02/08/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

In response to a question from Mr. Lieuallen regarding statements on page 3, Mr. Long said 11-3 spoke to how the 8,100 new jobs had been generated. He said if the City has 8,100 new jobs in an economy con- taining 100,000 jobs, it should be noted that in-migration may be a ... prime contributor to the rate of unemployment. .., Regarding the distribution of funds between Titles I and III, Mr. Long said there were some specific monies to focus on offenders and handi- capped. The allocations are provided through the Department of Labor and are set by federal regulations and guidelines. It was noted that youth aged 14-2l are eligible for the youth programs. However, Mr. Long said there was some local discretion to focus on certain local problems, and added this was one reason why the City should be more actively involved. He noted Titles II and VI were funds for jobs for individual persons and services in public nonprofit services. Mr. Delay questioned the disproportionate amount per participant as shown on page 5 between monies in Title I and Title II and VI. Mr. Long explained Title I is a program where the staff is working with structurally unemployed and there is more extensive involvement with any given client. However, Titles II and VI are pass-through money wherein staff is much less involved because of the nature of the program. He noted in the City, there are 150 CETA employees with only three staff supervising. Ed Whitelaw, ECO, indicated it would be accurate to say it is not really known where those funds are going or how to measure the benefits accruing to the clients. He said for that reason, the interim arrangement would be a stop-gap measure to give the City and County a chance to bring the programs up to a level and make proper identification for future use of funds. He said the problem has to be clarified in terms of whether the unemployment problem ~ is more largely affected by in-migration or whether it is largely due to .., the chronically unemployed who would need compensatory help. Mayor Keller felt the key to the whole program was to know what was going on and it seemed the City simply did not have the information. He felt it certainly responsive and appropriate to adopt the staff recommen- dations in order to find out where the City is headed. Ms. Smith noted the City had been trying to be cooperative with Lan~ County, but the program had grown rapidly and the County simply did not have a handle on what was happening. However, the acting director of CETA is taking a reorganizational plan to the County Commissioners on Tuesday and she felt it woul d be most appropri ate for Council to take acti on today to make its wishes known. In response to a question from Mr. Obie regarding the historical trend, Mr. Long said the program was started in 1974 with Titles I and II being the basic components, at which time the City had 30-40 participants. The City now has 150 partipants. In regard to the future of the CETA program, Mr. Long said there probably would be il two to threefold increase in the next five years. The money comes to tile cities on the basis of a formula of unemployment and relative poverty level, noting that the formula may impact the City differently because of problems or health of the economy. 2/8/78--8 - 80