IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR March 28, 2018

6:00 p.m.

______________________________________________________________________

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                            City of Brawley                        George Nava

                                                            City of El Centro                      Cheryl Viejas-Walker

                                                            City of Imperial                        Robert Amparano (Vice Chair)

                                                            City of Westmorland                Larry Ritchie

                                                            County of Imperial                   Ryan Kelley

                                                            Imperial Irrigation District         Erik Ortega

NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:        Caltrans District 11                   Ann Fox

STAFF PRESENT:     Mark Baza, Vicky Hernandez, Michelle Bastidas

OTHERS PRESENT:  Eric Havens: ICTC Counsel;  Marcelo Peinado, Jesus Vargas: Caltrans

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  28,  2018 together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Vice Chair Amparano called the Commission meeting to order at 6:07 p.m.  Roll call was taken and a quorum was present.

II.                 EMERGENCY ITEMS

            There were none.

III.              PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.  

IV.              CONSENT CALENDAR

A.                 Approval of  the Commission Draft Minutes:                             February 28, 2018

B.                  Receive and File:

1.                   ICTC Management Committee Draft Minutes:               March 14, 2018

2.                   ICTC TAC Minutes:                                                     February 22, 2018

3.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                                 February 7, 2018

A motion was made by Viegas-Walker and seconded by Nava to approve consent items A through C, Motion carried unanimously.

V.                 REPORTS

A.                 ICTC Executive Director

Mr. Baza and staff had the following announcements:

-          Mr. Baza asked the Commission to  “Save the Date” for the Imperial Valley General Assembly and Economic Summit for May 30-31, 2018. On May 30th a networking reception is planned for the evening. Congressman Juan Vargas is confirmed to be the keynote speaker at the ICTC’s General Assembly on the evening of May 31st.

-          State Route 98 and Cesar Chavez Blvd. have been approved by the CTC. The City of Calexico received CTC approval for allocation of Border Infrastructure Program funds on March 21, 2018; the City is scheduled to begin construction in early summer 2018. Caltrans’ SR-98 work between VV Williams and Ollie Avenue is scheduled for completion in March 2018. Caltrans is working on a second segment on SR-98 between Rockwood Avenue and Ollie Avenue and is in the design and right-of-way phase.

-          Office Technician (Limited Term) recruitment is underway. Staff is reviewing applications and proceeding with the selection process, interviews are pending the week of April 9, 2018.

-          2018-19 Unmet Transit Needs Public Hearing was held on March 22, 2018. Staff will be presenting the findings in April.

B.                  California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

                        Ms. Fox provided Caltrans updates.

-          A few updates from previous meetings included:

o   In regard to drainage issues at Romeo’s Car Wash, Caltrans is working with owner to possibly perform grading on the side area.

o   The Caltrans Operations Branch did a thorough investigation to get additional signage at SR-86 after a fatality was reported in that area.

o   The Dogwood Rd. overpass relocation of the signage has begun.

-          Segment 4 of the CRCP project is divided into two sections located near El Centro from west of I-8 /SR-111 separation to just west Anderholt Road overcrossing and from east of the Highline Canal Bridge west of the I-8/SR-98 seperation. The eastbound location 1 lanes are expected to be completed in April.

-          Segment 5 of the CRCP project is located near Winterhaven from west of Olgilby Road overcrossing to the west of the I-8/SR-I86 separation. Westbound lanes are open now, they are ahead of schedule by 1 year.  

-          The SR-98/Cesar Chavez Widening Project was completed with the exception of activating the traffic signal at Cesar Chavez. All through lanes and sidewalks were opened in January and the project was scheduled for completion in late March 2018. 

-          The SR-86/Heber Pedestrian improvements will construct sidewalks and a bus shelter. Construction on Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2 has been awarded and is expected to start construction this spring with phase 3 beginning construction in the summer 2018.

-          The SR-86/Customs & Border Protection Checkpoint Expansion project is underway. Caltrans recently provided a design alternative with cost estimate to ICTC. This was approved by the Commission in late 2017. The project team is currently working through permitting process.

-          An All American Canal Bridge/SR-186 public hearing was held on February 21, 2018 at the County of Imperial, Department of Publics Works Office in El Centro. In attendance were Caltrans, County of Imperial, CHP and the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) reprsentatives. There were no members of the public that attended. The BOR requested that Caltrans initiate a feasibility study with options in the next couple of months.

-          The I-8 Dogwood Interchange project was nominated for a 2018 Award of the Year from the California Transportation Foundation. The awards ceremony will be held on May 24, 2018. Ms. Viegas-Walker and Mr. Baza will be in attendance.

-          Calexico Traffic Circulation Plan, Caltrans has been awarded a grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) State Planning & Research program. The consultant will be on-board by mid-April.

-          Invoices from the City of Calexico were returned for clarification from Local Assistance. These projects are on the inactive list and they are due the in mid-April.

-          ATP Cycle 2 Call for Projects: Caltrans anticipates the CTC will announce the 2019 (Cycle 4) call for projects in or around May 2018.

-          Highway Safety Improvement Programs (HSIP): the next call for projects (HSIP Cycle 9) is expected to be announced around late April or early May 2018.

C.                  Commission Member Reports 

-          Mr. Ritchie thanked Caltrans for the help on a local project that started construction on January 1st.

-          Ms. Viegas-Walker had the following announcements:

o   An award for project recognition was announced, further information will be given at a later date.

o   There will be a Public Safety Summit on May 18, 2018.

o   Ms. Viegas-Walker and Mr. Baza attended the CALCOG Leadership Summit.

o   The City of El Centro will be taking action on Prop 69 Lockbox and Opposition for the repeal of SB1.

-          Mr. Nava thanked Caltrans for the addition of the signage on Highway 86 as well as for assisting on the signage by McDonalds on Main Street and 1st street. Mr. Nava also thanked ICTC for the assistance with the improvements on bus stops and shelters in the City of Brawley.

-          There will be a Health & Wellness Mega Mixer at the REACH Base on Thursday, March 29, 2018 from 6-8pm. There will be 14 vendors and multiple aircrafts. SCAG Executives will attend a VIP Tour at 4:45pm. Mr. Nava encouraged all to attend and support our local vendors.

-          Mr. Kelley also thanked Caltrans for the addition of signage on Highway 86.

-          A Road Workshop was held on Wednesday, March 27, 2018. Mr. Kelley asked Mr. Baza to contact John Gay at the County and get engaged with a new program that may be able to fund road improvements.

-          Ms. Viegas-Walker stated that SCAG has their scholarship program currently open with the deadline on April 27, 2018.

-          Mr. Amparano stated that the Safe Routes to School Program (walk to school) was successful and encouraged SCAG to keep enforcing the program.

VI.              INFORMATION CALENDER

A.                          FY 2017-18 Work Program Update

Mr. Baza gave an overview of ICTC’s FY 2017-18 Work Program regarding Capitol Projects, Transit Planning Projects, Regional Planning Studies/Projects, FTIP   Programming and other projects and transit operations.

VII.            ADJOURNMENT / NEXT MEETING DATE AND PLACE

A.                 The next meeting of the Imperial County Transportation Commission will be held on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 at 6:00 p.m., at the County of Imperial Board Chambers, at 940 W. Main Street, El Centro, CA.

Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. (Nava/Ritchie), Motion Carried.