July 22nd, 2020 at 6:00 PM

Minutes | Regular Meeting

IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR JULY 22, 2020

6:00 p.m.

_______________________________________________________________­­­­________________

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                            City of Brawley               George Nava – Chairman via zoom

                                                            City of Calipatria             Maria Nava-Froelich via zoom

                                                            City of Calexico               Lewis Pacheco via zoom

                                                            City of El Centro              Cheryl Viegas-Walker

                                                            City of Holtville               James Predmore via zoom

                                                            City of Imperial               Robert Amparano via zoom

                                                            City of Westmorland        Larry Ritchie via zoom

                                                            County of Imperial           Luis Plancarte via zoom

                                                                                                                                                            

NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:        Caltrans District 11       Gustavo Dallarda via Zoom

 

STAFF PRESENT:     Mark Baza, David Aguirre, Cristi Lerma, Marlene Flores, Eric Havens (Counsel)

 

OTHERS PRESENT:  David Salgado: SCAG; Ann Fox, Al Herrera, Jose Ornelas, Patrick Jenkins: Caltrans; Cesar Sanchez: First Transit

 


The following action minutes are listed as they were acted upon by the Imperial County Transportation Commission and as listed on the agenda for the meeting held Wednesday, July 22, 2020 together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

 

Given  public health directives limiting public gatherings due to the threat of COVID-19 and in compliance with the Governor’s Order N-29-20, the meeting will be held telephonically and electronically.

 

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Chair Nava called the Commission meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

 

II.                 EMERGENCY ITEMS

            There were none.

 

III.              PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments received.

 

IV.              CONSENT CALENDAR

 

A.        Approval of the ICTC Commission Draft Minutes:         June 24, 2020

B.                  Receive and File:

1.                   ICTC Management Committee Draft Minutes:   June 10, 2020

2.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                     June 3, 2020

3.                   ICTC TAC Minutes:                                         June 25, 2020

 

C.                  Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) Application for FY 2019-20 Funds

           

1.         Authorized the Chairman to sign the attached resolution

2.         Authorization for the Execution of the LCTOP Project: Free Fare Program for eligible ICTC administered transit services

 

D.        Application for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5311 Program Funds CARES Act

1.       Authorized the Chairman to sign the resolution authorizing the Executive Director to sign the FTA 5311 Round 2 CARES Act grant application with all supporting documentation.

2.       Directed staff to submit the application to Caltrans.

 

A motion was made by Nava-Froelich and seconded by Ritchie to approve the consent calendar as presented, roll call:

 

Agency

Roll Call

City of Brawley

Yes

City of Calipatria

Yes

City of Calexico

Yes

City of El Centro

Yes

City of Holtville

Yes

City of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Absent

City of Westmorland

Yes

Imperial Irrigation District

Absent

           

            Motion Passed.

 

V.                 REPORTS

 

A.                 ICTC Executive Director

-          A full list of updates and announcements can be found on page 25 of the agenda.

-          Ms. Viegas-Walker inquired regarding the Broadband initiative. Does the project involve the installation of towers? Staff will follow-up on this question.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

-          Mr. Salgado presented his report. The report is on page 31 of the agenda.

C.                  California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)       

Mr. Dallarda was available via zoom to present on the Caltrans report.   

-          A full list of updates and announcements can be found on page 34 of the agenda.

D.                 Commission Member Reports 

-          There were no reports.

 

VI.              ACTION CALENDER

 

            Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC)

 

A.                 Discussion / Action regarding First Amendment to Employment Agreement for the Positionof Executive Director

 

Mr Havens stated that during last month’s closed session, the Commission approved a merit increase of 4% for the Executive Director. This amounts to a dollar increase of $6,240.  The amendment will be for one year.  Benefits will remain the same as described in Section 2 of the employment contract attached to your agenda:  an FLSA exempt position with no overtime pay and no health insurance, a monthly car allowance of $800, time off leave equivalent to ICTC employees as defined in the Personnel Policy, necessary travel expenses to seminars and conferences, and ICERS retirement membership.

 

At this time, the Commission may take final action regarding the compensation increase and first amendment to the agreement with the approved terms and conditions.

 

 

                        A motion was made to approve the agreement as stated above by Predmore and seconded by Nava-Froelich, roll call:

 

Agency

Roll Call

City of Brawley

Yes

City of Calipatria

Yes

City of Calexico

Absent

City of El Centro

Yes

City of Holtville

Yes

City of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Absent

City of Westmorland

Yes

Imperial Irrigation District

Absent

 

                        Motion Carried unanimously.

