this meeting of the refuse rate board for august 31st, 2023, into session. so i will turn it over to our team to read some announcements. um please respond with hear or present at chair to hear board member herrera here with two board members present. we do have quorum for the refuse rate board and will move on to the land acknowledgment. uh, we acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the san francisco peninsula as the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the ramaytush ohlone had never ceded lost nor forgotten their responsibilities

as the caretakers of this place , as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. as guests, we recognize that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. we wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders and relatives of the ramaytush ohlone community and by affirming their sovereign rights as first peoples. thank you very much. please call item number two. item number two is a presentation and action item from the refuse rates administrator to adopt a refuse rate order for rate years 2024 and 2025. thank you. i'll turn it over to jay. do we need to reread the no, no, no worries for online. is it.

thanks know you. you initiated it already just now, right? i did. okay uh, on you, the clerk pc? yeah. just click on mute. i believe webex is now in session, so i just want to make sure it is 906 and we will call the refuse rate board meeting to order for august 31st. we have called the role and just to acknowledge i am here, carmen chu and board member dennis herrera is also present, constituting a quorum of this body. we've also read the acknowledge easement for the ancestral homeland of the ramaytush ohlone and so we will move on to item number two, which is the rate order for fiscal years 23, 24, 24, 25. and we'll turn it over to jay. great

good morning. city administrator chu, general manager herrera, jay liao, refuse rate administrator with the comptroller's office. this is our fifth rate board hearing for this rate setting cycle. i want to thank the board for their time, attention and thoughtfulness throughout this process, and i want to thank dpw , the department of environment and recology for the work they've done throughout this process as well. i think we've come a long way in a short amount of time and no small part to their risk, defensiveness and engagement. we have two items here. during the last hearing we had technical difficulties that prevented some members of the public from addressing their prop f comments and objections. so we will revisit that item and give them that opportunity. and then the last item would be the refuse rate order. we'll give a short presentation summarizing the rate order with an updated sequa exemption for the board's consideration today. so as a

quick recap, so proposition f allows anyone affected by the rates or proposed rates to file a written objection to the refuse rates. administrator order. there were 220 written objections filed with our office and were considered and address at the last refuse rate board hearing on july 24th, 2023. because of some technical issues, some ratepayers were unable to comment on the objection remotely. so this agenda item continues in part was continued in part to give those ratepayers another opportunity to make comment. so as a recap, some of the major themes from the objections included and objections to the two rate increases in general, 75.9% of response respondents objected to any rate increase. the most cited reason was the fact that recology had already raised rates in january 2023. 9.5% of responses commented on the service issues. the most common reason was related to missed pickups or consistency of pickups. and lastly, 8.5% of responses supported some form of

rate increase. the majority of those responses. respondents supported the refuse rate administrators proposal. so we'll take a moment to allow any comment, comments or objections lines to be spoken orally by any ratepayers at this time. thank you very much for the comments. we will open it up for any prop f comments. are there any members of the public who wish to voice their or provide comments for prop f comments or objections in person on seeing none? why don't we go online? are there any members of the public online who wish to speak on their proposition f comments or objections. there are no additional comments online. thank you very much. given that we will close the prop f comments or objections, i'll turn it back over to jay. so the next item is our refuse rate

order. so the refuse rate board's rate order sets rates to no change at the beginning of rate year 2024 on october 1st, 2023. then on january first, 2024. this is three months into the rate year. the rate order will increase by 1.33. the rate order will further increase by 2.5% in rate year 2025. that would be october 1st, 2024. this will amount to a 3.92% cumulative two year increase. this is lower than recology's proposed 6.15% cumulative increase and equal to the refuse rate administered orders proposal of a 3.92% cumulative increase as directed by the refuse rate board in the last hearing july 24, 2023. this rate order includes an increase to programmatic reserve of $750,000 and rate year 2025. in addition , we have the planning

department has determined that the adoption of this rate order is exempt from this from sequa. and finally, just to run through what our new investments as a recap with the new investments for the rate increases, get us one, we are maintaining service levels estimated 3.4% increase in additional 1% increase in rate year 2025. that accounts for negotiated salaries, benefits and growth and other costs to operations. we're enhancing other service levels as well for abandoned materials collections, increasing capacity by 20, public receptacles collections also increasing that capacity by 20. and other operations and administrative and administration. we're including two relief drivers to ensure adequate regular collection and two additional cardboard pickup drivers as additional supervisors and managers to support those new drivers and some analytical support to address reporting requirements. we're also looking

to ensure safety. three additional drivers to establish a new two person routes where appropriate, as well as supervisors for increased supervision for those additional drivers. this is mainly in the tenderloin area improving contamination and diversion. we have an organics pre-processing investment, trash processing pilot. in addition, we are doing a pilot around new cameras for contamination as well. so we are building in some flexibility. we have a programmatic reserve to allow for city requests beyond the rate order. i should also add we are not on this list is funding for capital reserve to address long term costs. and then this. we're improving reporting for increased reporting requirement for greater transparency and tracking of operational financial performance. and lastly, we're doing this in part by finding cost savings that would not impact service delivery. so that's a summary of

our rate order for the board to consider today. i don't know if recology might have a few comments before we go to deliberations for the board members. chair chiu, member herrera. good morning. my name is evan boyd, vice president for san francisco . one thing i would like to add in regards to the rates included in these rates is a tip fee increase at at the recology san francisco transfer station that takes effect october first of 2023. in regards to the process, just want to thank the rate review board. thank jay liao think ben becker, dpw san

