Minutes | Regular Meeting
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES
November 21, 2024
Present:
Ana Gutierrez City of Brawley
Juan Manuel Cabrera City of Brawley
Hector Salcedo City of El Centro
Jesus Villegas City of Imperial
Fernando L. Williams City of Imperial
Veronica Atondo County of Imperial
Adolfo Garcia County of Imperial
Manuel Ortiz IID
Others:
David Aguirre ICTC
Marlene Flores ICTC
Cesar Beltran ICTC
Marco Coronel County of Imperial
Ismael Garcia ICAPCD
Frank Safaie Caltrans
Rob Owen Caltrans
Alejandro Rangel Caltrans
David Salgado SCAG
The meeting was called to order at 10:08 a.m. A quorum was present, and introductions were made. There were no public comments made.
1.
A motion was made to adopt the minutes for October 24, 2024 (Gutierrez/Garcia), Motion Carried.
2.
Caltrans Updates/ Announcements
Presented by Caltrans Staff
Alejandro Lopez introduced Frank Safaie as the new area engineer for the Cities of Brawley, Calexico, El Centro, Holtville and Imperial.
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Renewal!
For every Local Agency, the Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) expires annually and on different dates.
An Agency must reverify on the SAM.gov website 4-6 weeks before a UEI expires. No Requests for
Authorization will be processed if a UEI is flagged as invalid. (If Caltrans cannot verify a UEI, the
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Local Agency might have opted-out of public view; if so, please send Caltrans a snapshot of the UEI from SAM.gov as verification.) The City of Holtville must renew a UEI registration. City staff could check SAM.gov for instructions. Agencies confirming a UEI, please click this UEI Smart Sheet link below, and enter information in the yellow columns –
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=339b738857f44033b2e7d9a95742c38d
November 27, 2024 – Deadline for California Transportation Commission (CTC) Requests
Please see the link below to review the schedule of deadlines and prepare requests for California
Transportation Commission (CTC) approval during the January 30-31, 2025, CTC meeting –
When possible, do not wait to submit requests, Caltrans District 11 must receive all documents at
least two months prior to the desired CTC meeting date.
Wednesday, November 27, 2024, is the final deadline (for January 30-31, 2025, CTC meeting).
For assistance, please call the Caltrans Local Area Engineer, Alejandro Lopez-Rangel: 858-229-1721.
U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Grant Opportunities
The USDOT website provides a DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard, which is a great tool that
your local agency can use to find grant opportunities in various areas such as: Strengthening
Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART), Rural Opportunities to Use
Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
grant programs, just to name a few. In the link provided below, you can filter for your agency
specifics to narrow down grant opportunities. Directions, deadlines, and links to apply are here –
https://www.transportation.gov/grants
Fiscal Year 2025-26 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Call For Applications.
On behalf of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), we are pleased to release the Fiscal Year 2025-26 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Application Guide and Call for Applications. Applications are due by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. The grant awards will be announced next summer 2025.
This year's grant program includes a third cycle of Climate Adaptation Planning grants to award the remaining budget of approximately $3.7 million. These grants will support local and regional identification of transportation-related climate vulnerabilities through the development of climate adaptation plans, as well as project-level adaptation planning to identify adaptation projects and strategies for transportation infrastructure. Through this grant program, we look forward to supporting climate change adaptation efforts and studies statewide.
Implementation of the 2024 Caltrans Construction Contract Standards.
This memorandum establishes the implementation date for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Construction Contract Standards 2024 Edition (2024 Standards). The 2024 Standards include the Standard Specifications, Standard Plans, Standard Special Provisions, and Standard Bid Items. The 2024 Standards must be used on all projects submitted to the Division of Engineering Services-Office Engineer (PPM&OE) on or after October 21, 2024, and on all on-system projects advertised, awarded, and administered by others with complete encroachment permit application package submitted to a Caltrans district on or after October 21, 2024. The 2024 Standards will be updated in April 2025, and as needed for special postings. Refer to the
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Implementation of Integrated Construction Contract Standards memo for details. The 2024 Standards will be published in electronic format only and accessible in the following link:
https://dot.ca.gov/programs/design/ccs-standard-plans-and-standard-specifications
The 2023 Standards will not be supported after October 18, 2024.
