MINUTES FOR

January 25, 2023

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:

                                                                City of Brawley                            George Nava

                                                City of Calipatria                         Maria Nava-Froelich

                                                City of Calexico                           Raul Ureña

                                                City of El Centro                          Martha Singh

                                                City of Imperial                            Robert Amparano  

                                                City of Holtville                           Mike Goodsell         

                                                City of Westmorland                    Ana Beltran

                                                County of Imperial                       John Hawk

                                                County of Imperial                       Luis Plancarte

STAFF PRESENT:           David Aguirre, Cristi Lerma, Michelle Bastidas, Virginia Mendoza, Gustavo Gomez, Esperanza Avila, Angela Delgadillo, Eric Havens (Counsel)

OTHERS PRESENT:       David Salgado: SCAG, Esperanza Colio-Warren; City of Calexico

PUBLIC PRESENT:         Tim Jones, Javier Gonzalez, Jesus Serrano, Gil Rebollar, Dillan Castillo

1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The meeting was called to order by Chair Goodsell at 7:47 p.m. and roll call was taken.

1. ACTION CALENDAR

1. Adopt resolution authorizing remote teleconference meetings in accordance with Assembly Bill 361

1. Approved the resolution of the Imperial County Transportation Commission authorizing remote meetings in accordance with the provisions of the State Assembly Bill (AB) 361.
2. Authorized the Chairperson to sign the resolution.

A motion was made by Nava-Froelich and seconded by Plancarte, roll call:

                        Motion Carried.

1. EMERGENCY ITEMS

There were none.

1. PUBLIC COMMENTS

• Tim Jones, member of the LTA Oversight Committee, provided some comments that he would like the board to evaluate: Training to all agencies about LTA processes; uniformity of reports requested by the LTA for all agencies; major accomplishments of LTA projects should be provided to the public; a list of completed projects (annually) to LTA; and coordination between the cities of Imperial and El Centro.
• Raul Ureña, resident from the City of Calexico, provided some comments regarding action item #6a. He stated that it is very difficult for residents and businesses from the City of Calexico during peak hours. He provided various examples on the difficulty of the traffic issue in the City of Calexico.
• Javier Gonzalez, IID Board Director, provided some comments regarding action item #6. He stated that the traffic issue is not only City of Calexico’s problem; it is a county issue.
• Jesus Serrano, representing the City of Calexico police department, provided some comments regarding action item #6a. He provided information regarding the amount of border crossings. He also mentioned two major projects that were going on in the City of Calexico: Highway 98 and the new port of entry construction. Highway 98 has been ongoing for almost two years and has impacted traffic, as well as the construction of the new port of entry. A project mentioned by Mr. Serrano is the Second street bridge. He stated that the City of Calexico needs funding to fix that bridge to allow traffic to flow through there as well.
• Gil Rebollar, City Councilmember for the City of Brawley, provided some comments regarding action item #6a. He provided some comments regarding the incidents that occurred with some traffic controllers in the City of Calexico. He mentioned due to some issues with the healthcare system it might be difficult for them to transport patients in ambulance with traffic. He recommends and encourages the board to approve this action item for the sake of public safety.
• Dillan Castillo, planning commissioner from the City of Calexico and a member of the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, provided some comments regarding action item #6a. He read a response from their community executive organizer, Daniela Flores. They ask the commissioners to stand in solidarity with the residents of Calexico and pass the proposed allocation to support the traffic control that the City of Calexico facilitates to and from Mexico. He stated that there were numerous instances that traffic controllers have been hit by drivers. Without funding, the City of Calexico is afraid that these incidents will continue to happen.

1. CONSENT CALENDAR

2022. Approved minutes for October 26, 2022. A motion was made by Plancarte and seconded by             Nava-Froelich as presented, roll call:

                        Motion Carried.

1. ACTION CALENDAR

1. Additional Fund Request to the Local Transportation Authority (LTA) – Traffic Control Assistance for Southbound Peak Traffic on State Route 111-Imperial Avenue, Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Second Street to the Downtown Calexico West Port of Entry

The Management Committee met on January 11, 2023, and forwarded the following recommendation(s) to the Authority for review and approval after public comment, if any:

1. Approve the allocation to the City of Calexico for additional funding needed in the amount of $250,000 for one year from the Measure D 5% Highway set-aside allocations for FY 2023-24.
2. Authorize the Chairman to sign a one-year extension for FY 2023-24 to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Calexico and the Imperial County Local Transportation Authority.

After several comments from both the board and the public, a motion was made to table this item and bring it back to the next meeting by Nava-Froelich and seconded by Ureña and include additional information regarding the city’s traffic plan. Roll call:

           Motion Carried.

1. ADJOURMENT

1. Meeting Adjourned at 8:58 p.m.