Meeting Minutes from December 7, 2010
Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board
Executive Committee
Minutes
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
3:30 p.m.
Liberty Place, Room 112
Present:
Thomas Baldrige, James Black, Donald F. Johnson Jr., Sharon Leese, Craig Lehman, Maureen Lewandowski, Jean Martin
Not Present:
Steve Fries, Eric Horn, Linda Kreider (Ex-Officio)
Staff:
Joyce Lenox, Andrew Garner, Scott Sheely, Kim Sullenberger, Lori Rank
Operators Representative:
Guests:
William Moulfair, Joe Shiffer, Doug Schmidt
Call to Order
Sharon Leese called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. and thanked everyone for coming.
Consent Agenda
Approval of Minutes from September 7, 2010 meeting
Minutes approved unanimously on motion from Tom Baldrige and second from Don Johnson Jr.
Approval of Minutes from October 5, 2010 meeting
Minutes approved unanimously on motion from Tom Baldrige and second from Don Johnson Jr.
Approval of Minutes from November 2, 2010 meeting
Minutes approved unanimously on motion from Tom Baldrige and second from Don Johnson Jr.
Approval of Meeting Schedule for 2010-2011
Meeting Schedule for 2010-2011 approved unanimously on motion from Craig Lehman and second from Tom Baldrige.
Action Items
Approval of the September ARRA Expenditures
Scott Sheely reported the ARRA Expenditures are identical to the reviewed copy in November which could not be voted on at that point.
Motion approved unanimously for Approval of September ARRA Expenditures on motion from Don Johnson Jr. and second from Tom Baldrige.
Approval of the Lease with the Drogaris Companies
Scott Sheely reported that the terms of the Lease which has been brought forward today are the same that were negotiated within the last 60 days. Final approval was dependent on the approval of the landlord's banks and the approval of this Board.
Motion approved unanimously for Approval of the Lease with the Drogaris Companies on motion from Don Johnson Jr. and second from Maureen Lewandowski.
Discussion Items
Discussion of Situation with Passage of Industry Partnership Legislation
Scott Sheely reported the House passed their version of the Industry Partnership legislation unanimously. The Senate version was proposed by Senator Brubaker along with18 mostly Republican sponsors. It passed with a 40-9 vote and was sent back to the House for passage. The House was not able to give final approval in the lame duck session. Senator Brubaker is going to reintroduce the bill in the New Year. Scott asked for employers to contact their legislator to support this bill as written with no changes in the New Year.
Final Review of Lease Structure
Scott Sheely reported the lease was signed last week and submitted to the banks who are the landlord's creditors in the bankruptcy for approval. Rent will remain the same for 10 years with no increases. Janitorial services will have to be paid directly but all the rest of the expenses are included in the monthly fee. Savings will start to be reflected in year 5-6 as costs of taxes and utilities increase. Improvement allocations of $100,000 each for the first 5 years and the second 5 years is written into the lease. There is a provision to downsize by up to 9,000 square feet if needed.
Follow-Up Discussion of EARN Budget Deficit
Maureen Lewandowski reported that in checking with the Bureau of Employment Training she got a verbal commitment that the additional funding for the Corporate Center is going to be approved. This is good news as the six months allocated in this year's budget is about up and the operation was going to have to be closed if no new funding was received.
Follow-Up Discussion of Changes to Local Management Committee
Maureen Lewandowski reported the LMC was established by the Department of Public Welfare in the 90's to have a say in how the welfare monies are used in the community. Representation of voting members is established by the Department of Public Welfare. Contractors may or may not be voting members and, if they are, would abstain if there is a conflict of interest. The local LMC does have contractors as voting members but a change is being asked to be made to eliminate conflict of interest issues. Jim Laughman will be taking Joe Shiffer's place as a representative of the County and Lori Rank will replace Tom Woronko as representative of the CareerLink. Kim Sullenberger will not be on the LMC but part of staff.
It is the intent of the LMC to provide a vehicle for the CAO to have the largest voice on how money is spent, the structure, and how they operate. There is some confusion on the mandates of the State for LMC but, since the LMC is a committee under the WIB by a change in the by-laws, it is an issue with the WIB overseeing the committee. After much discussion about the issue, it was decided more information is needed before a decision can be made on changing the makeup of the Local Management Committee. Discussion was tabled until the Executive Committee meeting in January when more information will be presented.
