Board Meeting Sep 17 2026

Unknown: pacific

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Good evening.

Unknown: I'll call to order the SMUD Board of Directors meeting of September 17, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Please join me in the pledge of the flag.

Unknown: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

SPEAKER_16: which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: This meeting of the SMUD Board of Directors is recorded with closed captioning.

SPEAKER_03: The recording will be cable cast on Metro Cable 14, the local government affairs channel.

SPEAKER_03: On the Comcast and DirecTV U-verse cable systems, the recording will also be video streamed at Metro14live.saccounty.gov.

Unknown: Today's meeting replays Sunday, September 20th at 2 p.m. and on Monday, September 21st at 9 a.m. on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Unknown: Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at youtube.com slash Metro Cable 14.

SPEAKER_03: For members of the public attending in person who wish to speak at this meeting, please fill out a speaker's request form located on the table outside this room and hand it to SMUD security.

SPEAKER_03: Members of the public attending this meeting virtually who wish to provide verbal comments during the board meeting may do so by using the raise hand feature in Zoom or pressing star 9 while dialed into the telephone toll free number at the time public comment is called.

SPEAKER_03: Technical support staff will enable the audio for you when your name is announced during the public comment period.

SPEAKER_03: You may also submit written comments by emailing them to public comment at smud.org. Written comments will not be read into the record, but will be provided to the board electronically and placed into the record of the meeting if received within two hours after the meeting ends.

SPEAKER_03: Members may speak to items on the agenda on which the board will take action and may also address the board on other agenda items and items not on the agenda, but within our jurisdiction during the general comment period.

Unknown: Our safety message is this auditorium is equipped with a safety alarm. If the alarm sounds, please leave in an orderly manner via the exits to the lobby or behind the dais. Assemble in front of the building and wait to hear the all clear announcement from security before reentering.

SPEAKER_03: Would the chief legal officer please conduct the roll call?

Unknown: Director Rose? I'm here.

SPEAKER_03: Director Bowie-Thompson?

Unknown: Director Fishman? Here.

Unknown: Director Herber? Here.

SPEAKER_09: Vice President Kurz?

Unknown: Director Sanborn? Here.

SPEAKER_08: President Tamayo? Here.

SPEAKER_08: You have a quorum. Thank you.

Unknown: And our 2030 Climate Action Tip will be provided by Director Herber.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Mr. President.

SPEAKER_09: There are simple ways to keep clean energy top of the mind in your daily life.

SPEAKER_09: Here's a tip.

Unknown: Switch out your incandescent bulbs for LEDs.

SPEAKER_09: They use 80% less electricity and last longer.

SPEAKER_09: LEDs are available in a range of color tones and brightness levels to match your style.

SPEAKER_09: You can even find them at the smudenergystore.com.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Now, if there are no corrections, changes or additions, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

Unknown: So moved. Second.

Unknown: All right. Moved by Director Fishman, seconded by Director Herber.

SPEAKER_03: Directors, please vote.

Unknown: The agenda is approved with Directors Bowie-Thompson and Kurz absent.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: And now we'll move on to our committee chair reports.

SPEAKER_03: Director Sanborn, chair of the Strategic Development Committee,

SPEAKER_03: will give the report of the September 8, 2026 meeting.

Unknown: Thank you, President Tamayo.

SPEAKER_13: The Strategic Development Committee met on Tuesday, September 8,

SPEAKER_13: and there was one informational item and one discussion item.

SPEAKER_13: The informational item was an external presentation by the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District on local air quality

SPEAKER_13: and an update from the California Energy Commission on their study of achieving the state's decarbonization goals under SB 100.

Unknown: The discussion item was about authorizing submission of a SMUD round six grant application.

Unknown: For the California Strategic Growth Council's Transformative Climate Communities Program

SPEAKER_13: and authorizing the CEO and general manager to negotiate and sign all necessary grant-related documents with the state of California.

SPEAKER_13: This is item number six on tonight's consent calendar. That concludes my report.

SPEAKER_03: Herber, chair of the policy committee, will give the report of the September 9, 2026 meeting.

Unknown: The policy committee met on Tuesday, September 9, 2026.

SPEAKER_09: There were four discussion items and one informational item.

SPEAKER_09: The first discussion item was to discuss the monitoring report for Strategic Direction Number 7,

SPEAKER_09: which deals with environmental leadership, as well as proposed revisions to the Strategic Direction SD7.

SPEAKER_09: The report demonstrated that SMUD has been conducting business and operations in a sustainable manner by continuously improving pollution,

SPEAKER_09: minimizing environmental impacts, including tribal and other cultural impacts, conserving resources,

SPEAKER_09: enhancing regional biodiversity, and promoting equity within SMUD's diverse communities.

SPEAKER_09: This is item number seven on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_09: The proposed revisions to Strategic Direction SD7, environmental leadership, incorporate the principles for renewable energy procurement and development.

SPEAKER_09: They also require board and public transparency on how the projects meet the principles before any contract execution.

SPEAKER_09: This is item number eight on the consent calendar.

Unknown: The second discussion item was to discuss the monitoring report for Strategic Direction Number 9, which deals with resource planning.

Unknown: The report shows that in 2025, renewable energy additions included 151 megawatts of new solar and wind generation.

SPEAKER_09: Between 2026 and 2030, 992 megawatts of renewable energy sources and storage are scheduled to come online,

SPEAKER_09: and an additional 2,000 megawatts of projects currently under evaluation will be decided on later.

Unknown: We've seen a 12% growth in clean distributed generation, meaning more clean energy is being produced locally,

SPEAKER_09: plus a 23% rise in electric vehicles and electrified homes.

SPEAKER_09: This is item number nine on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_09: The third discussion item was to discuss and authorize the CEO and general manager to negotiate and award contracts to Sierra National Construction,

SPEAKER_09: Inc. and Doug Verkamp, General Engineering, for civil annual construction services for a three-year period,

SPEAKER_09: not to exceed the amount of $150 million across all the contracts.

SPEAKER_09: To further discuss this item, the item was moved to the Finance and Audit Committee meeting on September 15th.

Unknown: This is item number 12 on tonight's discussion calendar.

SPEAKER_09: The fourth discussion item was a review of board staff linkage policies for the delegation to the CEO with respect to transactions involving transmission and wholesale energy, fuel, and environmental attributes,

SPEAKER_09: along with board linkage number 13, delegation to the CEO with respect to grants, and board linkage 14, which is delegation to the CEO with respect to products, services, and programs.

SPEAKER_09: The informational item was a review of the board's work plan, which was postponed to the Finance and Audit Committee on September 15th.

Unknown: This concludes my report.

Unknown: Is that it? You're sure?

SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it was a long meeting. That's why we had to move some stuff to the Finance Committee.

Unknown: Thank you very much, Director Herber.

SPEAKER_03: And now, Director Rose, Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, will give the report of the September 15, 2026 meeting.

Unknown: All right. Thank you, President Tamayo.

SPEAKER_14: Yes, the Finance and Audit Committee met on September 15th.

SPEAKER_14: There were three discussion items and three informational items.

SPEAKER_14: The first discussion item was to discuss a contract change with Kaiser Permanente to approve the 2027 medical insurance premium rates for an estimated total cost of $43 million.