 

            Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE)

 

B.                  Agreement for Preventive and Corrective Maintenance of Call Boxes on Interstate 8 and State Route 86 in Imperial County, Modification #1

 

1.       Approved the Agreement with CASE Systems, Inc., Modification #1

2.       Authorized the Chairman to sign the agreement 

 

                        A motion was made by Predmore and seconded by Ritchie, roll call:

 

Agency

Roll Call

City of Brawley

Yes

City of Calipatria

Yes

City of Calexico

Absent

City of El Centro

Yes

City of Holtville

Yes

City of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Yes

County of Imperial

Absent

City of Westmorland

Yes

Imperial Irrigation District

Absent

 

                        Motion Carried unanimously.

                       

                        Ms. Viegas-Walker requested information as to where call boxes were being used. Follow-up will be provided by staff.

 

VII.            INFORMATION CALENDAR

 

A.                 Tri-ennial Performance Audit Findings, Responses and Action Plan

 

The State of California requires that Transportation Planning Agencies undergo a performance audit every three years as a result of receiving Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds. The consultant conducted audit focused primarily on administration of the TDA funded programs and services over a three-year period of time. The six audit documents were for: 1. ICTC 2. Imperial Valley Transit (IVT) 3. IVT ACCESS 4.  IVT RIDE 5.  IVT MedTrans and 6. Yuma Citizens Area Transit (YCAT) Routes 5 (Blue) and 10 (Turquoise). The audits noted various findings including those which were noted in the last audit that was completed and the current audit. Staff has already begun to address the findings noted within the audits. The following outlines the findings and ICTC’s responses and plans for action.

 

TDA Triennial Performance Audit Findings and Resolutions

Finding

Resolution

Ensure State Controller Reports are

submitted in a timely manner.

ICTC is working with the auditing team to begin and

complete required audits and reports.

Ensure the RTPA’s fiscal audits are

completed no later than 12 months following the end of the fiscal year.

ICTC is working with the auditing team to begin and

complete required audits and reports.

For any operator using STA funds for operating purposes, ICTC should include the test against the two qualifying

efficiency standards as part of the TDA

claim process.

The consulting team forwarded a sample spreadsheet to utilize for qualifying calculations. ICTC has completed the necessary calculations and

intends to do so moving forward.

Prepare and implement a standardized

orientation process for new ICTC Board members.

ICTC is working towards developing a standardized

orientation process for new ICTC Board Members.

Reaffirm  ICTC’s  definitions  of   “unmet

transit need” and “reasonable to meet” as part of each annual unmet transit needs finding.

ICTC will implement the reaffirmation of its Unmet

Transit Needs definitions and criteria on an annual basis.

 

IVT  should  ensure  its  website  is  fully

usable for monolingual Spanish-speaking individuals.

ICTC   is   reviewing   any   areas   where   further

adjustment can be completed to IVT’s website to

further accommodate Spanish speaking individuals.

 

Identify supplemental local revenues that

will bring the farebox recovery ratio up to at least 10 percent – IVT Access

ICTC is reviewing possible local revenue sources to

assist  with  farebox  recovery  for  all  applicable transit services.

 

Review opportunities for increasing local

revenue to boost farebox recovery – IVT Medtrans Service

In FY 19-20, ICTC reduced the farebox ratio for the

Medtrans service to 10% from 15%. ICTC also increased the fare structure for the service to help boost farebox recovery. Staff will continue to monitor and hopes to achieve farebox ratios post the pandemic.

 

Conduct  regular  passenger  surveys  to

gauge customer satisfaction and service need – IVT Medtrans Service

ICTC      will          implement             frequent surveys  for

passengers  to  gauge  customer  satisfaction  and service need.

 

Ensure   TDA   fiscal   audits   of   all   IVT

operations are completed no later than

270 days following the end of the fiscal

year – IVT Ride

ICTC is working with the auditing team to begin and

complete required audits and reports.

 

 

VIII.         NEXT MEETING DATE AND PLACE

A.                 The next meeting of the Imperial County Transportation Commission will be held on September 23, 2020 at 6:00 p.m., at the ICTC Offices, 1503 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 104, El Centro, CA 92243 and via Zoom Meeting.

 

IX.              ADJOURNMENT

 

A.                 Meeting adjourned at 6:52 p.m. (Nava/Ritchie).