Good morning everybody and thank you for joining us today. It's uh May 6th,
2026. Uh it's about 10 a.m. So I'm gonna go ahead and call the board of directors meeting to order
for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and San Bernardino Council of
Governments. Uh today the board will be acting in the capacity of both entities therefore
each board member will be entitled to receive $100 stipend for doing business as the authority
and $100 stipend for doing businesses to cog. At this time uh we're gonna adjourn the closed
That's probably what you notice everyone is left.
So today in closed session we have a public employee
performance evaluation conference with labor negotiator
as well as conference with legal counsel
regarding anticipated litigation.
Are there any members of the public
that would like to speak on any closed session item?
I see none, so at this time I'm gonna recess
to closed session, we'll be back shortly, thank you.
So good morning and thanks again for joining us
and waiting for us to return from closed session.
At this time, reporting out of closed session,
We have no reportable action on any item
on the agenda today.
So at this time, we'll go ahead and convene our meeting
and thanks again for being here.
So I'd like to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance
and I'd ask Joe Baca, Sr. to please lead us.
Thank you, sir.
Next, ask the clerk for attendance, please.
When I call your jurisdiction, please state your name.
Adelanto.
Gabriel Reyes.
Apple Valley.
Art Bishop.
Barstow.
Tim Silva.
Big Bear Lake.
Rick Herrick.
Chino.
Eunisha Wilhel.
Chino Hills.
Ray Marquez.
Colton.
Frank Nomaro.
Fontana.
Fontana is, she's stepped away.
Grand Terrace.
Hysparia.
Not present.
Highland.
Larry McKellen.
Loma Linda.
Ovi Popescu.
Montclair.
John Trigg.
Needles.
Janet Turnigan.
Ontario.
Dylan Walker.
Rancho Cucamonga.
Lynn Kennedy.
Redlands.
Mario Saucedo.
Rialto.
Jobakah Present.
San Bernardino.
Helen Tran.
Thank you.
29 Palms.
Dan Mintz.
Upland.
Rudy Zuniga.
Victorville.
Robert.
Eukipa.
Judy Wolsey.
Yucca Valley.
Rick Dennison.
County Supervisors, First District, Not Present.
Second District.
Robert Harris Present.
Third District.
Rowel Present.
Court District.
Clerk Action.
Fifth District.
June your present and our Caltrans ex-officio representative Catalina
Penning thank you and city of Fontana is now with us thank you we have a quorum
thank you very much stop a few important announcements to make first do the
schedule conflict with the city-county conference next week the Metro Valley
Study Session and the Mountain Desert Policy committee meetings will be
cancelled for this month next the transit committee meeting will take place
on, as scheduled on Thursday, May 14th at 9 a.m. Here's another exciting one, an
annual event, Hawaiian Shirt Day. It's that time of year, so once again, reminder
that Hawaiian Shirt Day is coming up next month, so join in. They always
decorate the place pretty festive. So, if you wear your best Hawaiian Shirt during
the board, June board meeting, the board member with the best shirt will win a
I don't know what it is yet, mystery, I believe.
So now we're going to move on to what all the members were working on a few minutes
or before the meetings was our subarea caucuses to select members
to the nominating committee.
So I'm pleased to announce the results of the subarea caucuses to select members to serve
on the nominating committee that selects candidates for the office of board president
and vice president for the 2026-2027 term.
So the four areas first, the East Valley will be represented by Hyland,
Larry McCollum, Yucaipa, Judy Wolsley.
For the West Valley, representing will be Chino Hills, Ray Marquez,
and Ontario, Alan Wopner.
For the Mountain Desert area representing Apple Valley, Art Bishop,
and Yucca Valley, Rick Dennison.
And representing the county will be Supervisor Don Rao.
So thank you for your time and participation in the caucus.
So do we have any agenda notices or modifications?
I have none.
All right, thank you.
And public comments, so we'll open it up.
It's your time as public attending.
Do you have any comments on any item on the agenda?
Seeing none, thank you.
So conflict of interest, any board members,
if you have not already done so, please
notify the clerk of any conflict of interest you may have.
So we'll start off first with our informational items,
informational items are items 2 through 10 on your agenda today, informational
items don't require a vote. These are receiving file items that are routine and
non-controversial and with that we're going to move on to our consent agenda
items. That'll be items 7 through 26. First to the public, thank you. We have a move by
Hagman, a second by Navarro. I'd like to give the public an opportunity to speak on
any item on the consent agenda. Seeing none, we have a motion and a second. All in
favor? Opposed? Abstentions? Thank you. The consent calendar passes
unanimously. All right, we'll move on to our discussion items. Our first one is
agenda item number 27 and update on the FSP program and 2025 SSP driver
recognition awards and Rihanna Semen is up and I did see all of the FSP people
there. Thank you very much. Good morning Mr. President and board members. I am here today to
give you an update on the freeway service patrol program and our 2025 driver recognition awards.
