IMPERIAL COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION

MINUTES FOR March 27, 2024

6:00 p.m.

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VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                                City of Brawley                                       George Nava

                                                                City of Calipatria                                    Maria Nava-Froelich

                                                                City of Calexico                                      Absent

                                                                City of El Centro                                    Martha Cardenas-Singh

                                                                City of Imperial                                      Robert Amparano

                                                                City of Holtville                                       Mike Goodsell                

                                                                City of Westmorland                           Ana Beltran                                   

                                                                County of Imperial                                Luis Plancarte               

                                                                County of Imperial                                John Hawk

                                                                Imperial Irrigation District                 Karin Eugenio

STAFF PRESENT:               David Aguirre, Cristi Lerma, Katie Luna, Gustavo Gomez, Priscilla Baca, Angela Delgadillo

OTHERS PRESENT:            Eric Havens: Counsel; Mario Orso, John Garcia, Karen Islas, Caridad Sanchez, Brooke Filak; Caltrans David Salgado: SCAG, Coley Delaney, David Preciado: The Pun Group, Cedric Ceseña; El Centro,

PUBLIC:                                Yvette Metcay, Fredrik Beltran

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, March 27, 2024, together with staff reports and related documents attached thereto and incorporated therein by reference.

I.                    CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 

Chair Plancarte called the Commission meeting to order at 6:44 p.m. Roll call was taken, and a quorum was present.

II.                   EMERGENCY ITEMS

                There were none.

III.                PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

IV.                PUBLIC HEARING

                A.            Public Hearing for elimination of the Free Fares Program and reimplementation of existing fares for Imperial Valley Transit (IVT), IVT Access, IVT MedTrans and IVT Ride – FY24-25

1.            Conducted the public hearing for the consideration of elimination of the Free Fares Program and the reimplementation of existing fares for IVT, IVT Access, IVT Ride and IVT MedTrans at 6:00 PM on March 27, 2024.

                                                a.            Opened public hearing and received testimony

·         Lisa Bracamontes made a public comment via email. She commented that she is an everyday user of IVT Ride, IVT Access, and Brawley Fast. She is concerned about the fares of the buses being reinstated again since the economy is very expensive now. She urges the commission to wait until the economy settles down to reinstate the fares.

                                b.            Closed public hearing

2.            The Commission provided staff with direction as to the elimination of the Free Fares Program and re-implementation of the existing fares effective July 1, 2024.

A motion was made by Nava and seconded by Nava-Froelich to approve the public hearing as presented, roll call:                       

                Motion Carried.

V.                  CONSENT CALENDAR

A.            ICTC Commission Minutes:                                           February 28, 2024

                B.            Received and filed:

1.                   ICTC Management Committee Minutes: February 14, 2024

2.                   ICTC TAC Minutes:                                           February 22, 2024

3.                   ICTC SSTAC Minutes:                                      February 07, 2024

C.         2023 Call for Projects – Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) FFY 2023/24 to FFY 2025/26 Resolution Adoption Supporting Imperial County Region Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Feasibility Study

                ICTC staff forwarded this item to the Commission for their review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.            Authorized the Chairman to sign the resolution certifying that ICTC will be supporting project delivery schedules and timely use of funds of the Carbon Reduction Program funding for transportation projects.

D.            Transit Operator Reports Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2022-23 for Imperial Valley Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride and IVT MedTrans

                The ICTC Management Committee met on March 13, 2024, and forwarded the following recommendations to the Commission for their review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.            Received and filed the Specific Transit Operator Fiscal Reports FY 2022-23; Imperial Valley Transit, IVT Access, IVT Ride and IVT MedTrans

A motion was made by Amparano and seconded by Cardenas-Singh to approve the consent calendar as presented, roll call:         

                                Motion Carried.

VI.                ACTION CALENDAR

A.                  Imperial County Transportation Commission Fiscal Audit for FY 2022-23

A brief presentation was given by Coley Delaney from the Pun Group about the Audit findings for FY 2022-23.

The ICTC Management Committee met on March 13, 2024, and forwarded the following recommendations to the Commission for their review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.                   Received and filed the fiscal audit for the Imperial County Transportation Commission, for FY 2022-23.

2.                   Directed staff to transmit the fiscal audit to the State Controller’s Office.

A motion was made by Goodsell and seconded by Beltran to approve the Action A as presented, roll call:

                                Motion Carried.

