Kellogg Labor office to close

By CHANSE WATSON

Managing Editor

KELLOGG — Those in the Silver Valley utilizing the resources of the Idaho Department of Labor’s office in Kellogg will soon have to travel to another office and/or be patient for a replacement local service following an announcement earlier this month from the department.

IDL reports that the Kellogg office, along with 13 other offices in the state, will shut down on Aug. 7 in an effort to implement a “new service model” which will focus on cost cutting and “decentralizing” the department’s services in those areas.

“We are completely revamping how we are providing services in all of Idaho,” said Jani Revier, IDL director.

Under the new model, those wishing to utilize IDL services in-person will have two options.

The first option is that they can visit one of six comprehensive, one-stop centers (the closest being Post Falls) or one of five affiliate centers that will not be closed (closest being Sandpoint).

The second is meeting with IDL representatives who will visit communities on a weekly or by-appointment basis. These representatives will utilize community partners such as libraries, city, state, county and federal agencies to offer all of the services that the soon-to-be closed offices have now.

Revier explains that the decision to go to this model was based on three main factors.

“The department has seen a 47 percent decline in our federal funding over the last 10 years. On top of that, we have to meet the most current ADA accessibility requirements based on the terms of our grant. So that’s a high standard than most other buildings have to meet. Lastly, the workforce development council, which oversees some of the funding we get, has decided that they are going to go out for competitive bid on the WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) contract and that money funds half of our activities in local offices. Losing that bid would be a catastrophic loss of funding, so we need to take every action we can to make sure that we are as competitive as possible, so that we can continue to offer these services across the state.”

After reviewing all 25 of their offices in the state, IDL found that none complied with the newest ADA standards. In the offices where they own the building, changes are underway to meet standards. In the offices that they did not own the building, many of the landlords were reluctant to pay for the upgrades.

The IDL Kellogg office building is not owned by the state and was not staffed full-time. Personnel who maned the office came over from Post Falls.

Within the next couple weeks, IDL will be announcing where the Shoshone County (believed to be Kellogg) meeting place will be and who will operate it.

The Shoshone News-Press will report that information when it becomes available.

For more information, residents can contact the Post Falls IDL office at 208-457-8789 or the Boise office at 208-332-3570.