Employment group criticized for falling behind on spending

In tough times, it's rare that an agency faces criticism for not spending money fast enough.

But that is exactly what happened this week to Workforce Connections, which last year received more than $18 million in federal funds to coordinate local training and employment programs.

Several board members blasted the agency at a Tuesday meeting for falling behind on spending millions of dollars meant for programs to help young people prepare to enter the workforce.

"These young people are hurting all over the valley," Clark County Commissioner and board member Lawrence Weekly said. "This is ridiculous."

At issue was more than
$5 million in funding from 2010 and 2011 the agency had yet to spend on programs for young people up to 24 years of age.

Complicating matters is that Workforce Connections is set to soon receive its 2012 allocation of funds, too, millions of which will be earmarked for youth programs.

"That's money that's not obligated, not moving anywhere," said Dennis Perea, deputy director of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, which passes along federal Workforce Investment funds to Workforce Connections. Meanwhile, "we've got high-risk and other youth that need help now."

Workforce Connections risks losing funds that aren't spent within two years.

Any 2010 funding "would basically age out at the two-year mark on June 30," Perea said. "The state could pull back those funds and reallocate the money."

The funding pays for job readiness training and other programs, including the agency's Ready for Life initiative that works to help at-risk teens graduate from high school.

Ardell Galbreth, deputy director of operations for Workforce Connections, acknowledged the lag and said problems are being addressed.

"A good planner would have expended at least 50 to 60 percent" of the more than $3.2 million in 2011 funds within a year, he said. "We have not expended any of those funds."

He blamed the agency's "program design" for the delays. That design included holding a good chunk of the funds in reserve instead of spending it.

"It was not conducive to rolling out the money sooner," Galbreth said.

The agency has changed the way it manages the money and developed a plan to spend 2011 and 2012 funds in a timely manner, he said.

The nearly $2 million in combination 2010-2011 funds have been allocated and will be spent on youth programming by June 30, he said.

"That money certainly should have been expended by now."

Ken LoBene, a board member who is chairman of Workforce Connection's youth council, said the agency has struggled to spend what is allocated while holding enough funds in reserve to make sure "no kids get dropped from the program."

"We can't just get to the end of one fiscal year and say, 'We have no more money,' and drop them," he said. "It's a balancing act trying to make all this work."

LoBene, who also is director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Las Vegas field office, said the agency has new software that will help address spending problems earlier in the future.

Weekly was not so confident. He also said communication between agency staff and the board has been poor in the past.

"They tell the board what they want the board to hear," he said. "That's going to change."

North Las Vegas Councilwoman Anita Wood, who also serves on the board, said Workforce staffers on Thursday showed her a spending plan to catch the agency up.

"They're finally getting a handle on it," she said, adding that the agency's accounting department recently underwent a major personnel overhaul.

Elected officials who serve on Workforce Connection's board, including Wood and Weekly, are working to choose an interim executive director to replace John Ball, whose last day was Friday.

Ball had reached the end of a five-year employment period and decided to move on, Wood said.

There also has been talk of merging Workforce Connections in Southern Nevada and Nevadaworks in Northern Nevada, which oversee the federal funds, to save on administrative costs. The idea is unpopular with some board members, including Wood and Weekly, who want to maintain local oversight.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at
lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.