Since its launch in 2006 our program has assisted more than 1 million motorists in need. FSP drivers
provide rapid safety focus support on our highways offering services such as tire changes, jumpstarts,
fuel assistance, lookout help, driver safety checks, etc. The work keeps traffic moving,
improves motorist safety, and ensures our freeway operating efficiently. In 2025 alone, our FSP
drivers assisted more than 47,000 stranded motorists across San Bernardino County. Nearly
The 1000 motorists responded to our SEDS fashion survey
with 96% rating their experience as excellent or good.
An outstanding reflection of the professionalism
and dedication shown by our drivers every day.
For the past 13 years, SPCTA has proudly recognized drivers
who exemplify exceptional services, safety,
and commitment to our community.
This year, drivers were honored at the March 2nd
in March 16, 2025 quarterly meetings
in partnership with California Highway Patrol
and the adult drug leadership.
Our 2025 FSP driver recognition award recipients are
top driver, John Materne.
Unfortunately, John couldn't be here with us today,
but he's with Pepe Stowing for 14 years of service,
2,572 assists.
Our driver of excellence, Jose Lopez,
with royal coaches towing,
two years of service, 2,827 Ss.
Thank you Jose.
Our, yeah, we can do that.
Our driver of excellence, Nicholas Farias,
Pomona Valley towing, eight years of service, 2,125 Ss.
People's Choice Award, and this is not the first time,
this is his fourth time, I think,
Dominic Cloy, Royal Coaches towing,
three years of service, 2,472 assists.
Our Rookie of the Year, Joryelle Serrano,
Royal Coaches, seven months of service, 2,459 assists.
These drivers represent the very best of the FSP program.
their dedication, professionalism, and commitment
to public safety, public service,
make meaningful difference for thousands of motorists
each year.
We extend our sincere appreciation
to those outstanding individuals
and all of our FSP drivers in San Bernardino County.
Thank you, this is all.
If you have any questions, I'm ready to answer.
Thank you very much for the presentation.
It's always a great sight to see help
when help's needed.
And I know all of you have seen you in service
on our freeways in our area.
So thank you for day after day, night after night,
keeping us safe, keeping the public safe.
It's a big deal.
I'd like to, do we have any public comments on this item?
Seeing none, any questions from the board members?
All right, well, thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
Appreciate it.
Okay, we'll move on to agenda item number 28
is our fiscal year 2026, 2027,
proposed SBCTA and SB COG budget workshop
and adoption of SBCCOG budget.
Lisa Lazar will be presenting.
Good morning President Denison and board members.
The recommendations include receiving
the budget action plan and presentation
on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget
in conjunction with the budget workshop.
Additionally, to adopt the San Bernardino
Council of Governments budget
that has $9.4 million in appropriations,
transfers in of 119,000,
transfers out of 100 or excuse me,
586,000 estimated revenues at 9.4 million
and use of carry over fund balance of 418,000.
New revenues for the fiscal year
estimated to be around 1.1 billion
and are comprised mainly of intergovernmental
Measure I and local transportation funds.
Intergovernmental revenues include federal, state,
and local project reimbursements.
The use of carryover fund balance
from prior years is roughly 364 million.
Proposed appropriations for next year
are estimated at 1.46 billion.
And as with prior years,
The three main programs are transit, project delivery,
and fund administration, which represents 93.4%
of total appropriations.
Major construction projects include US-395 widening,
Cedar Avenue and Mount Vernon interchanges,
as well as the I-10 express lanes contract two
and the I-15 contract one.
Transit includes fueling infrastructure
for the arrow maintenance facility West Valley connector the
procurement of the zero emission multiple units as well as facilitating the
Brightline West high desert stations
transfers out
total 104 million and include
debt service and funding of the internal indirect fund as well as
reimbursements for transit administration
administration in various capital projects
Excuse me. I'm stumbling on my words today
And there is no cash flow borrowing estimated for fiscal year 27
The indirect fund is pretty consistent with prior year
total
appropriations of ten point six million
And the funding sources are listed here, and they're consistent with prior years
the indirect fund does not
fund any project expenditures
Staffing overview we remain at
87 total full-time equivalent positions with
Elimination of a vacant management analyst one and fund administration
the addition of an express lanes project manager upgrade of the
procurement manager from a range 25 to 27 for expanded scope of duties
upgrade of the energy program manager from range 21 to 22 for increased responsibilities
reclassification of to management analyst one to management analyst two and
project delivery and in fund administration
classification of three management analysts to two management analysts three in
air quality express lanes and management services and then finally the downgrade of the air
cheap of air quality and mobility programs to air quality mobility program manager due to
modified responsibilities
budget also includes
allowance for up to a 5% merit increase and a 3% cost of living and up to
$2,000 for increased medical premium subsidies
reserves
per policy measure I reserves are set at 20% of the estimated revenue and our total roughly
32.1 million
For a transportation development act the reserves are set at 10% of revenues and total 17.2 million
Indirect reserves are for emergencies and capital projects and are $890,000.
