Minutes | Regular Meeting
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
January 28, 2016
Present:
Yazmin Arellano City of Brawley
Lily Falomir City of Calexico
Terry Hagen City of El Centro
Abraham Campos City of El Centro
John Gentry City of Imperial
Jesus Villegas City of Imperial
Joel Hamby City of Westmorland
William Brunet County of Imperial
Others:
Mark Baza ICTC
Virginia Mendoza ICTC
Cristi Lerma ICTC
Luis Medina Caltrans
Carlos Flores The Holt Group
1. The meeting was called to order by Chair Brunet at 10:11 a.m. A quorum was present and introductions were made. There were no public comments.
2. A motion was made to adopt the minutes for November 19, 2015. (Hamby/Hagen) Motion Carried.
3. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair positions
A motion was made by Arellano and seconded by Hagen to nominate the City of Imperial to be the Chair of the TAC for 2016, Motion Carried.
Mr. John Gentry (Imperial) took over as the Chair of the meeting at this point.
A motion was made by Gentry and seconded by Hagen to nominate the City of Brawley as the Vice-Chair of the TAC for 2016, Motion Carried.
4. Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) resolution for Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2016/17 – 2021/2022 Federal Transportation Improvement Program (FTIP)
ICTC Staff forwarded this item to the Technical Advisory Committee for their discussion and recommendation to submit to the ICTC Management Committee and Commission after public comments, if any:
1. Authorize the Chairman to sign the resolution that certifies funding has been identified for the projects in the FFY 2016/17-2021/22 FTIP and affirms our commitment to implement all projects in the program.
Ms. Mendoza stated that this item will be on the Management Committee and Commission agendas in February and that an update on the language of the new transportation bill will be made before then.
A motion was made by Brunet (with suggested changes made) and seconded by Hamby, Motion Carried.
5. ICTC Updates / Announcements
Ø Transit Planning Updates (by Virginia Mendoza):
- The Safe Routes to School Master Plan draft was released in December 2015. The consultant will use the feedback and develop a final report by end of February or early March.
- The Unmet Transit Needs (UTN) Hearing is scheduled for February 11, 2016 at 3:30 p.m. at the City of Brawley Council Chambers. Transportation from the transfer terminal on 7th and State Streets in El Centro will be available for free to the UTN Hearing.
Ø Transportation Planning Updates (By Mark Baza and Virginia Mendoza):
- The CTC-adopted the 2016 STIP Fund Estimate and it provides no new STIP funds due primarily to the decrease in the price-based State gas excise tax. Because there is only about $46 million in new funding for the entire State, the CTC adopted $0 STIP County Share targets for the 2016 STIP. Furthermore, the CTC has clearly stated they will be forced to delay some of the existing projects programmed in the STIP to later years because cash flow is not sufficient to fund projects currently programmed in FYs 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
- The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Commission for 2016 will be James Predmore (Holtville) and Doug Cox (Imperial), respectively.
- There was an emergency item presented at the Commission meeting for the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP) for FY 2015-16. ICTC proposes to submit an application. The application was due on February 1, 2016. Mr. Baza stated that the LCTOP funds will be used to operate the Garnet Line in the City of Calexico. The Red Line in the City of Imperial was also considered, however after the program guidelines are that the funds are used in disadvantaged communities. ICTC will need $350,000 annually to fund this service
- ICTC is partnering with Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA), Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVQMD), and the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District (ICAPCD) to submit a grant under the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Pilot Commercial Deployment program. The project proposed will deploy a mixture of 23 zero emission battery electric buses. ICTC will acquire 6 of the 23 vehicles for a cost of $2,700,000. The vehicles will operate in the cities of Brawley and El Centro on the established circulator routes. The project requires a 25% matching amount which totals $675,000. ICTC is partnering with the ICAPCD, which has agreed to match ICTC’s cash match amount of $337,500, covering the required 25% match dollar amount. The grant is competitive and is expected to be awarded in the April/ May 2016 time frame with potential implementation Fall 2017.
