Governing Board - Regular Meeting

All right, good afternoon, everybody is now 2.30. We will call to order the workshop of the Merced County Association of Governments. And Lucy, would you call the roll?

Director Kahle?

Here.

Director Reed?

Here.

Director Ford?

Here.

Director Samra? Director Amabile?

Here.

Director Serrato? Director Pacheco?

Here.

Director Pedrozo. Director McDaniel. Director Pereira.

Here.

Director Chavarro.

Present.

And we have a quorum.

All right, thank you. We'll move on to public comment. This is, public comment is available in advance of or during the meeting. See instructions for public comment on page two of the agenda packet. Would any members of the public like to address this body? not seeing anyone, we're gonna move right on into item number three is our housing and homeless workshop. And if I may invite up the director of the Health and Human Services Agency for Merced County, John Checkley.

good afternoon everyone john checkley director of merced county human service agency it's a pleasure to be here for the annual update and uh appreciate your your interest in this subject it's obviously one that has a broad implications across the counties and the jurisdictions that make up those counties and it's always a it's always my honor to actually represent not only merced county but also our role as the continuum of care and collaborative athletes something our board of supervisors took on and actually staffed well PARTICIPATES IN AS BOARD MEMBERS ON THE CONTINUUM OF CARE BOARD WHICH IS REALLY A HUD-DESIGNATED FEDERAL BODY THAT'S DESIGNED TO BE THE PRIMARY POINT OF CONTACT FOR HELPING TO MANAGE HOMELESSNESS. I KNOW WE HAD A FAIRLY LOFTY GOAL IN A 10-YEAR PLAN OF ENDING HOMELESSNESS. I THINK AT THIS POINT THE REALITY IS REALLY SET IN ESPECIALLY HERE IN CALIFORNIA HOW CAN WE BETTER DIRECT RESOURCES AND AND REALLY MANAGE THE NEEDS NOT ONLY OF OUR HOUSE COMMUNITY MEMBERS BUT OUR UNHOUSED COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT IMPACT US ALL SO IT'S JUST A IT'S A PLEASURE TO TO HAVE THAT RESPONSIBILITY UM AND THAT OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING I REALLY ENJOY GETTING TO WORK WITH OTHER JURISDICTIONS AND AND WE'LL SEE SOME OF THE UH SOME OF THAT WORK HERE UH ON THE NEXT COUPLE SLIDES SO FOR ANNUAL FOR ANNUAL REPORTS, WE'RE FOCUSING ON AND OPEN TO RECOMMENDATIONS. WE DO AN ANNUAL POINT IN TIME COUNT. THAT'S ONE DAY IN JANUARY THAT'S VERY CONSISTENT ON HOW WE COUNT PEOPLE WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. TYPICALLY IT'S BETWEEN 6 A.M. AND 8 A.M. WE HAVE OVER 100 VOLUNTEERS SO IT'S WELL RESOURCED IN THE COMMUNITY BY VOLUNTEERS. A LOT OF THEM COUNTY WORKERS BUT NOT ALL. OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IS INVOLVED IN THIS AS WELL AND THERE'S A LOT OF PREWORK THAT GOES INTO TRAINING AS WELL AS TRYING TO IDENTIFY SITES SO WE CAN MAKE THIS AS ACCURATE A COUNT AS POSSIBLE. THIS YEAR, SO LAST YEAR WE HAD A LITTLE OVER 12% DECREASE. And our consultant called us and said, congratulations. And I said that we're not celebrating it here in Merced County. One year does not make a trend. I said, Joe, let's give us three years and I'll buy you a steak dinner. And unfortunately, we didn't get that. And I can speak for myself, it's disappointing, right? Because we do have a lot of resources. And this seems to be one of those intractable challenges that it's hard to get a hold of. BUT WITH THAT BEING SAID, WE WANT TO FOCUS ON SOME OF THE POSITIVES THAT WE FIND IN THIS. A POINT IN TIME COUNT IS JUST THAT. IT'S JUST A REPORT. IT'S JUST DATA. IT'S NOT REALLY ANALYSIS. BUT THE STRATEGY THAT WE'VE USED HAS BEEN REALLY CONSISTENT FOR REALLY SINCE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS DIRECTED US TO TAKE ON THE ROLE OF COLLABORATIVE APPLICANT AND ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITY. AND WE'VE SEEN THAT WITH EXPANDED STREET OUTREACH, EXPANDED EMERGENCY SHELTER, AND THEN THE LAST PHASE OF OUR APPROACH HERE IS REALLY HOW DO WE BUILD UP AFFORDABLE HOUSING CAPACITY WHICH IS REALLY THE ONLY SOLUTION FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS IS WE GOT TO GET THEM IN A HOUSE, RIGHT? YOU CAN MOVE PEOPLE FROM THE UNSHELTERED COLUMNS TO THE SHELTERED COLUMN, AND I WANT TO TALK JUST ABOUT NUMBERS BECAUSE THESE ARE, YOU KNOW, RESIDENTS OF MERCED COUNTY, BUT STILL THAT'S THE REALITY. UNTIL WE CAN FINALLY SECURE HOUSING AND AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, ESPECIALLY IN A COUNTY THAT HAS AS MANY HOUSEHOLDS, THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL AS WE DO, THAT'S VERY, VERY COMPETITIVE. There aren't that many affordable housing units. The ones that there are, there's typically hundreds of applicants vying for these, and you can only imagine individuals who've been experiencing homeless for some time who maybe have no income, no credit score, are not gonna be really competitive with just some of the other constituents here. So we've really focused on those three areas as our approach to really managing homelessness. On the street outreach side, it's really interesting. We spent about $550,000 annually for several years to establish New Direction Outreach and Engagement Center. That really did, it provided some resources, it gave us information on who was out there, but it's also super expensive for street outreach with the smaller allocations that we receive as a continuum of care or as a county or as other jurisdictions who have contributed to this effort. WHAT'S ENCOURAGING IS A FEW YEARS AGO THE MANAGED CARE PLAN INITIATED ENHANCED CARE MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY SUPPORTS SO IT'S A BENEFIT FOR MEDICAL RECIPIENTS THAT ALLOWED US TO THAT ALSO FUNDED OUTREACH AND THAT ALLOWED US TO STRATEGICALLY PULL BACK ON FUNDING OUTREACH and really support some of the affordable housing that was coming in so what did that do because besides creating some consternation of hey we don't have dedicated cash flow from the continuum of care to support outreach you know creating that consternation around how can we make sure this maintains a level and i i THE FIRST BULLET THERE REALLY TALKS ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THE MANAGED CARE PLAN INVESTMENT. WE SEE THAT THOSE WHO WE ARE ENGAGING WITH REPORTED ABOUT A 4.5% INCREASE, 4.2% INCREASE IN REGARDS TO KNOWING THE AVAILABLE SERVICES. AND THAT'S WHAT OUTREACH IS. IT'S PARTIALLY MAKING SURE PEOPLE KNOW THERE ARE SERVICES OUT THERE, PARTIALLY BUILDING UP RAPPORT AND MAKING SURE THAT FOLKS ARE SEEN AND SOME OF THEIR BASIC NEEDS. SO IT'S A REALLY GOOD INDICATOR STRATEGICALLY WHEN WE PULLED BACK THE 500. PLUS THOUSAND DOLLARS THAT ANNUALLY THE CONTINUUM OF CARE WITH ONE-TIME FUNDING WAS USING, THAT THOSE BENEFITS CONTINUE. THAT ACTION SERVICE CONTINUES PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE MANAGED CARE PLAN AND THE ENHANCED CARE MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY SUPPORTS. IT'S NOT A VERY COMPLICATED PROCESS, BUT REALLY WHAT THAT INVOLVES IS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS GOING INTO THESE POPULATIONS OF FOCUS OF WHICH HOMELESSNESS IS ONE OF THEM AND SIGNING THEM UP FOR SERVICES INCLUDING THINGS LIKE NAVIGATION, HOUSING TENDENCY, DEPOSIT ASSISTANCE, ET CETERA. IT'S A PRETTY GOOD INCENTIVE THAT'S RESULTED IN A DECENT OUTCOME AS WE'RE SEEING NOT ONLY NOT A DECREASE, BUT AN ACTUAL INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT WE'RE ENGAGING WITH WHO KNOW WHAT THE SERVICES ARE. so that incentive really created some good outcomes i think when we talk about housing and homelessness too we should be mindful that incentives create outcomes both good and bad and unfortunately that's one of the reasons why this is such an intractable problem within our county and community and state for that matter Next, we looked at the overall numbers, right? We're at a plus 31. Again, you see that it's disappointing for me personally and professionally, going from 717 to 748 individuals. When we dive into those numbers a little more, some reasons for optimism. Our shelter count increased by 32 of those individuals. AND THAT'S WHAT WE WANT TO SEE. WE DEFINITELY FROM A PUBLIC SPACE MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE, THAT'S THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND A LOT OF THE FOLKS ON THE CONTINUUM OF CARE. I KNOW MOST OF THE POLICY MAKERS THAT I TALK TO, WE APPROACH THIS AS A PUBLIC SPACE MANAGEMENT. HOW DO WE MAKE SURE OUR PUBLIC SPACES ARE MANAGED WELL AND THE NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO UNFORTUNATELY RESIDE THERE ARE MET. PROBABLY THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS TO GO OUT THERE, ENGAGE WITH SOMEBODY, OFFER THEM SERVICES AND GET THEM INTO A SHELTER THAT'S A LITTLE MORE CONTROLLED AND A LITTLE MORE MANAGEABLE. SO SEEING THAT NUMBER INCREASE BY PLUS 32 IS ENCOURAGING. A SUB BULLET UNDER THERE IS ACTUALLY THE INCREASE IN CHILDREN. TO ME, THE CHILDREN EXPERIENCING POVERTY IN FAMILIES AND HOUSEHOLDS IS REALLY THE INDICATOR OF POVERTY AND THE IMPACTS OF POVERTY IN THE COMMUNITY. talking about the population whole primarily single adults and then we start talking about behavioral health challenges mental health challenges community support challenges substance use disorder challenges when i look at children typically we look at them as folks that are experiencing poverty right the number one indicator for someone who's going to experience homelessness is going to be a lack of social supports and your family members are like hey we're not going to TOLERATE THIS BEHAVIOR ANYMORE. A LOT OF TIMES THAT'S WHAT A LOT OF TIMES THAT'S WHAT A LOT OF TIMES THAT'S WHAT REALLY RESULTS. REALLY RESULTS. REALLY RESULTS. I KNOW I RECEIVED PLENTY OF I KNOW I RECEIVED PLENTY OF I KNOW I RECEIVED PLENTY OF REFERRALS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS REFERRALS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS REFERRALS FROM FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE LIKE, I NEED HELP. WHO ARE LIKE, I NEED HELP. WHO ARE LIKE, I NEED HELP. I JUST CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE ON I JUST CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE ON I JUST CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE ON MY OWN. MY OWN. MY OWN. SO WE DID SEE AN INCREASE IN SO WE DID SEE AN INCREASE IN SO WE DID SEE AN INCRE More good news, they're sheltered, right? Generally coming through the Merced County Human Service Agency, through the CalWORKs program, temporary homeless assistance, we're able to provide 16 days, and then we have a housing support program. So very well resourced to serve these families with children, make sure that they at least have a place that is not the streets. We found one child. If there's any emergency response we have during the point in time count, it's when we discover a child. that prompts a phone call that gets a social worker out there to engage with those folks see what's going on do an assessment homelessness by itself for a family is not neglect or abuse it's called a differential response in our child welfare services and then we have resources to at least provide a temporary stay in a motel while we work on some of the underlying contributing factors Unsheltered homelessness is really what probably impacts everyone in this community to a much more stark degree Right even myself yesterday driving to the store and drive by a corner There's six or seven people hanging out in the corner There's someone turning on water on the corner meeting his basic needs But it's just it just begs the question and I work in it every day and I see it and it's still You know strikes my sensibilities as a as a community member here. I'm like what's going on? What more can we do? we did see a I GUESS I'M, YES, SIR.

