NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 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 10:05 a.m.

2. ROLL CALL

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

3. WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, JANUARY 27, 2005

   A motion by B. Maffett, seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the January 27, 2005, minutes as posted, passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion by J. Chapman, seconded by L. Erickson, for Governing Board approval of the January 27, 2005, minutes as posted, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

   A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the April 28, 2005, agenda as posted, passed unanimously.
   
   A motion by L. Erickson, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the April 28, 2005, agenda as posted, passed unanimously.

5. GOVERNING BOARD APPOINTMENTS TO THE WIB

   After reviewing the nomination presented in the agenda, to replace Jo Giessner, who retired, the Governing Board took the following action:

   A motion made by J. Chapman, seconded by L. Erickson, to appoint Michael Henriques, to fill the Public Employment seat on the NoRTEC WIB, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

6. PUBLIC COMMENT

   Patricia Cantrall, Governing Board representative from Modoc County, addressed the members and spoke about the problem of high worker's compensation costs for volunteer fire departments.

   Jack Reese, WIB member emeritus, said there was an issue locally between Rural Human Services (RHS), the NoRTEC Primary Provider for Del Norte County, and the College over a contract payment the College felt was owed them by RHS.

   Judi Madden addressed the WIB and Governing Board and informed them of Charles Brown's nomination for Small Business Advocate of the Year Award, presented by the State Chamber of Commerce. Madden read a framed letter of support for Brown's nomination from Congressman Wally Herger.

   Gary Corderman told the WIB and Governing Board that the award would be presented to the winner at a statewide gathering on May 25 in Sacramento. Corderman listed those that had written letters of support for Brown's nomination, including letters from legislators and 14 from local chambers of commerce.

   Charles Brown said he was pleased by the nomination, but he wanted to put things in perspective. He said this is not about him, it is about the programs, and they should be congratulated for being able to obtain over 1,000 signatures from local businesses supporting their local programs.

7. PROGRAM COMMITTE REPORT

   M. Piller presented the Program Committee Report.

   1. Program Monitoring

      M. Piller stated monitoring visits had been scheduled in all seven of the programs throughout May and June..

   2. State Monitoring

      M. Piller reported there had been no state monitoring visits scheduled or perfomed since the January 2005 meeting.

   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. There were no concerns.

   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 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 over 200. The members noted the new North State Directory websitewould soon be completed which will organize the websites by topic and provide a better marketing service to the businesses featured on the site. (See agenda for link.)

      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:

         • Piller announced that the first scheduled presentation by Karen Mann would be postponed due to illness.
         • Linda Morecraft introduced Geary Whiting, owner of Geary Whiting Equine Massage School who discussed how TOT had helped him modify his course curriculum for his massage school.
         • The members watched the Open for BusinessDVD, which is being developed as a hopeful PBS series. The 11 minute presentation focused on the Wazny's Tile Setting business and the Business Services program in Tehama County.
         • Anna Brassart (Smart Business Resource Center, Shasta) introduced Henry Bartolo, owner of Suspenders Advertising Specialities, who shared how much the Shasta BRC had assisted him with the start-up of his new business.
         • Brassart also introduced Terri Hill, Human Resource Manager of the The Knot, who shared how the Shasta BRC had assisted her assessment testings, interview scheduling, Enterprise Tax Zone Credits, and on-line classroom training during the start-up phase of the business. Later, as the company grew, the BRC assisted with management training and other business expansion services.
         • Anna Brassart gave a presentation on the Return on Investment (ROI) from a business service point of view.
      3. Staff Training

         Piller reported 68 staff had passed the California Accredited Consultant (CAC) exam.

         She also reported that 62 staff had attended a training session on Disability Employment Law for Employers.

   9. Youth Council Report

      M. Piller reported that the Youth Council meeting scheduled before the WIB/Governing Board Meeting had been cancelled.

   A motion made by B. Maffett, and seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the Third Quarter Program Committee Report, passed unanimously.

   A motion made by P. Cantrall, and seconded by L. Erickson, for Governing Board approval of the Third Quarter Program Committee Report, passed unanimously.

8. FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT

   D. Beeson, Finance Committee member, presented the Finance Committee report.

   1. PY 2004/2005 Funding

      Beeson reported NoRTEC currently has $15,349,551 in available funds for the 2004/2005 Program Year. Another $825,000 has been requested. If all the funds are received, NoRTEC will have $16,217,551 available for the 2004/2005 Program Year. Beeson noted this would be a $1,772,609 increase in total NoRTEC funding from the 2003/2004 Program Year.