- A handout for the FY 15-16 CMAQ and RSTP projects were given to all agencies and encouraged to submit their RFA’s. The only agency without a project in the City of Calexico. Mr. Baza stated that the sooner you submit the RFA’s to Caltrans, the sooner they will get approved.
Ø LTA Updates:
- Mr. Brunet submitted a request to the LTA Board the evening before, and it was not approved. His request was funds from the regional highway set-aside for the extension of the existing concrete island at the intersection of Austin Road and Brewer Road in Imperial County. Various individual from the board and public did not feel that the suggested short term improvements were suitable.
- Ms. Mendoza gave a presentation regarding the Bond and provided an update of the bonds funds spent to date. A summary of the presentation is below.
· Total bond dated May 1, 2012 is for $53,975,000
· The participating agencies are the City of Brawley ($8,155,00); City of Calexico ($15,410,000); City of Calipatria ($2,305,000); City of Imperial ($6,170,000); County of Imperial ($21,935,000).
· Requested in FY 2013-14 was $7,395,998.24
· Requested in FY 2014-15was $7,377,516.08
· Requested in FY 2015-16 (thus far) is $16,526,005.22
· Remaining funds are $22.6 million (remaining funds include reserve fund amounts that will not be available to participating agencies until the completion of the LTA bond. The 20th payment will be made by the reserve amounts.) The remaining funds breakdown for each agency is below.
o Brawley: $4,586,736.66
o Calexico: $6,555,431.32
o Calipatria: $0
o Imperial: $541,055.99
o County; $6,960,575.12
6. Cities and County Planning / Public Works Updates:
- Mr. Hagen stated that the new ½ cent measure that was brought up to this group in November was discussed at the CCMA meeting. There was a consensus that the group has an interest in a regional animal control solution and would like to invest their time to that.
- Mr. Campos stated that a water training is taking place next week (week of Feb. 1st). Please contact Mr. Campos for more information.
- Each agency provided project updates.
7. SCAG Updates / Announcements: (By Mr. Baza)
- Mr. Arnold San Miguel will be filling in for the Imperial region until the replacement is selected.
- The comment period for the SCAG RTP/SCS 2016/2040 was approved by SCAG Regional Council on December 3, 2015. The comment period will be for 55 days until February 1, 2016. An Elected Officials only workshop was held at the Commission the night before (January).
8. Caltrans Updates / Announcements
Mr. Medina had the following updates:
- Inactive projects that are flagged for inactivity should submit an invoice to the District office by February 19, 2016. A complete list of inactive projects is on the Caltrans website at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocalPrograms/Inactiveprojects.htm.
- The next meeting of the Southern California Local Assistance Management (SCLAMM) will be on March 24, 2016 at District 7.
- Training:
Ø Plan of Action (POA) for Scour Critical Bridges course is available online for free for local agencies. For more information go to:
https://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/training/course_search.aspx?tab=0&key=POA&sf=0&course_no=135085
Ø Appraisal and Acquisition under the Uniform Act training on February 23-25, 2016 in San Bernardino. Registration is on a first come first serve basis. For questions contact Debora Ledesma at 619-278-3766.
Ø Additional on-going training courses and information to assist local agencies to complete their projects can be found at:
o California Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)
http://californialtap.org/index.cfm?pid=1077
o University of California, Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies
o Caltrans Division of Local Assistance Training Webpage
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LocalPrograms/training.html
9. General Discussion / New Business
- Ms. Mendoza stated that a letter was received from the League of California Cities regarding the 2016 Local Streets and Roads Needs Assessment. She stated to please submit the local road information that is pending for the following agencies that have not submitted their local street information:
Ø City of Brawley
Ø City of Calipatria
Ø City of El Centro
Ø City of Holtville
Ø City of Imperial
- The due date to submit is March 18, 2016. Ms. Mendoza stated that she would follow up with an email and attach the letter.
10. Meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m. (Brunet/Arellano) The next TAC meeting will be on February 25, 2016.