>> good afternoon. i'd like to call to order the regular meet of the san francisco public utilities commission. today's date is tuesday may 14, 2019. roll call, please. [roll call] >> clerk: we have a quorum. >> commissioner: good. before we move on, i want to interour two new s, commissioners, sophie maxwell and tim paulson.

you have the minutes of april 23. are there any additions or corrections. >> mof move for approval? >> any public comment? seeing none. those in favor. the motion carries. and i assume the new commissioners did not vote, correct? >> clerk: they are allowed to vote. >> commissioner: okay. moving on to the next item, please. >> clerk: item 4 is general public comment members may address the commission on matters which are not on the agenda or in their jurisdiction. >> commissioner: i have two speaker cards.

francesco. >> commissioners, my name is francisco di postra. i'm here to state a few things. it pertains to morals, ethics, standards having your heart in the right place so we can go to a better place. the san francisco public utilities commission in the year 2019 has a very very important role to play. and there is no time for wheeling and dealing. there is no time for conflict of interest.

as you know, if you just take the project the sewer system improvement project started out with $6 billion project. it is now a $12 billion project. and the public really does not know why some important aspects of that project are being delayed by years. for example, the digesters. so commissioners, you know some of our advocates come and speak. we don't have time to waste but we come here because we have to do due diligence. on the digesters we now have to

make up our minds, how do we work with the public so that we have accountability and transparency? the last time i spoke, after i spoke the chair said a few words and there's no repartee here though on my side my comments are sacrosanct. we need need to adhere to principles where we save the lives of our youth, children, our elders and those with compromised haith and more the -- health and more the physically and mentally challenged. all in san francisco and more importantly in the southeast sector. when i come here and i don't come all the time i come

sometimes because i can watch it on tv and i write about it. it's objective because i was a university student. so those are my comments for now. >> commissioner: thank you. next speaker is peter driftmyer. >> good afternoon, president moll moller caen i'm the policy director for the tuolumne river trust and welcome commissioner maxwell. i'll always be grateful for a resolution you championed ib 2007 on the board of supervisors that got the p.u.c. to look to an alternative to the program that would not increase diversions from the tuolumne. at the time they were proposing an additional 25 million gallian

per day the projections were 285 million gallons per day. last year it was 19 6. you were a leader and were right. we worked together and conserved water and all got along. i missed the march 26 meeting when you discussed the resolution and i'll talk about that later. it was thought there would be a rationing of 85% and the n.g.o.s in addition to tuolumne river trust and the fish and protection alliance and sierra

resource center. these are the groups that know most about the touolumne and mot engage and none were asked to participate. the ferc has a lot of problems we pointed them out in our comments and if they're not corrected it's going to be challenged. they basically gave the irrigation districts everything they wanted and a number of things they're not requiring. one of note relates to predator control and said we do not implement a predator control and suppression plan because they'll likely not be affect and could affect steelhead and similar efforts from the california direct did not effect salmon populations. and the plan proposed by irrigation districts depends on predator control because they

don't want to add water to the flood plains. it provides refuge and food for juvenile fish and putting everything in the main channel and the predators will eat them. so i was disappointed in the sfpuc's comments and i was talking to an sfpuc staff member and i said do you -- [tone] >> commissioner: thank you very much. next speaker is richard lee. hello. >> hello i'm richard lee. i live in the southeast corner of pro-terro hill and i want to see who is blocking access to

high speed internet for my area for potrero hill and they said they're not allowed to use utility polls and i'm trying to find someone who said they will not allow a sound wave or anybody other than comcast to provide high speed internet to that area of potrero hill. i used their website for service and all potrero hill to where the housing project and if you have to cross over the area they will not offer cheap high-speed internet to those areas of the hill. it doesn't seem fair for the southeast corner of the hill is being cut off by affordable fiber internet because of our particular location of where we

live. i've tried to contact somebody in the p.u.c. on when it will ab addressed and wen they'll allow the -- when they'll allow the companies to do this. i can't get answers. if you have any indications to find out who to go to to find out why this is happening. >> commissioner: mr. kelly. >> wiring fiber is the department of technology. >> is that under p.u.c.? >> no. >> who controls the utility poles. i was told by the internet company the public utilities controls this. >> we can't respond. >> can you point me to who is responsible. >> we can talk offline. >> commissioner: we can direct

