Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Economic stimulus:

Lot of talk, little action frustrates

Setting goals, mission can wait, some jobs board members say

Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board

Leila Navidi

Anthony Snowden of Las Vegas addresses the strategic planning session of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board. He urged the board to talk less and do more. “We need to make sure we’re doing what we can to get jobs on the street. Training for training’s sake does very little … we need jobs.”

Click to enlarge photo

Board member Dana Wiggins, labor relations director of the Associated General Contractors of Las Vegas, speaks at Thursday's meeting at Texas Station.

Click to enlarge photo

Board member Lawrence Weekly left in the middle of Thursday's meeting because he said he didn't think enough was being accomplished.

At a meeting to talk about the present and future of an agency that gets millions to help people find jobs, some board members got ticked off about all the talk going on.

It was the third and final gathering to determine the vision, mission, goals, strategies and outcomes of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, a little-known agency that expects its budget to more than double because of the recently passed economic stimulus package.

When several members of the board of directors started to raise their voices about the need to do more and jaw less on Thursday, we got a preview of a dynamic that may soon become commonplace as the stimulus package’s dollars begin trickling down to the Las Vegas Valley.

Do we rush into spending to try and stop the economic hemorrhaging in dozens of neighborhoods struggling under the weight of joblessness and foreclosures? Or do we strategize first?

The meeting was the conclusion of the board’s first strategic planning in five years. The organization trains people for jobs and helps employers and employees find each other.

The plate is full — the board got 30 percent more funding in July than the year before, bringing its budget to $8 million, and Executive Director John Ball said before the meeting that he estimates the stimulus package will add about $10 million.

The Las Vegas Valley received the allocation for good reason. Southern Nevada’s unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in 25 years and is approaching double-digits.

And so, according to Ball, who paid a consultant $30,000-plus to guide meetings during the past six months, planning is vital if that money is to be spent wisely.

But at Thursday’s meeting, a few on the board lost it somewhere between, “Should we change our name?” and “What are our goals?”

“I wonder if we’re not worrying too much about words, and spending too much time in meetings,” said board member Dana Wiggins, labor relations director of the Associated General Contractors of Las Vegas.

Minutes later, he wondered aloud, “What has this meeting done for people out there who need jobs?”

Board Chairman Mujahid Ramadan, owner of a North Las Vegas community relations and consulting agency, countered: “We have to have this in place to be able to do the work.”

Then Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly jumped in. “Look, I talk to you about these things every day,” he began, looking across the Texas Station conference room at Ramadan. “We have to keep it real when we’re here too.”

The meeting soon resembled a tag team wrestling match: Wiggins and Weekly vs. Ramadan and Ball.

Wiggins: “Look, there’s a lot of young people out there who could get in line over there for a sandwich.” He motioned to the buffet where board members had loaded up plates minutes earlier.

Weekly: “Those of us who are bureaucrats in this room ... are just getting ready to get ready.”

“Let’s worry about what we call it 10 years from now,” Wiggins added, the crescendo drawing close.

Ball joined the fray, reminding the 18 board members of some recent history, before he took over the organization in early 2007: years of bad bookkeeping, millions misplaced in sloppy files, nearly $100,000 overpaid in local grants.

“Part of the reason this organization got off track is that we didn’t do this work,” Ball said. “In the absence of planning, we have ad hoc grants ... Plan your work so you can work your plan.”

Weekly said he agrees with the need for planning, but still thinks things are moving too slowly. Finally, a little over an hour into the meeting, the commissioner grabbed his backpack and left.

Outside the room, he said his impatience was due, in part, to the reality he sees daily in his West Las Vegas ward, where people need not only jobs, but food.

“It’s so bureaucratic,” he said, referring to the board. He wondered whether most of the people making decisions about spending millions in federal funding might be disconnected from the people who most need help.

Back at the conference room, Ramadan said he understood Weekly’s point of view. “He’s bombarded with this on a daily basis,” he said.

After Weekly left, the group’s vision, mission and so on were set to paper and approved by a vote. Those goals include creating dozens of partnerships with private and public organizations to develop more jobs, and training people to obtain those jobs.

Ball said those partnerships include local hospitals, which need nurses, and colleges and universities, which can train those nurses, as well as municipal planning agencies, which can inform the board of deals coming down the road — such as the recent announcement that Telus, a telemarketing company, will be coming to Las Vegas. Ball said his organization is in conversations with Telus to help ensure trained workers are available to the company.

But Ball reminded that the board’s mission, as defined in Thursday’s meeting, includes planning for the future. That means trying to train people for tomorrow’s jobs as well, he said.

“We need to help assuage the immediate crisis while at the same time positioning the regional workforce for being competitive in the global economy,” he said.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy