LTWDB MEETING MINUTES June 2019

MINUTES OF THE LINCOLN TRAIL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD
Executive Committee
June 18, 2019

The Lincoln Trail Workforce Development Board (LTWDB) met on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at 11:30 am EDT, at the Lincoln Trail Area Development District (LTADD) office in Elizabethtown.

Chairman Dean Schamore called the meeting to order after determining quorum requirements had been met.

The meeting continued with the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Chairman Schamore welcomed new LTWDB members Jennifer Lampton, Regional Manager with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Lance Blanford, Workforce Development Coordinator for Bardstown City Schools and local business owner.  He also indicated that Scott Lusk would be joining the LTWDB but was unable to attend due to travel delays. Chairman Schamore recognized the following guests: Commissioner Lana Gordon and Elizabeth Hack, with the Department for Workforce Investment (DWI), staff from Heartland Communications Consultants (HCC) and Stacy Westover, Director of Grants and Contracts with Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC).

ACTION ITEMS 

Minutes – Board Meeting – December 18, 2018

 After review of the December 18, 2019 LTWDB minutes, Myra Covault made a motion to approve the minutes as presented, Jim Rachlin seconded; motion carried.

Election – New Officer

Chairman Schamore informed the LTWDB that Mo Miller’s recent resignation created a vacancy of the first vice chair position.  He indicated the Executive committee met in May and provided the following recommendation to fill the vacancy:  Trish Niles, current second vice chair, move up to first vice chair and Myra Covault, current secretary/treasurer, move up to second vice chair.  Patricia Krausman made a motion to accept the Executive Committee’s recommendation to fill the first vice chair vacancy, Al Rider seconded; motion carried.  Chairman Schamore asked for nominations for the secretary/treasurer position.  Daniel Carney made a motion to nominate Lance Blanford for secretary/treasurer, Patricia Krausman seconded; motion carried.

Leitchfield Career Center Recertification

Carter Dyson, One Stop Director, provided an update on the issues that were identified at the Kentucky Career Center-Lincoln Trail (KCC-LT) Leitchfield location as a result of the one stop certification process.  Mr. Dyson indicated the Grayson County Judge Executive had corrected several of the items listed in the accessibility review report.  The report recommended that audible signals be installed in the elevator to identify floors but this was not something the county was able to do.  They did install a braille pad to assist with identification.  Mr. Dyson indicated the one stop certification committee met on June 3, 2019 and presented the following recommendation on the committee’s behalf:  Although all of the changes had not been met they felt confident and recommended that they could move forward and the center could perform the daily functions needed to serve customers and had no issue recommending certification for the Leitchfield office.  Jim Rachlin made a motion to accept the one stop certification committee’s recommendation as presented by Mr. Dyson, Julie Brown seconded; motion carried.

Local Plan Required Update

Sherry Johnson, Workforce Director, provided an overview of the plan update process.  Ms. Johnson stated the law requires local areas to update their local plans every two years and this was the year for that to occur.  Ms. Johnson indicated State directives required updates in three areas:  labor market information, youth services and incorporation of the local strategic plan to ensure alignment with the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board’s (KWIB) strategic plan.  Ms. Johnson reported the plan was posted on the KCC-LT and Lincoln Trail Area Development District (LTADD) websites for the required fourteen-day public review and comment period and the link was also sent to all LTWDB members for their review.  Ms. Johnson stated that no comments had been received.  Ms. Johnson indicated that former Commissioner Ray Leathers sent an email to the local workforce areas giving them until September 30, 2019 to submit their strategic plan.  Ms. Johnson stated that the local plan was completed and included all the required elements including the strategic plan.  Ms. Johnson asked the LTWDB to consider the plan for submission to the State.  Tom Renfrow made a motion to submit the local plan to the State, Greg Gribbins seconded; motion carried.

Reapproval of One Stop MOU/IFA

Sherry Johnson provided some historical background information on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)/Infrastructure Funding Agreement (IFA) process.  Ms. Johnson stated that an MOU and IFA were submitted to the State in 2015 when the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was officially implemented but were never executed or addressed by the State over the course of the next few years.  Ms. Johnson indicated that the MOU and IFA were redone in January 2018 and, after several State requested modifications, was approved by the LTWDB in June 2018.  Since this time the State required additional modifications which have all been completed.  Ms. Johnson asked the LTWDB to reapprove the MOU and IFA.  She indicated the MOU would be valid for four years and the IFA for one year.  Ms. Johnson offered to work with Commissioner Gordon to help simplify the process and the Commissioner agreed to look into this.  Tom Renfrow made a motion to approve the MOU and IFA, Trish Niles seconded; motion carried.

