NoRTEC
AGENDA
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2000
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
HOLIDAY INN
CHICO, CALIFORNIA

1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, JANUARY 27, 2000 (ACTION)

   Copies of the minutes from January 27, 2000, are attached: Minutes

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: WIB approval of the January 27, 2000, minutes, with revisions if needed, as mailed.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: Governing Board approval of the January 27, 2000, minutes, with revisions if needed, as mailed.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (ACTION)

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: WIB approval of the agenda, with revisions if needed, as mailed.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: Governing Board approval of the agenda, with revisions if needed, as mailed.

5. PUBLIC COMMENT (INFORMATION)

   Members of the public will be invited to make brief comments regarding any aspect of NoRTEC business.

6. BRIEF ORIENTATION (DISCUSSION)

   The WIB and Governing Board members will be asked to introduce themselves.

   C. Brown will provide a brief overview of NoRTEC.

7. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

   Michele Piller, Program Committee Chair, will present the Program Committee Report.

   1. Program Monitoring

      Spring JTPA program monitoring reviews are underway. Rural Human Services, STEP, the Job Training Center of Tehama County, and TOT have been visited. Reviews of the Alliance for Workforce Development will be conducted the first week of May. The focus of this monitoring visit has been to review files of participants that are likely to be carried over into WIA, and to assure that the programs are ready for the implementation of WIA. There are no areas of concern at this time.

      A review of the Welfare-to-Work program has also been conducted at six of the seven programs (RHS is scheduled for May 24-25). All information necessary to document the participant's eligiblity and their progress through the program was contained in the participant files. Now, the Administrative Entity has to quit procrastinating and put together a standardized, internet-based, reporting system.

   2. PY 1999/2000 Third Quarter Program Reports

      A summary of the standard program reports will be presented at the meeting. Please click on the name of each separate report shown below for goals and performance information. Click here for an in-depth explanation of any of the reports listed below:

      1. Title II-A 77% Adult and 82% Youth Performance Standards
      2. Title III Entered Employment Rate and Average Wage at Placement Standards
      3. Federally Defined Barrier to Employment Ratios
      4. In-School Vs. Out-of School Youth Service Ratios
      5. Welfare to Work
   3. Participant Summaries and Employment Report
      1. Participant Summary Reports
      2. Employment Report
      These reports are provided to the WIB and Governing Board as informational items (number of participants served in each county and participant placements in jobs).
   4. State Monitoring

      The State has completed their Welfare-to-Work review. A draft monitoring report was issued on March 15, 2000. NoRTEC's response to this "draft" report can be viewed at the following address: NoRTEC's Response

      The State's purpose in issuing a draft report is to allow the SDA to respond to any findings and resolve any problems before the final report is issued.

      RECOMMENDED ACTION: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of the Third Quarter Program Committee Report.

8. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

   B. Hamby, Finance Committee Chair, will present the Finance Committee report.

   1. PY 99/00 Third Quarter Financial Reports (ACTION)
      

      NoRTEC currently has $9,650,638 in available funds for the program year July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2000. We do not anticipate any additional funding this year.

      PROJECT	FUNDS AVAILABLE FROM 07/01/99	ADD'L FUNDS REQUESTED/ ANTICIPATED	TOTAL
      II-B YOUTH	942,848	0	942,848
      II-A ADULT	1,424,058	0	1,424,058
      IIC YOUTH	360,165	0	360,165
      II-A OLDER	85,081	0	85,081
      TITLE III	1,649,824	0	1,649,824
      BASIC READJUSTMENT	1,746,809	0	1,746,809
      RAPID RESPONSE	805,000	0	805,000
      INCENTIVE FUNDS	225,466	0	225,466
      PLANT CLOSURES	69,642	0	69,642
      FLOOD TRANSITION	169,297	0	169,297
      8% LITERACY	110,790	0	110,790
      WELFARE-TO-WORK	2,029,158	0	2,029,158
      CAPACITY BUILDING	32,500	0	32,500
      TOTAL	$9,650,638	$0	$9,650,638

      1. PY 99/00 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 99/00 program year at March 31, 2000. At March 31, 2000, NoRTEC had a total of $9,650,638 available in contracts for the 99/00 program year. This report includes only amounts available in the current year. Amounts expended in prior years are not included.

      2. PY 99/00 Service Provider Contract Modifications
         

         (Select the white arrow in the upper left corner of the report to advance to the second page)

         This report shows the changes between December 31, 1999, and March 31, 2000, in the service provider contract amounts available for expenditure in the current program year. This report shows only contract amounts available in the current year. Contract amounts expended in prior years are not included.

