
About
SPUR remains committed to honoring the excellence of Bay Area public employees
As the Bay Area bands together to address the pandemic and the movement for racial equity, SPUR is aware public employees are often on the front lines of these efforts. For over forty years, SPUR has recognized the exceptionalism of public workers, with the belief that the work of these individuals is the foundation of good government. Though we are now in a time when celebrating success together and in-person isn't safe, SPUR remains dedicated to shining a light on these members of our communities.
Due to public health restrictions, the 2020 Good Government Awards events will be postponed until 2021. We, at SPUR, are taking the remainder of the year to re-envision how to best celebrate public employees in a safe, respectful and impactful way. Please check this website throughout the year and into 2021 for updates on our new approach to honoring city and county employees and celebrating good government.
To see images from this year's event please visit SPUR's Flickr account.
To see videos of the honorees please visit SPUR's Vimeo account.
2020 Honorees
Congratulations to the 2020 Good Government Honorees:
Emylene Aspilla
Director of Social Responsibility and Community Sustainability
San Francisco International Airport
Ms. Aspilla was San Francisco International Airport’s first Director of Social Responsibility and Community Sustainability. In the role, she brought together three different units — small business development, workforce development and compliance operations — to improve both the safety and experience of people working and moving through SFO.
Fifty-three million people travel through SFO every year, thanks in part to the dedication and hard work of over 46,000 employees. Yet eighty percent of SFO employers reported that they have faced challenges recruiting and retaining workers in the tightest labor market in over forty years. This was in part due to rising housing and transportation costs in the Bay Area, which made it difficult to attract and keep workers.
To address this, Ms. Aspilla worked collaboratively with employers, employees and the community to develop creative solutions that focused on improving working conditions. While these efforts met the business needs of the Airport, it also helped to meet the personal needs of workers by enabling them to keep more money in their pockets, stay in good jobs, and advance within their careers. As a direct result of her efforts, there was a thirty percent to seventy percent increase in retention, saving millions of dollars in recruitment, turnover and productivity costs.
Danielle Mieler
Principal Administrative Analyst, Office of Resilience and Capital Planning
City Administrators Office
San Francisco is ground zero for commerce, technology and, unfortunately, earthquakes. With the expectation that a 6.75 magnitude earthquake will hit the city within the next 30 years, there is an urgency to consider the potential damage of such a disaster.
Ms. Mieler manages the City's Earthquake Safety Implementation Program and the Lifelines Council. In particular, she was tasked with developing recommendations to improve the earthquake safety of tall buildings of over 240 feet. This effort looked at how tall buildings would perform during an earthquake as well as how they would affect, or be affected by, surrounding neighborhoods, soil conditions, and other factors. To accomplish this task, Ms. Mieler put together San Francisco’s Tall Buildings Study, a multi-departmental analysis of the unique seismic safety and recovery risks associated with these complex structures.
As a result of her work and leadership, San Francisco will be able to assess the safety of its buildings after the next big earthquake, enable re-occupancy, and fully recover more quickly and efficiently. The Tall Buildings Safety Strategy adds to San Francisco’s innovative programs and initiatives to improve the City’s ability to prepare for and recover from a major earthquake. It also strengthens the integrity and resilience of the City’s infrastructure, neighborhoods, and residents.
Peggy Sugarman
Worker's Compensation Director
Department of Human Resources
In response to concerns of employees deployed to the 2017 North Bay fires, Dr. Sugarman, in her capacity directing worker’s compensation for the City of San Francisco, rapidly established an Injury Hotline staffed twenty-four hours per day by a registered nurse. Her department expanded the program citywide, where it remains valuable to employees affected by work-related exposures and injuries. Through the program, workers can receive immediate medical care, set medical appointments and obtain claim forms. Their calls also serve as their first report of injury, thereby improving the City’s claims recordkeeping and response. Employees benefit from immediate access to help while the City benefits from prompt injury reporting, thereby reducing delays in claim evaluations and ensuring rapid treatment.
This is one example of how Dr. Sugarman supports employees who have work-related injuries and illnesses. As a result of her leadership, the Police Officers Association and Firefighters Local 798 honored her efforts to expedite effective cancer treatment, with the White Helmet, the highest award a civilian can receive in support of firefighters
Dr. Sugarman has developed services and efficiencies to improve the experience for city and county workers, which has generated $600,000 in cost savings for San Francisco. Her efforts have led to a reduced average cost of indemnity claims, a reduced average number of days to close a claim and a satisfaction score of 4.67 out of 5 for WCD claims management services.
