Regular basis. Understanding,
his dedication to protecting the
water system in general is
admirable. I can tell you I
spend many hours traveling with
dave up-and-down owens valley
recruiting efforts, and he was
instrumental in drafting,
policy, and also the work under
the water agreement. Not only
is he a really good attorney,
who is also a great person too.
I think that's very important to
all of us. You know? He is a
friend. I hate to see him go,
but I know he is going to a
great organization. I know the
manager over there, and know
they're very happy to have him
come over. Our loss is their
gain.
a couple of things, I don't want
you to forget where you came
from, and you wearing the water
and power hat, hopefully it fits
your head --
[laughter]
all right. And the last thing I
want to do, this is something
that was prepared by the water
division and aqueduct, where he
spent time working with them,
and for those of who you have
been on owens lake, you know
there are salt crystals that
form on the lake, it comes from
the mountains, it dissolves,
runs down with the water when it
rains, deposits and forms
crystals. So, dave edwards, you
have been worth your salt --
[laughter]
[indiscernible] personality --
congratulations, from the water
and aqueduct division in
september of 2020 -- 2022.
[applause]
>>speaker: it's hard to know
where to start. I came to la to
work here. I have had the
distinct honor to have been
given incredible opportunities
by julie riley, whose leadership
is unmatched, as you all know.
by marty adams, my first
assignment was from marty in the
great basin in 2011. And the
thing that makes this job great
and easy and exciting and
challenging and all of that, is
the staff that's here. I'm --
you know -- I come to work, I
just absorb the work that is
being done by all of you, and
the talent, the knowledge, the
work ethic is unbelievable to
me. I'm humbled. It's been the
joy of my life at this point to
have served the city and the
department. I appreciate this.
all of you at the aqueduct. I
could start naming names, but
you know who you are. I love
the place. I'm going to miss
it. Thank you, president
mcclain-hill, for all the kind
words, and all of on you board.
I truly appreciate it. I'm
especially proud of the work we
did on the tribal engagement
policy, and not to remiss, the
meeting with manly,
[indiscernible] the salt has
certain -- [indiscernible] that,
sort of, thing. Anyway. Thank
you. Thanks michelle, my
partner, for coming. You know,
I love you all. And I'll be
around.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
[applause]
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you. And with that, we
will move to public comment.
>>board secretary: we have 22,
madam president. You will have
two minutes for public comment.
first speaker is dominique
estevan, followed by laura
guarana.
>>speaker: good morning. My
name is dominic eastman, I am
the regional manager of
operations at the health
foundation, the affordable
housing 1179 units that we have
acquired at our own cost without
assistance without any outside
source. The median unit size is
less than 200 square foot per
unit we do not cause for utility
costs. The buildings are old,
some of them are historical.
we're unable to meter each
individual unit, and we really
don't want to. [indiscernible]
demographic. We continue to
provide affordable housing to
resident who is may not qualify
for the project base or subsidy
base housing. Thank you.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is laura garana followed by ann
kim. I'm sorry. Laura garcia.
please excuse me.
>>speaker: hi everyone. Good
morning. My name is laura
garcia, I'm with communities for
a better environment. We're an
environmental justice
organization to build people in
power in low-income communities
of color. We part of the la
coalition [indiscernible] so,
what I do at cbe is work with
communities across the state
around climate resilience and
adaptation. Why is that so
important for us to talk about
here? A lot of our members are
going to be speaking about how
power shutoffs, water shutoffs
really impact their daily lives
and while of that is so true,
and that is what needs to lead
this decision, ultimately power
shutoffs are -- do inhibit
people's ability to be resilient
during an extreme heat event
during -- especially if you are
living in an environmental
justice community near oil
drilling or refineries, they're
actual flaring events if someone
has an air purifier, and the
power shuts off, they're not
able to use that air purifier,
if they are on disability, and
don't have access to back up
storage, it's essential for
ladwp to stop water and power
shut-off. It's the climate
solution to make sure that
low-income and frontline
communities have the ability to
adapt during a climate event.
in 2020 we started an emergency
fund and that was the least we
could do during a time of loss,
during a time of confusion. It
was just way overwhelming, and
so many folks came to us. And
they were scared rent was an
issue, food was an issue, and
people lost relationships,
people lost their jobs, as well,
this was a way to put a band-aid
over that and support them.
this is something you can do to
support people daily. Because a
lot of people are still living
in that situation. It's been
two years later, but people are
still facing a lot of the same
issues. Please stop water and
power shutoffs. Thank you.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is ann kim, followed by maria
montez.
>>speaker: hi. I spoke two
weeks ago. My name is ann kim.
I am with aids health care
foundation. You heard from
dominique a little bit ago. And
I want to reiterate points I
made last time. We're trying to
do our best to do our part. You
know, we're charging, as you
said, we're charging $550 for
rent which is unheard of in los
angeles. Our dwp bill, for
june, for one month was $20,000
for -- [indiscernible] I nits.
that's $100 a unit for units
that we charge $550 for it's
unsustainable for affordable
housing. 22% of it is going
ladwp, $100 a month we have to
pay for, close to $100. Please
work with us to put a program
together for our clients, our
tenants, as well. These are the
very people that you are trying
to help, and you want to help,
we need to work together to do
it. And like I said, your off
the shelf programs aren't going
to work because we need
individual leaders. If you need
information from tenants they're
readily available for anyone who
wants to work with us. These
are people on ssi, fixed income,
that we're trying to help stay
off the streets. We have been
there a couple of times, via
phone, we have been here in
person. But we haven't heard
back. We want to hear from you.
you want you to reach back out
to us. We're reaching out to
you. Please reach back out to
us. Thank you.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is maria montez, who will be
followed by dulce altamarino.
>>speaker: yes, maria montez
[speaking in native language].
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
excuse me. Do we have
translation?
thank you.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: good morning my
name is marie owe montez a
resident from san pedro. All
the areas in los angeles,
wilmington, carson.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I'm just
scared to ask you if you can
bring down the cost of the,
especially the light, the
energy, lower, make it more
affordable especially for people
with low-income.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: today,
especially in this time that it
is so hot.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and we really
need more energy, and we have --
if we have many devices
connected at the same time, they
are shut off.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I know that
we are all trying to support
each other. Because we're
having problems with water, and
with the light.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: also there are
some problems -- there are many
problems with people that need
medicines that need to be
refrigerator.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: or some people
that may have illness that may
depend on an electric device.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so then when
they are shut off, many times,
there is not enough energy, then
the fridge gets ruined or
devices don't work anymore.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and then all the
medicines that are in the fridge
get spoiled, and that's, like, a
waste of money for them.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and also, the
person said, like, the
applications for low-income.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: because our
elders --
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: it is difficult
for them to fill in all the
applications.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: because, if they
can have, like, better access to
these kind of applications,
because technologies move
forward, but they stay behind.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I want to
say thank you to all of you for
listening to me.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
gracias.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is dolce altamarino,
followed by robin line.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: good morning
everybody my name is dolce.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: for earth,
water, and more clean
electricity.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I can advocate
not only for my family, but for
the whole community.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: the water is
power is impacting our health
and our community.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I know as a
certainty electricity is not a
luxury, but it's a necessity.
it is essential for our
families, for our children, and
for our community.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: it's a necessity
to me. It's a human right that
we have.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so this is the
lack of energy and electricity,
impacting our health especially
those who suffer from cancer,
diabetes, emphysema, and many
more illnesses that are impacted
by this problem.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so each time we
have a shadow on the
electricity, it's going to be
panic mode, because we have no
idea when it's going to come
back, when it's going to happen,
so it's not only physically,
it's psychologically, this is
impacting us, because we don't
know what's going to happen with
our medicines that are in the
refrigerator.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: yeah, so,
please, I beg you that you take
into account what I'm saying,
because this is, when there is a
necessity, this is a human right
this, is something that's really
so important for our health, for
our family, for our children,
for our communities.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language]
>>interpreter: I'm here to
advocate for my family and the
community and to ask for your
noble heart.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and thank you
for hearing us about our
necessities, and I want to end
with this statement.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so, we have to
do good, no matter who is there,
for everybody. So, I want more,
I beg to your noble hearts.
thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is robin line, who will
be followed by andrea.
>>speaker: good morning. My
name is robin, and I am a member
of scope, and repower la
coalition. Repower coalition,
we're represent a diverse group
of environmental justice, labor,
and community-based
organizations. I'm here today
for a personal story. For two
and a half days, our water was
shut off, and we live if a 51
unit building, and no proper
notice from our management of
dwp was received. And we were
in the middle of a three digit
heatwave. So there was no water
for us for personal hygiene. I
came home to my residence and no
water at all. And I use filter
water to take my medication. I
take medication three times a
day, so I had no water to drink,
and also to flush our toilets.
I couldn't prepare our meals for
dinner. Our families, four or
more in there, so the added
expense of having to go out and
buy meals, and especially with
the skyrocketing price of gas
was really phenomenal. And it's
important that ladwp, you make a
policy to stop the water and
power shutoffs for low-income
and life residents, all
residents, seniors, everybody.
our rent is too high. We need
debt relief, affordable rates,
we want a permanent solution to
utilities, shutoffs, that don't
put a burden on already
struggling communities. Shut
offs are inhumane and criminal,
and we have nowhere else to go
for service. So, I want to
thank you for your time and your
listening, and I'm asking again
on behalf of everyone to stop
utility shutoffs. Thank you
very much.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is andrea, followed by
jasmine vargas.
>>speaker: hello. Good morning
everybody my name is andrea, and
I work with repower campaign,
representing diverse groups and
individuals including
environmental justice labor and
community-based organizations I
do outreach specifically for
ladwp programs, some of these
programs include shared solar as
well as commercial
installations, I go street by
street week by week talking with
business owners, employees, and
landlords, tenants, some of the
lowest income tenants I have
ever experienced. When I see
these experiences I see
community members making
challenging decisions every day
about the bills they have to
pay. I have been in the living
rooms of people who are fearful
of their power getting shut off
and how that impacts their
children and experiencing life
in la. Additionally climate
change has impacted la this
summer and it's going to get
worse. People are making
decisions about whether to spend
this money on bills, versus food
for households and now dealing
with the problem of food or
medicine spoiling and that money
going wasted. So, for me, as my
personal experience as an
outreach special, I feel it's
important for ladwp to stop
water and power shutoffs for
low-income and life line
residential customers. Thank
you very much for your time
today.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is jasmine vargas, followed by
malcolm johnson.
>>speaker: good morning
esteemed board of commissioners.
I am very grateful for the
opportunity to speak with you
today, especially being here,
standing in solidarity with our
repower la coalition members my
name is jasmine, organized food
and water watch. I fight
climate change fight for
community justice and energy
justice something I have heard a
lot from specifically president
mcclain-hill and others on you
this is a huge equitable
challenge for all of us I would
like for you to think about how
important this is as we
transition to clean energy and
our future with climate change
how are people going to do that
when they're already saddled
with debt those who are
overburdened by bills, and this
institution thinks of this as a
luxury. How are we going to get
people to pay their bills if
we're threatening them with shut
off. That's a bankrupt policy
and that's not how justice is
done. If you think about it, if
we support people in our
community, life line customers
and discount customers, all the
things we can talk about for
people who use energy
conservation programs f they
have a program that their water
is power won't go off, and the
proportional burdens,
transitioning into the future,
we can start from a safe place
I'm going to keep fighting for
low-income communities,
communities on the front lines
of climate change the ones that
have solutions and that are
calling for you all to start
envisioning that clean energy
future that we're all fighting
for. There really is no other
choice. Thank you.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is malcolm john sol followed by
lb gonzalez.