him to ms. hail. any more public comment on item 4? next item, please. >> clerk: next item is communications. >> commissioner: commissioners, any comments? any public comment on item 5? next item, please. >> clerk: item 6 is other commission business. >> commissioner: thank you. i have a couple items i'd like to add to the general meanager' report next time. there's work in the city around disaster resilience that has to do with hazardous mitigation and what not. i was at a loss to say what our disaster preparedness plans are so in the event of a major disaster, age earthquake, flooding, fire, in the event our pipes get broken or go out, what

are the plans and how are we preparing for that as we rebuild our pipes. i'd like a sense of what our disaster plans are as integrated into the csip if that makes sense. >> operationally we have a disaster plan but i'm trying to understand the csip. i'm trying to get an understanding are you talking about disaster planning while things are under construction? >> yeah, i'm trying to understand if a big earthquake hit tomorrow, would the pipe fitt fitter either currently projected to take place could it be a health hazard and as we

replace the types are the new ones disaster resilient and to what capacity? >> when we place new infrastructures to the latest code it's within code, the pipes that are not too cold or may have issues, those are the ones most likely to break and so we can explain how we would go about prioritizing it because it's based on a list of factors as well. >> i just would like to understand like in this 25-year process what would happen if an earthquake or big disaster hit. are we repaired -- prepared to sewage getting released and our response to a bis -- big disaster. >> we have box sewers we're

investing in to stay online in oceanside. we can talk about our strategy. >> that's all i'd like a better understanding if a big one were to hit in the next 20 years. >> you said you read -- >> commissioner: i was in a meeting and there was a talk of a rebuild, are we repaired in the event there's a big earthquake. i imagine it will go to the sewer boxes but it would be a drag if a big public health crisis hit because there was sewage running into the streets. >> given some of the pipes date back to the gold rush and we can't replace 1,000 miles of sewers overnight so it's important to reach 15 miles a

year. >> i'd like a high-level overview. that'd be great. >> commissioner: did you have a second item? >> it's it may come under clean power and not sure if there's much done for battery storage. i'd like to pvn -- open up a conversation and i know we're at a tipping point whether it becomes part of the program and this is part of the conversation building into more distributive systems. maybe an update or letting us know where we are for any storage planning for the p.u.c. thank you. >> commissioner: any other commission business? >> clerk: public comment? >> commissioner: any public

comment? moving on to the report of the general manager. >> the first item is clean power s.f. >> barbara hail assistant general manager for power. i have my usual items on customer enrollment and service and a proposal for a one-year ex tense of memorandum of understand the local agency formation commission and status update on rates. so on enrollment, everything seems to be going smoothly and successfully. we have completed the april enrollment we'll now have more than 400,000 customers so we're excited to be serving clean power s.f. the program opt-out percentage

is 3% since program launched. an uptick during the april enrollment and we continue to have a 97% retention rate. the super green upgrade rate is 1.5%. we have about 5,700 san franciscans who opted up to 100% renewable power. that's great. and we have a memorandum of understanding with the san francisco local agency formation. nats a -- that's a no-new funds extension of our relationship and i'd be happy answer question that. with respect to rates, pg&e as we shared at our last meeting,

pg&e made a rate filing with the california p.u.c. that includes their 2019 that's the charge that pg&e assesses all clean power customers and asking to implement the rate changes as july -- as early as july 1 and they asked to approve those in early june. at a high level, those proposed rate changes would be more favorable to clean power customers than projected in december of last year when you granted the general manager authority on rates. we're preparing an update and intend to present that to the

commission as part of the may 28 update. that will include the impact as well as the rate adjustments. with that i'm happy to take any questions you my have. thank you. >> commissioner: thank you. any public comment on this item? mr. kelly. >> the next item is water quality control plan update, a.g.m. steve richie. >> thank you. steve richie assistant general manager for water. since the state water board's adoption of the phase 1 of the water control plan for the delta back in december which affect the san joaquin riverside there's been ongoing

negotiations with sacramento river interests and other tributaries to the bay delta. those discussions have been going on several months now. there was a submittal to the state march 1 which provided more detail than previously had been provided. there are discussions about issues such as governance and adaptive management and how the different potential voluntary agreements we've been discussing would be analyzed by the state and how they'd be modelled. one of the good things going on is both the cabinet secretary and jarrod broomenfeld and others are deeply involved in the conversation to help make sure the state stays on track to get us to a point of to a solution that would work for a lot of folks t. last week i made notes by some

