NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2005

CHICO, CA

1. CALL TO ORDER

   The meeting was called to order by J. Madden, WIB Chair, and B. Dennison, Governing Board Chair, at 10:09 a.m.

2. ROLL CALL

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

3. WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, OCTOBER 29, 2004

   A motion by B. Maffett, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the October 29, 2004, minutes as posted, passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion by J. Chapman, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of theOctober 29, 2004, minutes as posted, passed the Governing Board, with M. Cibula abstaining.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

   J. Madden proposed the following additions to the agenda:

   Under Section XIV. NEW BUSINESS, Madden said she wanted to add a short report period for the NoRTEC Youth Council that had met earlier in the morning..

   A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by B. Maffett, for WIB approval of the January 27, 20054, agenda with the addition of the above mentioned item, passed unanimously.
   
   A motion by J. Chapman, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the January 27, 2005, agenda with the addition of the above mentioned item, passed unanimously.

5. GOVERNING BOARD APPOINTMENTS TO THE WIB

   After reviewing the nominations presented in the agenda, the Governing Board took the following action:

   A motion made by J. Chapman, seconded by G. Russell, to appoint David Pelham, to fill the Community College President seat on the NoRTEC WIB, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

6. PUBLIC COMMENT

   Jo Giessner, long time representative of EDD on the NoRTEC WIB, is retiring in March. This was her last meeting. The members thanked her for her many years of service.

   The members recognized Kathryn Schmitz, Executive Director of the Tehama County Job Training Center, for 25 years of public service in job training programs in Tehama County.

   Jack Reese was roasted, and the members thanked him for his 12 years on the NoRTEC Governing Board, most of which was spent as Governing Board Chair. Judi Madden (WIB Chair) read a heart-felt Resolution

   A motion made by Tom Cochran, seconded by S. Morrison, adopting the Resolution, passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion made by J. Chapman, seconded by S. Sampels, adopting the Resolution, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

7. PROGRAM COMMITTE REPORT

   M. Piller presented the Program Committee Report.

   1. Program Monitoring

      M. Piller stated there had been no NoRTEC monitoring visits of the Service Providers since the October meeting.

   2. State Monitoring

      M. Piller reported NoRTEC's Adult and Nurse Workforce Initiative programs were monitored by the State on October 18-22, 2004, and there were two observations and two findings, and NoRTEC's remedies to the problems, outlined in the agenda.

      Piller also reported a data validation review of Adult files, conducted by the State on November 18, 2004. There were no findings.

   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
      - One Stop Center Employer Service Information

   4. Contract Performance

      The members reviewed contract performance, noting this was second quarter information, and was mainly for information purposes. Piller reported there were no immediate concerns at this time.

      The members reviewed the new report showing raw number of services provided in each of the nine categories of business services.

   5. NWI (Nurse Workforce Initiative)

      The members reviewed the report on the Nurse Workforce Initiative program (see agenda for link to report).

   6. Plant Closure Update

      The members reviewed the business closures that had taken place since the last meeting (see agenda for link to report).

   7. Community Coordinator Reports

      M. Piller thanked the Community Coordinators for their informative and interesting quarterly reports. She encouraged all of the members to review the report from each county, which would tell them all kinds of things about local events and accomplishments.

   8. Business First Report

      The following Business First Report update was given:

      1. Website Technology Initiative

         M. Piller reported the total number of local business websites developed from our ongoing Website Initiative was 159. Trinity had added five since the last meeting, bringing their total to 35, second to Shasta, with 41.

      2. One Stop Business Services

         C. Brown said that NoRTEC had a number of websites addressing business services. He pointed out the web links on the agenda for access to NoRTEC and the Service Provider's Business Services websites, and to NoRTEC's Public Website that provides information on training opportunities for local business, and a number of reports on business service usage, and other events and outcomes.

         Business Service Presentations:

         • Greg Duncan, from the Butte PIC, introduced Amy Thurman, former Sales and Service Representative (and Vice President of the employee's union) of the SBC in Chico that recently laid off 45 employees. There was a mixture of sadness for all those that suddenly found themselves unemployed, and a sense of pride at their gratitude for all the support and assistance provided by the Butte PIC program to help them weather the blow and transition to new jobs.
         • Kathryn Schmitz introduced Jay and Sharon Wazney, owners of Jay and Sharon Wazny, Ceramic Tile Installers, Inc., based in Corning. They were fun, and could not say enough about how many ways the 0Job Training Center and Business One Stop Services in Tehama County had helped them expand their business.
         • Anna Brassart (Smart Business Resource Center, Shasta) provided a brief review of the measures developed to date for the "Return on Investment" for business services. She was able to show a combination of savings and increased profits for local businesses reaching into the millions of dollars.
      3. Staff Training

         Piller reported 70 staff would soon be CAC certified by the California Staffing Professionals.

      4. Open For Business - A Short Film

         Dan Ripke and Bruce Jans showed a short film being developed for PBS titled "Open For Business." It features small business in California, and NoRTEC is one of the primary sponsors.