New this year, our reserves related to the TIFIA loan and include the Measure I Backstop
and cash supplement and total $4.9 million.
The proposed budget, as presented, is balanced, and appropriations are covered by new revenues
or carryover fund balances.
Next month at the June board meeting, staff will request the adoption of the fiscal year
for the June 2027 budget.
Also presented at the June meeting will be the resolution
for appropriations limit due
to information being unavailable until mid-May.
This concludes my presentation.
I'm happy to address any questions.
Thank you, Lisa, for the presentation.
Open it up to public comment on this item.
Seeing none, bring it back to board members.
Any comments or questions for the present?
All right.
Thank you very much.
item D on the recommendation. Yes. I'll move item D on the recommendation. All right Larry
McCollum moves the item and seconded by Hegman. All right thank you. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?
Abstentions? Thank you very much. The item passes unanimously. Our next item is item number 29.
First reading the measure I ordinance number 26-1 and expenditure plan and Oda Square will be
presenting thank you thank you mr. chair members of the board well today marks a
significant milestone in our path toward the renewal of this very critical
funding source for transportation improvement throughout the county we've
now achieved the approval of the member agencies of our expenditure plan which
is a statutory requirement to advance this process along today's item will
serve as the first reading of Measure I 3.0 and we'll conclude with the Board's second
reading and final adoption at the June 3rd Board meeting next month.
Despite this exceptional milestone being reached, there's still quite a bit of work to do and
we're appreciative of all of the work being done both in the field by our stakeholders
as well as our board members here
in advancing the knowledge and education
to the represented areas of our county
about the significance of Measure I
and its contributions to transportation improvement.
What started out as a workshop in 2022, believe it or not,
talking about what's next for SBCTA
has now resulted in a lot of work with the ad hoc committees,
with staff, with city managers, and with member agencies,
and I just want to take a minute to thank everyone,
the ad hoc committees for their time,
city managers, the jurisdictions,
for their time and attention to this important funding source,
and we're ready to advance and move forward.
So I will save you the benefit of reading
through the entire ordinance,
but I'll let this serve with the approval today.
We'll conclude the first reading.
We'll move to the second reading and adoption in June.
And then following that, we will request
that the County Board of Supervisors
place the initiative on the ballot for November.
And I'm happy to take any questions.
Well, thank you for the presentation notice and the update.
Very big moment for the agency.
I appreciate the hard work.
Any questions from the public on this item?
Seeing none, I do see back here, our Bishop, please.
Thank you very much. I want to congratulate this entire body and Otis and all the staff for all
the hard work that's gone into this. I have a quick question for Otis but I would like to make
the motion for the approval because this is going to be the future and forever because we're going
to eliminate the sunset clause, the future of San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.
But real quick on this, what is the cost, our cost
to put this on the ballot?
I'll have to check into that.
I don't know that we bear any costs,
because once we request the Board of Supervisors
place it on the ballot, it becomes a campaign program
that's going to be operated by i.e.
moves in that separate entity.
So they'll be responsible for making sure
it's placed on the ballot, who are the statement
representatives, things of that sort.
And then we have a statement in support on our,
on the ballot on, from the County Register,
San Antonio County Transportation Authority
will put that statement together.
I'll have to check if that's something that we can do.
I know we can educate the public
on the benefits of Measure I,
whether or not we can do that, I don't know.
Okay, thank you.
Confirm that though.
I'll move the item.
All right, thank you, Orton.
We have a second by Dutre.
And so, I was gonna second it and echo the sentiment
from our Bishop about Otis' hard work.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate that, but I do wanna say it's a team effort.
We have a great team that's put this together,
so thank you.
Thank you.
All right, any other member comments, questions?
So we have a move by Bishop, second by Marquez.
Oh, yes, Member McCollum.
Just to clarify, we cannot, as individual,
as elected officials, campaign for this,
We cannot campaign for it, we can only educate.
Thank you.
Public funds cannot be used to campaign for it.
What you do on your own time is your choice.
But as an elected official, we can't campaign for it.
You cannot expend public funds in campaigning.
that's that's what the statute says. Thank you. All right thank you. I see no other comments
or questions so we have it moved by Bishop was it second by Detroit. All right thank you all in
favor. Opposed extensions thank you. The item passes unanimously. So we still got Otis up there
excellent this agenda item number 30. This is the I-15 coalition update. Yes sir.
Thank you Mr. Chair, members of the board. Today's item provides a high level overview
of proposed I-15 corridor project concept being advanced by rebuild SoCal
partnerships. Just as a reminder the rebuild SoCal partnership is a
California-based coalition of infrastructure advocates from business,
labor industry stakeholders who are focused on advancing transportation, good movement,
housing, water, and energy infrastructure improvements throughout Southern California.
As the board is aware, Interstate 15 is one of the most important transportation corridors
in San Bernardino County and the western part of the United States.
It serves as an interstate commerce, goods movement, tourism, and regional travel while
supporting daily commuter traffic through the Cajon Pass.
