IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF March 8, 2017

10:30 a.m.

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                    City of Brawley                        Rosanna Bayon Moore

                                    City of Calipatria                      Rom Medina (Chair)

                                    City of El Centro                      Marcela Piedra

City of Holtville                       Nick Wells

County of Imperial                   Joe Picazo for Ralph Cordova

County of Imperial                    John Gay

STAFF PRESENT:     Mark Baza, Kathi Williams, Virginia Mendoza, Cristi Lerma

OTHERS PRESENT:  Liz Zarate: City of El Centro; David Salgado: SCAG; Bing Luu Caltrans

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, March 8, 2017 together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

Chair Medina called the Committee meeting to order at 10:38 a.m. Roll call was taken. Introductions were made.

II.                 EMERGENCY ITEMS

A.                 There were none.

III.              PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

IV.              CONSENT ITEMS

A motion was made by Wells seconded by Bayon Moore to approve consent items 4A-4B. Motion carried unanimously.

A.                 Approved ICTC Management Committee Minutes for February 8, 2017

B.                  Received and filed:

1.                   ICTC Board Draft Minutes for February 22, 2017

2.                   ICTC TAC Minutes for February 23, 2017

3.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes for February 1, 2017

V.                 REPORTS

A.                 ICTC Executive Director

Ms. Williams had the following updates:

-          The FY 2017-18 Unmet Transit Needs Public Hearing was held on February 9, 2017 at the City Council Chambers in El Centro.  The second meeting is scheduled for March 9, 2017 at 3 p.m. at the City Council Chambers in El Centro.

-          A kick off meeting for the TDA Triennial Performance Audit project was conducted on January 24, 2017 at ICTC offices.  Requests for information have been emailed to member agency staff by the audit consultants. The audit is a state mandated requirement every three years for all TDA funds received in Imperial County.

-          On January 6th, ICTC issued the Request for Proposals (RFP) to complete the “Regional Bus Stop Inventory, Signage Replacement and Technology Assessment” project. The requested services will provide ICTC with a comprehensive bus stop inventory inclusive of an assessment of supporting infrastructure, uniform bus stop signage and recommendations for technology based upgrades pertaining to real time route and schedule service information and kiosk upgrades. The project goal is to have an inventory database and assessment for use by ICTC and its member agencies, and that can be used to acquire and prioritize funding for future infrastructure and facility/equipment improvements. The project budget is established in the FY 2015-16 ICTC Overall Work Plan and Budget.  On February 10, ICTC staff received responses from multiple consultants bidding for the services. The project scoring committee comprised of staff from ICTC, Caltrans, SCAG and the County of Imperial Public Works Department has begun the evaluation, scoring and ranking process for the project.

-          ICTC Staff met with SunLine Transit Agency management on February 10, 2017. We will be pursuing available grant opportunities together and perform Westshores community outreach to promote our current service and gather input about future service needs. On Saturday, March 4th from 6:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., ICTC and IVT RIDE staff, in coordination with Sunline Transit Agency staff from the Palms Springs area, held a transit service outreach at the weekly West Shores Swap meet.  We gathered 33 surveys and reached around 100 people. Data collected is being reviewed at this time.

-          In recent years ICTC began the transition of acquiring and taking ownership of the majority of the Imperial Valley Transit Vehicle Bus Fleet. The expansion of the vehicle fleet has impacted the available space for storage and operations, and has created a need for additional capacity and facility needs. ICTC is pursuing the opportunity to acquire the existing (soon to be vacated) Caltrans Maintenance Yard located at 1605 Adams Avenue in the City of El Centro. ICTC Staff have circulated a Request for Proposals (RFP) to complete a comprehensive evaluation of the Adams Avenue facility. ICTC and Caltrans Staff are working towards establishing a temporary lease agreement for the facility while the evaluation process is completed. Anticipated costs for the facility evaluation and proposed facility lease have yet to be established.

Ms. Mendoza had the following updates:

-          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.  Some states have been approved, FHWA expects for California to be approved by April 1, 2017.  For Imperial County this is an opportunity to preserve over $6 million.

-          Ms. Mendoza highlighted FY 2016-2017 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ), Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP), and Active Transportation Program (ATP) projects that are pending request for authorization (RFA) by agency. For ease of receiving approvals, the local agency RFA’s should be submitted to Caltrans Local Assistance in March/April 2017.

