City, OTC end workforce merger talks

A plan to potentially join the city’s workforce development division with Ozarks Technical Community College’s Center for Workforce Development has been dismissed by administrators of the local Workforce Investment Board.

In September, Springfield City Manager Greg Burris proposed transferring the city’s Department of Workforce Development to OTC, but Missouri Career Center interim Director John Piney said the local WIB board scuttled the idea with a vote against the proposal at an October meeting. Piney said the board decided the move would compromise the roughly $4 million in funding the department receives through the city.

“The issue that raised red flags with everybody is that if you are the physical agent for receiving the funding, you cannot turn around and be a training entity for that funding,” Piney said.

He said the city’s Finance Department receives state funding, which is managed by city department employees at the Missouri Career Center.