francisco environment staff for their partnership and collaboration during this process. very long and arduous process, but i think the end result is good for the ratepayers, the residents and businesses of san francisco and recology is looking forward to continuing to meet the needs and service to the residents and businesses of san francisco. so thank you. thank you very much. given that, why don't we open this item up, item number two for public comment. are there any members of the public in person who wish to comment on item number two, seeing none in person, why don't we go online? are there any members of the public online who wish to speak on item number two? for the record, there are no remote public comments. thank you very much. given that we will close public comment on item number two. this is an item that we have heard through a number of series of different meetings and

the evolution of the different elements that are part of this rate order. i want to take a moment to thank the controller's office. jay in particular, of course. todd rydstrom and the controller himself for all of the great work that they've put in to initiate this new process that the city is embarking upon . i do think that it provides stability in terms of where the review of rates sit within the city and also creates a process that i think is a good one for us to continue to emulate and to grow upon and to improve. i also want to thank dpw recology department of the environment for all of their partnership. i know this process is was a fast one, but it was one where all of you provided really good comments and will help make this rate setting process even stronger into the future. so again, just want to acknowledge the great work that was done to lift this new effort on behalf of the city. i think as a whole we see a relatively modest increase in rates over the two year time period, despite some of the big challenges we know

are hitting us in the inflation . every market across the board for vehicles, equipment, labor for our gas, fuel, everything else that impacts service delivery. so i want to thank the controller's office for their close look at the costs and making sure that we are embedded, what our embedding, what should be included in the rate process. but i think for the public writ large, there's also some improvements that we think are much needed, including the 20% increase in public receptacle collection amongst other investments in making sure we pick up bulky item or not bulky items, but cardboard and other abandoned materials on our streets. so again, i want to thank everybody for their due diligence and work on this process. with that, i'm open to either discussions or emotion on this item. so moved. all right. so this item has been moved. i'll second that. we'll take a roll call. chair to a member.

herrera hi. thank you very much. this item is moved and passed. we'll move on to item number three, madam clerk, can you please read item number three? item number three is the opportunity to propose future agenda items with discussion and possible action by the board. would any member of the board like to propose a future agenda item? why don't we open this item up for public comment? are there any members of the public who wish to speak in person on item number three? seeing none, why don't we go to online public comment? any members of the public online who wish to speak on item number three? for the record, there are no remote public comments. thank you very much. given that, we will close public comment on item number three and there are no additional items to be added by the board at this moment. madam clerk, can you please read item number four? item number four is general public comment comments specific to the item on the

agenda may be heard when that item is considered. general public comment may be continued to the agenda if speakers exceed 20 minutes of public comment. thank you very much. we're now going to open this item up. are there any members of the public who wish to speak at general public comment? general public comment is for any items that are not on the agenda today. seeing none, we will close the in-person general public comment. are there any public commenters online for general public comment? there are no remote public comments. thank you very much. given that we will close general public comment or item number four and i believe we are adjourned at 918. thank you so much.

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for us, we wish we had our queue and we created spaces that are active. >> food and drinks. there is a lot for a lot of folks and community. for us, it started back in 1966 and it was a diner and where our ancestors gathered to connect. i think coffee and food is the very fabric of our community as well as we take care of each other. to have a pop-up in the tenderloin gives it so much meaning. >> we are always creating impactful meaning of the lives of the people, and once we create a space and focus on the most marginalized, you really

include a space for everyone. coffee is so cultural for many communities and we have coffee of maria inspired by my grandmother from mexico. i have many many memories of sharing coffee with her late at night. so we carry that into everything we do. currently we are on a journey that is going to open up the first brick and mortar in san francisco specifically in the tenderloin. we want to stay true to our ancestors in the tenderloin. so we are getting ready for that and getting ready for celebrating our anniversary. >> it has been well supported

and well talked about in our community. that's why we are pushing it so much because that's how we started. very active community members. they give back to the community. support trends and give back and give a safe space for all. >> we also want to let folks know that if they want to be in a safe space, we have a pay it forward program that allows 20% to get some funds for someone in need can come and get a cup of coffee, pastry and feel welcomed in our community. to be among our community, you are always welcome here. you don't have to buy anything or get anything, just be here and express yourself and be your authentic self and we will always take care of you.

>> (indiscernible) i just know it. excuse me boys, but does anybody have sun block to block this skin from the sun? >> yes. that's right, i need to get my (indiscernible) >> many of us last summer (indiscernible) reapplying sun screen is like getting the second dose of mpox vaccine. >> wait, two doses-

(indiscernible) >> isn't it too late to get my second dose? >> girl, it is like sun screen, never too late to put more sun screen on. >> that's right, i need to get my second dose of mpox vaccine before the summer starts. >> let's (indiscernible) 21201 to find the closest location to get the vaccine or go to sf.gov/mpox. >> thank you for the information (indiscernible) >> excuse me boys, do you mind checking please? >> sure. >> that doesn't look like a sun burn, you might want to getd it checked out. >> what do you mean clecked out? >> checked out. i was told if i got my second m pox vaccine i would have less severe

symptoms. (indiscernible) >> maybe i schedule the second dose just to be safe from mpox. >> most vackeens offer you a level of protections, just like sun block. sometimes you need to reapply for more protection. the m pox vaccine is based on two shots several weeks apart to provide the strongest level of protection. visit sf.gov/mpox to get yours. >> thank you boys for that reminder! make sure your are fully vaccinated for m pox this summer. text summer vibes to 21201, to get

>> president ajami. >> here. >> vice president maxwell. >> here. >> commissioner paulson and rivera are excused. commissioner stacy. >> here. >> thank you. members mimake up to 2 minutes of remote comment dialing 415-655-0001, access code: 2592 058 3232 ##. then star 3. you will hear i chime had you