3.
SCAG Updates/ Announcements
Presented by SCAG Staff
Additional to the SCAG report, Mr. Salgado talked about Funding opportunities with Deadline on December 13, 2024. Please see the link below for more information:
https://scag.ca.gov/sustainability-program-awards
4.
ICT Updates/ Announcements
Presented by ICTC Staff.
Electronic Fare Payments:
ICTC is currently pursuing the implementation of an electronic fare payment system to its fixed route transit services. The system would allow all of its fixed route buses to take card payments in addition to its existing cash payment system. ICTC is working on securing the grant funds to implement this project. More information to come in the coming months.
Mr. Aguirre stated that the Stuff-a-Bus annual campaign is going on until November 23rd, 2024.
Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC):
A new Intermodal Transportation Center in the City of Calexico has been part of ICTC’s long range transit planning. The new Calexico ITC will serve as a regional mobility hub that will accommodate bus bays for Imperial Valley Transit in addition to private bus companies, taxis and farm labor buses. ICTC previously received a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality federal program fund to complete the environmental and design plans of the new Calexico ITC. The environmental and design phase has been completed. Right of Way Acquisition is underway. ICTC has already acquired 2 of the required 3 properties for the project. The City of Calexico Council approved the commencement of the eminent domain process for two of the required properties. ICTC was recently awarded multiple grants to complete the required construction efforts for the project. ICTC received grant awards from the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) 2.0, Active Transportation Program (ATP) and Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant Programs. Due to the anticipated State budget deficit, REAP 2.0 funding may be impacted.
SCAG is working to ensure that the REAP 2.0 funding is not negatively impacted. ICTC is working with SCAG to identify possible alternative funding sources in the interim.
It is anticipated that the project will start construction in January 2025. The final set of contract documents are being prepared in anticipation of the construction bidding phase. ICTC is also working on integrating CPFCDS funding into its existing FTA RAISE Agreement. The project is scheduled to go out to bid beginning on November 7, 2024.
Bus Stop Improvement Project:
Staff are working on developing a bus stop improvement project across multiple cities throughout the county. The project consists of installing various bus shelters and potentially other amenities. ICTC will be coordinating with the various cities to complete the development. ICTC released the
Request for Proposals for design services for the project. ICTC is looking to begin design services soon and have construction take place within FY23-24/FY24-25. The contract was awarded at the April Commission meeting. ICTC has already participated in a kickoff meeting with the consultant
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and all of the effected agencies. The project design is ongoing and is anticipated to be completed in the next few months. ICTC obtained additional funding to incorporate additional bus stop locations. The new location designs are being incorporated into the overall project design. The 65% percent improvement plans have been completed and will be distributed to participating agencies.
Ms. Flores shared an update about the ATP Cycle 7.
Ms. Flores stated that a total of 7 projects were submitted to the CTC for the Local Partnership Program. Local agencies will be working directly with CTC staff in submitting the projects for programming in the upcoming CTC meetings. The goal is to take the projects to CTC by March of 2025.
Ms. Flores shared information regarding Reap 2.0 Subregional Partnership Program, ICTC was awarded a total of $274, 133 in funding from the Reap 2.0 Subregional Partnership Program to provide technical support to our local agencies with housing planning and to facilitate housing production. ICTC is currently working with SCAG in finalizing the scope of work, MOU, and ICTC is finalizing the potential project selection.
5.
Cities and County Planning / Public Works Updates:
Updates were given by the agencies.
6.
General Discussion / New Business
No new business was discussed.
The next TAC meeting will be on December 19, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., via Zoom for the public and in person at the ICTC offices.
The meeting adjourned at 10:44 a.m.