The Rebuild SoCal introduced a project concept
for safety and operational improvements along I-15
north of Barstow to the Nevada state line,
and in 2024 commissioned a traffic data analysis
and technical report which is attached to this item.
It's important to note that the corridor experiences
very different operational conditions
depending on its location.
South of Barstow, particularly through the Cajon Pass,
I-15 experiences recurring weekday congestion,
safety concerns, and weather-related delays.
North of Barstow, congestion and safety concerns
are more typically tied to weekend and holiday travel
to and from Las Vegas as stated
in the attached technical report.
Staff appreciates the attention that Rebuilt SoCal
has brought to these issues and supports
continued collaboration with Caltrans and Region of Partners to improve safety and emergency response
access to this corridor. At the same time, staff has shared with Rebuild SoulCal the board support
of important projects like Brightline West and improving I-15 through the county's urbanized
areas. I think it's also important to keep in mind that both the funding limitations in the North
Desert sub area as well as project priorities such as the National Trails Highway and that part of
to the county as well.
So staff will monitor the evolution of the concept
as a feasibility study begins shortly
and will report back to the board
as more information becomes available.
I know Supervisor Hagman has been engaged
on this topic and if you had any additional.
Thank you, Otis, and I have met with the coalition
a couple times now, but most recently,
whenever they have their thing in Vegas,
all the days run together now.
So one of the things I would stress to them is,
you know, I felt that most of these colleagues
on my board here, you know, hands off our pot of money,
our measure I and our funding sources,
but their message back was we're not looking
to share resources with you or re-prioritize
your SBCTA's board projects.
It's more can we collectively go work
on the federal government for independent grants
for choke points.
And I think that's what their focus on this study is,
is where are those choke points
on certain times of day, monitoring.
You know, we had that big truck that turned over
and shut it down for three days
and literally billions of dollars of commerce
goes through the 15, through California,
through the other states.
And that's the message they wanna elevate up
to our friends in Congress from both sides is,
hey, this is an important cargo routes,
important travel route is this public safety issue from the county fire
standpoint. It is a public safety issue where it takes you 25 minutes to go find
the turnaround to come back to the way on the freeway from the fire station. But
I was stressing from our standpoint glad you're bringing some attention to it.
Maybe we could at some point once you get your priorities along as you stay
away from our pots of money that we had both in the state and local and don't
look at reallocating our resources. It's more can we go get more for the
region. Good comments, yes. Member Mark, yes. Is your work plan at all, Otis, as far as
things that they want to accomplish? Is there a work plan? He was talking about
choke points. I think there are ideas and concepts at this point. The feasibility
study will certainly bring some additional information forward about the
types of project proposals that they want to put forward, but nothing concrete
been put out yet. Do they have money to actually do this to come up with a
I don't believe they have money at the moment the idea is to seek dollars
perhaps through language in the reauthorization act that's being moved
through Congress at the time but there's no dollar amount that or dollars that
have been scheduled for this this project. Do they have a timeline? No the
feasibility study starts now. I spoke with Rebuild SoCal before drafting this
item. They don't have a timeline. The feasibility study is going to take about
18 months, they said, to complete. Then once that's complete, they'll move to the
next steps of understanding what can and can't be done and how much
resource would be needed. And one last thing, Derek, to the chair is, I understand
we're not taking the position to advocate for it. It is their initial funding for the
staff I guess is from Las Vegas Convention Bureau whatever and some of
the major labor groups that would stand to get the contracts for this.
SCAG has taken approach at least sit at the table and talk about things since
they're more of a regional organization. My suggestion is we go for notice or
something this kind of be there not necessarily advocate not necessarily do
anything without boards direction but it's better it said the table didn't
watch before my opinion. If I may just before we jump over to the other folks
and I'm very interested in hearing from Catalino and that is what we're doing
we're sitting at the table from a technical perspective we have one of our
planning staff participating for the feasibility study portion and while I
appreciate they are working to get funding out of the Federal
transportation reauthorization bill, and Nevada has a much better chance of
accomplishing something than California directly. Where I see this coming to
ahead in the future, and it doesn't mean we should not sit at the table and we
should not participate in the conversations, is if there is a grant
program that we are seeking funds for for say the I-15 truck climbing lane in
Cohen Pass or SR 18 or 247 62 the projects that this board has prioritized
in our rural areas that's where that's where you could see us kind of come to
ahead and I don't think we need to do anything about that I'm not asking to do
anything about that at this moment just be aware of that's what could happen in
the future. Thank you for that. Catalino please. Yeah I just want to emphasize as
far as you know they're talking about safety along the corridor I mean that's
our number one priority. We're not sitting around and not analyzing this. If there's any hotspots
along the corridor, we address them. So we're not waiting for the report to be completed. So I just
wanted to make sure that everyone's aware of the fact that we do address safety. And like I said,
if there is a hotspot, we do have a reservation set aside to address those items. So I just want
to clarify that. Thank you. Yes, Member Herrman. Have, and he may have just
addressed that, have the choke points been identified or will that come with a
feasibility study? Yeah, I believe that'll be a part of the feasibility study as
well. So they haven't been identified as of now? I think they have some ideas but
the feasibility study will vet that out. Okay, and just when that happened, I
believe that truck had lithium batteries or whatever it was when the traffic was rerouted to interstate 40 was is that path
up to
Par in case that kind of thing happens again
like Catalina
answers the operator in the system
So there is a coalition going on right now with Nevada and Arizona regarding, you know as far as safe routes
It is a lifeline route. So if if an incidence like similar to this happens again in the future we are preparing
Detour routes and basically just a notification to all parties that are impacted with any incident similar to this in the future
So so that's those have been because what I was hearing what out of Victorville was
the
the detour route was in bad shape and so it made it quite difficult for the trucks and
really
There was a mess about it. So I was just curious as to
if the detour route the common detour routes are going to be
Acceptable for the big rigs or they're going to tear up the road with the weight. I
Know I know we can't redo the whole thing but
Just a
question
So again, we're putting together a plan as far as how we address these situation in the future
There are issues as far as
for example
Battery operated vehicles they ran out of charges those were challenges that we had
people were
accessing I-40 as you mentioned
And some areas are not equipped
and there are some turnaround points
but people were actually just stuck, not prepared.