>>speaker: good afternoon thank
you for your time my name is
mall malcolm johnson coming from
the sierra club here with
coalition power partners. I
want to make it clear that
access to utilities is a human
right, and we really need to
work together to find a way to
make sure that we're not doing
the inhumane thing, which is
cutting off people's access to
power, cut off people's access
to water. I am a long-term
resident of southern california,
I have grown up in la, and, you
know, things have happened,
right, just in my short
lifetime, we have had multiple
recessions, multiple wars.
people's finances can shift from
day-to-day, moment to moment.
we know so many people in this
country, in this city, are
paycheck to paycheck. So if
people are living paycheck to
paycheck, and something happens,
and now they have a choice
between literally putting food
in their family's bellies, and
keeping the lights on, and
you're making them choose, you
know, basically to starve
themselves to death, to keep
from having their power
shut-off, that's just a horribly
horrific inhumane thing to do.
let's call it what it is and
acknowledge it. And let's find
a way to make sure this doesn't
happen. And the difference
between ladwp and a lot of other
places is that this is an
organization that's supposed to
be for the residents of the
city. First and foremost. So
you all have a responsibility to
protect those residents, even
the ones who are falling on hard
times. Let's think about it in
that perspective. This is not a
private utility. You guys are a
public agency. You guys have a
responsibility. So, that's all
I really have to say. You know,
it's a very clear thing.
everybody here is grown. You
guys have probably already had
your own things that you have
experienced when you have gone
through your challenges, and
imagine what you would do, if
you could help somebody else
that's in that situation. Thank
you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is elbie gonzalez.
>>speaker: good morning. I am
with the sierra club and the
repower la coalition. I am here
today because it's very
important for ladwp to make a
policy to stop water and power
shutoffs for low-income families
and life-long residents -- life
line residential customers we
urge you to find a perm
important that solution to
utility shut off that doesn't
put the burden on our struggling
communities. As a child I
experienced shutoffs and it was
dehumanizing, very challenging
for my parents to have their
utilities shut off. I don't
want my children to experience
this, and I urge to you support
for our life line communities.
thank you for your time.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is ashoke, followed by
mark dyer.
>>speaker: good morning
commissioners, and president
hill. I apologize if you can't
see me l podiums and I have
unresolved issues. You have
heard from some of my colleagues
at aids health care foundation
where I am the deputy counsel
for corporate affairs. I joined
this exceptionally compassionate
organization about six years ago
and in the last five years we
have proceeded to establish a
program, purchase buildings,
rehabilitated them, and house
about 1200 of those 70,000
people that my colleagues spoke
about. It's almost impossible,
cost prohibitive and sometimes
not possible to meet the units
individually. We talk about how
individual finances can change
and sometimes it puts people in
this conflicting position of do
I put food on the table or keep
the lights on. We don't want
our tenants to face that
problem. So we don't make them.
we include utilities all out of
our own pockets, looking for an
extraordinarily solution to an
extraordinarily crisis. I see
it every day in every corner, of
every street. 20% of utilities,
20% of the total cost of
housing, going to utilities is
not a sustainable program.
we're asking for an
extraordinarily sustainable
program that can actually work.
we ask you to come talk to us.
we have been here probably three
or four times before, and we'll
probably be here again. We ask
for a dialogue, because our goal
is that we're hoping that you
are going to be able to
establish a program where
residents are paying, or
landlords who are taking care of
residents like us, are paying no
more than 5% per unit cost in
utilities and we hope that this
is a sustainable program. We
believe this will is going to be
a sustainable program because
20% of the cost simply is not.
I thank you for your time, and
hope that you will reach out to
us.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is mark dyer, followed by jeremy
foster.
>>speaker: good morning
everyone my name is mark dyer
vice president of operations at
the aids health care foundation
here before you today to
reiterate what my colleagues
have said we're looking for a
program that will assist us and
our tenants. We made contact
here back in march, and a
colleague of yours joseph coe
reached out to us and had a
discussion with us. I
interacted with several
decisions and have made
recommendations which we have
done, la24, l.e.d. Lighting and
things of that nature. We had
michael bust monti who spoke
with president mccain hill and
we had conversation looking for
someone to reach out to us and
work with us to help with what
we're trying to do. As my
colleagues have said 20% is not
sustainable, over $150 per room
per month for cost of
electricity when these rooms
don't have air conditioning and
there is not a lot of things
they operate. If we could make
some dialogue, reach out, have
some communication and try to
move forward, I would greatly
appreciate it. Thank you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
just -- although we don't
typically have a lot of response
to public comment, I do want to
acknowledge that the aids health
foundation has been here
multiple times. You have been
incredibly respectful, and,
also, have conveyed, with
increasing clarity, the urgency,
and the dilemma that your
organization faces. I do look
forward to spending some time
thinking about how we address
this, maybe with you, maybe not,
I don't know how many other
entities that are in your
position, but clearly, I
appreciate the degree to which
our typical programs and
individuals don't work in this
circumstance. And marty would
like to follow up in an
appropriate way, so that we can
better understand how we might
be more accommodating with the
service providers of this kind.
so, thank you. And I appreciate
you all. Thank you.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is jeremy.
>>speaker: good morning. I am
jeremy with climate justice
committee and repower la
speaking for repower la today I
was down here for city hall for
the youth climate strike and I
was talking about a bunch of
people about the heatwave we
just went through, and one was
spoke was to in high school in
la and he talked about during
the heatwave he and his family
tried to spend time outside of
their apartment at libraries,
grocery stores, cooling centers,
because at their apartment, they
have two acs, and the air
doesn't flow through their
apartment approximate they're
trying to make every dollar
count right now with rising cost
of food, gas, et cetera, they're
trying to make every single
there go as far as possible they
haven't had shut off yet but
trying to save money on
utilities and as inflation
continues to rise these are
things that people are thinking
about. A lot of the ratepayers
are struggling with trying to
make end meet and they shouldn't
have to choose between putting
food on the table is having to
worry about these shut off
notices. Climate justice
committee is supporting repower
la in this initiative. We hope
you will listen to their
presentation today and hope you
will do everything you can to
take the burden off of the
ratepayers who can least afford
to deal with these shutoffs.
thank you for your time.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is cameron hurt, who
will be followed by theodore.
>>speaker: good morning my name
is cameron hurt. I have lived
in los angeles department of
water and power for several
years, I am an ladwp ratepayer,
and I want to thank those who
have been speaking passionately
about the permanent need for
solutions to shutoffs and the
growing crisis. It's been made
clear by all speakers it's
necessary that the future
includes low-income people at
risk for shut off, and I feel
confident saying that the
majority of people, whether in
los angeles or across the
country, are in support of
something that stops shutoffs
permanently. Any time that
someone's water or power is shut
off, it's an inhumane situation.
it's something that can ruin a
day, a lifetime, and anything
that can be done to make this a
thing of the past must be done.
I truly want to say that when we
hear stories of people who have
gone through shutoffs because
they can't pay it's something
that can shock and leave
permanent damage. So the only
way to move forward and solve
this is to make sure there is a
policy that stops water and
power shutoffs and I look
forward to hearing the
recommendations that are going
to come out. Immediate action
is clearly needed. Shutoffs is
inhumane it's a tragedy when it
happens water and power are a
human right and we must continue
to fight and do everything in
our power to continue to fight
for those human rights whether
here or anywhere else. The
power is definitely in the hands
of folks in this room. And I
want to say that all the diverse
speakers who have come out to
represent, are the majority of
people, and it would be
excellent for something power to
come out of today's meeting and
future meetings. Thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is theodore reyes
followed by melissa walking.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
board secretary how many
speakers do we have?
>>board secretary: I am on
number 15 of 23.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
of 23?
>>board secretary: yes.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>speaker: good morning ladwp
board I am with pacoima
beautiful and repower la
coalition. The coalition
represents a diverse
environmental justice group and
community-based organizations.
families and angelenos should
not have to choose between a
meal and utilities and their
human right to access water and
power. Especially our most
vulnerable angelenos who
continue to live paycheck to
paycheck in the aftermath of the
covid-19 pandemic. Water,
energy, and utilities are a
human right yet bipoc
communities often go without due
to long-standing historic
injustice. The ladwp has shut
off water and power after the
moratorium, and during that time
working families faced
increasing lost of living
expenses, as well as access to
their water and power. And in
the midst of the pandemic it's
become a personal element, the
basic needs and safe quality of
life for angelenos. So, we all
know that our basic needs are
very important to us, and many
here today have spoken upon the
realities of having to choose
between their medicine, uses,
their right to, you know, this
heatwave, for example, caused a
lot of our families to have to
choose to sleep outside. And a
lot of our members, and even
yourselves would not want to
have to sleep outside because of
how hot it is in your home.
many of our families have more
than just one -- in one
household, there is more than
one family, and many bodies in a
house, it can get really hot.
we're here today to ask for a no
shut off policy that will help
benefit our communities instead
of having to deal with the cost
of choosing between their
housing or utilities. So, thank
you so much for your time and
all your efforts. And I hope we
continue to look for
recommendations and take into
consideration what's going to be
presented today. And we hope
you have the good rest of your
day.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>speaker: thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is melissa wong who will
be followed by anna karen
ramirez.
>>speaker: good morning ladwp
board. My name is melissa, I am
a member of pacoima beautiful,
and also the repower la
coalition. It is very important
for ladwp to make a policy that
stops water and power shutoffs
for low-income and lifetime
residential customers. We want
a permanent solution to utility
shutoffs that doesn't burden
already struggling communities.
thank you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is anna karen ramirez,
followed by olivia walker.
>>speaker: good morning ladwp
board. My name is anna karen
member of la beautiful coalition
our organization supports
community members applying for
utility sadness program and I am
here to urge ladwp to make a
policy that stops water and
power shutoffs for low-income
and life line are the and
residential customers. As one
of the wealthiest cities in the
world it's inhuman to disallow
access to basic u at this times.
neighborhoods are
disproportionately impacted by
covid-19 and ladwp needs to come
up with permanent solutions to
protect vulnerable customers.
ladwp should invest resources in
improving access to programs and
addressing things like language
and technical barriers for their
customers rather than threaten
shut off services. We need a
solution that doesn't continue
to place a burden on our already
vulnerable communities. Thank
you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is olivia walker, who
will followed by mari tovar.
>>speaker: good morning members
of the board my name is olivia
walker, and I am with nrdc,
natural resources defense
council. I also have had the
pleasure of working with the
repower la coalition, and I am
here as a los angeles resident.
I'm here today in support of
policies and programs that will
be recommended by the repower
coalition to ease utility debt
burden and stop shut off for
low-income and life line
residences, with the escalating
affordability crisis faced by
residents across the city and
the compound burdens faced by
residents for shut offs, and
many speakers expressed many
stories sharing their
experience. The answer to the
crisis is not cutting off
resident from essential
resources it's creating
long-term solutions to guarantee
energy justice to those who need
it the most, ensuring long-term
energy affordability for all
angelenos. Thank you for your
time.
>>board secretary: next speaker
is mari followed by ara vazquez.
>>speaker: good morning. My
name is mari, with pacoima
beautiful and empowerment
program I urge to you stop the
shutoffs and work with community
members who are victims of the
pandemic. This is a necessity.
the financial hardship they face
is something they have never
encountered before, living
paycheck to paycheck and without
income for months or years they
face the hardship and choice of
deciding to buy food or paying
down utility bills. These are
willing community members who
have a specific circumstances.
I ask that you have a unit
dedicated to special
circumstances. Because even if
we have a program, those are
worthless to those without a
social security number. I have
helped many members apply
however when I check back with
them they don't see much of a
difference due to the extreme
temperatures. Angelenos don't
have luxury of shopping for
cheaper rates. You're the only
option they have. Please work
with the communities that depend
on you. Thank you.
>>speaker: hi everyone. Good
morning. I'm ara vazquez a
former commissioner for ladwp
great to see everyone here. I'm
here to ask you to develop a
policy that will allow an
avoiding shed of water and power
for angelenos struggling
especially after the pandemic.
I know firsthand what it's like
to have to choose between paying
for groceries and paying for
your bill. My story is not
unique. While I was a
commissioner here, in my office
hours, I learn about so many
families, that are actually
living today with no water and
power. In a city as rich as
hours with some of the
wealthiest zip codes with
probably the largest utility in
the country, this shouldn't be
the case, and I trust that you
all are working towards a common
goal where we can have a policy
to help those angelenos that are
struggling today. I want to
take a moment to show my
gratitude for the enormous
leadership that commissioner
mcclain-hill has shown in this
issue. I trust that all of you
will take this on, at heart,
just like so many others are
taking it today, especially with
the repower well. A coalition
and with so many organizations
that are here. I cannot stress
enough that maybe some of you
might not have direct experience
with this, but there are
hundreds of people out there
that need your support, and your
help today. Thank you very much
for your consideration. And I
hope next time we can come here
and celebrate a policy that will
help angelenos in need right
now. Thank you so much.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
commissioner, it's very good to
see you. Thank you very much
for coming.
