SFPUC Community Benefits - Immediate Disclosure Request
| Submitted | April 25, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records.
Your agency must produce all records in your agency's constructive possession - this includes records both that you actually possess, and those you have the right to possess through your contractors.
Your agency must also produce any records on the personal electronic devices/accounts of your employees.
Your agency must search any records of previous employees that are still in your custody (such as computer or email servers).
You must provide rolling responses - the law requires you to produce each record no later than close of business day that you review the document (Admin Code 67.25(d)).
Please ensure you provide a response (records/no records determination, and justifications) for EACH distinct request below.
"Joint Venture Staff" is defined as any officers, directors, or employees of AECOM, Parsons, or of any joint venture of AECOM and Parsons, including but not limited to meeting participants at any Joint Venture Board of Control Meeting.
Records from Jan 1 2018 to present are requested.
Please ensure
(0) all communications between Noreen Ambrose and Joint Venture Staff from Jan 1 2019 to present
(1) all Outlook calendar entries of meetings between Harlan Kelly Jr and Joint Venture Staff - these are meetings with entities substantially financially impacted by City operations and are thus public records. As you know Kelly was required to record these as part of Admin Code 67.29-5.
(2) all Outlook calendar entries of meetings between Juliet Ellis and Joint Venture Staff - these are meetings with entities substantially financially impacted by City operations and are thus public records
(3) all Outlook calendar entries of meetings between Michael Carlin and Joint Venture Staff - these are meetings with entities substantially financially impacted by City operations and are thus public records. As you know Kelly was required to record these as part of Admin Code 67.29-5.
(4) all Outlook calendar entries of meetings between David Gray and Joint Venture Staff - these are meetings with entities substantially financially impacted by City operations and are thus public records
(5) all meeting minutes, audio/video recordings, of any Joint Venture Staff meetings
(6) all voicemails of Joint Venture Staff left on the phones of PUC staff
(7) all prep notes made in preparation for the meetings described in (1) through (5)
(8) all follow ups or action items to meetings described in (1) through (5)
(9) unredacted original of the document pictured at the top of this article: https://web.archive.org/web/20210420072630/https://westsideobserver.com/news/watchdog.html#apr8
(10) all documents containing the phrase "AECOM/Parsons Joint Venture Board of Control Meeting" or "Program Management Consultant Contract No. CS-165"
(11) communications of any form between any of {Harlan Kelly, Juliet Ellis, David Gray, or Michael Carlin} and Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter.
I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
An anonymous journalist
From: Public Utilities Commission
Dear Requester,
Thank you for your public records request. As explained in the attached memo<https://www.sfwater.org/modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentID=15142>, per the emergency orders of the Mayor, the provisions of the Sunshine Ordinance relating to immediate disclosure requests have been temporarily suspended for the duration of the local emergency. We will provide our initial response to you on or before May 6, 2021, in accordance with those Mayoral orders and the California Public Records Act.
Best Regards,
Mayara Ruski Augusto Sa
SFPUC Public Records Senior Analyst
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~WRD0000
From: Public Utilities Commission
Dear Requester,
We are writing in response to your request dated April 25, 2021.
With regard to Item 0, of your request -- "all communications between Noreen Ambrose and Joint Venture Staff from Jan 1 2019 to present" -- SFPUC does not have any records in its possession. You may wish to contact the Ethics Commission (where Ms. Ambrose is currently a Commissioner) or the City Attorney's Office, as those agencies may have records responsive to your request.
For Items 1, 2, 3, and 4 -- for Outlook calendar entries of meetings between Harlan Kelly, Juliet Ellis, Michael Carlin, or David Gray and "Joint Venture Staff" -you have not identified any particular employees of the Joint Venture or subject matter of the meetings. There is no special email address for "Joint Venture Staff." As a result, the only way to search is for any calendar entries/invites from any persons who have AECOM or Parsons email addresses (i.e., "@aecom.com or @parsons.com). Such searches are likely to result in many hundreds of records. Agreement No. CS-165 is a very large, lengthy contract that covers a huge array of areas. It is the SSIP Program Management Contract and its purpose is to determine how to define and manage all of the SSIP programs and projects. The contract was awarded 10 years ago, and involves work on approximately 50 different SSIP projects. Hundreds of staff and consultants are involved on work under this contract. Further, AECOM and Parsons each have other contracts [over 20 during the period to be searched] with SFPUC apart from CS-165. As a result, these search results are likely to be very over-inclusive in that they'll garner meetings with AECOM staff alone or Parsons staff alone that are entirely unrelated to the Joint Venture or CS-165. We have conducted a preliminary search of Ms. Ellis' account and found over 300 entries alone. To conduct a search that is more likely to identify records you are seeking and that is not unreasonably burdensome, we ask that you identify specific employees of the "Joint Venture," a particular subject area of interest such as a particular SSIP project or Community Benefits, and/or provide a timeline that is narrower than January 2018 to present.
