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MISSION: The Region VII Workforce Investment will use federal, state, and local programs to support one stop career and training systems that flexibly sustain and enhance citizens' and businesses efforts to participate in the global economy.

 

The Board published a block advertisement in eight newspapers across the area in the editions closest to September 27 and October 4.  The advertisement briefly reviewed the Plan’s purpose, encouraged the public to comment on the Plan by October 27, and stated the location review copies.  The advertisement noted that the Board would receive both written and email comments, Box 849, Parkersburg, WV 26847, or mearle@region8pdc.org.    Finally, the notice provided the following schedule of public meetings:

 

October 11, 2000

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Martinsburg Public Library

 

October 12, 2000

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Region 8 Conference Room

 

October 13, 2000

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Bank of Romney Community Room

 

Formatting is not always preserved in this web page, and page numbers are not available.

 

Region VII Workforce Investment Board

 

Local Plan DRAFT

For the period of January 1, 2001 to June 30, 2001

 

Eastern Panhandle Counties of

 

Berkeley

 Grant

Hampshire

Hardy

Jefferson

Mineral

Morgan         Pendleton

 

Region VII Workforce Investment Board

Local Plan

 

Table of Contents

Topic                                                                        Page

 

Executive Summary  4

 

Local Area Vision and Goals     5

 

Local Area Market Analysis

Current and Projected Employment Opportunities  7

Population   7

Educational Attainment     8

Labor Force      8

Income  9

Current Job Demand    10

Job Growth 10

Skill Development Needs  11

Evolving Needs Assessment   11

 

Plan Development Process  13

 

Local Area Governance 

Role of Local Elected Officials (LEO=s)     15

Functions of Local Workforce Investment Board (WIB)    15

WIB Member Participation     16

Coordination between the WIB and LEO=s  17

Conflict of Interest      18

WIB Staffing     18

Rapid Response      19

Youth Council Coordination   19

Fiscal Agent Selection 20

 

WORK4WV System for Service Delivery

WORK4WV Development Strategy   22

Selecting a One-Stop Operator     23

Chartering of the One-Stop Operator 24

Customer Services 25

Co-location and Electronic Connectivity   25

Partnerships with Business  26

Customer Intake and Tracking    26

Open Line of Communication   26

 

Continues Quality Improvement      26

Commitment to Staff Development      27

Resources of Core and Intensive Services 28

Components of Core Services   28

Components of Intensive Services  33

WORK4WV Meeting Customer Needs      35

WORK4WV and Youth Activities   37

 

Services

Customer Access   37

Core Services      38

Intensive Services     39

Training Services 40

 

Adults and Dislocated Workers

Employment and Training Activities     41

Supportive Payments      41

Needs-Related Payments     41

Individual Training Account (ITA) Policy   42

Limitations to ITA  43

On-the-Job Training  44

Customized Job Training      46

Eligible Training Providers  46

Priority of Services  47

Fund Transfers     48

 

Youth

Youth Services 48

Child Safety and Child Labor Laws    50

Awarding Grants for Youth Activities      51

Additional Youth Eligibility Criteria  51

Literacy Skills Deficient   51

 

Procurement

Competitive and Non-competitive policies   51

 

Equal Employment Opportunity      51

Performance Management   52

Signature Page     54

 

Attachment     A    Local Elected Officials Agreement      55

B    Memorandum of Understanding between Local Elected Officials and

       the Workforce Investment Board   56

C    Organization Chart   60

D    WORK4WV Business Plan and Memorandum of Understanding     62

E     Region VII Performance Standards      96

F     Region VII Workforce Investment Board Bylaws      97

G    Conflict of Interest Policy Draft............................................................................................... 106

 

Region VII Workforce Investment Board

 

Executive Summary

 

The Executive Summary will be completed after the required public review and comment time has been allotted and a review has been conducted by the Board of all comments that were submitted.

 

Local Area Vision and Goals

 

Describe your local area’s vision, mission, and goals for workforce investment and indicate how they support the state’s overall vision and goals as defined in the state’s workforce investment plan.

 

In recent years the Eastern Panhandle has enjoyed a robust economy that has created a significant number of jobs.  This job creation has fueled growth making the area a significant part of West Virginia’s changing economy.  Unfortunately, several areas in the Potomac Highlands have not fully participated in the revitalization.  Challenges remain in the growing area; many of these challenges are associated with workforce development.