So, but anyways, the bottom line is just
making sure the notification gets out
and there's possibility that we would close interstate
ahead of time prior to before allowing for people
to use certain routes or what we're looking at
is basically flushing out.
So these are things that are being discussed moving forward.
So we just wanna make sure that we will share
this information once it is completed.
I'm thinking of it similar to exit for the fire department.
I guess the Etiwanda Heights thing I've seen recently,
I think the big complaint there is exit
for the first responders.
So I'm just, you know, it sounds like you got it,
but that was really a mess.
And these are items that I know our County Fire Chief
has been looking at and public safety is paramount.
Let those turnarounds that as a member Hagman had mentioned,
they're pretty far and in between.
So certainly it's being worked on.
And thank you for the question.
And one last thing, I'm sorry, Mr. Chair,
it's we also want to do this in conjunction
with our Bright Line West project
because you don't want to redo things later.
And it could be nothing to do with construction,
it could be staging equipment in the right places,
it could be the charges,
it could be more response equipment for accidents and toes,
it could be monitoring, you don't just think structure,
it's looking at the situation
and what are those choke points,
what are the best solutions
for those choke points going forward.
So I think as we go into our new chapter in life
of technology, there's a lot of ways to monitor
and respond to different things.
And even for my fire department, they
need equipment to handle a big rig that goes up in flames,
which we didn't have.
And some of those things we can advocate to the federal government
too.
So it's not just about building capacity or turnarounds.
It's about the whole system.
How do you deal with what we have?
Great comments on that.
Very complex situation, but I know
that we're all got public safety on our mind.
Yes, our bishop.
I'm just real curious.
Otis, I understand the project and what
we're asking for from the parcel.
But I'm just wondering, is there any way possible
that this can also look at Interstate 40
because we have that split?
It seems like the split's on this side of Barstow,
but I'm just wondering if I-40 could be included
into this as well.
So this project concept by Rebuild SoCal
is focused primarily on 15 from Barstow to Nevada.
I don't know that 40 is a part of their work.
It's not a part of this traffic analysis
that they've done.
We can ask them if that will be a part
of their consideration,
but I know they're focused on 15 right now.
All right, seeing no other members
with their microphones on, this is a receive and file.
And thank you very much for the discussion.
I would appreciate it.
So moving on to item number 31.
This is our sole source zero mission,
multiple unit procurement.
And this will be Joy Blin for.
Good morning, Mr. President, members of the board.
This item is requesting the board authorize staff
to negotiate a federalized sole source agreement with Stadler
to procure additional zero-emission multiple unit
or ZMO vehicles, and to direct staff to state grant funding
for approximately $28 million to fully fund the procurement.
The ZMO, the first compliant hydrogen train in North America,
went into service on September 13, 2025.
As part of the original contract,
the option to purchase additional ZMO vehicles
will expire in November of this year.
To take advantage of the option price,
staff seeks authorization from the board
to start negotiation with Stadler.
And also this sole source contract with Stadler
will be federalized,
so federal funds can be used to purchase the vehicles.
The total project budget,
including support services and contingencies,
is 66.8 million.
Staff is seeking other funds to fund the shortfall.
Should staff be unsuccessful
obtaining additional funding staff will recommend using state assistance transit assistance funds
That concludes my presentation and I'd be glad to answer any questions
Thank you for the presentation. We'll open it up first for any public comment on this item
See none back to board move approval second McCollum move Navarro second all in favor. Aye opposed
Abstentions, thank you
The item passes unanimously that the let the record reflect that Hal and Tran left the meeting prior to the vote
All right, thank you for the notification of Mayor Tran
All right moving on to our last agenda item today agenda item number 32 small business partnership plan
So zan peterson will be presenting the item
Good morning, president dennison and members of the board
The Small Business Partnership Plan we'll be talking
about today encompasses three programs included
in the SB Cog Five-Year Work Plan.
