CCSN back-to-work program canceled

Jennifer Knight

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2001 | 9:35 a.m.

A federally sponsored program at the Community College of Southern Nevada intended to help unemployed people get back to work has been canceled, the result of a state report stating that too much money was spent on staffing and other administrative costs.

The report was delivered to the college in June and obtained by the Sun on Tuesday. In July the college laid off eight employees associated with the Work Force Investment Act Adult/Dislocated Worker program, and the remaining four employees will be laid off by the end of this month.

CCSN President Ron Remington said that because of the unfavorable report, college officials have decided to not reapply for the grant to fund the program.

"CCSN continues to not meet its contractual performance goals." says the report, written by the Southern Nevada Work Force Investment Board, a state agency that acts as a steward for the federal grant money.

CCSN spent 83 percent of the $1.3 million obtained through the grant program on administrative expenses, according to the report.

In addition, the report said, the college met less than 35 percent to 40 percent of its enrollment goals. The report also stated that the program, which offers retraining for laid-off workers, failed to reach out to adults in rural areas, provided poor training services and duplicated some services already offered elsewhere at the college.

"We had a meeting and we looked at our performance and we looked at our partnerships, and several of our responsibilities didn't seem to meet up to standard," Remington said.

CCSN responded to the report by reducing the work force development staff by eight in July from a total of 12 and pointing out that rural outreach has been handled through an Internet job site.

Norma Bucelato, CCSN's interim executive director of resource development, said college administrators do not agree with many of the reports' findings.

CCSN officials, however, do admit the grant program fell short in a number of areas, although the biggest problem was that more money was spent to support the operation than was actually necessary.

"I think the college just got ahead of its geese, and I think they were trying to do things that we were not equipped to do," Remington said.

Clients of the work force development center can get job training services despite the program's demise, said Patty Charlton, CCSN'S associate vice president of finance and administration.

"We will still continue to offer many of the services that we have been (under the work force grant)," Charlton said. "It will just be handled through other departments."

CCSN has been the subject of several unfavorable university system audits in the past in connection with former President Richard Moore, who is now heading the Nevada State College at Henderson.

The audits were part of the reason the Legislature asked state college administrators to take a detailed look at the way their organizations are structured.

Remington said that CCSN is undergoing such an effort. A task force composed of regents, community members and students was recently formed, and its recommendations will be presented to the 2003 Legislature. CCSN administrators are slated to meet today to review CCSN's budget and discuss the possibility of hiring a consultant to help with the restructuring effort.