Agency may have to repay some funding
The board of county commissioners that oversees the Southwest Corner Workforce Investment Board is waiting to see how much money questioned in a state review of a nonprofit job training agency may have to be paid back.
Last month, in an eight-page letter, the state Department of Labor & Industry released preliminary findings questioning $1.13 million in spending during the past four years by the Washington-Greene County Job Training Agency, which also is the fiscal agent for the Southwest Corner Workforce Investment Board.
The bulk of the amount in question focused on $981,200 in costs L&I said were allocated for executive salaries and expensed to various WGCJTA programs it said were “not based on relative benefit to the funding streams overseen by the Southwest Corner Investment Board.”
The review found the amount in question was primarily used to cover salaries for former director David Suski, who left the agency in June, and current director Linda Bell, as well as for some portions of salaries of other staffers.
The amounts questioned by L&I in its review raised some possible violations of the federal Workforce Investment Act.
The review requested explanations and documentation from the job training agency, with the response to be used to reach final findings.
An initial response to the state investigation is due Monday. The job training agency is working on the report.
As the fiscal agent for the Southwest Corner Workforce Investment Board, WGCJTA is responsible for funneling state, federal and local grant money for various job programs.
The WIB reports to a nine-member panel of county commissioners termed Chief Local Elected Officials, or CLEO, from the three participating counties.
Washington County Commission chairman Larry Maggi, who chairs the nine-member CLEO, said Wednesday his board’s understanding is the amount questioned in the review of WGCJTA “could be reduced substantially” depending upon the documentation the agency submits to the state. He acknowledged at Monday’s meeting of CLEO representatives, board solicitor Will White expressed concern over how much might ultimately be owed to the state.
“They are responding to that, and we’ll see what happens,” Maggi said of the job training agency’s work to provide explanations to L&I’s questions.
WGCJTA is a nonprofit agency that is not part of any of the county governments in its service area.
Maggi explained while the job training agency has a contract with the CLEO to be the fiscal agent for the Southwest Corner WIB, it doesn’t go any further than that.
“We don’t hire, fire or supervise anyone there,” Maggi said. “We can’t order them or say, ‘Get that done now.'”
WGCJTA helps residents at all income levels in Washington, Greene and Beaver counties through a variety of programs, including those re-entering the workforce, veterans, those who recently lost a job as well as others who are starting their own businesses.