 

Against this backdrop the Region VII Workforce Investment Board proclaims the following vision:

 

·        The Eastern Panhandle will continue to lead West Virginia’s changing economy by creating jobs and providing opportunities for new business, with an emphasis on technologically driven business and/or industry.

 

·        The region’s most valuable resource, its people, will be central to the area’s economy regeneration.

 

·        The residents of the area will have opportunities to participate fully and continuously in the region’s robust economy.

 

·        Residents will have an ability to access job development and training services that flexibly respond to their needs and allows them to participate fully in the ever-changing global economy.

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board will work to fulfill this vision.  To this end the following mission can be stated: The Region VII Workforce Investment will use federal, state, and local programs to support one stop career and training systems that flexibly sustain and enhance citizen’s and businesses efforts to participate in the global economy.

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board will establish goals to define steps toward fulfilling the area’s vision statement.  Goals are as follows:

 

·        It is the goal of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board to increase adult literacy in its service area.

 

·        It is the goal of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board to increase the skill level of the labor force in its service area.

 

·        It is the goal of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board to provide a one-stop career and training system that will effectively integrate services.

 

·        It is the goal of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board to better incorporate workforce development into the economic development process.

 

·        It is the goal of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board to foster job creation and income growth.

 

Achieving the goals of the Region VII Workforce Investment Board will result in a strong service delivery system that can meet the needs of the region’s citizens and businesses.  This will allow individuals to enhance their skills for growth jobs and thereby increase their employment and income potentials.  Necessarily the area will develop programs and systems that effectively serve the business community and furthers its ability to compete globally by providing a pool of well-trained workers.  The end result is a healthy regional economy that can continue to lead the state’s economy. 

 

II.                Local Area Market Analysis

 

Describe the current and projected employment opportunities in the local area.  Identify the local areas projected skill development needs by key customer segments.  Describe the job skills necessary to obtain such employment opportunities.

 

The Region VII WIB is located in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia.  Two diverse but related regions combine to form the WIA Region VII.  The Potomac Highlands Region contains the counties of Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, and Pendleton Counties.  Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties make up the Eastern Panhandle Region.  Both regions have a very low population density. County populations range from 8,100 persons in Pendleton County to 71,000 persons in Berkeley County.  However, population of Region VII continues to grow, especially in the Eastern Panhandle.

 

Regional employment was 100,080 persons in July 2000 with agriculture, manufacturing, and trade employing most of the active labor force.[1] Even though the percentage of agriculture employment in the Region is higher than state and national averages, agricultural employment has declined for many years.  In addition, for many years the region experienced only limited manufacturing growth.  This trend changed in the 1980’s when manufacturing employment grew by almost 25%, but growth has slowed and even declined slightly in the last decade.

 

The civilian labor force for the region is 104,020.   Total unemployed individuals are 3,940 giving the region an unemployment rate of 3.8%.  County median family incomes exceed the state throughout the region.  However, personal per capita income varies greatly.  Some areas of the region exceed the state average for per capita income, while others fall short.

 

      Population

 

County

 Population

Berkeley

           71,000

Grant

           11,100

Hampshire

           19,000

Hardy

           11,800

Jefferson

           41,400

Mineral

           26,700

Morgan

           13,600

Pendleton

             8,100

 

(Source:  Bureau of Business and Economic Research

   College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University

                     Released March 2000)

 

County populations vary greatly throughout the region.  As the table indicates, the least populated county is Pendleton which has 8,100 persons.  The most populated county is Berkeley, with 71,000 persons.  And, the second largest is Jefferson County with 41,400.  The large populations of these two counties can be attributed to their close vicinity to the Washington, DC metropolitan area.  These counties offer rural living with ease of commute and lower property taxes.

 

Both areas exceeded the state population growth rate of .1 percent per year.  Potomac Highlands recorded a growth rate of .7 percent per year and the Eastern Panhandle counties recorded a growth rate of 1.9 percent per year.  In addition, the Eastern Panhandle exceeded the national rate of 1.0 percent, while the Potomac Highlands fell short.[2]

 

Educational Attainment

 

The educational attainment levels of Region VII are very similar to those of the state of West Virginia.  Most of the population (around 39%) has a high school diploma or equivalent as their highest level of education.  Nearly 18% of the population only reached a level of education somewhere between 9-12 grade and 14.% did not even complete the 9th grade.  Fourteen percent of the population has completed some college but never obtained a degree.  Only about 4% have obtained an associate’s degree and nearly 7% have obtained a bachelor’s degree.  Just fewer than 4% of the population has completed graduate studies. [3]

 

Labor Force

     

According to the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs, there were 104,020 persons employed or seeking employment in Region VII in July 2000.  The unemployment rate for the region was 3.8% representing a slight decline since June. 

