Welcome to Joanie
 The Board of Directors of Siskiyou Training and Employment Program, Inc. (STEP) has announced the appointment of Joanie Zarzynski as Executive Director.
Zarzynski, who took office April 30, 2010, has 12 years of experience with STEP and has been serving as the Special Programs Coordinator. Prior to that she was the employer resources specialist and the human resources technician. STEP board president, Richard E. Negro, said “Joanie brings 12 years of workforce development experience to the position as well as a deep commitment to our organization and our community. She is very knowledgeable of all the facets of our organization and we believe she is an excellent choice.” Zarzynski is the daughter of long-time Siskiyou County residents Jim and Janie Hayes and a graduate of Weed High School and College of the Siskiyous. Joanie resides in Weed with her husband Ed, and close by are her daughters, Janie Gaither and Tara Cunningham and their families. STEP has been providing federally funded employment and training assistance to Siskiyou county, in various forms, since 1971. Since 1983, STEP has been a subcontractor, delivering services to the Siskiyou County region of the Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium (NoRTEC), under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). In 1996, STEP was a leader in the formation of the Workforce Connection, a collaboration of all the major employment and vocational training providers in the county. Through this collaborative partnership all employment and vocational training services may be accessed by job seekers and employers via one-stop community employment centers.
Goodbye to Jeanne
 Just a few days shy of 24 years on the job Jeanne Hough has resigned her position as executive director of STEP. Hough was offered the director position in September 2002 after serving as interim director for several months. She began her employment with STEP on May 16, 1986 and prior to her appointment as executive director, she served as the Financial Services Manager and was honored as STEP Employee of the Year for 2000. Hough is very proud of the growth of the organization where she has spent over 2 decades of her life, and has said that “it will be a sad day when I walk out of the office for the last time, but we have a great team here and I’m confident they will continue to provide excellent service to our communities.”
Hough has accepted a position with STEP’s administrative entity, NoRTEC (Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium), as their new Financial Director. NoRTEC is located in Chico and is a Special District formed by a Joint Powers agreement between eleven rural Northern California Counties; Butte, Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity. NoRTEC is governed by a thirty one member Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and an eleven member Governing Board (GB). The WIB represents the local private sector and agency interests and views, and the GB represents the local County Boards of Supervisors. NoRTEC administers Federal and State job training funds, which are subcontracted by NoRTEC to local entities in the eleven consortium counties for local service delivery. Hough is a life-long resident of Siskiyou County and a graduate of Weed High School and College of the Siskiyous. She also graduated Simpson College with a dual bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management and Psychology. STEP’s board president, Richard E. Negro, said, “The board of directors is exceedingly pleased at the development and growth of the organization during Jeanne’s tenure which has translated to the successful vision and stability of STEP in Siskiyou County. Both the board and staff will miss her but wish her much success in her new position with NoRTEC.”
Layoff & Closures in Siskiyou County
Mercy Care Center (Mercy Medical Center) - Mt. Shasta, CA It was announced in late March that Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta’s Care Center was closing its doors; the facility has been in operation since 1987. The skilled nursing center, which offers 24-hour-a-day nursing care to 30 elderly residents for extended lengths of time will close within the next six months. This forces those residents to find placement elsewhere. Ken Platou, President of Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta, cited the financial impact the center is having on the hospital and lower patient volumes as the reason for the closure. “It is imperative for the long-term financial stability of the hospital that we close the Care Center and adjust our staffing levels to these lower volumes and economic realities.” Joyce Zwanziger, Director of Marketing, Community Relations and Volunteer Services, said the hospital has experience a 5.6 percent decrease in inpatient admissions. The hospital has been subsidizing the center in the amount of nearly $1 million a year. With decreased reimbursement and payments from insurance companies and other payer sources the hospital can no longer afford to do so. The reduction in the workforce is hospital wide and has affected up to 81 employees in various positions. Although the exact number of those to be laid off is approximately 45 to 50. Josephine Wyatt, Rapid Response Coordinator for STEP, Inc., immediately contacted Gary Blevins at Mercy Medical Center’s Human Resource Department to coordinate on-site orientations to assist the affected employees. Prior to the scheduling the meetings, Mercy met with union representatives to discuss their collective bargaining agreement. A rapid response team with representatives from the STEP, the local WIA provider and EDD met with the first group (14) of laid off employees on June 24th. Those attending received information on dislocated worker services, which include: Job Search Services (career assessment, job development, out of area job search and supportive services), Training Services (In depth career assessment/advising, vocational training, on-the-job training options, entrepreneurial training and in depth case management and follow-up services. EDD staff discussed how to apply for unemployment benefits and California Training Benefits, a state program which allows eligible claimants to continue to receive unemployment benefits while in a qualified training program. Additional on-site orientations will be scheduled as needed. County of Siskiyou
 The County of Siskiyou has also been affected by the economic downturn and budget crisis facing state entities. Josephine Wyatt, the Rapid Response Coordinator for Siskiyou County was contacted by the Siskiyou County Personnel Department regarding the layoff of approximately 25 County employees effective July 1, 2010. Two on-site orientations were scheduled for June 21 and 22 at the County Personnel Office in Yreka. Staff attending included STEP, Inc. Rapid Response Coordinator and Vocational Services Manager as well as EDD staff. There were no attendees at the meeting on June 21st. There were five laid off employees at the meeting on June 22nd. Individuals received information on services available to dislocated workers as well as UI benefits and California Training Benefits. A needs survey was distributed to each attendee with questions on job search goals and services requested through the WIA program. Coca Cola North America  Coca-Cola North America, reported in a press release to Siskiyou Daily News in late April, the decision to close their facility located in Mt. Shasta and to cease production by the end of the year. “Market conditions and overcapacity in the bottled water industry have led Coca-Cola North America to exit their lower margin retail spring water facilities at the end of this year,” CCDA Spokesperson Ray Crockett said on Friday, April 23. “We will cease production of our private customer labels and Aquarius Spring retail products.” A copy of the WARN notice received at the Siskiyou County One-Stop noted that the layoffs are expected to begin on September 27, 2010, or within a 14 day period beginning on this date. There are 49 employees that will be losing their jobs due to the closure. The Siskiyou County Rapid Response Coordinator has been in close contact with CCDA Mt. Shasta since the original announcement of the closure. Staff from STEP, Inc. and EDD will be coordinating on-site orientations to assist the affected employees.