Mr. Baza had the following updates:

-          ICTC has initiated discussions with management and staff with Customs and Border Protections (CBP) Border Patrol regarding the potential to add a second inspection lane at the SR-86 checkpoint.  Coordination efforts have been continuous with Border Patrol, Caltrans and the region to determine feasibility, costs and funding of required improvements within Caltrans right-of-way. A meeting was held on July 20th with all of the above stakeholders.  Following the meeting input, Border Patrol drafted concept alternatives to meet short-term and mid-term needs. A second meeting was held on October 24, 2016, concept alternatives were reviewed. Discussion determined the need to develop a streamlined feasible option for possible funding from the Measure D Regional Highway Set-aside fund.  The follow-up meeting was held on December 20, 2016.  All parties agreed to a concept that has potential to be cost-effective.  Caltrans Traffic Operations has completed a draft concept that would include four canopied inspection lanes (allowing two inspection lanes for vehicles and two inspection lanes for trucks) and improved secondary inspection, impound and employee parking areas.  The concept has been emailed to USCBP to expedite review and then cost estimates will be estimated by Caltrans. The next meeting is scheduled for March 14, 2017.

-          The next IMBA meeting is scheduled for March 17, 2017 at Imperial Palms Resort.  The meeting will be included as part of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation’s Annual Renewal Energy Summit. 

-          Mr. Baza thanked all for letters of support for the funding for Phase II of the Calexico West Port of Entry Project.

-          Assemblyman Jim Frazier introduced a new bill and funding package for $6 billion to repair maintain our state and local roads, improve our trade corridors, and support public transit and active transportation. See attached summary and supporting documentation as prepared by the Self Help Counties Coalition (SHCC).  Additionally, an urgent provision permanently extends the existing National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) delegation to Caltrans – this is very critical to our federal-aid funded projects as Caltrans currently assist us in streamlining the review and approval of our local projects, such as projects with CMAQ, RSTP, HSIP, federal earmark funds, etc.  Staff is still hopeful this will be approved soon.

-          A complete list of ICTC updates can be found on Page 19 of the agenda.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

                        Mr. Salgado had the following announcements:

-          SCAG Scholarship Program is designed to offer local government and planning experience that students can use to develop long-term career goals. The scholarship will provide a $4,000 scholarship award for seven high school or community college students from the SCAG region (and potentially an additional eighth scholarship award that is not tied to a specific county, but would be awarded at the Committee’s discretion) and a two-week internship with a local planning agency, council of governments or SCAG. Recipients will also have an opportunity to meet with their local government representatives and practicing planners to discuss the importance of urban planning and a future career in public service. Further information and the application are available on the SCAG website. Applications are due Friday April 21, 2017.

-          The California Air Resources Board (ARB) will be holding a series of workshops throughout the State on Senate Bill 375 (SB 375) greenhouse gas emission target setting updates. The SCAG-area workshop will be held on Tuesday, March 7 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the SCAG downtown Los Angeles office. Videoconferencing will be available at our SCAG regional offices in Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.

-          SCAG will be holding a public hearing for a second amendment to the RTP-SCS. The public hearing will take place Tuesday April 25, 2017 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. The meeting will be held in the Los Angeles SCAG office and will be available in the regional offices, too including Imperial County.

-          Please save the date of May 4-5, 2017.  SCAG will be having the 2017 General Assembly at the J.W. Marriot Desert Springs Resort and Spa in Palm Desert, CA.

-          SCAG will be developing a sustainability database to use as a tool that will pull projects and relative data into one spot as it relates to sustainable projects. It was requested that agency public works and finance staff participate in the survey.

-          2017 Draft Local Profiles were sent to all planning directors and stakeholders for review on March 3, 2017. Please review and provide comments to localprofiles@scag.ca.gov by Friday, March 24, 2017.  

-          A second round of the GoHuman campaign is being developed and will be released at the end of May.

-          A complete list of SCAG updates can be found on Page 28 of the agenda.

C.                  Caltrans Department of Transportation – District 11

                        Mr. Luu had the following updates:

-          The County of Imperial and the Cities of Imperial and El Centro have projects that will soon be flagged for inactivity in submitting a project invoice. Please submit an invoice to the District by May 19, 2017.

