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Workforce Development Board

Meeting Minutes

Broome Center

4119 N. Saginaw Street

Flint, MI 48505

Friday, May 30, 2008

8:11 a.m.

PRESENT: Margaret Andrews, Jeff Deason, Don Dees, Ed Donovan, Lewis Driskell, Erik Eastman, Longino Gonzales, Alan Hartter, Kevin J. Keane, Jimmy King, Willie W. Middlebrooks, David Miller, Vera Perry, Mary Sumpter, Khalil Saab, Cunesha Sanders, Gary Smith.

ABSENT: William Churchill, Jr., (excused) Cheryl Gifford (excused), Robert Hardy (excused), Norwood Jewell (excused), Renita Mikolajczyk, (excused), Lawrence Moon (excused), Jerry Ragsdale (excused), Amy Roddy (excused)

STAFF PRESENT: Alicia Booker, Craig Coney, Sherry Adair-Goble, Helen Brown, Richard Curtis, Peggy Kendrick, Marilynn Manning, Eunita Mixon-Wingfield, Audra Moore and Carol Piesko.

OTHERS PRESENT: Attorney Peter Goodstein

I. CALL TO ORDER: Jimmy King called the meeting to order at 8:11 a.m.
He welcomed Alicia Booker as new CEO.

Addition to the agenda-approval of new members to the Board

A motion was made by Kevin J. Keane and supported by David Miller.

MOTION PASSED

II. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Quincy Murphy- Garfield Bunch-thanked Alicia Booker and Craig Coney for attending their community meeting. He looks forward to working with the administration in trying to keep the Broome Center Open

III. Introduction of Shiawassee Board members by Margaret McAvoy -

Jeff Deason is the Sales Director with Indian Trails of Owosso, Renita Mikolajczyk is the President/CEO Shiawassee Regional Chamber of Commerce, Amy Roddy represents the Education Sector and currently serves on the Durand Area School Board. She also is the clerk for the City of Durand. Mary Sumpter represents the private sector and is with Coldwell Banker Realtors. Mr. Robert Hardy is Vice President of the Chemical Bank & Trust in Owosso. All Shiawassee appointments are filled.

IV. ACTION ITEMS

A. Approval of WDB minutes of April 25, 2008: A motion was made to accept the minutes as written by Mary Sumpter and supported by David Miller.

MOTION PASSED

The presentation of allocation recommendations - Peggy Kendrick. This is the second year allocations of a 2 year contract. The breakdown is outlined in the packet information. There are reductions of contracts involving the for-profit line item due to state guidelines prohibiting profit being included in budget.

Alicia added that the information represents the amounts we expect to receive from the state for these programs. We are allowed to carry-in up to 15 % from the previous years unspent funds. Through the year, we periodically make modifications and that is how the carry-in funds can be utilized. Ten percent of the total amount can be retained for administration, which is utilized by CAI for administration of the funds. Five percent of the funds will be set aside for program costs. The balance of the allocations will be what will be sent out to the service providers. There are 2 vendors who are for-profit and their amount has been reduced to eliminate the profit.

B. Recommendations for WIA Adult for program year 2008-2009- A motion to accept the allocation was made by Kevin Keane and supported by David Miller contingent on funding. Vera Perry abstained from voting due to her affiliation with Urban League of Flint as a board member. Margaret McAvoy requested a roll call vote. Jimmy King agreed with the request. A roll call vote was taken.

15 yes and 1 abstention

MOTION PASSED

Recommendations for WIA Dislocated Worker for program year -2008-2009-Explanation - Alicia Booker. We received a substantial increase in Dislocated Worker funding for this year due to unemployment rate increases. Alicia recommended we make the awards at the full requested amount where identified. She also recommended contract modifications be approved by the board so the increased funds can be dispersed as indicated on the recommendation sheets. We are allowed to transfer up to 30% into our adult worker program. It is our goal to transfer part of these funds to assist with NWLB training for the adult programs which currently has a waiting list. As we receive these funds, then we can proceed with the transfer.

A motion to accept the allocation was made by Khalil Saab and was seconded by Erik Eastman contingent upon funding. A roll call vote was taken.

16 yes

MOTION PASSED.

C. Recommendations for WIA Youth for program year 2008-2009 - Explanation - Peggy Kendrick to use 30% towards out-of-school youth. A motion to accept the allocation was made by Mary Sumpter and was seconded by Khalil Saab contingent upon funding. Vera Perry abstained from voting due to her affiliation with the Urban League of Flint as a board member. A roll call vote was taken.

15 yes and 1 abstention

MOTION PASSED.

D. Recommendations for Wagner-Peyser Employment Services for program year 2008-2009 - Explanation - Alicia Booker. We want to revamp our services for employment services. We are looking to make improvements in our service delivery both in Shiawassee and at the Reuther Center. It is our goal to streamline the services and to make the One Stop environment more welcoming and user friendly. As these changes are implemented and we are ready to move the funds after July 1, we will make the recommendations to the Board.

A motion to accept the allocation was made by David Miller and seconded by Lewis Driskell, contingent upon funding. A roll call vote was taken.

16 yes

MOTION PASSED.

