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A standing room only crowd of some 140 people packed the conference
room of Building One in Riverstone Technology Park on Thursday night
to
protest the possible closing of the local Virginia Employment
Commission office on Seymour Drive.
"We need these services," was the unanimous comment heard time and
time
again from speakers from all across the Southside Virginia area
including not only Halifax County, but Farmville, South Hill and
Emporia.
Detra Carr of Halifax who is an instructor with the Southside
Virginia
Community College Truck Driving School told listeners his department
draws about 70 people from a 50 mile radius, retraining them for
jobs
that pay $35,000 to $45,000 a year. "We need the support of the VEC,
they are very professional in offering help to these people," many
of
whom have lost their jobs in textiles or agriculture.
Avaris Terry, who works in the area of Adult Education, said "It is
critical that this office remain open. Citing the work the VEC does
in
helping to steer unemployed residents toward retraining for new
jobs,
she termed the VEC "a strong partnership."
Patty Nelson, finance director for the Southern Virginia Higher
Education Center, explained that the SVHEC sees a lot of students
referred to them by the VEC who need more training or who need to
get
their GEDs in order to find work. "I hope you will consider the
economic struggle we're going through," Nelson told state officials
who
conducted the Thursday night meeting.
Her comments were echoed by Delegate Clarke Hogan who told state
officials "Our unemployment rate is very high and we have long term
unemployment." Noting that while the State of Virginia has a
relatively
low jobless rate — particularly in areas of Northern Virginia and
Charlottesville — "that is not the world we live in. We are a long
way
from having a healthy economy."
State Senator Frank Ruff pointed out that the No.1 purpose of the
VEC
is to get people jobs. He noted that people in Northern Virginia and
the more urban areas have computer services that help them to find
jobs, whereas Southside Virginia has few such opportunities.
Marshall Covington pointed out that the VEC is the administrative
partner for the Workforce Investment Act which helps people find
jobs.
"This area is trying to regenerate itself and we can't afford to
lose
offices," Covington said.
Also speaking in favor of keeping the office open was William
Fitzgerald, chairman of the Halifax County Board of Supervisors and
local businessman Johnny Burton. South Boston Mayor Carroll
Thackston
and ED#4 Supervisor Doug Bowman also submitted statements requesting
that the office remain open in South Boston.
According to VEC Commissioner Dolores "Dee" Esser who conducted the
meeting, the VEC receives all of its funding from the federal
government, with the FUTA funds being paid by Virginia employers.
She
noted, however, that the share of the funding which is being
returned
to Virginia is steadily decreasing. Currently, she noted, Virginia
receives only about 30 percent of the money it gets from FUTA
dollars,
which is the second lowest return in the nation (Alaska, for
instance,
gets a 210 percent return.)
The VEC will get about $8.6 million less in funding in the coming
year
than it did in the 2002-03 fiscal year. Consequently Esser says it
has
become clear that the VEC must significantly reduce the number of
its
37 offices statewide. She insists that all of the same services will
remain available to all Virginians, including Unemployment
Insurance,
Job Service, Trade Adjustment, Veterans Services and others. She
also
says VEC officials, along with Governor Tim Kaine are working with
Virginia's congressional delegation to improve the percentage of
federal funding the state receives.
Thursday night was the date of the first of a number of public
comment
periods the VEC is holding around the state with several more
scheduled
for the coming week. Esser says that once these public hearings are
completed, she and her staff will review all the comments received
and
will develop a recommendation to present to Governor Kaine in June
in
order that he can make his decision on where the cuts must come by
July
1, 2007.