SORRY, DIRECTOR PROTROSA HAS A QUESTION.

SORRY ABOUT THAT. I'M CONFUSED REALLY QUICK. WHEN YOU SAY THE SHELTERED INCREASE, OR I'M SORRY, INDIVIDUALS COUNTED INCREASE TO 31, BUT THEN SHELTERED IS 32, SO WOULDN'T THAT BE A NEGATIVE, A MINUS ONE, OR HOW DOES THAT?

THAT'S UNDER THE UNSHELTERED NEGATIVE. WE DROPPED ONE.

OKAY. SO I THOUGHT THAT WAS FOR THE CHILDREN PART OF IT. But that clears it up. Okay, so that makes sense. Okay, thank you. And then my other question is, when you say child or children, is it to 18 or is it above that? 18 and under. Okay, thank you. Or to 18, excuse me. Okay, thank you.

John, is there any part of... the individuals counted is there a factor in there of like you just missed some on that day they just weren't in their normal like i know that there's a lot of effort that goes on into going to like the normal spots is where you would find some of these folks is is part of that 31 increase is because we maybe missed them last year because they could have been

IT COULD BE. IT COULD BE. IT COULD BE. ONE WAY WE ACCOUNT FOR THAT IS ONE WAY WE ACCOUNT FOR THAT IS ONE WAY WE ACCOUNT FOR THAT IS WE TAKE SOME IDENTIFYING WE TAKE SOME IDENTIFYING WE TAKE SOME IDENTIFYING INFORMATION. INFORMATION. INFORMATION. TYPICALLY WITH 100 PEOPLE OUT TYPICALLY WITH 100 PEOPLE OUT TYPICALLY WITH 100 PEOPLE OUT THERE, WE'RE HOPING THAT IF THERE, WE'RE HOPING THAT IF THERE, WE'RE HOPING THAT IF YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR TENT, MAYBE YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR TENT, MAYBE YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR TENT, MAYBE YOU'RE ON YOUR BIKE AND WE RUN INTO YOU. ON YOUR BIKE AND WE RUN INTO YOU. ON YOUR BIKE AND WE RUN INTO YOU. WE CAN ACCOUNT FOR it's it's possible but it's such a consistent methodology year after year i think we try to just assume that's going to be in the cake year after year okay thank you THANK YOU I WANTED TO DO A YOU KNOW TO PROVIDE A LITTLE MORE OF A OF A BREAKDOWN ACROSS THE JURISDICTIONS RIGHT I AGAIN DON'T THINK ANY OF THESE THINGS ARE SURPRISING AS FAR AS WHERE THIS IS CONCENTRATED SO MUCH IN THE CITY OF MERCED RIGHT FOR 2026 552 OF THE ENTIRE SHELTERED AND UNSHELTERED POPULATION WE DID SEE A INCREASE OF ABOUT 28 FOLKS FROM in shelter within the city of merced but then we also saw an increase of four folks that were on shelter so that you know it's again encouraging to see folks going into shelter but then also it's a head scratching to continue to see the unsheltered population maintain levels despite the the amount of resources with housing and shelter that THAT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED IN THE THAT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED IN THE THAT HAVE BEEN PROVIDED IN THE COMMUNITY. COMMUNITY. COMMUNITY. SIMILARLY IN LAS BANOS, A BIG SIMILARLY IN LAS BANOS, A BIG SIMILARLY IN LAS BANOS, A BIG CONCENTRATION BUT ALSO A CONCENTRATION BUT ALSO A CONCENTRATION BUT ALSO A REDUCTION OF 13 INDIVIDUALS. REDUCTION OF 13 INDIVIDUALS. REDUCTION OF 13 INDIVIDUALS. I CANNOT PRAISE THE RESPONSE OF I CANNOT PRAISE THE RESPONSE OF I CANNOT PRAISE THE RESPONSE OF THE CITY OF LAS BANOS ENOUGH AS THE CITY OF LAS BANOS ENOUGH AS INVESTING IN HOUSING MANAGERS. THEY HAVE ONE OF MY FORMER COLLEAGUES WHO IS APPLYING FOR GRANTS, GETTING MULTIMILLION DOLLARS AWARDS FOR PROJECTS TO BUILD HOUSING THAT'S RESTRICTED TO INDIVIDUALS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. THEY JUST ADDED A SECOND OUTREACH WORKER. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU WOULD TRADITIONALLY SEE. IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY THAT'S INVESTED SO HEAVILY. IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY THAT'S INVESTED SO HEAVILY. I THINK WE CAN DEFINITELY INVESTED SO HEAVILY. I THINK WE CAN DEFINITELY ATTRIBUTE SOME OF THIS REDUCTION I THINK WE CAN DEFINITELY ATTRIBUTE SOME OF THIS REDUCTION INTO THAT. ATTRIBUTE SOME OF THIS REDUCTION INTO THAT. WHEN YOU ASK ABOUT COUNTING INTO THAT. WHEN YOU ASK ABOUT COUNTING AND MISSING FOLKS, THAT'S A WHEN YOU ASK ABOUT COUNTING AND MISSING FOLKS, THAT'S A CITY THAT HAS ON LOCKDOWN AND WHEN. SO I WOULD IMAGINE THESE SO I WOULD IMAGINE THESE SO I WOULD IMAGINE THESE NUMBERS ARE REALLY, REALLY NUMBERS ARE REALLY, REALLY NUMBERS ARE REALLY, REALLY ACCURATE. ACCURATE. ACCURATE. WHEN WE GET TO THE 500'S AND WHEN WE GET TO THE 500'S AND WHEN WE GET TO THE 500'S AND 550'S OR THE 2'S OR 3'S, IT'S 550'S OR THE 2'S OR 3'S, IT'S 550'S OR THE 2'S OR 3'S, IT'S REALLY EASY TO MISS SOMEBODY. REALLY EASY TO MISS SOMEBODY. REALLY EASY TO MISS SOMEBODY. SO IT'S A FLAWED METHODOLOGY BUT SO IT'S A FLAWED METHODOLOGY BUT SO IT'S A FLAWED METHODOLOGY BUT CONSISTENT. CONS uh in the unsheltered column and uh one less in the sheltered column uh livingston is very consistent and has been consistent for some time between six and nine uh and we'll talk a little bit about the strategies after going through these numbers as well das palos a plus three unsheltered population and then in the unincorporated area um that that includes every you know CRESCES, THE SANTANELLAS, THE DELHAIS, THE WINTONS, THE PLANADAS, THE POPULATION HAD A SEVEN PERSON DECREASE, AND THAT'S, AGAIN, TO YOUR POINT, LIKE IT'S VERY DIFFICULT WHEN YOU'RE COVERING SUCH A VAST AREA TO MAKE SURE THIS IS A COMPREHENSIVE COUNT, BUT AGAIN, WITH THE CONSISTENT METHODOLOGY WE USED, WE DID SEE A REDUCTION THERE OF of negative seven individuals. And we can talk on the next slide a little bit about some of the reasons we may be seeing these numbers. And then there's some key takeaways here. And I also ask that we provide this point in time count to you all so you have some time. It's probably 25, 26 pages, so fairly significant. But those are the numbers. You see the pluses and the minuses. As a continuum of care, we look at all those things. We're really looking at the bottom line, but also strategically how we could better serve. SO AGAIN, THE STRATEGY, EXPAND STREET OUTREACH AND EXPAND EMERGENCY SHELTER. WE JUST TALKED A LITTLE BIT IN AGGREGATE HOW MUCH IS IN THE SHELTERED POT VERSUS THE UNSHELTERED POT AND THE INCREASE IN THE SHELTERED INDIVIDUALS. We've done that through a bunch of different methods. One was the congregate navigation center, right? Assembly member Adam Gray was able to secure funding for the construction of that. I will tell you, we spend almost every day talking about how we're gonna maintain that thing. FOR AS LONG AS WE CAN. WITH THE FUNDING THAT THE COUNTY RECEIVES, WE GET ABOUT $1 MILLION OF ONE-TIME FUNDING THROUGH WHAT'S CALLED THE HOMELESS HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND PREVENTION PROGRAM. THEY'RE ON ROUND SEVEN NOW, DISCUSSING ROUND EIGHT. AGAIN, ONE-TIME, NOT CONSISTENT MONEY. THE EXPENSE OF THE NAVIGATION THE EXPENSE OF THE NAVIGATION CENTER EXCEEDS ONE MILLION CENTER EXCEEDS ONE MILLION CENTER EXCEEDS ONE MILLION DOLLARS BY A FACTOR OF TWO DOLLARS BY A FACTOR OF TWO DOLLARS BY A FACTOR OF TWO NEARLY WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO NEARLY WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO NEARLY WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STRATEGICALLY AGAIN LEVERAGE A STRATEGICALLY AGAIN LEVERAGE A STRATEGICALLY AGAIN LEVERAGE A MANAGED CARE PLAN ENHANCED CARE MANAGED CARE PLAN ENHANCED CARE MANAGED CARE PLAN ENHANCED CARE MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTS TO MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTS TO MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY SUPPOR um to reduce those costs to us we've also been able to apply as the county for permanent local housing allocation competitive funding and what that's resulted in is a different strategy we have and that's why i referenced the big population centers right city of merced navigation center 76 beds almost always full REALLY DIFFICULT TO MOVE FOLKS FROM THERE INTO HOUSING, 200 DAY LENGTH OF STAY, $68 A BED DAY, JUST AN EXPENSIVE, BIG ENTERPRISE. WE'VE ALSO IN THE UNINCORPORATED AREA WHERE YOU SEE A SMALLER NUMBER OF FOLKS HAVE IMPLEMENTED JUST A RENTAL OF SINGLE FAMILY HOMES AND THE USE OF THOSE AS SHELTER WHICH IS A STRATEGY THAT THE CONTINUUM OF CARE HAS USED NOW IN THE CITY OF ATWATER TO ACTUALLY PROCURE THREE HOMES SO THEY'RE GOING TO BE THERE FOR A LONG TIME AS OPPOSED TO JUST RENTING. WELL, AS LONG AS FUNDING AND ECM AND THOSE THINGS MAINTAIN THAT SERVICE. BUT THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO SECURE THREE HOMES, HOPEFULLY 18 BEDS WILL COME OUT OF THAT. OUR GOAL IS TO SERVE 36 PEOPLE OVER THE COURSE OF THREE YEARS BUT THEN CONTINUE SERVING THEM EITHER AS REALLY CHEAP HOUSING, $500 FOR YOU TO STAY THERE IF YOU'RE ON DISABILITY, THAT'S A SUSTAINABLE OR THROUGH AS EMERGENCY SHELTER, RESPITE CARE, SOME OF THESE OTHER THINGS AS WE LOOK FOR FUNDING THAT CAN SUPPORT THAT. we recently have applied the bottom there for another encampment resolution resolution fund and by we i mean the continuum of care and if it's confusing it is i get a county continuum of care and there's uh different uh approaches from from both of those entities and you could add los bonos in there who was the recipient of an encampment resolution fund A WARD FOR $10 MILLION THAT'S GOING TO CREATE 58 HOMES, BUT WE DID RECENTLY APPLY FOR THE SAME MODEL WE'RE UTILIZING IN ATWATER FOR THE CITY OF MERCED. IT'S CLEARLY APPARENT WITH THE NUMBERS THAT WE'RE SEEING HERE, WE STILL HAVE A HIGH NEED FOR EMERGENCY SHELTER IN THE CITY OF MERCED. SAME MODEL, THREE HOMES, EMERGENCY SHELTER OVER THREE YEARS, AND WE'RE HOPEFUL THAT WE WILL GET THAT AWARD. Some of the other things that are coming online, we talked about affordable housing. Affordable housing, Stephanie Dietz, the former city manager, taught me this, there's market rate and affordable. Those are the two types of housing. Obviously, we're building market rate housing in Merced County. Affordable's a little, it's more expensive. primarily but it's also a little harder to get your your funding stack we've been very fortunate here in our county collectively to have received several awards to have not only affordable housing but it's got a further layer of restriction for people experiencing homelessness right so you have to not only do you have to meet the the poverty guidelines you also have to prove you're homeless or at risk of homeless so now you're competing in a like pool of people We've opened 1213 V Street, 95 beds here in the city of Merced. That has been an interesting, some unexpected challenges is trying to match those folks with the criteria for public housing authority housing choice vouchers. So they'll have 20 year commitment of a rental assistance. That's created unique challenges which has resulted in 20 of those units being vacant for over the course of the last 12 months. SO IT'S A REAL, IT'S A COMPLICATED MIX BETWEEN BEING APPROVED TO STAY AT THE HOME, AT THE PROJECT, AND THEN A FURTHER, NOW YOU ALSO HAVE TO QUALIFY TO STAY WITH THE PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THROUGH THEIR VOUCHER PROGRAM. CREATED LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES AS WELL AS WHAT'S BEEN AN ENDEARING VACANCY RATE THAT IS REALLY IN MY OPINION NOT ACCEPTABLE WE ALSO OPENED OUR STREET 21 UNITS OF VETERAN HOUSING THROUGH A HOME KEY AWARD CITY OF MERCED IS THE LEAD APPLICANT THAT RECENTLY OPENED PROBABLY WITHIN THE LAST THREE MONTHS AND HAS BEEN FULL FOR ABOUT THE LAST MONTH JUST THE DIFFERENCE IN MANAGEMENT AND APPROACH AND POPULATION I THINK HAS REALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUCCESS THERE. WE'VE RECEIVED AN AWARD HERE THROUGH THE MOST RECENT HOME KEY PLUS APPLICATION AGAIN THROUGH THE CITY OF MERCED AND THAT'S FOR A PARK AVENUE PROJECT WITH 65 UNITS. SO THAT WILL BE UNITS THAT ARE AFFORDABLE. They have a voucher tied into them through the Public Housing Authority, so individuals without income will be able to stay there. And it also has 20 units set aside for veterans, of which I'm happy to report. And I just talked to the VA in Fresno yesterday. We're literally running out of veterans who are willing to take housing within Merced County. We're in a really good position to reach what's called functional zero, where there's enough beds for people that want the bed to have a place to go. THAT PROJECT IS PROBABLY 18 TO 24 MONTHS AWAY FROM OPENING. WE HAVE 58 UNITS ADJACENT TO BEHAVIORAL HEALTH THROUGH A HOME KEY ROUND 3 GRANT. THAT HAS DONE THE SITE WORK STARTED. NOW YOU GET INTO THE PERMITS AND THE FLOW AND HAVEN'T SEEN MUCH WORK BEYOND THE LEVELING AND SOME TRENCHING. BUT AGAIN, WE'RE LOOKING AT A 12 TO 18 MONTH OPENING. THEN IN LAS PAÑAS AGAIN THROUGH THE HARD WORK OF THAT CITY STAFF AND THE FOCUS AND THE DIRECTION OF THEIR CITY COUNCIL ANOTHER 58 UNITS THAT WILL INCREASE OUR TOTAL IN DEVELOPMENT TO 181 RESTRICTED TO PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS AFFORDABLE HOUSING UNITS THEY'LL JOIN THE 114 THAT WE HAVE OPERATING AND THEN Right there in the middle, you've got the Merced County Rescue Mission, Cone Avenue Campus. They are moving at a significant speed based on their funding and resources. They're building the second story of what's gonna be 40 studio apartments, as well as 32 short-term post-hospitalization beds. So a total of 72 beds from that project as well. So we've got a significant amount of housing in the pipeline. I THINK WE'VE GONE TO ANNUAL BECAUSE THESE THINGS MOVE SO SLOWLY. IF I HAD BROUGHT IN QUARTERLY UPDATES, IT PROBABLY WOULD LOOK REAL SIMILAR, BUT IT IS ENCOURAGING TO KNOW THAT WE HAVE SO MUCH HOUSING STOCK IN THE PIPELINE IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE UNMET NEED. I KNOW THERE'S OTHER PROJECTS THAT ARE CONCEPTUAL AT THIS POINT AND PRIMARILY THROUGH THE MERCED COUNTY RESCUE MISSION AND PRIMARILY ON CONE AVENUE. THEY'VE SECURED SOME PROPERTY. I DON'T HAVE MUCH INFORMATION BEYOND THAT WHERE THEY'RE INTERESTED IN CREATING KIND OF A you know a similar to what the projects that we're seeing now but you know homeless type village smaller houses cottage homes etc they've got good partnerships support and at this point I'd even say some expertise in how to get these across the finish line just for example their phase one of their project was 32 respite care beds and 20 permanent supportive housing units and that's been in operations for years and is and is full and quite successful That kind of is a conclusion of the high-level update. Happy to answer any questions, bring back any information you all would like to hear, as well as recommendations for our next update here, which will take about 12 months for us to put together, but we're happy to provide it. ALSO, ANY CITY COUNCILS, ANYTHING THAT'S HELPFUL FROM AN INFORMATION STANDPOINT, WE'D BE HAPPY TO PROVIDE THAT TO ANY OF THE JURISDICTIONS.

