NoRTEC
MINUTES
WIB AND GOVERNING BOARD
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2004
MT. SHASTA, CA

1. CALL TO ORDER

   The meeting was called to order by J. Madden, WIB Chair, and J. Reese, Governing Board Chair, at 9:08 a.m.

2. ROLL CALL

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

3. WIB APPROVAL OF MINUTES, JULY 29, 2004

   A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by D. Beeson,, for WIB approval of the July 29, 2004, minutes as posted, passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion by I. Fust, seconded by G. Russell, for Governing Board approval of the July 29, 2004, minutes as posted, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

   J. Madden proposed the follwing additions to the agenda:

   Under Section XIV. NEW BUSINESS, Madden said she wanted to add a discussion item about the NoRTEC Youth Council.

   A motion by T. Cochran, seconded by S. LaBriere, for WIB approval of the October 29, 2004, agenda with the addition of the above mentioned item, passed unanimously.
   
   A motion by B. Dennison, seconded by L. Ericson, for Governing Board approval of the October 29, 2004, 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 B. Dennison, seconded by L. Ericson, to appoint Sally LaBriere to represent Private Industry, and Joan Smith to represent Economic Development, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

6. GOVERNING BOARD CHAIR

   Jack Reese announced his resignation as a Governing Board member and Chair, effective at the end of 2004. He said he enjoyed working with the members of the NoRTEC boards, and said he appreciated everyone's support and the fact that none of the members seemed to bring "personal agendas" to the meetings.

   The members expressed their appreciation for Reese's service and George Russell thanked him for his exemplary meeting attendance.

   G. Russell nominated Bill Dennison for the position of Governing Board Chair, effective January 1, 2005. I. Fust seconded the nomination. After no further nominations were received from the floor, J. Reese declared Bill Dennison as the new Governing Board Chair.

   Bill Dennison thanked the members for his appointment and said he hoped he would be able to serve with the same humor and dedication that Jack had provided us with over the years.

7. PAST GOVERNING BOARD CHAIR

   Staff recommended adding a clause to the WIB and Governing Board Agreement that would automatically appoint a former Governing Board Chair to the NoRTEC WIB. The suggested language in the agenda was amended to include the word "Immediate Past" Governing Board Chair.

   A motion by B. Hamby, seconded by B. Maffett, to approve the suggested modification to the NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board Agreement, automatically appointing the Immediate Past Governing Board Chair to the NoRTEC WIB, passed the WIB unanimously.

   A motion by B. Dennison, seconded by L. Ericson, to approve the suggested modification to the NoRTEC WIB and Governing Board Agreement, automatically appointing the Immediate Past Governing Board Chair to the NoRTEC WIB, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

8. PUBLIC COMMENT

   There was no public comment.

9. PROGRAM COMMITTE REPORT

   M. Piller presented the Program Committee Report.

   1. Program Monitoring

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

   2. State Monitoring

      M. Piller said that there had been a State program monitoring visit the previous week (October 18-22, 2004), and that the administrative office and four service providers had been visited. She asked staff for an update.

      T. Brown reported that this was the first program monitoring visit by the State since the inception of WIA, and that overall it had gone well. She said that Adult, Dislocated Workers, Youth, and the Nurse Workforce Initiative (NWI) programs had been reviewed, and that there were two observations and two findings.

      Brown said that the observations were: (1) In the NWI participant files, the case managers needed to do a better job of documenting the fact that a particular client was not eligible for a PELL or BOGG grant; and (2) Grievance and Complaint Procedures for users of the One-Stops were not posted in a place conspicuous enough for all to see.

      She said the findings were: (1) NoRTEC administration was not performing annual on-site monitoring visits of the three other LWIA offices that received NWI funding; and (2) While NoRTEC has a Youth Council, it is not meeting frequently enough and performing its oversight duties.

      Piller said that the group had discussed the Youth Council issue the previous day, and were planning on meeting on January 27, 2005, to discuss the direction and viability of the Council in the future. Piller continued, saying that staff would officially respond to the findings when a monitoring report was received from the State, and an update would be given at the next 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, noting that this was first quarter information, and was mainly for information purposes. T. Brown said that staff would be taking a closer look at the end of the second quarter, as this was a better indicator of how the programs were doing against their contract performance objectives. Brown said there were no immediate concerns at this time.

   5. NWI (Nurse Workforce Initiative)

      M. Piller said that the sixteen county region of NCEN (NoRTEC's nine counties, plus Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sutter and Yuba Counties) was awarded a $2.1 million contract to provide Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) training to northern California residents. She said that the attached report (see agenda for link) outlined how much funding each program in NoRTEC, and the other three LWIAs received, and reported on enrollment and placement information.

