Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium

From dKosopedia

The Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium (CIETC) is a non-profit agency that administers programs for Iowa Workforce Development in an eight county region of central Iowa.

An auditor's report showed that CIETC’s chief executive, Ramona Cunningham, its chief financial officer, John Bargman, and its chief accountant, Karen Tesdall, were paid a combined $1.8 million over 30 months, from June 2003 until December 2005. Cunningham alone earned nearly $800,000, making her one of the highest-paid public officials in Iowa. All three officials were fired.

In the aftermath of the scandal, seven of CIETC's fourteen board members have resigned, including: Former Chairman Archie Brooks, Ako Abdul-Samad, Tom Vlassis, Michael Campbell, Bob Brown, John Mauro and Dan Albritton. In a notable burst of honesty, Vlassis said, "I was there to be a rubber stamp, that was my function." The board had a very unusual arrangement that allowed Brooks sole authority to approve salaries and bonuses for the agency's employees.

Also caught up in the scandal were Iowa Workforce Development Director Richard Running and Deputy Director Jane Barto, who were both forced to resign, along with Administrator Erv Fett. Amazingly, secretary Laurie Rieck was allowed to keep her job, despite being caught dumping boxes of files into the trash at 4:30AM.

Threatened with a total loss of funding, the new board voted to end CIETC's operational activities, and hire some other agency to perform its job training work, beginning on September 1, 2006. They also changed their name to Regional Workforce Investment Alliance.

The U.S. Attorney for Southern Iowa indicted four people on CIETC-related charges: Ramona Cunningham, Karen Tesdell, Jane Barto and Archie Brooks. Former CIETC CFO John Bargman pled guilty, and will testify against the others. (Source: CIETC Wave Crashes: 4 indicted, 1 bargains - DesMoines Register, Jan. 17, 2007)

External Links

Official website
Four more CIETC Board members resign - Quad City Times, April 12, 2006.
"Rise and Fall of Ramona" - Des Moines Register, April 23, 2006.
More Democrats May Come Under CIETC Scope - Des Moines Register, May 9, 2006.
Vlassis: I Served as 'Rubber Stamp' on CIETC Board - Des Moines Register, May, 16, 2006.
Another Administrator is Ousted in CIETC Probe - Des Moines Register, May 19, 2006.
DM Register CIETC Section Header
"CIETC could lose its backbone funding", by Clark Kauffman, Des Moines Register, July 16, 2006, p.1.
"Memo shows Polk's role in CIETC bonuses", by Clark Kauffman, Des Moines Register, July 30, 2006, p.1.
Brooks resigns from city council

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This page was last modified 20:45, 17 January 2007 by dKosopedia user Corncam. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.