LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A state committee will meet this week to consider a request to modify the administrative boundaries of the local workforce investment area.
The California Workforce Investment Board Issues and Policy Committee will meet from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 777 12th St., Suite 200, in Sacramento.
The meeting can be joined online by going to https://edd-wsb.webex.com/edd-wsb/j.php?ED=143628772&UID=0&PW=NMGE0Y2RmOTlh&RT=MiM0, entering your name and e-mail address, entering the password “ipc0224” and clicking on “Join Now.”
For the teleconference only, the toll-free call-in line is 866-746-2471; the attendee access code is 780 903 6.
At issue are services provided to area job seekers and employers through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which provides education and training through state and local organizations.
The documents for the meeting show that on Dec. 21, 2010, the California Workforce Investment Board received a request from the Napa County Workforce Investment Board for a local area modification which would move Lake County from the North Central Counties Consortium (NCCC) – which includes Colusa, Glenn, Sutter, Yuba and Lake – to the Napa County Local Workforce Investment Area.
Bruce Wilson, director of the Napa County Workforce Investment Board, said the idea behind the proposal is that the economies of Napa and Lake counties are more aligned, which would lead to good strategic planning from a workforce development standpoint.
Lake County leaders have supported the move.
In supervisors' meetings last year, board members stated they didn't feel the NCCC best served or represented Lake County's needs. Part of the reason was that the valley counties have different industries from Lake's.
County supervisors and department heads also had raised issues with the way the local One-Stop center was run, which led to the Lake County Social Services Department responding to NCCC's request for proposals to run the local One-Stop program.
NCCC gave the contract back to Lake One-Stop Inc., which has offices in Clearlake and Lakeport. The Board of Supervisors raised issues last year with that selection process, which they felt had been unfair to the county's proposal.
After Napa officials submitted the proposal last year to join with Lake County the proposal was forwarded to the Employment Development Department for analysis, documents show.
Documents in the meeting's agenda packet explain that a public hearing was held on the matter, and the Lake County Board of Supervisors, Congressman Mike Thompson, Assemblyman Wes Chesbro and others submitted letters of support.
The Nov. 16 letter from the Board of Supervisors said the board “enthusiastically” supported the move to join with Napa County, noting that the county notified the NCCC in a July 2009 letter of the intent to withdraw from a joint powers agreement with NCCC.
“In the months since, we have been actively pursuing other options for WIA services in Lake County because NCCC has not been a good fit for lake County over the years,” the letter stated.
The letter goes on to explain that Yuba, Sutter, Colusa and Glenn counties share similar economic interests and resources and area shifting their economic bases toward the Sacramento area.
“Like Napa County, Lake County's economic base is agriculture and tourism with significant recent growth in grape growing and wine industries, which are primary in Napa County,” with the letter also explaining that the two counties share a workforce.
“We steadfastly believe that the Napa County Local Workforce Investment Area will be a better fit for Lake County, in terms of local economies and demographics. The proposed union will lead to a broader array and higher quality of programs and services for the job seekers and businesses of Lake County<” the letter concluded.
A letter supporting the move from Teddie Pierce, a former One-Stop director, explained that she and her staff “experienced numerous challenges in our efforts to provide effective career service to the residents of Lake County” because of the linkage with the administrative oversight, based in Yuba City.
Pierce said advanced career development tracks to comply with the high demand occupations NCCC identified were “essentially unavailable within Lake County,” while the types of small businesses in Lake County differed from the valley counties.
On the other side of the issue, a letter from current One-Stop Executive Director Seth DeSimone to the Napa County Workforce Investment Board said the two counties have significant differences, and that a change in the contract will create a disruption of services.
DeSimone also criticized the plan for a lack of clarity and detail, and said employment and training service needs “are quite different” between Lake and Napa counties.
He also said there will be a loss of local control. “The Napa County Board of Supervisors will be responsible for making all decisions regarding the employment and training needs and services for Lake County residents.”
In a Dec. 17 letter to County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, DeSimone wrote, “As the current One-Stop operator in Lake County, we feel we have specific operational knowledge that is crucial in helping make the best possible decisions regarding our Local Workforce Investment Area.”
The Lake One-Stop successfully mobilized public concern over the proposal, which resulted in the state receiving 62 letters against the move from local businesses, cities, providers, schools and members of the public. All but one of the letters was faxed to the state by Lake One-Stop.
Lake One-Stop's talking points to local businesses included the statement that Lake County's financial liabilities would rise, and that the One-Stop would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in special grants and funding.
The resulting letters – many of which appeared to have followed a template, using identical language – claimed there was not enough information about how the changes might work, worried about losing services in the county and said there hadn't been enough time in the public process to vet the proposal.
Lake County News exchanged e-mails with DeSimone about the letters and called him Tuesday afternoon to ask additional questions about the matter but was not able to reach him.
Wilson said he's looked over some of the letters submitted against the proposal. “I think there are some misunderstandings.”
One of the commonly referenced issues is reported changes to how job seekers and businesses would get assistance locally.
“There would be no changes to the service delivery system as far as One-Stop services go,” Wilson said.
Every two years there is a request for proposals to run the One-Stop, which seeks to choose “the best organization to provide those services through a competitive and open recruitment process,” said Wilson.
“That would continue to happen here,” he said. “Who selects that One-Stop organization I think is what's on the table.”
Rather than the five-county NCCC, Wilson said the selection process would be conducted by Lake and Napa counties.
However, the state committee report appears to concur with the perspective put forward by the One-Stop, that the move would not be positive.
It concludes, “Based upon the EDD analysis, it is recommended this local area modification not be approved. After reviewing all the available objective information, it has been determined this modification will not result in improved service delivery to Lake County customers – both job seekers and employers.”
Wilson said he'll be at Thursday's meeting, which is a precursor to a final decision that he expected will be made this spring.
He said the proposal first goes to the standing committee this Thursday, which will hold a public review and then forward it to the California Workforce Investment Board, which will also conduct a public review and meeting process.
From there, the CWIB will forward it to the governor's office for a final decision, Wilson said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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