 

The strong influence of the agriculture and construction sectors results in seasonal increases in unemployment during the summer and early fall.  The Region experiences a related annual upsurge in unemployment during the winter.  The winter upsurge is compounded as several major manufacturing employers layoff workers for a short period each winter to carry out major plant maintenance/adjustments.

 

Plan Development Process

 

Describe the process followed in developing the Plan.  This might include groups that were included in the planning process, meetings that were facilitated, how the WIB and the Local Elected Officials each participated in the plan development, among other issues.  Be sure to describe the public comment process, and how those comments were considered in the development of the plan.

 

Participation from a broad range of groups and individuals is critical to developing an effective workforce investment plan.  Recognizing the critical nature of such participation, the Region VII Workforce Investment Board (WIB) committed itself to developing an open planning process capable of obtaining input from a variety of people and organizations.   The Board assigned the Region 8 Planning and Development Council, the Board’s administrative agent, the responsibility for preparing a draft plan. 

 

The regional council’s staff began its effort by reviewing planning guidelines.  The staff then began an effort to collect relevant data from sources such as the Bureau of Employment Programs and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at WVU.  The Council contracted with Community & Economic Development Consultants, LLC to provide a partial labor market analysis of Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.  The staff combined this information with a labor market study of Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, and Pendleton Counties.  Likewise, the staff prepared a WIB Region VII economic forecast using forecasts prepared for the Eastern Panhandle and the Potomac Highlands.   This effort established an economic and statistical base for the Workforce Investment Plan.

 

An economic and demographic analysis does not provide a sufficient basis for developing a sound workforce investment plan.   A sound planning effort requires information available only by discussion with a range of individuals.  Unfortunately, a lack of time and staff prevented the Council from using one on one interviews to collect this information.  The council’s staff turned to a series of facilitated meeting to collect additional information.  The staff held meetings in Moorefield on September 20, 2000, in Martinsburg on September 22, 2000, and Romney on September 25, 2000.  All meetings began at noon and lunch was served to make it easier for individuals to attend.   The Board extended invitations to its members, local elected officials, economic developers, educators, service providers, community leaders and representatives of industry and business.   The staff opened each meeting by discussing the need for a workforce investment plan and by reviewing the purpose of the meeting.  Participants were then given a brief written exercise that ask them to identify jobs that required training resources.  The staff then encouraged a round table discussion of workforce development and training issues.   The staff maintained a record of the discussion.  The Board used notes from these meetings and the written exercise to adjust the market analysis, to formulate goals, and to fine-tune the service delivery system.  Over twenty people participated in the facilitated meetings.

 

The draft Workforce Investment Plan was made available to all board members and local elected officials.  The Planning Committee requested that members and LEO’s provide comments to the committee by October 20, 2000.   Simultaneously, the Board made the document available for public review.  The Board supplied copies of the draft plan to libraries in Charlestown, Martinsburg, Berkeley Springs, Romney, Keyser, Moorefield, Petersburg, and Franklin.  Regional Council’s in the WIB region also made the plan available for public review.  The Workforce Investment Board asked the Governor’s Workforce Investment Office (GWIO) to provide a notice of the Plan’s availability for review on its web site.  The Board published a block advertisement in eight newspapers across the area in the editions closest to September 27 and October 4.  The advertisement briefly reviewed the Plan’s purpose, encouraged the public to comment on the Plan by October 27, and stated the location review copies.  The advertisement noted that the Board would receive both written and email comments.    Finally, the notice provided the following schedule of public meetings:

 

October 11, 2000

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Martinsburg Public Library

 

October 12, 2000

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Region 8 Conference Room

 

October 13, 2000

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Bank of Romney Community Room

 

The Board provided all service providers with a copy of the draft Workforce Investment Plan.   The transmittal memorandum encouraged providers to comment on the Plan.   The Workforce Investment Board asked the Governor’s Workforce Investment Office to provide a notice of the Plan’s availability for review on its web site.  The Board held a meeting to discuss the plan and receive service provider comments on October  20, 2000 at the Region 8 Office Building in Petersburg.

