SOCIAL SERVICES TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COUNCIL

MINUTES                   February 6, 2019

Present             Voting Attendees:

Ted Ceaser                               Consumer Michael Hack – Vice Chair                    Consumer

Kathleen Lang                          California Health & Wellness

Debora Garcia                          Imperial County Public Authority/IHSS

Michelle Soto                           California Children Services CCS

Rosalina Blankenship               Area Agency on Aging/Public Administrator Sonia Silva                                        Access to Independence

Mitzi Perez                               ARC-Imperial Valley

Victor Torres                            Imperial Valley College IVC

Kathi Williams                         CTSA– ICTC

Gustavo Gomez                        CTSA– ICTC

Non-Voting Attendees :

Maricela Galarza                      CTSA– ICTC

David Salgado                          Southern California Association of Governments SCAG

Helio Sanchez                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

Karla Aguilar                           IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

Karla Pacheco                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

Cesar Sanchez                          IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

Jose Guillen                             IVT/IVT Access/IVT Ride/IVT MedTrans

1.       Mr. Ceaser called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. A quorum was present. Introductions were made.

-          Ms. Williams re-introduced Mr. Sanchez as the new General Manager, Mr. Sanchez as the new Operations Manager for IVT services and Mr. Guillen as the new Operations Manager for IVT MedTrans.

2.       Minutes adopted for January 2, 2019 (Blankenship, Lang), Motion Carried.

3.       CTSA Reports:

Mr. Gomez had the following updates:

-          There was a total of 21 passengers signed up during the Senior Appreciation Day event.

-          Ms. Galarza and Ms. Aguilar conducted IVT Ride sign ups at the Valley Convalescent Center in El Centro. There was a total of 17 sign ups conducted.

-          There has been about 4-5 IVT Access interviews per week.

-          Attended a Ride along in the 3E Holtville bus and the Goldline circulator bus for Brawley.

-          Attended a DBE training January 28-31, 2019.

Ms. Williams had the following updates:

-          Mr. Aguirre was not able to attend SSTAC meeting, due to a Fare policy training. ICTC is currently working on an RFP for fare pricing increases or decreases, expecting to hire a consultant for the fare study. This will be done for the 2nd time in many years.

o   Ms. Blankenship asked on the status of the Calexico and Imperial transfer terminals.

➢      Ms. Williams responded that there is no exact information on Imperial Transfer Center status as of now, but the pavement and foundation are

set. It might be in the lighting process.

4.       FY 2019-20 Master Needs list:

-          Ms. Williams opened up discussion on any Master Needs list additions/changes/deletions.

o   Ms. Williams stated that the needs requests do not necessarily have to pertain to their agency, it can be region wide.

o   Ms. Williams stated that ICTC is trying to innovate to more technology, yet there is still a certain population that don’t use or don’t know how to use the new technology. ICTC is trying to maintain a balance.

o   No additions/changes/deletions were made.

5.       UTN Letter to the Hearing Panel (DRAFT):

-          Ms. Williams added that the UTN hearing will be on February 21, 2019 @ 3:00pm, located at El Centro City Hall.

-          SSTAC members are to decide what will be added/deleted/changed, with a motion, to finalize the UTN letter.

o   Mr. Ceaser requested for the passive tone on the key points of the UTN letter be changed.

(Ceaser, Lang) Motion carried.

o   Ms. Blankenship requested for direct examples on item #4 under the, general comments are offered for Fiscal Year 2019-20 be given, such real time location of the Fixed Route and/or weather tolerant equipment, etc..

o   Mr. Torres suggested to replace the Transit Mobility Summit, possibly with another priority item.

o   There was a discussion between SSTAC members whether the Transit Mobility Summit will stay or be taken off the letter, it was concluded that it falls more as a general comment rather than issue or concern.

➢      Ms. Williams stated that the Transit 101 is currently something like it, but eventually ICTC will grow into an actual Transit Mobility

Summit. ICTC has to figure out how/who will organize it and how will it be paid for, since it’s a large expense. A committee will need to be arranged specifically for the Summit coordination. The committee will tentatively have to meet at least 2-3 times, Ms.

Williams opened it up for any volunteers that would be interested to participate in the committee.

➢      Mr. Salgado, Ms. Blankenship, Mr. Torres, and Dr. Lang volunteered to be in the committee.