-          The California Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) 2017 Call for Projects is now open with proposals being accepted through April 7, 2017. The goal of the FLAP is to improve transportation facilities that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within Federal lands. Specific program requirements and project proposal packet materials can be accessed via the CA FLAP webpage.

-          Below are subsidized classes for Local Agencies:

o   Federal Aid Series

March 13-17, 2017                         San Luis Obispo, CA

June 12-16, 2017                            Los Angeles, CA

Interested participants must request admittance by sending an email to Debora Ledesma-Ribera at debora_ledesma-ribera@dot.ca.gov. Once the priority registration list has been compiled and you have been admitted, you will receive an email from the registrar with instructions on how to register online.

o   Resident Engineers Academy

April 24-27, 2017               San Jose, CA

June 5-8, 2017                    Los Angeles, CA

Due to limited seating, we request no more than 2-3 employees per agency. LTAP may contact you if the class fills up and the agency has multiple staff who signed on-line.   http://www.californialtap.org/index.cfm?pid=1077

-          A complete list of SCAG updates can be found on Page 35 of the agenda.

            D.         Committee Member Reports

-     There were none.

VI.               ACTION CALENDAR

A.                 Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) Application for FY 2016-2017 Funds

Ms. Mendoza stated that ICTC proposes to submit an application for use of Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) funds in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-2017. The LCTOP is one of several programs that are part of the Transit, Affordable Housing, and Sustainable Communities Program established by the California Legislature in 2014 by Senate Bill 862 (SB 862).  The LCTOP was created to provide operating and capital assistance for transit agencies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve mobility, with a priority on serving disadvantaged communities. Approved projects in LCTOP will support the following:

1.       Expenditures that directly enhance or expand bus or rail service, new or expanded water-borne transit, or expanded intermodal transit facilities, and may include equipment acquisition, fueling, and maintenance, and other costs to operate those services or facilities.

2.       Operational expenditures that increase transit mode share.

3.       Expenditures related to the purchase of zero-emission buses, including electric buses, and the installation of the necessary equipment and infrastructure to operate and support these zero-emission buses.

Per the State Controller’s Office, ICTC has an eligible allocation in FY 2016-2017 in the amount of $89,254.  LCTOP guidelines provide an opportunity to request a roll-over of funds in order to accumulate program funds prior to implementation.  In FY 2015-2016, ICTC requested the rollover of $193,483 for the future use of the planned Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC).  It is the intent of ICTC staff to also roll over the FY 2016-2017 funds toward capital costs associated with the planned Calexico ITC.  The Calexico ITC will be a large multi-modal bus transit transfer facility and access point. A site selection study has been completed by ICTC and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding has been obtained through a call for projects to fund the environmental and design phases of the project.  Following the LCTOP guidelines, ICTC staff recommends to submit an application requesting the roll-over of FY 2016-2017 LCTOP funds in the amount of $89,254 to FY 2017-2018 with the intent to use the funds for the Calexico ITC.  The total LCTOP for both FY 2015-2016 and FY 2016-2017 is $282,737.  Implementation of the Calexico ITC is not proposed for FY2016-2017.  The rollover funding will be used as match to possibly leverage other cap and trade funding for the overall construction of the facility.

ICTC staff forwards this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.       Direct staff to submit an application to the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) for FY 2016-2017;

2.       Authorize the ICTC Chairperson to sign the attached resolution;

3.       Authorization for the Execution of the LCTOP Project: Capital construction costs for the Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC).

A motion was made by Bayon Moore seconded by Piedra, Motion carried unanimously.

VII.            INFORMATION CALENDAR

A.                 Detailed Briefing of Upcoming California Transportation Commission (CTC) Town Hall Meeting

Mr. Baza requested that agencies save the date of April 12, 2017 for a California Transportation Commission (CTC) Town Hall Meeting in the City of Calexico’s Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center that will take place on the same day as Management Committee. The CTC wants to hear about our region. Mr. Baza has requested that the City of El Centro present regarding recent ATP projects.

The following day, April 13th ICTC will host a tour of the Calexico East Port of Entry and CHP truck inspection facility for CTC Commissioners, CTC staff and Caltrans.

VIII.         NEXT MEETING DATE AND PLACE

The next meeting of the Management Committee will be held on April 12, 2017 at the City of Calexico, Calexico, CA at 10 a.m.

IX.               ADJOURNMENT

A.                 Meeting adjourned at 11:25 a.m.