Workforce Board of Directors Meeting Minutes of May 20, 2014 616 Six Flags Drive Regional Transportation Council Room Arlington, TX 76011 MEMBERS PRESENT: 22 Al DeBerry James Stegall Roselyn Lane Catherine Tietjen Lisa Huffaker Scott McCune Charlie Martinez Marty Thompson Stephen Hardy Daniel Strong, Vice Chair Meera Ananthaswamy, Chair Steve Johnson David Bristol Michael McGowan Tim Stainback Earl Woolbright Robert Hill Mike Hinojosa Edward Grand-Lienard Roger Harris James Henderson Rolanda Greer MEMBERS NOT PRESENT: 9 Ada Lawniczak Elaine Zweig Larry Barnett Carlton Tidwell Julio Torres Mark York Debra Wakeland Kenny Weldon Mickey Hillock Meeting Called to Order: Meera Ananthaswamy, Chair called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. 1. Declaration of Conflict of Interest Meera Ananthaswamy read the Declaration of Conflict of Interest. 2. Introduction of New Board Members Meera Ananthaswamy introduced new board member, Mike Hinojosa representing Organized Labor in Denton County. Mr. Hinojosa retired from Verizon Communication with 40 plus years and currently serves as the Legislative Director of Communications Workers of America, for his local chapter. 3. 2014 Current Population Estimates Presentation Brian Lister, Sr. Research Associate for Research and Information Services David Setzer introduced Brian Lister. Mr. Lister presented to the board the 2014 population estimates for cities and counties in the 16 county North Central Texas Region. 4. Choices Gen2: Performance Improvement Team Presentation George Pavelek presented to the board an overview of the Choices Generation II Project: Initial Assessment After TANF Certification. George provided a summary of the project methods, project outcomes, and lessons learned by the Facilitator and Team Members along the way. Page 1 of 7
5. Consent Items a. March 25, 2014 Meeting Minutes James Stegall made a motion to approve the Consent Items listed. Charlie Martinez seconded the motion of approval. None opposed. Consent Items were approved. 6. Action Items a. Recommendation to NCTCOG Executive Board for Renewal of the Greenville Workforce Center Lease Randy Richardson presented to the board the recommendation for renewal of the Greenville Workforce Center lease. The current Greenville Workforce facility is located at 2500 Stonewall Street (second and third floors) and contains 9,141 square feet at a price of $16.50 per square foot (including taxes, insurance, common area maintenance, utilities, and janitorial). It had a lease term of April 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014. The Board renewed for just one (1) year during the last lease term due to potential funding cuts for that time period. The current funding situation is projected to be sufficient to support a workforce center location in Greenville for the foreseeable future. The current landlord, the city of Greenville, is in the process of selling the building where the current workforce center is located. Due to the uncertainty of the ownership of the current workforce facility, Board staff request utilizing the one (1) year renewal options available within the current lease at the current rent rate of $16.50 per square foot (including taxes, insurance, common area maintenance, utilities, and janitorial). This will allow time for an adjustment to the new ownership and discussions for space plan modifications. Our real estate broker, Avison Young, has performed a current market survey of other comparable properties and discovered that the proposed rate for this facility is within the market price for that surrounding area. It was recommended that the Workforce Development Board of Directors authorize the North Central Texas Council of Governments to enter into a twelve (12) month lease with the City of Greenville for the property located at 2500 Stonewall Street in Greenville Texas. The lease would be effective June 1, 2014; includes 9,141 square feet, and a price per square foot not to exceed $16.50 (including taxes, insurance, common area maintenance, utilities, and janitorial). Roselyn Lane made a motion to approve Greenville Workforce Center lease renewal recommendation. Marty Thompson seconded the motion of approval. None opposed. Recommendation was approved. b. Recommendation to NCTCOG Executive Board for New Workforce Center Copier Leases Randy Richardson presented to the board the recommendation for a new copier lease for all workforce centers. Page 2 of 7
In March 2010, The Board transitioned from its former workforce subcontractor, Texas Neighborhood Services (TNS), to its current one, Workforce Network Incorporated (WNi). During the time of transition, the North Central Texas Council of Governments assumed several of the workforce center infrastructure contracts from TNS such as the contracts for utilities, postage, telephone, and copiers. The two copier contracts assumed by the NCTCOG were with the Xerox and Ricoh companies. The Denton workforce center copiers (10) were included within the Xerox contract. The balance of the workforce center s copiers (26) were included within a contract with Ricoh. As an incentive within the negotiations, Xerox proposed reducing the lease amount for the existing ten (10) copiers in Denton if we selected them as the provider for the remainder of the workforce centers. The current lease