IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 14, 2018

10:30 a.m.

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                    City of Brawley                        Rosanna Bayon Moore

                                    City of Calipatria                      Rom Medina

City of Calexico                       David Dale

                                    City of El Centro                     Marcela Piedra

City of Imperial                        Stefan Chatwin

County of Imperial                   Tony Rouhutas

County of Imperial                    Esperanza Colio-Warren

STAFF PRESENT:     Mark Baza, Cristi Lerma, Virginia Mendoza, Marlene Flores

OTHERS PRESENT:  David Salgado: SCAG; Jesus “Chi” Vargas: Caltrans; Liz Zarate: City of El Centro

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, November 14, 2018 together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

Chair Dale called the Committee meeting to order at 10:51 a.m. Roll call was taken. Introductions were made.

II.                 EMERGENCY ITEMS

A.                 There were none.

III.              PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

IV.              CONSENT ITEMS

A motion was made by Medina seconded by Piedra to approve the consent calendar as presented. Motion carried unanimously.

V.                 REPORTS

A.                 ICTC Executive Director

Mr. Baza had the following updates:

-          New employee Marlene Flores, Transportation Planner, was introduced to Management Committee by Mr. Baza.

-          The 2018 Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP) is under review and finalization. A public comment period on the draft document is being scheduled, along with a public workshop to be held on November 28, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at ICTC’s office. It is anticipated that the consultant will present the final draft to the Commission at the December meeting.

-          The State Route 86 (Northbound) Border Patrol Checkpoint project is underway. Currently design in underway by the consultant. A draft of 35% plans were completed and submitted for review on October 12, 2018. Stakeholders will meet on November 14, 2018 at the ICTC Office to review comments received from stakeholders.

-          The Self Help Counties Coalition is advocating on behalf of the SB1 Local Partnership Program to change the matching funds from 50% to 5%.

-          A complete list of ICTC updates can be found on Page 10 of the agenda.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

                        Mr. Salgado had the following updates:

-          The 9th Annual Southern California Economic Summit is on December 6, 2018 at the LA Hotel in Los Angeles. All City Managers and Elected Officials are provided complimentary registrations.

-          Sustainability grant applications are due to SCAG on November 15, 2018.

-          The complete report can be found on Page 19 of the agenda.

C.                  Caltrans Department of Transportation – District 11

                        Mr. Vargas had the following updates:

-          The SR-86/Heber pedestrian in improvements have been completed.

-          A draft of the feasibility study for the All American Bridge / SR-186 should be available the week of November 19, 2018.

-          Caltrans Highway Operations has placed the order for two new speed feedback signs, and is waiting for a delivery date from the manufacturer. A new Traffic Investigative Report (TIR) was generated to update existing school zone signs, pavement markings and to provide two rectangular rapid flashing beacons at the C.N. Perry Avenue pedestrian crossing. It is expected that the installation will be complete in January 2019.

-          The Calexico West POE Expansion (Phase 1) is complete. The POE Expansion requires the City of Calexico to widen and improve Cesar Chavez Boulevard which will serve as future access to the POE. The City of Calexico recently held a groundbreaking ceremony, and construction has begun. It is anticipated that construction on Cesar Chavez Boulevard will be complete in spring 2019. The next portion of the TMP will focus on analyzing the traffic circulation patterns resulting from the traffic shifts, and make recommendations for improvements in the 60-90 day period post opening day conditions. The consultant recently completed a second set of data collection at key intersections for this effort.

-          As of October 10, 2018, the Inactive and Future Inactive list was updated. Action is required by the following agencies: Calexico, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Imperial County, and Westmorland.

-          Federal Fiscal Year 18/19 Requests for Authorization/Obligation are due February 1, 2019.

-          A full report is located on page 26 of the agenda.

D.                 Committee Member Reports

-          There were none.

VI.               ACTION CALENDAR

A.                 2018 Active Transportation Program Regional Guidelines

Ms. Mendoza stated that staff has been working with staff from SCAG in the review of the Active Transportation Program (ATP) guidelines. The ATP is funded from various federal and state funds including the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), State Highway Account, and Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S).

