54.3 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

Contract Extension Granted for Partnership’s Fitch

Getting a three-year extension on a government contract may seem generous, but Larry Fitch, the president and chief executive for the San Diego Workforce Partnership, the regional job-training agency, said the action was something that’s routine.

“It’s done every year, and it’s standard for the organization,” Fitch said of an annual contract renewal that gives him job security through mid-2008.

Fitch, 56, has been heading up the agency since February 1997. He receives an annual salary of $172,000, an amount that was last increased two years ago. He did not request any raise or bonus this year, nor was one offered, he said.

“I didn’t want one. We’re on a tight budget, and it made no sense to give me one,” Fitch said.

During the past year, the agency’s budget, derived almost entirely from federal money, has been cut from $43.4 million to the current fiscal year that began July 1 at $32.8 million. Staffing for the agency was reduced from 66 people to 53.

While he didn’t ask for additional compensation, Fitch requested that he be permitted to accept outside consulting work, which he would do on his own time.

“It’s something I’d like to be able to do, and I wanted to be aboveboard with my board,” he said.

Fitch declined to say which organizations or entities he would be consulting for, or what his pay would be.

He said there is no written policy prohibiting staffers from accepting outside consulting jobs, only one that prohibits employees from taking on any additional work that might interfere with doing their job at the agency.

“There are some people who have part-time retail jobs, and that’s OK, just as long as they aren’t taking off in the middle of the day to get to the job,” he said.

Fitch said there was no connection between asking permission to pursue outside consulting work and his annual contract extension.

Howard Collins, a member of the Workforce Partnership personnel committee, which approved Fitch’s contract, said he had no problem with Fitch’s request.

“Larry has been very forthright with us,” Collins said. “Since I’ve been on the board, Larry has done an excellent job for us.”

Fitch has been involved with government job-training programs for most of his career, starting in Boston after his college graduation.

He said in recent years the local agency is doing more customized training that focuses on a particular company. For example, a recent grant will train about 130 workers for specific jobs at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co.

Federal funding has declined since 2002 as the San Diego economy has fared better than other communities in the state and nation.

“Our formula funds we get from the federal government has declined by about 50 percent over the past four years and now makes up less than half of our budget,” he said.

The remainder comes from grants from federal, state and some private foundations, he said.

Fitch said part of the reason he’s stayed so long at the same job is because he believes the agency is contributing in some way to the overall betterment of the community.

“San Diego has weathered this economic blip pretty well, and I think the Workforce Partnership has been part of that,” he said.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-