Workforce Development Board requests removal of city of Springfield as fiscal agent 

Last edited 11:59 a.m., June 6, 2024 [Editor's note: A developing article published June 5 has been updated with additional information.]

The Ozark Region Workforce Development Board voted Wednesday to recommend removing the city of Springfield as its fiscal agent.  

Incoming Workforce Development Board President Andrea Sitzes, who addressed Springfield City Council at its May 20 meeting about communication issues between the board and the city, confirmed the board’s recommendation. 

The Workforce Development Board held its regular meeting on June 5 and affirmed the suggestion of its task force committee, which formally recommended changing the fiscal agent at a meeting the previous week. 

The trigger for the board’s recommendation was the city of Springfield’s plan to purchase a building to relocate the Missouri Job Center and its Department of Workforce Development. The plan was made without input from the board and with little notice before the measure was presented last month to City Council, according to Sitzes. 

The morning after the board’s decision, city officials sent a news releasing announcing it would recommend to Springfield City Council a merger of two city departments, Economic Vitality and Workforce Development, to streamline operations and enhance services available to regional job seekers and employers. 

Sitzes, a vice president at Arvest Bank in Springfield, said the ultimate decision on whether to remove Springfield as fiscal agent will be made by the Council of Local Elected Officials, which comprises the presiding commissioners of the seven counties represented on the Workforce Development Board. The CLEO meeting is set for June 7. The CLEO is the decision-making body for expenditures of federal funds for the region and receives input from the board.  

The city has been performing programmatic, administrative and fiscal functions for the Ozark region since the workforce system began 50 years ago, according to city officials. 

The workforce board accepted the task force’s recommendation without discussion, Sitzes said.   

Susan Johanson, current chair of the board and a member for two decades, said communication problems with the city of Springfield have been an ongoing issue. 

“The city, they have their protocol, and certain things they are not able to divulge,” said Johanson, also a manager at Guaranty Bank. “That makes it difficult – just the fact that we can’t make any decisions or even have a discussion of something that has already been taken care of. By the time we’re notified, it’s too late for the board to make a decision on it.” 

The June 6 news release from the city noted the new location of the building for the Missouri Job Center and its Department of Workforce Development in an area near the City Government Plaza will be more convenient for members of the public. It adds that the Missouri Job Center includes partners who share in lease expenses, and City Council heard a proposal to reallocate carryover funds to assist in the building purchase at its May 20 meeting.  

The proposal will allow the city to maximize the use of tax-exempt financing, the release states. Bonds will be repaid using rental revenues provided by Workforce Development payments. 

A vote on the use of bonds for relocation is on the City Council agenda for June 10. 

The local Job Center will be locked into its lease agreement for another year if it doesn’t opt out by July 2, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.  

Johanson acknowledged that saving money is a plus to the building rental plan.  

The Missouri Job Center is funded through the Missouri Office of Workforce Development and the U.S. Department of Labor under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014.  

“We are responsible for WIOA funds,” Johanson said. “Our ultimate goal is to provide the best services for all job seekers and employers in all seven of our counties. Whenever we can’t make those decisions, it’s really difficult for us to comprehend that we’re doing the right thing.” 

Johanson said sometimes decisions are made to favor Springfield, but the board has seven counties to consider. The new location – which she said still has not been revealed to the board or the public – is seemingly good for Springfield participants, as some north-side residents have to travel two hours by bus to reach the Job Center. 

“In that realm, it makes sense,” she said. “The problem is, it’s not going to be the most convenient location for somebody that lives in the far parts of the outlying counties. It’s already difficult to make that trek to Springfield. Now, they’re going to have to navigate downtown.” 

Sitzes emphasized that the city has performed well as fiscal agent, which is the entity charged with ensuring that federal funds are spent in compliance with federal laws. She noted that a recent monitoring review of the organization, conducted by Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting, was clean. 

