Narrative: a. 1. B.

LOCAL WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AREAS Maine proposes three local workforce development areas which correspond with the state’s three planning regions. In accordance with WIOA, these local areas serve as “a jurisdiction for the administration of work–force development activities and execution of adult, dislocated worker, and youth funds allocated by the State.” At the start of Program Year 2015, Maine had four Local Areas: Coastal Counties, Central Western, Tri–County and Aroostook/Washington. The Aroostook/Washington and Tri–County Local Areas will be con–solidated into a single area called the Northeastern region. The merging of the two areas into one is ex–pected to be finalized by the end of February 2016. A number of issues contributed to the need for consolidation. The Aroostook /Washington area is charac–terized by very low population densities across its vast geographical area, and funding levels far lower than for the three other local areas. Despite lower funding, the Aroostook /Washington area had the full burden of performing the required administrative activities. The administrative financial burden created difficulties at the outset of WIA and resulted in a change of fiscal agents from the County of Aroostook to the Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC). Funding issues for the Local Area continued under NMDC. The Tri–County WIB was in the process of identifying a new fiscal agent for their area and the Chief Elected Officials (CEOs) of Aroostook/Washington and Tri–County entered into an agreement with Northern Maine Development Commission to act as the fiscal agent for both Local Areas. This was intended to create savings, but because the two local areas had not merged, each had the burden of conducting administration of funds separately, which actually continued to require duplicate accounting, duplicate service agreements, duplicate monitoring, fiscal evaluations and audits. In essence the expected savings did not materialize and other financial issues emerged that placed both local areas in high–risk status. A series of meetings between the Fiscal Agent, CEOs, Local Board staff (Chairs/Director) and leads from the Maine Departments of Labor and Administrative and Financial Services ensued. Between October 2014 to the January 2016 over forty formal meetings and conference calls occurred to discuss consolidation of the two local areas. The discussion on consolidation also took place with each local board both during full meetings and with executive committee members alone. Also during this time, the Tri–County WIB had designated Penobscot County as its new fiscal agent. Each of the four Local Areas submitted requests for initial designation under WIOA, but the Aroostook/Washington WIB and the Tri–County WIB rescinded their request and submitted a new request to be designated as a single local area under a new fiscal agent. Once all funds are cleared with the Northern Maine Development Commission, all funds for the new consolidated five–county area will be transferred to Penobscot County which will act as fiscal agent for the new Local Area. The requirements for Local Area Designation are more fully delineated in Appendix V.

Regions: With the assistance of the Local Boards and Chief Elected Officials, Maine has identified three planning regions; 1) Coastal Counties Region – made up of York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo Counties; 2) Central Western Region – made up of Androscoggin, Franklin, Oxford, Somerset and Kennebec Counties; and 3) Northeastern Region – made up of Aroostook, Washington, Piscataquis, Pe–nobscot and Hancock Counties. Geographically Maine is very large; currently consisting of four local areas (Coastal, Central Western, Tri–County and Aroostook/Washington). The two northernmost counties are vast geographically but sparse in population, which presents a significant financial disadvantage for this local area because WIA/WIOA allo–cations are also sparse. As a result and in comparison to the other three local areas, this two county local area has historically had difficulty funding and implementing all of the required administrative activities, the requirements of which are equal to those of the other three areas that do receive adequate funding. After months of consulting with local board members and chief elected officials in the Tri–County and Aroostook/Washington County local areas, it was determined that it would be in the best interest of both local areas to consolidate into a single local area. That consolidation is expected to occur in February, 2016. Once this occurs, the three local areas in Maine will coincide with the three planning regions. Historically, Local Boards have been actively engaged in regional planning with their economic development district and community development counterparts. The Local Boards play a significant role in the development of each district’s Community Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). When the requirement for identifying regions was made known, the State and Local Boards took the following elements under consideration: • Equal distribution of Maine’s seven economic development districts; • Equal distribution of WIOA formula funds; • Equal distribution of post–secondary education institutions; • Inclusion of a major urban hub; • Similar labor force distribution and commuting patterns; • Equal share of Maine’s traditional industry sectors; • Equal distribution of emerging and technology–based industries; • The fact that regional partnerships have already been formed and active for the purpose of workforce, economic and community development. While the southern part of the State is more densely populated with workers, businesses and financial capi–tal, it was critical that the State not be divided into two regions. The three region configuration is beneficial on a number of scales, not only for the reasons considered above, but also because of the previously estab–lished relationships between workforce development stakeholders. Please see APPENDIX IV – for the policy on designating regions. Local Areas: As stated above, the Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Services (a.k.a. State Workforce Agency), consulted with local boards and chief elected officials regarding the requirements for initial local area designation under WIOA. Local Areas were reviewed as to whether they had: • Been designated as a local area under WIA; • A common economic development area; • The Federal and non–Federal resources, including appropriate education and training institutions, to administer activities under WIOA Title I–B • Performed successfully; and • Sustained fiscal integrity. To see the full definitions of requirements please see APPENDIX V for the policy on local area designation. Local areas were evaluated as to whether they met each of the requirements for local area designation. All four local areas requested initial designation using the procedure identified in policy PY15–01, which was to submit a formal request for initial designation to the Commissioner of Maine Department of Labor, on behalf of the Governor, to include a statement from the Local Board Chair and Chief Elected Official that they are in agreement with the request and that the local area has met each of the requirements. Because it was clear that the Aroostook/Washington local area did not receive sufficient funds to cover the cost of all required administrative functions, discussions ensued regarding consolidation of the Aroostook/Washington and Tri–County local areas, which would result in a five–county area. The Aroostook/Washington local area has been working to consolidate with Tri–County for almost six months. There are a number of contractual and financial issues that must be worked out for a smooth transition, but it is expected these two local areas will be consolidated in January, 2016 and will be known as the North–eastern Local Area and will be comprised of Aroostook, Washington, Hancock, Piscataquis and Penobscot Counties, which are the same counties identified for the Northeastern Region designation explained above.