NoRTEC
AGENDA
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1999
1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
KONOCTI HARBOR INN
KELSYVILLE, CALIFORNIA

1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
3. WIB/GOVERNING BOARD APPROVAL OF MINUTES, JULY 29, 1999, (ACTION)

   Copies of the minutes from July 29, 1999, are attached: Minutes

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: WIB and Governing Board approval of the July 29, 1999, minutes, with revisions if needed, as mailed.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (ACTION)

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: WIB and GoverningBoard 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. WIB APPOINTMENTS (ACTION)

   There are currently five vacant seats on the WIB.

   The three seats for Butte County are vacant. The current Butte PIC has nominated Jerry Allred to sit on the NoRTEC WIB, to represent Education.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: Governing Board appointment to the WIB of the nomination of Jerry Allred to fill an Education seat for Butte County.

   An economic development seat is open for Siskiyou due to the resignation of Eric Herrick. No official nominations were received in time for posting. Appropriate nominations received at or prior to the meeting may be considered by the Governing Board for appointment to the NoRTEC WIB.

   A private sector seat is open for Plumas due to non-attendance by Joe Garner. No official nominations were received in time for posting. Appropriate nominations received at or prior to the meeting may be considered by the Governing Board for appointment to the NoRTEC WIB.

   Nominations for two of the three Trinity County seats have been received from B. Reiss, Trinity County Board of Supervisor representative on the NoRTEC Governing Board. The third seat for Trinity, a private sector seat filled by Jesse Cox, will remain unchanged.

   Name	Representing	Replacing	Representing
   Linda Wright	Welfare	Duane Heryford	Private Sector
   Doug Smith	Economic Development	Bill Hinman	Private Sector

   
   RECOMMENDED ACTION: Governing Board appointments to the WIB of the nominations for Linda Wright to fill a Public Assistance seat and Doug Smith to fill an Economic Development seat for Trinity County.
7. PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

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

   1. Program Monitoring

      B. Austin and T. Brown conducted summer monitoring visits in all seven counties. The primary purpose of the visit was to review summer youth programs. Staff observed exemplary summer youth programs in all seven counties. There were no findings.

   2. PY 1999/2000 First Quarter Program Reports (Information)

      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
      Data for the 77% Adult program is statistically insignificant, broken out by program. Only two months of follow-up data have been received (the third month's data will not be available until mid-November) which shows follow-up information on a total of thirteen (13) clients (five (5) for Adult Welfare statistics).

      Data for the 82% Youth program is also statistically insignificant, broken out by program. There were a total of eight youth terminations for NoRTEC for the first quarter of the program year (one for Del Norte, three for Lassen/Modoc/ Plumas, and four for Siskiyou). The good news is that all eight terminations have been positive. Tehama is actively recruiting youth and will have enrollments in the next quarter. Trinity has four youth enrolled, none of which have terminated.

      Data for the first quarter of the program year for Title III shows NoRTEC and all of the program except Tehama meeting the Entered Employment Rate standard. It is anticipated that Tehama will meet the Entered Employment Rate Standard by the end of the program year.

      NoRTEC and all of the programs are meeting the Federally Defined Barriers to Employment ratio.

      NoRTEC and all of the programs are meeting the in-School vs. Out-of-School Youth service ratios.

   3. Participant Summaries and Employment Report
      
      1. Participant Summary Report
      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. Fire 99 Temporary Job Creation Project

      NoRTEC is in the process of applying for $5,000,000 for a Temporary Job Creation Project in Plumas, Tehama, Trinity, and Butte Counties. We are awaiting word on its approval. (See Item X on this agenda for more information.)

   5. Upcoming Monitoring

      The State visited Tehama and Siskiyou Counties in August to gather information about the Welfare-to-Work program. We received a letter from the State thanking us for our cooperation.

      A "real" Welfare-to-Work program review has been scheduled by EDD's Program Evaluations Division in late January 2000.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: WIB and Governing Board approval of the First Quarter Program Committee Report.
8. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT (ACTION)

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

   1. Approval of Final PY 98/99 Financial Reports (ACTION)

      Preliminary Fourth Quarter Financial Reports for PY 98/99 were presented at the July 1999, WIB/GB meeting. The final reports presented for approval here are not substantively different than the preliminary reports. Any changes are briefly described.

      1. Final PY 98/99 Contracts Summary

         Total PY 98/99 funding available to NoRTEC increased by $15,030. This increase resulted from the receipt of Title III funds recaptured by the State from other SDAs who did not meet their expenditure requirements.

      2. Final PY 98/99 Service Provider Contract Modifications

         No significant contract amount changes.

      3. Final PY 98/99 Program Expenditure Report

         Service Provider expenditures were adjusted to reflect final closeout expenditure reporting to NoRTEC.

      4. Final PY 98/99 NoRTEC Administrative Entity Expenditure Report

         Total AE expenditures increased by $7,762 to a total of $679,149. The increase resulted from year-end accruals made after the Fourth Quarter reporting date. Total expenditures did not exceed the $695,000 budget.