   9. Youth Council Update
      
      M. Piler said the Youth Council met prioe to this meeting. They discussed the need for better coordination of effort and communication among the youth service providers in each county. At their next meeting they would report on what level of youth planning and participation exists in each county, with trhe goal being to encourage and build on local efforts. She said they would also report on what each county was doing with their Small County Initiative (SCI) project, a grant that was made available through the California Department of Social Services to assist small counties to plan for and provide integrated services to children and their families to prevent child abuse and neglect.  Minutes

      A motion made by T. Cochran, and seconded by J. Smith, for WIB approval of the Second Quarter Program Committee Report, passed unanimously.

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

   10. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

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

       1. Program Year 2004/2005 Funding

          NoRTEC currently has $11,227,746 in available funds for the PY 2004/2005 Program Year. Another $3,875,000 has been requested. If all the funds are received, NoRTEC will have $15,102,746 available for the 2004/2005 Program Year. Hamby noted this would be a $6547,604 increase in total NoRTEC funding from the 2003/2004 Program Year.

       2. Approval of PY 2004/2005 Second Quarter Financial Reports

          Second quarter financial reports for PY 2004/2005 were presented to the members:

          - PY 2004/2005 Contracts Summary
          - PY 2004/2005 Service Provider Contract Modifications
          - PY 2004/2005 Program Expenditure Report
          - PY 2004/2005 Administrative Entity Expenditure Report
          - PY 2004/2005 WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report

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

       A motion made by K .Theobald, and seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the Second Quarter Finance Committee Report passed unanimously.

       A motion made by J. Chapman, and seconded by S. Sampels, for Governing Board approval of the Second Quarter Finance Committee Report passed unanimously.

   11. POLICY UPDATE

       T. Brown reported that in order to serve registered nurses, and perhaps others in the health care field, NoRTEC need to modify its "self-sufficiency" policy, to waive the upper income limit so all nursing personnel, working or not at the time of application to the WIA program, would be eligible for training services. The members discussed the policy changes as noted in the agenda.

       A motion made by G. Mistal, and seconded by H. Oilar, to to waive the upper income limit in NoRTEC's Self-Sufficiency Policy for health care workers, consistent with the wording in the agenda, passed the WIB unanimously.

       A motion made by G. Russell, and seconded by J. Chapman, to to waive the upper income limit in NoRTEC's Self-Sufficiency Policy for health care workers, consistent with the wording in the agenda, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

   12. STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS
       1. Prior Approval

          C. Brown reported:

          1. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Entrepreneurship Development Systems or Rural American Project was not funded.
          2. The Shasta PIC's Innovative Transitions Youth Grantfor $560,000 (over a five year period) was funded.
          3. The Navigator Project was funded for $83,000 to assist with job placement and retention for disabled persons in Del Norte and Shasta Counties.
          4. The Marketing Project application for $250,000 is still awaiting a response.
          5. NoRTEC received $70,000 in additional funding to augment the NoRTEC Youth Program and serve additional high risk youth.
       2. New Applications

          C. Brown outlined the following new applications and asked for WIB and Governing Board approval to submit them:

          1. Federal NCNTP (Northern California Nurse Training Program) - An application for $825,000 to provide nurse training in five of NoRTEC's Counties (Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties).
          2. State NCNTP (Northern California Nurse Training Program) - An application for $800,000 to provide nurse training in six of NoRTEC's Counties (Butte, Del Norte, Lassen, Plumas, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties).
          3. Business Services Demonstration Project - An unsolicited application for $2,000,000 to the Department of Labor for a business services demonstration project.

          A motion made by M. Piller, and seconded by T. Cochran to submit applications for the three projects and amounts listed in the agenda, passed the WIB unanimously.

          A motion made by G. Russell, and seconded by S. Sampels, to submit applications for the three projects and amounts listed in the agenda, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

   13. REPORT OF THE SUNSHINE COMMITTEE

       J. Reese reported on C. Brown's visits with Doug LaMalfa (Assembly District 2), Steve Thompson of Rick Keene's staff (Assembly District 3), and Nadine Bailey of Sam Aanestad's staff (Senate District 4). The discussions were about what NoRTEC is, and funding concerns, particularly the financial disincentives for merging independent areas, like NoRTEC did with Shasta and Butte.

       G. Mistal encouraged the business representatives on NoRTEC to sign up with Small Business California, the entity started by Scott Hauge to help address and resolve small business concerns. She said they could participate by being on the e-mail list and receive important information and respond to alerts and surveys if they wanted. C. Brown announced that Ginne was on the newly formed Board of Small Business California, and he agreed with Ginne it could be a big help for small businesses in California. (http://www.smallbusinesscalifornia.org/)

   14. OLD BUSINESS

       G. Mistal said she was not sure this belonged under Old Business, but she just wanted to take a moment to thank the NoRTEC Systems Administrator, Scott Shafer, for all of his patience and help with the computers and internet connectivity. The members gave Shafer a standing ovation. (The rest of the NoRTEC staff just glared at him.)

   15. NEW BUSINESS

       The next WIB and Governing Board meeting will be held on Thursday, April 27, 2005, in Redding.

   16. ADJOURNMENT

       There being no further Old or New Business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:55 p.m.