B.                  Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project – Contract Change Order No 10

The ICTC Management Committee met on March 13, 2024, and forwarded the following recommendations to the Commission for their review and approval after public comment, if any:

1.                   Approved Change Order No. 10 to Hazard Construction Company for the Calexico East Port of Entry Bridge Widening Project in the amount of $34,521.82 modifying the total contract value to $20,900,448.33.

2.                   Authorized the Executive Director to sign Change Order No. 10.

A motion was made by Nava and seconded by Nava-Froelich to approve the Action B as presented, roll call:               

                                Motion Carried.

VII.              REPORTS

A.                  ICTC Executive Director

-          Mr. Aguirre introduced Priscilla Baca, newly hired Regional Mobility Coordinator.

-          ICTC recently received an award of 4.1 million dollars from the Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending. This funding will be utilized towards the Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center Project. The project has already received awards from the RAISE, ATP and REAP 2.0 programs. ICTC would like to congratulate the cities of Imperial and El Centro, the County of Imperial, and the Imperial Irrigation District on their awards.

-          Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG), Carbon Reduction Program (CRP), and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) 2024 Call for Projects – FFY 2023-2024 to FFY 2025/2026: The list of projects was approved by the commission in February. The next step will be to submit our project list to SCAG for consideration of approval.

-          Imperial Valley Transit and Associated Services Operations and Maintenance Request for Proposals: ICTC’s existing agreement with its current operator (Transdev) is concluding on June 30, 2024. As required by federal law, ICTC has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to qualified transit operations and maintenance operators. The RFP was issued on February 16th, 2024. ICTC’s goal is to complete the procurement process and award a contract to a qualified firm by the end of the fiscal year. The proposed new agreement will be for a 5-year fixed period with two additional single-year options. More information to come.

-          The construction management RFP for the Calexico Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC) project has been released and is available for bidding by qualified engineering firms.

-          ICTC released the Request for Proposals for design services for the Bus Stop Improvement Project. ICTC is looking to begin design services soon and have construction take place within FY23-24/FY24-25

-          Staff are currently working on the development of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Transit Comprehensive Operational Analysis, and it is anticipated that the RFP will be released in the coming months.

-          The updated Forrester Road Project Study Report (PSR) was recently received, and staff will be reviewing the updated document.

-          Border Patrol, Caltrans and ICTC are having weekly meetings toward completing design plans and obtaining Caltrans Permits and Environmental Clearance for the State Route 86 (Northbound) Border Patrol Checkpoint Expansion. The improvement plans have been prepared in final draft form and have been submitted to Caltrans for review.

-          All other updates are on the Executive Director report on page 173 of the agenda.

B.                  Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

-          Regional Early Action Planning Grant Program 2021 (REAP 2.0) Advocacy Update: Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget announced on Jan. 16 includes $300 million in cuts to the Regional Early Action Planning Program of 2021 (REAP 2.0) that will result in approximately $123 million in cuts from SCAG’s $246 million REAP 2.0 program.

-          SCAG Joint Policy Committee Recommends Connect SoCal 2024 for Approval.

-          SCAG 2024 SAVE THE DATE! 2024 REGIONAL CONFERENCE & GENERAL ASSEMBLY: SCAG will host the 59th annual Regional Conference & General Assembly on May 2-3, 2024, at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa in Palm Desert.

-          SCAG 2024 General Assembly Delegate and Alternate Selection: SCAG sends an email to all cities asking for respective councils to take action to appoint a specific General Assembly Delegate and an Alternate. Elected Officials and City Managers are comped on registrations.

-          All other updates are on the SCAG report on page 180 of the agenda.

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

-          Mr. Orso introduced new members of the Caltrans team that will be working in Imperial County: John Garcia, Karen Islas, and Brooke Filak.

-          SR-98 Widening Project: Completion of Stage 4 is estimated for Spring 2024.

-          Clean California Projects: Construction on various Clean CA bus shelter projects have been completed. The Brawley bus shelter (SR86) is in progress.

-          Stage 3 is underway with completion estimated in January 2024. Completion of Stage 4 is estimated for Spring 2024.

-          All other updates are on the Caltrans report on page 186 of the agenda.

D.                  Commission Member Reports

-          Updates were provided by various commissioners.

VIII.            The next meeting will be on April 24, 2024, 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.

IX.                ADJOURNMENT

A.                  Meeting Adjourned at 7:44 p.m.