      5. Final PY 98/99 NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report

         Total WIB/GB expenditures increased by $11,070 to a total of $32,540. The increase resulted from year-end accruals made after the Fourth Quarter reporting date. Total expenditures were within the $45,000 budget.

      RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of the Final PY 98/99 Financial Reports.
   2. PY 99/00 First Quarter Financial Reports (ACTION)

      NoRTEC currently has $8,737,412 in available funds for the program year July 1, 1999, to June 30, 2000. An additional $6,005,000 has been requested. If all requested funds are received, NoRTEC will have a total of $14,742,412 in available funding.

      PROJECT	FUNDS AVAILABLE FROM 07/01/99	ADD'L FUNDS REQUESTED/ ANTICIPATED	TOTAL
      II-B YOUTH	1,153,301	0	1,153,301
      II-A ADULT	1,485,732	0	1,485,732
      IIC YOUTH	201,409	0	201,409
      II-A OLDER	85,075	0	85,075
      TITLE III	1,653,229	0	1,653,229
      BASIC READJUSTMENT	1,746,809	0	1,746,809
      TJC FIRE ASSISTANCE	0	5,000,000	5,000,000
      RAPID RESPONSE	0	805,000	805,000
      INCENTIVE FUNDS	225,322	0	225,322
      PLANT CLOSURES	29,690	40,000	69,690
      FLOOD TRANSITION	9,352	160,000	169,352
      8% LITERACY	110,790	0	110,790
      WELFARE-TO-WORK	2,029,203	0	2,029,203
      CAPACITY BUILDING	7,500	0	7,500
      TOTAL	$8,737,412	$6,005,000	$14,742,412

   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 September 30, 1999. At September 30, 1999, NoRTEC had a total of $8,737,412 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. PY99/00 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 July 1, 1999, and September 30, 1999, 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 represent new Service Provider funding allocations for PY 99/00. The attached report details the new program year's funding allocations.
   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 quarter ended September 30, 1999, and their remaining balance at September 30, 1999, 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 generally required to spend 90% of each year's allocation by the end of the program year. For the convenience of monitoring, NoRTEC uses a 25% per quarter expenditure rate as a guide for assessing expenditures throughout the fiscal year (25% first quarter, 50% second quarter, 75% third quarter and 100% final quarter). A corrective action plan (an explanation from the service provider of how they intend to utilize the funds by the end of the funding period) is automatically required from a service provider if quarterly expenditures vary by more than 10% from the quarterly target rate.

      "Excess" funds may be voluntarily returned by a service provider or recaptured by NoRTEC if it appears that a service provider will not be able to effectively utilize them by the end of the funding period. These funds are then redistributed to other NoRTEC service providers demonstrating a greater need, or returned to the State if they cannot be effectively utilized within the consortium. Early detection and correction of expenditure problems is important because it allows time for the funds to be put to good use by service providers in other consortium counties. In addition, the effective use of funds directly affects NoRTEC's ability to secure additional funding in future years.

      At September 30, 1999, NoRTEC Service Providers were within a 10% variance of the quarterly target rate (25% at September 30, 1999) in all titles to which required expenditure rates apply, except for some minor underexpenditure in the Older Worker program. The required expenditure rates do not apply to IIB and special projects. There are no items of concern at this time.

   4. PY99/00 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 September 30, 1999, the NoRTEC Administrative Entity had expended 20% of its operating budget, 2% of its special projects budget, and 28% of its capacity building budget.

      The primary budget expenditures are detailed in the attached line item report. There are no items of concern at this time.

   5. PY99/00 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 ended June 30, 2000. At September 30, 1999, the WIB/GB had expended 12% of its total budget. There are no issues of concern at this time.

   RECOMMENDED ACTION: The WIB Finance Committee is recommending NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of the PY 99/00 First Quarter Finance Committee Report.
9. WIA TRANSITION COMMITTEE (DISCUSSION)

   The minutes from the August 19, 1999, meeting of the NoRTEC WIA Transition Committee are attached. In summary, the committee made the following decisions:

   1. Staff will pursue the "alternative designation" for the WIB (maintain the PIC structure).
   2. The current PIC is the WIB, but the Governing Board will make whatever membership changes they want or need to make to the WIB between now and July 1, 2000.
   3. Welfare is added to the list of mandatory One Stop partners.
   4. The current JTPA program operators will be designated the One Stop operators.
   5. NoRTEC will officially certify at least one One Stop per member county for an entity that has a signed NoRTEC approved MOU, and a full compliment of partners (full designation), or three or more partners (partial designation).
   6. There will be one primary Youth Program provider in each county.

   A goal from that meeting was to bring a copy of a fully developed MOU template to the WIB and Governing Board for their approval at this (October 28, 1999) meeting. This goal was not accomplished. Staff and the Programs met in an all day session with Will Jones, NoRTEC counsel, to determine the direction of the MOU, but only a rough draft has been developed so far.

   Basic legal requirements for the MOU are that it shall contain provisions describing:

   1. The services to be provided through the one-stop delivery system;
   2. How the costs of such services and the operating costs of the system will be funded;
   3. Methods for referral of individuals between the one-stop operator and the one-stop partners, for the appropriate services and activities; and
   4. The duration of the memorandum and the procedures for amending the memorandum during the term of the memorandum; and
   5. Such other provisions, consistent with the requirements of this title, as the parties to the agreement determine to be appropriate.