         The contract changes include Service Provider funding title transfers and the award of additional funding based upon Service Provider request. The attached report details contract changes which occurred during the quarter. There are no items of concern.

      3. PY 99/00 Program Expenditure Report

         (Select the white arrow in the upper left corner of the report to advance to the second page)

         This report shows each subcontractor's total available balance for the program year (July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2000), their expenditures for the nine months ending March 31, 2000, and their remaining balance at March 31, 2000, for each specific JTPA funding title and program type. This report shows only contract amounts available in the current year. Contract amounts expended in a prior year are not included.

         NoRTEC service providers are normally required to spend 90% of each year's allocation by the end of the program year. This year, however, the required expenditure rates for regular funding titles have been waived by the State. Therefore, service providers can spend less than the normally required 90% in those titles. Any remaining balances in regular JTPA funding titles at June 30, 2000, will be rolled over into that Service Provider's WIA allocation. Required expenditure rates for special funding titles have not been waived.

         There are no areas of concern with expenditure rates in either regular funding titles or special funding titles at March 31, 2000.

      4. PY 99/00 NoRTEC Administrative Entity Expenditure Report

         This report shows the Administrative Entity (AE) expenditures against the annual line item budget for the 99/00 program year ending June 30, 2000. At March 31, 2000, the NoRTEC Administrative Entity had expended 65% of its operating budget, 160% of its special projects budget, and 52% of its capacity building budget.

         The expenditures in the Special Projects line-item include charges for the 99/00 Konocti conference, consultants, internet upgrades and the WIB/GB computers. The Finance Committee is recommending below that the Special Projects line-item be increased by $100,000 to a total of $200,000 to accommodate the purchase of the WIB/GB computers.

         The Administrative Entity expenditures are detailed in the attached line item report. There are no other items of concern at this time.

      5. PY 99/00 NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report

         This report shows the WIB and Governing Board expenditures against the annual line item budget for program year ending June 30, 2000. At March 31, 2000, the WIB/GB had expended 63% of its total budget. There are no items of concern at this time.

         RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of the PY 99/00 Third Quarter Finance Committee Reports.

   2. INCREASE SPECIAL PROJECT BUDGET (ACTION)

      The Finance Committee is recommending that the Administrative Entity budget for Special Projects be increased by $100,000 to a total of $200,000. The increase is being requested to accommodate the additional expense of the WIB/GB computers. NoRTEC has sufficient funding to cover this proposed increase.

      RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending that the Special Projects budget for PY 99/00 be increased by $100,000 to a total of $200,000.

   3. PY 2000/2001 NoRTEC ADMINISTRATIVE BUDGET (ACTION)

      The WIB Finance Committee is recommending that the PY 2000/2001 Administrative Entity budget be approved at $672,950. This is the same amount approved for the PY 1999/2000 budget. There are some minor line-item adjustments which are detailed in the budget narrative, but the budget total is unchanged. NoRTEC has sufficient funds to cover this budget.
      
      1.Proposed PY 2000/2001 AE Budget.
      2.Narrative for the Proposed PY 2000/2001 AE Budget.

      RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending that the PY 2000/2001 NoRTEC Administrative Entity budget be approved at $672,950, subject to the availability of funding.

   4. PY 2000/2001 NoRTEC WIB/GB BUDGET (ACTION)

      The WIB Finance Committee is recommending that the PY 2000/2001 WIB/GB Budget be approved at $50,000. This is same amount that was approved for PY 1999/2000. NoRTEC has sufficient funds to cover this budget.

      
      1.Proposed PY 2000/2001 WIB/GB Budget.
      2.Narrative for the Proposed PY 2000/2001 WIB/GB Budget.

      
      RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending that the PY 2000/2001 WIB/GB budget be approved at $50,000, subject to the availability of funding.

9. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PERFORMANCE AND COMPENSATION (ACTION)

   Note: The meeting may be adjourned into closed session to discuss this personnel matter.

   The goals and objectives for PY 1999/2000 form the basis for the annual evaluation of the Executive Director, the related performance bonus amount, and the annual salary, to be determined by the WIB and Governing Board members.

   
   Here are some web pages that may help with the discussion:

   1.The bonus formula adopted by the NoRTEC PIC and Governing Board.
   2.Executive Director Goals and brief comments on their status.
   3.Salary Survey Updated 4/00

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board specification of a bonus amount for the NoRTEC Executive Director, based on their assessment of his PY 1999/2000 performance.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board specification of the Executive Director Salary level for the upcoming 2000/2001 program year.