SPEAKER_14: This is the 11.2 percent renewal increase from 2026.

SPEAKER_14: This is item number 10 on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_14: The second discussion item was to discuss contract changing with United Healthcare Insurance Company to approve the 2027 medical insurance rates for an estimated cost of $48 million.

SPEAKER_14: This is a 16.6 percent renewal increase from 2026.

SPEAKER_14: And that is item number 11 on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_14: And then the third discussion item was to discuss the contract award for the Civil Annual Construction Services, which is item number 12 on the discussion calendar.

SPEAKER_14: We'll hear from Joe in a minute.

SPEAKER_14: The first informational item was a quarterly procurement report for the second quarter.

SPEAKER_14: Year to date, there has been $468 million in total contract awards.

SPEAKER_14: Second quarter seed participation was 24.8 percent, which exceeds our 20 percent goal.

Unknown: The second informational item was a review of SMUD's financial results from the seven-month period ending July 31st and a summary of SMUD's current power supply costs.

SPEAKER_14: We are right on target with the budget.

SPEAKER_14: And then the third informational item was an internal audit services report on the Green Energy Partner Plus Annual Verification.

SPEAKER_14: And this concludes the report.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03: Director Fishman, Vice Chair of the Energy Resources and Customer Services Committee, will give the report of the September 16, 2026 meeting.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: We did meet the Energy Resources and Customer Services Committee last night, Wednesday, September 16th, with one informational item.

SPEAKER_02: The informational item was an update and status report on the customer programs under our zero carbon plan.

SPEAKER_02: It's important to note that it was just looking at the customer programs that we offer to help us get to that zero carbon goal.

SPEAKER_02: This included updates on 2025 accomplishments, year to date and forecasted key milestones, accomplishments, metrics for 2026, and upcoming planning or implementation considerations in each of several portfolio areas.

SPEAKER_02: Several major milestones included we've installed more than 30,000 heat pumps in residential homes through advanced home solutions.

SPEAKER_02: We've increased EV ride and drive events that familiarize our customers with the different EV models out there in under-resourced communities.

SPEAKER_02: And we've delivered more than 19 megawatts of capacity through our My Energy Optimizer program.

SPEAKER_02: We've also increased residential and commercial incentives to support building electrification.

SPEAKER_02: While the loss of some external funding, policy changes, and uncertain economic conditions remain headwinds for these programs,

SPEAKER_02: we will continue to focus on affordability, customer engagement, and decarbonization.

SPEAKER_02: And that concludes my report.

Unknown: Thank you, Director Fishman.

SPEAKER_03: Our next item is public comments on items on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_03: And I do have two cards.

SPEAKER_03: I'm going to let – it's for Sean Wirth and David Wright.

SPEAKER_03: And if you have a preferred order, let me know.

Unknown: Looks like Sean wins the wrestling match, so go ahead.

SPEAKER_03: And you know the drill.

SPEAKER_03: Good evening.

SPEAKER_11: My name is Sean Wirth.

SPEAKER_11: I'm the Conservation Chair for the Muddletoe Chapter of the Sierra Club, 24 Northern California counties.

SPEAKER_11: I also worked with your staff on the consent item number eight to improve the policies and the principles and the screening for PPA's going forward after our debacle with Coyote Creek.

SPEAKER_11: I wanted to thank the leadership of Directors Tamayo, Herber, and Sanborn for the ad hoc committee in this process.

SPEAKER_11: I want to thank your staff for working so diligently, and I want to encourage you to vote to approve that.

SPEAKER_11: I think it goes a long way to avoiding the mistakes that were made on a recent project.

Unknown: It goes a long way to attempting to identify red flags early on to save money and to save time.

SPEAKER_11: And we look at it as an iterative process.

SPEAKER_11: It's not something that's just one and done.

SPEAKER_11: It needs to be refined over time.

SPEAKER_11: I appreciated Director Tamayo's comment at the policy hearing the other day that the 30-day review period makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_11: I mean, if you're going to review it, we should be able to review it, too.

Unknown: And then the other one that would be good to consider is if you've got third-party developers doing public outreach, just verify that they're actually getting it done.

Unknown: It doesn't mean do it yourself, but just make sure that it's being done appropriately and that the input that you're getting is accurate.

Unknown: Thank you, and please approve that agenda item.

SPEAKER_11: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you, Mr. Wirth.

SPEAKER_12: Mr. Wright, come on up.

SPEAKER_12: Good evening, David Wright, 350 Sacramento.

SPEAKER_12: I want to echo Sean's comments thanking President Tamayo and Directors Herber and Sanborn for working on the ad hoc committee,

SPEAKER_12: and the staff also who participated in that.

Unknown: I do have a small difference of opinion about that particular action item, number eight.

SPEAKER_12: I am recommending that you withdraw it and send it back to staff to add the 30-day review period that we have asked for.

SPEAKER_12: Director Tamayo was quite clear at the ad hoc committee meeting that a 30-day period was warranted and appropriate and that we want it.

SPEAKER_12: So let's do it now.

Unknown: Just relying on the sort of aspirational wording about community engagement, that is not going to cut it.

SPEAKER_12: Something in black and white is desirable.

SPEAKER_12: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you very much.

Unknown: Do we have any other requests to speak on this item?

SPEAKER_03: We do have another request from John.

Unknown: Hello, this is John Weber.

SPEAKER_10: Can you hear me?

Unknown: Yes.

Unknown: Yes, good evening, Board Chairman and Board of Directors.

SPEAKER_10: Regarding item number six, I think it is good that staff brought this grant to the Board for a vote.

SPEAKER_10: I find it interesting that staff hasn't brought up the $122 million grant that staff already submitted to the DOE for a new large load customer.

SPEAKER_10: I think the Board should have voted on this grant before it was submitted.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Anything else?

Unknown: I see any more hands now.

Unknown: Okay.

Unknown: So since we've gotten our comments, all right.

SPEAKER_03: I will read the items on the consent calendar.

SPEAKER_03: Item number three is to approve Board Member Compensation for Service Rendered at the request of the Board for the period of August 16, 2026 through September 15, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Item number four is the approval of the minutes of the special meeting of August 18, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Item number five is the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of August 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Item number six was reviewed at the Strategic Development Committee of September 8, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Item number seven and through number nine were reviewed at the Policy Committee of September 9, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: Item number 10 and number 11 were reviewed at the Finance and Audit Committee of September 15, 2026.

SPEAKER_03: If there are no corrections, changes, or additions, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Unknown: Moved.

Unknown: Second.

Unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_03: That is moved by Director Fishman and seconded by Director Rose.

SPEAKER_03: Directors, please vote.

Unknown: The consent calendar is approved with Directors Bowie-Thompson and Kurthapsent.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Our next item, number 12, is to discuss with possible action authorizing the CEO to negotiate and execute contracts with proposals identified on the Notice of Intent to Award for Request for Proposals, number 15735.KM, for Civil Annual Construction Services and the esteemed Joe Schofield,

SPEAKER_03: our Deputy General Counsel, will do the presentation.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you, President DeBio.

