NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2003
CHICO, CA

1. CALL TO ORDER

   The meeting was called to order by J. Madden, WIB Chair, and J. Reese, Governing Board Chair at 10:03 a.m.

2. ROLL CALL

   There was a quorum of both the WIB and the Governing Board. Roster

3. WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, OCTOBER 24, 2002

   A motion by R. Sandler, seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the October 24, 2002, minutes as mailed, passed the WIB unanimously.
   
   A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by J. Smith, for Governing Board approval of the October 24, 2002, minutes as mailed, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (ACTION)

   A motion by D. Withrow, seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the January 30, 2003, agenda as mailed, passed the WIB unanimously.
   
   A motion by B. Dennison, seconded by J. Smith, for Governing Board approval of the January 30, 2003, agenda as mailed, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

5. PUBLIC COMMENT (INFORMATION)

   J. Reese, Governing Board Chair, welcomed Jim Chapman, the new Governing Board representative from Lassen County, to NoRTEC.

   J. Allred said that a CDBG grant for a community service project for youth that was called, The "No Child Left Behind" Project was being submitted to serve youth in Butte, Plumas, Glenn, Tehama, Modoc, Lassen, Shasta, and Trinity Counties to try and help kids get back into regular schools. He asked that any members interested in writing a letter of support to please talk with him after the meeting.

6. WIB APPOINTMENTS (INFORMATION)

   No new appointments were made to the WIB, but B. Reiss welcomed Larry McCord to the NoRTEC WIB, as a "first meeting" new member, representing private industry from Trinity County.

7. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

   M. Piller presented the Program Committee Report.

   1. Program Monitoring

      M. Piller said that there have not been any on-site program monitoring visits since the last meeting. She said the annual program services monitoring will not be scheduled until Spring 2003.

   2. State Monitoring

      M. Piller said there have been no state program monitoring visits since the last meeting, and that none have been scheduled in the near future.

   3. Client Numbers

      The following reports were reviewed and discussed. No problems were noted. (See agenda for links to reports.)
      
      - Job Seekers Accessing One-Stop Centers
      - Job Seekers Enrolled in the WIA Program
      - Outcome Information On Customers Leaving The Programs
      - One Stop Center Utilization Information

   4. Caregiver Training Initiative (CTI)

      M. Piller said the CTI program was officially over on December 31, 2002. Client data is still being cleaned up by all the programs, and a final report will be given at the April 2003 meeting. (See agenda for links to reports.)

   5. NWI (Nurse Workforce Initiative)

      M. Piller said that the sixteen county region of NCEN (NoRTEC's nine counties, plus Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sutter and Yuba Counties)was awarded a $2.1 million contract to provide Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) training to northern California residents. Piller said this funding filled in nicely where the CTI program left off, and a more detailed report would be given at the April 2003 meeting.

   6. Plant Closure Update

      The members reviewed the plant closures that have taken place in NoRTEC since the last meeting. M. Piller said that the MCLAUS (Multiple Closures, Layoffs, and Unemployment Services) application had been submitted by staff to help us respond to these closures.

      C. Barton said that effective March 1, 2003, there would be a lay-off of 23 classified staff members at Lassen Community College, due to the State budget cuts. She said that the Alliance for Workforce Development staff were at the college today to provide information on the services that would be available through their agency to the dislocated workers.

      To counter the "bad" news, Piller asked the members if there had been any business expansions or new start-ups in any of the counties in NoRTEC.

      P. Harris said that in mid-September and mid-November, Collins Pine in Chester had recalled shifts to begin operation in their retooled mill. B. Dennison that had been numerous motel openings in northern California, along with a few other small business openings. J. Smith said the Pit Stop had been reopened in Siskiyou County (gas station and small grocery store) under new ownership. D. Withrow reported that a Culinary School was slated to open in the next couple of months in Chester.

      (See agenda for a link to the plant closure report.)

   7. Featured Community Coordinator Report

      The featured Community Coordinator report this quarter was the report from Rural Human Services (Del Norte County). Shasta's report received honorable mention.
      