V. UPDATES:

Jimmy King stated that we received a resignation letter from Duane Zuckschwerdt, Region 1C Executive Director. Mr. Zuckswerdt agreed to appoint Norwood Jewell in his place. Mr. Jewell has been good in attending the meetings, even though he is not here today. Melvin Coleman will be the alternate for Norwood Jewell. As you are aware, Sheryl Thompson from DHS has relocated and Longino Gonzales has been appointed in her place. Nancy Reinke has been the alternate for Sheryl Thompson and will continue for Gino Gonzales. Mr. Gonzales has, with him today, his administrative assistant, Linda Best. She is here to familiarize herself with the proceedings. Andrea Loomis has been appointed as the alternate for Kevin Keane. We look forward to working with all these individuals.

A. EAG UPDATE: Fred Stanley - Both Genesee and Shiawassee had their CTE Honor top students. Grant long range plans have been approved for Perkins and Tech Prep. The Stem project involves working with Kettering and the Ford C-3 Grant. Shiawassee County has done an excellent job in developing the programs.

B. MDLEG Rehabilitation Services: Don Dees was present for Sue Howell. The MRS Center moved into CAI 2 years ago and currently is working with CAI to have more space. MRS has partnered with DHS to serve JET clients. The goal is to self empower, and self motivate individuals in the school to work program.

C. Department of Human Services: Longino Gonzales stated that he was recently appointed to take Sheryl Thompson’s place. She is the all state supervisor. Gino was the Deputy Director for Child Services and the Children’s Policy Director. He previously worked in Lansing and Saginaw. He is looking forward to working with Genesee County.

VI. PRESIDENT’S UPDATE:

· Ms. Booker stated that we are moving forward with our Board Appointments. That is the most pressing issue that we face with the certification. She thanked Archie Bailey for his assistance and support during this process. It is anticipated that the appointments will go before the City Council on June 9. She will be at the Special Affairs Committee meeting and the full City Council meeting to answer any questions that may arise.

· June 2-Regional MWA’s have partnered with the Thumb area MWA, the Saginaw area MWA and NBC 25 for “Get a Job Monday”. Each of the MWA’s will have staff answering the phones during the live program to respond to any questions that the callers may have regarding the services or the jobs which will be scrolling at the bottom of the screen.

· Fiscal remains an area of concern and we are currently revamping the fiscal department. We have additional staff coming on board. Also, we have requested bids to update the accounting software. So far, we have received only one bid through the process. We will be calling companies to identify additional vendors and requesting additional bids for the software.

· We are working closely with DHS to improve our JET Program. There are 3 or 4 counties that are struggling with the work participation rate associated with the JET Program. We are working with Gino Gonzales and his team to resolve the issues. The JET program is in a new funding cycle and we will be releasing an RFP to support our JET initiative within the next 2 weeks. Board members will be asked to vote on those awards at the August board meeting. We have not received allocations at this time, so funding levels are not available at this time.

· We are continuing our analysis of both buildings. Alicia met with the support group of the Broome Center to hear their concerns and to identify what their interests and ideas are. We are continuing to meet with staff and Board Members. Mary Sumpter graciously prepared an analysis for us of the Reuther Center, taking a look at what our needs might be around our building. We do have issues surrounding both buildings with occupancy and overall usage. We are trying to put together a usage plan and a sustainability plan. Mr. King stated he has a copy of that plan with him if anyone desired to take a look at it.

· It was mentioned earlier that CAI would have a web page for board members to go to and download information. You will find the log in and password information in the intro packets at the board members place. The intro packet was originally prepared for new board members, but we decided to share it with all the board members. It has the by-laws as well as all the members contact information and photos to help identify WDB members.

· We still do not have an audit. We received an email yesterday with some remaining questions. The goal is to have it completed and presented to the board members at the next Board Meeting. When the draft comes in, it will be posted on the website. Once the audit is completed, the firm will be available at the Board Meeting to answer any questions or concerns that you may have.

· One area of weakness identified in the audit is the lack of the budget and finance sub-committee. Ms. Perry has agreed to serve on that sub-committee and we have identified several potential members based on their resumes and experience. Those with a strong financial background have been contacted and requested to serve on that committee. Also anyone else interested in serving was asked to please contact our office or Vera Perry.

· The CFO Position is currently open, along with another fiscal position. We are creating a tier and beefing up the skill level. We will have those individuals on board and will have them at the June meeting along with financial information.

VII. CHAIR’S UPDATE: The Wagner Peyser funds are a 70-30 split between Genesee and Shiawassee. Next meeting date is June 27. Open up to Board Members for any comments.

Ed Donovan commented that we need to align with our core mission and not get involved with activities that belong to some other entity. We haven’t done enough soul searching about what CAI (Workforce Development) really is to do, but this overlays facility utilization. I think that is one of our big problems that we have had in the past and was glossed over by the past administration.

Mr. King suggested the formation of an ad-hoc committee to oversee the building utilization. If any member is interested in serving on that committee, the goal overall is to oversee the building utilization and CAI. Any interested member was asked to contact Mr. King or Alicia.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Kevin Keane and was supported by David Miller.

MOTION PASSED

Signed

______________________________

Kevin J. Keane, Secretary

06/22/08

Date: _________________________

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