REPORT TO SHASTA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

BOARD MEETING DATE:  August  22, 2017
CATEGORY:  Consent - Health and Human Services-9.

SUBJECT:

Memorandum of Understanding with the Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium Phase II

Supervisorial District No. :  All

DEPARTMENT CONTACT:  Melissa Janulewicz, Branch Director, HHSA Regional Services (530)245-7638

STAFF REPORT APPROVED BY:  Melissa Janulewicz

RECOMMENDATION

Approve and authorize the Chairman to sign a retroactive Memorandum of Understanding with the Northern Rural Training Employment Consortium at no compensation for the provision of creating a unified service delivery system that best meets the needs of shared customers for the period July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020.

SUMMARY

Approval of this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Phase II builds on the previously established agreements with America’s Job Center of California (AJCC) partners in Phase I and determines how to best support the established service delivery model through the use of resource sharing and joint infrastructure costs.

DISCUSSION

The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law on July 22, 2014. WIOA is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

In order to establish a high quality One-Stop delivery system and enhance collaboration among partner programs, WIOA requires Local Workforce Development Boards to develop MOUs with all AJCC required partners present in their Local Workforce Development Area (Local Area). The expectation is that these MOUs serve as a functional tool as well as visionary plan for how the Local Workforce Development Board and AJCC partners will work together to create a unified service delivery system that best meets the needs of their shared customers. Shasta County is a member of Local Workforce Development Board, Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium (NoRTEC).  

The state chose to separate the MOU development process into two distinct phases. Phase I, executed on March 8, 2017, by the County Executive Officer (effective July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019), addressed service coordination and collaboration among the partners  

Phase II will address how to sustain the unified system described in Phase I through the use of resource sharing and joint infrastructure cost funding and must be in place at the local level by September 1, 2017.  

Smart Business Resource Center located at 1201 Placer St in Redding is the designated AJCC for Shasta County. NoRTEC and Smart Business Resource Center, have worked collaboratively with Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) for the data requirements needed to complete Phase II of the MOU as identified by guidance from the state.   

Since TANF/CalWORKs services in Shasta County are not co-located in the One-Stop/AJCC, NoRTEC does not require infrastructure costs from Shasta County at this time.  However, NoRTEC does request an assurance from all non-colocated partners that they will agree to negotiate their proportionate share of infrastructure costs as soon as sufficient data is available to make such a determination.  The State is in the process of implementing the requisite statewide data tracking system, and once such data becomes available, all non-colocated partners will be required to contribute their proportionate share towards infrastructure costs.  This MOU does not constitute a binding financial commitment, but rather an intention to commit to specific resources as parties’ allocations and budgets are known from year to year.

ALTERNATIVES

The Board could choose not to approve the agreement or may request changes to the MOU.   

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

The MOU was approved as to form by County Counsel. The MOU was approved by Risk Management. The County Administrative Office reviewed the recommendation.

FINANCING

There is no current additional impact to the General Fund. The cost sharing agreement does not constitute a binding financial commitment, but rather an intention to commit to specific resource as parties’ allocations and budgets are known from year to year. The HHSA-Regional Services Branch will negotiate their portion of any future allocations and request appropriate allocation authority in each fiscal year budget as required by the MOU.