for the Denton copiers will not expire until December 2016 which prevented Ricoh from bidding on those specific copiers. It was recommended that the Workforce Board of Directors authorize the North Central Texas Council of Governments to enter into a sixty (60) month lease agreement with Xerox to provide copiers for its workforce centers for an amount not to exceed $339,360 (excluding overage and price per page charges). The lease agreement would begin June 1, 2014. Additional equipment may be added throughout the contract with the approval of the Executive Director. Charlie Martinez made a motion to approve the new workforce centers copier lease recommendation. Catherine Tietjen seconded the motion of approval. None opposed. Recommendation was approved. c. FY2014 Budget Amendment Randy Richardson informed the board during the September 2013 Board meeting, the Board approved a budget for the Workforce Board, staff, and centralized functions totaling $7,579,385. The balance of the estimated FY 2014 available funding, $52,832,899, was projected to be allocated for program delivery with a small portion withheld as contingency funding. Since that time, the Board s available funding for FY 2014 has increased by approximately $1.83 million or 3.03% mainly due to additional carry over, additional TAA funding, new non-custodial parent-tanf funding from TWC and additional child care quality funding. Board staff was informed by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) that the North Central Board would be receiving an additional $143,420 of Child Care Quality funding for the remainder of FY 2014. This additional funding is to be designated to support four (4) FTE Early Childhood Specialist positions. These staff would be employed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). The positions and the funding to support them is currently projected to be long term. In order to accommodate the costs necessary to support the additional positions, Board staff propose increasing the Workforce Board, staff, and centralized functions budget by $143,420. - Personnel (Salary, fringe, and indirect)-$81,997 Page 3 of 7
- Rent, Network Services, and Communications-$4,112 - Equipment and Travel-$57,311 It was recommended that the Workforce Board of Directors approve the Workforce Board, Staff, and Centralized Functions FY2014 budget be amended and increased by $143,420 to a new amount equaling $7,722,805. Daniel Strong made a motion to approve the FY2014 budget amendment recommendation. Robert Hill seconded the motion of approval. None opposed. Recommendation was approved. 7. Discussion Items a. Proposed Changes to the Partnership Agreement Kay O Dell presented to the board the proposed changes to the Partnership Agreement that will be presented to the North Central Chief Elected Officials on June 20, 2014. Proposed changes to be considered: Article II Authority, Roles, Responsibilities a. Propose striking requirement for CEOs to review and approve the strategic plan annually. While there was a legal requirement for CEOs to approve the transition plan when the Board was created, there is no legal requirement to approve annual plans. b. Propose changing language to Information on matters of strategic importance will be made available to the CEOs. c. Current procedure for allocation of funds to the WDA are formula based and are no longer used. Proposed language change is The Board will develop a method for allocating operating costs. These methodologies include, but are not limited to, allocations based on direct costs, cost pooling, indirect cost rates, and activity-based allocation plans. All cost allocations methodologies must conform to state and federal regulations and relevant OMB Circulars A- 21, A-87, A-122 CFR 48 Part 31 and the Financial Manual for Grants and Contracts. The cost allocation plan will be made available to the CEOs for review. d. Under this agreement the CEOs are required to meet according to the provisions of the Open Meetings Act. There is no legal requirement for CEOs to meet under the OMA. Propose removing this requirement for CEOs. Article III Local Workforce Development Board Responsibilities a. Requires that the Board develop and approve and annual and submit it to the CEOs for review. Propose language change to make it available to the CEOs for review. b. Requires the Board to forward written reports summarizing activities, including planning, administration, monitoring, evaluation and financial activities, board meeting minutes; copies of all annual and audit reports; and any other information as requested by the CEOs on a timely basis and at least bi-monthly. Proposed language change from forward to make available. Article IV Chief Elected Officials Responsibilities Page 4 of 7
