Executive Committee Meeting Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Transcription

1 Executive Committee Meeting Wednesday, June 27, 2012 Members Staff James Thomas Cameron County Eric Bridges William Bogart Cameron County Jill Foys Mark McCracken Clearfield County Susan Snelick John Shimko Clearfield County Cheryl DePanfilis Daniel Freeburg Elk County Amy Kessler June Sorg Elk County Larry Horning Jeffrey Pisarcik Jefferson County Julie Kasmierski Larry Conrad Jefferson County James Swanson Joseph DeMott McKean County Jennifer Merritt Douglas Morley Potter County Patricia Brennen Mary Lou Jessop Guests Thomas Coppolo Joseph Bell Gretchen Rokosky JoAnn Seltzer Solicitor Ridgway Record/Kane Republican Bradford Era Courier Express Chairman Morley called the meeting to order at 9: 30 AM with the pledge to the flag. QUORUM/INTRODUCTIONS There was a quorum for the meeting. Eric introduced Jennifer Merritt to the Committee. Jen is sitting in for Jim Chorney who is on vacation. MINUTES With no corrections, additions or amendments to the May 23 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes, John Shimko moved to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Jeff Pisarcik. Motion unanimously passed. OLD BUSINESS

2 Eric asked Jim Swanson to update the Executive Committee on the video bridge equipment that has been discussed at the last two meetings. Jim reported that the Bridge Unit has been received and installed. This equipment has been tested. As well the Clear C Server which is basically a software package has been received, thus fulfilling the requirements of the Department of Labor and Industry that this equipment be ordered and received by June 30. North Central will be happy to share this unit with anyone who wants to have video-conferencing that want to bridge with outside people. Jim requests that people call North Central IT Department. We now have 16 licenses so we put up multiple rooms so multiple groups to use this equipment. Jim will have more information after the testing has been completed and will send the numbers out to anyone you want us to. North Central can actually make the calls, make the connections, so people who have requested it don t have to do anything except join the meeting. We are going to commit ourselves to utilize and look for opportunities to provide services to some of our customers. We can consider using this for meetings such as our board meetings, especially in the winter. NEW BUSINESS Financial Reports The Financial Reports for the month of May, consisting of the Statement of Revenues and Expenditures Report, Balance Sheet and the Check/Voucher Register, were presented. With no other questions, Mark McCracken moved to accept the Financial Reports as presented, seconded by Jim Thomas. Motion unanimously passed. Purchases There were no Purchases for the month. Resolutions Resolution # was presented for approval. This Resolution is that the Executive Committee of North Central approves the FFY Transportation Improvement Program as approved by the Transportation Planning Committee on June 12, Joe DeMott moved to approve Resolution # , seconded by Larry Conrad. Motion unanimously passed. 2

3 Resolution # was presented for approval. This Resolution approves North Central contracting with Hartford Life Insurance Company for comprehensive plan and administrative services for the employees of North Central s Retirement Plan, effective July 1, Jim Thomas moved to approve Resolution # , seconded by Mark McCracken. Motion unanimously passed. A95s A95s were reviewed. Mark McCracken acknowledged receipt of the A95s as presented, seconded by John Shimko. Recommendation to complete review process was unanimously passed. It was also noted that background information on each A95 is being provided for the Committee s information. Also included were copies of letters or actions that do not require the A-95 review. This is again being provided for information only. Correspondence There was no Correspondence for the month. Eric informed the Committee that this was Jill s last meeting as she has accepted the position of Executive Director at the Northwest Planning Commission in Oil City. The Committee extended their best wishes and congratulations to Jill. Loans Advantage Metal Powders, Inc., Ridgway Township, Elk County, has requested loans in the amount of $100,000 from the Intermediary Relending Program Fund 4 for 15 years at the rate of 4% and $100,000 from the Intermediary Relending Program Fund 2 for 15 years at the rate of 4%. This money is for the construction of building addition. North Central s collateral will be third mortgage and third lien position on all business assets and the personal guarantees of the owners of Aul Holdings, Inc. Eighteen jobs will be retained and one new job will be created. The projected annual average hourly rate will be $17.00/hour plus 36% benefits. Dan Freeburg moved to approve the loans to Advantage Metal Powders, Inc., seconded by Bill Bogart. Motion unanimously passed. Brownlee Lumber Company, Inc., Brookville, Jefferson County, has requested loans in the amount of $100,000 from the Intermediary Relending Program Fund 4 for 3 years at the rate of 4% and $100,000 from the Economic Development Administration Revolving Loan Fund for 3 years at the rate of 4%. This money is for Working Capital Raw Materials. North Central s collateral will be second lien on all business assets and second mortgage on the real estate and the personal guarantee of the owner. Thirty-three jobs will be retained. The projected annual average hourly rate will be $11.00/hour plus 33% benefits. 3