 

As it received them, the Regional Council provided copies of the written comments to the Board’s planning committee.  The Committee, on behalf of the entire Board, reviewed all comments.  The committee directed changes to the Plan where appropriate.  The final draft of the Plan included copies of all written comments and the document was provided to board members prior to its adoption.

 

Local Area Governance

 

Local Elected Officials

Describe the role of Local Elected Officials in the governance and implementation of the Workforce Investment Act and the decision process between the Local Elected Officials.

 

Recognizing the need for greater local implementation of federally funded training programs the Workforce Investment Act made local elected officials central to its implementation.  Local elected officials (LEOs) nominate workforce investment board (WIB) members and in partnership with the WIB they are responsible for establishing policy.  Importantly, financial accountability ultimately rests with the LEOs.

 

The West Virginia Governor’s Workforce Investment Office identifies chief local elected officials as presidents of county commissions and mayors of municipalities of 10,000 or more people.  The Region VII Workforce Investment Area contains eight counties and one eligible municipality (Berkeley, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Jefferson, Mineral, Morgan, and Pendleton Counties, and the City of Martinsburg).  These nine officials, or their representatives, came together to form an ad hoc governing board not long after the beginning of the year.  This ad hoc board has continued to oversee the implementation of WIA.

 

The LEO board ask each eligible unit of government to submit lists of potential WIB members.  The LEO board reviewed the lists and using appropriate criteria developed a list of WIB nominees that it submitted to the Governor.  The LEOs met with WIB members upon the Board’s appointment by the Governor.  At this time the local elected officials charged the Board with its responsibilities.

 

The LEOs have assumed financial responsibility.  They acted to select the Region 8 Planning and Development Council as their fiscal agent.  Through their chairman, they participated in the development of an interim WIA budget for FY 2001 and concurred in the issuance of a temporary plan for the first half of FY 2001.  Individual LEOs continue to attend Region 7 Board meetings.

 

The LEOs of the Eastern Panhandle look forward to the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act.  The LEOs will continue to participate in the Act’s implementation.  During the coming months the LEOs look forward to replacing the ad hoc governing board with a formalized arrangement.

 

Local Workforce Investment Board

Describe how the WIB will carry out its functions, including both the requirements for public funds accountability and for community leadership and planning.  Include a description of how

 

the Board will carry out its responsibility for oversight, monitoring, and corrective action of the Title I program.

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board will carry out its activities in an open manner so as to build public trust for WIA programs.  The Board will comply with the “West Virginia Sunshine Law” that requires public notice of its meeting and agenda.  All meetings will be held in accessible places and a variety of formats will be used to distribute notices of meetings.  The Board will refrain from making decisions out of the public sight.  The Board will adopt its budget after appropriate public discussion.  The Board will adopt financial management policies that will assure that expenditures result from a known process that promotes accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness.  To this end the Region VII WIB will adopt a procurement policy as least as stringent as OMB Circular 20 CFR Past 667. 

 

The Board will use an open planning process that encourages participation by community leaders and the public.  The process will feature meetings to allow input from a wide range of community leaders.  The board will make the draft planning documents available to the public prior to their adoption.  Citizens will be encouraged to review and comment on draft plans.  Public meetings will serve to educate the public and as a forum for collecting comments.  All comments will be considered and appropriate adjustments will be made.

 

While planning and early decision making serve as the basis for implementation, oversight, monitoring and corrective action are essential to a successful Workforce Investment Act delivery system.  The Board will establish performance measures for its and its partners’ activities.  The WIB staff will continuously monitor these measures.  Using reports from the staff, the Board will participate in the development of improvement efforts. 

 

The seven Malcolm Baldridge principals of leadership, strategic planning, customer – market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results are central to the Board’s evaluation and improvement process.  The Board will base its process on the State’s quality principles as developed by the Governor’s Workforce Investment Office to assure compatibility with the other WIB regions.  A State led work group is working to produce these quality principles.  WIB Region VII will delay formalization of its program until the State work group has provided consistent guidance.

 

Describe what the WIB will do to enable its members to fully participate in their planning, oversight, and other responsibilities.  

