Parish finance officer may play lead role with Workforce Development Board

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St. Landry Parish Government’s chief financial officer may play a lead role in the Workforce Development Board if the Parish Council gives its approval at its June 19 meeting.
Brenda Hubbard-Thomas, Workforce Development Board executive director, and Charles Going, an Opelousas certified public accountant and consultant to the workforce board, urged the Parish Council the approve the appointment of Amanda Cain, parish government finance director, as the chief operating officer for the Workforce Development Board.
The local workforce board oversees the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion.
The local Workforce Development Board 40 is one of 18 in the state.
The board is responsible for policy and governance of programs
designed for economically disadvantaged adults, laid-off workers, and high-risk youth.
Going said the Board has been housed in St. Landry Parish for more than 40 years.
In the past three years changes in the program have placed the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act employees and program responsibility under parish government, he said.
“As a result of that responsibility the parish government looks to their administrative teams led by Amanda Cain to comply with rules and regulations,” Going said.
The workforce operation has a $6.9 million budget coming from the federal government, he said.
Jerry Red, Parish Council chairman, questioned making Cain the chief operating officer in an election year. The change should wait until after the election, he said.
But Going said the change doesn’t have anything to do with who is parish president or who is on the Parish Council.
Because the workforce employees fall under the parish government, the responsibility for proper spending of the program’s money rests with parish government, Going said.
“If I was sitting in your seat I would want the strongest team possible to give the citizens the benefit of this program while complying every letter of the law,” Going said.
Red said the issue should have come to the Council a year ago, but Going said the request is stemming from development of a team built over the past two years.
The change will give Cain more credibility with the state and federal government.
Parish Council member Harold Taylor said, “Ms Cain has been an exemplary example of taking a mess that we’ve had, that we inherited, and making it into something that we should all be proud of.”
Taylor added that a disconnect between workforce development and the Parish Council had been resolved.
“We need someone in charge doing that,” Taylor said of the workforce finances.
Ken Marks, also a council member, said Cain’s appointment needs to be done.
Marks also urged regular meetings with the workforce leadership.
Parish President Bill Fontenot said he supports Cain being named chief operating officer.
Cain, a former accountant at LSUE, was hired in December 2016 to guide St. Landry Parish Government through a fiscal crisis.