NORTEC WIB/GOVERNING BOARD AGENDA

Minutes - July 25, 2002

NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2002
REDDING, CA

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by J. Madden, WIB Chair, and J. Reese, Governing Board Chair, at 10:00 AM.
ROLL CALL
There was a quorum of the WIB and Governing Board. Roster
WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, APRIL 25, 2002
A motion by B. Maffett, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the April 25, 2002, minutes as mailed, passed the WIB unanimously.

A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the April 25, 2002, minutes as mailed, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by M. Steffack, for WIB approval of the July 25, 2002, agenda as mailed, passed the WIB unanimously.

A motion by J. Smith, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the July 25, 2002, agenda as mailed, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
WIB APPOINTMENTS
A motion by G. Russell, seconded by J. Smith, for the following WIB appointments, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

Vacant Seat

Private Sector - Butte County - Robert Hewitt, Attorney, nominated by the Oroville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Expired Terms - Re-appointed
PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT
J. Madden, WIB Chair, presented the Program Committee Report.
1. Program Monitoring
  J. Madden said all the NoRTEC Programs had received on-site reviews, and no significant problems or concerns were noted. B. Austin said she was impressed with the progress the Programs had made in transitioning to the WIA. She added that NoRTEC staff are planning a training session for front-line staff this fall, to develop consensus on program design and documentation.
2. State Monitoring
  No State program monitoring visits have been conducted since the last meeting.
3. Client Numbers
  Summary data on job seeker client services was presented (see agenda for web site links). T. Brown pointed out that 215,000+ visits were made to the NoRTEC One-Stop Centers during PY 2001/2002, and that more are expected in 2002/2003.
4. Caregiver Training Initiative (CTI)
  T. Brown provided a brief progress report, noting that the program appeared to be much appreciated in the 16 county NCEN area. She said the North Central Counties Consortium (NCCC) was underspent and underenrolled. when compared to their program goals, but they are adamantly confident that they will meet their targets by the end of the contract period. She said all the other programs were on target, and that both Humboldt and Mendocino had outperformed expectations. (See agenda for web site links.)
5. Plant Closure Update
  There was a brief review of plant closures in the nine county NoRTEC service area (see agenda for web site links). J. Madden noted that the Northern STARRS application was submitted to help us respond to these closures.
6. Featured Community Coordinator Report
  The selection for Community Coordinator report of the quarter was awarded to the Job Training Center of Tehama County. The Rural Human Services report was recognized for "most improved."
  
  The selection for Community Coordinator report of the quarter was awarded to the Shasta PIC. The members applauded the efforts of Jim Jansen, Shasta PIC Community Coordinator, and congratulated all the Community Coordinators for the great reports they were preparing. (See agenda for web site links.)
7. Regional Community Coordinator Activities
  Janis Trueblood, Alliance for Workforce Development (AFWD), provided a brief report on the Community Coordinator meetings and activities since the last WIB/Governing Board meeting. Some highlights:
  
  - AFWD is providing quarterly Business Workshops in their three county area. For their last one, they had 53 attendees. Ken Theobald (Private Sector WIB member from Lassen) was a presenter.
  
  - The regional group of Community Coordinators is helping to plan a business services track for Konocti. In addition to workshops on Business interest topics, like Labor Law (and not WIA related), there will be an informal reception on Wednesday evening, featuring a raffle with some fun prizes, and a talk by Shannon Gunier on "Marketing on a Small Business Budget."
  
  - The Modoc Economic Development Summit was a huge success.
8. Business First Report
  The WIB and Governing Board adopted program policies and endorsed a program perspective that encourages the NoRTEC One Stops to assist local business as their primary customer. Local and NoRTEC wide efforts to achieve this goal will be presented as a regular agenda item.
  1. Web Site Technology Initiative
    C. Brown said the first round of the four hour "Put Your Business on the Internet Today" workshops were held in eight of the nine NoRTEC counties. He said there were 151 registered for their own web sites, and so far ten have published sites (open to the public - see agenda for links).
    
    Lorrie Berry Treudeau, Shasta PIC, said they had 30 businesses in attendance, and the feedback was positive, with nearly all wanting more. She introduced Roger Dellinger, Brewmaster, Whiskeytown Brewing Company, Redding, who was one of the local business persons attending the training. Mr. Dillinger said the training was great. He had his site published quickly, and had already received a number of resumes from people who had found the site and wanted to work for the Whiskeytown Brewing Company. He said he was working on an even better site now, made easy using the same program provided in the workshop. He encouraged the NoRTEC Board to continue with this type of needed and welcome assistance for local business.
    