and failure was not an option relative to the voluntary agreements and the was the voluntary agreements will supplant the board actions. they seem committed to make an outcome oriented process work but it's going to take time. issues are slowly evolving but one of the things that we've come across is technical details are incredibly important. the state is beginning to model all the different potential agreements using various modelling tools. i think they have five they're using but some assumptions going into the models are critical and can change the predictive outcomes dramatically if not paid close attention to. simple things like do you measure on a monthly long-time or daily time step and daily makes more sense but most the models include that monthly time step.

we are working to ensure things get models properly. the last week the government issued an executive order promoting the portfolio approach to water supply which in essence is diversified in supply and it's in the essence the one water s.f. approach trying to fit the right water to the right use and developing ground water and recycled water and conservation as well as other things that are not just the normal build a dam and get water from behind it. the next thing we have coming up say june 30th reporting obligation by all the parties to the state on how far advance they've gotten and further discussions on the different voluntary agreements. this is the deputy general manager carlin involved in those. we rarely see him in the office because he's in sacramento for the discussions. that's a quick summary of where we're at. there's a mountain of detate

will -- details and documents but it's a long arduous process we're in for. i'd be happy to answer any questions. >> threw for the update >> commissioner: thank you for the update. i'd like to get nor -- for the specifics and the implementation and time line when to get the fish recovery moving understanding the v.s.a. discussions are still going on. but the urgency the fish are in such steep decline we wanted to be able to move forward with whatever early implementation we could. i know that also had to do with conversations with the districts. maybe a few more specifics also around adaptive management planning and how important that is because i think away greed being able -- we agreed in having a monitoring program in place and i don't know how much is under the v.s.a. negotiations veil of silence or whether

you're reaching agreements and outcomes for fish recovery. >> on the adaptive management front that take careful attention and people have different ideas. they've hired an outside party from vancouver. they worked on a process for the missouri river that has a similar recovery habitat restoration program and a model they're looking to and those are ongoing discussions going on with principles from the different entities. there's progress there in terms of trying to come to grips with it. it's like an elephant that everybody touches a different part and think it's a

different thing and as far as early implementation, the districts in san francisco and the draft e.i.f. has been released and responses and it's given people time who worked on this. we're hopeful if we got a good indication from the state we're on the right track here. we would like to begin again soon starting the process with the districts to early implementation and that has not been the bandwidth we're working on the different issues going on at the same time. the i think the thing we've

discovered is we're further advanced on specifics for the tuolumne river than the folks on the sacramento riverside. they're behind in specifics. but a lot of attention's being paid there because that's where the largest amount of water is in the system. so i don't know how much longer we have to work to get the sacramento side to catch up so people can see a bigger package but i know getting ready for the state water board's assessment of our proposal is where a lot of energy has been going. that gets back to the modelling and making sure they use the right modelling tool the right way to assess the outcomes in a reasonable fashion. once >> commissioner: once again i'd like to express urgency. i think we're in good shape now because it's the spring flow but i have concern if we don't address this and put our ducks in a row, so to speak, we're not

going have enough water for the fish as we move into the summertime. if there's a way to bring the attention of that resolution to the state policy makers to get them to understand these are serious considerations for us as a commission we'd appreciate it. >> i'd be happy bear that message. >> commissioner: thank you. any other comments, commissioners? i do have a couple speaker cards for this item. mr. struckmyer. >> peter druckmyer tuolumne river trust. i want to thank you for all the effort into the resolution. i know it was a lot of work, four or five drafts and i know there was pushback from staff

but i think the final draft was good and valiant effort. back in december 11th you had a resolution focussing on implement of the p.u.c. habitat restoration measures as soon as possible, develop a means of monitoring the success of the habitat restoration measure and begin developing alternative water supplies and conduct peer review of the fish model on which the model's based. in the resolution 10 of the 14 resolves focussed on underissue. three focussed on communications and one focussed on voluntary agreements which staff inserted and not part of the original proposal. i don't know if you saw the news

release and the title is sfpuc commission keep working towards the tuolumne river and watershed. it focuses on the agreements and one of the nine paragraphs that discu discusses is this use in the resolution. i find that to be appalling. the san joaquin authority sued the state over new wetland tools aimed at protecting california's wetlands from the trump administration that wants to roll back clean water act standards. probably hadn't heard about that.

