FRANKLIN — The chairman of the new South Central Kentucky Workforce Board grilled the executive director of the Barren River Area Development District on Thursday morning, asking point blank if the 10-county agency was going to receive any censure from the state of Kentucky on how workforce money has been spent in the past and whether the new board will face a loss of federal funds.

Chairman Ron Sowell asked BRADD Executive Director Rodney Kirtley, who was sitting in the audience, if a refund of workforce money is forthcoming. Kirkley said no letter requesting a refund is forthcoming. Board member Craig Browning asked about the situation in which the 17-county area agency that serves Lexington, the Bluegrass Area Development District, is being asked to repay nearly $900,000 in disallowed expenses and whether that compares to the BRADD.

“That’s comparing apples and oranges,” Kirtley told Browning. Kirtley said BRADD’s decisions on funds have been different than those carried out by the BGADD board.

The BRADD decided Wednesday to challenge the state on $82,000 it paid in bonuses across-the-board to employees from 2009-14. Kirtley told Sowell and Browning that the spending of the Department of Aging and Independent Living money for salaries was completely legal and that BRADD expects to win the challenge.

Sowell is executive vice president and chief financial officer for Commonwealth Health Corp., the third-largest employer in the region, and Browning is regional president for U.S. Bank’s South Central Kentucky region.

 “We have a local group that is pushing the (DAIL) issue,” Kirtley said, noting the dispute over the DAIL money goes back two years. The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce has questioned BRADD decisions and expenditures.

According to the workforce board budget, which the board’s executive committee recommended be tabled – an action with which the full board concurred – about $3.5 million is available annually for workforce funds, though Sowell after the meeting said the number is closer to $2.4 million.

The board members have expressed frustration at not knowing their current financial position. Sharon Woods, BRADD workforce director, has presented a budget that shows only 22 percent of the money has been spent on programs in nine months with just three months left in the July 1 to June 30 fiscal year. 

Woods told the board Thursday that her budget does not include funds encumbered for May, June and July, but not spent yet for youth scholarships and other programs set to be activated in the next three months. For example, Woods rolls over money in the current fiscal year to the new fiscal year to finance the student scholarships because of a fear the new federal money won’t be available in time.

“We need to come up with a financial report that makes some sense,” Sowell said. Sowell is meeting with BRADD officials to develop that financial picture.

BRADD is currently the fiscal agent for the workforce board. The Local Elected Officials – the 10 county judge-executives – are advertising for a fiscal agent for the new board and have received information from three possible bidders. The bidders have not been made public.

The new board, meeting at the Franklin-Simpson campus of Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, approved Thursday advertising for a president-chief executive officer job and hiring a consultant to work on a strategic plan to revitalize current workforce efforts. People on the panel with human resources experience will begin to cull resumes submitted. The board voted to ax expenditures for print advertising in Bowling Green, Glasgow, Nashville and Louisville for the president/CEO post, choosing instead to send out a news release. Print ad expenditures were $6,381.41 of an $11,801.41 ad budget. Consultant Beth Avey said the $3,945 in digital advertising and $1,475 in spreading the word through industrial resources would be implemented at the board’s request.

About $50,000 in transition funds provided by the state will finance some of the board’s expenditures, Woods said. The board requested the transition money in a approved motion Thursday.

Sowell said after the meeting that logistical items to get the new board up and running, such as Thursday’s approval of setting up a separate not-for-profit 50(c)(3) board to garner private-sector funds for workforce efforts, show progress.

“We made a lot of progress today in obtaining a strategic consultant,” Sowell said. Still on his plate to complete is a partnership agreement between the LEOs and the new board, a document required by the state. It was supposed to be completed 30 days after the new board had its first meeting. Thursday was its third meeting.

“I hope the LEOs agree very quickly on a fiscal agent,” Sowell said, adding he was concerned about the super-majority vote required by the 10 judge-executives to approve the fiscal agent bid.

The new workforce board will next meet at The Medical Center-Western Kentucky University Health Sciences Complex in Bowling Green at 8 a.m. May 19.

—Follow business reporter Charles A. Mason @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.