Unknown: At the risk of – this is the fifth presentation of this topic, so to avoid board fatigue and PTSD, I'll make this relatively brief.

SPEAKER_04: As you can see in front of you are all the proposers on this particular contract.

SPEAKER_04: The top two bring us an extraordinary level of price and terms, which staff are very proud to urge the board to award to.

SPEAKER_04: Next slide, please.

Unknown: This is just a brief overview of the things we considered from safety to commercial terms, environmental sustainability, and seed requirements.

SPEAKER_04: And next slide.

Unknown: We talked a little bit about whether to award to two or five, and this is just a reminder that there are some very solid reasons to award to the top two.

SPEAKER_04: As we discussed at the last meeting, I would gladly take any questions.

SPEAKER_04: In the meantime, I recommend to the board that they adopt the top two award.

Unknown: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03: Any comments, discussion from the board?

SPEAKER_03: Director Sanborn.

Unknown: Thank you, President DeBio.

SPEAKER_13: I just, again, reiterate, I think this is what's going to be fair, save us money.

SPEAKER_13: And I like where we're going with our other discussions on contracts and deeper dives into making sure that we don't end up in a roadblock every time we bring it forward, a big contract.

SPEAKER_13: That's not good for anybody.

SPEAKER_13: So I look forward to moving it and getting this adopted.

Unknown: And I move it.

Unknown: All right. Director Fishman.

SPEAKER_03: No, it's okay. You can move it.

SPEAKER_02: Just reiterate what I've said in the several discussions we've had on this item in various committee meetings over the last couple of months that we have competing priorities.

SPEAKER_02: We want to recognize and value our partners in organized labor and understand that they play a key role in much of what we do here at SMUD and in the community.

SPEAKER_02: We also want to make sure that we're maximizing value for our customers and incentivizing our seed program and small and emerging local businesses that are applying for our contracts.

SPEAKER_02: And so we've struck a little bit of a balance here.

SPEAKER_02: It's not perfect.

SPEAKER_02: But we've also committed to revisiting our community workforce agreement strategy, how and when and where we apply that.

SPEAKER_02: I look forward to seeing that come back sometime early next year within the next several months to address some of these, again, competing priorities and how we balance them.

SPEAKER_02: I'm happy to support this contract.

SPEAKER_02: Do we have a second?

Unknown: I'll be happy to second.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay. I didn't hear that.

Unknown: Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03: Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03: Okay. Well, you know, I did want to say, Joe, you have made this presentation five different times.

SPEAKER_09: And as we know, in marketing, it takes seven times before anything sticks.

SPEAKER_09: So I'm just giving you a hard time.

SPEAKER_09: I struggled with this.

SPEAKER_09: I flipped around back and forth.

SPEAKER_09: I do feel that the fact that we reduced it from 250 to 150 and that we're also getting really good bargain with these two folks, that they have given us the best cost proposals, that makes me feel more comfortable.

SPEAKER_09: And I, too, think it's important that we have community workforce agreements and we're going to be addressing that, you know, later in the year or next year.

SPEAKER_09: So I feel comfortable with this proposal.

Unknown: I won't add anything. We spoke about this at length the other night, but I do want to thank the staff and the contractors and the time and effort and coming to the multiple meetings.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you.

Unknown: And I'll just conclude my thanking staff and the contractors who, you know, spent some time here.

SPEAKER_03: I agree with the other comments that were made.

SPEAKER_03: And I just want to point out to the public, even though this is a $150 million contract that's on our discussion calendar, we're not discussing it at length because we've already done that in, what, three different committee meetings.

SPEAKER_03: So anyway, I just didn't want people to think that we, by practice, we just don't even think about a $150 million contract.

SPEAKER_03: So anyway, put a lot of thought into it.

SPEAKER_03: And I think now we're ready to vote on this.

SPEAKER_03: So we have a motion and a second.

SPEAKER_03: It was moved by Director Sanborn and seconded by Director Fishman.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, did we?

SPEAKER_03: We do not have any public comment on this item and we received no cards.

SPEAKER_08: Okay. So no public comments.

SPEAKER_03: So now we're ready to vote.

SPEAKER_03: So already mentioned who moved it and seconded it.

SPEAKER_03: So directors, please vote.

Unknown: Item 12 is approved with Directors Billy Thompson and Kurz absent.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03: All right.

SPEAKER_03: So now we move on to an opportunity for the public to comment on items not on the agenda but within our jurisdiction.

SPEAKER_03: And we do have a request to speak from Safi.

SPEAKER_03: Safi here.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: So come on up to the microphone.

SPEAKER_03: You don't need to mess with the microphone at all.

SPEAKER_03: Just talk.

SPEAKER_03: You've got three minutes and please address your comments to the board.

SPEAKER_03: So thanks for coming.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01: I'm here to respectfully protest the partnership with Link Logistics and the combined effort to lobby and convince City Council to approve a 50-plus megawatt.

SPEAKER_01: Data centers are shown to reduce the quality of life for the community.

SPEAKER_01: We've seen this with low water pressure from the tap, contaminated drinking water, noise pollution, and increased utility bills.

SPEAKER_01: In one Chicago community, residents saw their electricity bill increase by 23 percent with the electric company saying cost may rise even more as a result of quote, increased electricity usage from data centers and AI, end quote.

Unknown: Water bills will also increase astronomically as the demand for water will increase with each new data center.

SPEAKER_01: Peer reviews show on average that water is consumed to generate the electrical power used by data centers is ten times higher than the water that is consumed inside of data centers.

SPEAKER_01: These data centers claim that they don't use much water.

SPEAKER_01: However, in 2025, an indirect water use report for the Meta Data Center in El Paso, Texas showed their direct water usage was 3,123,000 gallons of water.

SPEAKER_01: Their indirect water usage, which is the water consumption that happens outside of the data center in the immediate vicinity, was 72,207 gallons of water.

SPEAKER_01: That is 24 times the amount.

SPEAKER_01: Water consumption isn't just about the needs for inside of the data center, but also the water consumption due to the electricity that is generated for the data center.

SPEAKER_01: We've seen nationwide data centers refusing to comply and disclose their water usage numbers.

SPEAKER_01: In Oregon, Google reported their data centers water usage was quote, a trade secret, end quote.

SPEAKER_01: It took a legal battle to force Google to reveal their numbers.

SPEAKER_01: They used 1.5 million gallons of water per day.

SPEAKER_01: That is up to 40 percent of the city's entire consumption.

SPEAKER_01: In Virginia, a public records request for the Amazon data center had redactions on what their water usage was.

SPEAKER_01: There was zero transparency in regards to the data center's water usage for how many gallons of water was used per day as well as per minute.

SPEAKER_01: Water is also being diverted from communities, especially farmers, in order to power these data centers.

SPEAKER_01: Residents will be forced to subsidize the cost of doing this business.

SPEAKER_01: In El Paso, Texas, residents saw a 12.2 percent increase in their water bill.

SPEAKER_01: And you all are on record for not disclosing how this data center will affect our energy rates, which is concerning.

SPEAKER_01: We do have a right to our water.

SPEAKER_01: We know that this leaves a water footprint of 1.2 trillion gallons of water for 20 twive alone for all the data centers nationwide.

