The South Central Kentucky Workforce Development Board continues to take shape.

The board’s Governance Committee met Thursday at Davert USA in Bowling Green. Members Gregory Head and Craig Browning looked over paperwork that will be reviewed by the new board’s Executive Committee on April 19. The Executive Committee meeting is 9 a.m. at the Barren River Area Development District offices in Bowling Green, followed by the full workforce board meeting 8 a.m. April 21 at the Franklin campus of the Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College.

The new local workforce board is operating under a new federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act that took effect last year. The new federal rules changed accountability of federal dollars for workforce services and placed a greater emphasis on local officials’ accountability.

Key developments have occurred in recent weeks on the workforce front. 

On March 21, the Barren River Local Elected Officials organization – the 10 county judge-executives in the southcentral Kentucky region – voted to advertise for a fiscal agent to serve the local board. Federal law makes the judges directly accountable for the federal dollars received on the local level. The region receives about $2 million annually in workforce money. 

The actual request for proposal for a fiscal agent is still being developed by a consultant and has not yet been made public, officials said Thursday. A fiscal agent simply controls the dollars provided by the federal government, paying the bills.

A second development is the new local workforce board is taking steps to establish 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and will file what is called a Form 1023 with the Internal Revenue Service to show that intent, according to Head, who chaired the Thursday meeting. 

Paperwork the Governance Committee reviewed said the Kentucky nonstock, nonprofit entity is organized and “operated exclusively” for charitable and educational purposes within Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code of 1986.

Browning said the non-profit board will seek additional dollars for the local workforce mission. The goal is to augment the public money received locally with private sector funds – accepting grants, donations and charitable gifts.

Browning made the motion to have the paperwork, including proposed bylaws and articles of incorporation, be reviewed by board legal counsel then have it presented to the executive committee. Head seconded the motion.

— Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.