look where we are now on that. and he is president of the commission navigated key approvals for the two largest s.s.i. p. projects, the new head water project, and the biosolids digestive project. so, ike, we're going to greatly miss your profound vision, your keen insight, and your dynamic presence, but we look forward to working for you in your new leadership role on the t.i. t.a. board. with that, i would like to

present you with some momentos of your service. we have a bucket for him with some very necessary things. they're outstanding. you're going to treasure them for always. >> thank you. >> chairwoman: but, more than that, we have something very special -- this is heavy. this is a water meter cover -- >> wow. that's great. >> chairwoman: -- which you can put -- [applause] >> chairwoman: i'm gonna miss you. >> yes. >> chairwoman: a hug for you. >> thank you so much. before -- i just wanted to just express my appreciation for you

serving as one of the commissioners. as you know, i was part of both of your compaigns in 2015 and 2018, "ike for commissioner," and it was, you know, very great to work with ed lee. and when we first met you, you told me all of the chicago stories and things like that. and then when london appointed you last year, we thought that we were going to spend four great more years. and then all of a sudden you got nabbed for tita, but it gives us an opportunity to really look at how we can envision our sewer, our storm water system, our sanitary systems, and even the power to treasure island. so i see all of the great insight and the experience that you gained on our commission that will really help us deploy all of those assets at

treasure island. so we're definitely looking forward to that. on a personal note, i'm going to miss you as a friend. i'm going to miss your sense of humor. and on a good note, you know, i don't have to wear any chicago stuff, so that will be great. because i'm not going to bet you anymore. [laughter] >> but, you know, i'm looking forward to seeing you on the island. so thank you for all that you've done for the p.u.c. under your leadership. >> thank you very much. >> not yet. i'm just adding my voice. i appreciate having another person on the commission with a management background that i think is useful for the work that we do. and also the length of the linke science community through the academy, that you were very helpful in getting

some linkages between our own staff and the research folks down at stanford that are looking at various clean-water issues. i think that is a valuable addition that will continue long after your tenure here. we will miss you. we do thank you. and we expect that you'll stay in touch. >> well, thank you. if i can just make a couple of comments. thank you all. yeah, i'm sad, but i'm excited for what is next. i think i'll learn a lot and hopefully contribute some stuff to tita. as a citizen and a rate-payer, it is a privilege to be part of this commission. these are sort of like courtside seats to look at all of the work of the people in the utility. this department is incredibly self-disciplined, and also deeply caring about everyone who consumes water and uses the very services of the utility. what is baked into your

strategic plan demonstrates a care that the city and county has, more than any other city, maybe even chicago, in the country. i think the level of diligence and rigor that people go through to make sure that you're not just engaged, but you're pursuing the facts, you're leaving yourself very transparent to what is out there. i've never seen an organization handle not just the technical and infrastructure side of it, but the public policy side and everything external. so it has been truly my privilege. i look at the a.g. m.s here and how hard they work, with all of their staff, and it is amazing. thank you for not comparing it with the cubs. we have the same record as the giants right now. very sad. but i just want to say thank you. thank you very, very much. i'm excited about what the mayor is doing in this city. with the commissions, especially this one here, because i think things will just continue to accelerate here at the p.u.c., and hopefully everywhere else. it is with my gratitude, and i'll try not to object

too much in my last meeting here. thank you very much, all. [applause] >> chairwoman: and, again, on the chicago theme, i'm going to miss harassing you twice a month about your loyalty to the cubs. [laughter] >> chairwoman: i can always call you. >> this is a sanctuary city, right? [laughter] >> chairwoman: next item, please. >> would you like for public comment? >> chairwoman: oh, public comments. >> commissioner ike, you're very unassuming, and very astute. p one oand one of the things tht hasn't been mentioned here is your role when the archeological finds were found. how you used your

experience and your connections to make that happen. you know, as do i, the hatchachi waters belong to the first people. and the first people should always be inincorporated in all of the meaningful deliberations. i've spoken to you a little bit about it. i've spoken to the general manager and i've spoken to all of the commissioners in general. at one time, i brought the tribes over here. the malwalks, the peels, and the pomos, so they could talk to the commissioners about water. water is life for the first people. while you were the commissioner on this commission, you paid attention to what we said.

we speak truth to power. we're not afraid of anybody. especially human beings. when you pray and you love mother earth, you will be guided by the great spirit to say the right thing. and if the seed falls on good ground, good things will happen. on behalf of san franciscans and on behalf of the people of the bay view hunter's point, commission ike, i want to thank you very much for what you have done silently. god bless you. >> thank you. [applause] >> chairwoman: any other public comments?

