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Votes at a glance: SFPUC approves leases, construction projects and contract changes
Summary
At its public meeting, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission approved several consent items, a radio lease amendment, a mass-timber wastewater operations building project, and multiple contract adjustments for long-running capital works; all recorded votes were unanimous.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Jan. 21 recorded unanimous approval of several items on its agenda, including minutes, the consent calendar, a radio communications lease amendment for a Mount Allison site, authorization to proceed with construction of mass-timber operations and maintenance buildings at the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant, and multiple contract modifications tied to the Hetch Hetchy mountain tunnel and regional pipeline work.
The commission conducted roll-call votes for each item; President Stacy, Vice President Arce, Commissioner Jamdhar and Commissioner LeVaroni each voted aye on items reported during the meeting. No dissents were recorded in the public record provided.
Why it matters: Collectively, these actions affect the utility’s near-term construction schedule, short-term financing authority and key operational sites that support water, wastewater and radio communications across regional watershed areas. Several items also adjust contract contingencies to respond to unexpected conditions found during ongoing construction.
Key outcomes (by agenda item number as read aloud at the meeting): - Approval of minutes from Dec. 10, 2024 — passed (roll-call: all ayes). - Consent calendar (Items 7A–7D) — passed (roll-call: all ayes). - Item 8: Amendment No. 1 to radio communications site lease (Mount Allison) — approved; rent increase from $5,700 to just over $9,000 per month; CEQA categorical exemption noted; will proceed to the Board of Supervisors for final approval (roll-call: all ayes). - Item 10: Adopt refined mitigation monitoring and reporting program and authorize construction for Southeast Plant operations, engineering and maintenance buildings (mass timber) — approved; design uses mass timber and LEED principles; construction scheduled to complete in early 2028 (roll-call: all ayes). - Item (Mountain Tunnel) — Approve Modification No. 17 to contract HH-1000R with Mountain Tunnel Constructors, Inc.: scope reductions of approximately $15.27 million and an increase in the construction contingency by $13.029 million; revised contract amount reduced overall while increasing contingency to address unforeseen tunnel lining repairs — approved (roll-call: all ayes). - Item (Sierra Mountain pipeline contract) — Approve increase to cost contingency ($2.3 million) and duration contingency (+205 days) for contract HH-1012 with Sierra Mountain Construction Inc. — approved (roll-call: all ayes). - Item (Pro.0120) — Approve Amendment No. 1 to engineering contract Pro.0120 (Sonoma/Sono Valley ozonation project) with CDM Smith Inc.: roughly $9.6 million added for construction-phase engineering and a four‑year extension to support construction, related short‑term improvements and operations and maintenance turnover — approved (roll-call: all ayes).
What the record shows: Each item’s roll-call is documented on the record with the four commissioners’ aye votes. Several of the approved contract changes included staff explanations that scope was being removed from the current construction contract and deferred to future contracts, or that contingencies were increased to address unforeseen conditions encountered during construction. Public comment and commissioner questions about these items are summarized in the commission’s meeting record and in separate agenda items on the meeting transcript.
Next steps: Items requiring further approval by the Board of Supervisors (for example the Mount Allison lease amendment) will be forwarded for that body’s action. Staff said they will return at future meetings with more detailed credit facility documents (interim financing package) and contract awards tied to upcoming outages and construction windows.