RIGHT. THANK YOU, JOHN. ANY MEMBERS OF THE BOARD WISH TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS? Director Pereira.

Yeah, could you go back to the slide where Josh asked the questions? I guess the, yeah. So of the 740, so how many beds do we currently have available in Merced County?

It was 440. I believe okay that okay yep 403 so that was the total beds and that that number will fluctuate based on how many children again come in because those are counted as sheltered so that number could could fluctuate a little bit through the course and then and then of the the beds that have been funded what's the total of those it's not 181 and 113 right it's more than that

Believe it is. And isn't one of the rescue mission, one of their projects funded?

So there's 72 beds are fully funded and under construction. And we have 58 in Los Banos, 58 in the city of Merced and 65 in the city of Merced for a total of 253. ACROSS THOSE FOUR PROJECTS. I DO WANT TO POINT OUT SOME OF THOSE ARE DESIGNED TO BE TRANSITIONAL HOUSING UNITS, PROGRAMS, SOBER LIVING TYPE ENVIRONMENTS AND SOME OF THOSE WILL BE PERMANENT, THE MAJORITY PERMANENT.

SO ABOUT TWO YEARS AGO, A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, BOTH JOHN CHECKLEY AND BRUCE METCALF TOLD ME INDEPENDENTLY THAT IN ABOUT TWO YEARS WE WOULD VIRTUALLY HAVE A BED FOR EVERYBODY THAT WAS HOMELESS IN MERCED COUNTY. We're getting pretty darn close. So congratulations to everybody in the continuum of care and I wanna also point out and recognize Mayor Amabile. I was on the continuum of care for I think five years and we could not get the city of Los Banos to do anything except complain. And that has, with you guys, that's a total turnaround and is appreciated and I think needs to be recognized because the continuum of care can't do anything without the jurisdictions being willing to work together. And so, you know, anyways, I just, I mean, it's nothing short of really a miracle in my opinion. And I know it's not a miracle, it's hard work. And we're fortunate to have, you know, guys like John and Bruce in our county. But when we talk to people outside of our county, they have no idea of how our team gets this done. So really, I mean, these folks are amazing. Yeah, you bet.

anybody else one thing i'm gonna go stacy and then director i just i heard you at your early comments uh john kind of talk about how disappointing some of the numbers are for you but i just have to say you know i think a lot of people know that mcag uh was the collaborative applicant was the lead on the continuum of care for like a decade and that was before it came to the county i just i you know we i have a special appreciation for how hard this work is And so I just can't let you walk out and be like, oh, you know, these you're doing great work. Your team is amazing. I mean, the jurisdictions are participating like we haven't seen. Just keep up the good work. And thanks for coming to visit us once a year.

I appreciate that. Say if I could just add like. What keeps this work going, really, we have a trusted advisory group, and we met with those folks. Those are folks who are experiencing homelessness. They talked about dignity, identity, and hope. And it's real hard to hear people you're trying to serve talk about those three things and not have a little hope. So I just want you to know my disappointment is just wrapped up in having this really high hope of like, come on, let's go. But then the reality is I live here. I drive around here. I recognize what the challenge is. Just motivation more motivation. Thank you.

Dr. Amaville.

Well, I'm gonna echo what has been said and John I want to thank you on behalf of the city of Las Banas for all the fine work You're doing and making it easy to work together and thank the Board of Supervisors for taking this on and you and your staff It's it's a lot of work, but it needs to be done and and you care and that's that's a big part of it So, thank you

Thank you, sir. John, I'll echo some of those. You just talk about timing and the way things work out. I remember when I first got to the county, John was an analyst, whatever your title was here. And then as we really dove into this housing and homelessness issue as a county, it kind of like created this, not create this position, but you were the guy for the position and ultimately you become the director of the organization. And so how lucky. Are we that you brought all that experience and that passion with you to the level that you're at now? And I feel like from our very early on conversations, homelessness, you know, as you say, is we're in the 10 year plan to end homelessness. It's always 10 years away from being done. But then as some funding became available, especially during COVID in some of those programs, even before that, but a lot during COVID, we really were able to like. It's a challenge and we're trying to solve that challenge, but I also want us to reflect on our challenges when you look at it on paper, the numbers, ours is still solvable. Just imagine if you're, an l a county and and and take i don't even know how they wrap their head around it and and and last but certainly not least under the mayor's leadership the city council lost man is really stepping up as a partner to work you know the county can't do it all by itself i know that there's there's resources and avenues that we can get built ultimately need the city jurisdictions to step in and and for the city of las vegas to recognize without that partnership we're going to be not getting a whole lot of stuff done by the city like taking some of their local resources creating that that person that's in their organization that their focus is strictly on this it just makes it so much easier and i think it's part of the big reason why grants are successful because you're getting partnership across the board and anytime you go to look for a grant when they when they look at these grants and they're doing their scoring anytime that you can really show that there's multiple organizations they kind of look at as a twofer right they're they're helping two or two jurisdictions with one grant and so it's good work on them and hopefully that continues and and i encourage all other cities to jump on board we just keep a letter of support for the city of las banos on file at this point and we're so happy when we get the request form and again i appreciate you y'all spotlight network perfect all right if there are no further questions john thank you and we'll see you back here next year thank you all okay um let's gonna is there anybody here need a break because we're gonna jump right in because i know that there's a lot of stuff to get done today and uh i know there's some people that have to really hoping that we finish by five so with that we will adjourn from our housing and homeless workshop and we will call i guess we already called it to order we'll start with our regular meeting um is there anyone that would like to lead us in the invocation perfect

Lord, let everyone hear these words. Everyone thinks that the scariest part of Noah's Ark was the flood. But they're wrong. It was the design. God gave Noah the exact measurements, the exact wood to use, and how to seal it perfectly. But something was missing. There was no steering wheel. The ark wasn't built to be steered. It was built to float. Noah wasn't the captain. He was the passenger. God was the one in control. And maybe that's a lesson for us. Sometimes we keep trying to steer what God has already promised to carry. Trust the one who designed the ark because he's the same God carrying you through the storm. Amen.

right we'll officially call the meeting to order at 303 and if I could get the birthday boy director kale to lead us in the pledge of allegiance ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all All right, Lucy, we're moving to 4B, which is roll call.