    L. B. Treudeau introduced Ron Van Orden, Shasta PIC Crew Supervisor for the Junior Webmaster Program. He presented a multimedia show of the web site developed by the five youth in that program.
  2. Recruitment/Screening/Customized Training
    Craig Parrish, Job Training Center of Tehama County, talked about the services they provided to the Rolling Hills Casino, from the Job Fairs, interviews, etc. for the recruitment and screening of over 2600 applicants for 400 plus positions, to the customized training provided to the newly hired (not yet working) employees on Customer Satisfaction by Doug Lipp. He also thanked Butte and Glenn County One Stop staff for helping out with the Job Fairs, and said Rolling Hills was hiring graduates from the Butte PIC Culinary Academy.
    
    C. Parrish introduced Bruce Thomas, CEO for Rolling Hills. Mr. Thomas was very flattering in his remarks about the services he received. He said he was skeptical about some government program being able to contribute anything worthwhile to his efforts to open a large casino from scratch. He said they were persistent, and convinced some of his own staff, who convinced him to give them a chance. He said they worked miracles, and did more for him, and were more professional than any of the high priced consulting groups he had used in the past on similar projects. In addition to helping him with a ready made workforce, Mr. Thomas said he was also impressed with their help in bringing in Doug Lipp to provide customer satisfaction training. He said they were looking forward to their opening this coming Tuesday night with the best initial workforce they have ever had. He encouraged the Board to continue to support these kinds of programs for local businesses, whether start-ups, like his, or established, because the assistance is needed, and this program proved they could deliver.
  3. Construction Boot Camp
    Kathy Schmitz, Job Training Center of Tehama County (JTCTC), talked about the two week Mobile Boot Camp JTCTC sponsored in Tehama County. She said the placement rate for completers was great, but so was the dropout rate. They presented the program to 60 applicants, but reduced that number to 24 signing up after they heard how rigorous the training was, and survived the drug screening. Twenty two showed up on time the first morning, 14 were left by the end of the first week, and 12 graduated. It is a great opportunity for the graduates. Nine were employed right away, and the other three would have been too, if they had wanted to work. Two of the hired graduates were over 50, and another was a female. Hiring wages ranged from $8.50/hr to $33/hr.
    
    K. Schmitz said the cost per class was $15,000. This is reasonable if enough participants enroll and complete. She said it is really important to screen the candidates to minimize the number of dropouts. She said they were planning another class in April. She also said they were looking into the possibility of modifying the class to focus on manufacturing, so they could tie into Wall Mart or Sierra Pacific.
    
    (For more information on the Boot Camp, see the JTCTC Community Coordinator report on the agenda.)
  4. Entrepreneurial Training
    Jeff Lucas said two workshops were presented in Chico and in Redding. The purpose was to attract and identify entrepreneurs with fast growth potential, and to provide training on identifying such entrepreneurs, helping them articulate their business plans and maximize their opportunity for venture capital financing. He said Jon Gregory and Ryne Johnson, Golden State Capital Network, identified forty two potentials, and had developed an ongoing relationship with eight.
    
    One of the eight is Oxysure, from Lassen County. Basically, Oxysure offers a low temperature way to cut steel. He said the folks at Golden State Capital Network were helping put together a management team and a marketing analysis for Oxysure.
    
    He thanked the WIB and Governing Board for helping with this project. He said they all realized it was a long shot, but it would only take one or two successes to make a significant impact on the local economy in one of the NoRTEC counties.
9. NoRTEC Youth Council Meeting, 06/18/02, Redding
  C. Brown said J. Lucas had helped organize the first NoRTEC Youth Council meeting, and as a reward, he was going to let him (J. Lucas) make the presentation.
  
  J. Lucas said he thought the event had been a success. He said he was impressed with how well the NoRTEC Program Operators work together, sharing ideas, strategies and program design as partners on the same team with the same common goals.
  
