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Plumas Bank employees in training at Quincy Training Facility

PLUMAS BANK TRAINING

By Laurie Wann

To help local employers develop top-notch managers and work teams, we have presented dozens of workshops to hundreds of participants over the last three years.
So when Plumas Bank approached us in January of this year for a customized Leadership training program, we were very excited about the prospect of expanding our curriculums, and continuing what has always been a great working relationship with one of the most successful and progressive organizations in our region.
Our HR team met with representatives from Plumas Bank and discussed their training goals which were based on an in-depth internal assessment they had recently conducted.
We agreed on a course of action, consisting of seven courses to be delivered over the next 8 months, complete with on-going consultations to ensure our training is always on target.
The selected topics are Time Management & Organization, Leadership Essentials, Effective Discipline, Communication Essentials , The Art of Delegation, Improving Work Habits, and Supporting Change.
When all is said and done, we will have provided approximately 25 hours of management training for 20 – 30 members of Plumas Bank’s management team.
The bottom line? No matter how good our teams are, there is always room for improvement and Plumas Bank is to commended for their proactive approach to employee training!

 

Laurie Wann providing direction to group of Plumas Bank employees and the employees seem to follow direction well.

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Plumas Unified School District Expects Lay-Offs

In March the Plumas Office of Education and the Plumas Unified School District informed 55 employees that possible layoffswill take place at the end of the 2006-07 school years.

School officials estimate local public schools are short $4.5 million from the loss of federal forest reserve funds and the decline in student enrollment. Many changes are underway to meet the shortfall in Plumas County. These changes include reduction of work hours for many classified employees. These employees work a variety of jobs including librarians, cafeteria staff, classroom aids and elementary school learning center staff.

A total of 30 regular education teachers will receive notices. That would be a little more than seven from Portola High School, a reduction in time at Quincy High School, a reduction of four at Greenville High School. Six will be taken from Chester High School, three full-time positions from C. Roy Carmichael, five from Pioneer-Quincy Elementary Schools in Quincy, one from Taylorsville, two from Greenville Elementary and one from Chester Elementary.

Even with all the mentioned reduction and layoffs, the school district will still need to cut another$1,750,000 from next year’sbudget.

The pictures above are of Cathy Wilburn with the Plumas EDD office and Traci Holt with AFWD providing a Rapid Response Orientation to Plumas Unified School District employees. Rapid Response took place through-out Plumas County and is still on-going.

In early June, the Plumas office staff presented Rapid response orientations at 4 Plumas County locations. We started in Portola at the High School where we met in the library with both teachers and classified employees. Bruce Williams, Plumas Unified School Districts Assistant Superintendent provided invitations to PUSD staff on AFWD’s behalf. The invitations provided information for Dislocated Workers to attend a meeting where Unemployment Insurance information and Workforce Investment Act information would be provided. And so it was.

We also met with PUSD employees in Chester, Greenville, and Quincy. The overall turn-out was less than expected but the follow-up has continued to increase with word-of-mouth advertising as a result of our activities. We expect actual lay-off numbers by early July and will continue to provide access to services on an on-going basis for those requesting services.

 

Temporary Job Creation
National Emergency Grant Update

Round two! The National Job Creation Grant scheduled to end in June of 2007 has experienced continuation here in Plaums and Lassen counties. We have received additional money that should carry 9 Dislocated Workers for possibly 4 months of employment with Cal-Trans.

Orientation and implementation began just prior to this update. We have are looking forward to another great round of temporary job placements through October of this year. There will be additional stories to follow....

 

A Rising Star!

By Monica Hosier

 

Rachelle Tucker came to the Work Connection in January seeking assistance with her job search as a result of an unfortunate closure of the Kodiak Café where she had been employed for the past year. Since Rachelle was eligible as a Dislocated Worker due to this closure, she qualified for the Temporary Job Creation program.
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“Rachelle is a quick learner and eager to please. Her pleasant personality makes her a really pleasant addition to the Fiscal Department.” says Controller, Barry Segulyev.
The staff at the Work Connection commends you for your accomplishments Rachelle! Keep shining!
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WIRED UPDATE

Over the last few months, Traci Holt and I have had the pleasure of presenting the WIRED Initiative to sevreal organizations throughout Plumas County. AFWD has received letters endorsing the initiative from three of those organizations to date.

We started with the Quincy Rotary in late April where many question were asked regarding how this will affect Plumas County businesses? Traci was well prepared with answers for just such questions..."we hope to know real soon." She went to explain that WIRED is still in it's planning stages for our multi-county area.

We than moved on to the Chamber of Commerce in Quincy where the Board of Directors were provided detailed information and again provided several questions afterwards. The Plumas County Office of Education was next. We met with staff in May and Traci continued the WIRED "Road Show". The PCOE staff provided ideas and support during the presentation.

All three of the above mentioned organizations submitted letters endorsing the initiative after the presentations. We look forward to follow-up presentations once we have moved through the planning phase.

 

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To learn more about these events, contact your local One-Stop Employment Center

PLUMAS WORK CONNECTION, 283-WORK

LASSEN CAREER NETWORK, 257-5057

MODOC EMPLOYMENT CENTER, 233-4161

SIERRA WORK CONNECTION, 993-4295