4 Jeff Pisarcik moved to approve the loans to Brownlee Lumber Company, Inc., seconded by Jim Thomas. Motion unanimously passed. Allegheny Store Fixtures, Inc., Bradford, McKean County, has requested a loan in the amount of $70,000 from the Intermediary Relending Program 4 Fund for 7 years at the rate of 4%. This money is for the purchase of equipment. North Central s collateral will be shared first lien position on the equipment to be acquired and the personal guarantees of the majority shareholders. Thirty-five jobs will be retained. The projected annual average hourly rate will be $10.00/hour plus 35% benefits. Joe DeMott moved to approve the loans to Allegheny Store Fixtures, Inc., seconded by Mark McCracken. Motion unanimously passed. DISCUSSION Executive Director s Remarks Eric handed out updates on the budget discussions and issues of particular focus on the state budget discussions. He stated that the House Appropriations Committee is right now in hearings and discussing the Senate Bill 1466, the General Fund Budget Bill. The House Republican Caucus sent out a two page summary and analysis of the Final FY Budget. The budget has not been signed and is going through the second phase of the final process. Presuming it will pass the Appropriations Committee it will then move to the floor of the House for full consideration, and as the Senate has already gone through this process, it will then go to the Governor for his signature. There are a variety of related bills that typically are part of this process that they are negotiating. Eric stated that looking at a line-item report he has, our organization has fared reasonably well. Earlier in the week the Discovered and Developed in PA had been targeted and early indications were that it was going to be reduced by approximately $3 million; however, within the last 24 hours as a result of negotiations this was bumped back up. All indications are that the budget we have been presented will be ultimately the budget that is signed and passed before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. On the Federal side it is still anyone s guess. One of the big programs that is front and center is the SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization process. The ninth extension expires the end of June and there are several options that can occur: pass the bill, not pass the bill or extend it for the tenth time or the system shuts down. Amy stated that it s coming down to politics and two big issues: streamlining environmental regulations and the Keystone Pipeline. This is where it is coming down to. We will know by midnight tonight if they come up with a deal. The best guess right now is a tenth extension. 4

5 With regard to the Workforce Investment Improvement Act there hasn t been much movement since the last Executive Committee meeting. Through PA Partners, the Education and the Workforce Committee the Congressman is on had asked that workforce partners across Pennsylvania be part of the process to provide input into both the positive and negative aspects of the bill. The bill has not gotten into the throws of the conference process yet and there may not be any movement on this until after the election. Susie Snelick met with Congressman Glenn Thompson at the end of May. She said the Congressman is very much engaged and wants to see something happen reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act. There are still opportunities to dialogue across the state. The Congressman had a conference call as a follow-up to their May meeting with the WIB Directors across the state; and as Susie was on vacation, Pam Streich sat in on that call. They discussed the bill and are looking for feedback. He is very open and very much engaged himself in the process. Susie briefly spoke on a meeting which was held on Tuesday. It was a follow-up meeting to the Youth Symposium held on March 28. The idea of this initiative is to connect business and industry with education. There is a lot of interest among our schools to better prepare the youth for opportunities and there has always been an interest from our employers that students understand the opportunities locally. Seventy people participated in the follow-up event which was held in the Teleconference Room. At the event in March the focus was on the employers and how they would like to engage with schools. There were several presentations at that event regarding a toolkit on how businesses can better engage with schools, information on the Career and Work Standards and a presentation on the report Pathways to Prosperity. The follow-up meeting held yesterday was to provide an opportunity to hear from our schools and to better understand the challenges and barriers they deal with every day and how we can assist them in the work they have to do. The discussion was about what is the opportunity to bring employers into classrooms, to bring students in to do job-shadowing, to provide more Educator in the Workplace programs and also even to the detail of employers providing input into curriculum. There were a lot of good examples of things that are already happening so we want to capitalize on those so we can borrow from each other. One big takeaway from yesterday is we are going to pursue a website and it is going to be a place where business and industry can connect with education, where our agencies can participate. Right now we have a paper document that is about 37 pages long where we have reached out to employers across the six counties and have asked them, Are you willing to go into go into schools? Are you willing to do tours? The employer indicated who would be willing to participate and what they would be willing to participate in. We are looking at taking this and making this electronic. If Clearfield School District wants to bring a manufacturer into one of their classrooms they will be able to go online, look for employers in whatever category and be able to contact them directly. We want to make these opportunities available to everyone. 5