  J. Lucas said the highlight of the Council meeting was the program presentations. He said it was a shame they couldn't show them all again today, but there wasn't enough time, so they picked out a couple to give the members an idea of the quality of the NoRTEC Youth Programs.
  1. Carol Ann Spring, Trinity Occupational Training, showed a video of their Fine Arts/Mural Program. Working with Bella Peralta (artist), the youth created a 64' by 16' mural of the Chinese Lion Dance, which is now a permanent fixture in historic downtown Weaverville.
  2. Lisa Wasson and Becky Tyson, SMART Community Employment Center (Shasta), presented an overview of their SMART City Program (For more information, see the Shasta Community Coordinator report, above, for July.) This program provides a "real world" simulation of the numerous decisions and choices the youth will be making when they are "on their own." The 82 youth participants got jobs, rented apartments, bought a car (or not) got telephone services, etc. Part of the fun was a raffle, with the top prizes of a bicycle and a television.
10. Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
  J. Lucas and D. Obermeyer, Community Development Services, presented a brief update of the NCEN Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. C. Brown said he would post a copy on the NoRTEC and NCEN web sites when the update was completed.
11. California Registry Exam
  C. Brown said he wanted to brag up the programs for getting so many of their staff certified through the California Registry Paraprofessional exam, and Betti Austin for getting certified as a trainer and getting this training available for our programs. We currently have 71 Staff certified in the nine county NoRTEC area. He said seventeen more NoRTEC program staff are signed up to take the next exam, scheduled for August 14, 2002 in Red Bluff. (See the agenda for a link to the currently certified staff.)
12. One Stop Report
  Postponed by consensus to the October meeting.
  
  A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by S. LaBriere, for WIB approval of the first quarter Program Committee report, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by P. Cantrall, for Governing Board approval of the first quarter Program Committee report, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT
B. Hamby, Finance Committee Chair, presented the Finance Committee report.
1. PY 2001/2002 Funding
  NoRTEC had $19,850,428 in available funds for the program year July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002, down only $15,799 from the 2000/2001 program year.
2. Approval of PY 2001/2002 Fourth Quarter Financial Reports
  Fourth Quarter Finance Reports:
  
  PY 2000/2001 Contracts Summary
  PY 2000/2001 Service Provider Contract Modifications
  PY 2000/2001 Program Expenditure Report
  PY 2000/2001 NoRTEC Administrative Entity Expenditure Report
  PY 2000/2001 NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report
  
  B. Hamby pointed out that these reports are preliminary, pending next months (August 31) final closeout of the NoRTEC sub grants, but were not expected to vary significantly from the final reports (which will be presented at the October meeting). He said the committee had no concerns about the information in the reports.
  
  A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by S. LaBriere, for WIB approval of the PY 2001/2002 Fourth Quarter preliminary Finance Reports, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by J. Smith, for Governing Board approval of the PY 2001/2002 Fourth Quarter preliminary Finance Reports, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
3. PY 2001/2002 Administrative Entity Special Projects Budget Increase
  There was a brief discussion of the Special Projects that had been implemented, including the local business internet training, the entrepreneur program, MIS enhancement, etc. The general consensus was that the Special Projects were an important adjunct to the primary WIA programs, and should be maintained as long as appropriate funding was available.
  
  A motion by K. Humberston, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the PY 2001/2002 Administrative Entity Special Projects Budget being increased by $50,000 to total $150,000, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval of the PY 2001/2002 Administrative Entity Special Projects Budget being increased by $50,000 to total $150,000, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
4. PY 2002/2003 Funding
  B. Hamby pointed out that the availability of funding was subject to change with the addition of carry-in funds from FY 2001-2002. The amount of carry-in won't be known until the August 31 close out reports, but is estimated to about $1.6 million.
  
  Including carry-forward funds, and all outstanding additional funding we actually expect to receive, NoRTEC will have approximately $18 million for the 2002/2003 Fiscal Year. This is a $1.8 million decrease in total NoRTEC funding from the PY 2001/2002 program year. The decrease 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 (at least for now) of special project funding from the State.
  