   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 that the total number of local business websites developed from our ongoing Website Initiative was 150. She said that the Shasta PIC had the most websites with 41, and Trinity was running second with 30.

      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:

         • Josephine Wyatt, from the Workforce Connection, introduced Dr. Thomas Klassey, DC, who talked about the Business Start-up services he received from the Workforce Connection. Dr. Klassey said the Workforce Connection helped him with recruitment, screening, and hiring of new employees, computer training, and labor law information. He said he was very pleased with the services he received.
         • Josephine Wyatt also introduced Martin Nicholas, Chief of Police, for the City of Weed. Mr. Nicholas said that the Workforce Connection had assisted him with employee recruitment, hiring, testing, and interviewing.
      3. Workforce Development Month

         The members reviewed the highlights presented in the agenda on what the programs had done to recognize Workforce Development Month (September 2004).

   9. One-Stop Staff training

   The members reviewed the information presented in the agenda regarding the NoRTEC sponsored marketing training for Service Provider staff on September 23-24, 2004, in Chico.

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

   A motion made by B. Dennison, and seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval of the First 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 $11,096,586 in available funds for the PY 2004/2005 Program Year. Another $2,320,000 has been requested. If all the funds are received, NoRTEC will have $13,416,586 available for the 2004/2005 Program Year. Hamby noted that this would be a $1,028,356 decrease in total NoRTEC funding from the 2003/2004 Program Year.

    2. Approval of Final PY 2003/2004 Fourth Quarter Financial Reports

       Fourth quarter financial reports for PY 2003/2004 were presented to the members:

       - PY 2003/2004 Contracts Summary
       - PY 2003/2004 Service Provider Contract Modifications
       - PY 2003/2004 Program Expenditure Report
       - PY 2003/2004 Administrative Entity Expenditure Report
       - PY 2003/2004 WIB and Governing Board Expenditure Report

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

       A motion made by M. Piller, and seconded by T. Cochran, for WIB approval of the Fourth Quarter Financial Reports passed unanimously.

       A motion made by B. Dennison, and seconded by I. Fust, for Governing Board approval of the Fourth Quarter Financial Reports passed unanimously.

    3. Approval of PY 2004/2005 First Quarter Financial Reports

       First 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 fourth quarter reports.

       A motion made by T. Cochran, and seconded by D. Beeson, for WIB approval of the First Quarter Financial Reports passed unanimously.

       A motion made by I. Fust, and seconded by B. Dennison, for Governing Board approval of the First Quarter Financial Reports passed unanimously.

11. POLICY UPDATE

    This item was discussed as presented in the agenda. L. Wright asked if there were any significant changes from the draft to finished policy. T. Brown said no, that mailnly they had just been updated from "JTPA" to "WIA" language.

    A motion made by B. Maffett, and seconded by C. Martin, to approve the WIA OJT Policy as presented, passed the WIB unanimously.

    A motion made by L. Ericson, and seconded by I. Fust, to approve the WIA OJT Policy as presented, passed the Governing Board unanimously.

12. STATUS OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS
    1. Prior Approval

       C. Brown reported:

       1. The MCLAUS II application was finally awarded for a number of plant closures in our nine county area. Brown said that NoRTEC had requested $1,500,000, but had been cut back to $800,000, and that the project was already fully enrolled, only a few weeks after receipt of the funds. He said more money had been applied for and would be discussed under agenda item B. below.
       2. The grant recipients from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development Systems for Rural America had not been finalized yet, but the application NoRTEC was a part of was in the top 12. He said the number of grantees that would eventually receive funding totalled four.
       3. The Shasta PIC was funded for a youth with disabilities project (Innovative Transitions Youth Grant).
    2. New Applications

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

       1. MCLAUS III - $2,000,000 to serve 445 dislocated workers from previous and upcoming plant closures in NoRTEC's nine county area.
       2. Navigator Project - $83,000 to provide staff training for working with disabled persons in Del Norte and Shasta Counties, specifically to assist with job placement and retention.
       3. Marketing Project - $250,000 to provide staff training to the programs on marketing their programs on a shoestring, to pay for staff time and materials to implement, and a follow-up "best practices" seminar.
       4. High Risk Youth Funding - $70,000 to augment existing funds for the NoRTEC youth program.

       A motion made by H. Oilar, and seconded by B. Maffett to submit applications for the four projects and amounts listed in the agenda, passed the WIB unanimously.

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

13. OLD BUSINESS

    The members did not discuss any Old Business items.

14. NEW BUSINESS

    The next WIB and Governing Board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 27, 2005, in Chico. A Youth Council meeting will precede the WIB and Governing Board meeting, starting at 9:00 a.m.

15. ADJOURNMENT

    There being no further Old or New Business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.