CalFresh Expansion Initiative Team
SF Human Services Agency / Aging and Adult Services
Jeimil Belamide, Krista Gaeta, Chandra Johnson, Phil Mau
With the adoption of AB1811 in June 2018, older adults and persons with disabilities who receive federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits became eligible for CalFresh nutrition benefits for the first time ever in California. CalFresh, formerly known as Food Stamps, lifts more people out of poverty than any other public safety net program by providing a monthly benefit that can be used to purchase nutritious food, thereby freeing up a portion of low-income recipients’ household budgets to pay for other needs. The average benefit for a single-person household is $139/month – a significant amount, particularly in a high-cost-of-living county.
There were nearly 41,000 SSI recipients in San Francisco eligible to benefit from this state policy change when it went into effect, but the majority of them would not be enrolled automatically; they would have to apply. These newly eligible individuals would almost double the CalFresh caseload, which was approximately 45,000 enrollees prior to the policy change. Moreover, the policy change was announced in July 2018, leaving less than a year to plan before individuals could apply in May 2019. As of October 24, 2019, the Agency had process CalFresh applications for nearly half of the SSI recipients in San Francisco (49%). 92% of those applications were approved, resulting in access to nutrition benefits for 18,300 seniors and persons with disabilities.
Goal to Roll Initiative Team
Assessor-Recorder's Office
Molly Peterson, Connie Vindell, Christina McKinnon, Adrienne Yan
Every year, property taxes are the single largest revenue source — more than $3 billion — for general City services more than $3 billion for local services and public education. For several decades, the Assessor‐Recorder has operated in a constant state of backlog, unable to complete all assessments nor appropriately track and add value from new construction on time. The consequences of this backlog have been significant and resulted in unrealized or lost property tax revenues, lack of clarity for individuals and businesses who must pay multiple years of unknown bills at once and an opportunity cost associated with inaccurate financial forecasting and public service programming.
The Assessor‐Recorder adopted a multi‐year, interdisciplinary, cross‐division effort called the Goal to Roll Initiative (G2R) to eliminate the backlog and provide transparency into the organization’s operations and productivity. The major components of G2R can be distilled into four broad areas: (1) development of data‐driven tools that are automated and auditable to understand productivity, (2) re‐engineering business processes, (3) implementing new technologies that assist with tracking employee’s work to improve efficiency and, (4) aligning management and staff resources to eliminate the backlog. As a result of G2R, in June of 2019 the Assessor-Recorder’s office the roll on‐time for the first time in over twenty-five years, eliminating the backlog.
Sponsorships
Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsorship opportunities for the 2021 San Francisco Good Government will be available in the winter. If you have questions please contact Amanda Fasenmyer at [email protected].
Supporters
2020 Supporters:
Past Award Winners
2019
Kate Conner
Principal Planner/Complex Projects Manager
Planning Department
Diane Oshima
Deputy Director of Planning and the Environment
Port of San Francisco
Gigi Whitley
Deputy Director of Administration and Finance
Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing
Child Support Services Team
Child Support Services Department
Mary Alatorre, Kathy Fong Chen, Freda Randolph Glenn, Lisa Saporito
SF Prepared - The City's Finance and Admin Emergency Preparedness Team
Christie Beetz, Ana Contreras, Mark McLean, Kamroonbanu Mohideenbasha
2018
Sonali Bose
Deputy Director, Finance and Information Technology, CFO
SFMTA
To learn more about Sonali watch this video >>
Kelly Cornell
Chief Urban Forester
San Francisco Recreation and Park Department
To learn more about Kelly watch this video >>
Jesus Mora
Chief Information Officer
San Francisco Fire Department
To learn more about Jesus watch this video >>
Dahlia Housing Portal Team
Maria Benjamin, Barry Roeder, Michael Solomon, Ashley Meyers
Office of
To learn more about the Dahlia Housing Portal Team watch this video>>
Encampment Resolution Team
Tom Carter, Paul De Freitas, Scott Walton
Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Works, Department of Homelessness & Supportive Housing
To learn more about the Encampment Resolution Team watch this video >>
2017
Robert Beck
Treasure Island Development Authority, Office of the City Administrator
Eva Cheong
Airport Services, Operations and Security
Zuckerberg Hospital Move Team
Justin Dauterman, Jay Kloo, Terry Saltz, Jeffrey Schmidt
Department of Public Health
S.F. Benefits Net Team
Mary Adrian, Taninha Ferreira, Leo O’Farrell, Noel Panelo
Human Services Agency
Department of Environment
2016
Jane Gong
Office of Economic & Workforce Development / Department of Technology
Diana Hammons
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Greg Kato
Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector
Robert Smuts
Department of Emergency Management
Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Team: Kate Hartley, Lydia Ely, Erin Carson, Sarah Nusser
Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development
2015
Colleen Chawla
Department of Public Health
Jimmy Chiu, PE
San Francisco International Airport
Paula Kehoe
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Peter Dailey, John Davey, John Doll, Elaine Forbes and Meghan Wallace
Port of San Francisco
Freda Randolph Glenn, Stephanie Ting and Thomas Wolf
Child Support Services Department
2014
Douglas Legg
Department of Public Works
Zoon Nguyen
Office of the Assessor-Recorder
Lisa Wayne
Recreation and Park Department
Marc Babus, Lauren Brady Blalock, Patricia Lee, Marynella Woods
Office of the Public Defender
Mary Ellen Carroll, Daniel Lehr, Thomas Siragusa, Cheryl Taylor
SF Public Utilities Commission
2013
Susan Giffin, Rodrigo Castillo, Alan Honniball and Leo Solomon
Crime Data Warehouse Team
Michelle Ruggels
Department of Public Health
Lea Militello
Municipal Transportation Agency
Jaime Flores-Lovo
Department of Public Works
Ted Egan
Controller's Office
2012
Ed Harrington
MFAC Lifetime Achievement Award
Jocelyn Quintos
Department of Public Works
Harlan L. Kelly Jr.
