IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR March 22, 2023

6:00 p.m.

_______________________________________________________________­­­­________________

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                                City of Brawley                                       George Nava

                                                                City of Calipatria                                    Michael Luellen

                                                                City of Calexico                                      Raul Ureña

                                                                City of El Centro                                    Martha Cardenas-Singh (zoom)

                                                                City of Imperial                                      Robert Amparano

                                                                City of Holtville                                       Mike Goodsell                

                                                                City of Westmorland                           Ana Beltran (zoom)

                                                                County of Imperial                                John Hawk

                                                                County of Imperial                                Luis Plancarte

                                                                Imperial Irrigation District                 Javier Gonzalez

STAFF PRESENT:               David Aguirre, Cristi Lerma, Angela Delgadillo

OTHERS PRESENT:            Eric Havens: Counsel; Gustavo Dallarda, Mario Orso: Caltrans; David Salgado: SCAG; Edd Calderon, Coley Delaney: The Pun Group; Susan Giller, Bill Gay: Reliance Public Relations, Inc; Esperanza Colio-Warren: City of Calexico; Stacy Mendoza: City of Imperial, Miguel Ramirez

PUBLIC:                                None

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, March 22, 2023, together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Chair Goodsell called the Commission meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

II.                   EMERGENCY ITEMS

                There were none.  

III.                PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

IV.                INFORMATION / DISCUSSION CALENDAR

A.            Brown Act Remote Participation pursuant to AB 2449

Eric Havens, ICTC Counsel, provided a detailed response to the discussion regarding the transition of AB 361 to AB 2449. Essentially, voting members must be present in person to be included as a voting member, unless there are extenuating circumstances that are communicated to the Secretary beforehand. These extenuating circumstances can only be used no more than twice annually. If a voting member cannot be present and would like to be included as a voting member, their location should be posted on the agenda and be made available to the public. All Brown Act rules should be followed.

V.                  CONSENT CALENDAR

A.                  ICTC Commission Minutes:                                           February 22, 2023

B.            Receive and File:                                                                                                 

1.                   ICTC Management Committee Minutes: February 15, 2023

2.                   ICTC TAC Minutes:                                           February 23, 2023

3.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                       February 1, 2023

C.                  Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) Application for FY 2022-23 Funds

The Management Committee met on March 8, 2023, and forwarded this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.            Authorized the ICTC Chairperson to sign the attached resolution.

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

D.            Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2021-22 for Imperial Valley Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride, and IVT MedTrans

The Management Committee met on March 8, 2023, and forwarded this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.                   Received and filed the Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2021-22 for Imperial Valley Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride, and IVT MedTrans

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

                Motion Carried.

VI.                ACTION CALENDAR

A.                  Imperial County Transportation Commission Fiscal Audit for FY 2021-22

Mr. Delaney provided a detailed presentation to the Commission.

The Management Committee met on March 08, 2023, and forwarded this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.            Received and filed the fiscal audit for the Imperial County Transportation Commission, for FY 2021-22.

2.            Directed staff to transmit the fiscal audit to the State Controller’s Office.

A motion was made by Amparano and seconded by Nava, roll call:                                                            

Motion Carried.

                B.            Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project – Contract Change Order No 2 Supplement 1

The Management Committee met on March 8, 2023, and forwards this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.            Approved Change Order No. 2 Supplement 1 to Hazard Construction Company for the Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project in the amount of $110,991.08 modifying the total contract value to $20,160,242.61.

2.            Authorized the Executive Director to sign Change Order No. 2 Supplement 1.

A motion was made by Plancarte and seconded by Ureña, roll call:                                                            

                                Motion Carried.

VII.              REPORTS

A.                  ICTC Executive Director

-          FY 2023-24 Unmet Transit Needs Survey: The public hearing is scheduled for April 6, 2023, at 3 p.m. at the ICTC offices and via Zoom meeting. ICTC respectfully requests members of the commission to attend the public hearing and one member of the commission to facilitate the public hearing. The public hearing is typically facilitated by the Chair of the commission, but the role can be delegated.

⁻          ICTC has prepared surveys available on all services websites. There are also physical surveys available on the vehicles for passengers to complete.

