Job Training Program Granted Authority to Scale Back Work Force

Despite protests from the employees union, Ventura County supervisors agreed Tuesday that some workers can be let go as part of a reorganization of the county’s Workforce Development Division.

After the board’s action, Barry Hammitt, president of the employees union, said his organization is considering filing a lawsuit against the county to prevent layoffs. Some workers are expected to be out the door by the end of the week.

Human Resources Director Ron Komers, who oversees the Workforce Development Division, said a lawsuit would not affect changes planned for the job training program.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “We’re committed to making decisions and moving forward with the reorganization.”

The board voted 4 to 1 Tuesday to give Komers the authority to restructure the division and to lay off as many workers as he deems necessary. Last week, 35 workers received notices that they may be laid off as early as this Friday.

But Komers said he has not decided how many people would be let go. He said he hoped to have a number by today.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Hammitt called on supervisors to halt the impending layoffs. He said Komers had no legal right to fire the employees and that an independent investigator should be appointed to look into the operations of the Workforce Development Division.

“We would hope that your board would instruct Mr. Komers to cease and desist from his purported downsizing and to have that stay in effect until grievances over the violation of employees’ rights can be resolved,” he said.

Joe Flores, an employee threatened with losing his job, also asked the supervisors to investigate Komers’ oversight of the division and his evaluation of individual employees.

“We’re not having our rights taken into consideration,” Flores said. “This looks like a betrayal to us.”

But the board ignored the pleas, saying that Komers must be given as much flexibility as he needs to make the job training program as efficient as possible. They said the primary purpose of the reorganization is to more closely link job training with the county’s welfare reform proposals.

“Whenever you have changes like what we’re looking at now it upsets people,” said Supervisor John Flynn. “But I think the vision that we have is to make our programs more effective, to try to place more people in jobs and to remove the red tape so that the business community cooperates.”

Komers said workers were initially told about the possibility of layoffs in November when the county took over the federally funded Job Training Policy Council, previously run as a nonprofit agency. The county’s Human Resources Department now operates the program through its Workforce Development Division.

The move was motivated in part by a new law that made the county, which had oversight of the JTPC, liable for any misspent money. The program receives nearly $10 million a year in federal funds.

Because of administrative and financial problems experienced under the JTPC, Komers said that all workers were put on probation after the takeover. He said his goal is to run a lean organization that gets more people back to work, “rather than to simply continue programs that burn up federal money but don’t really produce an impact.”

As part of their decision Tuesday, county supervisors also agreed to award two of three contracts for job training services to the Workforce Development Division.

The board’s action drew protests from two private contractors--both of whom already provide some government services--who complained that the county had unfairly edged them out.

“Our concern is that this is just the beginning of the complete elimination of having outside providers for employment and training services,” said Lolina Talili, vice president of Tomkinson & Associates Inc.

Although her company received one of the three contracts, Talili said this may not be enough to keep Tomkinson’s Oxnard office open. She said it’s possible that the company would have to close the office and lay off its 19 employees.

Supervisor Frank Schillo voted against the board’s action, saying he wanted more time to explore the concerns expressed by Tomkinson.

“I haven’t convinced myself that the process was done correctly or that it was fair to everyone,” he said.