SPEAKER_01: I know my time is ending, but please cease your lobbying of our city council members as well as our mayor.

SPEAKER_01: Please cease your partnership, and please don't do this data center.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_03: One is, so you're directly, and this is just one day, I'm not trying to argue with any of the points you're making,

SPEAKER_03: but I wanted to be clear that you're asserting that we as an organization are lobbying the city to approve this project.

SPEAKER_01: As I understand it from the article that I have read, it sounds like the working with the link, the, where is it?

Unknown: Link logistics.

SPEAKER_01: It's one of those things where the article is claiming that they've been meeting with Councilmember Eric Guerra,

SPEAKER_01: trying to discuss with him implementing this data center, and he's vehemently against it.

SPEAKER_01: But according to the article, there was a recent meeting where it was reported that it was, I don't know the quote,

SPEAKER_01: but I'm saying it was a very productive meeting according to the article.

SPEAKER_01: So I have concerns, and according to the article, they were saying that there was no comment from the committee in regards to how this will affect our energy usage and our bills.

Unknown: So I'm just asking that you guys cease any involvement in creating new data centers, given that how negatively it will affect our energy bills.

SPEAKER_03: Well, first, our board has made it very clear, and thank you very much for your comments.

SPEAKER_03: And I wrote about this today on Facebook post, that one thing that we've directed staff that any data centers, they're going to pay their own way.

SPEAKER_03: We're not going to accept that powering them up will increase rates or result in stranded assets that our ratepayers are stuck with.

SPEAKER_03: I do want to ask our CEO just to talk very briefly about what our role in this is and what the limitations of what we do,

SPEAKER_03: because basically we don't have anything to do with their water use.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Director Tamayo. So we have an obligation to serve.

SPEAKER_07: So what that means is that any business that gets approved by either the city or county for the land use,

SPEAKER_07: we actually have an obligation to serve those customers.

SPEAKER_07: What the board has directed the SMUD team to do is to make sure that all large load customers or all data centers pay for their energy usage

SPEAKER_07: and the infrastructure that's required to support them.

SPEAKER_07: And so those costs would not get passed on to our customers. Thank you.

Unknown: All right. Well, thank you very much for your input.

Unknown: All right. At this point in the agenda, we provide the directors an opportunity to report on SMUD activity.

SPEAKER_03: We will begin with a report from Director Rose in Ward 1 and continue in world order with the President's report as the final item.

Unknown: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay.

Unknown: All right. So, Eraman Bararona, please come up to the mic.

SPEAKER_03: Welcome.

Unknown: Thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. My name is Eraman Bararona.

SPEAKER_00: I'm the executive director of the Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition.

SPEAKER_00: And I'm the executive board of the Sierra Club Motherlode chapter.

SPEAKER_00: We are deeply concerned about the building of all these data centers.

SPEAKER_00: So far, we have close to 20 in the region. Some of them are telecom data centers.

SPEAKER_00: Some of them are going to have the hyperscale level that we're very concerned about because of the lack of transparency, lack of public comment,

SPEAKER_00: or any kind of input by our climate justice and environmental justice groups throughout the valley.

Unknown: I'm here to speak on behalf of all of our coalition partners that we're still doing homework on this.

SPEAKER_00: We're trying to understand what's happening.

SPEAKER_00: We met with the county of Sacramento, and we were very, very disappointed to hear that the McClellan Hyper Data Center was approved

SPEAKER_00: without any real public comment.

SPEAKER_00: The county said, well, you know, we posted our public notice notifications if you know McClellan, nobody walks through there, so how would people know?

Unknown: We are very concerned, of course, about the urban heat effect that all these data centers will have in the local communities,

SPEAKER_00: communities that are already highly impacted by environmental issues.

SPEAKER_00: There's a very big problem in Highlands, for example, South Sacramento.

SPEAKER_00: We're even surprised to hear that there are data centers in Natomas where the city is saying that they don't allow them, but they are there in Natomas.

SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_00: We're still looking for clarification on that.

SPEAKER_00: We're also very concerned about the water usage.

Unknown: Even though some of them claim to have a closed system for cooling, the data centers, we know that there's some kind of flushing that happens at some point.

SPEAKER_00: We want to know with all the chemicals that are put into the cooling system, where does it go?

SPEAKER_00: Where does it get drained to?

Unknown: And let's not even mention energy rates.

SPEAKER_00: It's very obvious.

SPEAKER_00: We've had congressional leaders across the country.

SPEAKER_00: We've had cities and counties across the country who are very concerned about the level of energy and the environmental impacts in these communities.

SPEAKER_00: So we asked the board here on their behalf to say, please slow down a little bit.

Unknown: We're not totally against this, but we definitely want to know what's going on because we need to know what we're left with if this bubble blows up and we're left with the mess.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you, Eraman.

SPEAKER_03: Laura.

Unknown: We have another comment from a virtual attendee, Aiyana Loonie.

Unknown: Okay.

Unknown: Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_08: Hello. Can you hear me?

Unknown: Yes.

Unknown: Hi. I submitted an email.

SPEAKER_06: So this is just kind of a follow-up to a public comment I already submitted on item 13.

SPEAKER_06: One of the questions that I had is, what do you mean by they pay their own way?

SPEAKER_06: If this link systems data center is going to pay their own way, what does that actually mean?

SPEAKER_06: Is there a way to get an answer?

SPEAKER_06: Can I take a stab at that?

SPEAKER_08: Because this item is not on the agenda, we cannot have an active discussion on it.

SPEAKER_08: Oh, okay. Okay. All right. That's fine. That's fine.

SPEAKER_06: So my follow-up public comment is, I want to make sure that if a data center moves in, that they do provide their own solar panels or wind or hydroelectricity or whatever, preferably sustainable.

SPEAKER_06: But my biggest concern is that this 50-megawatt facility is actually taking about enough energy that over 140,000 homes use during peak hours.

SPEAKER_06: So if we're comparing what that 50-watt is, that's what we use during peak hours to cool our homes, especially in the summer.

SPEAKER_06: I'm concerned about extreme heat and brownouts, and we all flex alert, right?

SPEAKER_06: We all try to reduce our usage. We are also all trying to use our air conditioning so we don't die in this heat.

SPEAKER_06: And if we've got this 50-watt plant as data center using our electricity, then we're going to see more people dying from extreme heat.

SPEAKER_06: We're going to see people who can't run their air conditioner.

SPEAKER_06: We also need to keep our food cold. So if we're doing a brownout, we're going to start having people going hungry because their spoon is expiring.

SPEAKER_06: So our electricity runs our homes. It runs our business. It runs our schools. Peak hours, obviously, we're going to be having our air conditioners on.

SPEAKER_06: We just need to make sure that we can clean our homes, that we can eat our food, and that we can cool our homes and our schools and our businesses.

SPEAKER_06: I mean, right now, we're already having trouble. We already have flex alerts.

SPEAKER_06: So we're just going to add one more thing to the grid that could be causing deaths and hunger. And that's it.

SPEAKER_03: Do we have any other requests for comment?

SPEAKER_08: We do not have any further public comment if I could provide one, a brief statement and response to some of the comments.

SPEAKER_08: Yes, please.