>> good afternoon, commissioners. president cain. general manager kelly, i didn't even know i was coming to speak on this today. so this kind of comes as some sad news, but also good news. i just want to speak to the work of commissioner quan, and my work on the commission, and how we intermingled and ensured what was going on in the southeast was a priority to this commission, and that was through your presidency. there was conversations that francisco just talked about that we had off-line, that commission commissioner quan wanted to spend in the community so he could understand what was going on. i just want to say thank you. i think your loyalty to this commission and the cubs -- but we won't speak on that -- speaks volumes of the work you've done, silently doing the work behind doors, like on our community benefits packages, and i just want to say thank you for your

service, not only to the bay view hunter's point, but to the city of san francisco. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. thank you. [applause] >> chairwoman: any other public comment? next item, please. >> item seven is the citizens advisory committee quarterly report. >> hi, everyone. first i just want to apologize for my attire. my sister is in town, and she brags all of the time about how beautiful the coast of maine, so i had to bring her to land's end, and so i'm sweaty and not in the right attire. so imagine me in an amazing suit and hair and

makeup done. it has been a while since i've stood in front of you. my name is ai amy zock, and i'm on the citizens advisory committee and the district 3 representative. i would like to give you a brief update from rcaa, and all of the sub committees, so water, power, and waste water. as chair, i'm in full recruitment mode right now. unfortunately, we have lost a couple of amazing members do to job changes, leaving san francisco, and other life events. so my top priority is getting the c.a.c.a back to top control. we have vacancies for district 6 and district 7, and mayor and appointed seat for regional and environmental commissions. so that's four seats. that's my main goal, to

fill those seats and get back to 100% capacity. more exciting news than the vacancies is that we have passed our first resolution as of february, and the resolution is in support of the efforts to foster a skilled and diverse workforce. specifically we support the efforts to diversify an up-scale agency work force, and we want to create more robust systems to monitor equity and inclusive in the workforce. and we want to improve diversitiy and provide an annual report, and we encourage the s.f. p.u.c., to create one position in human resources services to be responsible for analyzing workforce issues. what i love about this resolution is to be an example of amazing leadership on the part of c.a.c. in collaboration from

staff with community benefits and resources to make these recommendations in diversitiy and inclusion in the agency's workforce. briefly i can just go into what has been going on for power, water, and waste water. so for power, the power committee, which is chaired by nate kinsley is focused on supporting the continued expansion and enrollment of costumers in clean power s.f.. the subcommittee is looking forward to the study being formed, and informing a municipal power system. the feasibility study is being conducted, and i know the subcommittee is looking forward to having someone from the staff looking at all of their efforts and results. for the waste water c.a.c., which is what i sit on, as always, waste water subcommittee is excited to get new updates from the southeast treatment plant. most recently we got an

update on 1550 evans and the status of the complex, which president wong and dean burnham attended. additionally, we're excited to explore other water catching systems around the city, including oceanside. and then the resolution i mentioned at the top, first came out of the waste water subcommittee and was spearheaded by mr. mckinney. and i also want to take a moment to thank greg and steve for coming to so many meetings. we love your presentations and knowledge-sharing, as always. and then water, so water subcommittee, which is chaired by jennifer cleary, and has focused their attention to s.f. p.u.c. water supply in the face of various threats, like climate change. and the committee continues to support the local ground program, the water subcommittee, and our committee at large is interested in working with staff to better present and communicate the water quality information that is being collected. those are the big updates,

from water, power, and sewer sub committees. thank you for giving me this space to provide an update, and i look forward to seeing you next quarter. >> chairwoman: well, first of all, thank you for all of the work that you do. it is greatly appreciated. >> thank you. >> chairwoman: commissioners, any questions? comments? any public comments? did you want to speak? no. okay. [laughter] >> moral support. >> chairwoman: okay. again, thank you very much. the next item, please. >> item eight is a social impact partnership program update. >> can you please pull up

the slides. thank you. good afternoon, commissioners, my name is yolanda for external affairs, i'm delighted to be here today to provide you with an update on one of our agencies mowers most successful and innovative program, formally known the community benefits and contracts. while i've had the pleasure of providing updates on this program before, as part of our regular community benefit program updates, i'm really excited to have an opportunity to give a closer look at this one program in particular. because, as i mentioned, it has gotten so successful that, indeed, there is a strong interest to replicate this program nationally, from our peers in the utility industry, as well as locally from our sister agencies. but before we get into the details of where we are today, i want to take a step back and just provide a little bit of history and context for today's discussion. so, of course, this commission passed the community benefits policy back in 2011, and the