 

Individual members are the strength of the Workforce Investment Board.  The Board’s operations must encourage their fullest participation in all activities if the Board is to succeed.  To this end, the Board will hold all of its meetings in accessible places at times and locations convenient to Board members.  The Board will meet at least six times each year.  Members will receive notices of meetings at least five days in advance of regular meeting and at least three

 

days in advance of special meetings. The meeting notice will describe the purpose of the meeting and will be in a format appropriate to the needs of each member.  To the greatest extent possible members will receive documents, reports, and other items requiring action prior to the meeting in which they will be considered.  Their format will be appropriate to the individual needs of the members.  A quorum must be present for action during a meeting. 

 

The Board will make a special effort to involve its members in the Workforce Investment Act planning process.  Members will receive notification of all planning meetings, including those for community leaders.  The Board will distribute copies of draft planning documents to members and will solicit their comments.

 

The Board has appointed specific committees to address issues concerning WIA mandates and delivery services of the region’s WORK4WV Center.  These various committees provide feedback to the Board concerning strengths and weaknesses within the service delivery structure.  Committee feedback is openly discussed at each Board meeting to keep WIB members abreast of WIB activities and compliance factors.  WIB active committees include:

1)               Local Plan Committee

2)               Performance and Evaluation Committee;

3)               One-Stop Committee;

4)               Executive Committee; and

5)               Youth Committee

 

At all times the staff will have responsibility for taking actions to encourage member participation.  The staff will act to inform members of options and will refrain from taking actions appropriate for members.

 

The Region VII WIB Bylaws are attached as Appendix D.

 

Describe how the WIB will coordinate and interact with LEOs.

 

The Region VII Local Elected Officials and Workforce Investment Board have jointly adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that creates a basis for their interaction, including their coordination of effort.  The memorandum identifies activities that are the responsibility of the WIB.  These would include, but are not limited to, identifying service providers, overseeing youth activities, employment and training, and One-Stop systems.  Other activities are the sole responsibility of the LEOs.  These would include, but are not limited to, nominating WIB members, serving as the local grant recipient, and identifying a fiscal agent.  Other tasks including adopting a budget, preparing the Workforce Investment Plan, and certifying a one stop operator are jointly shared tasks. 

 

The memorandum calls for a LEO to serve as an ex-officio member of the WIB executive committee.  LEO and WIB members receive copies of each others’ meeting notices. 

 

Individual LEOs attend WIB meetings and the chair of the WIB has participated in LEO meetings.

 

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Local Elected Officials and The Workforce Investment Board is attached in Appendix B.

 

Identify the circumstances that constitute a conflict of interest for any local workforce investment board member.

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board Bylaws state that no director, officer, employee, or agent of the WIB shall:

 

·        cast a vote on the provision of service under the training plan by that member, by any member of his/her family, or by any organization of which that member or any member of his/her family is an officer, owner, or employee;

 

·        vote on any matter which would provide direct financial benefit to that member, or

 

·        participate in the award or administration of any grant or contract that is funded through the job training plan, where he or she knows that any of the following has a financial interest in the person or organization that will receive the grant or contract: (a) the officer, employee, or agent; (b) any family member of the officer, employee or agent; (c) any partner of the officer, employee, or agent or (d) any persons or organization that employs that employs, or is about to employ, any persons described in (a), (b) 0r (c),

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board will use §6B-2-5 of the Code of West Virginia as its ethic standard.  The Board will also adopt the Governor’s Workforce Investment Office’s (GWIO) Conflict of Interest Policy as its policy following GWIO is adoption of the policy.  The draft Conflict of Interest Policy is attached in Appendix G.

 

Describe how the local board will be staffed.

 

The Region VII Workforce Investment Board has elected to contract administrative services from the Planning and Development Division of the Region 8 Planning and Development Council.  The Region 8 Planning and Development Council operates through two operating divisions.  The Planning and Development Division provides those services traditionally associated with a Regional Council in Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, and Pendleton Counties.  The Potomac Highlands Support Service Division provides services human service programs in eastern West Virginia.  These services include Welfare to Work and Senior Employment Programs.  For many years each division operated under the supervision of a director that reported directly to the Regional Council.  Although, the Council’s Bylaws reflect operation with two directors, currently one person (Kenneth Dyche) holds both positions. 

 

Don Thorne will serve as Director of Workforce Investment Activities.  Mr. Thorne is an employee of the Planning and Development Division and will report directly to the Workforce Investment Board.  Other employees assigned workforce investment duties will report to Mr. Thorne.  The Potomac Highlands Support Services will perform all service delivery.  The Region 8 Planning and Development Council believes that the staff arrangement meets the spirit of GWIO guidance on separation of investment staffing, training, and One-Stop operations.  However, to assure an additional level of comfort the Council has requested that the Governor and the Chief Local Elected Official grant a waiver as provided under WIA. 

