Board revises investment rules
Commissioners from three counties signed documents Monday related to the ways in which workforce investments are handled in Washington, Greene and Beaver counties.
Their signatures wrapped up more than a year of changes for the nine-person board known as Chief Local Elected Officials, which works with the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board and the CLEO’s fiscal agent, Washington Greene County Job Training Agency to determine workforce training needs in the area.
The CLEO board oversees the WIB, making sure WGCJTA, a nonprofit entity, operates in accordance with the law and appoints members of the WIB.
The CLEO board also approves the annual budget for WIB operations.
The agreements signed Monday updated administrative actions suggested by Butler County attorney Will White, who was hired as solicitor for the CLEO board in 2014 during a state investigation questioning $1.13 million in expenditures over the previous four years of WGCJTA’s operations.
In July, the state Department of Labor & Industry later found that WGCJTA will have to repay the state $168,437, or about 15 percent of the total amount that L&I questioned in its preliminary findings in January.
The audit found most of that amount, over a four-year period, was used to cover salaries for two presidents – David Suski, who left in June 2014, and his successor, Linda Bell, who retired in March – and other staffers.
When L&I revealed its investigation into the funding discrepancies, the board contended that while it was tasked with overseeing the activities of the WIB and its fiscal agent, WGJCTA, it didn’t control hiring or firing or other operations at the agency.
But when it hired White, he noted that the agreement with the WIB had not been updated since 1999.
The newly signed documents names WGCJTA, which is now headed by Ami Gatts, as the fiscal agent and financial administrator for administering and monitoring all grant funds award to the CLEO board, the WDB and the Southwest Corner Workforce Investment Area.
It also charges the fiscal agent for maintaining adequate systems of internal control over cash, to be responsible for maintaining all records and data, and to submit accurate and timely financial status reports.
Under a separate document known as the CLEO Agreement, commissioners acknowledge that the board is liable for any misuse of the grant funds allocated to the local area.
“With these documents being executed, you are completely compliant,” White said.
Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman noted that the process the board went through over the past year alerted other CLEOs in Pennsylvania that they need to look more closely at their agreements.
“This has made us a poster child for CLEOs across the state,” Zimmerman said.
During Monday’s meeting, the board adjourned for a brief executive session to discuss litigation. When it reconvened, it took no additional action.