REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Renew Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement: Workforce Development Services for NOVA Consortium to Include San Mateo County
Report
BACKGROUND
The North Valley (NOVA) Job Training Consortium was formed in 1983 with the passage of the federal Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Over the years, the NOVA consortium has evolved from a six-city consortium comprised of the cities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale to a seven-city consortium when the Council approved the city of Milpitas' request to join the consortium in 2000, as part of the transition from JTPA to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). For more than thirty years, the Council has served as the Chief Local Elected Official (CLEO) for the NOVA consortium and represents the seven cities through a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JPA).
In 2014, Congress passed the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that replaces WIA as the new governing legislation for the local workforce investment system. This new law takes effect July 1, 2015. With the transition from WIA to WIOA, the governance agreements for the NOVA consortium will need to be renewed. At the February 10, 2015 Council meeting, Council took the following actions in anticipation of the transition from WIA to WIOA:
• Agreed to remain the CLEO on behalf of the NOVA consortium, with the City assuming financial liability for the program and functioning as the administrative entity for NOVA's services;
• Reaffirmed the NOVA Workforce Board as the governing board for NOVA and approve the revised Agreement on the Roles and Responsibilities Between the NOVA Workforce Board and the Sunnyvale City Council
EXISTING POLICY
Council Policy Manual 5.1.1: Socio-Economic - Goals and Policies: Education and Training Goal 5.1F: Provide job training and employment services, within constraints of operative Federal regulations and available Federal funding, to address the locally-determined employment and training needs of economically disadvantaged residents and others with special needs.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
N/A
DISCUSSION
Section 6502, et. seq. of the Government Code of the State of California authorizes public agencies to enter into agreements for the purpose of jointly exercising any power common to the public agencies. The JPA for the NOVA consortium specifies the general areas of agreement for how the consortium's seven cities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale will work together. The current JPA, under WIA, stipulates the NOVA consortium will oversee, plan, develop and monitor a comprehensive one-stop service-delivery system that will offer job training and employment services to customers seeking to further their careers. These customers may be economically disadvantaged, unemployed or underemployed workers, within this jurisdiction. The Council, as the CLEO, is granted the authority to act on behalf of the NOVA consortium to carry out the requirements of this JPA. The City assumes all financial liability for the NOVA consortium program and operates as the administrative entity for NOVA's services.
In most regards, the attached revised JPA agreement, under WIOA, represents no change. It simply incorporates the new WIOA terminology and includes many of the same arrangements as the current agreement.
The one significant change being proposed is the addition of San Mateo County to the NOVA consortium membership. The addition of San Mateo County to the consortium comes at the request of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
NOVA and the San Mateo County Workforce Board have collaborated on a number of initiatives over the years and share many common characteristics in labor force, industry mix and workforce needs. This past year, the partnership has evolved even further with NOVA managing San Mateo County's WIA operations. At the September 30, 2014 Council meeting, the Council authorized NOVA to accept a $651,000 contract with the County of San Mateo to administer WIA operations in San Mateo County through June 30, 2015 that included: programmatic and fiscal monitoring; oversight functions of all five service provider contractors including two one-stop center operators and three youth program providers; Rapid Response functions; and regional and community collaboration with San Mateo County stakeholders. This new contract was in response to the County's decision to outsource the administration and provision of its WIA services and asking NOVA, given its previous partnerships with the County and reputation for excellence, to manage these operations through June 30, 2015.
Following the conclusion of this current contract, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, at its January 27, 2015 meeting, voted unanimously to relinquish its right to be designated its own workforce investment area and asked to join the NOVA consortium, effective July 1, 2015. The minutes of that meeting are included as Attachment 2 to this report.
At the January 28, 2015 NOVA Workforce Board meeting, the Board approved a recommendation to the City Council to increase the membership of the NOVA consortium to include San Mateo County.
FISCAL IMPACT
Since funds are obligated to programs only based upon appropriations dedicated to NOVA, sufficient funds will exist to cover all anticipated obligations of day-to-day operations.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Senior Center, Community Center and Department of Public Safety; and by making the agenda and report available at the Sunnyvale Public Library, the Office of the City Clerk and on the City's website.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Approve the revised Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement; Workforce Development Services for the NOVA consortium to include the addition of San Mateo County.
Staff believes the addition of San Mateo County to the NOVA consortium would be beneficial for many reasons, including:
• WIOA will require regional planning and collaboration among local workforce boards. As an expanded workforce system, NOVA will be better positioned for the growing trend in regionalism and the new provisions under WIOA;
• NOVA will be more competitive for future state and national grants;
• NOVA can offer exceptional workforce services to a greater number of San Mateo County residents and employers through its integrated service-delivery model, without compromising the services that NOVA continues to provide to its current customers;
• NOVA will achieve greater efficiencies in management and administrative functions through economies of scale;
• The NOVA Workforce Board is a nationally recognized leader in innovation and performance that can add value to the workforce services delivered in the region; and
• NOVA has always maintained positive and productive working relationships with community partners and employers and this tradition will continue with key stakeholders in San Mateo County.
Staff
Prepared by: Eileen Stanly, Analyst, NOVA Workforce Services
Reviewed by: Stephen Quick, Manager of Business Operations, NOVA Workforce Services
Reviewed by: Robert A. Walker, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement; Workforce Development Services
2. Minutes from San Mateo County Board of Supervisors 1/27/15 Meeting