IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR JUNE 25, 2025

6:00 p.m.

__________________________________________________________________­­­­___________________           

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                                City of Brawley                                       Gil Rebollar

                                                                City of Calipatria                                    Javier Amezcua

                                                                City of Calexico                                      Lisa Tylanda

                                                                City of El Centro                                    Sonia Carter

                                                                City of Imperial                                      Robert Amparano

                                                                City of Holtville                                       Absent         

                                                                City of Westmorland                           Ana Beltran (Zoom)                                

                                                                County of Imperial                                John Hawk  

                                                                County of Imperial                                Absent

                                                                Imperial Irrigation District                 Karin Eugenio

STAFF PRESENT:               David Aguirre, Cristi Lerma, Esperanza Avila, Gustavo Gomez, Michelle Bastidas

OTHERS PRESENT:            Eric Havens: ICTC Counsel; Ann Fox, Melina Pereira, John Garcia: Caltrans

PUBLIC:                                None.

The following action minutes are listed as they were acted upon by the Imperial County Transportation Commission and as listed on the agenda for the meeting held Wednesday, June 25, 2025, together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Chair Amparano called the Commission meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

II.                  EMERGENCY ITEMS

                There were none.

III.                PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

IV.               CONSENT CALENDAR

The consent calendar was reviewed and forwarded by the ICTC Management Committee.

A.                 ICTC Commission Minutes:                                                May 28, 2025

B.                 Receive and file:

1.                  ICTC Management Committee Minutes:         May 14, 2025 

2.                  ICTC TAC Minutes:                                               April 26, 2025

3.                  ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                           April 2, 2025

C.            Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2023-24 for Imperial Valley Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride and IVT MedTrans

1.            Received and filed the Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2023-24; IMPERIAL VALLEY TRANSIT, IVT ACCESS, IVT RIDE and IVT MedTrans

D.            FY 2025-26 Tenth Revision to Memorandum of Understanding (MOU); ICTC - Quechan Indian Tribe - Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transit Authority (YCIPTA) for Turquoise Route #10 and Blue Route #5

1.                   Authorized the Chairperson to sign the Tenth Extension to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (YCIPTA), The Imperial County Transportation Commission (ICTC) and the Quechan Indian Tribe for the continued implementation and operation of a regional connector bus service (YCAT Turquoise #10) between Yuma AZ, Winterhaven and El Centro, California; and, a circulator route from Yuma with stops in the eastern Imperial County area (YCAT Blue #5) effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 and provide a not to exceed subsidy to the Quechan Tribe and YCIPTA in an amount of $242,350.02.

A motion was made by Carter and seconded by Tylenda to approve the consent calendar as presented, roll call:              

V.                  REPORTS

A.           ICTC Executive Director

Mr. Aguirre had the following updates:

-          ICTC has been working towards developing a bus stop maintenance program for a few years. Part of the program was to develop a bus stop inventory which noted the GPS locations of the bus stops in addition to a description of the assets (if any) at the bus stop. Under its existing structure, the cities/county (where the bus stops are located) are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the bus stops. In return, ICTC provides each of the cities/county funding to maintain and repair the bus stops. To provide a consolidated maintenance effort, ICTC is working with each of the cities/county to transition the maintenance and replacement of the bus stops to ICTC. ICTC will in turn utilize the funding it currently provides to the cities/county to complete the same effort. ICTC is anticipating beginning the maintenance efforts in July 2025. 

-          The contractor continues with construction activities on the Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center project. Project demolition activities have been completed, and grading efforts are underway. 

-          ICTC is working on redeveloping the service logo for the IVT Ride service, in addition to building the mobile software for anticipated use. The project is proposed to go live in September 2025. ICTC will be completing presentations about the service modifications to key stakeholders and the city councils of the affected communities and will also be conducting a public hearing to finalize the modifications to the service. The public hearing is scheduled to take place prior to the July 2025 commission meeting.