 

Describe how the local WIB will ensure coordination of workforce investment activities in the local area with the statewide rapid response activities.

 

Responding to a sudden employment dislocation will represent a priority for the Region VII Board.  WIB Region VII will assign personnel to rapid response teams as needed.  The Region VII WIB is awaiting the development of statewide policies for rapid response.  This section will be completed once state policy is published.

 

Youth Council

Describe the process used in the local area to solicit, select, and replace members of the local youth council.  Describe what the local youth council will do to enable its members to fully participate in their planning, oversight, and other responsibilities.  Describe how the local youth council will coordinate and interact with the local WIB.

 

The LEO and WIB Board chairs asked their members to submit lists of potential Youth Council members.  The chairs requested that members solicit input from individuals and organizations representative of the groups required or suggested to participate in the youth council.  Where needed, nominations were solicited directly from individuals and organizations representative of groups interested in youth.   The LEOs and WIB reviewed names and developed a membership that met the criteria for WIA.  In filling future vacancies, the Region VII WIB and LEOs will send letters requesting membership nominations to groups, agencies, and organizations with special interest in youth. 

 

As with the WIB, individual members are the strength of the Youth Council.  The Council’s operations must encourage members’ full participation in all activities, if the Council is to succeed. To this end the Council will hold all of its meetings in accessible places at times and locations convenient to its members.  Meeting locations will vary to encourage participation.  Members will receive notices of meetings at least five days in advance of regular meeting and at least three days in advance of special meetings. The meeting notice will describe the purpose of the meeting and will be in a format appropriate to the needs of each member.  To the greatest extent possible members will receive documents, reports, and other items requiring consideration prior to the meeting where they will be considered.  Their format will be appropriate to the individual needs of the members.

 

If not a WIB member, the chair of the Youth Council will serve as an ex officio, non-voting member of the Workforce Investment Board.  The Youth Council chair will report council activities to the Region VII WIB at monthly board meetings.  The Youth Council chair will report the results of WIB meetings to the Youth Council.  The Youth Council will make special reports to the WIB as appropriate.

 

Fiscal Agent

Identify the entity selected by the local elected officials to be the fiscal agent for the local area.  Describe how the fiscal agent will ensure there is coverage for wrongful acts and how it will carry out its fiduciary responsibilities.

 

The Region VII Local Elected Officials selected the Region 8 Planning and Development Council to serve as their fiscal agent.  The Region VII WIB understands that GWIO’s coverage with the State Board of Risk and Insurance Management affords it some coverage for errors and omissions.  The Region 8 Planning and Development Council has coverage with the State Board of Risk and Insurance Management that provides it coverage for wrongful acts – errors and omissions.  The State Board’s coverage provides the Regional council with a fidelity bond in the amount of $1 million.

 

Attachment C is an organization chart for the WIB, Region 8 PDC, and the One-Stop Center.

 

Describe the fiscal controls system used by the fiscal agent for administering WIA funds.  Describe the fiscal agent’s property management system for JTPA property carried into the WIA program and any new property purchased with WIA funds.

 

The Region 8 PDC is familiar with federal government’s requirements for financial management.  The PDC will use a double entry electronic accounting system to maintain financial information on a fund basis.  The financial management system will provide the following:

 

·        Accurate, current, and complete disclosure of financial results

 

·        Records that adequately identify the sources and application of grant funds

 

·        Effective control over and accountability for all funds, property, and other assets

 

·        Comparison of actual outlays with amounts budgeted for the grants

 

·        Procedures to minimize the time elapsing between transfer of funds from the U.S. Treasury and the disbursement

 

·        Procedures for determining reasonableness and allowable costs

 

·        Accounting records that are supported by source documentation

·        A systematic method to assure timely and appropriate resolution of audit findings and recommendations.

 

To this end Don Thorne will be responsible for financial management for the Region VII WIA funds.  The Region VII WIB will establish a non-interest bearing bank account in a bank with FDIC insurance coverage.  The WIB will seek collateral coverage for any amount greater than the FDIC limit.  The WIB will use pre-numbered checks and two signatures will be required on all checks.  Bank records will be maintained and reconciled on a monthly basis.