November 17th, 2021 at 10:00 AM

Minutes | Regular Meeting

TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES

 

November 17, 2021

            Present:          

 

            Guillermo Sillas                         City of Brawley

            Abraham Campos                     City of El Centro

            Adriana Anguis                         City of Holtville

            Veronica Atondo                       County of Imperial

            Jesus Villegas                           City of Imperial

            Lili Falomir                              City of Calexico

            Joel Hamby                              City of Westmorland

            Jeorge Galvan                           City of Calipatria

            Frank Fiorenza                          Imperial Irrigation District

 

           

            Others:

            Mark Baza                                ICTC

            David Aguirre                           ICTC

            Virginia Mendoza                     ICTC   

            Marlene Flores                          ICTC

            Angela Delgadillo                     ICTC

            David Salgado                           SCAG

            Andres Miramontes                   City of El Centro

            Angel Hernandez                      City of El Centro

            Felix DeLeon                            City of El Centro

            Andy Miramontes                       City of El Centro

            Gordon Gaste                           City of Brawley

            Juan Manuel Cabrera                 City of Brawley

            Ana Gutierrez                           City of Brawley

            Marco Coronel                          City of Imperial

            Ryan Fallica                             Caltrans

            Rafael Reyes                            Caltrans

            Ben Guerrero                            Caltrans

            Néstor Cuellar                           Caltrans HQ

       

1.       The meeting was called to order at 10:03 a.m. A quorum was present, and introductions were made.  There were no public comments made.

 

2.       Adopted resolution authorizing remote teleconference meeting in accordance with Assembly Bill 361. ICTC requested a motion to adopt. (Falomir/Atondo). Motion Carried.

 

3.       A motion was made to adopt the minutes for October 28, 2021 (Galvan/Hamby) Motion Carried.

 

4.       Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) Q&A (Presented by: Nestor Cuellar, Caltrans HQ)

-          Nestor Cuellar from Caltrans presented the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA). The CRRSAA Program requires projects be programmed by the Commission via approval of a Project List, prior to obligation of funds. The Program allows for rural and small urbanized areas, with a population less than 200,000, to request State Funds as an exchange.

-          Projects from areas with a population of 200,000 or greater may request State Only Funds on a case-by-case basis. Nestor Cuellar went over the steps that must occur to obtain CRRSAA funds. First, Agencies need to submit a project listing to their District Local Assistance office. The projects must appear on and be approved by the Commission prior to requesting allocation from the Department.

-          Furthermore, projects must appear on the FSTIP; process amendments are required. State Only Funds (SOF) projects do not have to be in the FSTIP.

-          Ben Guerrero from Caltrans provided more information on the CRRSAA funds and the guidelines. Funds can be used for multiple fundings. It can be used to support other fundings. Nestor Cuellar then stated that if the project initially is state funded, then the guidelines must be followed as state. If the project is initially Federal funded, then the guidelines for Federal must be followed.

-          Furthermore, Abraham Campos, from the City of El Centro, questioned if the money was either a reimbursement or a cash distribution. Nestor Cuellar answered that it is reimbursement, federal money that needs CTC approval.

-          Virginia Mendoza, from ICTC, followed up if there was an option to convert to state only funds. Nestor Cuellar answered that it is federal money, however, you can use it for any kind of project to supplement the funding.

-           Mr. Campos asked how to invoice the funds. Mr. Cuellar stated it is the same process. Once received the CTC approval, you will receive a finance and allocation letter. In this case, you would need to be in contact with District 11.

-           Mr. Cuellar added that the last time to get allocation from CTC is September 30, 2023, and the deadline to use the money is September 30, 2024.

-           Abraham Campos raised an option to send all the information to ICTC, then ICTC will forward the checks to each city on its own.  

-          Moreover, Virginia Mendoza followed up by asking the questions that were asked in the last meeting. She asked if the funds can be used for a project that was just completed, will ICTC coordinate the projects that will be utilized and be responsible for the initial approval?  Nestor Cuellar recommended for ICTC to take the lead and coordinate with the agencies to avoid any problems. He also offered to set up any meetings after for more understanding. Mr. Campos stated that the idea can be brought back for another discussion on the following meeting.

-          For more information, please go to: https://dot.ca.gov/programs/local-assistance/fed-and-state-proograms/crrsaa

 

 

 

5.       Caltrans Updates / Announcements (Presented by: Ben Guerrero):

-          September 3, 2021 was the deadline to submit Inactive invoices. Agencies that did not invoice prior to September 30, 2021, must submit a justification on the Inactive Justification Form spreadsheet.

-          Exhibit 9-A This form was updated and needs to resign the agreement.

-          CTC Schedule is updated.  Please review and follow the deadlines.

-          Notify Caltrans with any anticipated submittal date for a forthcoming inactive project invoice. FHWA now requires status updated quarterly.