didn't get a chance to weigh in on it. i don't think staff sin sync with the community -- is in sync with which he community. there's strong support for protecting the bay delta and tuolumne river but it's not reflected and i think staff is not giving you the credit you deserve as commissioners. >> commissioner: next speaker, mr. decosta. >> we're glad peter is back and we needs commendation from you

because he's a man that can connect the talks. when i come here my relationship is is for the indigenous people so for all the b.s. about the resolutions if the indigenous people are not at the table, who preserved and the land was pristine for 15,000 years and y'all failed to consult indigenous people they should be at the table because they can speak for the salmon and it's not a joke. this is a very spiritual thing. p.u.c. initially took a position was we'll go to court and whatever, that doesn't work. a good way is to embrace and bring people together and come to a consensus which sfpuc is

slow to comprehend. i toll -- tell you why it's slow to comprehend. spiritually the heart is not in the right place. it's all about money. if you take the reika act and those mission objectives haven't been fulfilled i'm not here to explain what it is. you dam the hetch hetchy reservoir. we're 160 miles away. who is telling whom what to do? some of you commissioners have empathy but some of y'all know and that's why when you read the

latest report from the united nations that over a million species will be extinct and realize about climate change and realize the indigenous people are now desperate and at one time i brought the indigenous people here in this room and they said the same thing. let us be at the table. because we respect mother earth. don't find a white man saying too many times i respect mother earth. what they respect is greed and we must change this philosophy. thank you very much. >> commissioner: thank you. are there any other public comments? seeing none, you may continue mr. kelly.

>> the next item is the quarterly budget status report, a.g.n. handler will give a presentation. >> commissioners eric sandler a.g.m. of business service. welcome commissioner maxwell and paulson. i'm here to give an update on the budget status of our various e enterprises. it reflects three-quarters of operations ending in march and the results are largely similar to what i described in the q2 report. we're positive net results for waste water and clean water program. we're seeing lower revenues for the threeient prizes or water sales -- three enterprises of water sales largely the result of extremely wet weather. it rains a lot, we have demand

expression on the water side. there's a lot of cheap power in the state so power sales are done. we saw this a number of times in the past and it's largely a result of hydrology. we're seeing demand expression with wet weather and more in the wholesale than retail. you see lower revenues. they've been of where -- offset in new service connections, land sales, etcetera. we're seeing about $3 million in savings primarily from salaries

but also from rebate programs. on the waste water side of the against, we see the impact of wet weather have you demand expression in water sales and sewer sales are based on metered water use. we have seen slightly lower revenues on the see sewer side and significant savings in the uses primarily salary savings and seeing the positive impact on the sewer side. we're seeing in terms of the power enterprise largely the same impact that we saw in q2. we're seeing a reduction of that $12.5 million or 6% in revenues and that's power sales revenues water sales revenues and gas and steam. it's across the board. on the use side, basically flat

on that budget. we have savings offset by higher power purchase cost and we procured power during the mountain project and power prices turned out lower in the winter than expect sod we had an -- expected so we had an increased cost in purchase power and in terms of the clean power s.f. program we're at budget in terms of revenues and meeting targets set for the various enterprises. the fund balance reserve policy with respect to the power enterprise shows a percentage that's 18% which is lower than the 25% to 68% target however you adopted changes in the

capital budget closing revenues to fund balance and we'll leave that target at the end of the year when it passes the policy target. that concludes my report. i'm happy answer questions. >> commissioner: one question. going back to page 6 maybe i slipped over it you said there were savings to wages and benefits based on? >> vacancies. >> commissioner: thanks. >> we're trying to fill them. we really didn't want those savings. >> commissioner: thank you. any public comment?