>>speaker: thank you. It's
good to see everyone. So many
new faces. It's great to see
everyone here. Thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker will be andrea ramirez
followed by maria.
>>speaker: hello my name is
andrea ramirez. I am a resident
of los angeles. And I came to
implore you to please take our
communities into account,
provide a permanent solution.
all of the members of my
community are feeling the
effects of the pandemic. I lost
a lot of members of my family,
because of the pandemic, and it
was very unjust for my family to
have to decide to help our own
families or pay our bills. Just
because we're seeing the life
line in the packet doesn't mean
our families aren't
disappearing. My nam still has
very high electricity bills, and
we lost nine individuals in our
family. Imagine that impact, in
our family, for us to be able to
think about the bills. It just
became very inhumane. I
graduated this year, and for me,
it didn't feel like a
celebration, it felt like a
burden for myself, I feel like,
see how much my family was still
actively trying to put together
money for my vacation, trying to
look for money for our family
members that we lost and at the
same time thinking about the
bills that we have to pay. I
beg to you look at the community
members, we have people who
aren't high income, we have
people, even when we work every
day we cannot come up with,
like, the bills that we're
getting every day. Please come
up with a solution for the water
and bills. Thank you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>board secretary: the next
speaker is maria, followed by
ignacio gutierrez.
>>speaker: [indiscernible].
>>board secretary: thank you.
the next speaker is ignacio
gutierrez.
>>speaker: [indiscernible].
[background - off mic comments)
>>board secretary: I can please
take guadeloupe rivas?
I can please take anthony
ballesteros?
>>speaker: good morning. My
name is ignacio gut terries, and
I am a member of the rescope and
repower la coalition. This has
affected me in a way that my
water and power was shut off,
and I am afraid of my food going
rotten. Not washing my dishes,
not being able to wash my
dishes, and I have to eat
outside. Please consider this.
during the pandemic, my work
almost got cut off, and I
started owing money, and didn't
have enough to pay my bill, so
my power got shut off. Please
pardon us during the pandemic,
and lower our bills, because we
low-income families don't have
enough money to pay, if we go --
because we live check by check.
thank you so much, and are have
a great day.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>board secretary: guadeloupe
rivas?
anthony ballasteros?
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: good morning.
my name is antonio, and I am a
resident of the south of los
angeles, and I am -- I am not --
I don't agree with the crisis of
the water and power. They're
very high, and it's a burden for
my economy. Not only my
economy, but all the people that
live in my area.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: another
important thing -- and I have
called the department to say
that the water is very dirty,
the water is coming out very
dirty out of faucet.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: in south
central, most of the families
are low-income and we don't have
the money to pay the high prices
that we get from ladwp.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: he says he
already made, like, four -- he
tell me, already like four
applications and he tells me he
has not got any reduction in the
bills so he's asking that you
pay attention to these high
prices for all the people, the
community.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so, this one
person that was sent to scope,
to help them infill the
application, and they did, they
filled in like four applications
and they didn't put in response,
like even saying yes you
qualify, or you're not
qualified, and this is not going
to work out. Just didn't get
any response.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: thank you to all
of you for paying attention.
thank you.
>>board secretary: guadeloupe
rivas in.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: good afternoon,
and commissioners of the ladwp
board. My name is guadeloupe
rivas, and I am a member of
scope, and then the organization
of repower, repower la, and
repower coalition, represents
differently groups of justice,
labor, and communities based in
different organizations.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: okay. So, I am
here because I represent the
persons of low-income, and due
to the inflation, and the higher
prices, it's -- the cost of our
lives, and of our groceries, and
for life, in general, all of the
expenses that we have with our
children, and with the rent, all
these minimum costs, it is,
like, really difficult to
afford.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: also, the price
of the energy went up so much,
it went from 150 to 300. It
doubled because it's been so
hot. And we can -- some of us,
we need to turn on the air
conditioning, we cannot afford
it, we can't turn on the air
conditioning because we don't
want to spend so much money.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so my daughter
has two babies, and they really
need to have the air
conditioning on. But, instead,
we have to take them to the
park, because we really cannot
afford to leave the air
conditioning on the whole day.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: she says that
it's not fair the lack of
equality that, for people that
have, like, they spend the same,
them, they're low-income, the
bills are the same as those who
are high income, so she find
it's not fair, because for them
it's a lot hard to pay these
bills.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so, they're
begging, that, please, do not
shut off the energy or the
water. And if you can take in
consideration, to make, like,
more to help those people who
have low-income.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: thank you for
your attention.
>>speaker: gracias.
>>board secretary: believe it
comment is now closed.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
before we proceed to the rest of
the meeting, I want to just
acknowledge the time and effort
it takes for people to come and
address our board meeting. For
us, it's an hour of listening
patiently, but for them, it's
getting up, and getting -- you
know, traveling long distances,
for simply two minutes to speak.
and I appreciate their
participation.
as you know, we will have a
workshop on debt relief, are
joined by a number of outside
presenters. I think I'm going
to move that, advance that on
the agenda. So, marty, if we
could briefly go through the
general manager and achieve
engineer reports, that would be
great. And, I think, from
there, we will jump down to the
item I, and then we'll go to
item j, to management reports.
we have -- I would just like to
point out that, we have, in
addition to the agenda, and to
the dais, that's our inspector
general, that he will be making
a presentation today, as well,
but that will follow our
management report presentation.
so, that will be the order.
marty?
>>gm martin l. Adams: thank you
all. I'll be brief. First I
want to highlight, and it's
pertinent to discussions we
heard this morning we launched
cool la program two fridays ago,
president mcclain-hill, myself,
and mayor garcia, were there for
the power la, at valley center
in pan ram on city, gather
together under one large
umbrella highlighted by our air
conditioning rebate program for
portable air conditioners for
eligible customers based on
income other and situations.
since last two weeks we have had
500 families taken advantage of
this that have received $68,000
in rebates. We have had the
online place become active as
well as well as the rebate on
point of sale you don't have to
put the money out up front you
can get the rebate out of pocket
less. And next is the level
bill pay option levelizing
payments over the course of the
year we heard so many speakers
talk about concern about turning
on air conditioning because of
impact on the bill look at the
levelize billing history so
there is no ups and downs. We
have the dwp clean air day
coming up.
>>nancy sutley: ladwp will be
sponsoring california's fifth
annual clean air day october 5th
our way around our continuing
air pollution problems we're
inviting our employees to take a
clean air pledge to raise
awareness and to do any of the
things that we can to support
clean air day. Such as walking
or biking, to school, or to the
store, and helping our kids with
reports and classes on the
environment, and then we'll also
be hosting a resource fair here
at jfb, so people can learn more
about things we can do to help
clean the air. There is a
little bit of competition going
on among the utilities in
california and we have been told
that we're doing okay, but a
little behind some of the others
so we encourage everybody to
participate. Thank you.
>>gm martin l. Adams: and I'll
close my report by saying we got
word from the mayor's office
today that this should be our
last meeting that we have to
wear masks. Mask mandates will
be removed citywide on monday
and we'll be putting out an
employee video and guidance on
that. But relief is close at
hand. That closes my report.
thank you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
any questions from members of
the board?
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
quick question. Did you say
this is the fifth clean air day?
>>nancy sutley: this is an
annual event put on by the
coalition for clean air. So
they're really encouraging
people to take steps that they
can take to help clean the air
and raise awareness.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
okay. Seeing no other questions
or comments at this time, I
would like to go to item I on
our agenda. Items recommended
for approval. And, let me look
at my notes in that regard. I
know that items m3, and m4 have
been deferred. Item m2 is being
called special by vice president
ruiz.
I'll make the motion to approve
items m1, m5, and m6.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
second.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
call the roll.
>>board secretary: president
mcclain-hill?
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
aye.
>>board secretary: neeman
brady?
>>com. Nicole neeman brady:
aye.
>>board secretary: vice
president ruiz?
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: aye.
>>board secretary: four ayes
adopted.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill: I
--
>>board secretary: three ayes
motion adopted, ma'am.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
commissioner lehrer, do you
intend to vote?
>>com. Mia lehrer: yes. Thank
you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
you vote aye?
>>board secretary: four ayes.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
yes. Thank you. Thank you for
that. We'll move to management
reports, starting with our debt
relief workshop. And the first
presenters are from ucla, luskin
school, rachel and greg.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
they're representing luskin and
I believe they're presenting on
the equity strategies project
and some of this information was
presented to our equity strategy
steering committee. But we
thought it would be important,
as foundational information for
the board, as we continue to
look at debt, debt management,
and issues related to debt
burden. With that, I appreciate
your being here. Thank you.
>>speaker: thank you to the
board. You can all hear me?
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
yes.
>>speaker: I'm greg pierce
director of ucla, luskin center
for innovation joined by rachel.
we'll briefly cover topics
broadly on customer utility,
affordability, our experience
working with la 100 equity
strategies and much broader work
in the space and focusing in on
customer debt and shut off
policy in particular.
briefly, la 100 equity
strategies is a commission
effort by ladwp and involving
both national renewable energy,
and ucla putting ourselves to
help the community come up with
strategies to help transition to
100% renewable energy. Our work
is focused on affordable but
there is a number of elements to
that project, happy to discuss
that later if we have time.
just on get on the same page
about some of the terms I'll be
using here. I know this is too
many words and I know if there
is an economist in the room, you
may object to the terms. But I
want to say first of all, that
customer affordability, utility
affordability is among the most
key considerations that we raise
around equity and ladwp
certainly is key, if not the key
consideration in the la 100
equity strategies. Transition
cost toward 100% renewable
energy only makes it more urgent
in discussing this issue because
cost is considerable as it
generates additional utility
revenue primarily almost
exclusively for ladwp recovered
by rates paid by customers which
are not just residential
customers which we'll talk about
later but there are few external
sources of subsidy for ladwp as
a public utility.
affordability, key term I'll be
using over and over here, I'm
referring to customers ability
to pay their bill bulk of which
reflects rates. We know there
is cost moving to 100% renewable
energy reflected on bills, but
also cost for natural gas and
gasoline will be foaled into the
ladwp bill as we are successful
in moving to full building and
transport electrification. So a
lot more what people pay is
going to be through the ladwp
power portion of their bill,
inherently, and thus heightens
the need to address
affordability holistically.
I'm going to run through a few
highlights of why affordability
matters and the particular ways
it matters for ladwp. But first
I want to note that for
customers, really, it's the
whole ladwp bill that matters,
and ladwp has the unique
challenge, which I had know,
also, brings a lot of
efficiencies, and is very
convenient for a lot of
customers but has a unique
challenge for low-income
customers that there are up to
four services they have to pay
on their bill. They can't
choose which of those services
they're going to pay for. It's
a higher burden, unless measures
are taken, which I know some are
being taken, especially when the
bill is traditionally bimonthly
to pay for all four services at
the same time, as opposed to
having that separated and having
options like life line la as
mentioned being ruled out.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
question. The different
customer discount programs, and
whether they qualify for these
discounts in these buckets, is
that what's going on? I'm not
sure I -- you can explain the
chart?
>>speaker: yeah, sure. It's
showing you for different types
of discount for assistance
programs that ladwp operates,
those being ez save, life line,
life line plus, life support, of
which those services, those
customers pay on their bill, and
I should note that it's most
common -- but, again, there are
15 different combinations,
depending on the customer you
are, which services you're going
to pay on a bill. But it's very
common for low-income customers
to not pay for water, as well
as, to some extent, especially
sewer, and to some extent,
trash, because those services
are master metered. But this
chart is showing you a lot of
information about which services
those customers who are enrolled
in these programs have to pay
directly on their bill.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
what's take away on this slide?
what am I supposed to derive
from it?
>>speaker: for customer who is
have to pay their own bill,
traditionally, and not shut off,
having four services on their
bill, potentially, and having to
pay that bill bimonthly is more
of a burden as low-income
households struggle to pay a
larger bill as opposed to
smaller bills that come in at
different times.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
okay.