6 It is exciting because there is so much interest and we want to make sure we meet all their expectations. Evaluations were done on the meeting; however, Susie hasn t had a chance to see them yet. Comments from these evaluations will be taken into consideration for the next step to be taken. Doug asked if school board members attend these meetings. Susie stated at the March meeting there were several people who were representing industry as well as being a school board member and they recognize the need to get these people involved. Part of the next step will be how do we reach out to school boards. Part of the conversation at the meeting was the recognition that the students are very bright and they can do a lot of things. What seems to be missing is the link between the curriculum and the application. Dan Freeburg asked if Junior Achievement, which North Central is involved in, has been part of the discussion or not. Susie said this has been part of the discussion and the Youth Council passed a resolution at their last meeting that they would recognize Junior Achievement as one solution to this school initiative and do what we can to make sure it s available in the schools. Eric reported that in regards to North Central s Vision Plan, Highmark has given us a rate hold, just as they did on our Hospitalization. Eric asked Julie Kasmierski, WIC Director, to report on an audit review that was recently held. Julie reported that the WIC Program was recently evaluated by the Pennsylvania State WIC Agency. State Agency Staff visited our DuBois clinic site and conducted an on-site evaluation of the over-all operations of our program. Administrative files at the main office were evaluated, which included assessment of our Civil Rights File, Exposure Control Plan, Drug Free Workplace Policy, WIC Federal Regulations, and Internal Monitoring Files. The clinic operations review included observation of staffclient interaction, assessment of client certification process, processing standards, dietary assessments, hematological testing, gathering of anthropometric data, nutrition education, food delivery system, breastfeeding promotion, guided goal setting, and Value Enhanced Nutrition Assessment (VENA). The State Agency Staff were impressed by the teamwork that exists among clinic staff. The State Agency WIC Director expressed her appreciation to the North Central WIC Staff for our outstanding work ethic, professionalism and the assistance extended to the State Agency reviewers during the onsite visit. Julie commended her staff or exceeding the standards set forth by the State WIC Agency. Also Julie stated that every June at the State Meeting in Harrisburg, they give out awards and Bonnie Kelly, Retail Store Coordinator, received an award for her excellence in what she does within her position as Retail Store Coordinator. Out of 24 local agencies this is a great accomplishment for us. 6

7 Because of our performance in the Peer Counseling Program we received some additional funding. We are putting together a plan to expand staff capacity. We hope to bring on two additional part-time counselors targeting Potter and Clearfield Counties to help address some of the additional demands that we have in those two areas. The resources are available and we will go through our process to find this additional staff. The Peer Counselors are part-time but they have to be accessible 24/7 by cell phones, texting, whatever means, to provide support. EXECUTIVE SESSION Chairman Morley called for an Executive Session regarding personnel issues. Mark McCracken moved to accept the motion to go into Executive Session, seconded by Bill Bogart. The Executive Session began at 10:25 AM. The meeting reconvened at 10:47 AM. No action was taken during the Executive Session. ADJOURN **The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held on Wednesday, July 25, at 9:30 AM, followed by the Board of Directors Meeting beginning at 11:00 in the Teleconference Room. With no additional items to be discussed, Mark McCracken moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Jim Thomas. Motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 10:48 AM. Respectfully submitted, June H. Sorg Secretary/Treasurer ** This is a reminder that only the Executive Committee Meeting will be held. The Full Board Meeting has been changed until Wednesday, August 22,