Supervisors approve regional workforce development merger; county says local public access will remain

Des Moines County supervisors on July 15 voted to join a regional consolidation of workforce development boards, officials said, a step county staff described as preferable to a potential state takeover of local workforce programs.

A workforce representative told the board the Mississippi Valley and Central boards had signed off on a plan to merge and that the county would retain local control and receive a modest increase in funds compared with current allocations. "We're actually supposed to end up with just a little bit more money than what we had, and we would still keep control, and the state wouldn't be stepping in and taking over," the representative said.

A member of the public asked whether the local office — described as located "out of the mall" — would remain open and whether public access would change. County staff responded: "Absolutely not. No. We're just merging. Just a bunch. Kind of an administrative ... sort of function."

A motion to approve the merger was made and recorded. The vote record in the meeting shows affirmative votes from Shane McCampbell, Tom Broker and Jim Carrey. The board directed staff to record the action in meeting minutes and to notify partners as required.

No funding amounts or written agreement were presented at length during the meeting; staff said the consolidation was formalized by email communications and that further implementation details would be handled administratively.

The board did not report opposition at the meeting and moved the matter forward by recorded vote.