As we begin to have conversations and do research,
we learned that the Randall Lewis School
of Entrepreneurship at CSUSB was doing similar
and complimentary work.
And this led to a partnership approach
to the small business programs in the work plan.
I have Dr. Mike Stoll here to provide additional context
so you understand why we're partnering with him,
or with CSUSB, and he'll provide additional context
and explain what is he and his team do.
I want to emphasize that the core
of what we are doing has not changed.
All of this work is still accomplishing programs
within the approved SB COG five-year work plan.
And with that, it is my pleasure
to introduce Dr. Stoll, professor of entrepreneurship
and founding director of the Randall Lewis School
of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
at Cal State San Bernardino.
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
So I play a dual role at Cal State San Bernardino.
I'm the director of the School of Entrepreneurship
and Innovation, as well as the director
of the Randall W. Lewis Center for Entrepreneurship.
Two separate entities, but we both support entrepreneurship
in unique ways and leverage some synergies
between the two entities.
The Center for Entrepreneurship is our primary vehicle
as an institution to have an impact
on economic development in the region,
specifically through providing some programs and services.
And a little bit of context, it's kind of odd,
you know, you think of a university as a place
where you get a degree, right?
And you don't always think that a university
can be a regional economic development engine.
and through our Center for Entrepreneurship we are.
The Center for Entrepreneurship, which launched in 1999,
is one of the largest centers in the world,
providing the types of services we do,
serving both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
And we have an impact in the community
by providing support to small businesses and entrepreneurs
through what I call core services,
business counseling, training,
and delivering those programs through various footprints
and programs, and programs including
small business development center, the women's business centers both in Coachella
Valley and here in the Inland Empire covering San Bernardino. We serve the
entire region through various footprints of entrepreneurial resource centers, one
right here in San Bernardino and one in Palm Desert and one in Temecula, serving
rivers, Southwest Riverside County. As a center we've been around doing a lot of
work over the years and have received a lot of recognition awards for our work
and the experience we have most recently recognized as one of the top 35 programs
in the world for fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. I'm
assuming this will advance my slide. Oh beautiful. So just up there you see a
little bit of our core programs that I just talked about. In a given year we
work through these programs providing business counseling and training services
to approximately in a given year maybe 12 to 15 thousand business owners are
getting these training and counseling services. This is all available for free.
These are we're leveraging federal, state, and local funds and private funds to
deliver these programs and services to folks that are either already in
business and wanting to take their business to the next level and you're
gonna hear from Carla Gonzalez about the work we do in our Center for Contracting
or they're just trying to get a business off the ground and we're providing that
support and coaching and mentoring to get them there. As I mentioned we have a
lot of experience and expertise in this area, 25-plus years of supporting small
businesses and entrepreneurship in the region. To that effect, you know, we've
put our formula for success is we've got, you know, behind every number is people.
They're entrepreneurs, our people, our team, they're working to help develop
this region economically. We have a plan, it's focused on impact, and we have
incredible support from, like I said, federal, state, local, and private sector
sources to provide these services. As I mentioned you know 10 to 12 to 15,000
businesses a year that we work with. Over the lifespan of the center we've
worked with more than 213,000 business owners. We've helped in the creation and
retention of over 62,000 jobs and helped almost 2,900 businesses, new
businesses get started in the region. The net effect of all that work is helping
people get access to capital, increase their sales, increase their profits, gain
export their products and get access to government contracts whether that be
local state or federal or private contracts is in excess of one billion
dollars of economic impact and if you apply a multiplier to that which we just
did recently that's 2.8 million dollars of economic impact in the region so
we're really all about supporting and celebrating entrepreneurship and when we
had the initial meeting we were just super excited because this is right in
the kind of wheelhouse of what we do is supporting local businesses to grow
and have an impact, create jobs, and really continue to make sure that our
economy here, particularly in San Marino County, is vibrant. Now, specifically
where we're, you know, how we tie in really well with this initiative is
through our Small Business Development Center, Center for Contracting, and I'm
gonna ask Karla Gonzalez, who's a key leadership team member in the Randall W.
Lewis Center for Entrepreneurship, and the director of our Center for Contracting
to talk a little bit about what they do and how they do it. So Karla, you're up!
Good morning everybody.
As Mike mentioned, so we run the Center for Contracting
that covers the Inland Empire, Riverside,
and San Bernardino counties.
Out of the Center for Contracting,
we help our entrepreneurs just that get contracts,
whether it's state, local, federal, private utilities,
we walk them through that entire process.
So we do that in many different ways,
and that can be through education.
So we have a lot of different types of workshops
and academies where we walk them through
and help them build their capacity
so that they're able to compete on these contracts.