For Item 5 - seeking "all meeting minutes, audio/video recordings, of any Joint Venture Staff meetings" - we are unclear what you mean by "Joint Venture Staff meetings." Please clarify if you are seeking meetings held by Joint Venture Staff only, or meetings between Joint Venture Staff and SFPUC staff. Also, are you seeking records pertaining only to meetings of the Joint Venture Board, or to any and all staff at AECOM-Parsons JVs. If you are looking for any and all meetings held by Joint Venture staff, that request is likely to result in an unreasonably burdensome volume of records for the same reasons stated above. We ask that you narrow your request by identifying a specific subject matter or project, or particular Joint Venture staff members by name or title. As noted above, CS-165 involves over 50 projects and many detailed studies, with the JV engineering and technical staff, and there were many meeting minutes. Without a narrower scope, this request is overly burdensome.
For Item 6 -- all voicemails of Joint Venture Staff left on the phones of PUC staff - for the same reasons stated above, we ask that you please identify by name or title the SFPUC staff you would like to search their phones and/or the names of Joint Venture Staff.
For Items 7 and 8 - "all prep notes made in preparation for the meetings described in (1) through (5)" and "all follow ups or action items to meetings described in (1) through (5)" - our response to this will depend on how you respond to our narrowing request for Items 1-5 above.
For Item 9 - "unredacted original of the document pictured at the top of this article" -- we only have a redacted version of this record at this moment. We are in the process of requesting an unredacted version from AECOM-Parsons JV. We estimate we will be able to provide a full response to this item of your request on or before May 28, 2021.
For Item 10 -- all documents containing the phrase "AECOM/Parsons Joint Venture Board of Control Meeting" or "Program Management Consultant Contract No. CS-165" -- please note that all documents containing the phrase "Program Management Consultant Contract No. CS-165" would potentially yield thousands of documents, since all engineering studies, reports, tech memos identify which consultant contract was used to produce the studies, reports and tech memos. Further, there are hundreds of employees who have worked on matters pertaining to this AECOM/Parsons contract. Please narrow your request by identifying particular employees, particular projects and/or studies related to particular Wastewater Enterprise assets, and/or providing a shorter timeframe.
For Item 11 -- communications of any form between any of {Harlan Kelly, Juliet Ellis, David Gray, or Michael Carlin} and Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones -- we are currently undertaking a search for responsive records and will let you know if we will need to have this item narrowed. We estimate to have responsive records to you on or before June 5, 2021.
Best Regards,
Mayara Ruski Augusto Sa
SFPUC Public Records Senior Analyst
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From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
PUC:
- For Item 9, please provide ALL versions of the document (redacted or not) that you currently possess while we wait for the original document.
- For Items 1-5, 7-8, and 10 you may narrow to records related to Community Benefits or Social Impact Partnership Program. If a meeting considers both CB/SIPP and something else, it must be produced.
- For Item 6, you need to determine which employees (or former employees) would have information related to Community Benefits or Social Impact Partnership Program, and have those employees search for the records
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Also, 67.25(d) requires you to provide records by the end of the business day you review those records. You can't wait until all of them are reviewed to give them. So for all items, please produce whatever you have as you have it.
From: Public Utilities Commission
Dear Requester,
Thank you for your clarification.
Please find the attached record in response to your clarification regarding item 9 of your April 25, 2021 Public Records Act Request, wherein you further requested that the SFPUC "provide ALL versions of the document (redacted or not) that you currently possess." The SFPUC will continue to search for and review records responsive to this item of your request, and we will produce any such responsive records once they become available for release.
For Item 5 - seeking "all meeting minutes, audio/video recordings, of any Joint Venture Staff meetings" - you narrowed your request to records related to Community Benefits or Social Impact Partnership Programs. Please clarify if you are seeking meetings on those two subjects held by Joint Venture Staff only, or meetings between Joint Venture Staff and SFPUC staff. Also, please clarify if you are seeking records pertaining only to meetings of the Joint Venture Board, or to any and all staff at AECOM-Parsons JVs.
Best Regards,
Mayara Ruski Augusto Sa
SFPUC Public Records Senior Analyst
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Thank you.
Re: your clarifications:
- Item 5 - Separately, please produce (a) CB/SIPP-related meetings that SFPUC staff have attended with any JV staff (Board or otherwise), and (b) CB/SIPP-related meetings held by Joint Venture Board members (even if not attended by SFPUC staff).