Director Kehl?

Here.

Director Reed? Here. Director Ford?

Here.

Director Samra?

Here.

Director Amabile?

Here.

Director Serrato?

Here.

Director Pacheco? Here. Director Pedroso? Here. Director McDaniel? Present. Director Pereira?

Present.

Chair Cervera.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you. Are there any additions or changes to the agenda?

No, Mr. Chair.

All right, then we'll move on to item six, public comment. This is the public comment as available in advance of during the meeting. See instructions for public comment on page two of the agenda packet. All right, are there any members of the public who wish to address the board? Not seeing anyone, we're gonna move right along to item seven. Item 7A is the Caltrans report. Caleb, thank you for being here.

There we go. Members of the board, good to see everybody. A couple of updates. So last month, the California Transportation Commission approved $540 million in transportation investments to improve travel times. shore up aging facilities, and add new layers of safety around schools and community centers. Happy to report that two projects within Merced County were awarded. The first one was $6.484 million for State Route 59 intersection control project. The funding will be used to construct a single-lane roundabout at the intersection of 59 and Gerald Avenue, just south of the city of Merced. Gerard. Gerard, excuse me. Thank you. I won't make that mistake again. The second one is $2.393 million to support MCAG's Santa Fe Drive pavement rehabilitation project. The project will rehabilitate approximately 25 miles of deteriorated roadway between the city of Merced and Atwater in Merced County. Also last month, Caltrans announced the fiscal year 26-27 sustainable transportation planning grant awards. We had a total of 170 applications and asking over $74 million. It's the most applications we've gotten and the largest dollar amount. Unfortunately, we only had $23.6 million. We did have four of our partners within district 10 uh were awarded city of jackson in amador county tctc of tuolumne county the city of waterford and stanislaus and the fourth recipient is mcag for their application for the mesed rural suburban mobility hub strategy and that's going to be for 275 000 so looking forward to working with the team on that The next cycle call for applications should be in August. Applications will be due in October. So I'll be giving announcements for that. And we're also going to be doing some more targeted outreach to the cities within our district, especially ones that haven't applied before to get more interest in the planning grant program. One funding reminder, the Federal Transit Administration has reissued its call for applications under the fiscal year 26 pilot program for transit-oriented development. There's $28.5 million available for that, and the applications are due on July 10th. And I do have one call to action for you all. So District 10, we have a, we call it a BPAC, the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and it's led by folks within each of the eight counties within District 10. We currently do not have any representation for Merced County. We'd like to get at least one, if not two folks from each county. Typically there's people in the public that are passionate about active transportation, not elected officials. So if you guys have anyone that you know that's passionate about active transportation, would like to participate, please get in contact with me. It's a quarterly meeting, and then usually there's like one committee meeting for two hours in between that to go over agenda and talking points and whatnot. The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 8th, from noon to 2. Some people come to the office, but there is a virtual option, obviously, because it spans several counties. And then a couple follow-up items from last month. Supervisor McDaniel asked about the A-frame barricades on 140. We're looking into that. This is part of the district has looked at the stretch of 140, and there's a lot of improvements that we would like to make along that stretch. There's a lot of very narrow areas of pavement that we're gonna be looking into. Unfortunately, that particular location has a box culvert, which requires I don't want to get into the details, but it takes a lot to upgrade that. I do have the maintenance team working on some temporary improvements as the team is outlining permanent solutions at various locations on 140. Supervisor Pereira inquired about the intersection of 59 and Bellevue. I do have the maintenance and traffic operations teams looking into making improvements at that intersection, particularly with the potholes and looking at the power lines and getting folks through there a bit more efficiently. And then lastly, on the Los Banos, so we do have the project management team gonna be reaching out to those property owners and meeting with them in person in July. um that concludes my report unfortunately I won't be here next month but my planning office Chief Sylvia diac will be given the report and then Charlie Doe from project management will do the quarterly project uh PowerPoint presentation so that's all I have for today happy to take questions or anything back to the district thank you Caleb director McDaniel

YEAH, THANK YOU FOR THE REPORT. THANK YOU FOR THE FOLLOW-UP. I APPRECIATED THE E-MAIL ON THAT. SO WILL YOU BE AT NACO IN NEW ORLEANS WITH US NEXT MONTH?

IF YOU COULD PAY MY TRAVEL, TRAVELING OUT OF STATE IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT FOR US TO GET REIMBURSED.

I THOUGHT MAYBE THAT WAS ALREADY PRE-PLANNED AND THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE GOING TO BE.

NO, I HAVE A QUARTERLY IN-PERSON STATEWIDE MEETING AT HEADQUARTERS ON THAT DAY.

OUR MEETING IS WAY MORE FUN THAN THAT. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? GO AHEAD.

Two things, I know that you guys, Caltrans does work on off ramps too. Just how far is the responsibility of Caltrans before the lower jurisdictions take over? Because in Livingston, you know, there's on the bridge itself, there's a lot of cracked asphalt and all that. I'm not sure, I'm sure our public works would, but I just thought about that right now. Just where does the responsibility end and start?

It depends on where the right-of-way is and where, you know, if it's a bridge, chances are it's ours. But if you have those locations, I can definitely look into those that need attention.

Yeah, and I just, the reason I mention it, because somebody was mentioning to me on the way here, hey, we got potholes here. I said, I don't know if it's city or Caltrans, but I'll ask. Another thing is, through Livingston Landscaping, it seems like these wild sunflowers are taking over all the landscaping plans that Caltrans put in. There seems to be taking over everything. I don't know if there's any way to do that. Because those tiny little sunflower ones are just going everywhere now. I don't know if you noticed that or not.

I'm not quite aware of it.

Huh?

I think it was a beautification project.

No, no, but even when you get into Merced part of way off of 99, you see the same thing on the side is just taking over. But what it's doing is it's smothering the other, the landscape that's put in, it's just starting to smother it.

So it's like an invasive.

Yeah. So I just thought maybe next.

People spitting their sunflower seeds out.

Is that what it is? Yeah. They must be doing pretty good because those are pretty high up, you know. The one part. BUT ANYWAY, MAYBE YOU GUYS CAN LOOK AT THAT. THANK YOU.

I JUST WANT TO ADD ON THAT FOR THE MAINTENANCE. OFTEN, AND I KNOW THIS CAME UP WITH LIVINGSTON IN PARTICULAR, THERE ARE LOCAL MAINTENANCE AGREEMENTS THAT IN MY MIND, YOU TYPICALLY, BEN, WILL CONFIRM THAT IF IT'S A SURFACE MAINTENANCE ISSUE, that it's a city, and if it's a structural issue of the bridge, it's been Caltrans. But I don't think that's a universal rule. I just know that a couple of the locations historically we've looked at in Livingston, there's been a local maintenance agreement.

Yeah, like I said, I'm sure our public works, they know. It was something, somebody called me on the way here, and I said, well, you know, just perfect timing, I'll just ask. But we'll find out.

Very good.

You know, we can add an urgency item and just make it a regional project.

Five o'clock today, so I'm gonna let you guys talk offline. Is there any other questions for Caleb? Caleb, thank you so much. Appreciate the, I'm sorry, Director Pereira.

Yeah, I got one. I could use some help. So at the intersection of Snelling Road and North Highway 59 on the southwest corner, the property owner is George Reed. and they would like to take out some oak trees that are there, which is legal in Merced County, we're all good, right? It's not an issue. But they've been waiting, they planned on starting the work on June 1st, it was a Monday. They're still waiting for an encroachment permit from Caltrans. So could you look into that and help them if we could? Yeah, all right, thanks.

All right, thank you, Kevin, appreciate it. Moving on to item 7B, this is the CalVans presentation. Sid, you're up. Thank you. There's a button to your right that'll, you can, on the front of the podium there that'll lift it up. By your hip? By your hip. Oh, to lift the podium up. There you go.