We also have one-on-one consulting
where we meet with them numerous times to get them ready.
And that can be assisting them with certifications,
whether they need to be certified
in any kind of diverse way,
whether it's helping them how to look at the bid,
how to prepare the bid, how to respond,
and then once you win the contract,
what do we do now, making sure we manage it?
If you don't win the contract,
we also help them go through that process
and kind of go through an exploratory phase
and see where you were off.
We also have low capability statements,
connect them to resources,
and most recently we just had our local contracting symposium
where we bring our local cities to our vendors
so that they're able to connect with them
and figure out how it is to contract
with those particular cities and local entities as well.
As Mike mentioned,
over the span of the Center for Contracting,
we have secured over $163 million in contracts
in the Inland Empire for our vendors.
So we're there to assist them not only at the beginning,
but through their entire journey,
whether it's just kind of figuring out
where do I fit in contracting,
to hey, I'm getting these contracts,
I need to know how to manage them,
and I keep growing my capacity.
So we are eager to work alongside
Suzanne and her team,
and we're thankful for this opportunity.
Thank you.
So that leads us into the Small Business Partnership Plan.
It's really about bridging resources with need
and supporting small businesses
improving their access to public sector procurement opportunities. About 85% of
the businesses in San Bernardino County have fewer than 20 employees are
considered small businesses, which shows how strongly our economy relies on small
businesses, and I know that this is a priority for many of you in your
communities. So our goal with all of this work is to reduce fragmentation, improve
access and just make it easier for our local agencies to work with small
businesses and vice versa. So hopefully the presentations before gave you a good
idea of why we are partnering with CSUSB and as you've seen they have a proven
track record of making an impact and it just seemed like an obvious partnership
to make and as we learned what they're doing it the timing and everything just
is I think going to work out really well. As we started coordinating we really
wanted to delineate roles and responsibilities so our goal is to
complement each other's work leverage our respective strengths and work
together and making sure we do not duplicate efforts but we work together
and just make something just stronger and even better.
And what this means is having a cohesive approach
that allows us to bring our agency value perspective
with CSUSB's Randall Lewis Center for Entrepreneurship's
more business-minded perspective.
And so these are the programs within the plan
and this is in your agenda packet as well.
This is all reflected in the approved
SB COG five-year work plan.
We work together to develop a detailed scope and timeline,
but you can really think of the plan as a roadmap
to how we're going to accomplish this work.
And so we have the regional vendor and procurement fairs,
the small business academy,
and the vendor registration dashboard.
Terminologies shifted a little bit
Because as we learned through conversations,
we wanted to make it clear that we're not duplicating efforts
or use terms that are similar
to what other folks are already doing.
So these last two programs are considered pilots.
And to work on those programs,
we'll have working groups to,
or that include different agency staff,
likely public procurement folks
or economic development folks. And we're going to work with the city managers to
ensure that we're bringing the right people to the table. And the working
groups will help ensure that what we develop is valuable, practical, and help
us identify those measures of success for these programs. Oh, this is an
overview of the timeline, again consistent with the SB CoG five-year
work plan and we'll be presenting this information to the city managers soon
and really get this work kicked off. And with that I'm happy to answer any
questions as I'm sure Mike and Carla are happy to answer any questions as well.
Well thank you for that what a powerful array of resources you know for our
community and our businesses but certainly with our own University in our
backyard. I think it's a great partnership. I'm going to open it up for
public comment on this item. Anyone have any comments or questions? I have my
light on, sir. Oh, we're moving it right back to you, first, Dr. Netta. Thank you.
I'm a little bit, and I've been talking to Randall about this for a while, but I
explained to him we don't get that outreach in the city of Montana from
this university. This is really sounding like it'll be a really great program, but
I've got concerns you just presented to the city managers and I know that's not
what's gonna be the only way that you're gonna handle the outreach. Typically a
lot of those programs don't necessarily get to all of us as electives and a lot
of us have great working relationships with our chambers. I would suggest that
you also work with our chambers of commerce. I'm talking UCLA right now
because our businesses need help. I did not know that there was going to have
be the Skype program because we just haven't had that involvement from the
college and I've been saying this for years it's not you all thought this has
been ongoing but this particular program have done correctly it sounds like it
would really help a lot of our business community I'd love to see the breakdown
if you have had participation particularly in the city of Fontana
we're one of the largest manufactured small business area in this region and
something like this we could really assist your efforts to grow. Thank you.
We have been coordinating with or at least had conversations with some
chambers of commerce including I know the very active Chamber of Commerce for
your area. This work hasn't quite kicked off and when we do we'll make sure that
we are engaging the right people and it does go beyond agency staff and I think
that's where we hope to combine forces and really have the greatest impact
through extensive outreach. Yeah most of our cities have economic development
departments or economic development here personnel something like this would be
great in their little album of what they can offer to the small businesses. Yeah
and I think that that was my my hope is by engaging city managers that we can
get in touch with the economic development folks who are working with in this realm day to day.