Additional requests:
Item 12 - This is an expansion of 11. "Communications of any form between any of {Harlan Kelly, Juliet Ellis, David Gray, Tracy Zhu, or Michael Carlin} and any of {Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones, RDJ Enterprises, Dion Jay Brookter, Young Community Developers} "
Item 13 - Invoices, requests for payments, checks, payment stubs, account registers, account journals, or other evidence of indebtedness or payment between the AECOM-Parsons Joint Venture and any of {Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones, RDJ Enterprises, Dion Jay Brookter, Young Community Developers}
As always, please provide rolling responses (Admin Code 67.25(d)). Provide all records in PUC's constructive possession (i.e. including any records in the possession of your employees or contractors under City of San Jose v Superior Court (2017) or Community Youth Athletic Center v City of National City).
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on April 25, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Public Utilities Commission
Dear Requester,
We are writing in response to your request dated April 25, 2021 consisting of 12 separate items, and your follow up request dated May 10, 2021. In your May 10, 2021 email, you expanded Item 11, which previously had applied only to communications with Dwayne Jones, to now read as follows:
Item 12: "Communications of any form between any of {Harlan Kelly, Juliet Ellis, David Gray, Tracy Zhu, or Michael Carlin} and any of {Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones, RDJ Enterprises, Dion Jay Brookter, Young Community Developers}."
In your May 10, 2021 email, you also made a new request, which reads as follows:
Item 13: "Invoices, requests for payments, checks, payment stubs, account registers, account journals, or other evidence of indebtedness or payment between the AECOM-Parsons Joint Venture and any of {Rudolph (Dwayne) Jones, RDJ Enterprises, Dion Jay Brookter, Young Community Developers}."
In a letter dated May 17, 2021, we informed you that the SFPUC has invoked the rule of reason with respect to your multiple and voluminous pending public records requests and this will affect the timelines for providing responsive records to your most recent April 25 and May 10 requests. We are addressing your pending requests in the order they were received, committing five hours of SFPUC staff time per week to work on your requests, and we will release responsive records on a rolling basis.
We have begun searching for records responsive to the 14 items in your April 25 and May 10 requests. With regard to Item 12, please be advised that a preliminary search garnered approximately 2,000 responsive records that will take significant time for staff to review. To conduct a search that is more likely to identify records you are seeking and that is not so voluminous, please let us know if you would be willing to provide a timeline that is narrower than January 2018 to present and/or limit the search to communications between the named SFPUC staff and Rudolph Dwayne Jones and/or Dion Jay Brookter (as opposed to any and all communications with "RDJ Enterprises" and "Young Community Developers"). A narrower search that garners fewer records would enable to us to produce responsive records to you more quickly.
Best Regards,
Mayara Ruski Augusto Sa
SFPUC Public Records Senior Analyst
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
No, you will produce everything. You just believe you've found a new way to delay these records, as you have done to the requesters who came before me.
As my reply to your letter invoking the rule of reason stated, I will file further complaints since you've decided to artificially slow down my requests due to, as you stated in your letter, my filing of complaints against you. You cannot use your control over public records to coerce me not to file complaints against you, and doing so is retaliation as I will detail in those furthers complaints.
--Anonymous
From: Public Utilities Commission
Dear Requester,
We are writing to follow up on your request dated April 25, 2021. Item 9 requested an "unredacted original of the document pictured at the top of this article: https://web.archive.org/web/20210420072630/https://westsideobserver.com/news/watchdog.html#apr8<https://web.archive.org/web/20210420072630/https:/westsideobserver.com/news/watchdog.html#apr8>". On May 6, 2021, you amended Item 9 to request "ALL versions of the document (redacted or not) that you currently possess while we wait for the original document". On May 7, 2021, we provided you with the redacted version of the minutes that was in SFPUC's possession. Because we did not have an unredacted version of the document in our possession, we requested it from the AECOM-Parsons Joint Venture Board. We received the attached unredacted version from AECOM-Parsons today. We now consider Item 9 of your request closed.
Please note that a letter was sent to you on May 28, 2021, inviting you to narrow item 13 of your request. We are currently waiting for your response.
Best Regards,
Mayara Ruski Augusto Sa
SFPUC Public Records Senior Analyst
From: Public Utilities Commission
Attached is the record mentioned in the message below. Thank you.
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
As I replied earlier, I will not narrow request 13. This kind of financial paper trail goes to the heart of whether or not PUC is misusing funds or improperly contracting, directly, or indirectly through its vendors.
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