community benefits policy provided a clear mained mandate for two key things: first were you the establishment of the community benefits program, and that is an ongoing, staffed program of the s.f. p.u.c. and secondly, it provided a mandate that through the program, the agency do several things, such as leading with an equity and environmental lens, grooming the next generation of environmental stewards and rate-payers who will care for our system. developing career awareness and exposure, opportunities for our youth. building a diverse and skilled talent pipeline. promoting economic inclusion. and managing our public lands and public art dollars in a way that supports all of these goals. so when it came time to implement this ambitious policy, we looked at the task at hand, and the language and the policy

that combined a volunteerism program. we felt it was imperative to recognize we're neither in this alone, nor can we do it by ourselves. as an agency, we partner a lot with the private sector to get the job done. so it followed logically that as we endeavor to do uour work in a more inclusive manner, we would invite our private sector partners to do the same alongside with us. so we develop the social impact partnership program to do just that. and to fully understand the context of this particular program, it's also important to understand the now well-established field of corporate social responsibility within the private sector. so much like historic corporate philanthropy, it is not necessarily a new thing, but it expressly links the concept of corporate volunteerism, and the need for companies to voluntarily acknowledge they have a stake in the game, that they have

responsibilities to the community beyond their corporate walls. and in developing this program, we discovered that many of our private firms had to some extent some form of corporate responsibility initiative or program. but the impacts of the programs they had were either remote or not as impactful because it was disconnected from the local work here. so we developed this program intentionally to tap into those corporate social responsibility initiatives, and provide our firm partners an opportunity to voluntarily give back directly in the communities where they're purposing their work. so once we identified this alignment with corporate social responsibility, staff worked very closely with the then city attorney noreen am brose.brose. and we worked with academics at u.c. berkeley and the controller's office to develop a robust and accountable measuring

and verification system for this program. how does this really work in practice? the short program is we fully in ind integrated into our robust process. and we began by embedding language and solicitations for provincial services and alternative delivery contracts with an anticipated contract value of $5 million or more. firms can receive up to 5% of the total r.f.p. points, but they can still leave it blank and the proposal is still deemed responsible and competitive. in the areas of education, environmental justice, workforce and economic development, and/or social innovation. those categories may sound familiar because, indeed, they're the same

categories from our community benefits policy. and a separate panel of experts reviews the proposals and scores them by evaluating how those outcomes that they're trying to achieve can actually be met with the resources on the fable. table. and this is designed to ensure that the focus remains on the outcomes for the community, and to control against any sort of "pie in the sky" kind of proposals. so strong proposals really include a work plan, that lists how they will do the work, including any sort of a 501c 3 or others to deliver these programs to the community. they are bound by the same code of silence, and no conflict provisions that you would have ordinarily for participating in this solicitation process. if the overall bid is successful and a contract is awarded, then the firm's commitment becomes binding terms of the contract to be delivered at zero costs to the s.f.

p.u.c. i want to take a minute on the program parameters. the firm's proposals must seek outcomes that benefit the communities, residents impacted by the p.u.c. they must be delivered through the community through non-profits or school districts. they cannot benefit any city employee. they need to be delivered at zero costs to the p.u.c. and i want to take a moment to say how we control for that, and we include the overhead and profit rate, so there is no incentive for them to try to inflate that cost because it will be a bigger strike against them in the solicitation. so it is a no-cost to p.u.c. and this is separate and apart from any other legal requirements. it needs to be delivered within the service area, again, trying to tie the work to the local community, and be

delivered progressively over the life of the contract once the notice to proceed has been issued. so where are we today? i'm proud to say that we are -- we have a social impact partnership commitments in nearly 70 contracts today, and that spans a time period between 2011, when the program was created, through the longest contract, which is 2032. and really, what does that mean? that means scholarships for college-bound students. it means stem mentorship for middle school and high school kids, and teacher development and free field trips, and it means paid youth internships, and providing child care for women in construction. it means low income home repairs. it means providing access to healthy services and healthy food. urban greening, access to open space and plantings. it means helping strong businesses create their business plans and get mentorship on how to grow their business. it means supporting

cooperative small business models that pool their resources for things like accounting, payroll, and marketing. and it means supporting local and significant culture events, like bay view winter wonderland. based on all of these outcomes, as i mentioned at the top of the presentation, the program has gained a lot of interest locally from sister agencies, as well as nationally from our partners in the utility industry. none of this would be possible without the participation of our firms. so i would like to say thank you to all of our participating firms, and second, a bit of a more personal thank you. i wanted to thank commissioner quan for his service as well. with that, i'll take any questions. >> i just want to highlight this -- i want to thank you for your presentation and your kind words. my wife grew up near a sewer treatment plant in chicago, and that's where i'll be july 4th, near the sewage treatment

