Workforce
Development Board of Oswego County
Wednesday,
April 23, 2008
‘The Business Development Committee shall identify and
monitor the business services to be provided through the system, oversee public
relations about business services, convene focus groups and community
roundtables for identifying future workforce needs as related to economic
development, identify available funding and assist in grant writing for
employer training needs, and produce the State of the Workforce Report.’
Present: Mike Treadwell, Bruce Phelps, Wagner Dotto, Joe
Fiumara, Eric Behling Staff: Nancy
Bellow, Nick Della Penna
Mike Treadwell called the meeting to order.
1) Approval of the January 17, 2008 minutes
Eric Behling moved to approve the minutes. Bruce Phelps seconded. The minutes were approved.
2) Training Update- Nick Della Penna
Nick updated the committee on the training activities supported by the system. We ran two new customized training programs with Novelis in Quarter 3. A total of 25 employees were trained in Hydraulics and Machinery Lubrication. We have invested over $225,000 in On-the-Job Training (OJT) contracts. The largest contracts are Birds Eye Foods (12 trainees), Interface Solutions (11), Novelis (19), and the Riverview Business Park (9).
The Fulton One-Stop Center hosted on-site recruitments for Matirx in January and for Novelis, Huhtamaki and NorthEast Biofuels in March. Over 180 interviews were conducted for NorthEast Biofuels.
Funding for training appears to be adequate to cover our needs for the current program year because of the $700,000 we received in incentive money from NYSDOL. This money runs out in December, which should enable us to cover our needs through the next program year, as well. Nancy indicated we will be receiving a cut of about 20% for the next program year.
3)
Business Services Team Update- Nick Della Penna
Nick presented the
Business Services Report for the quarter ending March 31, 2008. We have made some revisions to the
information displayed in the report due to some of the difficulties we have
experienced some of the information.
The “Profiled” row has been replaced with “New OSOS Employer
Registrations”. We have added “Business
Contacts/Activities” and eliminated “Repeat Business”, “Total Job Orders
Filled”, Labor Market Information” and “Referred: Other Agency Services”.
We continue to
have a lot of activity dealing with the Manufacturing sector. We have had an increase in Energy due to our
work with NorthEast Biofuels. Mike
Treadwell mentioned that NAICS classifies Biofuels as manufacturing, but we
will leave it in energy for now. Wagner
Dotto suggested that we work through the Chambers of Commerce to increase our
contacts in Hospitality.
CNYAHEC, 1199
union representatives and One-Stop staff continue to work with employees of
A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital. The One-Stop
Center has issued a RFP to offer Customized and Incumbent Worker training to
area businesses. An informational
session has been scheduled for May 1, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. at the Center.
4) Business
Customer Satisfaction Survey – Nick Della Penna
Surveys results
for the December quarter were reviewed.
Five businesses responded from the 16 surveys sent out. Results were very favorable. Although businesses are given the option to
respond electronically, most continue to respond via hard copy. Nick asked Chris Weaver to see if they can
make the electronic method easier to fill out.
5) Grant Update- Nick Della Penna
Sharon Chevrolet’s application for an Advance NY grant was rejected by NYSDOL. One-Stop staff has contacted them about utilizing WIA funds for some of their training needs. NYSDOL will be issuing new grants to replace the Advance NY program. No dates have been announced.
6) Strategic Plan- Nancy Bellow
Nancy updated the committee on the Strategic
Planning implementation. The Career
Ladder Map website went live on March 3.
We will be presenting at the Superintendent’s monthly meeting on May
7. We are working with other workforce
areas to regionalize our existing maps.
The MDA has the administrative lead on NYSDOL
$200,000 grant received for our area for an Intern Initiative. We applied for a NRC grant in March to
support the development of a nuclear track in Physics at SUNY Oswego. We also applied for a High Growth Job
Training Initiative grant from USDOL to support the training of energy workers
and energy construction trades.
7) Next Meeting Date- August 13, 2008