thank you very much. >> so the next item is the water enterprise capital improvement program quarterly report. dan wei. >> good afternoon, commissioners. today i'm going tuck about two programs the first is the water capital improvement program which is an ongoing 10-year program. the second is the water system improvement program and i'll pause between each for questions. so starting with our 10-year water c.i.p. a few highlights i'd like point out from the last quarter. one is that we did complete construction of the snow water

treatment plan system so it was ready to go in time for the shutdown which was a milestone to supply water and address the issues of concerning going into the shutdown. the construction project for pipeline number 2 was awarded so we're moving forward with that work. the watershed center long term improvement project is nearly complete and we have installed 7.8 miles of local water pipeline to date in this fiscal year and the anticipation is we'll install about 13 miles this year. the long-term improvements includes two parts.

the first part is nearly complete the construction is nearly complete and substantial completion is expected later this month. you can see the pictures of the exterior years in the past and this is where staff has been working. building and shops and internal systems and communications etcetera condition and we look forward to anticipating the watershed center within the next quarter. we look forward to that contract going forward as well. >> commissioner: can i ask a question about that. we haven't really been briefed where they stands. the last time was a year ago where we had a presentation on design and there was discussion on changing design components and as time goes by things get

more technologically advanced. how much of that will make it into the r.f.p. >> we can coordinate on that. i mentioned the activated carbon program has reached substantial completion and hand over to operations. we did not operate it during the shutdown but it was ready. the operation folks are ready to turn it on later this month and to be able to address issues and preemptively combat the issues prior to serving up water the local reservoirs.

ive wanted to highlight some dam projects and we've been looking forward to them since the incident in 2017 in orville and we resourc received letters to our facilities and we're taking a close look at the spillway and the dam itself, outlet tower and we do anticipate construction work there so right now we're in the planning phase and will go in the design phase in the next year or so. the san andreas dam one of the older facilities is a project we're doing work on in the planning phase. we're doing hydraulic evaluation

and we have the highest event you could expect in a major flood event and we want to make sure that spillway can hand that will flood. moving on to water supply issues and they investigate the potential for purified water in direct and indirect potable reuse we're expecting a review statewide and working with water agencies to develop potential opportunities to up to $15 million gallons per day of water with advanced technologies within 25 years. we're working with bosca and other partner agencies on the program called portable reuse

exploratory plan and purified water altern tiatives and an expansion in the east bay. we're working in a partnership between eight agencies and identify additional ways to move water within the region so -- >> commissioner: so these are all next steps? >> yes, things we're looking into. >> commissioner: thanks. >> finally the west side recycled water project is making good progress with new facilities and that contract is advanced through the first four

columns and the pump station and reservoir we expect to be awarded in the next quarter. the pipeline construction which is essentially complete to distribute the recycled water from the oceanside waste water treatment plan and the irrigation system retrofit to be able to supply irrigation water from this facility. with that i'd be happy to take any questions. >> commissioner: where the heck is the last one? >> oceanside waste water treatment plan. >> commissioner: in san francisco? tarabell. >> underneath the zoo. >> commissioner: any public comment or comments?

>> the next it is the water systeme is the water systm is the water system improvement program local and regional update. >> the program is 97% complete. you've seen the slide before so i won't dwell on it. as you know the project is substantially complete and it's been turned over to operations. the final construction completion is anticipated in june so they're working on punch list types of items right now. there's no quantifiable risk remaining in the contract and the project's received a number of awards by the great work done

by so many and thank you to this commission's support for all the good questions and support you have given over the years keeping the project to completion and it was great to see some of you out there and commissioner caen we're thankful for your support over the years but missed you. >> commissioner: and congratulations to you. it's been an incredible effort. thank you so much. >> thank you for that. and a subproject is the facilities at the alameda creek diversion to take it through a two-mile tunnel to the dam. this project is essentially

complete as well. final completion anticipated soon. we did wet tests when it rained in march and we didn't finish because we didn't get enough rain. the contractor's going to come back next winter to make sure everything's working properly. the system functional. we just want to make sure we do it with water. >> commissioner: that can't happen this year? there seems to be a lot of water? >> there is water but we want to test the systems when we get a lot of water coming through through the fish ladder, through the other outlet works over the top of the dam and make sure everything is working properly with respect to how much water goes through the various components and at that time.

>> commissioner: there's not enough water for the testing? >> commissioner: we'll have to get you more water next year. >> that's right. wife continued work on the revised draft and we will be recirculating that draft we don't have an exact schedule at this point probably this fall but we will not re-forecast until we have the project. the project schedule will be known once we get that draft published and approved.