WIOA Budget – 2019-2020

Patricia Krausman indicated the funding committee met on June 13, 2019 and reviewed the 2019-2020 WIOA budget and recommended that it be approved.  Myra Covault made a motion to approve the 2019-2020 WIOA budget, Joe Ashley seconded; motion carried.

Contracts – Renewals

Ms. Krausman stated the funding committee reviewed the Strategy Matters contract renewal and the committee agreed to recommend the budget request and the continuation of their work based on availability of funds as well as recommendations from the Workforce Director and the Workforce Education and Economic Development (WEED) committee.

Patricia Krausman also reported the funding committee reviewed contract extensions at the April 2019 meeting for Lake Cumberland Area Development District’s (LCADD) Direct Services Provider and One Stop Operator contracts as well as HCC’s outreach contract.  Sherry Johnson provided a brief overview of the contracts and amounts which were also included as part of the meeting packet.  Al Rider made a motion to renew the Strategy Matters, HCC and the two LCADD contracts, Daniel Carney seconded; motion carried.

Inventory Removal

Patricia Krausman reported the funding committee reviewed a list of potential disposed inventory items that were obsolete, broken or lost and recommended that those inventory items be removed from the list.  Ms. Krausman referred board members to the meeting packet for a copy of the list of items.  Tom Renfrow made a motion to remove the recommended items from the inventory list, Jennifer Carman seconded; motion carried.

Policy on Reasonableness and Allocable Costs 

Patricia Krausman referred board members to a copy of the draft policy.  Sherry Johnson indicated that the policy was written as a result of a finding on a State monitoring report.  Ms. Krausman stated that the policy outlined procedures and processes for reasonableness and allocability of costs.  Angela Crenshaw, WIOA Fiscal Officer, stated that this was a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) procedure that was already being followed but just wasn’t written in the policy and procedures manual.  Julie Brown made a motion to accept the policy as presented, Greg Gribbins seconded; motion carried.

Patricia Krausman stated that the funding committee wanted to recognize the dedication of former funding committee chair, Laura LaRue. Ms. Krausman acknowledged Ms. LaRue’s commitment, passion and knowledge in serving the LTWDB for the past ten years and that she would be greatly missed.  Ms. Krausman also indicated they were looking for additional members to serve on the funding committee and that Chris Cottrell would be the new committee chair.

DISCUSSION/UPDATE ITEMS

Workforce Crisis Taskforce

Jim Rachlin provided an overview of the annual workforce summit held on June 4, 2019.  Mr. Rachlin indicated there were breakout groups with excellent discussions and thanked Strategy Matters and HCC staff for their work putting it together.  Mr. Rachlin stated the purpose of the summit was to bring everyone up to speed on activities that have occurred over the past year and narrow down goals for the upcoming year.  Outcomes from the summit would be shared at the next board meeting.  Mr. Rachlin also encouraged board members to get more employers engaged.

Heartland Communications

Beth Avey, with HCC, provided an update on outreach activities for the past quarter and reviewed the communications goals.  Ms. Avey shared a video of the Workforce Summit and the work being done to support the Workforce Crisis Taskforce.  She also indicated there were three Work Matters columns done in the past quarter as well as continued work with the Unlocking Local Potential subcommittee and the Work Based Learning Opportunities (WBLO’s) initiative.  Ms. Avey stated they were implementing phase two of the “Your Career is Here” campaign and would share additional information at the next board meeting.  Ms. Avey indicated they were going to invest more funds on the digital side because they could track where leads were coming from and got the greatest return on Facebook.  They are also going to expand to Linked In and other platforms.  Ms. Avey stated online visits to the KCC-LT website were up eleven percent and social media visits were up over sixteen percent.  Ms. Avey also shared that she would be taking a new position with the Knox Regional Development Alliance and that it was a pleasure working with the board over the years.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Trish Niles provided an update on the efforts of the youth committee over the past year to increase out of school youth enrollments.  The committee has worked with HCC to provide outreach to this group.  A contract with ECTC was also awarded for a youth leadership, work experience program but did not result in enough eligible youth therefore the contract was canceled by mutual agreement of both parties.  In January of 2019 staff met with the direct service provider, LCADD, to discuss implementing some of their successful youth strategies. A pilot program was implemented in Grayson, Marion, Nelson and Washington counties with an emphasis on work experience activities.  Currently there are twenty-six youth enrolled in Grayson County with efforts still being made in the other counties.  Ms. Niles indicated the work experience pilot, along with the work of the Unlocking Local Potential committee, should move out of school youth enrollment in the right direction.

NEW BUSINESS

None

ADJOURNMENT

Tom Renfrow made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Julie Brown seconded; meeting was adjourned.