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

      Third quarter financial reports for PY 2004/2005 were presented to the members. (See aganda for links to the reports):

      - 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

      A motion made by K .Theobald, and seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the Third Quarter Finance Committee Report passed with a majority vote. J. Reese voted no.

      A motion made by G. Russell, and seconded by S. Sampels, for Governing Board approval of the Third Quarter Finance Committee Report passed with a majority vote. P. Cantrall voted no.

   3. PY 2005/2006 NoRTEC Administrative Budget

      The members discussed this item as presented in the agenda. M. Cibula noted that he wanted to review the equipment purchase line item prior to the next annual budget approval.

      A motion made by T. Cochran, and seconded by M. Piller, for WIB approval of the NoRTEC Administrative Entity budget at $897,809, subject to availability of funding, passed unanimously.

      A motion made by J. Chapman, and seconded by L. Erickson, for Governing Board approval of the NoRTEC Administrative Entity budget at $897,809, subject to availability of funding, passed unanimously.

   4. PY 2005/2006 NoRTEC WIB/Governing Board Budget

      The members discussed this item as presented in the agenda.

      A motion made by M. Piller, and seconded by J. Smith, for WIB approval of the NoRTEC WIB/Governing Board budget at $75,000, subject to availability of funding, passed unanimously.

      A motion made by G. Russell, and seconded by J. Chapman, for Governing Board approval of the NoRTEC WIB/Governing Board budget at $75,000, subject to availability of funding, passed with a majority vote. P. Cantrall voted no.

   5. NoRTEC Fiscal Monitoring

      M. Cross stated fiscal monitoring visits had been scheduled in May and June for all seven NoRTEC service providers, as well as a trip to the three LWIAs included in NoRTEC's NWI contract (Mendocino, Humboldt, and North Central Counties).

   6. State Fiscal and Procurement Monitoring of NoRTEC

      The members discussed this item as presented in the agenda, noting the State monitor visted NoRTEC and the service provider offices in Siskiyou and Lassen/Modoc/Plumas Counties during the week prior to this meeting. M. Cross said he had no unofficial observations to present to the members.

   7. PY 2005/2006 Funding Allocations

      The members discussed this item as presented in the agenda. M. Cross noted that NoRTEC had received overall allocations, which were about 2% more than last year, but he had not received breakdowns for each of the county allocations.

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

   A motion made by G. Russell, and seconded by S. Sampels, for Governing Board approval of the Third Quarter Finance Committee Report, passed unanimously.

9. STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS
   1. Prior Approval

      C. Brown reported:

      • The $250,000 application to provide staff training to the programs on marketing their programs was not funded.
      • NoRTEC has still not received word, one way or the other, on the $825,000 Federal NCNTP (Nurse's Training) project submitted to DOL.
      • The State NCNTP (Nurse's Training program) was funded for $800,000.
      • Staff will be submitting an unsoliticited $2,000,000 Business Services Demonstration Project to DOL sometime in May.
   2. New Applications

      C. Brown reported that staff had submitted an application to the State for $1,350,000 to provide re-employment and related services to dislocated workers. The application was funded. Brown asked for retroactive approval to submit the application.

      A motion made by D. Beeson, and seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval to submit an application to the State for $1,350,000 to provide re-employment and related services to workers displaced from numerous plant closures in the NoRTEC area, passed unanimously.

      A motion made by P. Cantrall, and seconded by J. Chapman, for Governing Board approval to submit an application to the State for $1,350,000 to provide re-employment and related services to workers displaced from numerous plant closures in the NoRTEC area, passed unanimously.
      

10. 2005 ANNUAL COUNTY PROFILE SERIES

    Courtney Danahey, from the Center for Economic Development at CSU, Chico, presented the 2005 Annual County Profile Series.

11. REPORT OF THE SUNSHINE COMMITTEE

    J. Reese said the committee had not met.
    
    G. Mistal gave a brief report ion Small Business California (SBC), which included a copy of a recent survey on small business concerns conducted by SBC, and her observation that SBC was closer to the heart of small business needs and would soon supplant the Chamber as the voice of small business.

12. OLD BUSINESS

    There was no Old Business.

13. NEW BUSINESS

    Tom Cochran stated he would be calling an Executive Committee meeting before the next WIB and Governing Board meeting.

    The next WIB and Governing Board meeting will be held on July 28, 2005, in Chico.

14. ADJOURNMENT

    There being no further Old or New Business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:48 p.m.