TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES

April 27, 2017

            Present:

            Gordon Gaste                           City of Brawley

            Guillermo Sillas                        City of Brawley

            Lily Falomir                             City of Calexico

            Isabel Alvarez                           City of Imperial

            John Gay                                  County of Imperial

            Others:

            David Aguirre                           ICTC

            Virginia Mendoza                     ICTC

            Cristi Lerma                             ICTC

            David Salgado                          SCAG

            Gustavo Gomez                        The Holt Group

            Joseph Chua                             Caltrans

            Roberto Martinez                      Vexer Engineering

1.       The meeting was called to order by Chair Gaste at 10:08 a.m. A quorum was present and introductions were made. 

2.       A motion was made to adopt the minutes for March 23, 2017, (Falomir/Alvarez) Motion Carried.

3.       ICTC Updates / Announcements

Ø  Transit Planning Updates (By David Aguirre):

-          Mr. Aguirre stated that the TDA Article 3 Bike and Peds projects were approved by the Commission at their April meeting.

-          The Regional Bus Stop Inventory, Signage Replacement and Technology Assessment Project contract was approved in April.

Ø  Transportation Planning Updates (By Virginia Mendoza):

-          An agency RFA status was requested for FY 2016-17 RSTP and CMAQ projects. The table below indicates agency responses under status for each project. Agencies are encouraged to submit their RFA’s to Caltrans Local Assistance by April/May 2017.

-          Please “Save the Date” of May 17-18, 2017 for the Imperial Valley General Assembly and Economic Summit. We have confirmed three speakers: Laurie Berman, Caltrans District 11 Director; Vince Mammano, CA Division Administrator, FHWA and Bill Higgins, CalCOG Executive Director.

-          CTC Commissioners attended a Town Hall Meeting in the City of Calexico on April 12, 2017 at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center.  Presentations were provided by the following: City of El Centro staff; Laurie Berman, Caltrans; Mike Jones, SCAG; and Mark Baza. The last part of the Town Hall Meeting consisted of Q and A with Commissioners and local agency staffs. The following day, April 13th ICTC hosted a tour of the Calexico East Port of Entry and CHP truck inspection facility for CTC Commissioners, CTC staff and Caltrans.

-          The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 which allows State to repurpose any earmark that was designated on or before September 2005.  FHWA approved the Earmark Repurposing projects on April 13, 2017.  The following is a list of Earmark Repurposing projects Imperial County in the amount of $6 million:

Ø  LTA Updates (By Virginia Mendoza):

-          Ms. Mendoza requested that all agencies submit their project requests for the LTA Bond and provide a status report. She stated that the County of Imperial and the City of Calipatria have spent all their funds. The City of Brawley has a balance as of February 28, 2017 of $1.98 million; Calexico $6 million; and, Imperial $265,134. Agencies are highly encouraged to submit invoices.

4.       El Centro Transfer Terminal – Prohibition of Smoking Signage

Mr. Aguirre stated that due to recent complaints from passengers regarding smoking at the El Centro Transfer Terminal, the City of El Centro is working on installing signage at the terminal.  This is per City local ordinance prohibiting smoking in public areas. Staff was directed to further address this issue regionally, therefore requested input form the TAC regarding this issue. No comments were provided.

5.       SCAG Updates / Announcements: (By Mr. Salgado)

-          A second round of “GO-Human” advertising will be released throughout the SCAG region in May 2017. The “GO-Human” Campaign is an ATP Cycle 1 Grant funded program designed and developed to be utilized by all stakeholders and partners in the region to bring heightened awareness to pedestrian and bicycle safety as well as driver safety through a robust marketing and advertising campaign. ICTC has collaborated to include “Go-Human” advertising on their transit buses in order to promote safe walking and bicycling.  Please feel free to contact David Salgado to participate.

-          The Imperial Valley Velo Club will have the 2017 Bike to Work Day on May 18th. SCAG is providing some “GO-Human” materials to promote bicycle and pedestrian safety throughout the day’s activities, which will include informational stations throughout El Centro for those biking to work to astop and receive free gifts.

-          The 2017 SCAG Regional Conference and General Assembly will be on  May 4th and 5th, 2017.

6.       Cities and County Planning / Public Works Updates:

-          City of Brawley: Mr. Gaste announced that Guillermo Sillas is the new Public Works Director for the City of Brawley.

7.       Caltrans Updates / Announcements

Mr. Chua had the following updates and announcements:

-          Effective March 30, 2017, Caltrans is once again authorized to participate in the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) Assignment Program. This reauthorization ends the three month period of suspension that began on January 1, 2017. Caltrans has performed federal responsibilities for environmental decisions and approvals under NEPA on all Federal-aid projects in California since 2007.

-          The deadline for the California Federal Lands Access Program (CA FLAP) 2017 Call for Projects has been extended through May 12, 2017. The goal of the CA FLAP is to improve transportation facilities that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within federal lands.

-          The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 allowed repurposing of certain funds originally earmarked for specific projects more than ten years ago. FHWA approved most requests from California, and all processing was completed by April 7, 2017. For the six approved projects in Imperial County, Requests for Federal Authorization may now be submitted to the District Office. A Final Approved List of Repurposed Earmarks can be found at the link provided below: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocaiPrograms/earmark

-          The City of Imperial has one project flagged for inactivity in submitting a project invoice. Please submit an invoice to the District by May 19, 2017, if not sent already. In addition, Imperial County, as well as the cities of Brawley and Calipatria, have projects that will soon be flagged for inactivity. Please submit invoices to the District before August 21, 2017. A complete list of inactive projects can be found at the link provided below.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocaiPrograms/lnactiveprojects.htm

-          Managers of the Highway Bridge Program in Local Assistance at Caltrans-HQ will be delivering free training at Caltrans District Office in San Diego on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.

The tentative class time would be 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, including a one-hour lunch break. As

soon as possible, please advise with the number of representatives from your respective

agencies who are interested and available then. To enroll, email Debora Ledesma-Ribera at

Debora.Ledesma-Ribera@dot.ca.gov or Joseph Chua at Joseph.Chua@dot.ca.gov.

-          Environmental Department will be conducting a training regarding SB 6at the next TAC meeting.

-          Mr. Chua stated that Caltrans has received award packages where the bid is much higher than the engineers estimate, usually due to a gap in time. Caltrans usually gives 5% increase due to inflation. Ms. Mendoza asked for clarification regarding what would be the most appropriate time and acceptable percentage of increase that won’t necessarily raise flags to FHWA. Also what can ICTC do to help this process. Mr. Chua stated that if an award comes in at 25% or more, his recommendation would be to re-bid the project. Mr. Gay suggested that a process be set up where Caltrans and ICTC are emailed and informed of these situations before they are submitted to District 11, Local Assistance. Mr. Chua agreed that this process will allow Caltrans to informally notify an agency if it should be re-bid.

8.       General Discussion / New Business

-          Ms. Mendoza stated that she will be following up via email about the following topics and updates that were discussed today:

o   Repurposed Earmarks

o   General Assembly and Economic Summit

o   Potential trainings at future TAC meetings

o   The potential for identifying the framework of a clear communication process specifically regarding the award phase of projects.

o   Create a sub-list of contacts

-          Next TAC meeting will be on May 25, 2017.

9.       Meeting adjourned at 11:01 a.m.