I'm used to Madera County digs here. Nice to be in a fancier county every once in a while. I am Sidnog. I'm the executive director of CalVans as of a few months ago, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to present to MCAG here. You guys are one of our 11 members. I have my slideshow presentation here, and then I was informed I have roughly an open-ended period to speak, and so I thought I'd take full advantage of that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. you know i wouldn't say that very capable of it um so what i'm going to do instead is kind of maybe briefly go through the slides at some point maybe not but just get sort of to the point um i was brought on to cal vans the california vanpool authority as i mentioned but some months ago um a little a little unexpectedly inadvertently but with the mandate from our board including my chair here of our board of directors Supervisor Poitras from Madera County, Rob Poitras, to look very carefully at the agency and figure out ways that we could turn around our operations, figure out a strategic plan that built in a sustainability and long-term profitability goal within goals, dual goals within the agency. largely because we are self-subsisting. We don't, unlike a lot of other transit agencies, get the same benefits of federal or state pass-through funds. We don't get federally programmed funds. Over time, I hope that'll change, and those are among the objectives I hope to achieve in the next several months and immediate years. But our sort of primary focus then is making sure, first and foremost, that we're getting everything right, running kind of truly like a business. And I know CalVans over the years has had varying relationships with our member agencies. Some of our member agencies see us a lot more present in their jurisdictions. Some of our member counties see our vans throughout their county and servicing largely the farm worker, farm labor population of California, as well as some other components of rural California workforces, some in the warehousing sector, industrial sector, and the state and federal workforces as well. but our sort of bread and butter and the largest component of who we serve is in the agricultural sector and are the farm workers that really drive California's agriculture. And so we are present in some counties where California ag is strong, like Monterey County, like other Central Coast counties, Ventura and Santa Barbara. We are based in Visalia in Tulare County, originally from Kings County and originally a project jointly conceived by Kings County with neighboring counties like Fresno. But we're not as strong in the Central Valley as we once were. And one of the things that I hope to express from the get-go is our agency is, because of our nature, because of how we can sort of freely structure our services to meet the needs of the sectors we service, but also our member agencies. We have as much ability as we have partnership and participation with our member agencies to make big things happen and good things happen. So to the extent for any of our directors here at MCAD today, you want to see more of CalVans operations present in any of your respective jurisdictions it's a matter of a conversation with me and my staff it's a matter of are looking at your employment base what your needs are and then we as a part of our longer-term agenda are looking to build out our fleet capacity through multiple means so that we can not only be present everywhere our board is and our member agencies would like us to be, but we can be everywhere where the demand is for our services. Because ultimately, CalVans was formed over 25 years ago after an unfortunate incident, I think on the border of Fresno County, where 13 of 15 farm laborers unfortunately passed after a road accident with a big rig. that led for local officials, local leaders to come up with this concept, which is to create an affordable, safe, focused, and efficient transit service for, again, the farm labor community, but also, as it's grown over time, other workforces. And our safety record is impeccable among transit agencies that report. to the Federal Transit Administration. We are at the very top percentile for safety. We haven't had a single fatality or loss in any of the tens of thousands of people we've moved. We do have incidents on occasion, but our incident rate and our loss ratio in the insurance parlance is extremely low, very efficient, and very effective in terms of promoting and implementing safety. Our vans are fitted in order to achieve that high level of safety with telematics equipment, with safe physical safety and restraining equipment, harnesses, et cetera. Drivers are trained. Drivers are medically checked twice, particularly if they're drivers that are also here in California through federal programs like the Federal H2A guest worker program. It's a requirement of that particular visa status for medical checks. Drivers are tracked. A lot of our back-end infrastructure reminds me of some of the tech we see in the Bay Area right now for the transportation network companies that are based there, the private ones. So, you know, we do pretty remarkable things with a very limited budget. And I was quite impressed when I came onto the agency as its lobbyist and consultant. And when taking over as the executive director, I've only been more impressed by how much gets done with a limited dollar operating base and a staff of 20 or so who do the world of efforts on behalf of the agency, including the direct mechanical work, logistical work, as well as the back end work. So a remarkable team, a remarkable project. When I came on board, the initial review I wanted to go over with all our member agencies was an analysis that I had started as the agency's consultant and lobbyist about its balance sheet, some of the big structural challenges it had going forward, structural payments, contracts that it had signed, things that we needed to refocus, pivot from, unwind, come up with new approaches. You know, I only had limited capacity in the consulting role. Now as executive director with the sort of grace and partnership of the board and our executive team, executive board, four-member executive board, We've been able to accelerate as a staff many of those efforts, and we're looking to all kinds of ways to kind of break existing models, implement new methods for achieving what we need to achieve in a more cost-effective manner, new partnerships with public and private entities, some of which will be presented to our board, including Director Samra, who shares board seats both here and on our board. while all of that is good stuff that we're looking to achieve as well as landing federal and state support as well as landing our proposition for funding which we were fortunate to get 15 million dollars line items in that voter approved ballot initiative in 2024 that now I am clamoring folks at the legislature the last time I spoke with several of the MCAG members I was at the capitol sounding the alarm bell about how that money needs to be authorized, appropriated, and in our pockets sooner than not, something I continue to do. I wanted to be up front with every one of our member agencies and say, At the same time as we're doing every effort, making every effort to change, reform, become more efficient, look to new sources of revenue, shake up our business model, I want every member agency to know what the suite of potential options are if we reach financial straits, which we haven't. We've recovered in the summer season. We are now cash flow positive. I haven't had to have the difficult discussion with member agencies about what some of those measures might look like, but I wanted to be upfront and transparent that, you know, we are a multi-member agency that hasn't asked for member dues, apparently received a loan from a few member agencies some years back that was repaid, but other than that, we don't really ask much for our member agencies, but we contribute back. We contribute depending on the member agency, sometimes millions of dollars in National Transit Database funds. Overall, somewhere in the range of eight to 12 million I know it's a fraught estimate, something I've talked about with COG staff with regard to that exact number. But if we just look at it as a ballpark type thing, we do give millions back to our local jurisdictions and can do more. We also give millions to the state and can do more. And right now, as we're structured, we don't receive a cent of that back. So we do provide real value. In addition, we're partnering with various state entities that need us and need partners like us in order to sort of move forward as they implement their project work here in the Central Valley and other parts of rural California. the affordable housing climate GGRF funded affordable housing sustainable communities program which is a multi hundred million dollar program that brings funds throughout California including rural California we've somehow become the premier transportation transit provider for those projects and there are projects located here that our partnership was a part of enabling we have partnerships with our Caltrans regional offices as they look to mitigation opportunities as they have new statutory requirements to mitigate to certain high standards and need to look at every option under the sun which ends up including us so there's a lot of value both direct and indirect that we that I hope that we already provide every one of our member agencies and jurisdictions in which we operate but I'm always cognizant of the fact there's more we can do and I'm more than happy to have that conversation as I said earlier on with each and every one of the directors here today to talk about what we can do for your respective jurisdictions. I think I kind of covered everything and maybe that will save me the need to go through the slides but there are nice pictures and videos and infographics and such so if anybody wants me to I'm more than happy to page through that. I know it's also available for your own reference later on. I think that pretty much covered everything I was hoping to discuss.

So I think with that, then I see Director Medano has a question.

Yeah, thank you. So thank you for coming and being live here. Yeah. Answer questions. I know we had a discussion before. Have you looked at the numbers for Merced County and do you see a bigger opportunity for Merced County?

I have looked at the numbers for Merced County. They are not where I'd like them to be for a county like Merced, particularly because of Merced's strong agricultural, the strong presence of agricultural, the agricultural sector here. Like I said, our bread and butter is in the ag sector, and we have a lot of great relationships with farm labor, contractors, with growers themselves, and I think that's kind of developed over time. These are business customer relationships that have evolved over time and make up the mainstay of our portfolio, and those can happen for a variety of reasons. was a little interesting to me that we aren't more present here in Merced, particularly in the ag sector, but as we look to expand, it's sort of an easy, low-hanging opportunity, frankly. Some of our other member counties where we're even less present, I have to sort of, it requires a greater exercise in thinking about if we wanted to operate in those jurisdictions and provide on-the-ground value in addition to some of the sort of indirect value. what that would look like, but I don't see a challenge in Merced's case. It's really just once we are able to build up our inventory a little bit more fleet, focusing or marketing a time and attention, partnering with some of the growers here, letting them know we exist. We end up being a really good solution for a lot of the growers in California, especially as they pivot more to the federal H-2A program, which requires them. to use a third-party transportation provider for movement of their workers. Workers under that program can't move themselves. This is sort of a broad generalization, cognizant. We have attorneys at the dais here, so I don't want to wholly misspeak.

Oh, no, we'll take care of them for you.

well i'm rusty with my law so i'm not gonna i just know enough to know don't don't try not to speak too much so when you said the marketing does the marketing lie on us or does it no we have you guys take that responsibility or do we partner you with ngos or something like that Yeah, I'd like to say we have a dedicated marketing team. It's really just staff as available, staff that are in regular contact with many of our large labor contractors and their grower clients or the growers directly. In the past, when we've wanted to market, we've shown up at various events or moments relevant to the region. a county a county event a county ag event that type of thing if the county farm bureau has an event so we find ways to be visible and table our services and let them know that we're present and again i think in a lot of cases when growers find out we exist and how we operate and sort of we can take that whole side of their operations off of their plate directly handle it and again in a hopefully cost-effective and efficient manner not usually a hard sell it's more actually are needing to have more fleet to meet that demand and ultimately more staff and more locations were present in seven locations throughout the state we serve we have 11 member agencies in my slideshow presentation it would have listed through the member agencies as far south as Imperial Riverside coming on up through the Central Valley and Central Coast and then Right now we're only as far north as Monterey County, though operations of ours actually extend all the way up to Napa. We've had Shasta County inquire Napa we need to bring on board because we're so present there now. And we also operate actually in Arizona and Nevada. So we're a California joint powers authority, but we're pretty significantly present for the winter growing season in Arizona, Yuma County, and slightly present in Nevada, just there on the east slope.

Because we were impressed when we did the county of the chair meeting in Monterey County. Cal Vans was very present in shoveling this around for RCRC, yeah. And I got to say, the transition from you, usually I see you doing water presentations. And your transition into transportation has been quite impressive. Thank you.

It's been a learning experience. Any other questions? Don't ask me anything about water. I've completely forgotten about water politics and policy in California.

I JUST HAVE ONE QUICK QUESTION FOR YOU. SO WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT PRESENCE IN MERCEDE COUNTY, I'VE ACTUALLY NOTICED IN LAS VANDAS, I SAW ONE OF THE MOTELS THERE, I SAW A BUNCH OF CALVANS THERE. HOW DO YOU GUYS TRACK THAT THROUGH THE SEASON AS THE WORK CHANGES? IT STARTS IN THE SOUTH AND MAKES ITS WAY TO THE NORTH. HOW DO YOU TRACK THAT COUNTY'S BENEFIT? at the start of the season they were they were all down in let's just say kern county or kings county but then as the season goes on now they're kind of operating in merced county for a while

Our vans are tracked kind of to the waypoint, to the mile, and as soon as they're moving, their GPS data is immediately sort of taken upon the commencement of operation of the vehicle, and then every quarter of a mile thereof, and it's tracked by our system. So pretty much we can capture down to, again, a quarter mile or even finer resolution exactly where those miles are being achieved, and our system then sorts it into the relevant jurisdiction. So it's actually... impressive pretty impressive a pretty impressive back-end operation software operation that does that and the vehicles are constantly pinging our system we have two tracking systems in fact that overlay one that's more focused on the vehicle side setting the information up and then we have a second vendor that helps us in terms of the data processing and ultimate sort of consolidation synthesis of that data into usable data for NTD reporting, for FTA reporting, for State of California reporting, for reporting back to our member agencies. There's actually, frankly, a lot of jurisdictions in California who aren't a member agency or within a member agency of ours who ask us for that data because they realize, hey, this entity's generating a lot of useful miles that we can use for either state or federal compliance, and we'd like the credit for that, and so we just go through the extra effort give them the miles and we don't actually charge for any of that service as well which is nice of us but I'm realizing as I've seen it over time it's a lot to ask of a very limitedly funded agency with a small staff who's doing a ton.

Perfect.

Thank you. Any other questions?

Thank you for the presentation. I know this was an information only item. Stacy did you have anything? Nope. Thank you for the presentation sir.

Thank you for having me.

All right, we're moving on. Item number eight, this is information items. These items are included for informational purposes. No presentations will be made by staff unless board members have any questions. Does anyone have any questions on items eight, A, B, or C? All right, moving now to item number nine. This is the consent calendar. All consent calendar items listed below may be acted upon with one vote unless specifically removed for separate consideration by a member of the board, a member of the staff, or a member of the public. Would anybody from the board like to remove an item? Anybody from the public like to remove an item? If not, we're voting on items 9A. nine a b and c multiple items there all right so i'll move to approve as submitted so we had a motion by director amabil and i believe the second by director pedroza before we call for the question would any members of the public like to comment on any of these items Not seeing one, bring it back to the dais. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to the Merced County Association of Governments, item 10, these are action items. Each item will be considered separately by the board. Public comment will be available during each item. 10A is to adopt the MCAG Other Programs Budget for Fiscal Year 26-27 with the current member due schedule. And we will go to NAV.

Good afternoon, directors. I'm going to let Renee Rees, my accounting manager, handle this item. It's for SAP development, so don't take it easy on me.

I was just going to say I'm not NAV. So this is an action item to adopt the FY2026-2027 MCAG Other Programs Budget. SO THE OTHER PROGRAM BUDGET FOR MCAG IS FOR ACTIVITIES THAT ARE NOT TRANSPORTATION PLANNING RELATED. SO THE KEY BUDGET PRIORITIES INCLUDE CONTINUING FUNDING FOR THE ONE VOICE PROGRAM AND PROVIDING ADMINISTRATIVE AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT FOR YARDS, TJPA AND REGIONAL WASTE OPERATIONS. IT SUPPORTS SAFE the Abandoned Vehicle Abatement Program, and Public Records Act, and the Freedom of Information Act activities. The proposed budget is balanced at $9.4 million, which is an increase of about $336,000 from prior year. The increase is primarily due to an increase in regional waste and SAFE funding. Regional Waste Administration and operational support remains the largest budget component at approximately $6.7 million. FOR THE BUDGET, 99% OF THE EXPENDITURES ARE FOR STAFF SALARIES, BENEFITS, AND INDIRECT COSTS. THE REMAINING 1% IS FOR DIRECT SERVICES AND MATERIALS. SO THE REQUESTED ACTION IS TO ADOPT MCAG OTHER PROGRAM BUDGET FOR FY2026-27. with the current membership to schedule. Does anybody have any questions?

