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Minutes

WORKFORCE NETWORK OF KANSAS BOARD
January 30, 2003
Topeka Capitol Plaza-Maner Conference Center
1717 SW Topeka Blvd.
Topeka, Kansas

Board Members in attendance were Ken Bell, David Cleveland, Gerald Cook, Valorie DeFever, Eddie Estes, Lew Ferguson, Jim Garner, James Kessler, Patricia Kirkman, Otto Maynard, Marie Mareda, Dwayne Peaslee, Lynn Peterson, Alicia Salisbury, Candace Shively, Curt Stephens, Jack Strukel and staff Barb Reavis and Konnie Leffler.

Guests present were David Brennan, Local Area II; Renea Cavaness, LWIB V; Mary Ellen Conlee, Local Area IV; Bob Courtney, Regional Economic Area Partnership; Jim Decoursey, Local Area II; Jeff Duncan, Independence Community College; Glenn Fondoble, Local Area I; Dianne Glass, Kansas Board of Regents; Linda Ramirez Gonzalez, KDHR; Bob Hansen, Department of Labor, Employment and Training; Wayne Isaacs, Local Area IV; Steve Jack, KDHR; Clark Jacobs, Kathy Ketchum, KDHR; George McAtee, KDHR; Dave McEachern, KDHR; Sharon Neria, Independence Community College; Jon Pettus, KDHR; Kathy Petz ; Linda Ramirez-Gonzalez, KDHR; Angie Reid, Al Rolls, Local Area III; Linda Sours, Fort Scott Community College; Bill Swinney, Allen County Community College; Linda Weaver, KDHR.

Chair Ken Bell called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. Self-introductions were offered from the attendees.

Minutes from the November 22, 2002 meeting were approved following a Strukel/Peaslee motion.

Bell began the Chair's Report by reviewing the Workforce Network of Kansas vision, mission, and structure. He then turned to the action items on the agenda and briefly reviewed the Leadership Team's recommendations for WIA State Set-aside funds. Those recommendations included allocating:
· $150,000 in incentive funds (divided equally across the 17 performance measures from the WIA 1B program) to Local Areas that have met or exceeded 100% on those measures. Because all five areas had met most performance measures, all local areas will receive incentive funds.

· $150,000 for technical assistance to the Local Areas. Appropriate KDHR staff will contact and negotiate with the Local Areas as to how this assistance will be administered. KDHR will report to the Board on what technical assistance is given. Any unspent dollars can be reallocated for other purposes.

· Up to $190,000 (no more than $38,000 per Local Area) across the five Local Areas for one-stop development based on plans, expected outcomes, measurements, and reports of the individual Local Areas being approved by the Leadership Team and KDHR staff. The first requirement for application will be a report by each Local Area on how they spent last year's allocation of $65,000 in state set-aside funds. Any unused funds can be reallocated.

Following a brief discussion, including input from Local Area administrators on how one-stop development funds might be used, the three recommendations were approved after a Stephens/Mareda motion. There was no further discussion.

Bell then returned to the other action item on the agenda: approval of the RFI submitted by a consortium made up of KDHR, WSU, and Fort Hays State in order to complete a research project. A review team meeting, scheduled for January 23, had to be cancelled, and Cook indicated that he had received additional information about this issue, which will need to be addressed; so this item is not ready for final presentation.

Bell altered the agenda in order to let Estes report on the Kansas Workforce Summit. Estes said that approximately 220 people had attended the Summit. He felt it had been a good opportunity to get everyone together and to open up a dialogue between groups that might not ordinarily come into contact with one another. He said that he would try to provide a breakdown of what those groups were. He also commended Bell's assistance at the Summit and asked for more feedback on its strengths and weaknesses from other attendees.

Bell appointed the Subcommittee for Modification to the WIA Five-Year Plan: Ken Bell, Jim Keele, Dwayne Peaslee, Shirley Martin-Smith, and Jack Strukel.

Reavis gave the current Task Force reports, recapping Marketing accomplishments and introducing the new Employer Services Guide, which was distributed to the Board members. She also explained the five core outcomes that the Quality Task Force has drafted. She had participated in a presentation that morning at the Kansas Workforce Summit and had gotten some feedback on these core outcomes, but urged the Board to contribute feedback as well. David Cleveland volunteered to serve on the Quality Task Force.

Jack distributed the WIA Annual Report for Program Year 2001 and indicated that this is the final report that KDHR submits to the Department of Labor. He briefly discussed the performance measures and how well each Local Area had done in meeting them. He commended the Board and Local Areas for their accomplishments and cited the tremendous improvements that had been made. It was noted that these are just minimum standards for performance and that there are a number of areas that are not measured. This is an issue that the Board will want to address in terms of allocating next year's incentive funds. Glass said that she would be glad to report to the Board at a future date about Adult Basic Education achievements.

Bell reported that the Leadership Team had agreed the WNK Board would use the next year to work on feedback from the Kansas Award for Excellence before applying for Level 2 status.

There were no topics from Local Areas introduced for discussion.

Responding to a request for new business, Salisbury suggested that the Leadership Team take another look at the WNK mission to determine if it is still appropriate or needs alteration. She also asked that we think about performance standards in addition to the 17 WIA 1B measures. She then raised the question of whether it was appropriate for the Board to enter into a discussion of the Administration's initiative to consolidate KDHR and KDOC&H and following a discussion of the pros and cons of that initiative to address a letter to the Governor with the Board's recommendations. There was some discussion about whether this was appropriate and whether the Board had enough information to make this sort of recommendation. Several members referred to its duties as an advisory board to report and make recommendations to the Governor.

Garner and Cleveland both explained that there is no official initiative at this time, although the issue has been discussed in Governor Sebelius's Budget Efficiency Savings Teams, along with many other ideas for making government more efficient.

After some further discussion, a Cook/Cleveland motion was put forth that the Board convey, via a letter to the Governor, its sense of the need to provide for a better system of coordination and improvement in the workforce development system of Kansas. The motion carried, with Garner abstaining. Bell and Reavis will draft and send such a letter to Governor Sebelius.

Reavis has given testimony on the Workforce Network of Kansas to the House Commerce and Labor Committee and the Workforce Development Sub-Committee of the House Higher Education Committee so far this session. Both presentations were well-received and judging by the number of questions, there is a great deal of interest in workforce issues within the legislature.

Bell adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.