Sitzes said the board does not know yet which entity within the seven-county region will serve as the fiscal agent if CLEO votes to remove the city of Springfield from the role.  

City responds 
In an email, Cora Scott, director of public information and civic engagement for Springfield, provided the city’s response to the Workforce Development Board’s allegations. 

Scott said the city offers a robust array of programs to provide high-quality workforce development in collaboration with the board, the Council of Local Elected Officials and other public and private partners. 

“WIOA services comprises about 10% of what we do in the workforce space,” she said. 

Since 2021, Scott said the city has been awarded and served as the lead entity for grants exceeding $24 million: 

• Department of Commerce, U.S. Economic Development Administration, Good Jobs Challenge Grant, $17.5 million: 1,684 participants enrolled in 58 counties, including 745 from the Ozark Region
• Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, Apprenticeship Building America Grant, $3 million: 494 participants enrolled from a 10-county region
• DOLETA Pathway Home 2 Grant, $3 million: 425 participants enrolled from prisons throughout the state, all of whom were released back into the Ozark Region
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Job Training Grant, $200,000 and $500,000: 269 participants enrolled from the seven-county Ozark Region

“We are proud of our collaboration with the workforce board to deliver roughly $2 million in workforce services annually under the current public workforce system of WIOA,” Scott wrote. “And we are excited to announce plans to leverage the resources and expertise of an additional city department – the Department of Economic Development – by engaging them in an exciting partnership that both saves dollars and increases opportunities for the communities served.” 

The partnership includes plans to consolidate physical space, saving dollars while providing a much more convenient location for patrons. 

She also said it is inaccurate to claim that WIOA funds cannot be used to pay rent, as the structure to do so is approved by the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development. 

“The city of Springfield has a nearly 50-year history of providing workforce services to the Ozark region, performing programmatic, administrative and fiscal functions since the workforce system began in 1974,” she wrote. 

She added that the city’s Finance Department serves as fiscal agent for WIOA programming, and that department consistently receives national attention for its service, including its capacity to administer over $160 million in federal grant awards extending beyond the past 20 years. 

The city maintains stringent financial controls and procedures, Scott noted, and its annual audits result in comprehensive, publicly accessible financial and compliance reports. 

Communication issues 
At the May 20 Springfield City Council meeting, Sitzes said her board had learned only through an email six days before that the city intended to change the location of the Missouri Job Center by purchasing space downtown. Springfield’s Department of Workforce Development currently operates out of the same building as the Missouri Job Center at 2900 E. Sunshine St.  

The city of Springfield, through Interim Director of Workforce Development Ericka Schmeeckle, on June 5 sent a letter to the CLEO members, including its chair, Greene County Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon, and maintained that as leaseholder of the Springfield office of the Missouri Job Center, the city is empowered to make decisions about its location. SBJ obtained a copy of the letter from one of its emailed recipients.  

The city’s letter suggests editing the administrative agreement to include a desired clear communication guideline on related matters.  

“We hope to move forward showing the board and CLEO members, Workforce Development staff members, and the region a united front committed to serving our job seekers and employers,” the letter states.  

In an interview after the Workforce Development Board’s decision, Sitzes said the board wants more advance communication and involvement in decision-making.  

“Whether it is the agreement itself or just that collaborative piece, we don’t want to be the last ones to know about something,” she said.  

The seven counties that make up the Ozark Region are Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk, Stone, Taney and Webster. The region operates Missouri Job Center locations in Springfield and Branson.  

Sitzes said the board will continue to provide services without interruption in Springfield, regardless of the board’s recommendation and CLEO’s ultimate decision.  

The board held a retreat in November to assess areas where it could improve. It formed its task force in response to the retreat.  

A decision to relocate the Missouri Job Center office within Springfield should be part of a measured approach to improvement, according to Sitzes.  

 “It’s not whether we’re in favor or whether we’re not in favor; it’s all about being part of that decision,” she said.