      M. Piller encouraged all members to read the reports because they were informative, and because each quarter someone always figured out a new "fun" way to present the information. C. Brown said the coordinators were becoming very proficient at web page design, and were including lots of graphics and pictures. He said it was getting really difficult to pick a clear winner. He also encouraged the members to check out the reports, for their own county at least, and the other counties too if they wanted a handle on what was going on around NoRTEC.

   8. Business First Report

      The following Business First Report update was given.

      1. Web Site Technology Initiative

         The members viewed some of the locally developed websites that were on the Internet as a result of attending the Web Site Technology Initiative classes sponsored by NoRTEC and the Programs.

         Mr. Tim Smith, owner of T.B.S. Mobile Services, had planned to come and talk to the members about the benefits of his web site, but was unable to make it. Instead, staff showed a video tape of Mr. Smith talking about how the web site had made it easier for him to disseminate information to his customers. He said having the web site allowed his customers to download necessary forms which they could fill out and fax or mail back on their own, saving him many hours a week. He said the class was well taught and the cost of $10/month a month after the "free" trial period was up was very reasonable. He said this was a wonderful opportunity for him and he felt fortunate to have participated.

      2. Entrepreneur Training

         Jeff Lucas provided the update, saying that no businesses in northern California had received funding through the Golden Capital Network, yet, but that there was a possibility that venture capital might be obtained for a hardware/software company in Redding.

      3. Business Services

         Josephine Wyatt, from the Siskiyou Training and Employment Program, presented an overview of their Workforce Connection's Business Services program.

         Anna Brassart, from the Shasta PIC, presented video taped testimonials from a number of local Shasta County businesses regarding services received from the Shasta PIC.

          

      4. Internet Classroom

         C. Brown explained that NoRTEC negotiated a package deal on hundreds of internet classes which will be available for our One Stop staff, job seekers and local business. He said that he thought this may be a particularly helpful approach to assisting local business with short term, focused training needs. A number of the members voiced their approval, reflecting the general sentiment that on-line learning provided a cost effective, flexible opportunity for on-going staff development for the One Stops and local business, and for job seeking clients.

   9. Policy Update

      T. Brown said that the recommended policy changes for the definition of "employed, unemployed, and underemployed" were being made to reflect changes made at the State and Federal levels for these three terms.
      
      T. Brown said NoRTEC's Supportive Service Policy was being changed to update legislative references from the Job Training Partnership Act to the Workforce Investment Act.
      
      (See agenda for the definitions and a link to the revised policy.)
      
      A short discussion followed, which centered mostly around R. Hewitt's question about whether or not, under the definition of employed, there was a 15 hour requirement attached to, "....one who is currently working as a paid employee..." T. Brown said she had taken the definition directly from a State Directive, but that she would check on the issue and report back to the Board at the next meeting.

      A motion made by R. Sandler, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the policy updates and changes noted in the agenda, with the 15 hour per week notation being added to the definition of "Employed," if necessary, passed the WIB unanimously.

      A motion made by J. Smith, seconded by B. Reiss, for Governing Board approval of the policy updates and changes noted in the agenda, with the 15 hour per week notation being added to the definition of "Employed," if necessary, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
      

   10. NoRTEC Youth Council Meeting, December 11, 2002, Redding (Information)

       M. Piller reported that the NoRTEC Youth Council met in Redding at the Red Lion Inn on December 11, 2002. (See agenda for a link to the minutes.)
       
       Piller said that there would be two presentations to the WIB and Governing Board about the youth resource mapping efforts that were being conducted in the NoRTEC Counties. The first presentation would be from Cindy Salatnay and Dave Zuber from Del Norte County, and the second would be from Janet Blackketter from Tehama County.

       Salatnay and Zuber described the efforts currently underway in Del Norte County, including the projected completion dates of an extensive survey being conducted with relevant agencies in the county. Zuber said that once the data was compiled, the results would be shared with appropriate agencies and organizations within Del Norte County.