All right. Does anybody have any questions? Not seeing any immediately. I will ask, does any member of the public have any questions on this item? Not seeing any. We'll bring it back to the dais.

Okay.

So we have a motion by Director Pedrozo, a second by the birthday boy, Director Cahill. All right, if there are no further questions or comments, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to, thank you, Renee. Item 10B, approve the congestion mitigation air quality and carbon reduction program project programming and adopt the resolution 2026. slash 06-18-02, approving 2025 Federal Transportation Improvement Program, FTIP Amendment Number 14, and we will go to Elizabeth.

Thank you, good afternoon. So this item seems a little long and complicated, but I'll try to put on my programming hat and explain things in a way that makes sense. So I did start the staff report with a couple of definitions of some of these terms we use all the time to kind of explain where we are. And not just for now, but just for your general understanding of the program and updates that we'll give going forward. So in these federal programs, we are given an apportionment. That's how much we're given per year. And for the CMAQ program, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality, it's about $4 million a year. SO WHEN WE APPROVE PROGRAMMING FROM THIS END, IT'S THE BOARD MAKING THE PROJECT SELECTION FOR THE PROGRAM AND THEN ASSIGNING FUNDING TO SPECIFIC PROJECTS. SO WE HAVE A LOT OF PROJECTS PROGRAMMED. THE NEXT STEP IS OBLIGATION SO IT'S WHEN A PROJECT GOES THROUGH CALTRANS AND GETS EVERYTHING IT NEEDS TO BE APPROVED AND BE AUTHORIZED TO SPEND THE FUNDS. THAT'S WHERE WE COME INTO, YOU KNOW, SOME DIFFICULTY, AND THAT'S KIND OF WHY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS TODAY. LAPSING, SO IF FUNDING IS NOT USED WITHIN THREE YEARS, WE LOSE IT. AND I MENTIONED THE STAFF REPORT, WE CAN EITHER USE IT, LOAN IT, OR LOSE IT. SO THOSE ARE OUR THREE OPTIONS. WE'RE NOT GOING TO LOSE IT BECAUSE I HOPE WE'LL USE IT OR WE'LL LOAN IT. And then the last thing is a rescission. You'll hear about that sometimes. It has happened. It happens a few times a decade where, you know, the administration or, you know, takes the funding back or ends a program or something like that. So that's kind of where we're at now. So you can go back one, Michael. Not quite ready. Almost. So at the moment, we have almost, we have about two and a half years of our apportionments. So we have a little bit over 9 million in our CMAQ program, and we get about four a year. And so we're on the, I call it the bad list. We're on the bad list where we have 1.3 million that will lapse at the end of the year if we don't use it. the end of the fiscal year at the end of the federal fiscal year which is in september 30th okay yes yes so it needs to be obligated by um september 30th and caltrans doesn't want to wait you know for us to submit projects until september 30th they want them now they take a couple months to review so that's where we are now we can loan those funds out to another agency and mcag has done it before and it's not uncommon What we talked about internally is, so we do have a lot of projects programmed. One of the issues, and I'll just report to the board, we work with Public Works. There's all kinds of issues that come up with projects, and I'm sure you all know that. One of our issues is that the projects fall behind, often. So that's where we end up with these holes, where we have funding and we don't have projects that are getting obligated. So first, we check in with all the agencies. Hey, we have a whole list of projects. Who's ready to go? Who can move something up? And we didn't have enough that could move up to use this funding that's at risk of lapsing so internally We released a call for projects. So this board approves a call for projects Procedure so we have policy scoring criteria and procedures typically we asked the board maybe released a call for projects in this case the I PUT STUFF OUT TO ALL THE AGENCIES SAYING THE BOARD HASN'T APPROVED THIS. THIS IS A STAFF PROPOSAL TO USE OUR FUNDS AND WE USE THE BOARD APPROVED PROCEDURES TO SELECT PROJECTS. SO THE CRITERIA FOR THIS WAS, HEY, WHO CAN GET A PROJECT IN BY AUGUST IS WHAT I WAS ASKING BECAUSE THEY NEED A COUPLE MONTHS TO REVIEW. WHO CAN GET A PROJECT IN BY AUGUST? WE DON'T WANT TO BE LOSING SOME FUNDS. I'VE BEEN FOCUSING ON C-MAC BECAUSE THAT'S A PROGRAM WHERE WE GET FUNDS EVERY SINGLE YEAR ROUTINELY, $4 MILLION. THERE'S ALSO A PROGRAM CALLED THE CARBON REDUCTION PROGRAM. IT'S KIND OF A ONE-TIME PROGRAM THAT WAS IN THE IJA BILL, INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT JOBS ACT. that probably won't continue in the future and that will probably be rescinded soon. So that one is like we're not on the list, but it's at risk because the administration doesn't love the program and it could be rescinded. I would say that it's at risk. So we did a quick call for projects with a quick turnaround with all the agencies. Can you go to the next slide, please, Michael? And so these are the projects that we received that could move forward by August for submittal. So you're not gonna see a new roundabout or a new bike path that's very complex, because they are. These are ones that can get in pretty quickly to use some of those funds. You'll see some street sweepers for three of the agencies, and also Gustine and Atwater each got street sweepers last year, so they already got one, maybe don't need one, or maybe another one at the moment. Because the street sweepers actually, you can't use more than $499,000 in federal funds on the sweepers. So it's still a significant cost to the agencies. So we have applications for three street sweepers. And the carbon reduction program has a pretty limited scope, a little bit limited for bike and ped. You can't do usually roundabouts and signals and things like that. It also has requirements for funding to be spent in areas with a population under 5,000. So that's where it's been hard for some of the agencies, if you imagine statewide, to give some of their money to areas with populations under 5,000. But the county did submit one for a plan that they could receive funding for, for Cressy and Belico. um so those are the projects that have been prepared and presented um in the ftip to be included uh this year to use some of those funds um so they don't lapse and also so that we don't have to loan them out which you know we could if we need to as i say it's not a yeah um would you mind going the next slide please um in addition so those that i just showed are part of the f-tip amendment that if you approve would be approved today and would be added to our list of projects we also got a request from gustine for original additional funding on a project that was approved years ago So if you can see on the slide, it was awarded $487,000. And I looked back, and the original application was in 2014. So they're getting ready to go out to bid and requesting an additional $464,000, because our new estimate is closer to a million than half a million. So they have requested additional funds, which this board can also also authorize if you so choose to. It's not part of the F tip, but it would be added on to an additional project. So that's part of the project selection part of the action here. And then I have a note that we did receive an application from Livingston, but it wasn't wouldn't be in time for this fiscal year. I think they said they could start it possibly in October. So I told them, you know, keep that application for for next time, but it can't be done within the scope of the call for projects that we put out. So what I'm recommending to the board is that is that you approve the four projects from the prior slide to be added to the CMAQ program and the additional funding of up to $464,000 for Gustine for their roundabout. We do have the funding available to do that. There aren't other projects on the list that would be bumped off the program or anything like that. None of them were ready to go. I ALSO WANT TO MENTION THAT I'M WORKING WITH SOME OF THE AGENCIES NOW TO TRY TO ACCELERATE SOME PROJECTS, SEE WHAT THEY CAN USE, WORKING WITH GUSTINE, WORKING WITH MERCED, LIKE A LOT OF THE AGENCIES. SO IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT'S, I KNOW, DIFFICULT SOMETIMES TO GET THROWN IN. YOU GUYS PROBABLY HEAR IT MORE THAN I DO ABOUT HOW HARD IT IS TO DO SOME OF THESE CAPITAL PROJECTS. SO THAT'S WHERE I'M AT. I'M HAPPY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS.

ANYBODY FROM THE BOARD HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AT THIS TIME?

Mr. Quick question. Tell me about this loan program. You said to other agencies. Which other agencies would that be and would they have to be combined within the guidelines of the CMAQ?

Sorry, what was the first part of your question?

When you said you can loan this money to other agencies, are you referring to other cogs or does it can be local money spelled out? I'm not sure how that would work.

Yeah, it would be to other MPOs. So there's 18 of us. It would be to Sacramento or Kern or somebody.

Not necessarily another city.

No, it has to go to an MPO. We've traded before with like Tulare County and whatnot, and we usually trade back in one or two years without interest is how it typically works.

Okay, thank you.

I don't see any other questions right now, so I will ask, is there any member of the public who wishes to comment on this item? Don't see anyone?

I just want to recognize Elizabeth. She really did a great job. This is a very, very, very complex item. And she somehow managed to make it make a lot of sense. So great job. I mean, the way you presented it today. But just I want to recognize that this has not been an easy, this has been very time consuming in trying to manage these project delays and not let money be lapsing for us and everything. So I just want to recognize, I know it's been a lot of work on your end. So I appreciate that.

Thank you. I said, oh my gosh, I'm so busy because you'll hear later we got the RTP out. And I was like, we could have just loaned this out, but I'm not going to let that happen if I can help it.

I'm pretty sure that's what I said, just loan it out. She's like, no, we're going to get a solution. And she did. So great job.

in the jurisdictions that obviously you did the reach out but stepping up and being able to spend some of this money so that we don't have to loan it out or ultimately lose it so if I don't see any other questions from the dice chair I'll entertain a motion So I have a motion by Director Perez, second by Director Samra to move forward with this item and amending 2025 FTIP amendment number 14 with the ones listed in the staff report with the additional 464,648 going to a project already approved in Gustine. All right, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? Not seeing one, the motion carries unanimously. Moving on to item 10b, this is authorized out-of-state travel for designated staff to attend the following, the 2025 Valley Voice Trip to Washington D.C., the Transportation Research Conference in Washington D.C., and the 2027 One Voice Trip to Washington D.C. Is that all of them? And yeah, that's it. All right, Rene, you're up.

Again, so this is an action item to authorize out-of-state travel for FY 2026-2027. So staff is requesting authorization for out-of-state travel for 2026-2027. It's for three travels. So one is the One Voice, which is an annual federal legislative advocacy trip to Washington, DC. And the key opportunities to elevate Merced County's priorities and secure funding for major transportation and infrastructure projects. And then the second trip is the Valley Voice. It's similar to the One Voice trip. It's organized in partnership with other regional transportation planning agencies and council of governments from San Joaquin Valley. And then the third trip is the Transportation Research Board Conference is an annual conference meeting that attracts thousands of transportation professionals around the world. The program covers all transportation modes with sessions and workshops addressing topics of interest. THESE TRAVEL REQUESTS WERE ANTICIPATED AND BUILT IN THE FY2026-27 BUDGET. SO NO ADDITIONAL FUNDING IS BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME. AND THEN THIS IS AN ACTION ITEM TO AUTHORIZE THE OUT OF STATE TRAVEL FOR THE THREE TRIPS. DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, RENEE. IF IT'S ALREADY BUILT IN THE BUDGETS, WHY ARE WE HAVING TO VOTE ON THIS ITEM?

because we want to make sure that you guys are authorizing us like the staff members and some of the boards and they're gonna be attending the trip and Thank you, I knew the answer to the question already.