10. NoRTEC COUNTIES; ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES (PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION)

    Dan Ripke, Director of the Center for Economic Development, California State University, Chico, will provide a brief look at the "Economic And Demographic Profile 2000" reports the Center recently completed for the NoRTEC counties. These reports contain projections to 2010 for Population, Employment, and Income, and Income by Industry, New Construction , School Enrollment, Business by Industry Size and Class, Per Capita Income, Retail Sales, Poverty, and more. A limited number of copies for each county will be available for the Governing Board and WIB members that want them.

11. FUNDING FOR NEXT YEAR, JULY, 2000 - JUNE 2001 (DISCUSSION)

    Draft NoRTEC Allocations
    Adult		Youth		Dislocated
    W/Hold Harmless	W/O Hold Harmless	W/Hold Harmless	W/O Hold Harmless	NA
    $2,469,867	$2,580,271	$2,476,853	$2,602,399	$2,611,440

    
    Total With Hold Harmless: $7,558,160
    Total Without Hold Harmless: $7,794,110
    
    We loose $235,950 with the "Hold Harmless"

    These figures are almost final. (They do not include Welfare to Work funds or Rapid Response funds.) The Governor has an option of choosing a "hold harmless" allocation formula that will keep all Workforce Investment Areas at no less than 90%, and no more that 130% of their portion of the prior year's allocation formula. Our selfish best interests are for no hold harmless, but staff has avoided the debate as not being worth the ill will.

    We have no breakout by county yet, but the totals appear in line with past NoRTEC + Butte totals.

    Administration - there is still a great deal of concern about how the 10% limit on administrative expenses will finally be defined by the Department of Labor. Key for us is whether or not we have to double count; i.e., if we have to count the administrative costs at both the NoRTEC level and at the local program level. Good news. Right now, it appears DOL is defining all contracted expenses for program operation as program costs, and only administrative activities at the NoRTEC level and the One Stop Operator level as coming out of the 10% administrative cost category.

    Contracts - The DOL distinction between One Stop Operation duties and Program Operation duties means two contracts with each one stop operator; one for their One Stop operation duties, and another to implement the adult and dislocated worker programs. (Coincidentally, there will be a third with each to operate the youth programs.) So far, it appears the only official duties to be performed by the One Stop operator on behalf of NoRTEC is to facilitate the development and maintenance of the local MOU and related One Stop level meetings and agreements among the partners (e.g., referral agreements, etc.).

    Rapid Response - This funding is in addition to the allocated funding referred to above. The State Five Year Plan says the State will continue to fund Rapid Response activities at the local level. Current State policy is to provide funding for at least one half time position for each service area to conduct rapid response activities. A "Community Coordinator" position is specifically referenced in State JTPA Directive D97-23.

    For the past several years, NoRTEC has received funding for a full time position in each county (Butte has too), plus enough additional to help offset some of our internet communication costs. Current State policy is to renew the Rapid Response applications without question if the applicant expended the prior year's funding and has not asked for an increase in this year's funding. NoRTEC has been reviving a total of $805,000. Butte has been receiving $100,000. NoRTEC will request $905,000 for the upcoming year, utilizing the current application forms and policy.

    Unfortunately, current policy is not binding on the WIA program beginning July 1, 2000, and the State plan is too vague for assurances. We are attempting to get clarification from State staff. We are getting assurances to "not worry," but cannot get a specific enough response to be confident of receiving these funds. An update will be provided at the meeting.

12. NORTEC WIA TRANSITION COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH 24, 2000 (INFORMATION)

    Please refer to the minutes of this meeting for more detail.

    There were four Action Items:

    1. Local MOUs - Plumas was designated a Comprehensive One Stop. Lassen, Modoc, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity were given Temporary Designation pending one or two partner signatures. Butte and Del Norte were postponed to this meeting, pending multiple partner signatures. (There were no apparent problems other than the timing of obtaining the partner signatures.) One of the complications was that the State Department of Rehabilitation was withholding permission for locally negotiated agreements.
    2. Youth Proposals - The proposals from Butte PIC for Butte, RHS for Del Norte, AFWD for Lassen, Modoc and Plumas, STEP for Siskiyou, JTCTC for Tehama and TOT for Trinity were approved for the NoRTEC youth service contracts.
    3. Five Year Plan - with mostly house cleaning changes, the NoRTEC Five Year Plan was approved for submission to the State.
    4. WIB/GB Agreement - The operating agreement was approved, outlining the way the WIB and Governing Board will conduct business. Basically, the WIB does the work and the Governing Board approves or not. If not, a smaller group of five is assigned the task of determining the outcome of the disagreement. (The WIB assigns two, the Governing Board assigns two, and the Director recommends one, to be agreed to by a majority vote of the WIB and Governing Board representatives.)
13. LOCAL MOU AND ONE STOP STATUS (ACTION)