SPEAKER_08: As Laura mentioned, we do have an obligation to serve, and that includes billing facilities for new customers.

SPEAKER_08: We also are not allowed under California law to disclose our customer's name, their address, or their usage data.

SPEAKER_08: As the board may remember, we just had a lawsuit where we were found to have wrongfully provided usage data to law enforcement out there requests.

SPEAKER_08: So it's something that California law is very strict on. So, of course, we want to be transparent with the community, but there are certain laws that we have to also abide by, or we just don't have a choice.

SPEAKER_08: So I want to just make people aware of that. I don't think a lot of people understand that.

SPEAKER_03: Laura, could you also comment? So it's my understanding also that if there's something like an agreement that's necessary to provide power or have any sort of special infrastructure, certain things are going to – that have a big impact on our infrastructure and actually cost,

SPEAKER_03: and there may be some sort of agreement that would be subject to board approval, and then, of course, to public comment and all that, right?

SPEAKER_03: So – and I think we sort of envision that some of these are such a big thing that there very well could be a need for special financing arrangements and things like that,

SPEAKER_03: or even requirements imposed on those data centers to do extraordinary things that we won't serve them unless they do that. So is that the case?

SPEAKER_03: Yes. That is correct. And as Laura mentioned, with these large, low customers, the board has been very clear in past meetings that the customers will be required to pay for any upgrades.

SPEAKER_08: And any other costs related to their service and those costs will not be spread to existing customers. Like, I can't get into detail anymore on that because it's not on the agenda, but just to clarify that as well, that's correct.

SPEAKER_03: Right. And there was an assertion made that we were actually lobbying on behalf of a –

Unknown: That is also not correct. We don't lobby with customers. We do have a relationship with the city and counties, and we coordinate with them, and we let them know what's going on in our service territory, but we don't – we are not lobbying for certain companies now.

SPEAKER_08: Basically, just providing information about –

SPEAKER_03: Correct.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. Thank you. All right. And no more comments coming in?

SPEAKER_03: See any more hands now?

SPEAKER_08: All right. Well, thank you very much. All right. So at this point in the agenda, we provide the directors an opportunity to report on SMUD activity. We will begin with a report from Director Rose in Ward 1 and continue in ward order with the President's report as the final item.

Unknown: All right. Thank you. President Tamayo, I wanted to take a little bit different tack than the discussion we were just having. As everybody knows, last Friday was the 25th anniversary of September 11th. I've cried several times. It was very moving and a reminder of that tragic day.

SPEAKER_14: But I want to take a moment to thank the SMUD employees. We have a number of veterans on staff, especially our military employees resource group, and I want to thank them for their service, and it's an honor to work with them on a day-to-day basis. So thank you very much.

Unknown: With that, I'll just run through a couple of sort of the standard things we went to. We got out to Citrus Heights. We had the undergrounding of the final phase. Sorry. Auburn Boulevard is the final phase of undergrounding. I worked out along that street at Rush Park many years ago, and it's been amazing to watch the transformation.

SPEAKER_14: It's a testament to our undergrounding policies and our system enhancement policies that the Board has, that we've been able to assist the city. Kudos to the city for that heavy lift over the course of the last 20, 25 years.

SPEAKER_14: Had the opportunity to stop by the Boys and Girls Club to do a little ribbon cutting with some other board members, which is always a lot of fun. Got out to the Citrus Heights elected officials reception and did some SMUD representation.

SPEAKER_14: Was also out at the Roseville Splash event, which is always a fun event, and had the opportunity to meet some of our contractors and have some good conversations with them, so it was a nice mix of fun and work.

SPEAKER_14: And then the other thing I thought was worth mentioning on Maya's busy schedule was they had the 80th anniversary celebration of the Folsom Chamber of Commerce Choose Folsom, and it was over on the Rainbow Bridge, which was just a really beautiful backdrop.

SPEAKER_14: It was a pleasure to get to be out there and help celebrate all the great work that the Folsom Chamber of Commerce and the City of Folsom does.

SPEAKER_14: So those are everything I wanted to report on. I would just echo on the large load discussion. Just a reminder, we had a very thorough discussion at our June committee meeting about AI large loads, data centers.

SPEAKER_14: We gave some specific direction to staff as has been discussed.

SPEAKER_14: But I want to echo what I mentioned at our committee meeting last night. I definitely think we need to increase our public outreach. I thought the article and the abridge that I saw yesterday morning,

SPEAKER_14: gave a very one-sided story for what I have heard as a board member, and what we've previously talked about. We've all expressed concerns about it at that committee meeting as a board consistently.

SPEAKER_14: So hopefully we can try to get some good information out there so people have a clear understanding of how this is impacting us, since we are in a much different situation, being in Sacramento in California than, say, data centers that we read about in the national news around the country.

SPEAKER_14: That are very concerning and massive too. So that's my report. Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you, directors. I think I'm up. I'm going to echo a few of your comments. Under the auspices of August 18, I was able to speak to a group of local activists that called themselves the Bad Assery Group.

SPEAKER_02: It's led by Tina Reynolds and Marina Texera. And they were very concerned about data centers and large loads. And what I told them was, what Director Rose just said, that the board has already given direction to staff to come back to us with a policy.

SPEAKER_02: We expect that sometime in the next month or so. That basically holds harmless our existing customers when new load comes online.

SPEAKER_02: And what essentially that means is finding a financial method that may be tailored specifically to a given customer, but that says they're going to either pay for whatever upgrades they may need to the grid up front, or they're going to pay for it over time through their rates.

SPEAKER_02: We'll find some way to make sure that our current customers are not left holding that bag.

SPEAKER_02: And so I was pleased to be able to deliver that message to the Bad Assery Group. And I think we're going to continue having to deliver that message. And I also echo Director Rose's comments that we probably need to increase our communication efforts about that issue.

SPEAKER_02: On to happier times. On August 29, I got to say a few words at the opening of Empowerment Park and the ribbon cutting. This is a new park in my ward. It's on Bell Avenue near Greer Elementary School.

SPEAKER_02: And it was about 10 years ago that a man named Mike Grace, who was then Director of the Fulton El Camino Park District, came to me and said, hey, I want to talk to you about this piece of land that SMUD owns.

SPEAKER_02: And you're not doing anything with it. And I want it. And that led to us eventually selling that piece of land. It was originally set aside for a substation. We then decided we didn't actually need. It's right in a neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02: We sold it to the Mission Oaks. Actually, I think we sold it to the Sacramento Parks Foundation for a dollar. They turned it over to the Mission Oaks Park and Recreation District, which built an all inclusive play park on that piece of land.

SPEAKER_02: So it's designed for children with disabilities, but also for any kid who wants to go and play there. And it's gorgeous. It's absolutely beautiful. It's an incredible amenity for that neighborhood, which is sorely lacking in that kind of opportunity for kids.

SPEAKER_02: But it's a huge, huge also opportunity for our entire region, especially for families with children that have those special needs and may have mobility issues or sensory issues. And this is a park that's designed for them.

SPEAKER_02: It's got a lot of empowerment themes to it, including electricity themes, but also general empowerment of these children. And it's one of the best things I've been involved with in my 12 years here on the SMUD board.

SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, we obviously we're here to keep the lights on and to keep your rates low and to do the right thing with the environment. But as we always say, we're also here to improve the quality of life for all of our residents. And this park goes a long way towards that for some kids that often are left behind.

SPEAKER_02: So I'm really, really proud of SMUD and the staff that was involved in that. And what a great thing to do.

SPEAKER_02: Let's see. Got to take part in the Valley Vision We Prosper Together Catalyst Summit last week. A great event there.

SPEAKER_02: Stopped by the North State Building Industry Association, Builders and Brews, and talked a little bit there to some of the developers that are doing business in our area. And they're all very appreciative of SMUD and our efforts to make their lives a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_02: And then finally, just this last weekend, Director Sanborn and I and some family members were at Sacramento Splash's second annual backyard bash. Splash provides, again, outdoor education for school-age kids. A great program. Our friend, Mackenzie Weiser, does wonderful work there and was proud to be there to support that.

SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Director. I want to say Director Craig, but Director Fishman, I guess we can be informal. I have a few things to report on. I was really pleased to attend the Rancho Cordova area Chamber of Commerce, their elected officials reception. There were folks from all over the country that were here.

SPEAKER_09: All over our service territory, elected officials and folks who work with the Chamber. And it was a very fun event.

SPEAKER_09: Also had the privilege of speaking to the leadership Elk Grove class, which is put on by the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce. And I want to tell you, there was big concern there too about AI data centers.

SPEAKER_09: And you know, you've heard from most everybody on the dais tonight, but I'm going to say my couple of words too. And that is that we are paying attention to this issue. We are not looking the other way. We are asking the right questions about what is best for our community, what is best for our customers, and how do we balance the needs of growth and

SPEAKER_09: growing business with making sure we continue to have low rates. Our customers are not going to pay for AI databases to come here. We are not going to allow that to happen. And the way we're going to do that is through a policy that our staff is working on.

SPEAKER_09: So I just want to put it out there because sometimes people watch our board meetings that all of us are very concerned about this issue and we're paying attention and we're going to do the right thing for our customers.

SPEAKER_09: I also want to share that I got to go to Sacramento State for the President's fall address. SMUD and Sacramento State have a lot of partnerships in common. A lot of their interns end up over here at SMUD. A lot of their students even get hired by SMUD.

SPEAKER_09: So Sacramento State and what they're doing is very important to us. And the President did announce that there is now money for a new engineering building. So we applaud that and look forward to seeing that happen.

SPEAKER_09: Also had the chance to speak at the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association Music in the Park event, which was a couple of weeks ago. And the thing that's wonderful about that is that SMUD is able to talk to so many people about energy efficiency, about going carbonless,

SPEAKER_09: because they're coming out to that event to hear music. And so I was very pleased to be there. Also one other thing. I have some friends who are really interested in solar over canals. And I sat in on a phone call and you know the idea is a good one, but there still are some people.

SPEAKER_09: There still are some challenges. But I just think that that's another area that SMUD should look at since we've been doing a lot of good solar stuff. And then last but not least, I want to say that I was able to go to the Sacramento History Museum to see several

SPEAKER_09: individuals put on what they call, it's like a Chautauqua presentation where they inhabit the character that they're speaking for. And there was a gentleman who was Stanford, you know, the big railroad guy.

SPEAKER_09: And there was another gentleman who was Teddy Roosevelt. And it was just really exciting to not only learn about their history, but how their history intersects with Sacramento. And so with that, I'll turn it on over.

Unknown: Alrighty, so I'll start with on the 22nd of last month, I attended the human bulb event where we actually sponsor an event where we help young innovators innovate and have the support for that. And then they pitch their ideas and show their product. And this one happened to be around AI.

SPEAKER_13: And it was fascinating because right across the street in Roosevelt was a flock camera protest. And so when I got to talk, I spoke to this interesting conundrum that we're in right now between data centers and all flock cameras, all the stuff. Where's this data being processed? What data is it?

Unknown: And yet these people were there doing these amazing projects that we're going to solve really important problems for our society using AI. So anyway, I just wanted to put some of the more electrical energy solutions and also, and power solutions and fire solutions. So just, we're in an interesting time. We've got a lot of work to do, but I would also support my fellow board members that said, I do believe communication is really important to the public.

SPEAKER_13: I do not think that these folks have done a good job at all of explaining to the public what they're doing. And that's led to a lot of concern. And then we've seen things in other parts of the country. So I look forward to seeing more information going out to the public, not just from us, but from all the people that are involved in data center permitting and so forth. Anyway, human bulb event was fantastic and very impressed with the young people there.

SPEAKER_13: The Carmichael Chamber of Commerce, we went to a SMUD sponsored business luncheon, and it was right there at the American River College and director Fishman spoke. And then we showed the members of the chamber the tour of our new SMUD sponsored energy and electrical and training center, which is quite impressive. So if anybody's interested in getting into installing solar panels or becoming an electrician, we now have an incredible community college resource that SMUD helped sponsor.

Unknown: And then I want to thank the staff for doing the video for me. I did win an award yesterday. I was in another country, so I couldn't be there to get it. But I did win a statewide award for from green tech for pioneer in environmental leadership. The staff did a really lovely video for me. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_13: So they could play it because I couldn't be there. The empowerment park was unbelievable. I mean, I want to thank director Fishman for all that he did to make that happen.

Unknown: I had no idea what it would be. And I have never seen that many children having that much fun, laughing out loud, running around their hands in the air. There. It was so interactive.

SPEAKER_13: If you had visual issues, there was Braille everywhere they could. Any type of issue those kids could play there. And it was absolute joy listening to them and watching them run around. It was doing the entire conference. So you could just hear him and see him running all around. Anyway, wonderful, wonderful project. I wish it didn't cost $10 million. We need to scale that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_13: But it was very impressive. And a lot of people came together a lot of years to make it happen. So again, congratulations on that. The El Dorado Ag County Ag in the classroom fundraiser. I went up there. We have a lot of facilities up in El Dorado County. I always appreciate how much the people of El Dorado County love smud and appreciate us. And they were teaching again in the classroom, which is important. Our agricultural communities under assault right now between the tariffs and everything else. They're really important.

SPEAKER_13: They're really struggling. And so teaching these young people how to be good ag stewards is fantastic. And I loved being there. At a meeting with the Foothill Highlands Rotary Club. They're having their annual Celebrate North Highlands event next Saturday, the 26th from 10 to 3. And it's going to be at the park right next to the Aerospace Museum off of North Watt Avenue. It's a wonderful event. I'm a sponsor. I wish I could be there. But again, work calls. So if you can go, I encourage you to go. It's a fun day. A lot of people are going to be there.

SPEAKER_13: Lots of things going on there. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, that's the downtown facility. Our staff literally electrified the whole building. It was very impressive. And they did their kitchen. And I know several of us were there. So actually, all four of us, I think we're there. So that was really awesome to see. Thanks to our staff for that.