The other budget has the one voice platform on there, so once that's approved, that's why we take all this at one time.

And the board authorizes the budget in lump sum for travel. When we formulated that travel budget number, it took into consideration that we would be asking for this, but we need board approval on any out of state travel.

Perfect, thank you. Any other questions from the dais? No, okay. Is there any members of the public who wish to comment on this item? Not seeing it, we'll bring it back to the board. Chair will entertain a motion.

Motion to approve.

Motion by Director Samra, second by Director Pacheco. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to item 10D is elect a chair and vice chair for fiscal year 26-27. Stacy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think everyone is familiar at this point with our chair rotation policy, but I'll try to keep it brief and I'll go back if you have any other questions. So we're at the time of year that we need to elect a new chair for the starting July 1 and a new vice chair. the chair election the chair rotation policy is a guidance document that ensures that there's a tracking of particularly the city chair positions to make sure that there is some kind of a rotation to ensure that all jurisdictions have an opportunity and that alternates with the county nominating a a person to fill the opposite so if we have a city chair we have a County vice chair and vice versa with chair Silvera's term ending at the end of this month we need to elect a new chairperson the history or the practice of the board would be to nominate and elect vice chair Sam Ra to serve as the chair in the coming year and then the county so I specifically say the county because it's not an MCG board decision to identify the county supervisor to fill the vice chair role it would be among the county supervisors to make that decision. So the motion is to nominate and elect Vice Chair Samra representing the city of Livingston to serve as the chairperson starting July 1, 2026, and to nominate and elect a director representing the county of Merced to serve as vice chair.

Before we entertain any nominations, does any members of the public wish to comment on this item? Not seeing anyone. Director Pejoso?

Yeah, are we gonna nominate chair and vice chair at the same time? Okay, I'd like to nominate Director Samra as chair and Director Pacheco as vice chair. Second.

So we have a motion by Director Pedrozo to nominate Director Samra as chair, Director Pacheco as vice chair. We have a second by Director Pereira. Any other comments? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Congratulations, all right moving on item 11. This is discussion items These items will be presented separately Will these items will be presented separately in order to allow board members to ask questions or to provide staff direction? And we will go to item 11 a this is the draft 2026 regional transportation plan and sustainable community strategies And we're gonna go to a little it says Elizabeth and Meg, but I don't see make up here. So it's just gonna be Elizabeth. I

IF YOU HAVE HARD QUESTIONS, I'LL CALL HER UP.

OKAY.

YOU CAN CALL HER UP. OKAY. SO OUR 2020 SENSE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN, FONDLY KNOWN AS RRTP, IS ON OUR WEBSITE AND OUT FOR PUBLIC REVIEW NOW. WE DO THIS, WE UPDATE THIS PLAN EVERY FOUR YEARS. THE COMMENT PERIOD IS THROUGH JULY 1. ALSO EARLIER THIS WEEK, I THINK YESTERDAY, OR TUESDAY, OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT WAS ALSO RELEASED. YOU CAN FIND THAT AS WELL. IT IS THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE RTP. ON JULY 1ST, WE WILL BE RELEASING OUR FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, THE F-TIP WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT, AND OUR AIR QUALITY CONFORMITY DOCUMENT. as we talked about internally.

Elizabeth, just one second. I just want to once again let the record reflect that Director Cahill's birthday is today and he has to leave the meeting just a tad bit early. So happy birthday, John. Happy birthday.

You should have sang the song.

I know. Yeah, all right. Yeah, all right. Sorry, Elizabeth, for the interruption. Please continue.

So, yeah, so I was updating you on the really great documents we have out for some light reading. We discussed that this morning. Our air quality document is very hard to read. But those are all out. They're super important, of course. The RTP more so for the public. It's a document that explains everything that we plan to do between now and 2049. And our federal partners, of course, are looking really closely at our programming documents and our air quality documents. WE HAVE TWO PUBLIC HEARINGS THAT ARE PLANNED IN JULY. ONE OF THEM WILL BE HERE AT OUR JULY BOARD MEETING AND THE OTHER WILL BE IN LOS BANAS ON THE 13th AT 530, YES, 530 AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER IN LOS BANAS. OUR PUBLIC NOTICES, I'M GOING TO STEAL SOME OF STACEY'S THUNDER MAYBE OR MAYBE YOU CAN SAY IT LATER. OUR PUBLIC NOTICES NOTE THAT WE EXPECT TO ADOPT THE DOCUMENTS ON AUGUST 20TH AT THIS BOARD MEETING. IT HAS BEEN JUST A WILD TIME WITH AIR QUALITY ISSUES WITH EPA, WITH THE AIR RESOURCES BOARD. IT'S BEEN REALLY WILD. I WILL SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVEN'T DIRECTLY HAD ISSUES IN MERCED COUNTY BUT WE ARE TIED TO THE OTHER SEVEN COUNTIES IN OUR AIR BASIN. So if anyone fails We're all in trouble in that way. And so we have you know some MPOs failing on this polluted and some on that and so we have a consultant and a good team that we've been working with EPA to try to come up with fixes There's all these things. Can we revise the budget? Can we get a delay on this? I mean, there's all these things we've been working on and uh right now um we're a little bit up in the air between two options um and we don't know how fast epa will act on the 2008 ozone budgets for us i mean i know it's a mess and we're always trying to figure it out long story short is it may not be possible to adopt august 20th and we must adopt by September 30th. So Stacey might be talking about that, how we about, we do have a September meeting scheduled and we know it's difficult to attend, but it might be required and not because we necessarily want to, but we may have to.

let's just keep it I'll do it now quickly you should still have the September board meeting we typically we have been going dark because it's a big conflict for the county supervisors I believe but we held on to it and we didn't take it off your calendar for this exact potential which we didn't think was really going to be necessary but it may so it's on your calendar we if we cannot if the if EPA does not act and we can adopt in August we must have even if it's just a one item board meeting, but we have to meet in September. We're gonna try really hard not to do that, but it's really outside our control. So just know that that's where we sit on September and we'll have more to come.

me we're trying we're seeing okay in August can we have two resolutions or have one saying contingent on this or contingent on that but we may not be allowed to do that and we might need to just wait and see the EPA resolution before we can adopt but we'll definitely keep you updated and like I said hearings next month and everything's posted online so you can send us comments or I'm happy to take any questions anybody have any questions for Elizabeth

All right, thank you for the update. All right, Measure V expenditure update, Stacy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is your six-month progress report on expenditures. There's not a lot to report, so I'll just go quickly. Next slide, please. This is the east side region. So this is just your regional projects just to read just to kind of get you back reoriented to this massive document This is tracking progress on expenditures for already programmed regional projects. This is the east side You on column a you're seeing what is programmed to like available to them through the end of this fiscal year so it's an accumulation of funds that are available and The column B in red is what has been expended through March 31st of 2026, because we're always a few months behind in terms of our reporting. And then so you take A minus B, and that gives you the balance of funds that are sitting there available to those projects. C is if a project has funding that is coming, that is either next fiscal year or later. that isn't available to them, but it's important to note, and then you see the total of the measure funds at the far right column. So if you go down the rows, if it has a red tag, it means there's been no progress on expenditures since the last update, which was in December, and that was through October of 2025. IF YOU SEE GREEN, IT'S BECAUSE THERE'S A VERY REASONABLE, LIKE, IT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT TO PUT A RED MARKER ON THE COUNTY BECAUSE WE KNOW PROGRESS IS, I MEAN, THERE'S AN EXPLANATION. WE KNOW IT'S AROUND THE CORNER. IT'S KIND OF GOING AS PLANNED. um and also for livingston because in the 2025 plan that we just got adopted they have moved their funding out and we know that that transit center funding now is going to be moved out so there there wasn't anticipated any activity for that project so um the bottom line on the east side the progress over the last six months in terms of expenditures across all projects was forty seven thousand two hundred and eighty three dollars Let's go, and then there are closeout projects. These are just gonna be a running list of projects that have closed out and there was no change in the last six months. on the west side similarly going down the rows gustine has a green flag even though it hadn't spent any funds that project is um in the current plan that just got adopted that project is being deprogrammed so and those funds were moved to a different project so we didn't expect that and then the other on Hunt Road is that original scope of work was completed but we were waiting for the implementation plan to allocate additional funding that is allowing the county to expand the scope of that project so all other red flags are indicating where projects have not made progress in terms of now you might have made progress you have not submitted reimbursements in the to us in the last six months But for what we're reporting here, it's all the same. But what you do see on the west side is a change over the last six months in the amount of $1,338,783. And then you have two projects that were moved over to the closed out list on the west side. That was the Das Palace Blossom Street East project and then the Palm Avenue Rehab project. Those were moved over to close out, so we have a greater number, almost $14 million in closed out projects there. And then we do have this outlier that's way out, or it's not so far out anymore, but a future project that isn't captured in any of those for the ingomar grade and it's waiting for its money um soon in another year and that is the update for expenditures any questions questions for stacy on this okay all right thank you appreciate the update we're going to move on to the tjpa

12, these are action items. Action items will be considered separately by the board. Public comment will be available during each item. 12A is to adopt the fiscal year 26-27 operating in capital budgets and authorize the executive director's budget authority for the maintenance equipment budget line item in the amount not to exceed 1.1 million. And we will go to NAV.

Thank you. For your recommendation for adoption for FY26-27 TJPA operational budget and capital, the operating capital increased by $765,000, which is a 4.6% increase. The increase is basically of fuel, operational maintenance costs, and insurance. THIS SLIDE RIGHT HERE IS OUR OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURES. AS YOU CAN SEE OUR OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE WENT UP BY $345,000 ALONG WITH FUEL THAT WENT UP BY $753,000 WHICH INCLUDES THE TOTAL INCREASE OF $765,000 FOR OUR EXPENDITURES. Our revenues, we saw a decrease in our 5307, which is our urban funding, but we did see an increase in our 5311, which is our rural transit funding, and we did see a decrease in our STA funds, but overall, we do have a balanced budget in this year's for operation. Any question on the operation budget? moving on to our capital budget um these are our carrier projects from fiscal year 26 27 we have bus stop installation we have um technically the bus head sign is currently being replaced hopefully they'll all be replaced by the end of the year and then we do have a replacement of seven transfer vehicles in the original last year's budget we put there were uh plug-in electric we're able to convert those to hybrid we should be receiving those vehicles in august september of next fiscal year and then we'll also be looking at some four electric micro transit buses along with replacing five diesel clean buses and then looking at some electric infrastructure charging for our facilities and also looking at some sb 125 projects as well and we are going to be replacing our parking lot rehab in the next fiscal year as well. When we move to the 26, 27 new projects, there was one change from last month's draft budget to the adoption. We are also adding one additional hydrogen bus. The CMAX funds are $1.6 million, along with a potential $135,000 of HVIP. And then we are looking to purchase a property along with do some rehab on the property. and then purchased four cutaways in the amount of $866,000. We were able to receive a grant of 5310 to purchase those vehicles and also looking to purchase a service truck with Tommy Liftgate. Any questions? Oh, the last thing. We did get our hydrogen trailer in this week. So we're going to go through our permitting process with the city. That is very extensive. You're going to have to have the fire department do some testing. And so the goal is to have this operational in late summer, early fall when we get our demo bus. So once we get this up and running, we'll invite the board to take a look at it and be in good times. So any questions?

Are there any questions for Nav? Director McDaniel.