Okay. Thank you for that. Member Armaderis. Yeah. Samuel County, we currently do what we call a
reverse vendor show. I think it might be beneficial for us to maybe talk a little more about maybe
having pre that vendor show having you guys work with us so that they those
small businesses in our community that are coming to that show will be better
informed so that we could actually be a little bit more productive at those
shows and get you know a higher churn rate of people who can win those bids
that are local. We're coordinating with them as well and we went to one of the
fairs or procurement events that was held so we absolutely will continue to
look with them and our hope is that it's a partnership with county folks as well.
So yeah we actually participate with the county of San Bernardino with the
reverse vendor show I think we're the only non department in the in the event
So based on that we're gonna mirror that also and I've spoken to them as well
So they're gonna be a part of it
But we want to travel it and we're gonna try to piggyback so to your point have that come in as a precursor
To the bigger event with the county
member Bishop
I'll just quickly I've been working with developers and government for almost 40 years now
Randall Lewis is
One of the shining lights and when working with the developer
I will speak only for the high desert where he him and his brothers have done a tremendous job
building shopping centers
But I don't think in my entire career that I've ever met a developer that was more engaged and more professional
In the communities that they develop and then Randall Lewis and that and that goes to all the brothers all the boys
So thank you so much
Right there. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, that's okay
Question and comment. I
So in Victor bill we're having at least I notice
we have a problem with local contractors at
ascertaining work and they're just not educated on how
especially in construction how to how to do their insurance and their bonds and
And the program was another failure.
Nobody showed up.
So this, I think, is a good thing.
I just, if they can't drive to Victorville
from right there, I don't know how they're gonna show up
going all the way down to the county.
So I would, I don't know if it's possible to set it up
so you come visit us.
But I get very frustrated.
I think I put a new roof on the gym at the park,
and we got companies from Orange County.
And we have plenty of roofers in the high desert.
So they're just, and I know I repeat this all the time,
but as a retired contractor, I did a lot of prevailing wage
work.
So I know it can be very overwhelming for people.
But they just need to get this information
So they can ascertain this work, and then we
can get the money in the high desert to stay there.
All you Valley people just still take it all from us.
But anyways, that's my comment.
Monique Ariano, the Council of Governments director.
I want to state equivocally that when
we started this process like four years ago,
we did a study that identified exactly the same problems,
which is where the scope of work came from
for this particular project.
The goal of the vendor fair, specifically,
is to match up the local businesses that
are in these subregions.
So looking at it from a high desert perspective
or a Morongo Basin perspective or Valley West or Valley East
to make those connections not only with the businesses,
but also for the businesses to know
who they can talk to, particularly
for these procurements that are not necessarily formal.
If they're calling somebody because they need a roof fixed
or if they're below what that threshold is,
The goal is to make the connections
between the jurisdictions and these small businesses
so that they can connect in a very valuable way for both.
And I can understand, say, a sewer bypass,
say, you know, that takes quite a bit of expertise.
And, you know, we're only at, well,
we're up to a half a million in the high desert.
I can understand that.
But there's a lot of work that happens
that the average contractor should not exempt themselves.
They just need to be educated and taught
how to get a bond, a surety bond,
and the insurance certificates of insurance
and all that that goes with it.
Because I know it can be rather confusing
compared to the private sector.
Understood.
Great comments, thank you very much.
Seeing no other members, this is a receiving file item.
So thank you very much for the presentation.
truly appreciate it.
We'll move on for board member
comments, any comments from
board members at this time.
Just real quick.
Brightline has made an
announcement that they were
looking at open, groundbreaking
for the Apple Valley station in
the high desert.
The Victor Valley station in
Apple Valley in the high desert
by the end of this year and it's
something where obviously all of
us should be very excited about
just another step to get us to Rancho Cucamonga.
Yeah, thank you for the update.
Yes, Rick.
The Olympics are definitely coming.
I know it's on a horizon,
but it's already starting right now.
The U.S. Olympic rowing team is now training
in Big Bear for high altitude training.
So it's happening.
Wow, it's coming fast.
Thank you for that.
Yes, Frank.
Yes, thank you, Chair.
Just to wish all the mothers in the audience
and the staff a happy Mother's Day.
you get everything that you deserve. Thank you. All right, yes, Alan. Thank you Mr.
President. Just want to make this invitation everybody if you're going to
come visit our new ballpark ONT ball field in Ontario and also the
development round it you're all invited get with Otis I'll let you know we're
scheduling a date for everybody to come down there as my guest. Thank you very
much. I'll make sure to reach out. All right seeing no other comments I'll move
it to the executive director please. I look forward to seeing all the Hawaiian
shirts next time we convene for board and just to eliminate any high
expectations or low expectations the prize is a picture on our wall upstairs
as you enter the super chief and lunch. Nothing wrong with lunch so at this time
I'm gonna go ahead and announce our next meeting
is going to be on June 3rd.
And with that, this meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.
The picture on the wall.