-          DBE Goal Methodology Mid- Year Adjustments- OCR issued the following temporary guidance to increase the DBE goal for the rest of the current year. When the Exhibit 9-D: Contract Goal Methodology is sent to OCR for review and approval, OCR may modify the reduction factor from 80 percent to 100 percent. This modification will be on a contract by contract, district by district basis. When local agencies set DBE goals for their contracts, they will still use the factor of 80 percent.

-          January 31, 2022- Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 21/22 Requests for Authorization Obligations are due.

-          Obligation Authority funds for redistribution are dwindling faster than in prior years. All RFA details must be transmitted on LAPM Exhibit 3-A and use the newest version from May 2021.

-          November 18, 2021- “Clean California” Local Grant Program Application Workshop (online). Caltrans will administer approximately $296 million as a part of a two-year program to improve and beautify rights-of-way, tribal lands, parks, pathways, and transit centers to restore pride in public spaces. Local, regional, or tribal governments, as well as public transit agencies, are eligible to apply. Nonprofit organizations may be sub-applicants.

-           At-Risk Preliminary Engineering (PE)- local agencies may begin reimbursable Preliminary Engineering (PE) work prior to receiving federal authorization for such work, assuming the project and PE phase are included in a federally approved Federal Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (FSTIP) document or an FSTIP amendment prior to incurring costs.

-          QAP Updates- City of Imperial is about to expire. Please see the updated list provided by Ben Guerrero. Updated QAP packages must be submitted to the Local Area Engineer, Ben Guerrero. Otherwise, no Construction funding authorization requests will be processed.

-          Virtual Training Updates available. Federal Aid Series is coming up as well as other trainings.

-          Subsidized Classes for Local Agencies are available to apply. Both the Federal Aid Series and Resident Engineers Academy courses fill-up quickly.

-          The LPA should use the Floodplain Encroachment Location Hydraulic Study(LHS) Memo-No Significant Encroachment for low risk project types located within the floodplain: https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/local-assistance/documents/env/kelly-hobb-floodplains-clearence-memo-pdf.

 

6.       SCAG Updates / Announcements (Presented by David Salgado):

-          SCAG GO-Human: SCAG was awarded a $1.25 million grant from the California State Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to fund ongoing work around regional active transportation safety. The GO Human programs provides marketing and promotional materials which can be tailored to meet the needs of participating agencies. The Go Human campaign launched in 2015 to reduce collisions, improve safety for people walking and biking and raise awareness of the importance of traffic safety.

-          SCAG Broadband Action Plan at the February 4th SCAG Regional Council (RC) Meeting, the SCAG RC adopted a resolution which directs SCAG staff to develop a “Broadband Action Plan.” The development of an action plan would provide a model resolution and policy paper for local jurisdictions, pursue funding opportunities and partnerships to assist local jurisdictions with broadband implementation, convene a working group, and further support broadband planning and data research. These efforts would also be developed to complement SCAG’s ongoing efforts to support an Inclusive

-          Economic Recovery and efforts supporting Racial Equity and Social Justice.

-          SCAG Regional Data Platform (RDP): The Regional Data Platform will standardize regionally significant datasets, provide opportunities for local partners to update their data in real time, and draw insights from local trends. More specifically, it will be an online tool or SCAG and local jurisdictions to access data necessary for local general plan development trends, housing and economic growth, and sustainability conditions.

-          Housing Element Parcel Tool (HELPR): The HELPR tool is a readily available mapping and data tool available to SCAG member agencies and partners. The tool drills down on parcel specific data and demographics which will support the development of housing plans and general plan updates.

-          Go Human Kit of Parts: David Salgado included a presentation that demonstrates some examples of the pop-up demonstration materials.

 

7.       Cities and County Planning / Public Works Updates:

      -     Local agencies gave an update on their local projects in progress.

 

8.       ICTC Updates / Announcements                                                                                                  Presented by Marlene Flores, David Aguirre, and Virginia Mendoza

a.       Transit Planning Updates

- ICTC is still operating under COVID-19 requirements those which include Free fares for Transit riders including Med Trans. The 90% of the ICTC improvement plans had just finished and were delivered to the City of Calexico.

b.      Transportation Planning Updates

1.       Active Transportation Plan Update- ATP project had their Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting on October 19, 2021. Upcoming events include public workshops during the month of October and November.

-          October 28, 2021, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm – Calexico Halloween Family Night

-          October 30, 2021, from 4:00pm – 7:00pm – Heber Fall Festival

-          November 6, 2021, from 10:00am – 2:00pm – Brawley Chili Cookoff

-          November 6, 2021, from 10:00am – 2:00pm – Holtville Veterans Parade

 

2.       FY 2020-21 Programmed Project Obligation Updates

- Federal and State project list was presented. The list is a list of projects that reflects projects that have funding in FFY 21/22.

             

9.       General Discussion / New Business

No New Business was discussed during the meeting.

 

Next TAC meeting will be December 16, 2021, via Zoom

 

10.   Meeting adjourned at 11:47 a.m.