SF Public Utilities Commission
Steven Castile
Recreation and Park Department
Jay Primus, George Reynolds, Steven Lee, Lorraine Fuqua
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Darrell Ascano, Tajel Shah, Rebecca Villareal-Mayer
Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector
2011
Dr. Susan Fernyak
Department of Public Health
Dana Ketcham
Recreation and Park Department
Cheryl Nashir
San Francisco Airport Commission
Dave Curto, Tony Lugo, Leo Sauceda, Jim Whelly
Human Services Agency
Brian Benson, Fran Breeding, Brian Strong, Adam Van de Water
General Services Agency
2010
Toni Coe
Municipal Transportation Agency
Brent Dennis
Recreation and Park Department
Allison Magee
Juvenile Probation Department
Maria X. Martinez
Department of Public Health
Nadia Sesay
Controller’s Office
SPUR Infrastructure & Planning Award
Water System Improvement Program
SF Public Utilities Commission
2009
Tangerine Brigham
Department of Public Health
Dan Kelly
Human Services Agency
Kevin Kone
San Francisco Airport Commission
Edgar Lopez & Brook Mebrahtu
Department of Public Works
Julie Kirschbaum, Britt Tanner, Sally Allen & Liz Garcia
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Clare Murphy
Lifetime Achievement Award
San Francisco Employee’s Retirement System
2007
Peter Acton
Airport Commission
Derek Chu
Human Services Agency
Brad Benson
Port of San Francisco
Judith Klain
Project Homeless Connect
Nancy Alfaro, Kevin Dyer, Jay Nath, Diana Nguyen & Heidi Sieck
311 Customer Service Center Project
2006
Sue Currin
San Francisco General Hospital
Jeff Gary
Municipal Transportation Authority
Chris Iglesias
Mayor’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development
Todd Rydstrom
Office of the Controller
Michelle Allersma, Denise Cannonier-Craig, Jennifer Johnston, Kerry Ko, Julian Low, Karen Taylor, Bruce Topp, Ted Yamasaki
Department of Human Resources
2005
Leo O’Farrell
Human Services Agency
Diana Guevara
Department of Public Health
Kathy Bull, DeMarris Evans & Louise Winterstein
Office of the Public Defender
Kerstin Magary
Municipal Transportation Agency
Jackson Wong
San Francisco International Airport
2004
Michael Cohen
Office of Economic & Workforce Development
Dorothy Enisman & Dariush Kayhan
Department of Human Services
Gary Franzella
San Francisco International Airport
Robert Kuzma
San Francisco Fire Department
Florence Mar
Office of the Treasurer
2003
Dr. Rajiv Bhatia
Department of Public Health
Philip Ginsburg
City Attorney’s Office
Olson Lee
Redevelopment Agency
Pacifico Paculba
Municipal Transportation Agency
Bridget Smith
Municipal Transportation Agency
2002
Gigi Harrington
San Francisco Municipal Railway
Wanda Jung
Department of Human Services
Bill Lehew
San Francisco International Airport
Monique Moyer
Mayor’s Office of Public Finance
Peg Stevenson
Controller’s Office
2001
Bond Yee
Department of Parking & Traffic
Marc Trotz
Department of Public Health
George Nichols
Public Library
Jay Banfield
Treasurer & Tax Collector’s Office
Pamela David, Richard Newirth & Kary Schulman
Mayor’s Office of Community Development, Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts
2000
Jeffrey G. Adachi
Public Defenders Office
Susan Hildreth
San Francisco Public Library
Janice Anderson-Santos & Jimmie Gilyard
Department of Human Services
Sam A. Mehta
San Francisco Airport Commission
Rick Ruvolo
Department of Administrative Services
1999
Carol Bach
Port of San Francisco
Fernando Cisneros
Department of Public Works
Mary Counihan
Department of Human Services
Barbara A. Garcia
Department of Public Health
Anthony Irons
Department of Administrative Services
1998
Jonathan Chow
Public Utilities Commission
Hillary Gitelman
Planning Department
Dolores Heaven
Department of Human Services
Monique Zmuda
Department of Public Health
Marcia deVaughn & Alex Mamak
Department of Public Works
1997
Adrienne Frazier
Department of Parking & Traffic
Sandra Jo Gartzman
San Francisco Rent Board
Nelly Lee
Department of Public Health
Jill Manton
San Francisco Art Commission
Severin Rizzo
San Francisco Art Commission
1996
Sai-Ling Chan-Sew
Department of Public Health
Matthew Gass
Hetch Hetchy Water & Power
Sharon Kotabe, Pharm D.