>>speaker: all right. This is
the second point. In context
it's not unique to ladwp but
drawing on data that ladwp
publicly released six months
into the covid pandemic around
utility debt burden due to
residential utility debt burden.
and customer debt that was not
paid on bills, and effectively,
again, there is a lot going on
in this graphic, we can talk
about the slide for a long time.
but this is showing that
low-income communities in los
angeles city, tend to have
higher residential debt burdens
than higher income communities
and particularly there is a
higher debt burden for
low-income. Shown early on in
this data as well as with
additional data analysis done in
the city of la, and in the
context this is a universal
finding during the pandemic
especially highlighted for
low-income communities,
communities of color.
I want to highlight, and this is
using data made available from
ladwp that low-income -- those
who are enrolled in the major
two assistance programs for
income or otherwise households
of life line programs,
relatively little revenue
derived from residential
customers and 7% in 2021 and
residential revenue represents
around a third of revenue on the
power side for ladwp so as a
whole, when you see further
assisting potentially around
payment for those customers it
does not appear at the highest
level to impose a large revenue
impact on the utility. I'll
return to this point later and
discuss more down the line.
there has been a lot of
discussion around programs and
policies that are necessary.
that besides rate structure and
lowering the bill up front,
programs and policies are
necessary to support
affordability, and program and
policy design is very important
but what's equally necessary is
helping folks enroll in those
programs. Even if the best
program is set up that provides
holistic support but people
aren't aware of it, people don't
trust t people aren't able to
enroll in it. People aren't
able to sustain t it's not
effective supporting
affordability, the effort in
utility has to undertake and
ensure high enrollment in the
programs.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady: is
there discount programs for high
earners with high income? I
would never argue that these are
high income?
>>speaker: what's that?
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
there appear to be some high
income on here?
>>speaker: uh-huh.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
and are you suggesting there are
programs that high income
earners are eligible for?
>>speaker: yes. I mean, this
is a survey question asked by
loyola mary mount university to
the city of la commissioned by
ladwp and asking generically a
broader suite of discount
programs some of which high
income households would be
eligible for, within the
parameters would be, low-income
customers tend to not be aware
of those programs, trust them,
or enroll in them.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
you're saying irrespective of
item?
>>speaker: customers would be
eligible for.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill: I
was going to it's a way around
communications relative to folks
in the low-income bucket.
>>speaker: I'm going to breeze
through this because I want to
get to the debt and shut off
issue. But this is a way of
categorizing a means of support
to utility affordability and a
continuum. With shut off relief
being in some ways the least
holistic or less triaged
measure, I would maintain that
even if you do all of the above
and address the first five
categories which in many ways
ladwp is making an effort to do
on both the water -- well,
especially on the power, but
also on the water side, that you
still need to have a program.
you're still going to have folks
who are going to have debt and
are not going to be able to pay
their bill you're still going to
have to address the issue of
shut off. And maintaining yes
you have to deploy multiple of
these measures you can't just
choose one or probably not
evenly, I'm not sure you will
need to do all six, but you're
going to have to employ a
package of three or four to be
effective. And I won't belabor
this, because I want to allow
others to talk, but affordable,
and the issue, particularly, of
debt and shut off has been
emphasized as a priority by the
steering committee of la 100
equity strategies, as a topic
for us to do further analysis
on, and further research. So,
we did a first stage analysis of
eight different affordability
metrics, and eight different
affordability policy category,
and shutoffs, and crisis relief
rose to the top in the
priorities of that effort.
coming to the topic of direct
focus here. I want to emphasize
that covid, the pandemic,
changed the shut off policy
discussion if a way I haven't
seen an equity policy discussion
change in such a short period of
time, and in any other sphere.
there was very little talk,
especially shut off moratorium,
for utility services before the
pandemic, very quickly after
that, many states and many
individual utilities posed shut
off moratorium then for
sometime, whether a moratorium,
at an early stage of the
pandemic, of course ladwp had a
moratorium of both water and
power shutoffs for a longer
period than most utilities
especially around the country
even within the state, and I
want to emphasize ladwp has done
a lot on debt relief and on shut
off policies but as we have
heard the public expectation, or
really the policy expectation
has changed dramatically. The
line has shifted in terms of
what is expected for debt relief
and shut off policy due to the
covid pandemic, due to an
underlining of something that
was always there, but was
explicitly put into law and
regulation around water and
power being essential services
that are mandatory for public
health.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: under
the category of voluntary, how
is that differentiated between
the others?
>>speaker: these are state
policies for power, passed on.
voluntary would be utilities can
choose to participate. I
believe it's state moratorium.
I believe there is so much
variation they can show you on a
map, at the utility level, but,
yeah, these are state
moratorium.
and I would also maintain that
debt and low-income residential
debt, if particular, is a
manageable problem for
utilities. Large utilities.
I would maintain basically on
the evidence that we have seen,
speaking beyond what I have
introduced here, is based on a
larger portfolio of recent
engagement that arguments
against debt and shut off
leniency for low-income
customers are not about revenue
recovery. I have yet to see
evidence that it's a revenue
piece for shutting off
low-income residential
customers. I think the burden
of proof is on utilities to show
that. I would be interested in
seeing evidence if that's the
case, but I have, yet, again, to
see it. I think there are some
unanswered questions if
moratorium are extended for some
classes, but especially for
moratorium financials of large
utilities, including the reports
of their -- the credit agencies,
to me, suggests that, again,
from a revenue perspective,
shutoffs are not necessarily for
low-income, and otherwise in
need customers.
otherwise, besides legal
arguments, especially for public
utilities such as ladwp, I don't
see arguments being valid. In
many cases, the arguments for
reinstating shutoffs, on
low-income or otherwise
residential customers are
anecdotal and bias, in this case
classes and races, not speaking
about utility arguments out in
the public. And of course there
will be cases of abuse, there
will be anecdotes of folks
misusing any protections and any
social programs, both exist, but
they don't represent majority,
but with welcome evidence,
otherwise low-income customers
are just as likely or not much
less likely to pay their bills
including around moratorium.
last but not least, limiting
shutoffs ladwp is doing a lot on
this front to reduce bill
liability up front, it's
following procedure, including
sb 998 and other state regulars
it's extending repayment and
introducing levelling plans,
it's increasing or making it
easier to enroll in the ez save
program, but I think you should
consider expanding or new
approaches including keeping a
shut off moratorium all the way
from just related to climate
events, to all customers
although likely somewhere in
between that, again focused on
low-income, otherwise in need
residential customers that can
be paired with audits and, sort
of, aggressive messaging,
especially to higher income
customers and non-residential
customers to pay their bills
that can lead to at least
sufficient revenue for the
utility. There are other
options and informal approaches
that require discretion when I
call, sort of, quiet moratorium
where there aren't explicit or
formal policies but working with
customers and imposing a
moratorium without silly
announcing it on all types of in
need customers and potentially
for ongoing debt relief funds,
federal and state, one off debt
relief funds distributed by
ladwp but again the issue of
debt and shutoffs will not be
going away post-pandemic or
relieving over time either from
utility or the state level.
with that I'm going pass it to
my colleague rachel sand berg.
>>speaker: I'm going to pivot
from a lot of things we have
been discussing today all
arguing this is relevant and I
think we all agree. My name is
rachel, researcher at ucla
department of environment is
sustainability as well as with
ucla school of law as part of
the la 100 equity strategy
project I'm working in
collaboration with greg and
team, specifically work
including documenting rate
making assistance programs and
other utilities across the
country, and looking into legal
and regulatory constraints the
legal department faces in making
decisions. The goal of the
slide is to emphasize there are
many agencies and governing
documents that constrain how
ladwp sets electricity rates.
these exist at the municipal,
state, and to a lesser extent
federal levels. So dwp must
comply with california's
constitution, including
proposition 13, 218, and 26, as
well as with laws set by
california congress, and
regulatory bodies such as the
california energy commission.
at the los angeles level, the
board and department actions
must comply with the city
charter municipal and
administrative code, council
city ordinances and executive
directives and feasible for
issues involving transmission or
purchases of power across the
state lines department beholden
to the federal energy regulatory
commission so there is a lot of
things going on.
so when discussing affordability
and rate making for municipal
utilities in california
questions about proposition 26
and 218 inevitably come up. For
that reason, I think it's
important to look at the
historical trajectory of these
relevant tax related
propositions. Starting with
proposition 13, in 1978, which
cut property taxes to 1% of
property value.
proposition 218, in 1996, which
limited visibility of municipal
governments to levy non-property
taxes water voter consent and
finally proposition 26, adopted
in 2010 which expanded the
definition of taxes to cover
many potential fees and costs
imposed by municipal governments
and municipal utilities. These
propositions along with a slew
of other local state and federal
regulations clearly present the
department with challenges,
especially when it comes to
implementing targeted
affordability programs and more
complex rate designs that can
benefit both the grid and the
most vulnerable customers. My
goal with this research and this
presentation is to begin the
process of breaking down
challenges so that ladwp and the
residents of los angeles can
understand and work to surmount
them thus ensuring that the
city's goal of reaching 100%
renewable energy is achieved in
an equitable way. Thank you.
>>speaker: that concludes our
presentation.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you. Are there any
questions before we move to the
next presentation?
no.
okay. Thank you very much. I
appreciate it.
>>speaker: thank you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
and appreciate your work with la
equity strategy. The next
presentation is followed by one
by george rafael.
>>nancy sutley: while george is
coming up to the table, I just
wanted to make a couple of
comments. He's going to go
through some of what we have
been doing around customer
assistance, and as the previous
presenter noted, we are doing a
lot. I think a lot compared to
other utilities. And I just
wanted to, before we start, I
want to clarify we have not shut
anybody off for non-payment for
the last two and-a-half years.
we have not purposely blacked
anyone out or cut service and we
continue to not charge late fees
or report people to credit
bureaus. So just wanted to
introduce george, and there will
be a couple of other presenters
with him.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
water, as well. You said power.
>>nancy sutley: that's correct.
>>speaker: good morning
commissioners. Hopeful you can
hear me. Thank you for time to
provide this presentation on
customer bill efforts and
director of legislative affairs
and intergovernmental affairs
will provide legislative
updates, and senior gm for
corporate strategy and
communications will provide a
presentation on outreach
efforts.
the pandemic impacted our
customers in a number of
significant ways, one of which
is with utility bills causing
many to fall behind with their
bills impact was felt by
segments from residential to
commercial industrial and
low-income customers. Recognize
the work, and especially for
customers to manage water and
power bills and avoiding
collections. Recovery doesn't
mean going back to how we
previously operated which is why
we have not collected shutoffs
even though the moratorium ended
april 1st. We want to ensure
every customer has equitable
access to water and power
understanding the needs of
customers in communities and
industries and understanding
challenges that they face and
utilizing billable services.
this requires us to invest in
understanding customer needs,
providing tools and information
and implementing new programs
and services. We are doing this
by providing customer feedback
and input from community and
labor partners and collaborating
with local federal and state
agencies to identify and define
changes we have compiled ann sis
to share today including
customer service related
information insights from
surveys and interactions
information from partners and
community-based organizations
research institutes and sister
agencies, and u.s. Water line
study that was recently
completed preventing shutoffs
for water customers and elements
that helped shape our
understanding of challenges
customers are facing and our
priorities.
the ability for customers to
manage the water and power bills
was significantly disrupted by
the pandemic prior to the
pandemic our overall residential
water and power arrears were at
$85 million down from 150
million right after billing
system issues occurred however
50% higher before the new system
was put in. The bills jumped to
$380 million in december 2021
and dropped to 170 million in
the early part of this year
however climbed back to over 225
million highlighting customer's
need for further assistance and
support.
the bill relief funds that we
were able to get from the state
earlier this year were a
tremendous help for customers.
totaling over $330 million for
water, electric, and sewer bills
and were primarily applied to
nearly 300,000 residential
accounts through the california
arrears payment program or cap,
and the california water and
wastewater arrearage payment
program, or what's called
cwwapp. The state along with
other relief efforts were
significant however didn't
address the long-standing
disparity in arrears across
communities that we serve.
before the pandemic areas such
as south los angeles and harbor
had 20 to 30% of residents if
arrears and this continued post
state relief highlighting the
numbers of communities that have
significant need for assistance.
