East Central Minnesota Workforce Executive Committee Minutes
September 4, 2001
Terry Dalbey, WorkForce Center Mora/Cambridge, Jason Spaeth, Pine Technical College, Ted Dimberio, East Central Energy, John Schlagel, Ginger Glenn, Glenn Metalcraft, Dennis Adams, Cambridge Community College, Dick Young, Oak Land Vocational and Ray Hoheisel, Executive Director, ECMWF Partnership.
Vice-Chair Ted D. called the meeting to order at 7:05 a.m.
Minutes of the August 7, 2001 Executive Committee meeting were approved upon motion by John S., seconded by Dennis A. Motion carried.
A financial statement through August 31, 2001 was distributed. Executive Director Ray H. reported a balance of $55,931.03. Interest earned and dues contributions from Schlagel, Inc., Glenn Metalcraft, RISE Inc., Cambridge-Isanti and Braham Public Schools were the receipts.
Disbursement for August was for executive director services. School-To-Work funds for Year V including Year IV carry-over were reported as $125,532.28 with expenditures of $601.69 and a balance of $124,930.59. Upon motion by Ginger G., seconded by Terry D. the report was accepted and filed. Motion carried.
Board Resignation: Board member Randy Zieske submitted his resignation. Discussion followed complimenting Randy’s very positive contribution to the board and his willingness to regularly attend meetings and participate. Motion was made by Dennis A., seconded by John S. to accept the resignation. Motion carried. The board discussed replacing the labor representative position. Ray H. will e-mail business partners and request names for consideration. The main criterion is a production or front line employee or supervisor.
Appointment of Board Members: JoAnn Faust and Vicky Wills of Crystal Cabinets have agreed to serve on the board. Motion was made by Dennis A., seconded by John S. to appoint them to the board. Motion carried.
Election of Officer: The resignation of Randy Z. opened the Treasurer position. Upon motion by Terry D., seconded by Ginger G., John S. was nominated to fill the position. Motion carried. The Executive Director was asked to make necessary changes for bank signature.
Ray H. reported on general liability, fidelity bond and directors and officers insurance policy search. A prospective company had expressed interest, but has not followed-up with a proposed quote.
Ray H. reported that the committee that revised the checklist would meet on September 5, 2001 to finish their work. The revised checklist will be distributed as spelled out in the implementation plan and a printable version will be placed on the Web Site. Other means of distribution were also discussed. Regarding feedback and changes recommended by those who have reviewed the checklist, it was pointed out that it is important that the document be usable and relevant to those who developed it for use with ALC/ALP and ABE learners.
Wayne Starke, Account Representative of NetLearning (1-888-594-6205) and starke@net-learning.com) gave a combined telephone and internet presentation on their product. He walked the board through various features of product, including the Learning Administrator that manages and controls the training program, the Student Interface and the Courseware for on-line training. He briefly demonstrated an individual course and the management system and mentioned that all licensees are supplied with a hard copy users manual.
He cited advantages of on-line training which included training on demand at less cost, that is time efficient with materials that are up-to-date. Courses are planned in 30-45 minute segments with a 3-4 hour course broken into 5-6 modules. The average per person training cost is around $10.00 per training hour.
Following the demonstration the board discussed possible ways to implement an on-line training program for the region. Ted D. was asked to contact present users to determine level of satisfaction and get some clarification on actual cost of the program.
Allied Health – Dennis A. said Cathy Lund-Ziebarth would give grant status report at Partnership meeting. Dennis A. was asked to contact Greg Carlson of Grand View about additional health initiatives.
Retail – Jason S. said he is meeting with retail grant coordinator on September 5, 2001 and will report at Partnership meeting.
Ray H. told board of planned activity for September involving completing Employability Skills Checklist, meeting with School-To-Work Coordinators, participating in local committee meetings and working on achieving goals of Partnership. Ray H. was asked to visit with STW Coordinators about what it would take from business end to insure that programs are continued. Dennis A. moved and Ginger G. seconded the payment for services provided by Executive Director for 6 days in August. Motion carried.
It was agreed to place both topics on the Partnership meeting agenda. The potential of contracting with local community education programs to offer the on-demand short courses will be discussed as will the NetLearning on-line training program.
Employer Conference planning needs to begin. By consensus the board suggested it as an agenda item at the September Partnership meeting.
The board reviewed the Pine City Area Learning/Pine City Schools application for STW Supplementary Grant Funds. The grant request was for $1,500.00 to purchase career assessment inventories for 200 students and for job interview, career exploration and resume writing videos. John S. moved approval, seconded by Terry D. Motion approved.
The board discussed using Supplementary Grant funds to market the Employability Skills Checklist to area employers. They agreed to make supplementary grant funds in the amount of $800.00 per community (first come, first served) to local STW committees. The grant would provide a four hour class for 10-20 participants called “Successful Employee Interviewing and Selection” from Continuing Education at Pine Technical College. The Employability Skills Checklist would be incorporated as one of the selection tools. It was recommended that the local STW committees offer this to employers in partnership with a local business group, such as the Chamber of Commerce. Moved by John S., seconded by Ginger G. to make the grant funds available as described. Motion carried.
The agenda for the partnership meeting was set as follows: 1. STW Report, 2. Focus on Training and NetLearning Demonstration Report, 3. Employability Skills Checklist Revision, 4. Informational Reports and Sharing, 5. Allied Health and Retail Grant Updates, 6.Employer Conference Planning and 7. Executive Committee Report.
Vice-Chair Ted D. adjourned meeting at 9:20 a.m.
Minutes by Ray H.