IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF November 09, 2022

10:30 a.m.

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

STAFF PRESENT: Virginia Mendoza, Cristi Lerma, Angela Delgadillo

OTHERS PRESENT: Liz Zarate: City of El Centro, Ben Guerrero, Rafael Reyes, Nick Ventrilla, Hanh-Dung Khuu: Caltrans, David Salgado: SCAG

The following minutes are listed as they were acted upon by the Imperial County Transportation Commission Management Committee and as listed on the agenda for the meeting held Wednesday, November 09, 2022, together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

Chair Nick Wells called the meeting to order at 10:38 a.m., roll call was taken, and a quorum was present. 

II.                  ACTION CALENDAR

A.                     Adopt resolution authorizing remote teleconference meetings in accordance with Assembly Bill 361

1.            Approved the resolution of the Imperial County Transportation Commission authorizing remote meetings in accordance with the provisions of the State Assembly Bill (AB) 361.

2.            Authorized the Chairperson to sign the resolution.

A motion was made by Colio-Warren seconded by Morita to approve this item, Roll call was taken:

                Motion carried unanimously.

III.                EMERGENCY ITEMS

There were none.

IV.                PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

V.                  CONSENT ITEMS

A motion was made by Salcido seconded by Colio-Warren to approve the consent calendar as presented; Roll call was taken:

Motion carried unanimously.

VI.                REPORTS

A.                  ICTC Executive Director

-          Mr. Aguirre had the following updates:

o   State Route 86 Border Patrol Checkpoint is currently in design and there have been some additional design features that have been incorporated. The design is expected to be completed in early 2023. There are continuous meetings that are held with CBP.

o   All member agencies have adopted and passed IVRMA JPA documents. The IVRMA board also passed the document in September. The EAR report is being completed as well. Mr. Aguirre stated that they are about 99% done.

o   Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project, the bridge portion is completed. This is the biggest portion of the project. The next portions are the roadway portions which are a lot easier. Target completion date: March 2023.

o   The Free Fares Program grant was approved for $492K which will cover about 9 months of free fares for transit riders. In November, a program is offered for free transportation for veterans from November 12th to November 18th. The annual “stuff a bus” campaign is from November 1st to November 18th. This campaign lets people ride the bus for free if they donate a canned good. Essentially, all the canned goods that are generated, are donated to the food bank before the Thanksgiving holiday. These two programs are put out for the public before the Free Fares Program takes place. The Free Fares program will likely start around January 2023.

-          Ms. Mendoza had the following updates:

o   The next IMBA meeting is scheduled for December 8, 2022, in the City of Mexicali at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will be available via Zoom and in person.

o   There was massive public outreach in different cities for the Long Range Transportation Plan. Starting at the Heber Fall Festival on October 29th at 4 p.m. Then, at Holtville’s Farmer Market and Street Fair on November 5th at 11 a.m. Finally, at Brawley’s Cattle Call Chili Cookoff on November 5th at 5 p.m. ICTC inquired about the public priorities and any other priorities they would like to see. There are currently ongoing meetings with each of the cities, as well as with the IID and Caltrans. ICTC also had the opportunity to meet with SDSU and IVC to receive feedback.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)  

-      Mr. Salgado had the following updates:

o   The SCAG 2022 Economic Summit is still currently open. If anyone is interested in attending, please contact David Salgado.

o   Virtual Information Session #1 opens on November 10, 2022, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. about Sustainable Communities Program (SCP) Call 4.

o   The San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman was elected as the Regional Council Second Vice President for the balance of the 2022-2023 term. This was a special election resulting from a vacancy.

o   Ms. Cheryl Viegas-Walker is not running for re-election so that will open up a SCAG Regional Council District seat for District 1. There will be a special election held for this seat at some time in December. All elected officials are eligible to run for the Regional Council. SCAG’s Regional Council is made up of about 89 elected officials that represent the six counties of SCAG’s region.

o   The state did approve the 2023 Active Transportation Program grant applications. Unfortunately, the Imperial County region was not awarded any funding under this program.

C.                  Caltrans Department of Transportation – District 11

-          Mr. Reyes had the following updates:

o   The SR-98 widening project has its Stage 1 wrapping up and is on target to be completed before Thanksgiving. After discussions between the construction team and the local stake holders, it was decided to go to Stage 3, which is the Westbound direction from SR-111 to Rockwood. This decision was made due to it not having any businesses around it. This will minimize the impacts on businesses during the holiday season. Stage 3 is looking to start as soon as Stage 1 is completed. Following Stage 3, Caltrans will start with Stage 2.

-          Mr. Guerrero had the following updates:

o   The new District’s Local Assistance Engineer is Bryan Ott.

o   Clean California is offering a second funding cycle: https://cleancalifornia.dot.ca.gov/local-grants/local-grant-program

o   The next CTC meeting is on January 25, 2023, and the deadline to submit your package is November 25th.

-          Ms. Hanh-Dung Khuu had the following updates:

o   The new Traffic Safety and Operations -East Region manager is Nick Ventrilla.

VII.              ACTION CALENDAR

A.                  Mini Call for Projects - Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) and Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) Programming Project List – FFY 2025/26

It was requested that the Management Committee forward this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.                   Approve the 2022 Mini Call for Projects -Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) and Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG) Programming Project List for FFY 2025/26.

2.                   Direct staff to program projects in the next available Federal Transportation Improvement Program Formal Amendment.

A motion was made by Medina seconded by Morita to approve Action A. Roll call was taken:

                Motion carried unanimously.

VIII.             The next meeting is scheduled for December 14, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. at the City of Calexico and via Zoom Meeting.  

IX.                 ADJOURNMENT 

A.                  Meeting adjourned at 11:04 a.m.