plant, cooking out. it is the priority that this utility puts on the people who are directly impacted by the location of waste water services and other infrastructure i think is exceptional. and this supports not just the residents, but also teachers, etc. it is also a catalyst for the corporate social responsibility, getting them to pay attention to their impacts, getting them to be part of a greater solution, not just a business transaction. i wish they had this in chicago. this is fantastic that this work continues. and hopefully it will continue to not just empower, but give people an added focus. i love your thing on our measurements. you can manage what you can measure. and you're going for results, not just some "pie in the sky" thing. great work. keep it up. >> thank you so much. >> chairwoman: i would like to echo that. i wasn't really quite

aware of the scope of this and what you've accomplished. and under the ospices of juliette ellis, who, i believe, started this program, who is brilliant, and we should be proud of you, for the work that you've done. >> thank you so much. >> can i add one thing? i just wanted to really, you know, share that, you know, trying to implement this in a way that it was truly, you know, asking the firms to volunteer their efforts as part of getting the contract, and, actually, i was pleasantly surprised of how many firms are willing to do that. because a lot of times you go to the community and find out how they can embrace their community. and i remember the first

one that they waned to do some type of internship, and what they wanted to do was model "project pool," which is something that is dear to my heart, something i started 25 years ago. and they started "city works," where they identify folks in the bay view, and they are actually a cohort of eight or 10 students, and actually have them go through a program three years and help them get into college. and i really am very impressed about their effort of really making a difference. and this is the first one. and i think it is really a special program. but if you look at the list of all these ideas that these firms come up with, the child care -- i mean, it is just really impressive when you just read these ideas that folks come up with to try to help the community.

i just want to give the firms a shoutout, and what is also impressive is that when we do go to these other cities -- they actually call us because the firms are advocating these program. acom and parollo an parolo and parsens are saying, we want to do this. i wanted to share this with you guys because i'm really excited about this program. >> chairwoman: as well you should be. i would like to take public comments on this item. >> the commissioners, way back in 2010, a taskforce

was created. this taskforce for the community -- and i attended all of the meetings. i doubt there is anybody here in this room that attended all of the meetings. and the taskforce appointed the san francisco public utilities, which was formed in 1996, before that, it was the water department. the taskforce made a workshop, and talked about the community benefits that were owed to the community, the building, 1800 oakdale, and an emphasis on education and

career jobs. so you can put out all of the fluff over here. the commissioners must ask one simple question: how many career jobs have been created? now, we have seniors in the bay view and we have been giving them some classes, computer training, and we have this community benefits, and we cannot tap into it. we have to go to the library, which allows us to use the library 12 times. so we went there and used it to the maximum. and then we had to go to the contracting center, which i -- which is my concept, my baby, which was created for jobs, but somewhere in the middle of the thing, they made it a contracting center. so what i'm saying is, when you say "equity," we

need equity for our seniors. we need equity for our children who are dying, our infants. we need equity for career jobs. we need equity for housing, good housing. not just throw out affordable housing. we want to know, affordable to whom? and those few organizations who again and again get money, and the advocates are kept out, and you speak truth to -- when you speak truth to power, you're kept out. commissioners, you need to delve deeper into that. and if you ask the controller o's office, he'll help you shed light where there is abject darkness. thank you very much. >> chairwoman: thank you.

what i've going to do, because i have a number of speaker cards, why don't i call three names, and if you could just line up so you don't have to stand there. so the first three i would like to call is cohan ramirecohan,ramirez, and bello. >> good afternoon. my name is chris cohan. we're a consultant to the s.f. p.u.c., and we have been involved with the community benefits program since 2016. over the past three years, the community benefits team and our team has established contacts with the local leaders in the out country region of the hatchachi water system. when we first started, we decided to focus our program on the out-country

region because we felt our work would have the most positive impacts on the community. and since we are engineers, we we we're focused on education and workforce. and we have donated over $100,000 in volunteer hours and in kind gifts. our biggest contribution has been with the local school district and the community college district. we provided scholarships, grants, fundings for laboratories, science projects, and 4-h clubs. and one oand it has been truly rewarding for me to talk about my work and how stem concepts allow me to do my design work for the community. i grew up in a community very similar the out-country communities, and i know how these kind of programs can change people's lives. my parents immigrated to