       Blackketter discussed the process of resource mapping that had taken place in Tehama County. She said that they had surveyed relevant agencies in the county and while compiling the data into a directory discovered that the directory itself was not good enough. She said that the agencies involved realized that cross-training of staff from the many different agencies was necessary to make everyone aware of what was available for youth throughout the county. Blackketter said that with funding help from the local Kiwanis Club, the local Rotary Club, and the Child Abuse Council, the first "cross-training" day was held on March 12, 2002. She said that this would hopefully be an annual event, and that the next date was scheduled for March 11, 2003. For the 2003 event, Blackketter said a State grant had been received, and that Rotary and Kiwanis had committed to assisting again. She also said that many, many hours of in-kind match (in the form of hours of labor) had been provided by the agencies that were interested in services available to youth. Blackketter said they hoped to have an annually updated directory as a result of this ongoing cooperation.

   A motion made by B. Maffett, and seconded by J. Sisson, for WIB approval of the Second Quarter Program Committee Report passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion made by B. Reiss, and seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the Second Quarter Program Committee Report passed the Governing Board unanimously.

8. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

   B. Hamby, Finance Committee Chair, presented the Finance Committee Report.

   1. PY 2002/2003 Funding (INFORMATION)

      NoRTEC has $13,448,592 in available funds for the program year July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003. An additional $4,686,967 has been requested. If all the requested funding is received, NoRTEC will have $18,135,559 in available funding for the 2002/2003 program year, a $1,714,869 decrease from the amount of funding available in PY 2001/2002. The decrease in funding is primarily due to congressional reductions in WIA funding (we received a 20% reduction in our Dislocated Worker allocation from last year) and reduced availability of special project funding from the State.

   2. Approval of PY 2002/2003 Second Quarter Financial Reports (ACTION)

      Second quarter financial reports for PY 2002/2003 were presented to the members:

      - Contracts Summary
      - Service Provider Contract Modifications
      - Program Expenditure Report
      - Administrative Entity Expenditure Report
      - WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report

      B. Hamby noted that the committee did not have any concerns with the second quarter reports

       

   3. State Monitoring of NoRTEC (INFORMATION)

      There have been no State financial monitoring visits scheduled since the last meeting.

   A motion made by M. Piller, and seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the Second Quarter Finance Committee Report passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion made by B. Dennison, and seconded by Reiss, for Governing Board approval of the Second Quarter Finance Committee Report passed the Governing Board unanimously.

    

9. STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS (UPDATE)

    

   1. Prior Approval:

       

      1. C. Brown reported that two NCEN regional applications for Incentive Funding (Caregiver Training and Entrepreneurial Training) were not funded, and that it was unlikely that any incentive projects in the State would be funded, as there appears to be no money available in the State's Incentive Funds budget to do so.

          

      2. C. Brown also reported that the application for a technology grant to provide internet training to local employers in the NCEN area had not been submitted, because staff are still thinking through program design and how best to approach the decision makers.

          

   2. New Applications:

      C. Brown reported that staff submitted an application for $1,000,000 to serve individuals laid off from numerous plant closures in the NoRTEC area, and other eligible dislocated and unemployed workers. Brown said that the application is called MCLAUS, which stands for Multiple Closures, Layoffs, and Unemployment Services. Brown asked for WIB and Governing Board approval to submit the application.

      A motion made by T. Cochran, and seconded by P. Harris, for WIB approval of staff submitting an application for $1,000,000 to serve eligible job seekers in the NoRTEC area passed the WIB unanimously.

      A motion made by G. Russel, and seconded by J. Smith, for Governing Board approval ofstaff submitting an application for $1,000,000 to serve eligible job seekers in the NoRTEC area passed the Governing Board unanimously.

       

10. OLD BUSINESS (INFORMATION)

    No old business items were brought up for discussion.

11. NEW BUSINESS (DISCUSSION)

    J. Madden reported that the next meeting of the WIB and Governing Board would be held on April 24, 2003, in Redding.

12. ADJOURNMENT

    There being no further Old or New Business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:32 p.m.