    At the March 24, 2000, WIA Transition Committee Meeting, the plan was for the One Stop Operators to obtain the rest of the signatures on the local MOU agreements in time for this meeting. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the Department of Rehabilitation has not yet consented to enter into any local agreements. In addition, the Employment Development Department has now also decided to withhold permission for local agreements. (I wonder if EDD thinks they can disregard signatures already in place?)

    In the meantime, congratulations to Trinity for obtaining the final signature they needed to achieve full NoRTEC designation as a comprehensive One Stop. Now we have two "comprehensive" One Stops; Plumas and Trinity. (Rehab does not have a full time presence in Plumas or Trinity, so are not a required One Stop partner for them, and they both already have an EDD sign-off.)

    RECOMMENDED ACTION: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval for their respective chairs to sign off on the local MOUs as the requisite mandatory partner signatures are acquired.

14. SHASTA TO JOIN NoRTEC? (ACTION); Formerly "ADDITIONAL WIB MEMBERS NEEDED (DISCUSSION)"

    ATTACHMENT: WIB Membership Requirements

    We have been approached by representitives from Shasta to see if NoRTEC would be amenable to Shasta joining the NoRTEC consortium. The initial response from NoRTEC staff is "yes." The inclusion of Shasta is in line with the goal of NoRTEC to expand its regional base. Staff will be prepared to present benefits and drawbacks to a merger. The Executive Director of the Shasta PIC will be present to answer questions. Staff recommendation is to assign the details of the ongoing discussion and decisions to the NoRTEC WIA Transition Committee.

    From this former agenda item: The State plan was signed by the Governor. The plan does not allow alternative entities to even be discussed. So, we now have until December 31, 2000, to come into compliance with the full WIB membership requirements. The attached table shows the required representation and current membership. We are either missing two seats or eight seats, depending on how this gets interpreted. We (NoRTEC) have determined that only the WIA identified entities/funding sources that are actually here operating full time job training programs in the NoRTEC area are mandatory partners. The State may see it differently. Anyway, if we can't fill the requirement for the additional representation from current WIB members, we will need to recruit and expand the WIB accordingly.

    In addition to fulfilling the WIB requirements, we have received a request from the President of Butte Community College, Sandra Acebo, to become a member of the NoRTEC WIB. It is generally in NoRTEC's best interests to have good representation from the Community College system on the NoRTEC WIB. The difficulty will be in keeping the balance of representation required under WIA. Now is probably a good time to consider this request since we have to expand anyway to comply with the State Plan for a full WIB.

    Of course, the expanded WIB membership has to be considered in the context of the possible addition of Shasta County.

    RECOMMENDED ACTION: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of assigning the addition of Shasta County to the NoRTEC Consortium, to the NoRTEC WIA Transition Committee.

15. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP (DISCUSSION)

    ATTACHMENT: NoRTEC WIB Committee Membership

    All NoRTEC WIB members are asked to sit on one of the standing WIB Committees. While the members are officially appointed by the WIB Chair, individual choice is encouraged. The goal is to get everyone on a committee, and to have at least one representative from each county on each committee. The committees may meet in the interim between regularly scheduled WIB/GB meetings to review agenda items in more detail before presenting them to the full WIB/GB for action. Unassigned WIB members are asked to let either C. Brown or J. Madden know your preferences.

16. STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS (INFORMATION)

    NoRTEC has no outstanding funding applications for this Program Year.

17. OLD BUSINESS (DISCUSSION)

    Old Business items may be brought up for discussion, at the pleasure of the NoRTEC WIB/GB members.

18. NEW BUSINESS (DISCUSSION)
    1. Upcoming Meeting Schedule
       
       1. WIB and Governing Board - July 27, 2000
       2. WIB and Governing Board - October 26, 2000 (24 - 27, Konocti)
    2. Additional New Business Items may be brought up for discussion, at the pleasure of the NoRTEC WIB/GB members.
19. ADJOURNMENT