Nevada JobConnect needs a new home in Pahrump after Nye County commissioners earlier this month voted to terminate their lease of the manufactured building in the Calvada Eye effective March 31.

Great Basin College has rented space in a new shopping center on East Basin Avenue that has been largely unoccupied outside of a few long-distance education classes held by videoconference.

Both agencies are involved in job training and workforce development.

So it seemed like a perfect marriage to house JobConnect in the Great Basin College addition and merge both programs.

At a meeting last November, John Ball, executive director of the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, met with Great Basin College President Carl Diekhans and Vice-President of Academics Mike McFarlane about providing mandatory services of JobConnect but also workforce development.

They agreed to study the feasibility of a merger. The plan was to merge both operations before June 30, but that timeline has now been bumped up to March 31 with the termination of the JobConnect lease by the county.

Bill Verbeck, director of the Pahrump Great Basin College campus, told members of the college advisory committee Tuesday space could be provided to JobConnect in the addition by March 31.

The plan is to house JobConnect offices in one large, 2,400-square-foot room and an adjoining 1,200-square-foot room.

That could serve as either a permanent or temporary location, pending the study of other sites within the community. Verbeck said JobConnect has also looked at other sites in Pahrump, several buildings could support the agency, like the Hafen Professional Building next to Nevada State Bank.

While physically moving JobConnect facilities could take place within 90 days, Verbeck said the merging of the programs could take six months.

"Let's just look at the federal guidelines of what's mandated by JobConnect. I know I had PAVED approach me earlier about space. We're just dealing with John Ball at this point in time," Verbeck said.

JobConnect operates with federal money through the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, Verbeck said. The cost of their staffing, operations and maintenance, equipment, utilities and other expenses wouldn't impact college funding, he said. No lease amounts or rent were discussed Tuesday.

Verbeck said JobConnect staff levels, job descriptions, an inventory of equipment and supplies and general operations are under study.

JobConnect employees would essentially become employees of Great Basin College. There are six full-time employees on staff at JobConnect, Lake said.

Those employees would be hired under "soft money contracts" commonly used in the college system, Verbeck said. In other words, their contracts would lay out the terms of employment assuring employment with satisfactory or better evaluations and allowing the college to terminate their employment should federal funds not be available.

Diane Lake, interim manager of the Pahrump JobConnect office, said not all agencies housed at its present location would move to the Great Basin College addition. Offices funded by the federal money, like Nevada Partners and Greater New Jerusalem, the job training programs for adults and youths respectively, would be located in the new facility, she said.

A veteran's program operated by the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation would be offered, but the Veterans Service Office wouldn't, Lake said. Other tenants now housed at the JobConnect building include Premier Labor, vocational rehabilitation, rural housing and the American Association of Retired Persons.

Lake gave an indication of who would be moving into the new offices.

"Right now for the last three years it has not been, I guess, done correctly. We haven't followed the federal guidelines like we should have," Lake said. "It's going to be depending on the federal guidelines and what they offer our clients. Obviously the ones that help us and our clients the most are going to be our top priority. But we're going to have a committee that's going to determine who's going to come and who's going to go."

County Commissioner Butch Borasky said veteran's services operate under the wing of Nye County. He said one of the county commissioners talked to an official at the chamber or JobConnect and there was mutual agreement 90 days would be sufficient time to vacate the present building.

"It was not our intent to put JobConnect out on the street. It's just we have financing problems too, just like everybody else," Borasky said.

The county is now paying $111,125 annually to lease office space at three locations. Nye County plans to locate the administration offices and the Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office in the JobConnect building.

Committee member Mark Kimball, chairman of the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission and a former school administrator, told Lake he liked the plan.

"It's a natural fit. It's a better situation all the way around, better for you, better for the community, better credibility that goes with JobConnect being under the umbrella of Great Basin College. It's going to be a more effective program, more successful program," Kimball said.

Borasky added, "Any time you take out the politics out, it's better -- trust me. That was an issue over there."

Verbeck said it was their never their intent to move the entire administrative staff over to the college addition from the Calvada Boulevard location.

"I think it will work exceptionally well," Verbeck said. "Our missions are very similar, when you look at work force development, underemployment, unemployment, then moving towards whether it's job training or a future degree, it really meshes exceptionally well. What I really see happening, whether it's a full merger or just a temporary space, true partnering will take place."

Verbeck said they could share secretarial staff. The two programs could operate much closer sharing space, he said.

Kimball inquired about the need for privacy. The college offices would be in large rooms. Lake said they would need privacy for individual counseling, or if people wouldn't feel comfortable about discussing their employment plans in public. Lake said some employers, such as Home Depot, come in and hold orientations at Job Connect.

"I don't think space would be an obstacle at all," Verbeck said.

Verbeck said some classes now offered on Calvada Boulevard are being offered at the addition from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. They also have a computer lab, he said.