IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR DECEMBER 11, 2019

6:00 p.m.

______________________________________________________________________

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                            City of Brawley                        George Nava

                                                            City of Calipatria                      Maria Nava-Froelich

                                                            City of El Centro                      Cheryl Viegas-Walker

                                                            City of Holtville                       James Predmore

                                                            City of Westmorland                Ana Beltran

                                                            County of Imperial                   Ryan Kelley

NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:        Caltrans District 11       Ann Fox

STAFF PRESENT:     Mark Baza, David Aguirre Cristi Lerma, Virginia Mendoza, Eric Havens (Counsel)

OTHERS PRESENT:  David Salgado: SCAG; Erwin Gojuangco, Jose Ornelas, Daniel Hernandez: Caltrans; Orchard Road Neighborhood Alliance: Mary Helen Dollente, Lori Hill, Bobby Hill, Hunter Toten, Marv Wood; Darlene Burger: Westmorland resident

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, December 11, 2019 together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Acting Chair Nava called the Commission meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

II.                 EMERGENCY ITEMS

            There were none.

III.              PUBLIC COMMENTS

Comments by Mary Helen Dollente, Lori Hill, Hunter Toten and Marv Wood all with the Orchard Road Neighborhood Alliance. Residents continue to be concerned regarding the commercial traffic on Orchard Road. Some of the concerns are regarding CHP enforcement, pollution hazards, noise hazards.

An awareness campaign is being implemented by Caltrans, in partnership with the City of Holtville, the County of Imperial and ICTC. The awareness campaign includes installing guide signs to inform truckers of the preferred routes. Additional resources will include flyers placed at the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility just north of the Calexico East POE, direct outreach to the trucking industry both in California and Mexico, and an enforcement effort by our partners at the CHP. Similar signs will be installed on SR-98 near Cole Road to assist with routing trucks away from the residential and school zones in Calexico. All signs should be installed in December 2019.

A concern regarding the “Truck Route” sign on Orchard Road was also expressed by the citizens. The City of Holtville will discuss further to address local issues.

IV.              CONSENT CALENDAR

A motion was made by Viegas-Walker and seconded by Predmore to approve the consent calendar as presented; Motion carried.

A.        Approval of the ICTC Commission Draft Minutes:         November 13, 2019

B.                  Receive and File:

1.                   ICTC Management Committee Draft Minutes:   November 13, 2019

2.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                     November 6, 2019

3.                   ICTC Draft TAC Minutes:                                November 14, 2019

VI.              REPORTS

A.                 ICTC Executive Director

-          A full list of updates and announcements can be found on page 18 of the agenda.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

-          A full list of updates and announcements can be found on page 27 of the agenda.

C.                  California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

-          Ms. Fox stated that a ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on December 18, 2019 at the Caltrans Midway Maintenance Yard at 10:30 a.m. for the I-8 CRCP project.

-          Ms. Fox stated that the I-8/Imperial Avenue interchange replacement project is expected to begin construction in February 2020. A Public Open House is scheduled for January 15, 2020 from 4-7 p.m. at El Centro Regional Medical Center. Caltrans is working with the City of El Centro, County of Imperial and ICTC and other stakeholders.

-          A full list of updates and announcements can be found on page 30 of the agenda.

D.                 Commission Member Reports 

-          Commissioners had various announcements regarding events occurring in their jurisdictions.

VII.           ACTION CALENDER

                A.            FY 16-17, 17-18 and 18-19 TDA Triennial Performance Audit – Award Recommendation

Mr. Aguirre presented this item to the Commission; his report is below.

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 audit is primarily focused on administration of TDA funded programs and services over a three-year period. The period to be audited are fiscal years 16-17, 17-18 and 18-19.

The audit is not solely a financial audit, but a review of compliance with transit service-related Public Utilities Codes and prudent administrative and management practices.  More specifically the audit involves reviewing the processes and policies including, but not limited to; the ICTC Budget and Transit Financing Plan, the TDA Allocation Schedule, the Article 3 and 8 financial claims processing, administration of the Social Services Transportation Advisory Council, conduct of the annual Unmet Transit Needs Public Hearing process, and transit planning and operations management of the public transit services by the public agencies.

ICTC staff recently completed a competitive bid via a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to acquire the services of a qualified consulting team to complete the TDA Triennial Performance Audit. The RFP requested multiple consulting services in accordance with the requirements of the Transit Performance Guidance Handbook. The RFP was circulated to various professional service firms who have experience completing similar work for other agencies.

A total of two (2) consultants submitted responses to ICTC’s RFP. The consultants that submitted a response included: Moore and Associates and Michael Baker International.

A proposal evaluation committee was established to complete the review of proposals of qualified consultants.  The evaluation committee was comprised of staff from SCAG, ICTC and the city of Imperial.  The committee completed the scoring and ranking of each of the responses the week of November 4th, 2019. The evaluation committee elected not to complete oral interviews of the consulting teams.

The scoring and ranking of the consultants were based on the following criteria: Technical Experience, Proposed Methodology and Approach to Work; Project Team and Staff Qualifications; Price and Best Value; and Completeness of Response and References.

The ranking is listed as follows:

NAME                                       RANKING                        PRICE                   Cost/Hour               

Moore and Associates                        1                              $71,537.40           $128.20

Michael Baker International             2                              $74,710.00           $144.79

Both firms are capable of completing the project. Both firms also proposed completing all the services internally with no subconsultants required. Moore and Associates and Michael Baker International both have experience working with ICTC on previous projects. Michael Baker International completed the previous TDA Triennial Performance Audit. Neither firm is local with Moore and Associates utilizing its Valencia office and Michael Baker International utilizing its Rancho Cordova office.