As a part of Senate Bill (SB) 1, the 2018 ATP Cycle 4 Call for Projects at the state level is expected to include about $440M in funding made up of Federal funding and State SB1 and State Highway Account (SHA) funding.  The funding programming years include FY2019/2020, FY2020/2021, FY2021/2022 and FY2022/2023 funding years.

                        Program funding is segregated into three components and is distributed as follows:

·         50% to the state for a statewide competitive program

·         10% to small urban and rural regions with populations of 200,000 or less for the small urban and rural area competitive program

·         40% to Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) in urban areas with populations greater than 200,000 for the larger urbanized area competitive program

In this fourth call for projects of ATP funds, SCAG does not intend to host a separate Call for Projects.  Caltrans will instead forward grant proposals from the SCAG region that were not awarded funding at the statewide selection round for consideration in the Regional Program. Therefore, all project applications must meet the state’s criteria and be submitted to Caltrans first.  To date, six applications have been submitted by member agencies for this current cycle. The following table includes the 2018 Cycle 4 ATP applications for Imperial County.

ICTC is responsible for scoring from within Imperial County for their consistency with plans adopted by local and regional governments within the county.  Assigning a methodology for assigning the ten (10) points needs to be completed by ICTC.  During the programs first funding cycle in 2014, ICTC was required to establish the ten point scoring methodology.  Previously, if a project was determined to be consistent with plans adopted by local and regional governments within the county, ICTC could add up to 10 points.  In 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 ICTC adopted the following scoring methodology: 10 points for projects that have been identified in an adopted local and/or regional plan; zero points for projects that have not been identified in an adopted local and/or regional plan. ICTC staff is recommending the same methodology for cycle four (4) of ATP funding. 

It was requested that the Management Committee forwards this item to the Commission for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.       Approve the following methodology for assigning points to the 2018 Active Transportation Program Regional Guidelines:

a.       10 points for projects that have been identified in an adopted local and/or regional plan; and

b.       Zero points for projects that have not been identified in an adopted local and/or regional plan.

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

VII.            INFORMATION CALENDAR

A.                 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) & Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) 2018 Call for Projects Guidelines

Below is a detailed description of programs, funding availability, and program milestones.

The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program is a federally-funded program that provides funding for transportation projects and programs to help meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.). Funding is available to reduce congestion and improve air quality for areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone, carbon monoxide (CO), or particulate matter (i.e., nonattainment areas), and for areas that were out of compliance but have now met the standards (i.e., maintenance areas). The CMAQ program is designed to create a balanced program of transportation projects that improve air quality and the flow of traffic. Major emphasis is placed on projects that support alternative modes of transportation, reduce PM-10 emissions, and improve the flow of traffic.

The table below summarizes the CMAQ funds anticipated to be available for programming for the three-year period FY 2019/20 - 2021/22.

The Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) Program is a federal funding program authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L. 114-94) signed by the President on December 4, 2015. The FAST Act changed the name of the program from “Surface Transportation Program (STP)” to STBG. The program will provide funds for transportation projects located on federal-aid roads system.

The table below summarizes the STBG funds anticipated to be available for programming for the three-year period FY 2019/20- 2021/22:

ICTC staff is currently working on releasing the 2018 Call for Projects Guidelines for both STBG and CMAQ Programs. Program Guidelines highlight eligible and ineligible project types as well as an overview of each program and submittal instructions. Funding availability is projected for FY2019/2020 thru FY2021/2022.  The Call for Projects is open to all cities and the County of Imperial.  Below is the proposed Call for Projects implementation schedule for both CMAQ and STBG.

Call for Projects Schedule:

VIII.         NEXT MEETING DATE AND PLACE

The next meeting of the Management Committee will be held on December 12, 2018 at the City of Calipatria, Calipatria, CA.

IX.               ADJOURNMENT

A.                 Meeting adjourned at 11:22 p.m.