75% of low-income customers were
able to stay current with their
water and power bills but with
the pandemic dropping to 65% for
life line customers for
customers older than 60 at about
80%. There are 20 to 35% who
need further assistance.
even though this segment
represents approximately 15% of
all residential customers, they
do represent a smaller portion
in terms of energy and water
consumption, approximately 10%
on the power side and 5% on the
water side.
so this, water side, which is a
lower ratio than the power,
primarily due to multi-family
water services are mass meters
and billed through landlord.
understanding our customers need
further support and we need to
update services and programs
focusing on three areas
additional relief, affordability
programs, and support and
accessible, and I'll review
these focus areas in the next
few slides.
so, in addition to the cap and
the cwwapp programs we have
worked with state, local, and
community organizations and
other third parties to
facilitate further relief to
customers. To date $20 million
primarily through the cares
program implemented early in the
pandemic housing is key state
programs and low-income
household energy and water
assistance programs which can
provide up to $3,000 for power
bills and $2,000 for water
bills. With our outreach
engagement efforts which joel
the discuss we're trying to get
well I heap and web applications
to significant increase we
launched our customer sections
survey program earlier this year
over 50,000 targeted and
incentive thousand customers
participated, and we received
approximately seven and a half
comments, and budgeted into a
research panel focused on life
line customers. We're working
with the information technology
and financial service teams to
implement further programs that
can provide up to another
$114 million in customer relief.
these are the items in the
works, but we're pursuing
further relief funds at the
state and federal levels which
matt will discuss later.
to supplement these relief
efforts, we have and are working
on programs to further help
customers manage their water and
power bills streamlining the
application process for ez save,
formerly low income life
discount program led to a 25
improvement in application
acceptance rate and 21,000
customers being rolled over from
the past year. In addition
we're also the first utility to
incorporate arrears into level
pay which allows customers to
address last bills while
managing future bills we expect
this to be great help to
customers, doubled our payment
arrangement options to discount
customers also working to
provide additional flexibility
and ability for online sign ups
for these.
so, we recognize that customer
support is strongly dependent on
customer access to sable
available programs to services,
through languages, entities and
channels they feel comfortable
with. The one of the challenges
we have identified is that
customers are often getting
information piecemeal whether
based on outreach or based on
inquiry focus. In january this
year we piloted the customer
consultations program to conduct
one-on-one assessment of
customer needs, identifying
applicable programs and walking
through the enrollment process.
we scheduled these sessions with
customers, and we do our account
research ahead of time and
prepare for the session and
spend an hour and a half with
each of these customers. Pilot
with limited service based on
positive feedback and
participation, we are working on
expanding the service with
initial focus on low-income
customers and expanding to all
residential customers and
eventual to small and micro
businesses.
we just completed an rfp process
to establish four pilot grants
for community outreach in
disadvantaged communities,
through deployment of community
outreach workers and anticipate
engagement in feedback. We also
established mous with the cbos
who administered the well I heap
programs to ensure customer data
facilitation and enrollment for
potential help to customers
we're working on additional
initiatives to newspaper
customer support and accessible
an important one is customer
segmentation and predictive
analytics critical for us to
understand customer needs to
better align support efforts
with each service in programs,
rather than just being
responsive. We're working on
assistance with defining
segmentation strategies and
implementation approach it was
scheduled to be presented at
this meeting but we'll be
bringing it back at the next
meeting. We're releasing rfp
october 5th to replace our
customer engagement platform and
facilitate engagement and the
contact center to provide team
members with a view of customer
call response.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
when a customer calls into the
contact center it's the database
that the employee is working --
could you just explain?
>>speaker: sure. There's a
couple of components one is the
automated call tree, like, when
you call, it helps route and
identify, and there is some
self-service capabilities but
we're not going to force route
into that, then the other is
support our customers will be
able to access customer
information rather than toggling
between 12 different ones
they're able to access
information through which is
then pulling information from
the background.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
that wonderful.
>>speaker: a key part of our
customer engagement efforts is
our 14 centers we have
throughout the cities, and in
communities that have high
densities of customers in
arrears we have been upgrading
these centers to be conducive
for customer engagement support
and are fully reopening centers
for walk I knows and ensuring
safety concerns are addressed.
customer service is establishing
an accessible team that will be
in place by the end of this year
focussed on identifying and
addressing barriers and issues
that customers face while
engaging with us using our
services or participating in
available programs.
we're also expanding our
customer research efforts and
establishing a customer panel
specific to low-income customers
and those in disadvantaged
communities, which will further
help us in understanding the
needs and to get feedback on
current and future programs and
services. And lastly we're
expanding language support
across all customer touch
points.
so these efforts, and others,
are key to ladwp near-term,
long-term commitments these
commitments involve factors and
considerations such as equity
center reach and research
focussed on the discussion we'll
focus on management
consideration and there is data
and insight on collections.
so, we have not collected any --
we have not conducted any
collection activities or
specifically any shut off since
march of 2020. However looking
at the thee years prior 77,000
residential customers were shut
off for non-payment, 50,000 for
power, nearly 12 for water and
another 12,000 for water and
power. These beings nearly 40%
were shut off more than once.
for the same period, comparing
us to other nearby large
utilities our shut off rate of
2.7% was at the bottom of the
range with only socalgas being
lower than 2% however we were
far less than sce around 9% and
pg&e around 4 to 5%. Even
though our shut off rates are
historic's lower we are striving
for shut off as I last resort is
minimizing impact. In 2019 a
highlighted correlation of
disconnections in demographic
and socio-economic factors
in-house holds in latino and
plaque residential, focusing
support and engagement efforts.
from a median income view we're
seeing lowest income households
making less than $50,000
annually are nearly twice more
likely to shut off than those
households making over $100,000.
from an ethnicity or race
perspective, communities primary
black or african american shut
off rate of 8% and hispanic
communities 7% compared to other
communities that range from 5 to
3, to 3 and a half%.
in addition to the number of
shutoffs it's important to look
at the duration of shut offs
it's pretty granular but a
couple of key points almost half
were able to restore service
within a day but a third took
more than a day, quarter
restored within three days but
4% taking longer than two months
and about 20% who did not
restore and just abandoned
service.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
you can tell us the total
population?
>>speaker: based on the 77,000
of residential shutoffs that
were done during that period.
looking at the community level,
we see disadvantaged communities
based on calenviroscreen where
the higher the score the more
disadvantaged the community
based on shutoffs between 2017
through 2020 highest values
correlated to restoration time
to nearly a full day. Looking
at this from a household income
view those making less than
50,000 had restoration times
that were nearly three times to
those making over $50,000. From
22 hours to around 7 to 8.
we also saw that predominantly
black, hispanic, and asian
communities had 3 to 4 times
longer shutoffs than other
areas.
another finding that we feel is
personality to look at is that
of the nearly 50,000 customers
for shut off, looking at a short
period than before, 2018 to
2019, only 1700 had taken
advantage of low cost efficiency
programs and only quarter or
less had signed up for some
payment program or gotten well I
heap relief available. This is
a snapshot but is indicative of
engagement levels where
customers were struggling to pay
their bills, would not have
presented shut off but would
have help in the short-term and
long-term to better manage.
since the end of the moratorium
six months ago we have not shut
off any customers but we have
been focusing on addressing
customer impacts and helping
vulnerable customers to manage
past bills carefully
constructing programs tools and
mechanisms to help manage future
bills in addition to those we
have managed a number of
immediate policy and process
changes that we're implementing
to facilitate restorations and
minimize impacts of shutoffs
based on data analysis, feedback
we have received from customers
directly and community partners
and seen in studies such as the
u.s. Water line study. We have
historically suspended shutoffs
when temperatures rose higher
than 100 degrees. However we're
aligning better with the
excessive heat warnings and
based on those rather than just
the 100 degrees. This may help
minimize impacts. Suspending
reconnection fees on shutoffs,
to make sure customers have time
during extended outages, and
once we're on-site and have
completed shut off we required
full payment. We're also
applying the multi-language
notification requirements for
water service shutoffs to all
services which will help in
increasing engagement.
to ensure shutoffs are last
resort we're ramping up outreach
efforts, continuing to develop
communication and outreach and
partnering to increase awareness
in the programs and being
proactive with customers who are
past due to identify engagement
and identify options available.
and implement changes to
minimize restoration periods.
since moratorium implemented
april 1st, we have not conducted
any shutoffs but did initiate a
gradual ramp up of collects from
april until now we have
conducted outreach to ensure
customers are aware that the
moratorium has ended. We have
put in past due notices, back
into -- which replaced the
payment reminders that were used
during the moratorium. Next
looking at three phases to
gradually start recollections,
with large commercial industrial
customers and then eventually
residential and low-income
residential next year. With
outreach efforts starting in
april and engagement efforts
underway, collections will start
for large commercial and
industrial segments in november
with a gradual phase in of other
segments leading to residential
collections starting in around
april of next year. Discount
residential collections will
start in may of 2023 however we
understand and recognize these
customers need extra time to
address bills long-term and
we're pursuing relief funds for
customers that make take
sometime to get. We will work
with customers and help through
collection activities through
september of 2023.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
when you say collection
activities, is that a euphemism
for moratoriums or is that just
collection activity short of
shut off?
>>speaker: collection activity
short of shut off.
[indiscernible] reminders. For
customers who sign up for a
payment arrangement or level
pay, receiving well I heap or li
pledge participating customers
since the end of moratorium
april 1st to september 2023 with
outreach ramping up, and will
continually reassess.
I'll turn it over to matt to
provide an update on the
legislative efforts.
>>speaker: I have a number of
updates as to what has
transpired to address the
concerns about arrearages for
our customers in the 2021 state
budget thanks to a coalition of
state utilities that came
together to make this a priority
for the legislature the cap and
programs were initiated using
federal funds and state
receiving, at the federal level
in 2021 we consolidated
appropriations act accredited
the programs covering federally
funded supplements to comfort
cost of water bills as well I
heap does for water bills but
does require repayment through
cbos in this year's state budget
the cap program was extended to
include debts through june of
2021 through december of 2021
and legislature added another
1.2 billion to the program to
cover cost of that expansion.
we, last month, tried with our
partners, particularly led by
ffpuc to have the program
similarly modified using
existing fun that remained at
the water board to cover the
june to december 2021 debts.
ultimately the legislature, in
the end of session chose not to
make changes to the program but
that money still remains at the
state water board so there is
$300 million of potential
funding relief available to us
which brings us to our next
steps, which will be to try to
get to -- get the legislature to
adopt it, 2.0, to cover those
june 2021, to december 2021
debts.
we preferred the cwwapp program
for a few reasons, it does not
require customers to apply for
relief, cbo, filling out
applications, their debts are
covered by our data being sent
up to the state water resources
control board and they cut us a
check, a physical check in the
case of water resources control
board. It erases debts from our
books and erases the debt from
customers books and forced all
shutoffs is future rate
increases. Because one of the
things we're looking@the
legislative team what's going to
drive rate adjustments moving
forward and we're trying to get
hold of those by reducing
utility cost wherever we can
fine aid from other government
agencies in addition to ccwapp
2.0 we're pursuing direct
subsidies for low-income
ratepayers funding from other
government agencies. We're in
the federal government providing
for more funding than they ever
have and trying to position
ourselves take advantage of that
largess, and particularly
helping our low-income
ratepayers because we know
they're all trying to dig
themselves out of a hole the
more we can offer them on the
front end, the better off we are
for growth. We're in the middle
of engaging multiple water and
power systems on developing a
robust set of legislative
proposals for the next year
those are the ones we know we're
going to be pursuing on customer
debt and affordability for our
services. Rev
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
while joe is coming up, I'll add
the following. We know that our
legislative agenda is pretty
much controlled by the city
council. We don't have an
independent agenda, dependent of
the city of la, so it's going to
be critically important from my
perspective, that we continue to
cause our friends at the council
to appreciate the relationship
between debt burden and utility
debt, and la 100, a topic that
is referenced quite a lot, but,
without addressing in a very
meaningful way, debt burden. La
100 simply will not pencil in
with a lot of challenges to la
100, but not the least of which
is our customers able to
actually pay their utility bills
and to the extent that debt
burden increases, and becomes
more unaffordable, that will
create, in my view, a backlash
that threatens to undermine many
of our other more grandiose and,
you know, more heavily promoted
goals. So, I would say that it
is -- it would behoove the
department to take the lead in
driving that message, and
working with many of our
community-based partners to
cause people to appreciate how
critical that -- this component
is to energy and water equity.