I was gonna say, what he should probably do is locate that bus in the castle, the trailer, so Cal Fire can inspect it.

We can. I mean, we just need a semi-truck to pull it. I know people that have semi-trucks.

I figured. All right, I don't see any questions right now. Is there any members of the public that wish to comment on this item? Not seeing anyone, we'll bring it back to the dais. If there are no questions, further questions for NAV on the TJPA budget, Chair would entertain a motion. So I have a motion by Pedroza, a second by Samara. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Moving on to item 12B, this is adopt a resolution number 26 slash 06 dash 18 dash 01 authorizing funding under FTA section 5311F 49 USC section 5311 with the California Department of Transportation and then we will again go to NAV. that was supposed to be part of the previous item so okay well I didn't do I did not introduce it that way so I looked at the same thing right now is there any members of the public who wish to comment on this item see anyone any members of the board wish to comment not I have a motion by Director Pereira, a second by Director Samra. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. There are no discussion items. We're gonna move into Merced County Regional Waste Management Authority. These are Act 14 is action items. Action items will be considered separately by the board. Public comment will be available during each item. We're going to go to 14A, which is to adopt the fiscal year 26-27 operating capital and fleet budgets and authorize the executive director's budget authority for the equipment maintenance slash repair budget line item for fiscal year 26-27 in an amount not to exceed $968,500. And again, we will go to NAV. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

THIS IS REGIONAL WASTE AMENDMENT AUTHORITIES OPERATING CAPITAL AND FLEET BUDGET. LAST MONTH WE TALKED ABOUT DECREASE IN TONNAGES ALONG WITH THE REVENUES DECREASING. BUT JUST TO GIVE THE BOARD MEMBERS ANOTHER SLAPSHOT, 87% OF RWA'S REVENUE DOES COME FROM TIPPING FEES WHICH IS THE GATE FEES ALONG WITH THE JURISDICTIONAL RATES WE CHARGE. 12% is organic processing, which is a pass-through cost. And then the remaining 1% are grant and interest and other sales that we do when we sell dirt, clean concrete, whatever that we do. But that's that 1%. uh moving on to the revenues um revenues we see a 4.6 million dollar decrease which is a 17 percent decrease in our revenue the decrease is driven by outer county waste and rising fuel costs as we know there's been some change in the last this week but we haven't seen any increase in Waste coming in yet so we'll monitor that as we go along but any additional revenue that we do get will go into our future capital or fleet budget. Yes.

I JUST WANT TO SAY ONE THING THAT THE DECREASE IN THE OUT OF COUNTY WASTE, I MEAN, WE HAVE AT THE BOARD'S DIRECTION OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, I MEAN, WE'RE PREPARING FOR THE POINT WHERE WE'LL NO LONGER HAVE BOND DEBT AND THAT HAS BEEN THE DIRECTION WE'VE BEEN GIVEN FROM THIS BOARD WAS TO START TO I'LL SAY WEAN OFF OF THAT IMPORTATION REVENUE AND SO IT'S NOT ALL THAT. THAT HAS BEEN AN ONGOING THING THAT JAMES HAS BEEN GREAT WITH HIS TEAM AND MAKING MINOR ADJUSTMENTS WITH NAV ON IMPORTATION AGREEMENTS, MAKING SURE THOSE RATES ARE GETTING UP TO AN APPROPRIATE LEVEL, THOSE TYPES OF THINGS. I JUST WANT TO CALL THAT OUT THAT SOME OF THAT CAN BE, YOU KNOW, ATTRIBUTED TO THOSE EFFORTS AT THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD.

We have raised the rates for haulers by 30% since 2023. But, you know, fuel is one of the driving factors and rates. We are also looking at paying off the debt next year's fiscal year, 26, 27. So that would be going forward in 27, 28, we'll see a $2 million less expenditure. ON OUR EXPENDITURES, WE SAW $898 INCREASE, 5% INCREASE. $513,000 IS ASSOCIATED WITH ORGANIC WASTE TRANSFER AND PASS THROUGH JURISDICTIONS. 83% OF THE OPERATING EXPENSES IS MADE UP OF SALARIES, EQUIPMENT, MAINTENANCE, FUEL, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND SOLID WASTE. WHEN WE TALK ABOUT IT'S HIGHLIGHTED IN GREEN IS WHAT MAKES UP THE 83% OF THE BUDGET. INSURANCE HAS GONE UP. EQUIPMENT AND MAINTENANCE REPAIRS ALONG WITH IT SERVICES, WE ARE GOING TO BE LOOKING AT REPLACING THE SERVER NEXT YEAR. AND SPECIAL DEPARTMENT EXPENSES IS We have to pay a fee for the airspace that we use. So the more airspace or the fees will go up because we also have received some violations this year because of our gas maintaining system. We're not... is it is it exceeding our tonnage permitted tonnage amounts I had those fees where we got a violation from the air just show the air just okay the okay yes and and those come to the board when we when we get them yeah and then we do see an increase in electric electricity cost we are going to be installing a footer system at our Billy Wright landfill as well when we talk about The recapping of our operation, $21 million of revenues, $17 million of operating expense, which gives us a gain or loss of operating income of $4 million. Then the $4 million, then we pay about $2.2 million of our... bond debt which will be paid off next year fifteen thousand dollars when we say fixed assets those those will be any computers or any that anything that's outside of our regular purchase and then we the remaining 1.7 million dollars we will be transferred to either our fleet or our CIP budget will do that at the end of next next fiscal year So fleet replacement, we're going to be looking at replacing a D6 track dozer. We're going to be looking at repairing, rebuilding a motor grader along with a D8 dozer. We're going to be looking to purchase a tart machine with tart machine spools. There is no new CIP projects in the next budget. here sorry this is a little bit small but these are all the cip projects that have been encumbered since the board from this board we have 42 million dollars of authorized projects we have about 20 million dollars remaining of encumbered projects for rwa To recap, $21 million revenues, $17 million operating expense, and the remaining $4 million will get our debt service and capital transfers. Our fleet budget, we will be spending about $1.5 million, and then no new CIP projects for fiscal year 26-27. So any questions?

All right. Does anybody have questions for Nav on this item? Is there any members of the public who wish to comment on this item? I'm not seeing anyone. We'll bring it back to the dais. Chair will entertain a motion.

So moved.

I've got Director Reed in as the first and Pedrozo as the second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Item 14B is to authorize the out-of-state travel for designated staff to attend the following. The Archon Annual Solid Waste Association of North America Conference in St. Louis. The Waste Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

and we'll go to nav thank you chair um solid waste association is uh swana as you guys hear once in a while is this this archon is a conference that everybody in the in the nation gets together for this they all get around and just talk about trash um so But they bounce off ideas, what kind of technology they're using for collecting the gas or how they compress trash. So we send staff out there to build relationships, also learn new technologies and skills. And then WasteCon is a solid waste recycling, organic food waste recovery trade show in Las Vegas, which is... It's all the vendors that come out for the waste field. You got Caterpillar, and you have our scale softwares. Everybody just comes out and demonstrates their software for the landfill. So these are the two out-of-state travel that's going to be happening for our RWA staff. The travel was already included in our budget that was adopted the last item. So any questions?

all right any questions for now on this item and i would open up any of any directors are insured interested in any of these conferences please let us know i like places where they sit around talk trash that's always fun all right Is there any members of the public who wish to comment on this item? I'm not seeing anyone. We'll bring it back to the dice. Chair will entertain a motion.

Move to approve.

We have a motion by Amabile, a second by Reed. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Are there any opposed? The motion carries unanimously.

right there are no discussion items we will go to item number 16 this is the executive director's report we'll go to stacy thank you mr chair just want to let everyone know that we have our free fair july coming up no cap uh look at our find our find our billboard you'll see michael gets credit for that um but uh so for the entire month of july uh it's fair it's free fares on the bus it's So if you don't have the flyers and you would like to share them on social media, contact whoever, me, Nav, Mary Michael, we'll get those to you. But spread the word. It's a great time for people to try it out if they haven't yet. Also, I want to, I believe, and I didn't run this by James, that it's National Waste and Recycling Workers Week. yes okay good so we I think it's important that we recognize our waste management professionals who keep our communities clean safe and sustainable so if you know a waste or recycling worker James nav practically at this point he's at the landfill so much but I saw John Costa here earlier so just say thank you shake a hand take a picture put it on social something so thank you guys Yeah, wash your hands afterwards. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. You should do that anyway with anybody I also want to mention on the waste on RWA side that the Deadline to apply for the integrated waste management local task force was extended to June 30. So that information is available Please if you know anyone that's interested Send them our way or to our website to apply and I also want to make OOPS, SHARE THAT WE WERE RECOGNIZED BY THE CENTRAL SECTION WITH AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE UNDER THE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AWARD CATEGORY FOR OUR MR. MAP PROJECT, WHICH IS THE MERCED REGIONAL MULTIMODAL ACCESS PLAN. THE CENTRAL SECTION OF THE APA IS LIKE AN 11 COUNTY REGION, SO IT'S FRESNO, INYO, KERN, KINGS, MEDERA, MARIPOSA, MERCED, MONO, and to larry and tuolumne counties and so our team was recognized uh by the central valley chapter for uh this project that and and they noted i have their whole commentary i won't read but talking about how the the project had clear next steps strong regional collaboration IT WAS DEVELOPED WITH BROAD COMMUNITY INPUT, PROVIDES STRATEGIC PATH FORWARD TO DELIVER LONG-LASTING BENEFITS FOR COMMUNITIES ACROSS MERCED COUNTY. AND IT DID IDENTIFY 18 NEW MULTIMODAL PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE AREA. SO JUST A REALLY GREAT PROJECT. SO I DO WANT TO RECOGNIZE MEG PRINCE. SHE WAS THE PROJECT LEAD FOR THIS. SO CONGRATULATIONS, MEG, AND TO THE WHOLE TEAM. WELL DONE. AND WE HAVE A FANCY PLAQUE. No check. I think they want us to send them a check. No. And then lastly, I just want to remind folks that our city county dinner MCAG is hosting. It'll be immediately after the July 16th board meeting at Hill Marchese.

Thank you. All right. Director's report. Director Ford. Director Samra.

Yeah, Tuesday we passed our budget and one of the most exciting things we passed was we finally funded and approved the wind Parkway extension from the street to the street so no longer and it'll continue in fact all those large in life cut out and other stuff sorry been moved we're just waiting for PG&E and then we're going to be completed by the end of the year.

Well, you said you're waiting for PG&E, so I don't know.

Well, the good thing is there's a self-help project going on right there, so they're already there, so it was perfect timing.

Perfect. All right, Director Pedroza, Director Serrato, Director Pereira.

Yeah, well, hey, thank you for, I won't be able to make the city county dinner, unfortunately, but thank you for hosting it in District 4, and I'll send a bottle of wine.

right to my table yeah okay right director amabil director oh i didn't see you back there director mcdaniel thank you sorry council anything

No, I just want to say congratulations to Director Samra and Director Pacheco is not here as they will be taking over next month. And with that, our, oh yeah, SB 707, isn't it? Okay, very good. We're going to ask all of you that are not involved in closed session, if you could leave the room, we'll go into closed session. The public will be provided an opportunity to comment on any matter to be considered in closed session prior to the board adjourning into closed session. Would any members of the public wish to comment on this item? And this is conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. Okay, now if you have no business with this item, we'll ask you to step outside.

It is.

Recording in progress. All right, we have now come out of closed session. Staff was given direction, and we are now adjourned, and it is at 5.04. Thank you.