   The concensus of the group (staff and Program Directors) was to keep the MOU as simple as possible, with minimal partner commitment and maximum partner financial independence. The other extreme would be for all the partners to agree on the full operation of the One Stop, pool their resources, agree on an administrative and personnel structure and duties, and allocate costs accordingly. The group chose not to attempt this because of the anticipated difficulty of reaching timely agreements, and the binding nature of the associated cost allocation procedures.

10. FUNDING APPLICATION APPROVAL (ACTION)

    NoRTEC staff is requesting permission to submit a funding application to the Department of Labor for:

    Individual Training Account/Eligible Training Provider List.

    NoRTEC will be one of six partners with the State on this application, and will receive about $80,000 if it is funded. The basic purpose is to test various levels of "informed" customer choice with respect to ITAs (Individual Training Accounts), career goals and the selection of a training provider. The real benefit is that we are required by law to implement a customer choice system anyway, and being a partner will afford us some influence over related state policy. This will be submitted as an NCEN proposal, linking us with North Central Counties for a thirteen county development and implementation of "customer choice" related policy and procedure. More detail is provided under "What's UP?" on our new NCEN web site: www.ncen.org

    Recommended Action: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of staff submitting a proposal in partnership with the state for the purpose of testing the design and implementation of "informed customer choice" as it relates to Individual Training Accounts and Eligible Traiing Providers.

    Fire Related Temporary Job Creation

    Three NoRTEC counties were declared National Disaster Areas: Plumas, Tehama and Trinity. Butte was also declared a National Disaster Area. This declaration makes these counties eligible for Temporary Job Creation (TJC) projects. TJC projects allow individuals to be hired to assist with the restoration of disaster related public lands and facilities. The going rate is paid for wages, with a six month/$12,000 cap per individual.

    Recommended Action: NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board approval of staff submitting a Temporary Job Creation project proposal for approximately $5,000,000 to the State, for the funding of NoRTEC declared disaster areas, to include the funding of the Butte County JTPA program.

11. WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT PLANNING (DISCUSSION)

    A WIAPlanning Web Site (accessible from the NoRTEC "What's Happening?" link and the NCEN "What's UP?" link) has been established to keep track of our planning activities and related WIA information.

    Staff will present an overview of a number key decisions that remain for the implementation of WIA. The purpose is for an open discussion now, with decisions delegated to the WIA Transition Committee, or postponed to the next meeting of the full WIB and Governing Board (January 28, 2000). Some things that come to mind while preparing this agenda:

    1. More Money: NoRTEC should be in line for additional funding, as as incentive for the merging of two SDAs. There is lip service, but no real funding is likely without some noise from the NoRTEC area. In this concern is the limited amount of administrative dollars available to split between NoRTEC and the One Stops.
    2. WIB/LEO Agreement: We are supposed to have an operating agreement between the Workforce Investment Board and the Governing Board,specifying how the relationship will work. The PIC/LEO Agreementwill be posted and sent out, to use as a guide.
    3. WIB Representation: We agreed on the PIC structure for the WIB. Now we need to take a closer look at the details of what this means for each county's representation.
    4. Procurement of Youth Programs: We decided to forgo a regional Youth Council in favor of local planning and input. We also decided to fund a single youth program provider for each county. Now we need to decide how we are going to procure these providers. North Central Counties is going to extend their current contracts for one year. Maybe we should do the same.
    5. MOU: NoRTEC needs to sign a "Memorandum of Understanding"with the one stops, wherein they specify how all the partners are going to coordinate their efforts and resources to make the one stops work for the public. We need to finish this so we can get the partner agreement process started and finished in a timely manner.
    6. Individual Training Accounts: We have to decide how we want tohandle the requirement for "Vouchers" for client training. Do we want to establish a cap? Do we want a fixed amount per client, that they can use all or none of? Do we want a flexible amount per client based on individual need? Do we want the voucher more under the client's control or more under our control? How much faith do we have in our "informed customer choice" case management system?
    7. Negotiated Performance Standards: We are supposed to negotiate with each One Stop and with the State for the performance outcomes we will have to meet through our One Stops and Youth programs. I.e., Employment Rates, Job Retention Rates, Wage Levels, Youth Competencies, etc. If we exceed the rates we negotiate, we get a financial reward. If we do not meet our negotiated standards, we get beat up.
    8. Five Year Plan: We have to develop a "comprehensive" five year plan, complete with policies and procedures describing our employmentand training needs and opportunities, and how we are going to meet these through our continually improving system of One Stops, and the helpful planing and oversight provided by the Governing Board and the Workforce Investment Board.
12. OLD BUSINESS (DISCUSSION)

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

13. NEW BUSINESS (DISCUSSION)
    1. Upcoming Meeting Schedule
       
       1. WIB and Governing Board - January 28, 2000
       2. WIA Transition Committee - ?
    2. Additional New Business Items may be broughtup for discussion, at the pleasure of the NoRTEC WIB/GB members.
14. ADJOURNMENT