>>speaker: we did -- we were
able to get a resolution to
council covering this
legislative session for any
relief. And, so, we'll pursue
that up for the next legislative
session, as well as looking at
what else we might add into that
to ensure that it covers
everything that we could pursue
at both the state and federal
level.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: I do
have a question before we move
on to communication. As you
started your presentation, we
all know that it's not just
water and power on the bill.
it's trash and sewer. And so, I
just wanted to know how is all
this integrated and how does it
all work together? Because,
obviously, we have no control
over the trash and the sewer,
but it's all on our bill, so I'm
trying to make sure we're all
working together, city, family,
to make sure it's all on the
same page. So how does that
work?
>>speaker: we are actively
working with la, and from normal
integrations. Building, and
integration of their service and
service charges on our bills and
our planning efforts we're
currently working, we just
finished the application of
sewer fund, wastewater funds for
that, we're work with them on
issues the council is sponsoring
about address arrears. As we're
developing these programs,
engagement efforts with
customers so they can all access
the same program, we're sharing
information trying to ensure
we're consistent and referring
customers to these programs.
and then with the prioritization
of these, we do factor in the
sewer and the trash charges,
into how we, which customers
we're prioritizing, based on
thresholds and so on.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: when I
look at my bill, my sanitation
side is higher than water and
power. I want to make sure
we're looking at this
holistically and when we're
talking about giving debt relief
to our customers that it's done
holistically.
>>nancy sutley: as matt
mentions there continues to be
funding available throughout
state water resources control
board program. When we are
pursuing that next year to see
if we can get some additional
coverage there, we will make
sure that it includes
wastewater, as well.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: thank
you.
>>speaker: goods afternoon
commissioners. I wanted to
provide a brief overview of
communications and outreach
activities around three
different aspects you have heard
of today. Specifically the
[indiscernible] campaign. We
began a campaign in november of
2021 through march of 2020, to
enroll more customers in our
low-income and life line
program. This is targeted to
disadvantaged communities and
multi-lingual, and it's coupled
together with the streamline
applications process that george
mentioned, as well.
in addition to that, with the
state assistance from the
federal government on the way,
we ramped up another awareness
campaign to make sure our
customers new of the assistance
that was coming, that was called
help is on the way. That's the
time frame there, and that time
was extended because it included
arrears credits that were then
applied. So there was actually
a pause, and then we continued
to ensure that customers knew
that their bills that had
accumulated were going to be in
many cases significantly
reduced. That campaign was
underway and then we
transitioned it after that, and
in anticipation for the
potential of resuming
collections activities and
transitioning late bills which
is we're here to help campaign
basically contact us if you're
behind, enroll in any extended
repayment program promoting
extended repayment plans,
overarching ez save campaign,
enrollment in our discount
programs, and low-income life
line, and financial assistance,
payment plans that are going to
help you spread out payments
over multiple years in the case
of those program participates
focus on low-income
disadvantaged communities
advertising is multi-media
campaign multi-lingual, english,
spanish, tagalog, and
vietnamese, mandarin armenian
and farsi, I'll share with you
visuals, included what's on our
web site, targeted under
$300,000, customers in
communities where we know there
was high incidence of customers
falling behind on their bills.
tactics include earned media,
very pleased to do with
technical launch throughout
radio, print, and direct
mailers, and postcards to
customers for help is on the
way. Every customer that was
going to receive a credit
received a notification that was
coming and going to be applied
to their bills, there was
digital, social, outdoor, and
then additional webinars other
and things with community and
city family departments is
staff, along with council staff.
just to give you an idea of the
performance of the campaigns
they were visible is
well-received. I'll give you a
moment to show what we have done
in addition to what has been
done already. In e-mails our
percentage open rate is
extraordinarily compared, with
3%, we get 45% customer read
e-mail. Our direct e-mail
supports our initiatives
including cool la, community
newspaper ads, radio, digital
ads, billboards, social media
almost 9 million on social
media, focusing right now, cool
la campaign is beneficial to
those customers enrolled in life
line a 200 $50 rebate for those
customers that together with the
low-income household water and
energy assistance programs that
will be a $400,000 effort in
terms of advertising that's
ramping up right now as we
speak.
I did want to mention that the
ez pay program, one of the
challenges is that during the
pandemic a lot of folks for one
reason or another, were not
longer enrolled in life line. I
think you have seen the stats.
during this time of focus on
outreach and awareness, we have
a low of 133,000 participants as
of may 2020 and as of
september 14, 3000, the
difference has been significant,
and the goal is to extend beyond
the level we reached in
september additional efforts.
we had the highest monthly
enrollment for low-income and
that was 8,000 new enrollees
that months previous low
experienced in july of 2021 of
109 million. The advertising
works, to a point and for only
so long because there will be
message fatigue there. That's
why it's important to run
campaigns, let them sunset and
ramp back up. In the case of
cool la, and what's upcoming,
cool la on the web site
advertising is clear that you
need to be a life line recipient
there is cross benefit there to
the low-income ez save program
by participating through
advertising for cool la.
what I would recommend is that
we continue and do a more
significant buy on paid
advertising around ez save,
specifically. We were in a
period of time where we want to
the focus on ez save and getting
enrollments but we also had a
lot to communicate to our
customers in that we wanted them
to enroll in an extended payment
program. If we want to focus
just on low-income, we can run
that campaign more heavily and
specify and figure out exactly a
timing for that and put behind
drivers of numbers we want to
highlight that program allows
you to be eligible for more
programs that can help like life
line la, director customers
through direct mail and direct
contact. Challenges happening
in customer service will allow
us to do a lot more segments to
our customers to target them for
programs they need. When we do
that now it will be more robust
more effective with a better
customer information system that
we can draw from. And
collaboration with cbos to
extend outreach. Part of the
cbo program that george
mentioned but we have developed
tool kits, sharing with cbos,
george approximate his team
shard with city council staff,
as well. We just want to keep
putting that effort behind each
of these, as we go, in order to
see the results. I would be
happy to answer questions around
outreach and advertising.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
there are any questions? I just
have a couple of observations, I
guess. We do a very effective
job of building campaigns, but
it's really clear both by virtue
of the people that we hear from
and some of the work that's done
in communities, that when you
start to get to low-income
residents, you know, we're not
necessarily penetrating and all
of the programs in the world
don't matter if the people for
whom they're being developed and
designed don't know about them.
so I think we're going to have
to take a much more critical
look at the results that we're
getting and how we are actually
reaching individuals. I also
believe that we are going to
need to rethink how we work with
cbos. Right now, they're
touching the department, all
over the department, it
continues to be -- and the
department doesn't talk to each
other. So, you know, you have
got whatever is happening in
customer service, whatever is
happening in equity strategies,
whatever's happening in our
resiliency space, is then, you
know, what may be happening, at
some point, in nde and I, and we
have got to really determine, as
a department, how we're going to
center our engagement with cbos,
and what the return is on that
investment. Because it's hugely
problematic. You know, for the
people on the ground, that are
talking to our customers most
intensely, to not have a good
sense of what is available is
how to navigate our various
systems. That continues to be,
as you know, interested in
seeing a significant change in
our web site, mark. Because --
and george -- because every
single time we do something --
and cool la, is a good example,
it is -- you know, that becomes
the point at which we drop the
ball, because we don't have an
easy place to refer to people,
and we have lots of different
work-arounds one page may be
easy to navigate and it's not
going to take you to a place
that's quite as simple or
efficient. Again we can do all
this work, but if we make it
difficult for people to access
or walk through or to get what
they need to get to, that just
defeats the purpose. We need
to, very, very significantly,
increase our outreach around
level pay. And around ez save,
for the reasons, joe, that you
mentioned. I would be
interested in understanding what
the rate of return is on radio,
what the rate of return is on
cable tv. I know they do a lot
of, you know, that's a less
expensive buy, and may be a good
supplement to some of the print
work that we're doing, but it
really is, how do we make sure
that the customers that we're
most interested in targeting are
being targeted. So, that's,
sort of, my feedback on that
piece of the presentation. In
terms of the overall issue of
debt burden, I do I have
question. There was a slide
that came up, and we went
through it rather quickly. And
this goes to greg regarding the
overall debt burden by income.
you had a slide that basically
looked at the entire city of la,
and you basically said we have
spent a lot of time on this
slide, that increasingly or just
generally is true, that debt
burden weighs more heavily on
the poor. You can tell me more
about that by percentage of
income or do you have additional
details around utility burden
that you can discuss right now?
>>speaker: sure. I guess --
you're referring to
[indiscernible]
[background - off mic comments)
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
yes. Yes. You're going to have
to go to the mic. Thank you.
>>speaker: so, what I meant by
that was it specifically a focus
where studies are done on
residential customers, of
utilities, and there, like -- I
mean, I guess I can't name --
every study I have seen, and
there is at least a dozen
studies I have seen, in
different context, outside of
la, shows low-income customers,
I mean, variously defined, but
usually using a standard
threshold, like 100% of the
federal poverty level, 200% of
the federal poverty level,
eligibility for discount
programs, or more likely to
carry higher debt burdens
despite having -- consuming less
than higher income customers,
and also that when you do, sort
of, complicated and statistical
regression analysis, that
households of color tend to
carry more debt, even after
accounting for income. Does
that answer your question?
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
yeah. I'll be interested in
your additional work during
equity strategies. I'm very
interested in both the debt
burden related questions, and,
also, very much in the other
issue that you touched upon
related to the revenue side and
the degree to which those
households account for both
utilization of utility services
and also the revenue that's
generated by that utility, by
that revenue generated by the
utility service I believe that
factors directly into cost
benefit of shut off as a means
of ensuring payment for utility
services. So I'm very
interested in those issues. I'm
going to be checking in on that
work.
are there other questions?
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: I have
a question. Many people who
were testifying today talked
about how they had to go to the
park.
>>com. Mia lehrer: I'm glad
that it seemed to be there are a
lot of parks to go to. The
question is how much better
could we do in those parks, is
schools which is, there is a big
vote today about greening
schools, and how are we engaged.
so, I don't know that there is
an answer here, but I know that
the school, that the parks tried
really hard, over this, the, you
know, during the pandemic, to
service the community, as best
they could, is it would be
great, and, also, there is no
cooling centers. They're, sort
of, getting built, and built up,
whether it's in separate
buildings, or otherwise, so, to
a degree, that sense ever
community that can happen, the
support that you can get when
you are in a cooling center, or
in a park, is something that's
important to value. So, you
know, I don't know what the
cost, you know, who pay -- you
know, how the park system pays
for their bills, you know, how
the county and the city park
system, the libraries. But I'm
just hoping that all of that
gets, you know, balanced,
obviously, with that relief.
you know, basically, the basic
and important needs of the
residents, in the city of los
angeles, getting, you know,
being able to stay cool and get
water and debt relief. But,
just curious. Because I know
that those public places have
borne a burden and need to be
attended to, also.
>>nancy sutley: so we have had,
for at least a dozen years, mou,
with lausd on energy efficiency
and water conservation for
schools. So it's committed a
significant amount of funding
and activity around improving
the, both improving the comfort
level in schools, as well as
helping, helping the school
system save money on their
energy water bills. Similar to
with rec and parks we work with
them particularly on community
centers, recreation centers, on
providing, you know, them as
much assistance as we can around
energy efficiency, water
conservation efforts and comfort
around saving money for their
bills. We don't, and we can't,
as I understand t offer special
rates for government facilities
that kind of went by the way
side with some of the
restrictions that exist on our
rates.
prefer
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
so thank you for that. I do
want to under score in one of
the things that I'm a little sad
about, but happy for next year,
is we had a late --
[indiscernible] cool la, because
we don't want residents to have
to flee their homes in order to
deal with the extreme
temperatures, and I'm very proud
of the department for having
stepped up with the cool la
initiative in order to
facilitate that.
nancy, thank you for mentioning,
you know, certain limitations
based on legal and other
constraints related to rates. I
know that we are actively
looking at a rate case, and
we'll continue to be talking to
other policy makers about the
need to gain some relief from
rate constraints. Because, as
was noted here today, among the
tools that needs to be in the
tool belt is the flexibility to
engage in rate design that would
also achieve greater, you know,
a greater, and fairer, more
equitable distribution of
payment for these services that
we provide. That's not
something that this board
controls. But something, again,
that the department has got to
take an increasingly -- an
increasing role in advocating
for. Because it is the only way
that we're going to get through
where we -- from where we are,
to where we want to be that
promotes a regard for equity.
are there any additional
questions in the context of this
workshop?
if not, then my final
observations are as follows: I
know that we have not shut off
anyone, and I would be loathe to
see that occurring, certainly
with respect to our low-income,
and our life line customers. We
have got an awful lot to do as
it relates to engagement and
building out the systems of
support that will allow us to
ensure that we are able to
provide services and that our
customers are able to avail
themselves of those services,
and maintain their economic
viability. So, I'm encouraged
that so much is underway.
