Will Commissioner Sugarmon Implement Checks and Balances to Confront the County/Chamber Workforce Development Conspiracy

As the new County Commission workforce development committee chair, will Commissioner Erika Sugarmon implement checks and balances to confront the County/Chamber public workforce development conspiracy?

Sugarmon, a high school U.S. Government teacher, should implement checks and balances through, at a minimum, scheduling Commission workforce development committee meetings. And in this case of an operating County/Chamber conspiracy, perhaps an ad hoc committee is needed.

Besides, it’s unclear given the lack of scheduled workforce development committee meetings if the Commission as a body even knows what workforce development or the federally funded Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) is. And then there is the question under what authority was the County Mayoral assignment of the Chamber as WIOA fiscal agent even made? It did not come before the County Commission or City Council. And who recommended and appointed the GMWDB board members? It was not the County Commission.

Prior to Sugarmon’s workforce development committee meeting convening on 10/23/24, I can only find a convening of the workforce development committee, under Commissioner Brandon Morrison to have occurred on 1/18/23. That’s almost 2 yrs ago. Morrison said in Commission on 11/18 that getting the workforce development committee off the ground has been a long hard road. How can that be? The committee has hardly ever met!

Former Commission Chair Miska Clay Bibbs succeeded Morrison as workforce development committee chair but there are no records that I can find where Bibbs ever convened the committee. This is a public conspiracy waged against taxpayers and employers in Shelby County, Tennessee! Hopefully, the new chair of the Commission workforce development committee will confront this public conspiracy.

With respect to workforce development, Chamber botches continue with the recent bully termination of GMWDB Executive Director Amber Covington, and a Chamber touted Accelerated Skills Center on Jackson Avenue far behind schedule. Contributing to the botch is a lack of local public oversight that should have occurred through the regular convening of the Commission workforce development committee.

Commission workforce committee work would have included testimony or documentation from the State of why WIOA funds have historically been restricted from Shelby County to prevent future pitfalls, Chamber/GMWDB to provide the public with an overview of WIOA, Accelerated Skills Center plans, public introduction of the GMWDB Executive Director, GMWDB bylaws, rules of procedure, meeting dates and budget. Recurring Commission workforce committee meetings would have further helped to ensure those plans and proceedures plans are executed. But the former did not happen, which is the Shelby County reality.

Needless to say, the Chamber should not be rewarded with a $300K grant for public debauchery, should not be the WIOA fiscal agent, and the Commission needs to take immediate steps to get the Chamber as far away from public workforce development as possible…