this company with no money, but they came with hope. and in communities like this county, hope can take a lot of different places. i remember when engineers and scientists came to visit my classroom, and they talked about the problems that they solved, and it provided me hope, and because of that hope and hard work and guidance from my mentors, i'm a successful engineer living here in the bay area. so i can personally testify that the community benefits program is changing lives, and the stuff we're doing as mic mic milan jacobs is changing lives. >> chairman: thank you you and your company for your participation. the next speaker. >> my name is alyssa

gomez, and i'm currently an intern at the almeda county. in my internship, i am tasked with various projects to support the work being done by multiple agencies to improve and maintain the health and resilience of the alameda watershed. some of my tasks include monitoring the eco-system health, supporting native species, and educating youth in the bay area. in performing these tasks, i have learned a great deal about the environmental challenges facing the alameda creek watershed, and of the watershed's resources. additionally, and working with partners, i have gained provincial skills and mentorship that will be invaluable to me moving forward. being a first generation college student, navigating my si time at u.c. davis, was slightly more challenging for me.

they have be extremely supportive of my internship and eager to provide me with opportunities. i feel empowered, involved, and recognized. this is a dynamic internship opportunity that i'm grateful to have. thanks to his internship, i have a broad idea of the different career paths i can take, and new skills and knowledge. i would like to end by extending my gratitude to the s.f. p.u.c. and the conservation district for this experience. thank you. >> chairman: thank you for your kind words. next speaker. ms. bello. >> good afternoon, honorable commissioners, and excuse me as i look down at my phone. i'm the executive director of u.c. united for community action. out of east palo alto.

a little context on east palo, we're predominantly latino, black, with a significant polynesian community as well. some time back we identified a need for more research, education, and transformative change around the topic generally of water. we came up here today to share some testimony regarding our partnership with brown and caldwell, which was facilitated and made possible by the s.f. p.u.c. i'll share my time with my colleague, kenia, who can speak a little more about what the work has looked like at the problematic level. >> i'm one of the program directors at uca. and what they have given to us. this partnership with them has been very essential for our community in east

palo alto. some of the great things that they have done for uca is conducting workshops, which coiforts consis of education, where our water comes from, and what kind of jobs people can look into if they're interested in pursuing a career around water or water infrastructure. brown and caldwell also assisted us with technical support, and wonderful prizes that we were able to give away to people during community booths. we put these booths together to educate the community on how our water has worked historically, and our current water system, and how it works in san mateo county. but especially how it works in east palo alto. ani have this here today, and we were able to distribute this to create community awareness, and this was done by our young people. finally, brown and caldwell has also been

very instrumental in facilitating a five-minute video that we are creating with another organization bacan, and it will be finalized around may. we know that usually videos are much more -- like easier to watch and easy to distribute, so that is wonderful. we're very thankful for all of the amazing help that brown and caldwell has given to us. >> thank you, kenya, with that, i'm wrap up and say one of the amazing things that has happened in our community is with all of the research, education, and advocacy that has come out, east palo alto has been successful at increasing our water. and that means there is an important development that will come for us in the near future. i would like to end with a sincere thank you, and ask that you keep this social impact program strong, as a city, east palo alto and

a larger community have benefited greatly, and would love to see this opportunity made available to other similar communities. so thank you. >> chairwoman: thank you so much. i would like to call the next three speakers. lets see. prad haka -- i'm probably mispronouncing that. marches, and brockter. >> hello, commissioners. itei'm a project manager at carrel engineers. we've been involved in the social impact partner program since 2012, and over that time, we've donated $600,000 in private funds and volunteerism. and in such ranging

projects such as workforce development, working with young community developers in the city works program, and environmental organizations like "friends of the urban forest." the organization i'd like to tell you about is the mason scholarship program that we've been very proud to be involved in. in partnership, they have -- every year they have a afforded scholarships to public school students, graduating from s.f. public schools. each of the students not only get a scholarship, but they get the mentorship and the support they need in order to help them metri met matriculate throh college. and now they given 77, and tacolicious gives more. so we give two

scholarships a year to stem students from the bay view. one, we are so happy to name after dr. espanola jackson, so it is in honor of her. [applause] >> yeah. that's one of the ones i'm most proud of. but what has been so great for our company, we review scholarship applications and review some of the applicants. and i've been able to get 30 engineers from six different offices throughout the country getting involved in this program, which is great. i know that my background is not much different from these students, from where they start, so with a little bit of encouragement, it is amazing what can happen in a career. the work that i have done leading s.f. programs has actually afforded my company to put me in charge of all corporate responsibility programs throughout our 32 offices in the country, and other cities are trying to mirror what you guys are doing, but definitely s.f. p.u.c. is. first.

so, thank you for this. [please stand by] p.