A budget of $75,000 was identified and approved in the ICTC FY 2019-20 OWP and budget (7416001-525010).

The original procurement documents; RFP and consultant response proposals; and, all contract exhibits referenced in the contract document are available for review at the ICTC administrative offices by request.

The ICTC Management Committee met on November 13, 2019 and forwarded this item to the Commission for their review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.             Approved the award of the Agreement for the FY 16-17, 17-18 and 18-19 TDA Triennial Performance Audit to Moore and Associates in the amount of $71,537.40.

2.             Authorized the Chairperson to sign the agreement.

A motion was made by Viegas-Walker and seconded by Predmore; Motion carried unanimously.

VII.           INFORMATION CALENDAR

A.            FY 2019-20 ICTC Budget Back-up Documentation Request – County of Imperial Legal, Auditor-Controller and Treasurer Services                              

                Presented by David Aguirre

The Commission met at a special meeting at the ICTC offices on June 28, 2019. During this meeting ICTC staff presented the FY 2019-20 Overall Work Program (OWP) and Budget to the Commission. The Commission approved the budget as presented, however a request was made to staff to provide back-up documentation regarding the amount that the County of Imperial charges ICTC for services provided. ICTC utilizes the County of Imperial's Legal, Auditor-Controller and Treasurer Departments to provide various services.

ICTC has a contract with County Legal Services through 2021 for a not to exceed fee of $30,000 annually. ICTC's contract with County Legal Services provides ICTC with miscellaneous legal services as requested by ICTC. ICTC is billed approximately $150.00 per hour for legal services. Any remaining funds associated with the contract not utilized by ICTC are reimbursed at the end of the year.

The fees for the services associated with the County Auditor Controller and Treasurer Departments are derived from a state approved cost allocation plan. The annual cost allocation plan can be located at https://sco.ca.gov/ard_county_cost_approvals.html.

ICTC's portion of the costs associated with the Auditor-Controller and Treasurer Departments is approximately. 7% (estimated at $70,000) of the total allocated cost of departments noted in the cost allocation plan for FY 2019-20. ICTC is billed on a quarterly basis for services provided.

Prior to FY 19-20, the County of Imperial Staff encountered numerous errors with its cost allocation for ICTC. Staff has engaged in various discussions with the County Auditor-Controller's office to review the past errors associated with ICTC's cost allocation.  In previous years, ICTC was either credited funds, not charged any fees or charged below actual fees due to various accounting errors. As a result of the errors, the actual value allocated to ICTC for FY 19-20 seems out of the ordinary or excessive. Since the errors have been corrected, ICTC should not experience major  discrepancies  in its annual  cost allocation.  Services rendered  include  but  are  not  limited  to  the  Auditor-Controller staffs  recording  of  all  ICTC  financial transactions,  issuance of payments to vendors, receipt and proper allocation of funds received from various federal  and state agencies  and  use of the county accounting  system. In FY 18-19, ICTC  incurred 2,597 transactions and deposited and issued 687 checks. Like the legal agreement, any funds not utilized will be credited back to ICTC at the end of the fiscal year.

ICTC appreciates the support provided by the County of Imperial's Legal, Auditor-Controller and Treasurer Departments. They are a crucial part of ICTC’s day to day activities and we look forward to the continued positive relationship. This item was for informational purposes only.

                B.            Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Triennial Review; FY 2017, 2018, and 2019

                                Presented by David Aguirre

As a recipient of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) dollars, ICTC is required to comply with numerous federal regulations in the administration and operations of the public transit services. The Triennial Review is less exacting than an audit, it is FTA’s assessment of ICTC’s compliance of regulations that cover 21 areas including but not limited to: Financial Management and Financial Capacity, Maintenance, Procurement, Civil Rights, Drug Free Workplace and Drug and Alcohol Program, Grant Management, and Program Implementation Practices. 

The Triennial Review process began in April 2019 with FTA’s request for and review of ICTC’s program files and data. Subsequently in October 2019, FTA staff performed on-site reviews and observations of ICTC, our transit operator, and sub-recipients records and operational practices over a two-day period. The FTA staff recently completed the 2019 Triennial Review and provided a formal response letter dated November 22, 2019.

Within the various areas of compliance, ICTC received a notice of deficiency for seven of these areas. Within these areas there are 11 items that require corrective actions.  Additionally, the FTA staff made a few recommendations for further program development of ICTC as it pertains to transit operations.  A matrix was provided of the findings and our proposed corrective actions to meet FTA’s required response and implementation.

ICTC staff is actively addressing the items and are confident in our ability to meet the deadline of corrective actions and response to FTA by March 2020. Many of the actions require the amendment or development of procedures to improve our requirements pertaining to ADA guidelines, documentation requests for our member agency sub-recipients and financial documentation policy adjustments.

                        This item is presented to you for information and discussion purposes.

            C.            Update on Calipatria and Niland Implementation of Bus Stop and Bench Shelters

A request was made by the City of Calipatria / Niland to provide service to the east side of the town. After review, staff is proposing to add it to the IVC Express Route, which will add about 8-10 minutes to this route. This item was for informational purposes only.

VIII.         NEXT MEETING DATE AND PLACE

A.                 The next meeting of the Imperial County Transportation Commission will be held on January 22, 2020 at 6:00 p.m., at the County of Imperial Board Chambers, at 940 W. Main Street, El Centro, CA.

IX.              ADJOURNMENT

A.                 Meeting adjourned at 7:58 p.m.