a. Propose striking procedures for making Board appointments as it is already included in the CEO Agreement and replacing the procedures with Chief Elected Officials will be responsible for Board member appointments and will select Board members in accordance with the CEO Agreement. Article V Procedures for Development of Local Plan a. Propose striking entire article as the procedure was required for the transition plan in formation of the Board and no longer reflects how planning is done. Propose replacing it with The Texas Workforce Investment Council (TWIC) is charged under both state and federal law with recommending Local Workforce Development Boards Plans and plan modifications to the governor for final approval. TWIC reviews each Board plan to ensure that local goals and objectives are consistent with the statewide long-term objectives in the system strategic plan. Additionally, state law charges TWIC with reporting annually to the governor and the Texas legislature on the implementation of the system strategic plan, and with monitoring the operation of the state s workforce system to assess the degree to which the system is effective in achieving state and local goals and objectives. TWIC also reviews Board Plans and plan modifications to determine each Board s progress in implementing strategies that align with State planning. Local strategic planning will be done in accordance with the most current Texas Workforce Investment Council Requirements for Board Plans and Texas Workforce Commission Board Planning Guidelines. Article VI Accommodating Change a. Propose term of agreement remain consistent with the term of agreement for the CEO Agreement. b. Propose adding a paragraph This Partnership Agreement is an agreement between elected and appointed individuals in North Central Texas to facilitate workforce training and related services funded by the Texas Workforce Commission. It is not a business partnership defined under Section 152.051 of the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) and is not intended to be governed in. Scott McCune recommended the following changes to be made for review by the CEOs. Article VI Accommodating Change (b) last sentence needs to be changed to It is not a business partnership defined under Section 152.051 of the Texas Business Organizations Code (TBOC) and is not intended to be governed in by. Article II Authority, Roles, Responsibilities (c) last sentence needs to be changed to All cost allocations methodologies must conform to state and federal regulations and relevant OMB Circulars A-21, A-87, A-122 CFR 48 Part 31 and the Financial Manual for Grants and Contracts. The cost allocation plan will be made available to the CEOs for review. b. Board Committee Service Kay O Dell informed the board about the different board subcommittees that review and recommend items for approval by the full board. A committee sign-up sheet was distributed around the table for each member to sign up for at least one. Page 5 of 7
8. Board Chair Report Quarterly TAWB Board Meeting (May 19, 2014) Meera Ananthaswamy provided a brief update on TAWB education initiatives and presented the final published Education White Paper completed by the TAWB Education Committee The Workforce in Texas: Aligning Education to Meet the Needs of Texas Employers. The main empathies of the education paper is to build partnerships. Keynote speaker Todd Spinks, UNT, gave a presentation on the EXCEL Program partnered with Sanger ISD. Mr. Spinks will be invited to attend the next board meeting. Catherine Tietjen shared a brief overview of her experience attending the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) conference March 30-April 1. David Setzer extended an invite to other board members to attend future NAWB conferences. Meera also announced that the November board meeting is currently scheduled the same week as the Annual TWC Conference. If there are no pressing items for the board at that time, the meeting may be canceled and all members will be notified in advance. 9. Executive Director's Report David Setzer presented the Rapid Response Services report for March 2014 May 2014. David also informed the board of the State Strategic Plan meeting that took place in Austin on April 28 th. TWC Commissioners wanted to hear from all of the boards on challenges they face. Several boards proposed expenditure benchmarks to be reduced and allow carryover into the next year. Michael Nicholas presented the March 2014 Final Release Performance Report to the board. Kent Andersen presented the Skills Development Grant update to the board and the Regional Workforce Labor Study that TIP Strategies recently presented to board staff. TIP did a labor market study for the City of Frisco and Greater Houston Partnership. Kent provided a brief presentation of who TIP Strategies is and the type of date the discovered with their clients. North Central would like to partner with Dallas and Tarrant to do a labor market study of the DFW metroplex. Randy Richardson presented the year to date FY2014 Financial Report to the board. Kay O Dell gave an update on the strategic plan reporting efforts. The board operates under three strategic plans and they were combined into one to make it easier to report updates. 10. Announcement of Executive Session As authorized by Section 551.071 to consult with the Board s attorney for legal advice on any matter listed on the agenda, pending or contemplated litigation, settlement offers, or any matter in which the duty of the Board s attorney to the Board under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflict with the provisions of Chapter 551 of the Texas Open Meetings Act. Page 6 of 7
There was no Executive Session held. 11. Other Business There was no other business. Adjourn The meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m. APPROVED July 22, 2014 James Stegall, Secretary Date Page 7 of 7