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CA Green Jobs
California Green Jobs Youth Program, for at-risk young adults aged 16-24. This program will provide career exploration in California's emerging green economy while also contributing to the local communities through community service. Youth will participate in classroom training and paid internships, where they will learn about working in the environmental resources field. This will benefit our communities and teach additional skills. This is an innovative opportunity for young people to receive training in fields that support our green economy. The Siskiyou Training & Employment Program has enrolled 53 participants throughout Siskiyou County. Our internships are being conducted with agencies such as Siskiyou County Department of Agriculture and Air Pollution Control, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Windborne Farms, Northern California Resource Center, Scott-Salmon River Ranger District USFS, Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District, Siskiyou Gardens Parks & Greenway Association and The River Exchange.
Ripe From the FarmProduce grown by Green Jobs participants.
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Sexual Harrassment Prevention Training
STEP, Your Workforce Connection Partners with Vigilant to Present Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for Supervisors On April 14, 2010 STEP hosted a Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for Supervisors at the Weed Workforce Connection office. Twenty-six individuals attended the 2-hour training which covered the following: Six components that define “sexual harassment,” Recognizing workplace activity that can lead to harassment complaints, Two specific ways that employers can be held liable for harassment, Defining the businesses important role in enforcing the company’s non-harassment policy, Five steps a supervisor must follow when responding to a harassment complaint, and a timeline for investigation of a harassment complaint. Attendees learned key concepts in relation to Sexual Harassment:
• Prevention – policies and training
• Responsiveness – be prompt, effective, prevent recurrence
• Retaliation-can never be allowed
• Follow-up- report the incident to the HR department, monitor employees conduct
• Documentation- interview, investigate and evaluate and remedy
• Respond - to complainant and accused
All individuals that attended received a certificate of attendance for their company’s personnel files.
Background calbizcentral AB 1825
California law on sexual harassment training and education comes from Assembly Bill 1825 which requires employers to meet specific requirements relating to sexual harassment training and education in the workplace. The law requires California companies with 50 or more employees to provide two hours of interactive sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors within six month of hire or promotion, and every two years thereafter. The 50 or more includes full-time, part-time, temporary workers and contactors, even those that reside to work outside of California.
An employer may track its training requirement for each supervisory employee on an individual calendaring basis by measuring the “every two years” requirements from the date of completion of the last training of the supervisor. The regulations state that AB 1825 compliant training completion documentation must include: The name of the person training, the date of the training, the type of training, and the name of the training provider. Employers must retain these records for a minimum of two years and be able to provide copies upon request.
Ag-Biz Solutions, LLC
Specializing in software for your Ag-Business! Ag-Biz Solutions, LLC is a software development company formed in 2006 by rancher and hay grower Tara Porterfield. The company’s mission is to provide agricultural producers with innovative and efficient business software that is both practical and affordable for today’s agricultural industry.
Ag-Biz Solutions has developed and is currently marketing Hay&CropManager™, a comprehensive farm management database program that is designed to significantly improve record keeping systems and provide growers the necessary information to improve operational efficiencies and profitability in their farming operations. The original concept for this program came from a project Tara developed about 10 years ago for a large hay operation that needed a better way to track hay production, inventory and sales. Several years later, after receiving requests from other growers, Tara made the decision in 2006 to team up with a professional computer programmer and started over from scratch to create a whole new program to market commercially to farmers. Her goal is to help farmers with this software because she understands the importance of needing accurate production, inventory and marketing/sales information easily available when making business decisions, especially with the many challenges agriculture producers face in today’s world.
The first version of Hay&CropManager™ was released in December 2006, and the program has continued to evolve with added functionality that now serves crop growers, brokers and exporters. The release of Version 5 is planned for mid-summer 2010 with the finalized Exporter Module.
As the company has grown, with customers in 16 different states now, the need for office personnel has also grown. Pam Bowen was hired in April of this year as an assistant office manager, with the help of the Siskiyou County STEP program in getting her through the training phase of the new job. Ag-Biz Solutions is truly a small business in its early years and the STEP program has been very helpful in meeting the company’s aspiring growth needs with adding personnel.
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July 2010 Issue 
