Friday, October 29, 1999
(10-29) 04:00 PDT San Francisco -- The time might be nearing for San Francisco to cede its sole control of the vast Hetch Hetchy water system that provides 2.3 million Bay Area residents with their drinking water, Public Utilities Commission general manager Anson Moran said yesterday.
With the PUC facing a $2.3 billion tab for repairs to its water system, Moran suggested that a joint powers board might be necessary to find ways to pay for the work.
Moran, 55, announced this week that he will retire in January, after 26 years in San Francisco city government, including seven years as PUC general manager. Before that Moran headed the PUC's Hetch Hetchy water system for five years.
The PUC serves San Francisco and San Mateo counties, as well as parts of Alameda and Santa Clara counties.
San Mateo County officials have been particularly vocal in demanding a say in running the water system. ``It's taxation without representation,'' San Mateo County Supervisor Mike Nevin said yesterday.
In 1997, San Francisco voters passed bond issues totaling $304 million to improve seismic safety of the system and improve the quality of drinking water. However, the system, which stretches from Yosemite National Park to San Francisco and San Mateo counties, needs an additional $2 billion in overall repairs.
Under Moran, the PUC has outlined a 10-year capital improvements program to make those repairs.
``We could create a joint powers board with the suburban counties,'' Moran said. ``They would at least want a share in saying what gets done, and a say in the system's development.''
The PUC is undergoing a state audit requested by Assemblyman Lou Papan, D-Millbrae. Papan has criticized the PUC for not making the earthquake repairs and wants the state to look into the agency's finances. A report could come by year's end, about the time Moran retires.
The PUC also faces increasing demands for sewage treatment, given San Francisco's economic boom. For instance, the Mission Bay project is getting under way and neighbors of the Southeast Treatment Facility in the Bayview district object to the vast project's sewage being sent to their neighborhood for treatment.
The Presidio, now a national park, is also looking to the PUC for ways to handle waste from the developments planned there.
Moran said a model for the Bay Area might be the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles, which covers large areas of Southern California and has a 52-member board from several counties.
For 75 years, San Francisco alone has controlled the Hetch Hetchy system. It negotiates rates with 29 suburban water districts, including 19 in San Mateo County.
San Francisco voters have frozen their water rates until 2006, but Moran said that if more bonds are approved, rates could legally be raised to pay the cost.
Nevin praised Moran as one San Francisco official who has been willing to meet with him and San Mateo Supervisor Mary Griffin to discuss the joint powers idea.
``I think a joint powers board makes sense,'' Nevin said. ``They (San Francisco officials) have a $2 billion problem.''
Creation of a joint powers board, the same kind of agency that runs Caltrain, would require approval by supervisors in the counties that join. San Francisco's mayor would also have to approve.
Moran is a rarity in city government, a member of Mayor Frank Jordan's administration who stayed in place under Mayor Willie Brown.
Moran's successor will be chosen by whoever is elected mayor this fall. The PUC will forward a list of three candidates to the mayor, who can pick one or reject all the choices and ask for more names.
This article appeared on page A - 21 of the San Francisco Chronicle
----- Original Message ---- From: Eric Brooks <brookse32@aim.com> To: CleanEnergy_listserv <campaign@sfcleanenergy.com>; rapid <rapid@sfcleanenergy.com>; Community Choice Energy Alliance <ccea_strategy@brucewolfe.net> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 2:48:20 PM Subject: [CCA-Rapid] Very Urgent! Pro PG&E Anson Moran Appointed to SFPUC!! Hi all, This is critical to both Public Power and Clean Power SF (CCA). The Mayor just appointed Anson Moran as the fifth member of the SFPUC. It is critical to Public Power and Clean Power SF (CCA) to make sure this appointment does -not- go through. The appointment goes before the SF Board of Supervisors Rules Committee this Thursday, June 18, and then to the full Board the following Tuesday. Here's a blurb the SF Bay Guardian published about Moran in 1997: "PUC general manager Anson Moran and Hetch Hetchy general manager Larry Klein have worked continuously on behalf of PG&E and against the expansion of public power in San Francisco, at the Presidio and now at Hunters Point and Treasure Island." We need a strategy pronto to get the six votes needed at the Board to reject this appointment. This will mean securing our natural allies Mirkarimi, Daly, Avalos, Mar, and Campos, and then getting the critical vote of Dufty, and if possible President Chiu and Sophie Maxwell to make sure we have a rock solid pool of votes to prevail. Please light up every one of these Supervisors with you and your group list members' comments as quickly as possible. Tell them we will not tolerate an anti-public power SFPUC commissioner and that they must reject the Anson Moran appointment. Daly and Campos are particularly urgent because they hold a progressive majority on the Rules Committee. Their City Hall office numbers are: Chris Daly: 415-554-7970 David Campos: 415-554-5144 The timing of this appointment means that the Mayor may try to trade big Budget compromises in order to get Moran's appointment approved, so we cannot be complacent on this! Here are the hearing details: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=106145 Rules Committee Committee Room, City Hall, Room 263 Meeting Agenda Thursday, June 18, 2009 10:00 AM Regular Meeting Members: Chris Daly, Carmen Chu, David Campos 3. 090767 [Appointment, Public Utilities Commission - Anson Moran] Motion confirming the Mayor’s appointment of Anson Moran to the Public Utilities Commission, Seat 4, for the unexpired portion of a two-year term ending August 1, 2010. (Clerk of the Board) (Charter Section 3.100-17 provides that the Board of Supervisors has the authority to reject the appointment by two-thirds vote of the Board (eight votes) within 30 days following transmittal of the Mayor's Notice of Appointment, and that failure of the Board to reject the appointment by two-thirds vote within the thirty day period shall result in the appointee continuing to serve as appointed; companion measure to File 090768. Transmittal date – June 1, 2009.) 6/1/09, RECEIVED AND ASSIGNED to Rules Committee. 4. 090768 [Appointment, Public Utilities Commission - Anson Moran] Motion rejecting the Mayor’s appointment of Anson Moran to the Public Utilities Commission, Seat 4, for the unexpired portion of a two-year term ending August 1, 2010. (Clerk of the Board) (Charter Section 3.100-17 provides that the Board of Supervisors has the authority to reject the appointment by two-thirds vote of the Board (eight votes) within 30 days following transmittal of the Mayor's Notice of Appointment, and that failure of the Board to reject the appointment by two-thirds vote within the thirty day period shall result in the appointee continuing to serve as appointed; companion measure to File 090767. Transmittal date – June 1, 2009.) 6/1/09, RECEIVED AND ASSIGNED to Rules Committee. _______________________________________________ Rapid mailing list Rapid@sfcleanenergy.com http://sfcleanenergy.com/mailman/listinfo/rapid_sfcleanenergy.com
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