  Additionally, unless congress acts to rescind its recission of Dislocated Worker funding, NoRTEC stands to lose $253,474 of Dislocated Worker funding.
5. PY 2002/2003 Contracts Summary
  This report shows the total amount of funding in contracts with the State, the source of that funding and its allocation within NoRTEC for the 2002/2003 program year. There were no questions.
6. State Monitoring of NoRTEC
  M. Cross said he hadn't received a final letter yet, but the recent State monitoring visit for a review of our fiscal and procurement systems and procedures, was not expected to result in any significant findings.
7. Fiscal Monitoring of Service Providers By NoRTEC
  M. Cross said the on-site fiscal and procurement reviews of all NoRTEC service providers he conducted during April, May and June went well, with no findings to report. He said NoRTEC's monitoring letters are available for review by interested WIB/GB members.
8. Approval of NoRTEC Procurement Policy Revisions
  M. Cross said one finding from the State monitoring visit was gaps in the NoRTEC Procurement Policy. The proposed changes to the policy address (1) a code of conduct for employees involved in procurement actions, (2) the requirement for a cost or price analysis of every procurement, and (3) a reference to NoRTEC's Complaints Resolution policy. (See the agenda for a link to the proposed changes.)
  
  A motion by C. Martin, seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the proposed changes to the NoRTEC Procurement Policy, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval of the proposed changes to the NoRTEC Procurement Policy, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
9. Approval of NoRTEC Debt Collection Policy Revisions
  M. Cross said another finding from the State monitoring visit was the need for a brief statement regarding record-keeping in the NoRTEC Debt Collection Policy. (See the agenda for a link to the proposed changes.) There was some discussion regarding the State's wording of the requirement to keep permanent records of all debt collections. The consensus was to define "permanent" consistent with other WIA rules and regulations and not just leave it as "permanent."
  
  A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by K. Humberston, for WIB approval of the proposed changes to the NoRTEC Debt Collection Policy, passed the WIB with one No vote by K. Theobald.
  
  A motion by G. Russell, seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval of the proposed changes to the NoRTEC Debt Collection Policy, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
10. Approval of Dislocated Worker To Adult Funding Transfer
  M. Cross said NoRTEC service providers have requested transfers from the Dislocated Worker program to the Adult Program totaling approximately $300,000 of PY 2001/2002 funding. (An exact amount will not be known until final closeout.) These transfers have been requested to better match funding levels with the eligible populations being served at the one-stop centers. .
  
  A motion by D. Beeson, seconded by K. Humberston, for WIB approval to authorize NoRTEC staff to request a transfer of approximately $300,000 of PY 2001/2002 funding from the Dislocated Worker Program to the Adult program, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval to authorize NoRTEC staff to request a transfer of approximately $300,000 of PY 2001/2002 funding from the Dislocated Worker Program to the Adult program, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS
1. Prior Applications:
  C. Brown said he would be surprised if the Incentive grants ever get funded, considering no money has been set aside for them. The Internet Training for Local Businesses is on hold by NoRTEC staff pending the results of the current pilot program. The North STARRS application should get funded, but is on hold pending a signed State budget.
2. New Applications:
  C. Brown said staff was asking permission to submit an application for $3,000,000, on behalf of the 16 county NCEN region, with NoRTEC to be the fiscal agent, and for the funding to be divided among the four LWIAs based on population; Humboldt at 12%, North Central at 24%, NoRTEC at 56%, and Mendocino at 8%.
  
  A motion by B. Maffett, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval to authorize NoRTEC staff to submit an application in the name of NCEN, with NoRTEC as the fiscal agent, for $3,000,000, for Nurse Workforce Initiative funding for the sixteen county NCEN region, passed the WIB unanimously.
  
  A motion by J. Smith, seconded by B. Reiss, for Governing Board approval to authorize NoRTEC staff to submit an application in the name of NCEN, with NoRTEC as the fiscal agent, for $3,000,000, for Nurse Workforce Initiative funding for the sixteen county NCEN region, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
NoRTEC PLAN MODIFICATION
There was a brief discussion of the proposed plan modifications. (See the agenda for a link to the proposed modifications)

A motion by B. Hamby, seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the PY 2002/2003 Plan Modification, passed the WIB unanimously.

A motion by B. Reiss, seconded by J. Smith, for Governing Board approval of the PY 2002/2003 Plan Modification, passed the Governing Board unanimously.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
C. Brown handed out a draft copy of the workshop schedule for the upcoming annual NCEN Partnership (Konocti) Conference, October 22 to 25, 2003..
OLD BUSINESS
There were no Old Business Items brought up for discussion.
NEW BUSINESS
WIB and Governing Board Meeting - Thursday, October 24, 2002, in Konocti.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further Old or New business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 PM.

Minutes - July 25, 2002

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