Laguna Honda Hospital
Johnny Miller
Juvenile Probation Department
Kathy Page
San Francisco Public Library
1995
Hugo Aguilera, Cheryl Austin, Sheila Kenny, Dennis Sato, Anna Suttmann & Nancy Wong
Laguna Honda Hospital
Evangeline H. Bruce
Controller’s Office
Jim Buick
Department of Social Services
Judith Griffin
Juvenile Probation Department
Mitchell H. Katz, M.D.
Department of Public Health
1994
James Bowen
Hetch Hetchy Water & Power
Teresa Chow
Controller’s Office
Emilio Cruz
Office of the CAO
Gene O’Connell, R.N.
San Francisco General Hospital
Robert Prentice, Ph.D.
Department of Public Health
1993
Donna Burchard
Laguna Honda Hospital
Daniel Patrick Daly
Treasurer’s Office
Rebecca Kohlstrand
Planning Department
Diarmuid Philpott
Police Department
Germaine Q. Wong
Office of the CAO
1992
Phil W. Arnold, Ph.D.
Recreation & Park Department
Dorothy Chen
Department of Social Services
Ricardo Hernandez
Office of the CAO
Judy Johnston
Controller’s Office
Anthony G. Wagner
Laguna Honda Hospital
1991
Alec S. Bash
Planning Department
Patric Duterte, Anthony Nicco &
Michelle Rutherford
Department of Social Services
Robert Gamble
Redevelopment Agency
Roger L. Peters
Port of San Francisco
Charles Saunders, M.D.
San Francisco General Hospital
1990
Cheryl Austin
Laguna Honda Hospital
Rich Cunningham
Public Works Department
Joseph Johnson
Office of the CAO
Bill Lee
Department of Public Health
Mary Smith
Department of Social Services
1989
Dorothy Enisman
Department of Social Services
Steven Koneffklatt
Laguna Honda Hospital
Brenda Lauer
San Francisco General Hospital
Sara Pickus
Public Works Department
Edwina Young
District Attorney’s Office
1988
Chief Ronald Driscoll
San Francisco International Airport
Mary Anne Johnson, M.D.
Laguna Honda Hospital
Joel Robinson
Recreation & Park Department
Reiko Homma True, Ph.D.
Department of Public Health
1987
Catherine Bremmer & Vivian Sykes
San Francisco Public Library
Bernard Cummings
Public Works Department
Ron DeLeon
Recreation & Park Department
Michael Marcum
Sheriff’s Department
1986
Ann Branston
Municipal Railway
Barney Barron
Recreation & Park Department
John Roumbanis
Public Works Department
Flo Stroud
Department of Public Health
1985
Ed Gazzano
Public Health Department
Sal Kitchener
San Francisco Zoo
Virginia Leishman, RN
Laguna Honda Hospital
Geoff Rothman
Civic Service Commission
1984
Richard Sullivan
Tax Collector’s Office
Leslie Miko
Commission on the Aging
Richard Rogers
Municipal Railway
1983
Stanley Stephens
Controller’s Office
Joe Dominguez
Municipal Railway
Angela Gittens
San Francisco General
Jason Yuen
Airports Commission
1982
Don Birrer
Public Works Department
Mark Finucane
Public Health Department
Richard Koeritz
Housing Authority
Roberta McDonough
Civil Service Commission
1981
Tom Malloy
Recreation & Parks Department
David Fong
Controller’s Office
John P. Mullane, Jr.
Public Works Department
Carl Williams
Housing Authority
Refund Policy
Sponsorship payments: Will not be refunded, as sponsorship benefits take effect immediately and are on-going through the date of the event.