Staff Reports
Youth Coordinator
Andrew Garner reported the Pathways events were held on November 16 with 355 attendees and 28 employees present and December 1 with 202 attendees and 27 employers present. Three districts bused in students. In the feedback from last year, employers suggested one night event but educators wanted two nights. The workshops at the events were good. There were 11 sponsorships and an employer panel presentation. The planning committee with further evaluate the events for next year.
At the November Youth Council meeting, it was decided to align countywide activities with career standards. They made four recommendations to be met. The Pathways event meets three of the four recommendations.
At last year's Youth Career Summit, it was recommended to work on the career education and work standards in the county schools. A Gap Analysis Workshop was held with 12 districts in attendance. The common gap that came out of the workshop was Entrepreneurship. A panel was put together to do work in school and with youth regarding this need.
The Youth Career Summit is scheduled for January 13, 2011 from 7:30 – 10:10 at the Eden. A follow will be included from the Gap Analysis Workshop with evaluations from this workshop reported back to the group. Business award nominations will be accepted for people that work with schools, youth, involved in Job Shadowing and workforce activities to be presented at the Summit.
PA CareerLink Administrator
Lori Rank reported the 2nd annual Here to Help Day is being held December 8, 2010 at Liberty Place. There will be 41 community agencies in attendance. This event is to get resources available out to the people who have exhausted their unemployment compensatio. Invitations to attend are being extended through agencies.
Job openings have increased in the PA CareerLink. Staff development is finished for 2010. A staff recognition lunch is being held on December 17 with a stress management workshop being held by the Mental Health Association on the same day. Future training on Bridges out of Poverty presented by CAP is planned for 2011. Restructuring of front line staff is being done in the PA CareerLink. New people are meeting with staff advisors to direct people to their needs right away. Sharon Leese mentioned that she visited the Job Club after the last Board meeting and was amazed at the job they are doing with people.
Executive Director
Scott Sheely reported ......
- The Manufacturing Skills Factory at the Nissly warehouse has received some press in the Central Penn Business Journal. Final details of insurance coverage and a contract with Nissly are being developed. Sustaining the program will be an issue in the future. It should be ready to start its first class in mid-January.
- The chart in the packet was put together by the Leadership Team of the PA CareerLink for use when new people come into the PA CareerLink. It is being used by the Team to analyze client flow and identify pinch points where service delivery slows down or fails for various reasons. Those problems are then addressed separately.
- Scott and the Leadership Team are also looking at on-line resources for PA CareerLink client training through Metrix Learning. Cost is $50 per person for assessment and a license. There is a library of on-line training sources of over 3,000 topics. Spanish and Chinese modules are available. The PA CareerLink case managers can monitor the progress of clients with clients making their own decisions about what they want to achieve in training or jobs to which they aspire
- The Workforce Summit was held November 30th with the Board well-represented. There will be a lot more in the paper about the large number of people who are exhausting their Unemployment Compensation.
- An orientation for new Board members will be held the 2nd-3rd week of January 2011. Anyone who wants a refresher can attend.
- Our demo with Job Rooster in texting job openings has not done as well as expected. The most effective means of communication seems to be e-mailing and Facebook. The PA CareerLink is ending its relationship with Job Rooster.
- The Mechatronics program is going statewide with collaborations starting in the northwest and southeast parts of the state. Most of this is proceeding ahead without grant money because those involved see the common sense of it.
- Scott reported he has been invited to join Governor Elect Tom Corbett's transition team. He is very glad to have this experience and be part of helping the new administration get its feet on the groun. A summary report will be put together by key leadership people with 5-6 recommendations of priorities. By being part of this team, hopefully, what the Department of Labor and Industry has done under Governor Rendell will not be totally abandoned and making the system better will be the focus.
Executive Session
The Executive Committee went into an Executive Session at 4:46 pm to discuss personnel matters with no action taken.
Adjournment
The Executive Committee returned from Executive Session and adjourned at 5:08 pm