Unknown: Then I went to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Management District 30th anniversary reception. And we were reminded that 25 years ago, our air basin was so polluted, we were not hitting basically any of the targets the federal government had set for us. We are now in full compliance for the first time. And that takes a lot of work by a lot of people, including SMUD, including all of, you know, transportation,

SPEAKER_13: all the things. So everybody in the community takes all of us. So thank you to everyone who's walking and biking and getting an electric car and doing all the things that are helping us clean the air here in the basin. It helps us all breathe easier.

SPEAKER_13: And then Sacramento Splash, their event, their backyard bash was wonderful. But again, these are very important. These are lovely events. But to hear from the woman who actually founded Splash, she's moved to Maine. She came back to actually explain why she started Splash.

SPEAKER_13: She was an ecologist that literally saw that children were getting disconnected from Earth, didn't understand the basics about nature, started Splash to teach them hands on outside, looking at them, you know, down into the ground, looking into those vernal pools. And she's created this incredible legacy of children learning about nature and what supports life on Earth. So I was really happy to be there with my dad and my father.

Unknown: And with Director Rose and Fishman. So that was really fun. So again, that was it for me. Thank you.

Unknown: Well, I'm sorry to have missed the Sacramento Splash event. I've had a long history with Sacramento Splash. My former day job with Sacramento County was one of the founding agencies that got them off the ground and we had a long time relationship with them.

SPEAKER_03: And subsequent to that, I've been this year, I've personally sponsored the entire fifth grade to attend a day at Splash and I'll be doing that every year and hopefully be able to expand to both of their grade levels.

SPEAKER_03: So anyway, it is a great program. I do agree with that. I guess you get to meet Eva. That's terrific. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03: So I had the pleasure of meeting with Sacramento City Unified School District Trustee, Justice Singh, just to kind of hear about what some of their issues are and to talk about some of the ways that SMUD works with the school district, both in, you know, helping develop a microgrid at Hiram Johnson,

SPEAKER_03: helping develop, like, I think it's a scooter charging station at Hiram Johnson. And we also that we provide a lot of classroom and outside classroom STEM education and also vocation opportunities for Sac City Unified.

SPEAKER_03: I wanted to make sure that he was aware that we're out there and we provide resources that enhance their activities. And so that was actually a really productive meeting.

SPEAKER_03: It was great to be at the ceremony to cut the ribbon for the electrification of the Boys and Girls Club. And I've met, you know, it was very much pleasure to meet their executive director and their operations chief.

SPEAKER_03: And we'll be doing a tour of the Boys and Girls Club in my neighborhood. There's one that's about a half a mile from my house that I have not been to yet.

SPEAKER_03: So we're, we're that that's going to be calendared shortly. Looking forward to that. Really glad that we support organizations like Boys and Girls Club that, you know, helping improve the quality of life for everybody in our community.

SPEAKER_03: Moving on to the kid wind

SPEAKER_03: contest up at the aerospace museum. There were 140 children grades, primarily six, seventh and eighth that were competing to see who could squeeze the most energy out of their own design of a wind turbine.

SPEAKER_03: And we provide them with the kits and materials and there was quite a bit of

SPEAKER_03: SMUD staff support at that. We've got a couple of wind tunnels and there was a great display showing the energy that was created by each of the wind tunnels in a way that kids could go back and improve their their design.

SPEAKER_03: And one of the really cool things that I learned was there was a there was a contingent of students and parents from a school called the Reed Academy, R E A D.

SPEAKER_03: And they specialize in supporting kids with dyslexia. And one thing that they told me was this type of hands on exercise that the kids don't have to read instructions. They just get to do things that that really gets them energized and very frequently.

SPEAKER_03: They excel at that sort of thing. So they were very thankful that we provide that opportunity. And I think it's, you know, that's not the first time that something that we've done out in the in the community has benefits for people with special needs.

SPEAKER_03: And I'm just that's another thing that I'm enormously proud of that we have that sort of effect. I was very grateful to learn about that something about that community and the challenges that they face.

SPEAKER_03: And it was great to attend the meet the buyer event that we had over at our customer service center. It was incredibly well attended. I think it was a great opportunity to tell to meet with current vendors and also aspiring vendors to provide SMUD services.

SPEAKER_03: It's in they get to learn about, you know, to get better at competing for contracts and opportunities to do business with SMUD. And it was I think it was an all day basically, wasn't it? But people were very appreciative of the opportunity.

SPEAKER_03: And I could see there was a lot of interaction between the vendors and staff. So I'm very glad that we do that. I got to go to the onom celebration of the Sacramento area Alliance of Malayali's, which is people who speak the language Malayalam in southwestern India, and the state of Kerala.

SPEAKER_03: And it was really great to just learn about their culture, incredible food, they serve it on a on a banana and eat with one hand and and but I got to meet a lot of people, a number of them live in my community and are members of a church that's a block away from my house.

SPEAKER_03: I didn't know that there was that connection. But it's just another example of how, you know, us connecting with different communities helps us get the word out to everybody in our community. I know we don't have any materials in Malayalam, but we're out there and we're showing an interest and and we're making an effort to get our programs and all the different information that benefits us.

SPEAKER_03: customers to very wide range of people in our community. I would like to say that I wrote a fairly long Facebook post in response to concerns about our role in in in AI. You can go to my Facebook page and read that. I won't go over it. But and then, I think that's a really good example of how we can get people to work with us.

SPEAKER_03: Our chief diversity officer and I met with the leaders of Hispanics and energy and talking about opportunities to work with them to actually sort of use smud's model for engaging the Latino community and getting folks in that community involved in the energy industry.

SPEAKER_03: I know we put a lot of effort into workforce development all the way down into elementary school. So getting moving kids up and getting them people aware of the different pathways that you can get involved in energy. And I believe we're going to plan to participate in their national conference coming up in the spring. Don't know exactly when that's going to be either March or April and and present.

Unknown: This is what we do and this is something that other folks could do and that the energy industry at large could invest in a model similar to ours that could open up opportunities and it's not just about the Latino community. It's about all sorts of people who don't know about the great opportunities in the energy industry.

SPEAKER_03: And then finally, I spent all day yesterday being a biologist. I totally geeked out on the CAP Bio Summit, which was held at Aggie Square and it was about our region's effort to bolster the to build on the success that we've already had in developing a biotech industry here, but identify the missing pieces and utilize the strengths that we have and greatly expand the

SPEAKER_03: opportunities for attracting and keeping biotech here in the Sacramento region. I met a lot of people from the industry, largely a lot of people in sort of like trade organizations and I think that there's a lot of opportunities to make sure that people in that industry, including their investors and other support services are aware of what an advantage it is.

SPEAKER_03: And I think that's a really good thing. I think that if you have energy intensive uses either in research or in manufacturing that SMUD territory is a huge advantage for their companies and it was just actually really interesting to see the types of things that they're thinking about and talk to our CEO about, hey, let's strengthen our connection to those and look for opportunities to help participate.

SPEAKER_03: We did get a great shout out from G-Sec about our role in attracting businesses to the Sacramento region and then also there was a lot of talk by Los Rios, they weren't talking about us, but similar to the partnership that we have with them, they're very involved in this field as well.

SPEAKER_03: Anyway, I will end my comments there. I know that was a lot and we will move on to our CEO's report and take it away, Laura.