-          ICTC has completed a phase 1 and 2 site assessment for the proposed site of the ICTC/IVT Operations and Maintenance Facility. ICTC has obtained NEPA clearance from the FTA for the acquisition of the project. During the meeting on March 26, 2025, the Commission approved the acquisition of the property pending FTA concurrence. Staff obtained FTA concurrence and as of this week has closed escrow and have acquired the property. Consequently, the next phase of Design and Environmental will begin soon with the development of a Request for Proposals. Additionally, a zone change will need to take place. 

-          The Imperial County region submitted a total of 15 CMAQ & STBG applications from the cities of Calexico, Calipatria, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial and the County of Imperial. The scoring and ranking of projects were completed by members of the ICTC TAC in June 2025 and it is anticipated that a priority list of projects will be submitted to the commission in July 2025. Recommendations are due to SCAG on August 1, 2025. 

-          Staff has issued the RFP for the Imperial County EV Charging Infrastructure Feasibility Study, and the procurement process is anticipated to close on July 7, 2025. ICTC is working towards a July 2025 award. 

-          ICTC is proceeding with allocation of Right of Way Funding with the CTC in June 2025 for the Calexico East Port of Entry Intermodal Transportation Center. ICTC is working on the next steps to have the proposed property appraised and to work towards acquisition.

-          All ICTC Executive Directors’ updates can be found on page 68 

B.                               Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)                                             

-          Updates can be found on the SCAG report on page 76 of the agenda.

C.                               California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)- District 11

                Ms. Fox had the following updates:

-          Please join California’s Transportation Reauthorization Work Group to help us determine priorities in the next bill. Sign up for biweekly updates federal-liaison@dot.ca.gov.  Next webinar is July 8th, 9:00am-11:00am.  

-          Caltrans has been working with their congressional representatives to provide statewide priorities and projects for the upcoming Surface Transportation Reauthorization.  

-          Caltrans participated in the Binational Bridges and Border Crossing Group in Mexico City, Mexico on June 10-11. Sponsored by US DOS and SRE. Caltrans provided updates on SR-11/Otay Mesa East and Calexico West Port of Entry. Mexican Customs (Aduanas) is now in charge of port infrastructure and operation but will use military (SEDENA). 

-          Dina A. El-Tawansy has been selected as our new Caltrans District Director. Her leadership experience spans three Districts and Multiple Divisions. Currently she serves as the Caltrans Bay Area (D4) District Director and will start on her new role on July 7th.  

-          There are several grant opportunities currently available including the Safe Streets and Roads for All, Bridge Investment Program, and FTA Buses and Bus Facilities Program. 

a.       The USDOT website provides a DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard for 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. Directions, deadlines, and links are on page 86 of the agenda.

b.       The FFY 2026 NOFO is now open with the deadlines for (1) large bridge project grant applications due August 1, (2) regular bridge project grant applications due November 1, and (3) planning project grant applications due October 1.

c.       FHWA Safe Streets & Roads for All (SS4A): The FFY 2025 NOFO is now open with applications due June 26. 

-          All other updates can be found on page 79

         D.       Commission Member Reports

-          Updates were provided by various commissioners.

VI.                ACTION CALENDAR

A.                  ICTC Overall Work Program (OWP) and Budget, Fiscal Year 2025/2026

Mr. Aguirre provided a presentation to commissioners and answered any questions.

1.            Adopted the Draft ICTC Overall Work Program (OWP) and Budget for FY 2025/2026.

A motion was made by Rebollar and seconded by Amezcua to approve Action A as presented, roll call:

                               Motion Carried.

VII.              MEETING DATE AND PLACE

A.                  The next meeting will be on July 23, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. at the ICTC Offices, 1503 N. Imperial Ave., Suite 104, El Centro, CA 92243, and via Zoom Meeting for the public.

VIII.       ADJOURNMENT

                A.           Meeting Adjourned at 7:01 p.m.