Following a brief morning session in Lakeport, the board adjourned and went to Sacramento, where they reconvened as a body to present their case for leaving the Yuba City-based North Central Counties Consortium to the California Workforce Investment Board.
“They voted unanimously to support our move to the Napa Workforce Investment Area,” said Supervisor Denise Rushing.
While NCCC officials were on hand to argue against allowing Lake to leave the five-county consortium, the state board ultimately decided, after just over an hour of discussion, to let Lake County join the Napa County Workforce Investment area, Rushing said.
Nancy Crooks, NCCC's interim director, did not return a call seeking comment.
The state board's vote was a victory for the Board of Supervisors, which for the last several years has had a rocky relationship with NCCC over the consortium's leadership, resources for local training and economic development programs.
Rushing said the county's concerns about the consortium have been going on for a decade.
During the last few years, as Lake's unemployment rate has risen, the county has gotten more aggressive in its desire to leave the consortium, citing underutilized funding for job training programs and services.
Earlier this year, the Lake One-Stop, which holds the contract with NCCC for providing local job skills training, had run letter writing campaigns against the move, saying that it would damage their ability to offer services, which Lake and Napa County officials had argued wasn't true.
In February Rushing and county Social Services Director Carol Huchingson went before the California Workforce Investment Board Issues and Policy Special Committee to argue the county's case for leaving the consortium, ultimately receiving the go ahead to go before the full California Workforce Investment Board, as Lake County News has reported.
Rushing was the first of the supervisors to address the full state board on Tuesday.
She said she emphasized the Board of Supervisors' accountability for the decision, and how they believed it was in the best interest of local businesses and the county's workforce.
Also speaking for the move were Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who followed Rushing in addressing the board, and Supervisor Rob Brown.
“One of the concerns the NCCC had was that it will set a precedent,” Brown said of leaving the consortium. That seemed fine with Brown, who has clashed with NCCC leadership.
Crooks told the board that the consortium was concerned for Lake County's residents. Brown said he wrapped up his comments by assuring the state board that the Board of Supervisors cared far more about county residents than the consortium.
In addition to comments by supervisors, the county presented to the state board letters of support for the move from state Sen. Noreen Evans, Assemblyman Wes Chesbro and Congressman Mike Thompson, Rushing said.
She said the Board of Supervisors did not go to the business community to try to generate letters in support of the move. “We felt that was inappropriate.”
Rushing said the state board wanted to make sure that Lake County's workforce investment funds would be used for the county, not elsewhere, and that the newly combined workforce investment board would maintain its participation in the Lake One-Stop. Rushing said the supervisors assured the state board that the county agreed with both goals.
Rushing said Tuesday's traveling meeting was the first time anyone could remember the Board of Supervisors convening outside of Lake County's boundaries.
The unified message it was meant to send to state officials got through. “It actually made quite an impact on the committee,” said Rushing. “They said they'd never seen anything like it before.”
Rushing said state board members also commented that having all of the supervisors in attendance showed the Board of Supervisors' dedication to the county's workforce and economic development.
Brown credited Huchingson with proposing that the Board of Supervisors convene as a group before the state board, and also gave Rushing high marks for her presentation to the state board.
He said he now wants to see an investigation into how the $89 million allocated to the consortium over the last 10 years – in support of job training and related services in all five of its counties – was spent.
“We certainly didn't see any benefit of it,” he said.
The proposed agreement next goes to Gov. Jerry Brown's office for approval, Rushing said.
If it receives the governor's approval, Rushing said the new workforce investment area will go into effect July 1.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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