SPEAKER_07: Thank you, President Tamayo. This week, National Hispanic Heritage Month begins, which runs from September 15th through October 15th.

SPEAKER_07: This is an opportunity to honor the rich history and tradition of the vibrant Hispanic culture and the significant contributions of people with roots in Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

SPEAKER_07: A special thanks to LUNA, our SMUD employee resource group that stands for Latinos Unity Network for Action, for all that they do to support our employees and create opportunities to grow and share knowledge across our community.

Unknown: As President Tamayo mentioned, it was terrific to see such a large turnout at our annual Meet the Buyers event for local vendors who want to do business with SMUD.

SPEAKER_07: More than 350 attendees representing small businesses attended.

Unknown: This is part of our ongoing effort to make sure the entire community is benefiting as we transition to a clean energy economy.

Unknown: In 2025, we awarded 31% of our contracts to supplier education and economic development seed program vendors, totaling 107 contracts worth $97 million.

Unknown: That's money that stays right here in our local economy to support jobs, small businesses and families.

Unknown: This event gave local businesses an opportunity to connect with our purchasing team, explore upcoming procurement opportunities and network with others.

SPEAKER_07: Thanks to everyone who made this year's events another success.

Unknown: We also held our 7th Annual Sustainable Communities Partnership Summit this month.

SPEAKER_07: The event brought together our nonprofit and organization partners to share ideas, build connections and explore ways to strengthen career opportunities in our community.

Unknown: This year's theme, Communities and Careers, was hosted by our Sustainable Communities Partnerships and Regional Workforce Development Teams.

SPEAKER_07: The Summit sparked meaningful conversations and new connections, reinforcing our commitment to inclusive growth and collaboration across the communities that we serve.

SPEAKER_07: Next, I'd like to highlight some exciting recent awards.

SPEAKER_07: At the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's inaugural Hispanic Economic Impact Awards, we were recognized with the Economic Impulso Award.

SPEAKER_07: This honors organizations that demonstrate leadership, investment and collaboration in expanding economic opportunities for Hispanic businesses, workers and families.

Unknown: Also, Director Heidi Sanborn was recognized with the Pioneer Award at the Green California Summit 2026 for her transformative leadership in advancing green technology over her three decades in solid waste and environmental policy sectors.

SPEAKER_07: Congratulations, Director Sanborn.

Unknown: You did say that. It was my too. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07: And in late breaking news, Director Nancy Bowie-Thompson couldn't be with us here tonight because she is being honored by the Sacramento Cultural Hub Media Foundation as a 2026 Exceptional Woman of Color, or EWOC.

SPEAKER_07: Congratulations, Director Bowie-Thompson, for demonstrating leadership, service and impact that is shaping communities across the greater Sacramento region.

SPEAKER_07: Lastly, SMUD has three employees that were named 2026 Changemaker by the Sacramento Bee in partnership with Nehemiah Leaders Program.

SPEAKER_07: Jenny Rodriguez in our Economic Development and Partnerships Team.

SPEAKER_07: Tony Wong in our Reliability Compliance and Coordination Team and myself.

SPEAKER_07: It's a tremendous honor to share the spotlight with 60 local, innovative and diverse leaders who are shifting our region's landscape.

SPEAKER_07: Congratulations to Jenny and Tony.

SPEAKER_07: And congratulations to everyone on these accomplishments.

Unknown: And finally, tonight's video features our telecommunications team.

SPEAKER_07: Telecom is responsible for designing, installing and maintaining and protecting our communication networks that keep our grid safe and reliable.

SPEAKER_07: In attendance here tonight, we have several members of our telecommunications team, including Breece Swierstock, our Manager of Telecommunications, and Eric Poff, who is our Director of Substation, Telecom and Metering Assets.

SPEAKER_07: So let's take a look.

Unknown: Hey, I'm Mike. I'm a Telecom Tech for SMUD.

SPEAKER_05: SMUD's Telecom Department builds and maintains the data communications networks that allow SMUD to monitor and control our electrical grid, as well as the radio systems that help SMUD field and security personnel communicate safely and effectively.

SPEAKER_05: This is a great job. All of it is exciting and I think it's very important, so that adds another aspect to it.

SPEAKER_15: SMUD's Telecom team works on camera systems like this to keep the grid safe.

SPEAKER_15: It's a way for our security team to monitor our substations.

Unknown: We maintain the communications equipment on the power poles. It helps our operators isolate and find faults and quickly restore power.

Unknown: Our Telecom equipment monitors alarms and other sensors in SMUD substations, providing data to our engineers that can help prevent outages.

Unknown: We can monitor the health of each device in order to protect the grid.

SPEAKER_15: We maintain over 300 miles of fiber to monitor and control our generation systems.

SPEAKER_05: Some of this runs up into our hydro generation up in the mountains.

SPEAKER_05: This cable allows our operators to spin up and spin down the turbines, providing affordable power to our customers.

SPEAKER_05: This equipment is taking our radio waves in from the tower outside.

SPEAKER_15: It's connected to Solano wind project so that the power operators can either control it or just monitor the data.

SPEAKER_15: Communications at SMUD is critical to the safety of our field crews and security officers.

SPEAKER_05: We tune these radios and make sure they're communicating properly to ensure that we can provide great communications during critical times, such as power outages.

SPEAKER_05: Being a Telecom tech is the best job. Anywhere that SMUD touches, we're there.

Unknown: Thank you. That concludes my report.

Unknown: Go ahead, Mary.

Unknown: Thank you to all the Telecom folks, especially for being here.

SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you get the message, gee, we want to do a video to highlight your work.

SPEAKER_02: It means you have to sit through an hour and a half meeting to get that accolade.

SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for the work you do. Thanks for sitting through the meeting.

SPEAKER_09: We do appreciate you.

Unknown: I just wanted to add onto that because I learned a lot just watching that video.

SPEAKER_13: I think people don't understand just how many really cool jobs we have here at SMUD.

SPEAKER_13: That's a really important one. Thank you for highlighting it. Great job on the video team.

Unknown: I want to mention that this weekend I was at the event.

SPEAKER_03: I'm spreading the branches or something like that.

SPEAKER_03: Anyway, it was arborists that get together every year to maintain vegetation,

SPEAKER_03: especially trees at cemeteries for veterans and honoring the veterans

SPEAKER_03: and showing some love to the places where they're laid to rest.

SPEAKER_03: But there were several of our Telecom folks that were there participating.

SPEAKER_03: I guess they secretly want to be arborists as well.

SPEAKER_03: But out there digging in the rock hard clay, I see some.

SPEAKER_03: And a couple of, I guess, apprentices, you have to be named Josh to get into the apprenticeship system.

SPEAKER_03: Maybe we change names every day.

SPEAKER_03: But I just wanted to shout out that they took the time to participate in that.

SPEAKER_03: And then also, you mentioned the Hispanic Heritage Month and the award.

SPEAKER_03: I'll be accepting that award tomorrow morning at their award ceremony.

SPEAKER_03: And boy, I am pesar mis comentarios en español.

SPEAKER_03: So, yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_03: Anyway, that I think concludes our meeting.

SPEAKER_03: And thank you very much. We are adjourned.

Unknown: Thank you.