Workforce board urges Paso Robles to consider local‑hire provisions as county looks to grow middle‑wage jobs

Dawn Bullinger, director of the San Luis Obispo County Workforce Development Board, told the El Paso de Robles City Council on Feb. 3 that the county is supporting programs that move residents into middle‑wage career pathways and urged local governments to consider local‑hire provisions in procurement and development agreements.

Bullinger described the workforce system that operates under WIOA funds and the "SlowCal Careers" service network, including no‑cost business services, on‑the‑job training, an HR hotline and rapid‑response assistance for employers facing layoffs. She presented data from a 2023 state‑of‑the‑workforce report showing lagging wages in San Luis Obispo County relative to California and the U.S., demographic retention challenges and priority industry clusters. Bullinger said the county provides one‑pagers and a local‑hire report with case studies for jurisdictions that want to incorporate community workforce agreements into requests for proposals.

Council members asked specific procurement and policy questions. Councilman Bausch asked how local hire differs from prevailing‑wage requirements; Bullinger said prevailing wage applies to project wage floors and union apprenticeship ties, while local hire focuses on the geographic sourcing of workers (for example, agreements that require a percentage of workers be hired from the county). She said community workforce agreements can specify targets (as an example, she cited a 70% local hire example used for illustration) and that the entity that procures the work (the city or project sponsor) writes those requirements into its RFPs.

Bullinger emphasized the board’s labor pipeline work — pre‑apprenticeship, partnerships with Cuesta College and other educators, and programs targeted to youth and justice‑involved populations — as ways to expand the local candidate pool for higher‑paying construction and infrastructure jobs. She told council members the board distributes brief policy summaries and economic‑impact slides that quantify downstream jobs and tax revenues from construction investment.

Council members indicated interest in integrating workforce elements into the city's organizational assessment and public‑works planning, and asked the workforce board to provide the one‑page materials and local case studies for staff review. Bullinger said the board will provide links and material and offered to return for a deeper dive on specific initiatives.

The presentation was framed as informational; no council action was taken at the meeting.