Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Member/Alternates Only Meeting
Virtual meeting via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Deborah Barmack, Peter Barmack, Carole Beswick, Mike Burrows, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Michelle Decker, Louis Goodwin, Otis Greer, Milford Harrison, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Lowell King, Alissa Ko, Pam Langford, Bill Lemann, Temetry Lindsey, Dan Little, John Magness, Darcy McNaboe, John Mirau, Dan Murphy, Bansree Parikh, Steve PonTell, Catherine Pritchett, Brian Reider, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, Dan Roberts, Elizabeth Romero, Dan Schenkel, Kristine Scott, Paul Shimoff, Phil Southard, Sol Teh, Lupe Valdez, Pete Van Helden, David VanVoorhis, Phil White, Kim Wilcox and Ray Wolfe.
Guests: Josh Cox and Mark Gibbs.
Announcements: 1) The Inland Leaders group continues to meet monthly. The meetings are interesting and productive. At the next meeting Paul Granillo has asked that the group take some time for discussion on the output from one of IEEP’s “Recovery Subgroups”. 2) Recently Joseph Williams, Trustee, San Bernardino Community College District was appointed by the Governor’s office to serve on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. He is the only IE resident to serve on this Board. Additionally, last week Governor Newsom appointed Joseph Widman to serve as a Judge on the California Superior Court.
Motion by K. Scott/Second by B. Reider/Passed: Minutes from July 28, 2020.
A majority of the members present voted to approve David Koenig as primary member and Alissa Ko to serve as the alternate representative for Health Net.
A majority of the members present voted to approve Laurens Vosloo, CEO, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians as their primary representative.
John Mirau made the first announcement of newly proposed member Molina Healthcare of California. Ruth Argumedo, AVP Community Engagement would serve as their primary representative and Matt Levin, VP of Government Contracts would serve as their alternate. To learn more about them please visit their web site at https://www.molinahealthcare.com/
Mike Burrows introduced Matt McCardle, Amazon Air Global Policy Team. Matt McCardle, Amazon Air Global Policy Team and has worked on the Amazon Air project at San Bernardino International Airport (SBIA) since its inception. He discussed the development of Amazon Air operations at SBIA and its impact on our communities.
The Amazon Air operations called the Gateway project at San Bernardino International Airport is expected to open by the second quarter of 2021. Initially they will have 1,000 employees but expect to employ a total of 4,000 when the project is fully built out. Amazon reviewed numerous locations to build this regional hub and choose San Bernardino for excellent infrastructure, an existing Amazon network with 18-20 buildings in the Inland Empire, a large customer base/demand here in Southern California and extremely strong partners with Hillwood and SBIA.
Typically, the fulfillment centers stock all the products needed in their region; however, there can be a surge in sales for “in demand” items. The Gateway facility will be part of their two-way package flow, moving items that are not available locally from one Amazon center to another via Amazon Air. The flight crews will not be Amazon employees but contracted from 4 different existing airlines.
The project will open capacity for them, but they will continue to utilize third parties like UPS and the U.S. Postal Service for deliveries as Amazon sales and demand continues to grow. Additionally, they do not anticipate any reductions of cargo volume at Ontario or other Southern California airports.
Amazon is committed to sustainability and raising the bar in the industry. Roof top solar continues to be utilized but Amazon has set a goal that by 2040 they will be carbon neutral. All their delivery and support vehicles will be electric, a first in the industry.
Amazon Business is a separate branch of the company that supports medical and healthcare facilities which include Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Amazon has its sights on same day delivery and drones can make that a reality. There are, however, many regulatory hurdles that have slowed the test trial use of drones here in the U.S. Amazon has already had very positive results with drone trials in the UK. Since Amazon has received drone certification here, trials in the U.S. may begin soon.
A Q & A period followed.
Meeting adjourned at 9:03 a.m.