Council hears plan to combine two city departments 

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At its meeting last night, Springfield City Council heard a proposal that officials say would streamline operations and cut expenses by combining its departments of Workforce Development and Economic Vitality. 

The plan, to be voted on at the June 24 meeting, would create a Department of Economic Vitality & Workforce Development, whose single director would head three divisions: Community & Economic Development, Workforce Development and Grant Management. 

Amanda Ohlensehlen, the city’s director of Economic Vitality, said the two departments work closely together and have several overlapping granting agencies. Ohlensehlen is in line to head the combined department. 

“This was really an opportunity to try to determine creative solutions to realize cost savings, operational efficiencies, reduce administrative redundancies so we could really build up capacity to maximize the impacts of the programs and solutions that we offer to the community,” she said. 

She noted that the benefits to the city would be lasting. 

“By combining these efforts, we will have a robust cost-saving framework over time for sustainable solutions for the city that ultimately will result in general fund cost savings as well as increased programmatic solutions,” she said. 

Ohlensehlen said the combined department looks at how the labor market aligns with the city’s economic development goals. 

“As we think about that intersection between workforce development and economic vitality, we want to make sure that we are understanding what the needs are of the community to know what type of training is needed,” she said. “As we increase jobs, we’re able to have individuals that are trained and educated and skilled in the diverse industry sectors that are represented throughout the region.” 

Grant division 
Ohlensehlen noted the combined department’s new grant division offers something new, as the city does not currently have a separate division for grant management. 

She noted that the division would give the city a competitive advantage in grant-seeking. 

“The more proactive we can be to learn about those opportunities and be in contact with our federal agency partners, the more likely we are to be competitive and make a strong appeal on our grant applications,” she said. 

Ohlensehlen said that combined, the departments currently manage nearly $30 million in grants from various federal agencies. These include the Department of Commerce, with a Good Jobs Challenge Grant of $17.5 million; the Environmental Protection Agency, with brownfields-related grants and loans of $4.4 million; the Department of Labor, with an APPLIE Pathway Home 2 grant and Apprenticeship Building America grant of $3 million each; and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with a Community Development Block Grant portfolio of $9.3 million. 

New building 
The combined department would be housed in a building council cleared the way for earlier in the meeting with approval of $4.4 million in funds to be used for its purchase and renovation.  

The building the city plans to purchase is located near City Government Plaza, but the address has not been announced. Cora Scott, the city’s director of public information and civic engagement, told Springfield Business Journal the closing on the purchase is anticipated June 26. 

Communication issues regarding its planned purchase led to a fracture between the city and the seven-county Ozark Region Workforce Development Board that resulted in the city’s removal as the board’s fiscal agent in a June 7 vote. 

Council approved the issuance of $26 million in special obligation improvement bonds at the meeting yesterday to fund improvements to the Springfield Art Museum, the renovation of the Historic City Hall and the acquisition and renovation of the workforce development operations building. It also reallocated $4.4 million in fiscal 2023 budget carryover from the Historic City Hall renovation to the workforce development building purchase and renovation. 

Councilmember Brandon Jenson raised a concern about whether the city would have any trouble with debt service payments on the new workforce building if partner agencies depart. 

City Manager Jason Gage said the action taken on behalf of the Workforce Development Board applies only to the fiscal agent role. He noted lease payments associated with the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act, administered by the Workforce Development Board, amount to about $250,000. If agencies were to depart shared building space, the city would have to seek other grants or be more aggressive in renting out additional space. 

“As you might expect, we always have that in the back of our minds – the what-ifs and the future, always trying to make sure we have a plan in front of that,” Gage said.