I really, really appreciate the
clarity with which you have laid
out the path forward, and the
department has been thinking
deeply about these issues. It
is important that our community
know that we remain here for
them, and that we will work with
them to ensure that we are
together building a stronger la,
and whether that is working with
low-income housing providers in
order to ensure their ability to
continue to do what they do, or
working with, just, a scared mom
in san pedro. And it doesn't
matter that we have not shut
anybody off. If you're afraid
that could happen to you, that
anxiety is palpable. And we
need to be really, really
mindful of people's experience,
and if you come from a place
where you have experienced that,
or you know someone has
experienced that, you know,
we're a long way away from that
place. And they have no idea
what we do or say in this room.
so we have got to get a whole
lot better about providing a
level of security to folks that
they can count on being able to
turn the lights on and that
water will continue to flow from
the taps. I appreciate
everybody's work here today.
and with that, this workshop is
closed.
and we will go back to our
regular agenda. Thank you
gentle men.
we have one more presentation.
we have a presentation from
gloria medina, tiffany wong,
alicia morales, and gloria. I
was caught up in our
presentation. I know it's
getting late. If we could go to
the final item?
david, are they here?
thank you ladies. I'm sorry.
>>speaker: trying to figure out
the lay out.
I had drafted good morning, but
it's not afternoon. Good
morning commissioners and
members of the public. My name
is alicia morales research and
policy analyst with lean. I am
here in this presentation with
my colleague tiffany wong who is
also research associate with
scope, and gloria salinas, a
community member, south la
resident, business owner and
member of scope as well. In
closing out today's
presentation, we appreciate you
for focusing on the topic of
utility debt, of shutoffs, and
ultimately affordability
especially for low-income
ratepayers. We're here today
with our community members not
just in these chambers, but in
the overflow rooms to share
light on the real life impacts
of shutoffs on angelinos. As we
saw today thousands of angelenos
were affected in shutoffs prior
to the pandemic accumulating
high levels of debt, over
$85 million. Forcing tradeoffs
in order to pay their bills
ultimately putting them in
dangerous positions choosing
between shelters, utilities,
food, transportation, is more.
we also note from the pandemic
that when members were able to
pay their bills they did. In
the city where there is cost of
living increasing especially
keeping water running and lights
on. As we continue to recover
from the socio-economic impacts
of the pandemic addressing
shutoffs it's an important issue
to our members and these are
solutions that we have been
looking forward to for a long
time. As part of repower la
coalition, we have been fighting
for affordable utilities
equitable programs and pathways
to union jobs for many years.
we commend the work of the board
and of the utility to provide
utility debt relief to thousands
of millions of dollars to help
over the past years, and with
the shut off moratorium that
began in april 2020. While
pathways keeping rates
affordable and sustainable, and
work of la 100, communities need
protections now. It was jarring
to see shutoffs happening in
september of 2023 and especially
for residential customers and
even earlier as we experienced
over a week long heatwave and as
the city moved to a clean
renewable energy economy we need
to ensure there are baseline and
safety nets for low-income
ratepayers in the city. Rent
income are strong indicators for
who gets utilities shut off and
how long they are disconnected.
with experience in moratorium
and living without access to
water and power as climate
impacts worsen, power shutoffs
disconnecting more than once,
with 40% getting disconnected
again. We're asking dwp to
enact a policy to stop water and
power shutoffs for low-income
residential customers to protect
communities from the inhumane
life-threatening situations of
living without water and power.
the shut off moratorium saved
lives. The next best step is
implement a permanent solution
to shut off and we'll share
recommendation with us today.
I'll ask tiffany wong to speak
on some specific policy
recommendations.
>>speaker: thank you alisia for
setting the stage.
on why we're here, and our
demands.
much of dwp's analysis and our
recommendations come out of the
preventing shutoffs pilot
convened by the alliance and
done in partnership with scope.
in today's presentation say
snapshot of the existing
analysis that shows how much
shut offs are a racial justice
issue, and are meant onus on
ladwp to right these inequities.
on behalf of repower la
coalition and frontline
communities, we are demanding an
to end water and power shutoffs
for all low-income residential
customers while past relief has
focused on customers on discount
programs we are urging a broad
safety net that covers who still
face barriers in accessing these
programs, with enrollment on
other public assistance programs
and including those making 50%
medium income or less shut off
policy should be extended to all
customers during extreme weather
so no angeleno goes without
water and power during coal
snaps or worsening storms. We
urge protections for small
commercial customers and
communities and frontline
communities in recognition the
socio-economic impacts. Without
further action our most
vulnerable communities will
continue to struggle. This no
shut off policy must be tied
with efforts to provide utility
debt relief and affordability
measures to pursue ecologic
decarbonization is improve
customer service is outreach and
increase access and pathways.
we want to start with making
sure that ladwp is working with
us and impacted community
members on these needed visions
and policy change. At the end
of the today, yes there is at
that evidence and, but more
importantly, this is really
about people. I want to you
recall many of the stories that
were shared during public
comment, and understand that
these reflect many others
unheard stories across our tea.
and to close we want to, again,
center the voices of our
community members. So, I want
-- it's with deep appreciation
they invite gloria sal I know
as, south la resident, is
grassroots community member to
share with you.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I am a leader of
scope and I am a resident of
south la. I am the owner of a
small business. [speaking in
native language].
>>interpreter: I'm a customer
of ladwp for a long time.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I'm
representing those of low-income
who are here, and those who are
not here, because they couldn't
come today.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I want to
say thank you for focusing on
the shutoffs, and the debts, and
it is my wish that we can do a
lot.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: in our
community, we have been
struggling and advocating for
the utilities, affordability.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: for programs,
there are more inequities and
for more unions for many years.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and today we are
requesting that you promote a
policy to stop the shutoffs of
energy and water.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: because it is
inhuman, and potentially deadly
for our communities to be in a
situation without water and
energy.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I want to say a
little bit about my experience
with the shutoffs, and having to
pay bills that were really high.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I have always
lived in south los angeles, and
with a lot of effort, I started
with a really small business.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: which is, like,
ice cream, and shaved ice.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I have had
this small business for seven
years.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: it takes a lot
of effort to build it up because
there are a lot of regulations
and laws to have this kind of
business.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and it also is
very difficult in our community
to build up clientele.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so that was my
goal, and I am proud that I did
it.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: but I also feel
very frustrated, because the
energy bills are still very
high.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I want to
tell you about my own
experience.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: it is very
frustrating.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: it didn't happen
now in the pandemic, but it
happened when I first started my
business they came over to shut
off the energy, the electricity.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: as I was
starting, I didn't have enough
to pay the -- for the energy,
for the electricity.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I felt it was
not too much, but that little
bit of money, I didn't have it.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so this person
came over, and I asked him,
please don't do it, and I was
able to gather $100 to give to
this person so they would stop
the shut off.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so, I have
always been active in my
community, I have continued to
work, and I would be active
gathering signatures from
community members, helping at
the school of my kids, when
there was any problems, and, now
they're starting to graduate.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: I will continue
now, like, in this struggle, and
being active, and I'm really
grateful with the community
organizations that help the
low-income communities, such as
scope, which they -- I know,
have done big work, but it's not
still reflected because
[indiscernible] so high.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: so I'm giving
back because it is a matter of
awareness and conscious, like
there is some people for them
it's not difficult to pay, but I
have this experience, we live
this every day, and it is, like,
really hard to pay this bill.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I will
continue with my business. I
will continue with this
organization in order to really
achieve something. I know that
we can do it.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
>>interpreter: and I hope this
we can continue these
discussions, and within the
department of water and power.
and thank you very much for
listening.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
gracias.
[applause]
thank you very much. I still
want to highlight one of the
things that was said by the cbo
presenters, and that is that our
data does demonstrate that when
low-income communities can't
pay, they do. So, we should
just bear that in mind, there is
no significant -- there is no
evidence that people, even if
given opportunity with the
pandemic, with the moratorium in
place, that when they could pay,
that they refused to do so. So,
again, continue to look forward
to this discussion. This is not
a one-off. And, also, I do
believe that clarity is really
important that we don't want
people wondering if, you know,
they're going to wake up one day
and see a shut off notice in
their mailbox. So, just, you
know, if necessary, I'm happy to
bring a motion to instruct the
department not to shut off any
low-income or life line customer
without first coming to this
board. If that is required.
marty, if that is your
commitment, then I will accept
that, but if that is required,
I'm happy to bring that motion
forward.
>>gm martin l. Adams: certainly
if the board wants to make that
motion, that would be fine. I
do believe that we have a very
deliberate measure planned going
forward, and we would continue
to bring that to the board to
make sure that it meets your
goals and objectives. And,
again, we have no -- the idea is
to try to do everything we can
to avoid getting people into a
situation where they can't pay
their bill. And we do have a
lot of months ahead to deliver
on that before we ever get to
the point of making that
decision about a shut off. So,
if that's acceptable, I would
ask, let us work the plan, if
you are comfortable with that,
and bring it back to make sure
that we're on the path that we
should be on, in your eyes.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
I'm very interested. I
understand plans, but what's
clear and important is execution
of the plan. We have had plans
in the past, and we have
demonstrated a real challenge,
or real struggle, with, again,
communicating with, coordinating
with, and actually delivering to
our lowest income residents.
and, so, I think we'll --
ensuring that we do that, as a
predicate to anything that would
be close to a shut off. And
that's assuming we ever
reinstitute shutoffs for poor
people. And I just want to say
that from my perspective, it's
-- that would not be the
direction they would move. I am
simply not proposing this as an
absolute action at this
juncture, because I haven't had
time to go to the department
around that level of policy
making but at this juncture I am
interested in making sure there
will be no change in status quo
until we have had further time
to look at what the department
is doing, and assess and
increase our engagement with the
community, and come up with a
way to move forward that ensures
service to everyone. And, then,
also, to see how effective we
can be on the legislative side,
as it relates to securing funds
that are available to meet that
debt burden.
>>gm martin l. Adams: you're
correct. No change in the
status quo.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
all right. Any other comments?
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: I just
want to thank everybody that
came to give public comment. As
president mcclain-hill commented
to it's not easy to make your
way down here and make public
comment. I just want folks to
know we hear you, and we
appreciate the comments.
>>com. Mia lehrer: I second
that. And I don't know what the
protocol would be to, sort of,
request some kind of update. Is
it three months?
is it -- you know, just to make
sure we're moving toward those
targeted goals that president
mcclain-hill was talking about?
so we know every 60 days, or 90
days, or so, if everything is
moving forward.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
this september we'll put a
presentation back from the
department on for december and
we'll keep an eye on it.
>>gm martin l. Adams: we'll try
to create some metrics to
measure the programs, and
metrics that we know we're
reaching people and be able to
keep track of those and be able
to bring them to you as often as
possible something to measure
your point we all recognize.
>>speaker: [speaking in native
language].
[laughter]
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you for that. Also,
moving forward, I think we're
going to have significant public
participation, we're going to
want to think about how we have
translation services so people
in realtime will know what we're
saying in addition to
translation for us at the board.
we want to make sure we have
translation services available
for the audience, as well. I'm
not exactly sure what you're
going to do to figure that out,
but we do need to figure that
out.
okay. I think we'll move back
into our agenda. I think -- I
know a couple of things. I know
we have a hard out by one of our
commissioners at 1:45 today. I
would like to ask our inspector
general how long has
presentation will be, so I can
decide if that's going to go
next, or if we're going to go
next with the presentation from
shift?