➢      Mr. Salgado recommended to get other similar transportation agencies to support.

➢      Mr. Torres added that IVC is available for a potential location.

o   Ms. Blankenship requested for item # 4 under the following issues and concerns are identified for consideration in order of priority for Fiscal Year 2018-19, be changed to #5 under the, general comments are offered for Fiscal Year 2019-20 be given. Ms. Blankenship also requested what is now the item

#5 to be reworded and state:

SSTAC supports the coordination of the Transit Mobility Summit.

(Lang, Hack) Motion carried. To all changes.

-          Ms. Galarza will make the changes and coordinate with Mr. Ceaser to sign the finalized UTN hearing letter.

-          Mr. Salgado recommended to inform SSTAC who will be the panel for the UTN Hearing on February 21, 2019.

➢      Ms. Williams stated that the panel expected to be present are: George Nava, City of Brawley

Ryan Kelley, Imperial County Supervisor Robert Amparano, City of Imperial

Luis Plancarte, Imperial County Supervisor Lewis Pacheco, City of Calexico

Larry Ritchie, City of Westmorland James Predmore, City of Holtville

-          Ms. Garcia requested the UTN letter be sent to her via email.

➢      Ms. Galarza stated that she will email it out to all SSTAC members for their convenience.

6.       Transit Operator Reports:

-          Imperial Valley Transit: Mr. Sanchez presented statistics for the 2nd Quarter.

o   There was a decrease of ridership for the IVT services (IVT, Blue, Green, Gold), between October-December, which is normal during the winter time.

-          IVT Access: Ms. Pacheco presented statistics for the 2nd Quarter.

o   Service passenger count was high in October then decreased on the months of November and December 2018, it is assumed because of the holidays, and people are out of town.

o   There was a total of 124 free trips provided

-          IVT Ride: Ms. Aguilar presented statistics for the 2nd Quarter.

o   Service passenger count has similar fluctuations as other services, October has the highest passenger count and decreased throughout November and December.

o   In October, there was total of 82 sign ups, November there was a total of 36 sign ups and in December there was a total of 28 sign ups. For the Quarter there was a total of 146 sign ups.

o   Senior Appreciation Day event was a busy day, sign-ups for the service were conducted. There was a total of 17 sign ups conducted during the event.

-          IVT MedTrans: Mr. Sanchez gave the following updates.

o   The service was slow during the month of December, due to doctors’ canceling appointments for passengers.

o   There was 2 days less of service during the month of December.

o   Operation of service is good.

o   Low to no impact has been seen for new fare increase.

o   Due to cold and icy conditions, there is a constant monitoring for any weather changes and/or Freeway closures.

7.       General Discussion

-          Ms. Blankenship informed SSTAC that Senior Appreciation Day was a huge success and expressed gratitude to ICTC and First Transit staff. There were no complaints on the transportation for that day. The event is outgrowing the facility and apologized to ICTC and First Transit staff that were present at the event because there was a shortage of food, due to the unexpected amount of people at the event. Pizza was provided to seniors or agencies that didn’t get a chance to eat. Next year, AAA will be looking into using 2 buildings at the Expo, with Casa de Mañana still being one of them. Potentially looking into separating the vendors and the reception. Ideas are still being brainstormed. There were approximately 1,000 people at the event this year.

-          Ms. Blankenship stated that people were still calling a day before to request for rides to the event.

o   Mr. Sanchez stated that it was Willard group, and they were taken to the  event. It was a group of 40 passengers. Only 1 was noticed that was not supposed to be there. Mr. Sanchez added that the rosters were so helpful and thanked the AAA staff for preparing them. It helped make transportation run smoothly.

-          Ms. Blankenship announced that the Alzheimer’s event is approaching, it is on February 20, 2019 the Alzheimer’s Community Forum will take place at El Centro Community Center from 6:00pm-8:30pm. Dinner will be provided and the purpose of the event is to educate people on health. Funding opportunities are available for who may be interested in participating.

-          Mr. Hack announced that on March 16, 2019, a meeting will be held at Strikezone, Last year the attendance was about 100 people, expected to have the same outcome this year.

8.       Adjournment

-          Meeting adjourned at 10:53 a.m. (Hack,Torres), Motion Carried.

-          Next meeting will be held on March 6, 2019, at the Imperial County Transportation Commission Office, 1503 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 104, El Centro, CA 92243.