-          2022 Long Range Transportation Plan: This plan is currently being developed and it is planned to be completed in September 2023. There have been various outreach events:

-          El Centro Annual Air Show: March 11, at 8:30 a.m. 2024 Bennet Road, El Centro

-          Children’s and Family Health Fair: Wednesday, March 15, at 1:30 p.m. Grace Smith School Gym, 9 East 4th Street, Niland

-          Calexico Wellness Center Health Fair: March 22, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. 420 Heffernan Avenue, Calexico

-          Cesar Chavez Celebration Festival: Thursday, March 30, at 2 p.m. Rockwood Avenue Promenade in Downtown Calexico

-          42nd Annual Children’s Fair: Saturday, April 1, at 10 a.m. Bucklin Park, 8th Street and Ross Avenue, El Centro

⁻          Calexico Microtransit Service - Calexico on Demand went online on January 9th. It has been a big success so far. There was a period of a month when it was free. This ended on February 9th. When the service was free, there were about 180 passengers per day. Now that there is a fee, there are about 150 passengers per day. This is a ride-share program that operates within the city of Calexico. Three vehicles operate it daily. Monday-Friday 6 am-6 pm. The regular price is $2 per ride. Seniors (55+) and riders with disabilities ride for $1.

⁻          Forrester Road Project Study Report (PSR): Caltrans District 11 has been working on a project report on behalf of ICTC. The PSR will analyze safety and operation improvements along Forrester Road between I-8 and SR86/SR78. Other improvements include the Westmorland bypass. A meeting to discuss the draft PSR will be held at the ICTC offices on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 9 a.m.

⁻          Imperial Mexicali Binational Alliance (IMBA): The next IMBA meeting is scheduled for April 13, 2023, in the City of Mexicali. The meeting will be available via Zoom and in person.

⁻          Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project: This project is about 82% complete in construction efforts. The project is on hold until they receive the permit to move forward.

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

⁻          Clean California Bus Stop Improvement Project: Construction activities for the new bus stop improvements began on March 13, 2023.

⁻          All other updates are on the Executive Director report on page 164 of the agenda.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

⁻          The SCAG 2023 Regional Conference & General Assembly will be held May 4th-5th. It is free of charge for elected officials.

⁻          Regional Council Approves Programs to Accelerate Transformative Housing (PATH)Guidelines: The program guidelines outline the program’s components, requirements, eligibility, and application process, and staff recommendation to set aside $88.835 million of SCAG’s REAP 2.0 funding to support the program.

⁻          All other updates are on the SCAG report on page 174 of the agenda.

C.                  California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)- District 11   

-          The SR-98 widening project has its Stage 1 has been completed. After discussions between the construction team and the local stakeholders, 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 impact on businesses during the holiday season. Following Stage 3, Caltrans will start with Stage 2.

-          I-8 Colorado River Bridge Rehab project will impact travel to Yuma. There will be detours and construction will start in mid-February. There will most likely be any traffic affected until mid-March.

-          I-8, SR-78 Bridge Rehab at Various Locations: Looking to start construction in mid-March and will continue the next couple of months.

-          I-8 Roadside Safety Improvements: This project was approved and has a 55-day start. This project will start in a couple of months.

-          Middle Mile Broadband Initiative: Caltrans is in the final stages of identifying a contractor that will help develop these projects. CDT has approved segments on SR78, SR86, SR111, and SR115 totaling 178 miles of middle-mile broadband deployment.

-          Call for Projects for the Clean California Local Grant Program is out as of last week. The state is looking for applications for eligible projects that are either infrastructure or non-infrastructure projects that reduce litter, beautify public spaces, and improve public health. The grants are up to 5 million dollars. The deadline for application projects is April 28th.

-          Many maintenance and traffic operations are ongoing throughout the Imperial Valley.

-          All other updates are on the Caltrans report on page 179 of the agenda.

D.                  Commission Member Reports

-          Updates were provided by various commissioners.

VIII.            PRESENTATION CALENDAR

                A.            Imperial County Strategic Plan: Presentation by Susan Giller, Reliance Public Relations, Inc.

⁻          Ms. Susan Giller provided a small presentation on the development of a Strategic Plan to guide Imperial County for the next five years. She met with ICTC to ensure they have a chance to capture the experiences, insights, and understanding of issues affecting each community so they can be included in the strategic planning process. She provided an idea worksheet and surveys that she collected at the end of the meeting. The Commission provided some input during the workshop exercise.

IX.                The next meeting will be on April 26, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at the ICTC Offices, 1503 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 104, El Centro, CA 92243, and via Zoom Meeting for the public.

X.                  ADJOURNMENT

A.                  Meeting Adjourned at 7:49 p.m.