>>speaker: president
mcclain-hill, there is one thing
you learn as a young attorney
when first starting out which is
don't get to up from front of
any decision makers when they're
hungry and tired after a long
meeting. So I'm happy to yield
this lot to the society of
hispanic professional engineers
and have my presentation shifted
to an upcoming meeting, or at
the discretion of the board.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
you know what, that is very
gracious of you. And I
appreciate it. Your
presentation will take place at
our next board meeting. As I do
believe that everyone should be
present for it, and I know
everyone wants to be so instead
we'll move to the presentation
from the society of hispanic
professional engineers.
>>gm martin l. Adams: as
president mcclain-hill noted in
remarks, this month is hispanic
heritage month and inclusivity
for a stronger nation. Chapter
event has been sponsored and
they it will be hosting a
webinar on october 12th it's a
virtual employee panel, and
beginning tomorrow our own
evelynn cortez davis director of
water and technical services is
going to be featuring a podcast
and that will be done in spanish
by the society of women
engineers latino affinity group.
we have marcelo, gonzalez, and
lopez here from our own local
ship chapter.
>>speaker: happy national
heritage month. I'm the hiring
manager in power engineer
technical services and president
of your ladwp chapter of society
of hispanic engineers. Today
we're proud to be here today
marking our second anniversary
of the board's approval to
launch an ladwp chapter. The
board action made ladwp the
first public averages that --
[indiscernible] we are provide
to give an update on the
progress of our chapter. The
hispanic heritage month
recognizes countless
contributions in history, the
professional engineers was
launched 50 year ago in la by
those who want to advance
representation to latinos in
stem careers, and carrying
forward legacy of the division
in support of the board and
amplified voices of ladwp. In
los angeles nearly 50% of the
hispanic population is hispanic.
representation matters. We
thank the board, and general
manager marty adams, and the
office of equity and inclusion
for your vision and support.
today we'll begin by introducing
you to our recently elected ship
board and give a recap over our
past year. Look at exciting
activities we have planned in
the come weeks and close with a
hook ahead. We are pleased to
report that we completed our
chapters first election in april
of this year. Our 12 newly
installed officers are
president, ofelio rubio, vice
president of operation, marcelo,
vice president operations,
jesus, water works engineer
water system, vice president
wilfredo, treasurer hosy mora,
secretary liuvia, communication
chair jocelyn, chair brionna,
civil engineering associate
jahayra, membership chair
andres, and cultural development
chair, itzel, and professional
development chair, samuel
alvarado.
>>speaker: happy to see 50%
women. Good job.
>>speaker: we would like to
recognize the previous
internship board, from our
chapter in 2020, through 2022,
we have luis martinez, we have
power system rubio, marvin,
fabiola, brionna, jesus, and
castro. We have currently 90
members and are focused on
expanding membership and
participation. We had elections
and elected our first board,
over the past year or so, we had
the following activities, social
activities shpe la chapter
networking nights we have had
volunteer opportunities, with uc
irvine, robotics championship at
lausd, hosted at elementary
schools, at our recent board
meeting we announced election
results and gave an award of
certification of appreciation,
and we hosted at jp we had
cookies and coffey. We had
general board meetings and more
importantly recently we issued
our first issue of nexo our
chapter news letter. Next is
central link we're going to be
releasing a quarterly news
letter that provides updates
about upcoming events and
developments and activities that
different members can
participate in. And last week
we're in the process of getting
bylaws recognized by shpe
national so we can be a
recognized prg.
>>speaker: thank you marcelo.
my name is juliette, I am a
civil engineering associate in
water and resources division and
this year am elected ladwp shpe
secretary I would like to say
thank you to president
mcclain-hill and general manager
marty adams for recognizing the
importance of hispanic heritage
month. We truly appreciate the
board's support for our chapter.
this month we planned five
cultural socio and professional
activities if community to help
uplift and celebrate one
another. For our first activity
we kickoff hispanic heritage
month by a cultural visit to
historical el pueblo street we
had opportunity to explore and
support color stands and local
venues we had members enjoying
even out with colleagues while
savoring delicious food. We got
to enjoy a ball game while
celebrating with our city. For
our third activity we're
especially excited as our own
director of water and
engineering technical services
evelynn will be the host of the
casitas stem podcast provided by
the society of women engineer
affinity group a latino affinity
group the pod cast will be
entirely spanish and released
tomorrow september 29th and will
delve into achievements of
influential engineering industry
participants. Look for it on
under the name diverse on
spotify sound cloud and apple
music and that will be released
tomorrow, september 28th.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
you can send us the link?
>>speaker: absolutely.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
will there be transcription in
english?
>>speaker: not sure about that.
[laughter]
we will focus on professional
development and this new
emerging era of virtual meetings
we want to give members
confidence and opportunity to
elevate their virtual experience
with professional head shots by
our photography team. We are
proud to offer our vice
president opening speak
opportunity, and are ladwp
employees will have opportunity
to share what it means to be
hispanic in the u.s. We are
grateful to have our senior
assistant gm anselmo collins
offer closing remarks at the
panel discussion held
october 12th that concludes
activities planned for hispanic
heritage month and we hope to
see you at our upcoming events.
I'll hand it over to jesus
gonzales vice president of
operations.
>>speaker: jesus gonzales, head
of operations, and due to the
fact that it's lunchtime, I'll
let you know that at our events
we have the best tasting mexican
food in all of la. We excited
about events planned this year
not just at hispanic heritage
month but throughout the entire
year focus on the employees and
community we want to make sure
we assist all employers with
professional development
opportunities, and with
membership many membership are
going to be attending the
national conference next month
in north carolina and we're
going to be concerted in focus
in collaborating with other
prgs, specifically in support of
the office with creating a
tighter knit amongst the
department. Our focus is to
highlight hispanic heritage
month and stop to support your
leadership, your vision, we are
confident that this chapter is
going to leave a positive
defines in our employees. We're
excited about the fantastic that
we have been a chapter for two
years. You heard marcella
mention the fact that we were
just under 100 members that
number is expected to grow based
on activity at our most recent
event. Thank you for the
support. We look forward to
seeing you at our upcoming
events and by all means, if the
food isn't as good as I said it
would be, come talk to me.
we'll make it work.
[laughter]
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady: do
you get any financial support --
I do not recall -- do you get
financial support from ladwp for
the organization?
>>speaker: not see far, we are
working on member dues, and
there is collaboration with the
office for available funding and
we're excited about that.
>>gm martin l. Adams: I was at
a meeting early o and I was
impressed by the number of
people engaged and those who
were running committees. And a
did a financial report, and I
listen to the employees, and I
said time out. Last year, we
set-aside enough money for, to
have some decency money for all
of the affinity groups and we'll
continue that, because they were
living off a small dues
collection which doesn't do
justice to the programs that
they're putting together that's
so valuable. So we are
supporting them and will
continue to do that.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady: in
particular, I heard they were
going to the conversion, and I
want sure if that was being --
and they were going to be
representing ladwp.
>>gm martin l. Adams: we were
supporting a number of employees
going to different conventions,
and also the recruiting tools as
well and representing the
organization we have been doing
that as well since the group has
formed up and started this.
>>comm. Nicole neeman brady:
glad to hear it.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: thank
you so much. I have been a
supporter of shpe for many
years. I know the founder, rod
garcia passed away. And I think
he would be so proud. You
indicated he started in los
angeles, and went national, and
you know, as we celebrate
hispanic heritage month, I think
it was indicated earlier that
50% of the residents of la, are
latino, hispanic, latinx,
chicano, whatever term you want
to use. But what people forget
is if you look at the hispanic
buying power in the united
states right now, it's at
$2.5 trillion so I think people
are starting to pay attention to
us. And I think see the pink
memo, and I am excited for the
group to be up and running, and
thank you for everything that
you do.
>>com. Mia lehrer: I echo the
comments in how important it is.
I think that working with the
youth through stem and letting
them see what kind of jobs are
out there for people in, you
know, in community colleges,
it's sometimes hard to navigate.
so, I urge us, and I know -- I
think we have worked in the past
with marcelo from la trade tech,
and if you haven't, you should
because this's what she does,
she teaches architecture
engineering and planning, and
there is a lot of people coming
through the program that when
they first come in they do not
know what they're going to do,
choosing the exact path, and the
nuance of the path. Clearly
when you look at the group from
dwp, there is so many different
focus areas within the type of
work you can do at dwp, I think
it would be really excellent to
be able to share, whether it's
quarterly visits, or by a group,
or them coming here, how do you
plan that is making it regular,
it will be great. They can walk
here, almost.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
anything else. Thank you for
being here. I really appreciate
the presentation. It was quite
excellent. I'm also looking
forward to -- although I haven't
checked by access, I show up in
webinars all the time. I don't
want to miss yours. And in
particular, since I'm a foodie,
any place you are serving food.
make sure that I know it's quite
extraordinary to see our
employees in these various
employee resource groups and I
also appreciate the work that
dei is doing that support them
and I want to make sure it's
community access at-large are
assisted as much as they can be.
thank you very much for being
here today.
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz:
appreciate you.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
ms. Cortez, does the side bar --
>>gm martin l. Adams:
[indiscernible].
[laughter]
>>anselmo collins: if you don't
mind. I was asked to add
something to what was provided
by the leadership. We're proud
to announce that shpe la, a
professional chapter, with our
own members here, past
president, rubio, she is going
to be a panelist along with the
commissioner, and al sander,
this is going to be an in-person
event held thursday
september 29th at the avila a
adoba on alvaro street.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you all for being
outstanding and representing dwp
on that particular panel.
appreciate you very much. Thank
you all.
and we will move to the next
item.
>>speaker: thank you.
we're going to need a vote for
the approval of the minutes.
>>speaker: motion.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill: a
second? Roll call.
>>board secretary: commissioner
lehrer?
>>board secretary: president
mcclain-hill?
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
aye.
>>board secretary: neeman
brady?
>>com. Nicole neeman brady:
aye.
>>board secretary: ruiz?
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: aye.
>>board secretary: adopted.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill: I
have a note to ratepayer
advocate and neighborhood
council. I would like to
proceed first to item m two.
which commissioner ruiz called
special. You indicated that you
didn't --
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: I
don't need a presentation. I
just wanted to make a comment on
this. Because as I was
reviewing my board packet, I am
in full a great, this is for a
translation services to extend
this contract. But the reason I
questioned it, because I looked
at the languages that it were
being translate and out of the
top six languages, it did not
include spanish. However, I was
-- I got a clarification. The
reason it didn't include spanish
in this translation is because
we do that in-house. And that
the translation is done in-house
with our employees which makes
me happy. So I got the answers
to my questions, and I move
approval.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
I'll second. Call the roll.
>>board secretary: commissioner
lehrer?
>>com. Mia lehrer: aye.
>>board secretary: commissioner
mcclain-hill?
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
aye.
>>board secretary: neeman
brady?
>>com. Nicole neeman brady:
aye.
>>board secretary: ruiz?
>>v. Pres, cynthia ruiz: aye.
>>board secretary: motion
passes.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
we'll go back to where we left
off in the agenda. There no
introduction of motions.
comments from ratepayer
advocate?
>>fred pickel, ratepayer adv.:
comments on items m3, and m4,
which were deferred.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
thank you. That worked out
really well. Do we have any
neighborhood impact reports?
>>board secretary: no community
impact statements or formal
positions were filed by any
neighborhood councils on the
items on today's agenda.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
okay. So if I confused myself,
that means that we are now ready
to move things to closed
session. Is that correct?
>>gm martin l. Adams: by my
calculations. Yes.
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
and julie, are there any special
words that you need to utter
before we adjourn to closed
session.
>>gen. Counsel, julie riley:
yes. The board shall recess
into closed session with
conference with legal counsel
regarding the items listed on
the last page of the agenda.
the board shall publicly
report-out any action taken in
closed session and the vote or
abstention of any member there
on, in accordance with
government code 54956.9(d)(1)
>>pres. Cynthia mcclain-hill:
if everyone would leave, we
could take five or 15. Up to
the board members leaving.
we're taking a five minute
break. Okay. Thank you.
[ closed session ]